Black and white portrait of Stephen Russell Mallory taken from a carte de visite. Mallory was raised on the island of Key West eventually becoming a lawyer and Inspector of Customs and then Collector of Customs on the island. He became a Democratic senator from Florida beginning in 1851 until the secession of his home state and the outbreak of the American Civil War. When the Confederate States of America was formed, he was named Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President Jefferson Davis. He held the position throughout the existence of the Confederacy.
