^B i w 1 1 H ■ 1 i H 1 ■>', o . * ., ., o ^ .\^^ •^^ . ^^- ■*> * ( ^ % c< 4 .v^^^' •^/> '^ ,- "^ ^N >;v \ o'^-' 0^ (.> C " " " « "-Jf ^^ .^ -S^ -^. -^^ ..-^^ VX^' '^> X '%f^.#' ^'' •?;, ^^.v^ - a\ :■'..' -•O' •>^.\ ■f o 0' ■'^<>- ,# ^^-^^ Copyright ]^°. <>- v^ x^^ o , "'^x- ^ vx^' ■"■r: COPYKIGHT DEPOSIT. .^O^ o5 -^Ci ' .0- oX'' .0' c " -^ '•> .■^' ,00, .0 0' ■J .^ . ~^.,^' ^-is- ,x. ,/> \\X -p >0^ ' -^ * " ' .^\ -^v- c^ ■■^ V . ^A v^ 0^ s^^^ A^'^ ■ 'V^ '% ^> .. ,. aV ^'^ :^: N^^r. / ^ .■^ '"» . K'^ -^ « 1 \ ,N. O' ^~N' '..,^^ _ »'' ''•/--. - .v'%. ' . -^A^^ , '^V- * •' s '^ ' \^ '^>- ,<\^ ■V ^^\^ ^^. ' ^ v^ // .0 ^^. ^' ^ * O. ^,^' -.s'' %, »Uyq! o^ -0' ,0 o. /' ''^^"^ v"" K^ V •^c. ■^.% V '^-,<^' ':/- V ^/, * X ^ , o\ .-,s^%, -^^o•'^;4^'•-. • 0' X^^^.'o.^- ^^ c, ^^• ?a -'■ ■"o 0^ ■i? = ^^^ "<^. '•\**' \' ^/. ,c^' ; " -i^ .^^' O N"" -^. .,."'^. ■ 0' .0- \'^ -. ^ " " .' v^^'% .**\- :''c. .0' o ^ <. ^'' -^ V^ 6^ .) ^ ,d^ '^/. * . ^ o ' \\^ ,^^• ./• ^%, ^"dSibv r'-'- ■o- ,, N I, - '• ^ ■ ,A >^' . .\^ ^-<. <^^. ", ■''.^^' <^^ * ,0- >. * S 1 V ^N. V ^^, " ■) Ni - l\ MtmaxvB of i>Frtttrp WITH 3nl|n lat?0 l^all. C. S. N. BY W. W. BAKER, OF Chesterfield. EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DOUGLAS SOUTHALL FREEMAN, Ph. D. I Richmond Va. The Richmond Pbess 1910. zy o^ ^»1 Copyright, 1910. By Douglas S. Freeman. (L CI. A 2 80 54 3 INTRODUCTION. While serving as one of the editors of the Richmond Times- Dispaich, the writer learned that his friend, the Honorable W. W. Baker, of Chesterfield County, had prepared a series of articles describing his adventures in the War Between the States. Mr, Baker's well known modesty had kept him from offering these articles for publication, and only the insistent demands of a few personal friends had ever induced him to write of his part in the war. After many interviews, Mr. Baker finally consented to permit me to publish his articles. This was done, with a result which no readers of the Times-Dispatch will ever forget. With a graceful sim- plicity and a modesty which added a charm to every line, Mr. Baker unfolded a story which moved every Southern heart. Most of us knew, in a general way, of Mr. Baker's connection with that Southern hero, John Yates Beall; and history told us, with substantial accuracy, the adven- tures of that famous guerrilla; but none knew the hair- breadth escapes, the daring, the fortitude and the suffering of Beall and his men. A few of Mr. Baker's friends, who know that he would never advertise his own valor, decided after the articles had been printed to preserve them in permanent form as a contribution to Southern history and asked me to add a few words of explanation. I feel that this is really superfluous: Mr. Baker's story is sufficient in itself, yet, as he leaves un- told as much as he tells, at least as far as he personally is concerned, a few words regarding the expedition in which Mr. Baker played a part, and a few words more regarding Mr. Baker himself, may not be inapropos. Memoirs of Service f(^^ John Yates Beall, who died a felon's death where he de- served a hero's grave, represented the flower of Virginia manhood. Born in J 839, he came of honorable stock; he was cultured, he was chivalrous; he had that spirit of genuine piety which gave to his military career all the ardor of a crusade. Under different circumstances, Beall might have lived and died a typical Virginia gentle- man, — wedded to the home of his fathers, serving God in his daily walk, dealing justly with all men, exemplifying in his life all these virtues which are associated, in our minds, with the Old Dominion of ante bellum days. Such, indeed, had been his purpose and such seemed the necessities of life. ^^^len the illness of his father forced him to leave the Univer- sity of Virginia, at the age of twenty, he came home and began active Ufe as a planter. It was while here, in the storied valley of the Shenandoah, that he developed those charac- teristics which made him dear to the Southern people. Fiery, impetuous, an aristocrat in every nerve, he came under deep, spiritual conviction as a young man, and from that time until his death his will in all things was subjected to a Will Divine. To him, religion was a living, throbbing prin- ciple, — a principle that gave him grace to bear and to forbear, a principle that inspired him to lofty ideals and exalted deeds. His religion was like that of Jackson and like that of Jeremy Bentham combined. It made him inflexible in battle, unfaltering in peace : it gave new strength to his sabre and new tenderness to his heart. It became, in short, the dom- inating principle of his life, and fanned into flame the truest impulses of his heart. When the war began, Beall of course threw in his strength to the support of his native State. No other course sug- gested itself to him; nothing else was ever dreamed of. Yet it was not until he had served some time, and had been Memoirs of Service 5 incapacitated for land duty, that he began that career which made his name a terror to the Federals. His determination to begin irregular warfare and to harass the enemy in every way possible came as the result of a cool and patriotic determination. He knew that in the field, or even at sea, where he fought with the regular forces, he was but one of thousands who were ready to give their blood or their lives for Southern independence. To die in such a way was but a small thing in his eyes, — a sacrifice and a service small in comparison with his devotion to the cause. On