Hanged Beneath The Flag: The Somers Mutiny

Join Gregory Williams for this talk about the Somers Affair.

Were the alarming events on board U.S.S. Somers in 1842 actually the only “mutiny” in the U.S. Navy? Was the harsh punishment levied upon three suspected plotters–one the troublesome son of a Cabinet member–warranted? The incident inspired Melville works, the creation of the Naval Academy, and public responses by such as James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Sumner, and. . . Sturgis Library’s own, Captain William Sturgis.