Jefferson Davis CSA,

"THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE OVER TOLERANT OF THE OFFENCE OF FIGHTING TOO MUCH"                                                                   

Exceptional ALS signed “Jeffererson Davis,” two pages on 8vo., 7 x 8.75, March 17, 1860. Letter to Commander Richard Worsam Meade II, older brother of hero of George Mead Getteysburg. The letter is reference to his son Lieut. R. W. Mead 111.Letter in fine condition other than some toning. The Letter reads: Dear Sir: I sympathize deeply in your anxiety for your son, and satisfied. that his conduct has been entirely becoming a soldier and a gentleman, will hold myself ready to give him my friendly services if he should need them. It does not appear to me probable that a Court Martial can pass any sentence which would be injurious to him for asserting his rights, personal and official, even though the manner should not have been that prescribed by regulations for the preservation of good order, etc. A quaint old soldier once described our national characteristic by saying that THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WERE OVER TOLERANT OF THE OFFENCE OF FIGHTING TOO MUCH; and I should expect the marine to be driven from a profession which his conduct shows him to be unworthy of. with kindest remembrance, I am Very truly yours, JEFFERSON DAVIS Mead was promoted throughout his years of service,to become a commander. In 1862 he became Executive Officer of the steam sloop Dacotah and later held the same position on the new gunboat Conemaugh. Promoted to Lieutenant-Commander on July 16, 1862,Meade's subsequent Civil War service was distinguished, including participation in the suppression of the July 1863 New York Draft Riots, plus active combat and blockade enforcement work while commanding the Mississippi River ironclad Louisville in the latter part of 1862 and the gunboats Marblehead in South Carolina waters in 1863-1864 and Chocura in the Gulf of Mexico during 1864-1865. Meade's post-Civil War career marked him as one of the Navy's most prominent reformist and technologically-minded officers. Duty at the Naval Academy in 1865-1868 was followed by promotion to Commander and service along the Alaskan coast as Commanding Officer of the steamer Saginaw.

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