President Martin Van Buren Appoints Inventor Francis B. Ogden to the Prestigious Post of U.S. Consul For the Port of Bristol, England

These ironclads – including Ericsson’s famed USS Monitor – played a major role in the Union’s victory in the Civil War

Francis Barber Ogden had a brief military career during the War of 1812, when he served as an aide-de-camp to General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. He later embarked on a distinguished diplomatic career, serving as United States Consul to Liverpool from 1829 until 1840 and to Bristol from 1840 until 1857. These cities were then the principle terminuses of the extensive transatlantic trade between Great Britain and the United States, so these were posts of great importance, much greater than most ambassadorships. He died in office at Bristol and was buried beneath an imposing obelisk bearing an American eagle.

However, Ogden is best remembered as an inventor and pioneer of marine steam engines, and as the man who made possible the success of John Ericsson, whose work had a major impact on the Civil War years. In 1813 Ogden patented a low pressure condensing engine, building the first engine of this type in 1817. The famous engineer James Watt described it as “a beautiful engine”. Soon after becoming consul in Liverpool, Ogden attended the famed Rainfall Trials, an early railroad demonstration. There he met and befriended John Ericsson, who would come to be regarded as one of the most influential mechanical engineers ever. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the steam locomotive in the Trials, which lost to George Stephenson’s engine The Rocket. Ogden helped finance Ericsson’s researches over the next few years, while personally patenting Ericsson’s inventions in the United States – which Ericsson, not being an American citizen, would not have been able to do before 1836. Ericsson next designed the first screw-propelled steam-frigate, which he named the “Francis B. Ogden” in his patron’s honor. Ogden and his friend Robert Stockton induced Ericsson to move to America, and there he went on to oversee the construction of the “Robert F. Stockton”, the first screw propelled boat in the United States.

Ericsson next conceived of iron-clad armored battle ships, but this idea was met with a cool reception. However, when the Civil War broke out in 1861, this looked different, and Congress recommended that armored ships be built for the U.S. Navy. Ericsson presented drawings for the USS Monitor, a novel design of armored ship that included a rotating turret housing a pair of large cannons. The idea was accepted and the ironclad was launched on March 6, 1862. The ship went from plans to launch in approximately 100 days, an amazing achievement. On March 9, 1862, the Monitor took on the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in the first battle between ironclad warships. The success there led to the U.S. Navy constructing a fleet of ironclads on Ericsson’s design, and they played a major role in helping the Union to control the seas and enforce its blockade of the Confederacy.

Document signed, as President, Washington, November 6, 1840, appointing Francis B. Ogden of New Jersey “Consul of the United States of America for the port of Bristol in the Kingdom of Great Britain, and such other ports as shall be nearer thereto than to the residence of any other Consul or Vice Consul of the United States.” This was just one year after his friend Ericsson relocated to the United States.