the other hand, he knew that by daring where others hesitated, by fighting where others felt helpless, he might give his life as a worthy sacrifice. Few men in the Confederacy would ad- mit for a moment that it was possible to capture a Federal gunboat on the Chesapeake with a handful of men; none would dare suggest that a company of intrepid spirits could release the famished thousands at Johnson's Island; yet Beall believed that these things could be done and counted them a proper service for his mother State. This and this alone is the explanation of the career upon which he entered in 1862. He had no other motive than that of service and no other incentive than that of patriotism. He was not blood thirsty; he was not craving notoriety; he was merely seeking to do the utmost to end the war and to save his State. When the officers of the Northern government, smarting under the disgrace of the defeats administered them by Beall, denounced him as a pirate, and put him and his as- sociates beyond the pale of honorable warfare, they belied as brave a spirit as the Confederacy produced and added new glory to Beall and his band. To protest that Beall and the men who served with him were pirates and not entitled to the honors of war is a sophis- try which history refutes in a thousand instances. Beall 6 Memoirs of Service was a commissioned officer of the Confederate government; he was acting under orders of the Navy Department; he was on detached duty, as were a hundred other gallant officers. If this service were piracy, then Bullock and Clay and Morgan and Mosby and every partisan, every diplo- matic agent and every foreign representative of the Govern- ment was a pirate. A grateful South, which has learned to place I^ee's men on the monument with Lee, and Pickett's Virginians and Caro- linians on the same pedestal with their leader, will not forget that Beall's men deserve no less praise than he. If he planned, they executed; if he led, they followed; if he had honor from victory and death from defeat, they deserve no less honor from victory and had no less danger of death from defeat. If Beall had been successful in his attempt to release the prisoners at Johnson's Island, he would probably have received all the glory. Had he desired it his men might have been forgotten; but when he was captured in the Chesapeake, his men wore shackles like his own and were threatened with the same grim death. Every man, there- fore, who followed Beall deserves to be remembered, and among these our friend, Mr. W. W. Baker, will hold no small place. The contribution which Mr. Baker makes, in this narra- tive, to the history of Beall's command is of first importance, in that he sheds new light on an obscure chapter of Southern history. Little enough has been written of Beall in a general way, and still less of his raids in the Chesapeake. His published memoirs and the accounts of his trial, to which reference is made in the text, deal almost exclusively with the ill-fated raid on Lake Erie; there are few reports and no private memoirs of the early work of Beall's party, Mr. Baker, who shared in the most thrilling of these experiences, Memoirs of Service 7 details the daily life of the men, characterizes Beali in sim- ple but powerful terms, and gives, in brief, the first and only adequate picture yet drawn of an expedition which deserves to rank with the most daring deeds of Mosby or of Morgan. One of the most interesting chapters in the history of the Confederates is that written after Appomattox. It is not the story of Political Reconstruction, harrowing, pathetic, heroic as that is; it is not the story of Industrial Transfor- mation, vital as that is in the life of the South today ; it is the story of the individual struggle men had after the war in earning their living, in making their way against the in- justice of a hostile Federal Administration, and in adjusting themselves, one by one, to a new and trying social order. Sociologists who tell this story in the future, guided by principles of which we now know little, will see this struggle and find in it much to inspire them. Most ot the men who came back from Appomattox and from other fields of sorrow were young men. All who were to have a part in making the South were young, for men past thirty, who came back from the war to contend alone with a hopeless labor force, a denuded country, and a biting poverty, seldom regained their old position and seldom were able to rise. The pathetic spectacle of famous Generals fruitlessly tilling a poor farm or following a small mercantile hfe is proof of this. All depended on the boys. To be sure, most of them had been snatched from school or from college, illy prepared for intellectual careers; but however equipped, their minds were those which must make fortunes for themselves and greatness for the South. How they did it, how they surmounted obstacles and repaired their 8 Memoirs of Service broken fortunes, how they struggled to make Ufe worth living and home worth having, how they rose and toiled, and finally succeeded is no less heroic than the tale of their military prowess. Mr. Baker was one of these boys, and those of us who know him best see in the story of his life the secret of how many of his peers won not only a place for themselves in the business world, but new honors for Virginia and new hopes for her children. Mr. Baker went into this struggle after the war determined to win success. The experience of his campaign with Beall and the stern discipline of