Maffitt, John Newland

Life Span
to
Full name
John Newland Maffitt
Place of birth
Born at Sea
Burial Place
Wilmington, NC
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Sectional choice
South
No. of Spouses
3
No. of Children
7
Family
John Newland Maffitt (father), Ann Carnic (mother), Mary Florence Murrell (first wife, 1840), Caroline Laurens Read (second wife, 1852), Emma Martin (third wife, 1870)
Occupation
Military
Farmer or Planter
Writer or Artist
Military
US military (Pre-Civil War)
Confederate Navy

John Newland Maffitt (American National Biography)

Scholarship
Like other Confederate high seas raiders, John Newland Maffitt both embarrassed and damaged the northern war effort. His destruction of Union shipping removed tonnage from service and at the same time forced Union ship owners to pay ever higher insurance premiums. His success, and that of other Confederate high seas raiders, forced the Union navy to divert much needed resources away from the blockade to the task of chasing these will-o'-the-wispish sea rovers.
William M. Fowler, "Maffitt, John Newland," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00463.html.
Date Event
U.S. Navy captures American slaveship with 318 slaves aboard
Captured American slaveship arrives in Charleston Harbor with 318 slaves aboard
The 318 slaves from a captured American slave ship are landed at Castle Pinckney, in Charleston Harbor
U.S. Navy captures New Orleans owned slave ship off the coast of Cuba
New British built steamer Oreto arrives in the Bahamas, a secret purchase of the Confederate Navy
U.S. naval units controversially capture the notorious raider C.S.S. Florida in neutral waters off the coast of Brazil
The controversially captured raider C.S.S. Florida sinks off Norfolk, Virginia after a collision
Civil War at Sea
Date Title
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “A Slaver in Our Port,” August 28, 1858
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “The Slaver’s Crew,” December 13, 1858
Chicago Style Entry Link
Maffitt, John Newland. Nautilus, or Cruising under Canvas. New York: United States Publishing Company, 1872. view record
How to Cite This Page: "Maffitt, John Newland," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/6147.