Office of the Superintendent/Directives: Orders of the Superintendent, 1851-1865: Finding Aid

History of the Office of the Superintendent

The plan of the Naval School at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Maryland, approved by the Navy Department August 28, 1846, provided that a Superintendent of the school be appointed by the Secretary of the Navy from a list of officers of a rank not higher than commander. The Superintendent was to have responsibility for the general management of the institution, including overseeing the course of study, professors, and other personnel connected with the Academy. He could appoint and remove all persons employed at the Academy except those for whose appointment or discharge special provision was made by the laws or regulations of the Navy or the Academy. He had general charge of the buildings, grounds, and ships belonging to the Academy. The Superintendent also formulated the code of rules and regulations for the internal government of the school to be submitted to the Secretary of the Navy for approval. After 1867, officers were assigned by the Navy Department to the Academy to serve as assistants or aides to the Superintendent. The Office of the Superintendent as described in the 1846 plan remained relatively unchanged throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Officers of ranks higher than commander, however, have served in the position.

Description of Contents

The Orders relate to various general subjects including holidays; leave; uniform regulations and issue procedures for professors, officers, and midshipmen; proper military courtesies, etiquette and deportment; drum and bugle calls; assignment and outfit of gun crews; infantry and great gun exercises; fencing instruction; manning of school ships; duty schedules for midshipmen, officers, and watchmen; the storekeeper and supply requisitions; funerals; study hours and habits; regulations governing the academy library; annual and semi-annual examinations; the prohibition of smoking; the Naval Academy Band; the midshipman church choir; chapel attendance; cleanliness and order of midshipman dormitories; the health of the brigade of midshipmen; and appointments of officers for duty. Volume 309 also contains copies of telegrams sent, interspersed with orders.

A majority of the orders document the Superintendent's response to various midshipman disciplinary infractions including: intoxication; smuggling liquors into the academy; smoking; fighting; contracting debt; possessing unauthorized books; neglect of duty; improper language; excessive noise and disturbances; visiting unauthorized places and persons while on leave; and skylarking. Included periodically are orders listing midshipmen with academic average deficiencies and proscribing their remedial recitation work. Other orders document the visitation of distinguished individuals to the academy, including the Secretary of the Navy and the Board of Visitors. Two orders of importance document the visits of Hungarian statesman Louis Kossuth on January 13, 1852, and United States President Millard Fillmore on November 8, 1852. Orders in April and June of 1861 document actions taken during the academy's transition to Newport, Rhode Island.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically. A list of orders arranged by subject (discipline, suspensions, the purser, library, storekeepers, workmen and mechanics, holidays, and deaths) is included at the end of volume 308.

Access and Use

Access

Access is unrestricted.

Copyright and Permission

Use of materials is unrestricted.

Other Finding Aid(s)

National Archives Catalog entry available electronically at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2990283.

Acquisition and Appraisal

Custodial History

RG 405 Records of the United States Naval Academy is the property of the National Archives and Records Administration. The materials are housed at the United States Naval Academy, William W. Jeffries Memorial Archives, an affiliated archive, as per a Memorandum of Agreement between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Naval Academy.

Related Materials

Related Archival Material

Many of the orders for the period 1850 to 1852 are copied in volume 307 of Entry 45: "Orders of Superintendent Cornelius K. Stribling, 1850-1852." (NAID: 2990281). For various other orders and directives published by the Superintendent see entries 47 through 57.

Materials Cataloged Separately

No materials have been removed from this collection and cataloged separately.

Processing and Other Information

Preferred Citation

Office of the Superintendent/Directives: Orders of the Superintendent, RG 405.2.2 Entry 46

Special Collections & Archives Department

Nimitz Library

United States Naval Academy

Selected Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during preparation of the historical note:

Sweetman, Jack. The U.S. Naval Academy: An Illustrated History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute Press, 1979.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Samuel Limneos in September 2020. Finding aid written by Samuel Limneos in September 2020. Historical Sketch and Scope and Content Note adapted in part from Inventory of Records Group 405 by Geraldine N. Phillips and Aloha South, 1975.

Subject Headings

Name and Subject Terms

• Midshipmen -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States
• Naval education -- United States
• United States Naval Academy
• United States Naval Academy -- Administration
• United States Naval Academy -- Buildings and grounds
• United States Naval Academy -- Curricula
• United States Naval Academy -- Faculty
• United States Naval Academy -- History -- 19th century
• United States Naval Academy. Superintendent

Genre Terms

• Orders (military records)
• Telegrams