his prison life strength- ened and matured those characteristics which he had in- herited from a long line of worthy ancestors and gave him an advantage which adverse circumstances never overcame. Born in 1844, the son of Anne Elizabeth Howard, a daughter of the famous Howard family of Maryland, and of John Daniel Baker, Esquire, of Chesterfield County, W. W. Baker was descended from a family which had lived in Chester- field and Powhatan for five generations, and which had by its sterling qualities of manhood achieved a proverbial reputa- tion for probity and worth. All that was lasting and all that was ambitious in this stock asserted itself in Mr. Baker when he returned home after the war and took up his Hfe work. In business he quickly succeeded, and his popu- larity there soon brought him into public life. His first public position was that of justice of the peace, which he received by appointment of Governor Gilbert C. Walker. This was an important position in a county, situated, as was Chesterfield, in the midst of the Black Belt, and to its duties Mr. Baker gave himself without reserve. When his term expired he was re-elected by the people and re- ceived this proof of their confidence, as often and as long as Memoirs of Service 9 he would accept of the post. After serving as supervisor of Midlothian district and as school trustee, Mr. Baker's friends insisted upon naming him for the House of Delegates in 1883 and prevailed upon him at a personal sacrifice to continue through the long regular and extra sessions of that and the succeeding troubled year. During this first term of service in the General Assembly of the State, Mr. Baker left his mark on the statute books of the Common- wealth. In addition to an important bill requiring the clerks of court to certify that bonds of special commissioners had been given before issuing decrees for the sale of property, Mr. Baker introduced and pushed to passage the first act ever placed on the statute books to prevent the running of freight trains on Sunday. This latter measure, important in itself, opened the way for future legislation and may truly be said to be at the basis of that admirable code of laws which gave to the Commonwealth a Christian Sabbath. Famil}'' and personal matters compelled Mr. Baker to retire from the Assembly in 1884, and it was not until 1899 that he was again able to take his place as the representative of his county in that body. In the meantime, by earnest application to business, Mr. Baker amassed a competence, and, when he returned to public life, he was in a position to give himself more freely to the service of the State. From that time until the present year he has not failed of re-elec- tion to the General Assembly, and during all of their sessions his record has been one of constructive legislation. Of the many laws passed at the instance of Mr. Baker, perhaps the most important was that enacted by the General Assembly of 1908 reorganizing the State Board of Health. Realizing from the tragedies in his own family that the State should do something to prevent the needless loss of Hf e from preventable disease, Mr. Baker drafted, on broad , 10 Memoirs of Service liberal lines, a bill which revolutionized health work in Vir- ginia and marked an epoch in the history of Southern hygiene. Under the provision of this act the State Board of Health was given $40,000 a year and was required to choose an executive officer and a staff of assistants to be organized into a State Department of Health. In addition, this Act required the State Board of Health to investigate cli- matic conditions in Virginia and to establish a Sanatorium for the open air treatment of tuberculosis. In pursuance of this Act the State Department of Health was duly or- ganized, with Dr. Ennion G. WiUiams, of Richmond, as Commissioner and was put in operation in July, 1908. By the time the Assembly met in 1910 the Health Department had won its place and justified its creation. It had carried out the provision of the original Act; it had estabhshed, equipped and had operated the Catawba Sanatorium where many cases of incipient tuberculosis were treated and cured and had gained for itself a wide field of usefulness. In the Assembly of 1910 Mr. Baker found himself by no means the sole champion of the new work and he was able to muster enough votes to insure not only the continuance of the State Board of Health, but the appropriation of a large sum for the enlargement of the Catawba Sanatorium and the passage of several epoch-making health laws. During the same session of Assembly, Mr. Baker fathered the bill giving State aid to the Industrial Home and School for Incorrigible Girls. This foundation met a long felt need in the State and gave to many unfortunate girls the means of escape from a life of shame and the assurance of a training that would fit them for honorable usefulness. The Home has already been opened and its friends have reason to believe that it will be as successful in its sphere as the Health Department has been in a different field. Memoirs of Service 11 Mr. Baker has not been content to serve the State ex- clusively as a legislator. Indeed his work as an administra- tor has been no less successful, especially in his conduct of Virginia's interests in the great Industrial Expositions of recent years. Appointed Commissioner for Chesterfield to the Richmond Expositions of 1888, 1889 and 1890, he early won reputation as an expert in such matters and was appointed Commissioner for Virginia