Charles E. Chenery,

Assistant Paymaster,

"U.S.S. Narragansett."

Images contributed by Francis Sargant.

Text: Terry Foenander.

All copies of images on this, and the following pages (with the exception of one image, and reverse, on page 3), have been kindly contributed by Francis J. Sargant, of Tigard, Oregon. The originals are contained within an album owned by Mr. Sargant, and which had originally belonged to the family of Charles E. Chenery, an Assistant Paymaster aboard the USS Narragansett during the Civil War. Chenery, a native of Wisconsin, was appointed into the Union Navy, as Assistant Paymaster, from the state of California, where he was resident at the time, on March 10, 1863. He was promoted Paymaster on May 4, 1866, and dismissed the service, reason presently unknown, on September 15, 1868.

The album measures 9 inches by 11 inches, is brown and gold with 2 clasps on the front, and contains 108 carte de visite images. Most of the naval images include a backmark, which gives an indication of which port the vessel, or vessels Chenery was serving on at the time, called into. Most of them were ports in South American nations, and included such exotic names as Callas in Peru, Calle de la Monjas in Panama and Lima, also in Peru. Other backmarks include such American towns as San Francisco, California and Northampton, Massachusetts. Each set of CDVs are accompanied by their respective reverse images. The images and reverses are most certainly interesting for their historical content and chronological value in the service life of Paymaster Chenery.

Set of six carte de visite images, showing Chenery and fellow officers, names and dates of images indicated on the reverses as shown below.

Joseph A. Bubier, the Assistant Surgeon shown with Chenery in the top, center image, was a fellow officer aboard the USS Narragansett in 1864-65. Bubier, a native of Massachusetts, was appointed into the Naval service as Assistant Surgeon on December 3, 1861, and resigned, June 11, 1865, at the end of the war.

Respective reverses of the carte de visite images shown above.

Please continue on to Page 2 for the next set of naval images from the album.

Sources of Biographical Notes:

List of Officers of the U.S. Navy and of the Marine Corps, 1775-1900, edited by Edward W. Callahan; L.R. Hamersly & Co., New York, 1901; reprinted by Olde Soldier Books, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, circa 1974.

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, 31 volumes, including index volume; Government Printing Office, Washington, 1894; reprinted 1987 by the National Historical Society.

Register of the Commissioned, Warrant and Volunteer Officers of the Navy of the United States, including Officers of the Marine Corps and Other, to January 1, 1865. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1865.

© Terry Foenander.

April, 2001 (Updated January, 2006).