John W. Mallet

From The Mallet Assembly

(1832-1912)

Next to Josiah Gorgas, the single most important man in the Confederate Ordnance Department was Lieutenant Colonel John W. Mallet. Mallet found his niche in the Confederate Ordnance Department by very different means than his boss. Mallet came to the Confederacy with an exceptional educational background, which included the University of Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons, the University of Göttingen and in 1854, a start as a teacher of analytical chemistry at Amherst College and later at the University of Alabama. Mallet's beginning in the Confederacy as a lieutenant at the battle of Bull Run hardly reflected where he would end up. In the spring of 1862 his role in the southern fight for independence changed drastically when Josiah Gorgas took notice of Mallet. Approaching him, Josiah Gorgas asked Mallet to embark on a new assignment that would bring order to the anarchy of the ammunition crisis. John Mallet reported on the state of affairs and brought out into the open the uncontrollable confusion that overwhelmed the production of ammunition. It was Mallet who ultimately resolved these issues.