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Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Acquisition Information
  • Digital Content
  • Preferred Citation
  • Publication Rights
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Biography

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: George Fearing Hollis Papers
    Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0471
    Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
    9500 Gilman Drive
    La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
    Languages: English
    Physical Description: 0.4 Linear feet (1 archives box)
    Date (inclusive): 1852 - 1903
    Abstract: Papers of George Fearing Hollis, Union Naval officer (1861-1865) and United States Consul to Cape Town, South Africa (1888-1893). The papers consist mainly of correspondence Hollis wrote to his mother and wife during the Civil War.
    Creator: Hollis, George Fearing, b. 1838

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired 2006.

    Digital Content

    This collection has been digitized and can be viewed through links in the container list, or by clicking the link below.

    Preferred Citation

    George Fearing Hollis Papers, MSS 471. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

    Publication Rights

    Digital copies of this material are intended to support research, teaching, and private study. This work may be used without prior permission. The original manuscripts for this collection are held by Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    Papers of George Fearing Hollis, Union Naval officer (1861-1865) and United States Consul to Cape Town, South Africa (1888-1893). The papers consist mainly of correspondence Hollis wrote to his mother and wife during the Civil War, describing both personal and war-related activities aboard three different vessels engaged in blockading activities on the eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico; appointments, promotions, and official acts; and memoirs written after the Civil War documenting his role in various naval battles, expeditions, and rescue missions. The collection also contains correspondence regarding his tenure (1888-1893) as the United States Consul in Cape Town, focusing largely on the aftermath of the 1892 murders of a ship captain and his wife aboard the ship William Hales. These files (1892-1895) document accusations made against Hollis regarding safekeeping of valuables, and his efforts to clear his name. Also included are miscellaneous official records, memos, and correspondence (both official and personal); songs and poems relating to the Boer struggle; and an undated handwritten draft regarding mining in Mexico.
    The papers are arranged in three series: 1) MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS, 2) CIVIL WAR MATERIALS, and 3) CAPE TOWN CONSULSHIP MATERIALS.

    Biography

    George Fearing Hollis was born on February 16, 1838, in Cohasset, Massachusetts, the fourth son of Hannah Sweet (nee Pratt) (the granddaughter of Thomas Fracker, a Boston shipbuilder who reportedly participated in the Boston Tea Party) and William Owen Hollis, a whipmaker. Hollis served in the United States Navy during the Civil War (1861-1865), returning briefly to Massachusetts to marry Eliza A. (also known as Lizzie) Simmons of Augusta, Maine, in August of 1863. Their children were William Stanley, Lucy G. and George S. Lizzie died in 1870, possibly as the result of childbirth complications. Hollis then married Louise M. (nee unknown). The 1870-1880 censuses record Hollis living in Arlington, Massachusetts as a tin ware manufacturer, but his activities from 1865 through 1887 are not documented in the collection.
    In 1888, Hollis was appointed United States Consul to Cape Town, now South Africa, a post he held until 1893 when his resignation was requested due to alleged mishandling of valuables belonging to a murdered ship captain and his wife. Although eventually vindicated, he did not return to consular service. His first son, known as W. Stanley Hollis, took over the Cape Town consul agent position on his father's recommendation to the State Department, and had a long diplomatic career serving at Port Natal, Lourenco Marques (now Maputo, Mozambique), Pretoria, Beirut, and Lisbon. W. Stanley is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
    Civil War Period:
    On July 24, 1861, Hollis became an acting master's mate in the United States Navy on a 295-ton commercial steamship re-fashioned into a gunboat, the USS Louisiana. The ship began blockading operations off the North Carolina coast and on expeditions up enemy-held rivers. Hollis participated in the capture of Roanoke Island and New Bern and the capture of several Confederate schooners. In August, 1862 he was promoted to ensign.
    Hollis was then transferred to the USS Octorara, a 981-ton side-wheel gunboat built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Octorara participated in blockading activities in the Western Gulf, as well as the southern Atlantic region. After the capture of the English sloop Brave, filled with sacks of salt, Hollis was tasked to take the ship to Key West for adjudication. Hollis participated in the Battle of Mobile Bay (Alabama), bombardment of both Fort Powell and Fort Morgan, and in the eventual capture of Fort Morgan. In April of 1865, the Octorara helped capture the city of Mobile.
    In June, 1864, Hollis was promoted to acting master and reassigned to the bark USS Fernandina blockading the waters of Ossabaw Sound near St. Simon's and St. Catherine's islands off the Georgia coast near Savannah. Here, Hollis would help to rescue some two hundred former slaves hiding in a rice swamp and establish one of the first freedman's colonies on St. Catherine's Island. Hollis was among the first to make contact with General Tecumseh Sherman's advancing army as they neared the city of Savannah and relayed this intelligence to the fleet commanders. He would later try, unsuccessfully, to document that he was the very first to deliver the news of Sherman's arrival. Hollis was officially detached from the Navy on April 18, 1865.
    Cape Town Consulship Period:
    In August of 1888, Hollis became the United States Consul at Cape Town, in what was then the Orange Free State (Oranje Vrystaat in Afrikaans.) In the 1850s the independent Boer Republics (Transvaal and the Orange Free State) were created but discovery of diamonds in 1870 and gold in 1886 caused a much-resented influx of "uitlanders," (Afrikaans for "foreigner," Europeans, mainly British, immigrants) and foreign investment. Thus, Hollis became consul during a period of great tension, midway in the twenty-year period between the first Boer War (1880-1881) and the second Boer War (1899-1902). Hollis appeared to be sympathetic to the Boer position and was well regarded during his consulship. Part of Hollis' job was to protect American citizens and their property and it was false allegations about his performance of these duties that led the State Department to request his resignation as consul in 1893.
    In 1892, Captain Buckley and his wife were murdered on board the ship William Hales during its voyage to Cape Town. When the ship arrived, Hollis removed jewelry from the bodies and had other valuables double-sealed in a trunk. The trunk was left on the ship under the care of the first mate whom Hollis regarded as competent. Hollis then enlisted the local chief of police to join him onboard for an inquiry into the murders. Later, Hollis was accused of negligence, and possible complicity, when most of the Buckley's valuables were stolen from the trunk by the first mate. The new captain, Welcom Gilkey, accused Hollis to his employers and Captain Buckley's son wrote to the State Department demanding action. Although the State Department sent Hollis notice of the accusations, before he had time to respond, they requested his resignation. He complied but also gathered affidavits to prove that he was not negligent and that Gilkey, his accuser, was incompetent, untruthful, and an alcoholic. Hollis was fully vindicated and the Buckley's son wrote the State Department and apologized when the facts showed the accusations against Hollis were unsupported.
    Hollis returned to Massachusetts after this affair but his activities afterwards are not documented in this collection.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Hollis, George Fearing, b. 1838 -- Archives
    Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
    Cape Town (South Africa) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
    Roanoke Island (N.C.) -- History -- Capture, 1862
    United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources