PAPERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MILITARY HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 VOLUME XII. 
 
 NAVAL ACTIONS AND HISTORY 
 1799-1898 
 
NAVAL ACTIONS 
 
 AND 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 1799-1898 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE MILITARY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 OF MASSACHUSETTS BY 
 
 BOSTON 
 1902 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE OLD NAVY 1 
 
 THE HOME SQUADRON IN THE WINTER OF 1860-61 . 75 
 
 THE STORY OF THE CUMBERLAND 101 
 
 THE STORY OF THE MONITOR 127 
 
 REMINISCENT OF THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON . . 155 
 
 / 
 THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY 209 
 
 THE NAVAL BRIGADE 245 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR, 1861-1865 . 269 
 SAMOA AND THE HURRICANE OF MARCH, 1889 . . .305 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY 365 
 
 INDEX . . 389 
 
THE OLD NAVY. 
 
 BY 
 
 REAR-ADMIBAL GEORGE E. BELKNAP, U.S.K 
 Bead January 5, 1897. 
 
THE OLD NAVY. 
 
 MY topic this evening is the Old Navy, Historical and 
 Reminiscent, with glances aside at the British Navy. 
 
 We hear a great deal about the New Navy in these 
 days; but just when and where the Old Navy became 
 merged in, or was swallowed up by, the New is a question 
 that perhaps no man can satisfactorily answer. The 
 conditions of our naval service have not changed a whit 
 more during the past fifty years, except in academic direc 
 tions, than have the conditions of the British navy, yet 
 I venture to say that no man ever heard the invidious 
 distinction of new and old applied to that grand service 
 a service which is literally the foster-mother of our own, 
 and unquestionably, as regards organization and homo 
 geneity, strength and mobility, the finest navy the world 
 has ever seen. Nor do we in this country ever hear 
 such distinction applied to our Army ; and certainly no 
 man will deny that the Army has kept equal pace with 
 the Navy in meeting the changed conditions of warfare, 
 which the improvements in ordnance and armor, small 
 arms and explosives, electrical appliance and manipula 
 tion, have demanded since the close of our civil war. 
 
 New ships alone do not make a new navy. The spirit 
 of man and his directing hand are required to give them 
 any value whatever as constructions for the defence of 
 the nation. In other words, without an organized and 
 disciplined personnel, schooled in the art of naval warfare, 
 
 3 
 
and trained to the knowledge of the sea and its turbulent 
 conditions, they would be as useless and 
 
 "Idle as a painted ship 
 Upon a painted ocean." 
 
 But the personnel of the service is a continuing body, 
 imperceptibly evolutionary in character with the passage 
 of time, like every other organization with which man 
 kind has to do, especially in this age of notable invention 
 and unsurpassed activity. Nor are the new types of ships 
 a whit more novel in design or more difficult to handle in 
 any respect than the monitor class of vessels which, in 
 their experimental state, the personnel of a generation 
 ago had to take directly from the hands of the builders, 
 and go forth with haste to meet the enemy in battle, leav 
 ing to such supreme hour the test of appliances and the 
 development of defects, as witness the searching results 
 of the enemy s fire at Charleston on the memorable 7th 
 of April, 1863. 
 
 What officer of this day, indeed, has matched Worden 
 in sea-daring, when he took the first Monitor, full of 
 faults, from New York to Hampton Roads in 1862, and 
 engaged in battle the confident Merrimac but a few brief 
 hours after arrival ? Or John Rodgers, who, when in the 
 Weehawken, off the Delaware breakwater, cast off his 
 tow in a blinding north-easter, and boldly pushed into the 
 teeth of the gale to test the sea-going qualities of that 
 new type of ship of which, on the part of many seamen, 
 there were grave doubts? What ship of this so-called 
 New Navy to-day, indeed, has gone or been fit to go into 
 instant service in face of the enemy the moment she left 
 the builder s yard ? 
 
