Theodore John Meredith was born on March 2, 1843 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England

and later in life served in a military capacity of three different countries; Great Britain, the Confederate States of America and New Zealand. According to oral history passed down from generation to generation, he was serving with the British Navy when he deserted and stowed away aboard a ship bound for America.  It may have been that his sympathies, like many in England at the time, were with the Southern states and wanted to do what he could to assist them, or he may have simply been looking for adventure elsewhers. At any rate, he is said to have arrived in America and enlisted in the Confederate States Navy in 1861, serving on both the “CSS Ivy” operating on the Mississippi River and later the iron-side Ram, the “CSS Louisiana”; during the Union bombardment of Confederate Forts Jackson and St Phillip.

The”CSS Ivy”, formerly the “El Paraguay”, a 454 tonnage side-wheel steamer, was commissioned on May 16, 1861 at New Orleans as the Confederate privateer “V. H. Ivy”, commanded by Capt. N. B. Baker. Originally having only 2 guns, on January 22, 1862, she was outfitted with one 8 inch, 182-pdr. rifle, two 24-pdr. brass howitzers and on February 27^th and in April 1862, she again had only 2 guns. She was purchased later in the year by the Navy and placed under the command of Lt. J. Fry CSN.

 

On October 12, 1861 she joined in an attack on the Federal blockading squadron lying off the Head of the Passes in the Mississippi River and achieved notable success with her long range gun and maneuverability. On November 3, 1861 the “CSS Ivy” was solely responsible for the destruction of the Federal cutter the “USS Niagara”, near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The “CSS Ivy” at one point served in a Confederate squadron led by the flagship “CSS McRae” under the command of Confederate Flag Officer Hollins, off Columbus on the Mississippi River, defending its Confederate batteries; assisted by  the “General Polk”, the “Jackson” and the “Marepass”. It also assisted, after the evacuation of Columbus in early March, with the group of Confederate gunboats assisting in the defense of Island #10. After the fall of Island #10 and the Federal capture of New Madrid, the “CSS Ivy”  can be traced to the occupation of New Orleans, in April 1862. The “Ivy” remained active in the Lower Mississippi until May 1863 when she was destroyed by her officers near Liverpool Landing, in the Yazoo River; in order to foil plans for her capture by the Union Navy.

 

In “Way's Packet Directory 1848-1983”, the last recording of the “CSS Ivy” is noted; “The wrecking boat “Travis Wright” in November 1873 removed from the Yazoo River near Liverpool landing an interesting relic in the form of a vessel 19l x 28 x 9 powered by a vertical condensing engine, beam type, 44" dia. by 11 ft. stroke. It had been purposely burned by the Confederates in May 1863 to prevent its capture. This 454 ton vessel had been the C.S. privateer “V.H. IVY”, in 1861, and later after the Federal blockade of New Orleans, became a part of Hollins river fleet known simply as “CSS gunboat Ivy.”

 

The “CSS Louisiana” was a 1400-ton ironclad, Meredith’s second ship was built at New Orleans, Louisiana, in early October 1861. Still under construction and incomplete when Federal forces threatened the Mississippi River defenses below New Orleans, on  April 20, 1862 she was towed down the river to serve as a floating battery; supporting Confederate Forts St. Philip and Jackson. Four days later, as Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut ran his U.S. Navy squadron up the river past the forts, the “CSS Louisiana” fired on some of the attacking ships as they passed her mooring. With the surrender of the forts on April 28^th her crew abandoned the Confederate ironclad and set her on fire, to avoid her capture by the Union Navy. The blazing hulk of the “CSS Louisiana” drifted slowly downstream and exploded as she drifted passed Fort St. Philip.

It was during that engagement that Meredith was captured and became a prisoner of war, eventually escaping and making his way to New York. From there he made his way back to Liverpool, England, Melbourne and eventually to Sydney, Australia; there joining the New Zealand Militia. He enlisted in the Waikato Militia under the name of Richard Double, possibly to conceal his identity as he was both a British deserter and an escaped Confederate prisoner of the 2^nd Regiment, No. 758. He enlisted on September 11, 1863 at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and received a land grant in New Zealand for his action with the Waikato Militia. These details have been officially established.

 

Meredith met and married Miss. Margaret Lovett, born July 22, 1849, at Pirongia, Auckland, New Zealand, on May 31, 1870. One of many things Meredith gave his wife was an officers tunic button from the CSS "Alabama", which had been fashioned into a brooch. An item which she wore with pride. 

 

Theodore John Meredith died at age 85 on March 28, 1928 and was buried in Row 5 in the Golf Road Cemetery in Taumaranui, New Zealand.  Mr. Theo Salt of Mt Eden, Auckland, New Zealand, is one of a number of his descendants. His wife, Margaret Meredith, died at 84 years of age on October 22, 1833.