Josiah Conley, Jr. - Captain's Clerk
Josiah Conley, Jr. was born circa 1846 in New York [3] and served aboard the U.S.S. Tecumseh as Captain's Clerk.
He is listed in Officers and Enlisted Men who Died in the Active Service of the U.S. Navy 1776-1885 as having died in action aboard the Tecumseh when she sank in battle on 5 April 1864 [1] as well as in the BUMED list in Army-Navy Journal [2]. However, Conley was admitted to Naval Hospital Pensacola on 3 August 1864 with adynamia. His records also state he was transfered to Naval Hospital New Orleans on 6 August 1864, the same day other ambulatory Pensacola patients were transported to NOLA in order to make room for casualties from the Battle of Mobile Bay, alive the day after the battle in which he allegedly died in.
While in New Orleans, Conley apparently was giving egregious statements to the press about the Tecumseh sinking, CDR Craven being shot and the status of her crew on behalf of the Navy as a "survivor" of the battle. Eight of Conley's shipmates signed a statement calling him out over the fact that Conley was nowhere near Mobile Bay that morning and was giving incorrect information when they saw the articles after they arrived in New Orleans aboard the Tennessee.
No further records have been found regarding Conley's naval service after he was transported to New Orleans on 6 August.
Interment
Dependents
Awards & Memorials
Alternate Spellings of Name
References and Sources
[1] Officers and Enlisted Men who Died in the Active Service of the U.S. Navy 1776-1885[2] "Navy Gazette: List of Deaths in the Navy of the United States, reported to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Navy Department, during the week ending December 3d, 1864." Army and Navy Journal, 10 Dec. 1864, p. 253.
[3] Hospital Tickets and Case Papers, compiled 1825-1889. ARC ID: 2694723. Department of the Navy, Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Record Group 52. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