 Anent the monitor-class of turret-ships, Admiral Porter 
 tells this story in his Recollections : " When Ericsson laid 
 his model for the original monitor before the Navy 
 
Department, Lenthall, the Chief Constructor, said the 
 Swede was crazy ; but old Admiral Joe Smith he who 
 said Then Joe is dead, meaning by Joe his son, who 
 was the frigate Congress s Executive grasped her possi 
 bilities and favored her building. When approaching 
 completion, Porter was ordered to make a critical examina 
 tion of her, and report his conclusions. Ericsson resented 
 such procedure ; he didn t want his vessel examined by 
 a practical seaman, but by a mathematician who could 
 figure out tonnage and displacements. Porter, during his 
 inspection, always full of fun, talked to Ericsson from 
 time to time, and badgered him in the most exasperating 
 way. Finally he said, * I will report that Mr. Ericsson 
 has constructed a little iron vessel, which in the opinion 
 of our best naval architects is in violation of well-known 
 principles, and will sink the moment she touches water. 
 * Oh, said Ericsson, * he s a fool. But, continued Porter, 
 4 1 shall also say that Mr. Ericsson has constructed the most 
 remarkable vessel the world has ever seen; one that if 
 properly handled can destroy any ship now afloat, and 
 whip a dozen wooden vessels together if they are where 
 they could not be manoauvred so as to run her down. 
 1 My God ! exclaimed Ericsson, seizing Porter s hand, 
 
 and almost shaking it off, * I took you for a d d fool, 
 
 and you are not a d d fool after all ; and the two 
 
 became fast friends from that moment." 
 
 But to return from this digression, I accept, for the 
 purposes of this paper, the designation of Old Navy, and 
 claim for it the major credit substantially for the achieve 
 ments and progress the navy has made from the founda 
 tion of the government to this day ; for until the spirit 
 of the war-experienced element of the service is entirely 
 eliminated by death or retirement, the " New Navy," so 
 called, cannot come to what it already affirms to be its 
 own. 
 
6 
 
 As for a time after the wars with the Barbary powers 
 of Northern Africa and with England in the first and 
 second decades of the century, the Navy, under the neglect 
 of Congress and the indifference of the people, languished, 
 and was only kept in any sort of condition through the 
 pluck, steadfastness, and tenacity of the grizzled old cap 
 tains and commodores who had won such renown in those 
 early years of the Republic s life, so it was only the 
 patience, resolute purpose, and unfaltering endeavor of 
 the men who had done such brilliant things under the 
 lead of Farragut and Foote, DuPont and Rowan, Rodgers 
 and Worden, Davis and Dahlgren, and other great seamen, 
 that kept the navy respectable and, indeed, from going by 
 the board, during those mortifying years of decadence that 
 began in Secretary Robeson s time, and continued until the 
 character of our ships and their ordnance became a re 
 proach to the country and a by-word among the Powers. 
 They saw ship after ship relegated to "rotten row" as no 
 longer serviceable, and no ships in sight to replace them, 
 till at last the Flag-Officers of our little squadrons abroad 
 were compelled to shift about from one little craft to 
 another with pitiful, illy arranged, and meanly appointed 
 accommodations, never intended for such use, and, at 
 times, forced to take up quarters on shore in order to live 
 befittingly. 
 
 In those depressing days of decadence and neglect, 
 when our ships fell in with the new cruisers and battle 
 ships of other maritime powers in foreign waters, includ 
 ing those of China and Japan even, the contrast was 
 most marked and humiliating to our officers and men. 
 It is a notable fact, that when Commodore Perry steamed 
 into Yedo Bay, in 1853, in his " black ships of Uraga," 
 as the startled beholders on shore called them, the 
 Japanese had never looked upon a steamship before, and 
 they marvelled at the sight. 
 