to the St. Louis Expo- sition of 1904. Much of the fame won by Virginia's exhibit at that time was due to Mr. Baker's unselfish and patriotic services. So great was his success in this work, that when the General Assembly appropriated a large sum for the Jamestown Exposition of 1907, Mr. Baker, without a dissenting voice, was named one of the commission entrusted with the expenditure, and was most active in discharging his duties. In the same way, his administrative ability led the Assembly to appoint him on all of the three committees of recent years which have been entrusted with the largest State building contracts, — the enlargement of the State Penitentiary, the remodeling of the Capitol and the addition of a new wing to the State Library building. Nor have Mr. Baker's public services ended here. Noth- ing that has concerned the interests of the State has been foreign to him. Prominent in the councils of the Baptist Church, he has been frequently the moderator of the Middle District Association, and has been a Trustee of Richmond College for many years. He is also President of the Vir- ginia Anti-Tuberculosis Association and occupies many other places of importance in charitable and philanthropic organizations. In a word, his entire career has been a credit to his splendid ancestry and another proof that those who passed through the discipline of the war between the States 12 Memoirs of Service did not fall under the discipline of daily life, but won success in peace as they had attained honor in battle. Only a word need be added regarding the method pursued in publishing this narrative. Mr. Baker's account is sub- stantially the same as that originally published in The Times-Dispatch, with only a few typographical and grammat- ical corrections; the appendices are those selected by him and verified by the editor from the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. These have been arranged and sup- plied by the editor with a few footnotes and references which may be helpful to anyone desiring to learn more of the ''Terror of the Chesapeake." D. S. F. CONTENTS Page. Chapter I. The Beginning of Our Expedition .... 15 Chapter II. The Capture of the Alliance 19 Chapter III. A Very Close Shave 24 Chapter IV. Cornered and Captured 29 Chapter V. In Federal Shackles 33 Chapter VI. Edmondson's Escape 37 Chapter VII. Fort Monroe and Point Lookout 41 Chapter VIII. The Evacuation and Appomattox .... 45 Chapter IX. The End of Captain Beall 47 Appendices 52 CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNING OF OUR EXPEDITION. I was born in Chesterfield county, Va., October 20, 1844, and attended a school taught by Rev. D. B. Winfree for three years. When ten years old I lost my mother. After marrying again, my father moved to Danville, Va. In- stead of attending school as he desired, I persuaded him to allow me to be apprenticed to Messrs. Abner Anderson and L. M. Shumaker, editors of the Danville Register, to learn the printing business. My father becoming dissatisfied with Danville, removed to Dobson, N. C, when I obtained consent to be transferred to ^lessrs. Boner & Allspaugh, of the Western Sentinel, of Winston, N. C. After two years, when my father again removed to Richmond, Va., I came to the Richmond Enquirer, then owned by Tyler and Allegre , and there finished the required five years as apprentice at the printing business. While serving as apprentice, after my work was done in the composing room, I generally ''loafed" and kept busy reading in the editorial room, in which there was an excellent library. Whenever the editors, John Mitchell and George C. Stedman, wanted any errand run, I was always on hand to serve them, and hence became very intimate with both. In return they gave me all the assistance asked in my reading, of which I was very fond. In fact, Mr. Stedman appeared as solicitous of my welfare as if I had been his son, and was always anxious to aid me in any way that presented itself to him. I obtained permission from Mr. Allegre, and Served for a time in Capt. Cyrus Bossieux's company, Twenty-fifth Virginia Battahon, but my services were need- ed on the Enquirer, and I was again assigned to them. Seeing all my young friends joining the army, I became 16 Memoirs of Service anxious to again become a soldier, and talked the matter over with Mr. Stedman, who stated to me that he was also contemplating leaving the Enquirer and joining some arm of the service, and requested me not to take any action until he had determined what to do, as he wanted me to go with him. It was during the summer of 1863 that Mr. Stedman stated to me that he had about arranged to join in an en- terprise and wanted me to go with him. This I at once consented to do, after securing permission from Mr. Allegre. The only information I secured from Mr. Stedman was that we would enlist in the volunteer Confederate Navy, and that our ultimate destination would be the China seas, as it was proposed by the commanding officer to at once proceed to capture a good sea-worthy gunboat from the Federals somewhere on the Chesapeake or Atlantic, and to proceed as soon as possible to the South Atlantic for the purpose of intercepting shipping from China to the United States. It was about August 1, 1863, that Mr. Stedman informed me that he was ready for us to join the new ex- pedition. I was then introduced to Acting Master John Y. Beall and Acting Master Edward McGuire. We called them Captain Beall and Lieutenant McGuire. and they were so denominated ever