William B. Cushing in the Far East A Civil War Naval Hero Abroad, 1865-1869
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Biographical note
The late Julian R. McQuiston was a retired history professor from SUNY Fredonia. He also taught at the University of Columbia and the University of London and was published in many journals, including the English Historical Review.âFull of anecdotes, some amusing and some insightful, this book is likely to prove interesting and informative for anyone interested in American life or naval service in the years immediately following the Civil Warââ<i>The NYMAS Review</i>; âvery engaging...richly illustratedââ<i>Nautical Research Journal</i>; âa very good and insightful studyââ<i>The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord</i>; âMcQuiston...paints an intimate portrait of William B. Cushingââ<i>Western New York Heritage</i>; âin an account based on papers purchased from the estate of the widow of Commander William Barker Cushing, McQuistion traces the subsequent career of the Civil War Union heroââ<i>Reference & Research Book News</i>.
Fresh from success in sinking the Albermarle in the Civil War, the young Captain Cushing was assigned to command the gunboat USS Maumee in Hong Kong to aid the restoration of America's naval power in Asia. By linking such aims to British policy, and by courting Chinese and Japanese officials, he succeeded in re-establishing American naval and commercial power in the Far East. In his letters to his fiancee, he brilliantly recorded his travels and observations of people and places (and the difficulties of reconciling his naval career with his devotion to her, whom he married in 1870).
Acknowledgments deletevi
Preface
Introduction
1. The Challenge of a PaciïŹc Empire
2. Cushing Embraces a Fredonia Sweetheart
3. Route to the Far East by Sail and Steam to Match
the Power of Ocean Water
4. Cruising on the Troubled Waters of the Far East
5. From Tropical Heat to Northern Turbulence
6. Wandering Among the Crumbling Remnants
of the Celestial Empire
7. Imperial Japan
8. Surveying the Landscape and the
Inhabitants of Japan
9. A Lingering Farewell to the Far East
Notes
Bibliography
Index