Yet, thirty-seven years later, I saw the Emperor review 
 and manoeuvre his steam fleet of twenty-two ships of 
 recent construction and latest armament in Hiogo Bay, a 
 review and manoeuvre conducted with a skill and a pre 
 cision that would have done credit to any navy in the 
 world. After the review the Emperor gave an audience 
 on board the ship that carried his standard. He received 
 in the cabin, attended only by the Minister of the Navy 
 and the grand chamberlain. All of the Admirals and Cap 
 tains Japanese and foreign together with the officers 
 of their respective staffs, were presented in turn. The 
 deck where the officers, resplendent in gold lace and 
 epaulets, awaited their turn of presentation, made a scene 
 at once suggestive and brilliant. Among the epauletted 
 throng was Ito, the subsequent victorious commander of 
 the great sea-fight of Yalu, then all unconscious of the 
 great distinction that was so soon to come to him. 
 
 To the great discredit of this country, my flag flew on 
 that day from the masthead of an obsolete old wooden 
 cruiser, not a whit in advance of the type and armament 
 of the ships that composed Perry s fleet nearly forty years 
 before ! Indeed, the policy that for long, long years 
 made the United States conspicuous by its continued 
 display of obsolete ships and worthless armaments in 
 Oriental waters, while all other maritime nations espe 
 cially John Bull were represented by newest ships and 
 latest ordnance, constantly brought the blush of mortifica 
 tion to the cheeks of our Ministers and Consuls, merchants 
 and missionaries, travellers and sea-faring folk in the 
 Orient, while the lot of our naval officers and seamen 
 under such conditions was, indeed, hard to bear. The 
 governments and peoples of those Asiatic countries mar 
 velled at such fatuous policy, and the prestige we lost 
 by it in a commercial and political sense was well-nigh 
 incalculable. 
 
8 
 
 When our merchants and ship-builders tried to get 
 contracts in that part of the world, our ships of war were 
 pointed at derisively as striking demonstrations of our 
 antiquated ideas as to ships and ordnance, and the con 
 tracts went to Europe. And to-day, notwithstanding the 
 fact that we now have some of our finest ships in Asiatic 
 waters, Japan and China give their ship contracts to 
 British builders, rather than to the ship-builders of our 
 own country, though within a few weeks it is reported 
 that the government of Japan has contracted for two 
 cruisers to be built at the Cramps on the Delaware and 
 at the Union Iron Works, San Francisco. It used to be 
 the habit, indeed, of Li Hung Chang when our gunboats 
 visited Tientsen, to question their captains with regard 
 to the composition of our navy, nor did the genial Viceroy 
 fail to intimate that our English friends were ever im 
 pressing upon him the idea that we lacked in America 
 the experience and ability to build ships and guns of 
 modern requirements. England has some pride in mother 
 ing us, but she takes care to reserve the cakes and ale of 
 production and commerce for herself. 
 
 But despite these disheartening conditions, the officers 
 never lost hope. They felt that the day must come when 
 the country would see the necessity for naval rehabilita 
 tion; wherefore, swallowing their mortification for the 
 time being, those afloat, while keeping in touch with the 
 naval changes and improvements going on about them, 
 never relaxed their efforts in the maintenance of discipline 
 and diversity of drills, the bettering of the condition of 
 the enlisted men, and diligent purpose in every other 
 direction that tended towards thorough organization and 
 efficiency. 
 
 On the other hand, the officers on shore duty kept pace 
 with every new invention and method, whether pertaining 
 to new types of ships, increased power of ordnance, 
 
9 
 
 improvements in armor, or advance in economy of motive 
 power. They also worked on new and original lines of 
 development with characteristic zeal and ability, and so 
 were ready to begin the work of reconstruction the 
 moment Congress granted the means for such purpose. 
 
 During this period, be it remembered, the Old Navy 
 was still at the fore. Every chief of bureau at the Navy 
 Department, commander-in-chief of squadron or com 
 mandant of a Navy Yard, was a veteran of the war, and 
 every advance in rehabilitation on ships and guns and 
 other manifold appliances for war was made under their 
 direction. 
 
