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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Commander John McIntosh Kell, Confederate States Navy, (1823-1900)

Born in McIntosh County, Georgia, in 1823, John McIntosh Kell entered the U.S. Navy in September 1841 as a Midshipman. Over the next two decades he served in several ships, was active in California during the war with Mexico and participated in Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition to Japan. When Georgia seceeded from the Union in early 1861, Lieutenant Kell resigned from the United States' Navy. In April 1861, he briefly commanded the Georgia state gunboat Savannah, but received a Confederate States Navy commission as First Lieutenant the following month and was sent to New Orleans. There, he helped Commander Raphael Semmes fit out the cruiser CSS Sumter. He served as Executive Officer during her commerce raiding cruise in 1861-62.

First Lieutenant Kell was Semmes' Executive Officer on CSS Alabama throughout her career, and was present when she was sunk by USS Kearsarge in June 1864. He was rescued by the British yacht Dearhound and taken to England. Promoted to the rank of Commander in that month, he commanded the ironclad CSS Richmond in the James River Squadron in 1865. After the end of the Civil War, Kell returned to Georgia and became a farmer. In later years, he served as Adjutant General of Georgia. John McIntosh Kell died in 1900.

This page features all our pictures of Commander John M. Kell, CSN.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 63071

First Lieutenant John McIntosh Kell, CSN


Halftoned reproduction of a photograph taken at New Orleans, Louisiana, in June 1861, "the day before Sumter sailed".
Kell was Executive Officer of CSS Sumter in 1861-62.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 132KB; 575 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 48699

First Lieutenant John McIntosh Kell, CSN


Halftoned image, printed in "Two Years on the Alabama", by Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair (2nd edition, 1896).
Kell was Executive Officer of CSS Alabama in 1862-64.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 76KB; 600 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 66635

First Lieutenant John McIntosh Kell, CSN


Line engraving by H.B. Hall, Jr., New York, taken from a larger print of officers who had served in CSS Sumpter.
Kell was Executive Officer of Sumter and of CSS Alabama.
For the entire print, see Photo # NH 57264.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 113KB; 600 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 42383

CSS Sumter (1861-1862)


Ship's officers on deck.
They are Seated, left to right:
First Lieutenant William E. Evans;
Commander Raphael Semmes, Commanding Officer; and
First Assistant Engineer Miles J. Freeman.
Standing, left to right:
Surgeon Francis L. Galt;
Lieutenant John M. Stribling;
First Lieutenant John M. Kell, Executive Officer;
Lieutenant Robert T. Chapman; and
First Lieutenant Becket K. Howell (Marine Corps).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 134KB; 740 x 590 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 57256

CSS Alabama (1862-1864)


Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama's commanding officer, standing by his ship's 110-pounder rifled gun during her visit to Capetown in August 1863. His executive officer, First Lieutenant John M. Kell, is in the background, standing by the ship's wheel.
The original photograph is lightly color-tinted and mounted on a carte de visite bearing, on its reverse, the mark of E. Burmester, of Cape Town. See photo numbers NH 57256-KN for the colored image and NH 57256-A for a reproduction of the carte de visite's reverse.

Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen C. Farenholt, USN(MC), 1931.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 127KB; 740 x 520 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 16 July 2000
Link added 11 February 2001