Office of the Historian

Mr. Preston, Secretary of the Navy, to Commander Lowndes, United States Navy.

[Strictly confidential.]
Navy Department, August 21, 1849.

Sir: You will proceed forthwith, with the United States ship Germantown under your command, to Havana, in the island of Cuba, in charge of dispatches from the Department of State and from the Honorable John M. Clayton, Secretary of that Department, directed to “Robert B. Campbell, esq., United States consul, Havana, Cuba,” and there deliver the said dispatches in person to the said consul.

Inclosed herewith you will also find a copy of a confidential order from this Department to Commodore Foxhall A. Parker, commanding United States home squadron, to which you are attached; and you are hereby ordered and directed, after the delivery of the before-mentioned dispatches, to rejoin the squadron under the command of Commodore Parker, if you are induced to believe from any reliable information you may receive that he has, under his confidential order, proceeded in the direction of the island of Cuba in execution thereof; and in the absence of *Commodore Parker you will be governed by the instructions given to him, a copy of which is inclosed, except so far as by said instructions he is required to proceed to Cat Island and the mouth of the Mississippi. [684]

After remaining a reasonable time at the island of Cuba, and receiving no information inducing you to believe that a military expedition is in progress toward that island, you will return to Boston, in execution of the orders already given by Commodore Parker, or such other orders as he may give to you.

I am, very respectfully, yours, &c.,

  • WM. BALLARD PRESTON.
  • Commander Charles Lowndes,
    Commanding United States Steamer Germantown,
    Boston, Massachusetts.