 Let it be remembered, too, that, despite the lack of the 
 thorough academic education the midshipmen or cadets 
 now receive at Annapolis, the Old Navy, from its inception 
 down to this day, can boast of as many able, accomplished, 
 and courtly men as any naval service can show in like 
 period. 
 
 In every aspect, indeed, of professional fitness and re 
 source, accomplishment and valorous conduct, the great 
 captains who commanded the ships of Nelson s and 
 Collingwood s fleets during the Napoleonic wars were in 
 no wise more able and distinguished than the captains 
 who illumined our naval annals by their valorous deeds 
 under the lead of Farragut and Porter, Du Pont and 
 Foote, and other Commanders-in^Chief in rebellion days. 
 And this, notwithstanding the loss of many brilliant 
 officers who threw up their commissions and went South 
 in 1861. 
 
 The veteran officers of the War of 1812 who, as mem 
 bers of the Board of Commissioners, administered the 
 general affairs of the service up to 1842, after the time- 
 honored manner of the British Board of Admiralty, did 
 their work wisely and well. 
 
 Composed of the older Commodores and Captains, the 
 
10 
 
 jealousies, heart-burnings, and political manipulation that 
 seem to obtain now had less marked place and influence 
 under the system and management of their day, while 
 individual genius and effort met with quite as much 
 encouragement and support from the Department in the 
 interest of the public good as is the case at this period. 
 
 The depot of charts and instruments at Washington, 
 suggested by Louis M. Goldsborough, grew to be the 
 Naval Observatory under the promotive hands of Gillis 
 and Maury. Gillis was the most learned astronomer who 
 ever adorned the line of the Navy. Maury blazed out new 
 ocean routes, both for sailing craft and steamers, and 
 literally developed a new science in his elucidation of 
 the Physics of the Sea. His fame as a writer forty odd 
 years ago on a new line of effort was as world-wide as is 
 Captain Mahan s to-day. 
 
 Pertinent to this is this story that General Dabney H. 
 Maury tells in his " Recollections of a Virginian." " In 
 1853-54 I was spending the winter in Philadelphia when 
 my uncle, Lieutenant M. F. Maury, wrote me to go and 
 see Mr. Biddle, who had charge of the annual report of 
 the National Observatory, and deliver to him a message 
 relative to it. After our business was ended, Mr. Biddle 
 said to me, < This uncle of yours is a strange man. Here 
 he is publishing as an official report the materials for one 
 of the most valuable and interesting books of science 
 ever produced. You may tell him for me that if he does 
 not utilize it, he will have the chagrin of seeing some 
 Yankee bookmaker steal his thunder and reap a fortune 
 from it. I sat down at once, and wrote my uncle what 
 Mr. Biddle had said. He replied by the next mail that 
 he would take Biddle s advice, and the "Physical Geography 
 of the Sea" was soon published by the Harpers. At the 
 outbreak of the war eleven editions had already been 
 published." 
 
11 
 
 Commodore Charles Morris and Admirals Joseph Smith 
 and Paulding, Gregory and Stringham, had no superiors, 
 whether as seamen or administrators. 
 
 As explorers by sea and land Wilkes and Hudson, John 
 Rodgers and Ringgold, Herndon and Gibbon, Lynch and 
 Page, Strain and Truxton, De Haven and Kane, stand in 
 the forefront. Jenkins may be regarded as the father of 
 the present Light-House establishment. Under the 
 orders of the Secretary of the Treasury, he examined and 
 reported upon the aids to navigation and light-house 
 illumination in Europe, and in 1852 framed the statute 
 upon which the present light-house system, and the Board 
 to administer it, are based. He became the first naval 
 secretary of the Board, while Commodore Shubrick 
 became its first president. 
 