after. Mr. Stedman and myseK en- listed in their command, which was composed of Captain John Y. Beall, Lieutenant Edward McGuire, Sailing Masters George C. Stedman, of the Richmond Enquirer, McFarland, of the Richmond Whig, Edmondson, of Maryland and Privates Wilhe Beall, Robert Annan, E. Mell Stratton, of Richmond, Fitzgerald of Norfolk, Severn Churn and Thomas, Accomac county; Crouch, Etter, Rankin, three other expert sailors, whose names I have forgotten, and myself. We made up what was commonly known during the war as "Beall's Party." Memoirs of Service 17 We left Richmond on the York River Raiboad about September 1, 1863, leaving the train at Tunstall's station, and thence via Piping Tree Ferry to Mathews Courthouse. After reaching that point, Captain Beall arranged with a number of the citizens to entertain his command while in Mathews. We were treated as members of the families by Messrs. Sands Smith, Thomas Smith, Colonel Tabb, and Messrs. Ransom and Brooks. In fact, all the citizens in the neighborhood of Horn Harbor and Winter Harbor were as hospitable as was possible to be, and we were always cor- dially welcomed to their homes. Nor did we fully realize the vengeance that would be visited upon them by the Federals as soon as it became known that they were friendly to the ''notorious Beall and his party of pirates," as Captain Beall was known and named by the Yankees after the incidents to be recorded were known by them. On September 18 Captain Beall again set out from Horn Harbor, Mathews county. His party numbered eighteen, and was divided, as near as I remember, in our two gallant little lifeboats, both of which were fitted with masts, sails and a full supply of oars. One was painted white and named "The Swan," and the other black, and named "The Raven." Captain Beall commanded "The Swan," and with him were McFarland, Edmondson, WiUie Beall, Robert Annan, Etter, Thomas, Sweeney and one other whom I have forgotten. Lieut. Ed. McGuire commanded "The Raven," and with him were Geo. C. Stedman, E. Mell Stratton, Severn Churn, Crouch, Rankin, W. W. Baker, Fitzgerald and another, whose name I cannot now recall. We sailed across the Chesapeake during the night of the 18th and reached Devil's Ditch, Northampton county, about the break of day on the 19th, passing and avoiding many vessels and steamers on the trip. After resting all day we 18 Memoirs of Service again set sail the night of the 19th, and proceeded to Rac- coon Island, near Cape Charles. We passed within about 600 yards of Smith's Island lighthouse about 9 o'clock the next morning, beautiful bright day. Captain Beall had visited the island about three weeks before, and after destroying the fixtm-es and cutting the cable from Fort Monroe to Washington, had brought away to Richmond twenty-five barrels of the best sperm oil, which was very valuable to the government at that time. In consequence of this raid, the Yankees had placed a battery of three guns on the island to defend it against any further raids on the part of Captain Beall. This we did not know at the time, and had it not been that Captain Beall had other work laid out, he would again have paid the lighthouse a visit. W^e were afterwards informed by citizens who were on the island at the time we passed that they discussed the probability of an attack from us, and had about arrived at the conclusion that they would evacuate the island on account of our apparent overwhelming force. They thought the eighteen of us were about 100. And ever after, when mentioned in the reports sent to Washington, although sometimes there were not more than sixteen of us with Captain Beall, and never over eighteen, it was made to appear that his force consisted of from 40 to 100 men. After passing Smith's Island we sailed up the inner chan- nel and captm'ed the Yankee sloop Mary Anne and two fishing sloops. Being a httle "fish hungry," Captain Beall allowed us to take as much fishing tackle as we wanted, and all of us spent the day fishing in the sand shoals, near Cobb's Island. After catching as many as we could manage, we returned to the Mary Anne and enjoyed one of the most elaborate fish suppers that I ever remember. CHAPTER II. THE CAPTURE OF THE ALLIANCE. For the next two days and nights we sailed up the At- lantic, and about night of September 21 it began to blow almost a gale and rained in torrents. About 8 o'clock at night we sighted, lying at anchor in Wachapreague Inlet, a large vessel, schooner rigged, which Captain Beall at once gave orders to capture. Captain Beall arranged to board the vessel on the port side and directed Lieutenant McGuire to board on the starboard side. Lieutenant McGuire was standing in the bow of the boat, and as there was a severe wind blowing us towards the vessel and a heavy sea running at the time, and as dark as pitch, our boat. The Raven, was dashed against the side of the vessel with such force as to smash our tiller, and Lieutenant McGuire was thrown head- long into the sea. He regained the boat, which was carried' by the rapid current then running around to the bow of the vessel, and thrown against the Swan, to which we made fast, and thus both Captain Beall and Lieutenant McGuire, with their men, boarded the vessel from the port side. The night was so dark and stormy that not a soul was found on deck, and Captain Beall directed Lieutenant McGuire and his crew to tackle the forecastle, and Captain Beall, with his crew, went aft to the cabins. Up to this time we had no idea of the character of the