Pets and Mascots in the Union Navy.

Pets and Mascots in the Union Navy.

Terry Foenander.

A dog, they say, is 'man's best friend,' and this was also certainly true of the various animals which accompanied the crews aboard numerous vessels of the Union Navy on the North American rivers and vast oceans around the world. Besides the live animals and birds which were kept aboard the vessels as future dinner table accompaniments, pets and mascots were also a constant sight aboard these vessels of war. These were maintained for the companionship they provided, as well as the antics they performed, but some were sure to have accompanied their masters into battle on several occasions.

This author had originally assumed that only the officers were privileged enough to be allowed to own pets aboard the vessels, but an examination of one or two photographs does show dogs being held by, or at the feet of, enlisted men. As well, personal accounts indicate that pets were maintained by both officers and enlisted personnel.

There are about half a dozen photographs taken aboard Union Navy vessels which include pets, all dogs, shown amongst the officers or enlisted crew members of those vessels. Two of those images are included here. Dogs and puppies were possibly the most common pets kept by sailors.

The entry dated March 11, 1863, in the journal of Surgeon Samuel P. Boyer, of the USS Fernandina, notes that one of the crew members named John E. Pickle, who often went hunting ashore with excellent results, was accompanied by his two dogs, named 'Black' and 'Yellow.' [Naval Surgeon, 80.]

This image shows the crew members of the USS Hunchback, including one sailor (to the right of the cannon), who is shown holding a white dog.
(Naval Historical Center Image No. NH 59430)

Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Frank L. Church, aboard the USS Cricket, mentions the purchase of four mocking birds within the space of a week at the mouth of the Red River, Louisiana, in May, 1864. No doubt the keeping of caged birds was also quite popular on Union vessels, as they were easy to maintain, and did not create too much of a mess. [Civil War Marine, 57 and 59.]

A bird of a different calibre is mentioned as being aboard the USS Sciota, on the Mississippi River in 1862. Lieutenant Francis O. Davenport notes that a large owl was picked up after being found struggling in the river, and kept for a short while aboard the vessel. The caterer of the wardroom mess of the vessel took the first opportunity to throw the owl overboard, as it had been used as a joke against him. [Man of War, 100-104.] Davenport also mentions that there was a cat aboard the vessel, which had attempted to approach the owl on one occasion, but when the bird took up a threatening posture, the feline backed off.

The previously mentioned Surgeon Boyer, of the USS Fernandina notes that he was given an owl as a pet by one of the crew members. Boyer's steward clipped the bird's wings, and kept it in the sick bay. [Naval Surgeon, 65.] Boyer also notes that on a couple of occasions, sailors who were sent ashore had managed to entrap raccoons, which they tamed and kept as pets. [Naval Surgeon, 201, 204.]

During the final hours of the USS Monitor, just before it sank in heavy seas, off Hatteras, North Carolina, one of the members of the crew, Frank Butts, mentions a black cat sitting on the breech of one of the two guns in the turret, mournfully howling away. Butts, deciding that the safest place for the unfortunate animal was inside the breech of the gun, shoved it in, and replaced the tompion. If this account is true, one of the guns in the turret of the vessel, if ever recovered, will yield the skeletal remains of a cat which must have surely used up all of its nine lives. [Hampton Roads, 190-191.]

At least one act of cruelty to a pet on a Union vessel is recorded, and it was obvious that not all sailors were keen to accept pets or mascots aboard the vessels they served on. Corporal Miles M. Oviatt, a Marine aboard the USS Vanderbilt, notes, in his diary entry of September 17, 1863, that the paymaster of the vessel had obtained a little dog at Simons Town, South Africa, which was, shortly after maimed by one of the sailors aboard the same vessel. The pup died shortly after and was buried at sea, with a large weight tied around its neck. The errant sailor was subsequently punished by being placed on bread and water. [Marine at Sea, 77.]

A number of animals had been purloined from one of the plantations along the Mississippi, for the mess usage on the USS Sciota, in 1862, and a pig was saved from the dinner table, as the crew took a liking to its antics. A contraband aboard the vessel, named Charley Brown, was given the task of looking after the animal and treated it as though it was his own flesh and blood. The pig was eventually killed for the benefit of the mess diners, despite the protests of Charley Brown, who predicted misfortune for those involved in its death. [Man of War, 100-104.] Acting Paymaster William Frederick Keeler, of the famed ironclad USS Monitor mentions that a number of live animals were kept aboard the deck of the vessel in mid June, 1862, for use in the mess. Amongst these were a lamb, a calf, a ram, roosters and a hen. However, all these animals were for the exclusive use of the diners over a period of time, and not kept as pets. [USS Monitor, 156.]