 Silas Bent was the virtual discoverer of the black 
 stream of Japan, which, in its characteristics, is to the 
 Pacific what the Gulf Stream is to the Atlantic. As 
 hydrographers, and inventors of hydrographic appliances 
 and methods, scores of brilliant names might be given. 
 Brooke, indeed, was the first man to invent an appara 
 tus which would detach the sinker automatically, and 
 bring back a specimen of the bottom soil in deep-sea 
 sounding. As linguists and naturalists, authors and 
 diplomatists, the service of the older day fears no com 
 parison. In naval ordnance, Dahlgren was the ablest and 
 most accomplished officer of his time. Wise and Jef- 
 fers, Simpson and Sicard, Folger and Sampson, have 
 worthily built upon his triumphs on the progressive lines 
 that have given us our incomparable naval ordnance of 
 to-day. 
 
 In 1861 our system of smooth-bore ordnance, together 
 with the requisite ammunition and fittings, had been so 
 perfected by Warrington and Morris, Magruder and 
 Dahlgren, supplemented by the work of their zealous 
 
12 
 
 coadjutors, Farragut and Rowan, Porter and DuPont, 
 Barron and Hitchcock, Taylor and Brooke, and other 
 notable officers, that expansion only was necessary to 
 meet all the conditions and demands imposed by the emer 
 gency of sudden and extended war. Of the hundreds if 
 not thousands of Dahlgren guns in service during the four 
 years war, not one of them ever burst or weakened, a 
 record not equalled by any other naval ordnance of cast- 
 iron known to the naval world. 
 
 The admirable system of ordnance inspection and 
 arrangement at our Dock Yards was the creation of 
 Rowan. He organized the first inspection when in 
 spector of ordnance at New York. 
 
 Commodore M. C. Perry was the prime mover in the 
 establishment of the first naval apprentice system at 
 tempted, and the real father of the Naval Engineer 
 Corps, as Stockton was the father of our steam navy. The 
 first Princeton, built on Stockton s advice and under his 
 supervision, was the first screw ship-of-war built for any 
 navy, as she was also one of the most successful. 
 
 Franklin Buchanan and other officers of weight sug 
 gested to Secretary Bancroft the establishment of the 
 Naval Academy at Annapolis, and himself and Golds- 
 borough, Porter and Raymond Rodgers, were among its 
 ablest superintendents. Jeffers, as Chief of the Bureau 
 of Ordnance, established the torpedo school and station 
 at Newport, and the War College, now doing such excel 
 lent work, was the conception of Admiral Luce. The 
 idea was not only Luce s own, but he did not rest until 
 the college had become an accomplished fact and himself 
 its first president. The location of the training station 
 for apprentices at that point was also due, if I mistake 
 not, to the suggestion and push of Luce, ever active in 
 telling professional work on many lines of effort for the 
 benefit of the service and the enlargement of its sphere of 
 
13 
 
 action. His book on seamanship has given many a 
 youngster good practical help, and perhaps sometimes the 
 headache, but all for their own good. 
 
 The distinguished President of this Society says, in his 
 "Making of the Nation": "It was the most ingenious 
 branch of the Teutonic race, the English, which furnished 
 by far the largest part of the population of the Atlantic 
 coast ; that the early settlers constituted a picked popula 
 tion; that the inhabitants of the English colonies, espe 
 cially in New England, constituted a population which 
 was more truly selected in the respect of mental vigor, 
 intellectual inquisitiveness, enterprise, and self-reliance 
 than any other considerable population which history 
 knows." 
 
 Let us bear such facts in mind when we consider the 
 genesis of both our naval and merchant marine, and won 
 der not at the early maritime excellence the colonists so 
 readily achieved. The salt of the sea was in the blood of 
 that picked people. Wind and wave had no terrors for 
 them. Their environments and necessities quickened and 
 stimulated the fierce Norse spirit of their inheritance a 
 spirit which had made England so great, so masterful, upon 
 the sea. Making their first settlements along the sea- 
 coast, and on the banks and bays of rivers, inlets, and 
 creeks, sounds and reaches, their aptitude for the craft 
 and skill of the sailor found ample scope and vent. In 
 many settlements, indeed, highways were sought not on the 
 land, but on the water ; highways where tracked not the 
 wheels of cart or wagon, but the dimpling furrows made 
 by all sorts of sea and harbor craft. Did the husband 
 wish to transact business, or the matron visit her neigh 
 bor; the maiden take an outing with her lover, or the 
 family go to meeting of a Sunday, the chances were they 
 took carriage by water. In many communities there was 
 no other way. So perforce, among the first industries 
 
