God and sea power : the influence of religion on Alfred Thayer Mahan

284 Pages·2015·4.53 MB·English

by  Geissler

GOD AND
SEA POWER

This book has been brought to publication with the generous assistance of Marguerite and Gerry
Lenfest.
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
© 2015 by Suzanne Geissler All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Geissler, Suzanne.
God and sea power: the influence of religion on Alfred Thayer Mahan / by Suzanne Geissler.
1 online resource.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
ISBN 978-1-61251-844-2 (epub) 1. Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer), 1840-1914—Religious life. 2. United
States. Navy—Biography. 3. Naval historians—United States—Biography. I. Title. II. Title: Influence of
religion on Alfred Thayer Mahan.
E182.M242
359.3’32092—dc23
[B]
2015024058
Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48–1992
(Permanence of Paper).
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing
TO THE MEMORY OF GRAHAM
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Family
Chapter 2 Youth and Early Manhood
Chapter 3 Crisis and Conversion
Chapter 4 Family Man and Burgeoning Author
Chapter 5 Providence and Sea Power: Our Jomini Is Here
Chapter 6 A Public Christian
Chapter 7 Final Days
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
Portrait of Dennis Hart Mahan
Mahan’s boyhood home at West Point
Mahan at age seventeen
Naval Academy chapel, circa 1850s
USS Iroquois
Mahan with daughter Helen
Lyle Mahan at age nine
Mahan’s beloved dog Jomini
Mahan’s wife, Elly, with daughters
Mahan in command of the USS Chicago
Mahan in his fifties
Mahan with grandson Alfred Thayer Mahan II
Portrait of Mahan
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project came about because of the convergence of two of my
academic interests, American religion and naval history, in the person
of Alfred Thayer Mahan. Like Mahan, I am an active Episcopal
layperson. When I first read about Mahan, just for my own interest, I
was intrigued by his religious faith and wondered why hardly anyone paid any
attention to it when it clearly played such a major role in his life and thought.
And the few who did pay attention seemed to lack even the most rudimentary
knowledge of the Bible, church history in general, and the Episcopal Church in
particular. I put aside other projects and pursued Mahan for the next seventeen
years. I was fortunate early on to connect with two distinguished naval history
scholars, John B. Hattendorf, Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the
United States Naval War College, and Jon T. Sumida, professor of history at the
University of Maryland. Both of them believed that a study of Mahan’s religion
was long overdue and they encouraged me to pursue it. I am happy to
acknowledge my tremendous debt to them and to thank them for all the
assistance they rendered along the way. John Hattendorf sent me a number of
books, pamphlets, and catalogs from the Naval War College Press that got me
started. Jon Sumida also read the entire first draft and gave me a detailed critique
that made the revised version much better. I also thank my dear friend Ruth
Richardson Ragovin, who read the first draft and made many helpful
suggestions. With a doctorate in theology and many years’ experience in the
field of scholarly publishing, she was the ideal person to take on this task, which
she graciously agreed to do.
Two other historians to whom I owe special thanks are Robert Bruce Mullin,
professor of Modern Anglican Studies at General Theological Seminary and
historiographer of the Episcopal Church, and Wayne Kempton, archivist of the
Episcopal Diocese of New York. No one knows as much about the nineteenth-
century Episcopal Church as Bruce Mullin, and he graciously answered many
queries from me about Milo Mahan’s career at General Theological Seminary
and his mentoring of his nephew Alfred. Likewise, Wayne Kempton answered
many questions from me over the years, helped me track down obscure sources,
and even solved some mysteries.
It is also my pleasure to thank Evelyn Cherpak, now retired, but for many
years the archivist at the Naval War College Library. Apart from assisting me in
accessing the Mahan Papers, she helped me in numerous ways, including
arranging the details of my trip to Newport. In later years she was always a most
congenial dinner companion at the numerous naval history conferences we
attended.
I can’t even begin to list all the ways Adam Nettina, my editor at the Naval
Institute Press, helped me. I have never worked with an editor as competent and
enthusiastic as Adam. His suggestions and corrections made for a much
improved manuscript. He also willingly took on many tedious jobs in readying
the manuscript for production so I would not have to do them myself. Thank
you, Adam, for everything.
So many people at libraries, historical societies, churches, schools, and
archives lent assistance along the way. It is my pleasure to thank them now:
George Maxwell, Church of the Atonement, Quogue, N.Y.; Bruce Shaw and
Jordan Sleeper of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Newport, R.I.; David
Wigdor at the Library of Congress; Isaac Gewirtz and Laura Moore of the
General Theological Seminary Library; Judith Sibley and Suzanne Christoff of
the U.S. Military Academy Library; Marlana Cook of the U.S. Military
Academy Museum; David D’Onofrio and Barbara Manvel at the U.S. Naval
Academy Library; Janis Jorgensen of the U.S. Naval Institute photo archives;
Scott Reilly of the Naval War College Library; Robert Doane of the Naval War
College Museum; Ted Camp of St. James School, Hagerstown, Md.; Jamie
Smith of St. Paul’s School, Baltimore; Brig. Gen. Thomas Griess, USA (ret.),
biographer of Dennis Hart Mahan; Julie Greene of the Quogue Historical
Society; and the Reverend James Elliott Lindsley, Episcopal priest and historian.
I would also like to thank the Naval Institute Press, the Society for Military
History, and the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church for permission to use
material originally appearing in, respectively, New Interpretations of Naval
History, the Journal of Military History, and Anglican and Episcopal History.
My colleagues in the History Department at William Paterson University
also deserve my thanks for their support and encouragement during the many
years I worked on this project and for asking the questions that needed to be
asked. It is a privilege to be a part of such a supportive and collegial department.
My biggest debt is to my beloved husband Graham, who did not live to hold
the book in his hand but did know that it was going to be published. This book is
dedicated to his memory.
Note on style: All Bible quotations are from the Authorized (King James)
Version of 1611, which of course is the version Mahan used.