The New International Encyclopædia/Wise, Henry Augustus

WISE, Henry Augustus (1819-69). An American naval officer and author, born in Brooklyn, N. Y. He entered the navy in 1834. During the Mexican War he was lieutenant on board the razee Independence, and took part in the operations in the Gulf of California. In the Civil War he served for a time on board the Niagara off Charleston, was promoted to the rank of commander in 1862, and served during the remainder of the war as assistant chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. He was promoted to be captain in 1866, and while on leave of absence died at Naples. Under the pseudonym of Harry Gringo he wrote: Los Gringos, or an Interior View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia (1849); Tales for the Marines (1855); Scampavias, from Gibel-Tarek to Stamboul (1857); The Story of the Gray African Parrot (1859); and Captain Brand of the Centipede (1860-64).