14 
 
 established by the Colonists, the practice of the boat and 
 the shipbuilder s art was of prime importance ; and, as time 
 rolled on, it became apparent to the shipping and seafaring 
 folk of the Old World that provincial skill and genius 
 was fast rivalling, if not surpassing, European shipwrights 
 in ship and boat construction. Nor was there any halt in 
 the increasing stanchness and beauty of model that char 
 acterized the vessels launched from American shipyards. 
 The skill and deftness of the fathers continued, indeed, 
 until in our own day we have seen a Yankee yacht bear 
 in victory to these shores from British waters the Queen s 
 cup, which Britons have vainly tried for nearly half a 
 century to win back. 
 
 Under such conditions of early colonial life, the youth 
 of the land took to water as naturally as young water 
 fowl. The sea offered them a hardy and noble profession, 
 and many eagerly availed themselves of its inspiring op 
 portunities. And soon it began to be seen that a superior 
 set of seamen were daring and navigating the high seas 
 with a pluck and audacity, skill and venturesomeness, that 
 bespoke a new and potent power on the ocean. There are 
 few families, indeed, of chronicle and influence in New 
 England to-day, but what can claim ancestral achievement 
 on lines of commercial or naval effort, either in colonial or 
 later days. Old sea-chests of camphor wood and cedar in 
 attic and hall, and the china closets and cabinets of many 
 a dame in the land, and especially in seaport towns of 
 New England, show eloquently in such directions of com 
 mercial conquest and maritime splendor, alas, now so sadly 
 neglected by our people. A splendor that reached its 
 zenith in the decade preceding the war, a decade when 
 almost every other vessel that was met on the ocean flew 
 the Stars and Stripes, a period when our merchantmen, 
 dotting every sea, and seen in every clime, were known 
 at a glance by the beauty of their hulls, the trimness of 
 
15 
 
 their spars, and the whiteness of their sails of cotton 
 duck. 
 
 The age that preluded such growth and development 
 was one of great unrest and daring enterprise ; an age 
 that stimulated the most heroic qualities in men. Eng 
 land, France, and Spain were all striving for supremacy on 
 this continent, and either active or quasi wars existed on 
 the ocean between those powers during the greater part 
 of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The mother 
 states encouraged the aggressions of their colonials against 
 their neighbors. Privateers, under the flags of the three 
 nations, and the dreaded craft of the buccaneers, swarmed 
 the Atlantic, from the shores of Newfoundland to the 
 Spanish Main. The ships of the Colonists went on their 
 voyages armed to the teeth. The gun and swivel, the 
 cutlass and boarding-pike, were the essentials of every 
 vessel s outfit, whether fisherman, trader, or whaler. As 
 the Colonies grew in population and wealth, they sent 
 forth privateers, and also organized and maintained little 
 navies of their own. In the wars with France for the 
 possession of Canada and English dominance on this con 
 tinent, the Colonists took active part. The ships of the 
 provincial navies helped swell the king s fleet on this 
 coast, and at Louisburg our New England folk had the 
 superior force in ships and guns. 
 
