Lt. Henry M. Doak

Lt. Henry M. Doak. Confederate States Marine Corps. Born in Washington County, Tennessee, Henry Melville Doak was an adventurous young man who tried twice, at age 4 and at 7, to run away from home and join the militia headed off to fight in the Mexican War. Several years older, he gave up the study of law in Knoxville and actually joined the local militia being raised in 1861 to defend the South against Lincoln's invasion., Doak enlisted in the 19th Tenn. Infantry and was appointed regimental sergeant-major. He served with distinction at Mill Springs, Kentucky in Jan. 1862, being promoted to 2nd lieutenant and was with the 19th at Shiloh where he was wounded., Recuperating at home, he read newspaper accounts of the Confederate victory at Drewry's Bluff against the U.S. Navy steaming up the James River to attack Richmond. What really caught his attention was the role played by Confederate Marines in not only manning two of the big siege guns on the bluff but Marine sharpshooters along the river bank kept up such an intense fire that Yankee gunners on the ships couldn't get an accurate shot at the fort. Army Lieutenant Doak requested and received a transfer to the Confederate States Marine Corps and after completing his training at Drewry's Bluff, received his CSMC commission in November 1862., In 1863 Lt. Doak's first duty station was at Charleston, South Carolina on board the CSS Charleston, an ironclad which helped drive off three amphibious assaults against this important port city used by the South's blockade runners. A year later he was posted to Wilmington, N. Carolina where he commanded the Marine detachment on board the CSS Raleigh which attacked and temporarily drove the U.S, blockade squadron away from Wilmington., His next assignment was the Marine detachment on the CSS Tallahassee, a sail and steam powered commerce raider. The Confederate Navy sent these fast warships all over the globe to attack U.S. merchant ships in hopes of crippling Yankee commerce thus pressuring the Lincoln regime to negotiate a peace or at least draw off some of the blockade ships starving the South. In only three weeks, the Tallahassee captured then burned or ransomed, 33 enemy ships between New York and Nova Scotia and was headed for a raid on the Brooklyn Navy Yard when low coal supplies forced her back to Wilmington. Lt. Doak and his Marines helped defend Fort Fisher during the assault on this last Confederate port in January of 1865. When the fort fell, Lt. Doak was wounded and captured. He was exchanged, sent to the Naval Hospital in Richmond and when Richmond was evacuated, he served with the Marines in the retreat to Appomattox, surrendering with General Lee in April of 1865., After the war Henry Doak married Margaret Lockert of Clarksville, and the couple settled in the Hillsboro Village area of Nashville. He bought an interest in the Nashville American, forerunner of the Nashville Banner and later became editor-in-chief. He was appointed Clerk of the U.S. District Court and served at that post until his accidental death from a street car fall in 1928 at age 87., This plaque placed in honor of a fellow Marine by the following Marines: John Zilles Ist MAR DIV Vietnam, Neil Andrews 3rd MAR DIV Guam, Russell O. Tate 1st MAR DIV Vietnam, Josh Wilder 1st MAR DIV Guadalcanal, Jim Bryan 2nd MAR DIV Afghanistan and Iraq, Sen. Jim Webb 1st MAR DIV Vietnam, Gene Andrews 3rd MAR DIV Vietnam