Item No. 6235713

James E. Jouett was a career U.S. Navy officer whose service spanned more than half a century. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1847. He served under Matthew C. Perry aboard the U.S.S. Decatur on the African coast before transferring to the U.S.S. John Adams during the Mexican War. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Jouett was captured by Confederates at Pensacola, although he was soon paroled and was assigned to the Navy’s blockading force off Galveston, Texas. In an incredible feat of daring on the night of November 7, 1861, he led forty men in two launches against the rebel schooner Royal Yacht anchored in Galveston Bay. Climbing aboard the vessel and giving orders to his men, Jouett took a pike wound in the chest. His sailors overwhelmed the defenders, however, and secured the prize.

Jouett earned promotion to lieutenant, as well as new commands. Eventually assigned to the side-wheel gunboat Metacomet, he would take a notable part in the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay. With the Metacomet lashed to Admiral David Farragut’s flagship Hartford, a column of Union warships entered Mobile Bay. When the monitor Tecumseh struck a rebel torpedo—a fatal blow—Admiral Farragut reportedly said, “Damn the torpedoes—full speed ahead,” or as another account reported, “Damn the torpedoes! Jouett, full speed! Four bells, Captain Drayton!” Hoping to clear a path through the minefield for the trailing ships, Hartford and Metacomet struck several malfunctioned devices before entering into the bay. Three Confederate vessels engaged the Union fleet, causing Metacomet to cast off from Hartford in pursuit of the rebel gunboat Selma, which Jouett captured.

After the war, Jouett continued a long naval career, commanding the North Atlantic Squadron and retiring as a rear admiral in 1890. He spent his final years at his Maryland estate, “the Anchorage,” near Sandy Springs, where he died in 1902.

Carte de visite view of Jouett bears the imprint of photographer C. H. Williamson of Brooklyn, New York. Signature under the portrait reads, “Jas. E. Jouett / U.S.N.” On the verso, Jouett wrote, “Miss Frank / Sept. 4th 1863.”