January 16, 2026
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, again focusing on Civil War Medal of Honor recipient John Fairfield Bickford Jr. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” again featuring John Fairfield Bickford Jr. (1843-1927), who served in the Union Navy as a captain of the top (modern equivalent: petty officer) on board the sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge.
John Bickford was born in Tremont, Hancock County, Maine, to John Fairfield and Abigail (Keith) Bickford. He was a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and his wife Mary and daughter Constance Hopkins, as well as Thomas Rogers and his son Joseph Rogers.
Bickford was awarded the Civil War Medal of Honor for his bravery in action when the Kearsarge fought and destroyed the Confederate Navy commerce raider CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France, on 19 June 1864.
In Part One I covered Bickford’s family life and his service in the Union Navy.
There is no doubt that his Pilgrim ancestor Stephen Hopkins would have tipped his hat to Bickford, being himself a man of the sea.
Bickford began as a seaman and ended his naval career as a master’s mate. He was the first loader of one of Kearsarge’s two XI-inch pivot guns. Here is a photo of one of those two huge guns, displayed in Alden Park in Los Angeles, California.
He received $1,000 as prize money from the government and a Medal of Honor, as noted in this 1872 Gloucester, Massachusetts, newspaper.
One curio connected to Bickford that I came across in the newspaper was a gift he presented to McKinley Masonic Lodge No. 212 F and A in 1916. According to reports, the government had one of the guns on the Kearsarge melted down into mementos and given to officers and the crew.
Bickford often spoke of his adventures during the Civil War and loved to share them with friends and the press. He was 17 years old when he served and the action must have been an adrenaline rush. Many years later he recalled one colorful story which he had never shared in the past.
I found out about this story from Army Sgt. Andrew McAleer, who served as a U.S. Army historian with the 126th Military History Detachment and authored the Henry von Stray British classic mystery series. (Visit Andrew McAleer at: www.Henryvonstraymysteries.com) Andrew’s great grandfather, John J. McAleer (USMC), served with Bickford aboard the USS Kearsarge during its battle with the CSS Alabama.
In his collection, Andrew has a newspaper article published by the Boston Transcript on 21 June 1922, in which Bickford told his never-before-revealed story.
In this article, Bickford admitted that once – under his direction when he was given temporary command of the Kearsarge while the rest of the officers were ashore – a Confederate officer who had served aboard the CSS Alabama during the epic sea battle was given command of the Kearsarge shortly after it returned to Boston on 7-8 November 1864.
McAleer notes that, considering the Kearsarge had sunk the Alabama a handful of months earlier off the coast of France, it’s no wonder Bickford waited until he was in his 80th year to share his humorous anecdote about his role in handing the Kearsarge over to enemy hands.
Here is how Bickford tells it:
“There was one officer, I don’t remember his name, who wouldn’t go aboard the Deerhound [an English ship that rescued Alabama crewmembers from the Atlantic after the battle]. He came aboard and surrendered his sword like a gentleman. After I had been promoted to be master’s-mate, we came to Boston in the fall and were received with tremendous enthusiasm. On the night of the big banquet I was the only officer left on the ship, and I knew this lieutenant well enough to go below for my meal and leave him in command of the deck. I guess he is the only rebel naval officer that had any authority on a United States ship during the war. Of course, the men wouldn’t have obeyed him if he had given any but technical orders.”
Fortunately, Andrew says Bickford’s account, along with supporting documentation preserved by Kearsarge shipmates, provide numerous clues that help identify this mysterious, temporary Rebel-Yankee commander.
Additionally, I came across a news clip featuring a descendant of the mysterious temporary commander, sharing his story. Stay tuned!
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Note on the header image: 1915 reunion of veterans from the Civil War Union warship USS Kearsarge, survivors of the battle with CSS Alabama: (front, left to right) John C. Woodbury; Henry S. Hobson; William M. Smith; William H. Giles; Martin Hoyt; Patrick McKeever; (rear, left to right) George H. Russell; William L. Evans; John J. McAllen; Austin M. Quimby; Peter M. Ludy; John F. Bickford. Hobson, McAllen, and Quimby were marines. Credit: U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
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