vessel, not knowing whether it was a war or merchant vessel. It proved to be the handsome merchant schooner Alliance, Captain David Ireland, Staten Island, N. Y., bound from Philadelphia to Port Royal, S. C, laden with sutlers' stores to the value of $18,000 gold. But Uttle resistance 20 Memoirs of Service was made, and no one was injured. After taking charge of the ship Captain Beall went below and directed that samples of everything be brought on deck, and we then had a veri- table feast of good things, as there appeared to be everything to eat, drink, smoke and wear aboard. As the equinox continued all hands remained aboard the Alliance, and both anchors were cast to keep her steady. That night, however, we again took to the Raven and Swan, after leaving a guard aboard the Alliance, and captured three more vessels — the Houseman, Samuel Pear sail, and a third called the Alexander. After stripping them of all val- uables, particularly their nautical instruments, of which the Confederacy was badly in need, we scuttled them and ran them out into the Atlantic. On September 24 all hands were brought aboard the Alliance, which Captain Beall decided he would try and save by running into the Chesa- peake and into some of the rivers that were not too strictly guarded by the Yankee gunboats. The morning of the 24th was beautiful and sunshiny, and Captain Beall called Captain Ireland on deck and asked him if he was thoroughly acquainted with the channel from the inlet into the Atlantic. Captain Ireland with pride stated that he was well ac- quainted with every nook and corner of this coast. Captain Beall repHed: ''Very well. Captain Ireland; this is a fine vessel with a most valuable cargo, of which our people in the South are sadly in need, therefore your crew will be placed under your command, and you will please run us as soon as possible out into Atlantic. I shall stand by you, and if you should allow us to run aground I shall be under the disagreeable necessity of shooting you. I am sure, however, that you reahze the gravity of the situation and will not play us false." Captain Ireland, who was a brave man, and equal to any emergency, then called his Memoirs of Service 21 crew aft and soon had every sail set, and in a short time we were bowling along in the Atlantic. When we reached Cobb's Island Captain Beall sent ashore and secured a pilot who was well acquainted with the bay, and particularly the Pianketank River, into which he had by this time determined to run the Alliance. All of the prisoners who would agree not to give information as to our whereabouts for three days were paroled, and those who refused, among the number Captain Ireland, his mate, purser and about ten others, were, after we reached Cape Charles, placed aboard the Raven and Swan. I was aboard the Raven with Lieutenant McGuire and Mr. Stedman as guard, and the Swan was placed in charge of Edmondson with two guards and the prisoners placed in our boats. We sailed along with the Alliance until we reached Cheery- stone Lighthouse, when we headed for Horn Harbor, and the Alliance, under Captain Beall, for the Pianketank River, Lieutenant McGuire at the tiller and Mr. Stedman and my- self in the stern, with the prisoners in front. During the night there came on a heavy blow, with waves running so high that at times our little craft was almost upon beam ends, and the heavy caps seas frequently half- filled her. When about half way across the Chesapeake the winds and waves became so high that Lieutenant Mc- Guire told us, prisoners and all, that if the wind rose any higher that we could not possibly keep our boat afloat, and himself divested himself of his heavy boots that he might be as little encumbered as possible. We kept the Raven and Swan as close together as possible in the event of either being swamped, but with the almost superhuman work of Captain Ireland and the other prisoners constantly bailing, we kept afloat, and about sunrise sailed into Horn Harbor. Captain Ireland remarked afterwards 22 Memoirs of Service that he had been on the sea for a number of years, but that trip was about the closest call he had ever had, and that a little more wind and none of us would have ever seen the land again.* Just here it might not be amiss to mention an incident which occurred while on the Alliance. After Captain Beall had brought upon deck everything that we needed either in eatables or clothing, and given each of us all we wanted, he stated to us that he did not wish anything to be disturbed below decks, and that if we needed anything to ask him and he would see that we were supphed. He had always been so kind and gentle in his manner to each of us, frequently taking our places at the oars and cooking when we appeared tired, that none of us realized how stern he could be when his orders were disobeyed. But no sooner than we were allowed to go below than a spirit of curiosity seemed to get the best of five or six of us, and we commenced to break open boxes of cigars, trying to get something better than those we had been served with. Captain Beall heard of it and summoned us on deck, and stated that he had learned that his orders had been disobeyed, and directed that we be hned up against the rail of the vessel and searched, stating that if any evi- dence appeared that cigars or other things was found upon our person that he intended to shoot the man upon w^hom they were found. I unfortunately had my pockets filled with the best Havanas, as did several of the others. Realizing that