Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873 [to White, Esqr.]

Maury, serving as a Confederate naval agent in Britain, asks the recipient (possibly Mr. "White") in London to forward the enclosed (not included) to Dr. Miller "of the [illegible] Committee." Matthew Fontaine Maury was a naval officer known as the "Pathfinder of the Seas." Maury had served as head of the U.S. Naval Observatory and was noted for his pioneering scientific work. A native of Virginia, Maury resigned his commission as commander in the U.S. Navy at the outbreak of the Civil War and joined the Confederate Navy, where he researched torpedo warfare. Maury was then sent to England to purchase ships for the Confederate government. Immediately after the war, Maury worked for Emperor Maximilian in Mexico, then went to England for two years, and returned to the U.S. He returned to the U.S. in 1868, and accepted a position as taught as professor of physics at the Virginia Military Institute.