BRIDGE, HORATIO (1806–1893). A naval officer, Horatio Bridge is
most famous for his close friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne,* for whom
he found a publisher for Twice-told Tales (1837) and to whom Hawthorne
dedicated The Snow Image (1851). Born in Augusta, Maine, Bridge graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825 with Hawthorne. Upon graduation,
Bridge attended Northampton Law School and practiced law for several
years. After being financially ruined in a dam-building project on the Kennebec River, he joined the navy as a paymaster in 1838.
His first cruise was under the command of Commander John Percival, in
the sloop of war U.S.S. Cyane on her maiden voyage to the Mediterranean
in 1838–1841. After a period ashore, he was assigned in 1843–1844 to the
newly built sloop of war U.S.S. Saratoga, under Commander Josiah Tatnall.
Serving with the Africa Squadron under Commodore Matthew Calbraith
Perry,* Saratoga was one of three ships protecting American citizens and
commerce, while suppressing the slave trade on the west coast of Africa.
During this voyage, Bridge kept a detailed account, which Hawthorne edited for him as Journal of an African Cruiser (1845, 1853). After serving a year at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Bridge returned to the
Mediterranean and the West African coast in 1846–1849 as paymaster of
the frigate U.S.S. United States, flagship of Commodore George Read.
From 1849 to 1851 he served again at Portsmouth before returning to sea
in the sloop of war U.S.S. Portsmouth on the Pacific Station. Ordered to
Washington in 1854, he became chief of the Bureau of Provisions and
Clothing and was in charge during the period when the navy expanded
sevenfold during the Civil War. In 1869 he became chief inspector of provisions and clothing until retirement in 1873. Bridge lived until his death
in Athens, Pennsylvania, where in 1892 he wrote his Personal Recollections
of Nathaniel Hawthorne.