we were in a tight place, we crowded back to the rail and as close together as we could get, and with our hands behind us emptied every pocket into the sea. I have thought that Captain Beall knew what we were doing, although he could not see our hands at work. At any rate when the search *See Report of Guert Gansevoort, captain, U. S. N., to Maj. Gen. J. G- Foster, Sept. 28, 1863, Appendix I, p. 53. Memoirs of Service 23 was made we all were found to be innocent, and Captain Beall dismissed us with a fatherly caution not to again dis- obey him, and I can say that I am sure that in all the months after he never found real cause to complain. CHAPTER III. A VERY CLOSE SHAVE. After reaching Mathews we carried the prisoners up to a church on the road not far east of Mathews Courthouse. We had been there but a short time before we heard cannon booming over on the Pianketank River, and in a few hours Captain Beall appeared with the other men and stated that as they entered the mouth of the river, they were chased by a Federal gunboat, and that the pilot becoming confused as to the channel, ran the Alliance aground. The gunboat coming as near as she could get continued shelling them, while they were loading as much of the cargo as was possible and were setting fire to the ship and pulUng for the shore. Captain Beall saved several wagon loads of the cargo, along with all the nautical instruments, which along with the prisoners, we carried overland to Richmond. On reaching Richmond, Mell Stratton resigned, and some one else — I have forgotten the name — enlisted in his stead. After about ten days' rest we again set out to Mathews, having left our little lifeboats hidden in Horn Harbor, near Mr. Sand Smith's. We remained in Mathews several days, arranging for an extended raid, in which Captain Beall hoped to captiure a seaworthy gunboat, as he had been in- formed where one such sometimes stopped to secure supplies. Captain Beall' s operations now began to attract attention, and called down heavy denunciations upon him in the North, and while we were arranging for our next raid Brigadier- General Wister was sent down to Mathews and neighboring Memoirs of Service 25 counties for the special purpose of capturing Captain Beall and his party. General Wister's force for this purpose, I was informed, consisted of one regiment of negro infantry, two of white cavalry and one battalion of artillery, also three gunboats in North River, three in East River and two in the Piankatank River. Information reached Captain Beall of the approach of this overwhelming land force. Edmondson was sent up to the field in front of Colonel Tabb's home to ascertain if the report was true. While waiting he fell asleep and narrowly escaped being captured, leaving his coat, upon which he had lain down to rest. Captain Beall then arranged for a hur- ried departure on his boats. After running out a short distance he ascertained that it would be impossible to pass the gunboats, which were on the lookout on the water, there- fore he at once ordered the Raven and Swan to be run up to Mr. Sand Smith's, at the extreme end of Horn Harbor and near Mr. Smith's lawn. We all set to work with shovels and filled both boats with sand and sunk them. While we were at this work, information was brought that the Yankees were resting in force in front of Colonel Tabb's, and that pickets were then being stationed at Mr. Thomas Smith's gate, and all ilong the roads between the Mobjack Bay and the Piankatank River, in three impenetrable lines. We finished filling and sinking the two boats about sunset, and were then told by Captain Beall that we would "have to get out of there" that night. Captain Beall then coolly proceeded to the home of Thomas Smith, about one-half mile distant, and accepted an invitation extended the whole party by Miss Lizzie Smith, the daughter of Thos. Smith, to come in and partake of supper that she had prepared for the whole party, although she knew that at the time the 26 Memoirs of Service Yankee pickets were stationed at her father's outer gate about one-fourth of a mile distant. I remember that a part of the supper consisted of sweet potatoes, and shall never forget how hard they were to swallow, as I thought of those Yankees at the gate. After we had partaken of a hearty supper, and what to me appeared an awfully leisurely one, Captain Beall asked McFarland, of the Richmond Whig — who had seen service as an Indian scout, and who had a tread as soft as a kitten — if he thought he could locate all the different pickets. McFarland assured him he could. We were then ordered to follow Indian file in the footsteps of McFarland, and not to whisper or make the slightest noise. McFarland would go a distance in front and ascertain where the pickets w^ere located, and return, and we would follow after him, crossing the picket Unes, which were supposed to be about 100 yards apart. Just after we had crossed the first line on the road from Colonel Tabb's to Thomas Smith's, Edmondson insisted that he be allowed to crawl up into the field where the main force of the Yankees was encamped, and get the coat that he had left that afternoon. Captain Beall consenting, we all laid down about five feet from the road, by the side of a ditch, and in a minute or two a Yankee relief guard came tramping by. I thought that my heart would punch a hole in the ground, it beat so fiercely as the Yankees moved up so quietly that it was impossible for us to move without being seen by them. We had to stay there