What may have been one of the more unusual pets kept aboard Union vessels, is indicated by the death of a sailor listed in the columns of the Washington, D.C., Daily National Intelligencer, of Monday, November 16, 1863. John Moore, a Landsman aboard the USS Pinola, is shown to have died on October 28, by the bite of a tiger. Unless there were tigers roaming about in the area of the West Gulf blockading squadron, where the vessel operated around at that time, the only conclusion is that the tiger was being used as a pet aboard the vessel, when it may have attacked the unfortunate Moore. [1] The subsequent fate of the tiger is unknown. Paymaster William Frederick Keeler, previously mentioned as serving aboard the USS Monitor, was transferred to the USS Florida after the December, 1862 sinking of the ironclad in a storm off Cape Hatteras. Keeler continued his journal aboard the Florida, and makes a mention in his entry of July 14, 1864, that he had seen a bear running around the deck of the USS Dacotah. In the same entry Keeler also mentions going aboard the USS Fort Donelson where the captain of the vessel, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Thomas Pickering had two foxes, two dogs and three cats running around as pets. Keeler adds that "sailors are proverbially fond of pets. They aid in passing away a good many leisure hours at sea." [USS Florida, 185.] Lieutenant Commander Charles C. Carpenter mentions, in one of his letters, that there was a pet racoon aboard the Union ironclad, USS Catskill. [CWTI, July, 1971, 18.]

There is no doubt that there were numerous other pets kept by sailors on the many vessels of the Union Navy.

Officers of the USS Miami, including one shown holding his hunting rifle and bag, and with his two dogs at his feet. The officer at left, reading a newspaper, also has a little dog in his left arm.
(Naval Historical Center Image No. NH 60987)

Notes:

1. Since the original publication of this article, additional information on the death of John Moore has come to hand, thanks to the efforts of researcher, Mr. Ed Milligan, of Alexandria, Virginia. John Moore, aged 36, a native of Canada, had been a showman in a menagerie at New Orleans, prior to his enlistment in the Union Navy. While his vessel was docked off New Orleans, he had been on liberty, and while on shore, September 19, 1863, visited his former place of employment at the menagerie. While playing with a Brazilian tiger at the menagerie, he had been severely bitten on the hand, and was sent to the local Naval Hospital, but died from a considerable loss of blood. The sources of information on Moore's death are the United States Navy Death Certificates, in Record Group 52, book 15, page 347; Casualty Lists 1861-1865, Record Group 52, page 149, entry 36; and Hospital Tickets and Case Papers 1825-1889, Record Group 52, Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; HQ Records, Medical Journals and Reports on Patients, NAB, volume 1 - Naval Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1863, volume 1, page 63, entry 25, all available at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Reference Sources (page numbers shown in the main body of the text):

Civil War Marine - "Civil War Marine: A Diary of the Red River Expedition, 1864," edited and annotated by James P. Jones and Edward F. Keuchel, published by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., 1975.

CWTI - "Civil War Times Illustrated," magazine, July, 1871, page 18: article titled Such a Fire I Never Saw covering the letters of Lieutenant Commander Charles C. Carpenter, to his wife, Annie, while he was serving aboard the USS Catskill.

Hampton Roads - "Thunder at Hampton Roads," by A. A. Hoehling; Da Capo Press, New York, 1993.

Man of War - "On a Man of War: A Series of Naval Sketches," by Francis O. Davenport, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy; published by E.B. Smith & Company, Detroit, 1878.

Marine at Sea - "A Civil War Marine at Sea: The Diary of Medal of Honor Recipient Miles M. Oviatt," edited by Mary P. Livingston, published by White Mane Books, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, 1998.

Naval Surgeon - "Naval Surgeon: Blockading the South, 1862-1866," by Samuel P. Boyer. edited by Elinor and James A. Barnes; Indiana University Press, Bloomington; 1963.

USS Florida - "Aboard the USS Florida: 1863-65: the Letters of Paymaster William Frederick Keeler, U.S. Navy, to his wife, Anna," edited by Robert W. Daly, Professor, U.S. Naval Academy; Annapolis, Maryland; 1968.

USS Monitor - "Aboard the USS Monitor: 1862: The Letters of Acting Paymaster William Frederick Keeler, U.S. Navy, to his wife, Anna," edited by Robert W. Daly, Professor, U.S. Naval Academy; Annapolis, Maryland; 1964.

August, 2001.