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Acting Ensign John Revell
John 'Jack' Revell was born 1835 in Preble Co. Ohio. Perhaps feeling that the infantry and all of its foot marching was not for him, Ohio native John Revell managed to
secure a berth with the United States Navy Mississippi River Squadron on October 1, 1862. Apparently well-educated and experienced as a clerk before the war he was
appointed as a Acting Master’s Mate and assigned to the gunboat [USS] Fairplay which the army had previously captured from the Confederates at Milliken's Bend on the Mississippi River in August of 1862. The Fairplay was officially transferred to the U.S. Navy on October 1, 1862, and placed under the command of navy Lieutenant Commander LeRoy Fitch. That same day John Revell was assigned to her crew. After spending the winter on board the Fairplay, John Revell was promoted on May 8, 1863 to the rank of acting ensign. The following month, when Lieutenant Commander LeRoy Fitch transferred his flag to a new ship, John Revell joined him there too. The [SS] Florence Miller II was a just-completed wooden stern-wheel steamboat built at Cincinnati that spring. Purchased by the navy on May 20, 1863, she was renamed the USS Moose and converted into a gunboat. The new flagship was a big improvement over the previous one. Drawing five feet of water, the Moose was capable of a top speed of six knots, more than a knot faster than the Fairplay. She also carried six 24 pounders, two more than on the Fairplay. Acting Ensign Revell served on the U.S.S. Moose for the remainder of the war. On February 17, 1865 John Ravell's resignation was officially accepted by the Navy Department, but his ordeal was not over. According to his family physician, he returned home suffering from "disease of the lungs and bronchial tubes” John Revell passed away June 18, 1867 at Eaton, Preble County, Ohio from complications attributed to his medical condition. This copyrighted photo is in use by special permission thanks to Mike Fitzpatrick
[This image can be found on Flickr along with an article. Mine is an abbreviated version for posting. Mike can be contacted @ Mike Fitzpatrick fitzpatrickmike@hotmail.com if you are interested in
doing an article. This image has been downsized for posting. I have the original size of 1619x2341 on file]"
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Bill Gonyo |
