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Aaron Van Camp (June 23, 1816 – September 15, 1892)〔Glenwood Cemetery records, Glenwood Cemetery, Washington, D. C.〕 was an espionage agent for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He and his son Eugene B. Van Camp were members of the Rose O'Neal Greenhow Confederate spy ring, which in 1861 was broken up by Allan Pinkerton, head of the newly formed Secret Service. At the time of the Civil War, Van Camp was a well-known dentist in Washington, D.C.. After his arrest and imprisonment in the Old Capitol Prison, he was paroled in early 1862. During the remainder of the Civil War, he continued spying for the Confederacy. He had taken his family to California during the Gold Rush of 1849, and then traveled in the South Pacific. In the 1850s he operated a whaling supply company in Samoa, where he was appointed as Commercial Agent for the United States in the Navigator Islands (now American Samoa) from 1853 to 1856. Later in 1881 he was appointed as Commercial Agent in Fiji, serving until 1884. ==Early life and career== Van Camp was born in 1816 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. He married Maria L. Bestor of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in about 1836.〔Jefferson County, VA, Marriage Records〕 Their son Eugene B. Van Camp was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1838.〔''6th Cavalry Regiment''- The Virginia History Series, M. P. Musick, 1st Ed., 1990〕 As a young man and Rebel soldier, Eugene assisted the elder Van Camp in his espionage activities for the Confederate States of America. Aaron Van Camp practiced dentistry in Kentucky,〔Louisville, KY City Directories, 1838-1844〕 Tennessee,〔American Journal of Dental Science, 1844, p. 161〕 Maryland,〔Matchett’s Baltimore Directory, 1848-1849〕 and Washington, D.C.〔Boyd's Washington, D.C. City Directories, 1858-1886〕 During the California Gold Rush period of the late 1840s, he took his family to California. In 1851, Van Camp went on a voyage into the South Pacific and became interested in supplying whaling ships, with the Navigator Islands as his base. He established a whaling resupply outpost in Apia, Samoa, in 1852. In 1853, Van Camp was appointed as Commercial Agent to the Navigator Islands (Samoa) and to the Friendly Islands (Tonga) by the U. S. Secretary of State.〔NARA Personnel Records of the State Dept. M588, M587, ''Consular Dispatches, Samoa and Fiji'', T25 and T27〕 He held that position until 1856, when he returned to the United States to resume his dentistry practice in Washington, D.C.〔''Island Reminiscences,'' Thomas Trood, McCarron, Stewart Co., 1912〕 Upon his return to Washington, D. C. Van Camp strongly expressed his pro-slavery views, especially after John Brown's unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, WV.〔“The Evening Post” NY, NY, Dec 1, 1859; (article refers to altercation with abolitionist in downtown Washington)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aaron Van Camp」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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