and quietly hope that they would not see us. I am very glad to record they apparently did not. In a short time Edmondson returned with his coat, and we resumed our silent march, with McFarland always in front locating the line of pickets. Under his skillful leadership Memoirs of Service 27 we successfully passed through all three lines of pickets, and by sunrise were securely resting in Dragon Swamp. It now becomes my painful privilege to record one of the saddest events of my connection with the service under Captain Beall. After remaining for two or three days in Dragon Swamp, Captain Beall learned that the large force of infantry, cavalry, artillery and gunboats had returned to Fort Monroe and that the coast was again clear. We then learned that General Wister had made a thorough search for us the morning after our departm-e, and was deeply chagrined because of the failure of his expedition and was greatly incensed against the citizens because they had not aided him. The morning after we left a squadron of cavalry rode rap- idly down into Sands Smith's yard and in some way in- sulted Mr. Smith, who was a man to whom fear was un- known. Mr. Smith was so enraged at what was said to him that he ran into the house and secured his double-bar- reled shotgun and shot dead the first man that had insulted him, and was upon the point of pulling another from his saddle when the others of the squadron rode up and felled him with their sabres. Mr. Smith was injured but slightly, and was then bound. The Yankees pulled his buggy out of the carriage house, tied Mr. Smith to the seat behind the buggy (the seat then used to carry trunks upon), and told him that they would reserve punishment until he could be taken before the whole command. There were seven or eight daughters of Mr. Smith then in the dwelling and with tears they begged to bid farewell to their old father, but were ruthlessly pushed aside and not allowed to speak to him. Mr. Smith was then taken up between Colonel Tabb's and Mathews Courthouse and there hung upon a tree on the roadside, and while still hanging his body was riddled 28 Memoirs of Service with bullets. When Captain Beall heard of it the next day he was overwhelmed with grief, and I am sure that if he had ever caught the men connected with that raid they would have suffered as much or more, if possible, than our old friend and hero, Sands Smith. CHAPTER IV. CORNERED AND CAPTURED. After this tragedy Captain Beall was more anxious than ever to do all the injury that was possible to the Federals, and at once began preparations to capture the gunboats, on which he hoped to make the Yankees feel the force of his anger at the murder of Sands Smith. It was about Novem- ber 10th that Captain Beall and Lieutenant McGuire set out with our party and again crossed the Chesapeake Bay in the Raven and Swan. We first captured a schooner, in which Captain Beall proposed to conceal his men until night, when he planned to capture a gunboat lying at anchor near Chesconnessex, Accomac county. After consultation with his advisers, Captain Beall, thinking that our boats which were the best ships' tenders and were so much larger and handsomer than those used as tenders for schooners, might attract notice, determined to have them hidden in some of the nearby coves, and ordered Edmondson to take a crew and carry them into some cove out of sight and then to come to the schooner at 8 o'clock the next night. Edmondson took command of them, and with Fitzgerald, Thomas, Crouch, Churn and myself, sailed away from the schooner and into what appeared in the dark a most excellent hiding place. Edmondson and all the others except Fitzgerald and myself left the boats and went over into the island and laid down to sleep. Fitzgerald and myself remained in the boats and were soon fast alseep. The next morning when we awakened the sun was shining brightly, and we could see that a great mistake had been made as to our being hidden. For, while 30 Memoirs of Service it had appeared to have been a most secluded spot in the night, we soon found that if any one were to sail by the mouth of the inlet our boats could be seen. However, Ed- mondson, who was in command, thought that there would be still greater danger of our capture if we attempted to go into any other inlet. He therefore directed Fitzgerald and myself to remain in the boats, and he himself and the rest of the party again crept over into the island, which was densely covered with sage brush, and fell asleep. About 12 o'clock a fisherman passing by the mouth of the j inlet sailed in and up to our boats and inquired who we were. I do not remember whether it was Fitzgerald or myself that told him that we were with a party from Baltimore who had run down on a hunting trip, and were resting until the tid *' rose, when we expected to sail up the bay and spend the nigh f near the gunboat. We were afraid to shoot the fellow, aq any firing would have attracted many of the hundreds of; fishing smacks that appeared to be near the mouth of the inlet, and we hoped that he would be satisfied with our! statement, as he told us he was fishing in one of the many smacks that lay outside. If he had come near enough we couldi have pulled him into our boat and kept him, but he kept some distance away while talking to us. He wished us all luck on our hunting trip and sailed out of the inlet. W ,A^' ^/' ,0 o. 0- ^-^ "", 'c- .<^ "^^. ^ V \>\^ -' '^..^^ .0- ,<■■'■"" •X .^ ^. ■^^r.\ & . 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