Episode 15: Mutiny on the Somers
The Court-Martial of Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie
In 1842, three Navy men plotted to seize control of the USS Somers and turn it into a pirate ship. When the Somers' captain, Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, learned of the plot, he had the three men executed. But when the Somers arrived back in America, questions started to emerge. Were the executions justified? Was the mutiny plot even real? These questions would be explored at the commander's 1843 court-martial.
Episode Resources
Episode Transcript
Works Cited/
Referenced
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Chi Psi, “Chi Psi Fraternity,” 2020.
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James Fenimore Cooper, The Cruise of the Somers: Illustrative of the Despotism of the Quarter Deck; and of The Unmanly Conduct of Commander Mackenzie (New York: J. Winchester, 1844).
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James P. Delgado, “Was it murder? Why a US Navy hanging resonates nearly 200 years later,” OUPblog, November 23, 2022.
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Jay Hemmings, “It Was Brutal: Press Ganging, Keelhauling & Flogging in The Royal Navy,” War History Online, February 20, 2019.
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David Howe, “Essay on the Legal Aspects of Somers Affair and Bibliography,” Naval History and Heritage Command, May 12, 2020.
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Rear Admiral Livingston Hunt, (SC), U.S.N, Ret., “The Attempted Mutiny on the U.S. Brig “Somers,”” Proceedings (U.S. Naval Institute), Vol. 51, November 1925.
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Joseph L. Jordan, “What are the Differences in Military and Civilian Court Cases?” Military Law Blog, September 29 2021.
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"Richard W. Leecock,” Find a Grave.
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Buckner F. Melton, Jr., A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers (New York: Free Press, 2003).
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Herman Melville, Billy Budd (Electronic Classics Series), ed. Jim Manis.
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“Military Justice Overview,” Department of Defense Victim and Witness Assistance.
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The Navy Department Library, “Brief History of Punishment by Flogging in the US Navy,” Naval History and Heritage Command, February 2, 2018.
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Proceedings of the Naval Court Martial in the Case of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, A Commander in the Navy of the United States, &c. Including the Charges and Specifications of Charges, Preferred Against Him by the Secretary of the Navy. To Which is Annexed, an Elaborate Review, By James Fenimore Cooper (New York: Henry G. Langley, 1844).
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Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age (Boston: Beacon Press, 2004).
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Paul X. Rutz, “The Somers Mutiny: Justice from the Yardarms,” HistoryNet, February 20, 2021.
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Richard Snow, Sailing the Graveyard Sea: The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy’s Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation (New York: Scribner, 2023).
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“Somers- Deck Log, 26 November - 1 December 1842,” Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy.
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Henry Francis Sturdy, “The Establishment of the Naval School at Annapolis,” Proceedings (U.S. Naval Institute), Vol. 72, April 1946.
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United States Naval Academy, “History of USNA,” updated July 24, 2023.
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Jennifer H. Svan, “Supreme Court won’t review legality of split-jury guilty verdicts in military system,” Stars and Stripes, February 21, 2024,