Henry Augustus Wise Explained

Henry Augustus Wise (May 24, 1819 – April 3, 1869) was an author and United States Navy officer.

Biography

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to George Stewart Wise and Catherine Standsberry. The Wise family moved to Virginia and his Naval career began in 1834 as a midshipman. Henry served in the Mexican-American War as a lieutenant on board the razee, seeing action in the Gulf of California. He dedicated his consequent naval service in becoming an expert in gunnery. When the American Civil War broke out he considered serving with his home state of Virginia when they left the Union but opted to stay in the U.S. Navy as a captain. Promoted to commander of the in 1862, he was soon ordered to destroy the Gosport Navy Yard, near his old home. In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln appointed Wise chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, and he was promoted to captain in 1866; he held the ordnance position until his resignation in 1868. He died in Naples, Italy, the following year. In 1850 he married Catherine Brooks Everett, daughter of Edward Everett and Charlotte Gray Brooks.

Family

1. Charlotte Everett Wise (1851–1935) married Archibald Hopkins
2. Katherine Wise (1852–1920) married Jacob W. Miller
3. Edward Everett Wise (1854–1891) married Marion McAllister
4. Henrietta Augusta Wise (1860–1920) married (1) Lt. John Downes (2) W.K. Nicholsen

Principal works

Under the pen name of "Harry Gringo"

• Los Gringos, or an Interior View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chile, and Polynesia, 1849. (Used as the basis for the 1906 opera The Sacrifice, Op. 27, by Frederick Converse)^[1]
• Tales for the Marines, 1855
• Scampavias: From Gibel-Tarek to Stamboul, 1857
• The Story of the Gray African Parrot, 1859
• Captain Brand of the Schooner Centipede, 1860–64

References

Notes

1. Book: Wise, Henry Augustus . Los Gringos: Or, An Inside View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chile, and Polynesia . 1849 . Baker and Scribner, 145 Nassau Street and 36 Park Row . en.

Sources

• Duyckinck, Evert A., and George L. Duyckinck. "Henry Augustus Wise. Cyclopaedia of American Literature; Embracing Personal and Critical Notices of Authors, and Selections from Their Writings. From the Earliest Period to the Present Day; with Portraits, Autographs, and Other Illustrations. C. Scribner, 1856. (pp. 669–70) Accessed January 28, 2008
• Wise, Jennings C. Col. John Wise of England and Virginia (1617-1695); His Ancestors and Descendants. Richmond Va: Bell Books and Stationery Co, 1918. Accessed January 28, 2008