Journal of an African Cruiser; Comprising Sketches of the Canaries, the Cape De Verds, Liberia, Madeira, Sierra Leone, and Other Places of Interest on the West Coast of Africa

Horatio Bridge was a United States Navy officer who served as Chief of the Bureau of Provisions for many years, overseeing the Navy's supply chain. Bridge was appointed by his former college buddy, President Franklin Pierce, and served in this position across several administrations, including the whole Civil War. He also had the distinction of being the first Navy officer to implement the concept of complete fleet supplies. During the Civil War, he oversaw the systematic supply of Navy boats on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, which was a huge success. Bridge is the son of a judge and was born in Augusta, Maine. He acquired his early schooling at private schools and Hallowell Academy. Bridge graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825, along classmates Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. According to an 1893 newspaper article, Horatio Bridge's appreciation for Hawthorne's early writings, as well as his faith in this genius, "was responsible for my being an author," in Hawthorne's own words. One of his latter works, The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales, was dedicated to his friend and sponsor, Horatio Bridge.