 Among the most gallant of colonial sea-captains was 
 Captain John Rous, a native of Boston. How many 
 among us know that such a Massachusetts worthy ever 
 lived? At the siege of Louisburg, he commanded the 
 Massachusetts frigate Shirley, 24 guns. One day, while 
 the siege was progressing, a French 60-gun ship was 
 descried in the offing. Rous was the first to give chase. 
 Standing out on the port tack, close-hauled, he boldly 
 approached the huge stranger until within easy gun-range, 
 then went about, and stood back towards the harbor, 
 
16 
 
 closely followed by his big antagonist. Suddenly the 
 latter found herself in the midst of the combined royal 
 and provincial fleets, and there was no option but to 
 surrender. The prize proved to be the Vigilant, laden 
 with re-enforcements and munitions of war. It was a 
 grievous blow to the French garrison, as it was a glorious 
 event for the besiegers. For this and other notable ser 
 vice to colony and crown, Rous was made a Post-Captain 
 in the King s Navy, and subsequently, in command of a 
 British squadron, continued to be a terror to all seafaring 
 Frenchmen along our northeastern coasts for years after. 
 He died at Portsmouth, England, in 1758. His statue 
 ought to adorn one of the parks of his native Boston, but 
 unfortunately no line or trace of his lineaments or figure 
 has come down to us. 
 
 Association of the colonial ships with those of the 
 king imbued the Provincials with the spirit and tradi 
 tions of the Royal Navy, and made them familiar with 
 its laws and customs. Many sons of colonial families, 
 indeed, had entered such service of the king, not a few 
 of whom rose to the highest rank. Among such was 
 Sir Isaac Coffin, a Boston boy, born in 1759. At the 
 age of fourteen he was appointed a midshipman on board 
 the Gaspe frigate. He became a Post-Captain at twenty- 
 two, and took part in Rodney s great victory over the 
 French fleet in the West Indies in 1782. Twenty years 
 later he received his commission as Rear-Admiral, and 
 was knighted in 1804. Every schoolboy knows, or ought 
 to know, that Washington gave up a midshipman s ap 
 pointment to the Royal Navy at his mother s tearful 
 entreaty, and so was saved to the majestic destiny that 
 awaited him under the Providence of God. But does 
 every schoolboy know it? At City Point, South Boston, 
 last summer, I said to a lad lingering near Farragut s 
 statue, " Do you know who that is ? " " No, sir." " How 
 
IT 
 
 old are you ? " " Fourteen." " Where were you born ? " 
 " In Charlestown." " And you do not know who that 
 statue represents ? " "I know we had a holiday the day 
 the statue was unveiled, and that we school children wore 
 badges and, come to think of it, Mister, isn t it Admiral 
 Farragut?" "Yes; and I hope you will remember it 
 hereafter." 
 
 From what has gone before, it will be seen that the 
 transition from the provincial navies to a national service 
 was a comparatively easy matter when the colonies had 
 declared their independence of the Crown. Substituting 
 the United States of America and the name of the Presi 
 dent of Congress or its Marine Committee for the King 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland and the name and 
 authority of George III. in the commissions of officers 
 and in the Articles of War, the new marine was readily 
 launched on the sea of independent being. 
 
 And for half a century or more the laws, customs, and 
 regulations, as well as the dress or uniform of the Navy, 
 varied but little from those of the mother service; nor 
 are there many differences now. 
 
 And touching uniforms, up to the time of George II. 
 the dress of the Royal Navy, as illustrated by portraits of 
 officers hung upon the walls of the Naval Gallery at 
 Greenwich Hospital, make clear the fact that it varied 
 with the whims and fancies of fashion s fickle sway. 
 Now we see the beruffled costume of the court; anon 
 appears the buff belt and jerkin ; later some of the heroes 
 show up in armor. Then came a dress of crimson and 
 Lincoln green, followed by suits of russet brown, or gray, 
 faced with silver. Still later on scarlet faced with blue, 
 or blue faced with scarlet, became the favorite colors, all 
 the result of individual taste and fancy. But in the 
 days of the " Merry Monarch," when the Benbows and 
 the Trunnions were to the fore, whose rough speech and 
 
18 
 
 brusque manners have been embalmed in the graphic 
 pages of Smollet, the King was solicited to appoint a 
 fixed uniform for his lieges of the sea. " Oh ! " said he, 
 with a contemptuous shrug, " dress them as you like ; you 
 can t make them look like gentlemen, whatever you put 
 them in ! " And he went off to his dogs, his tennis and 
 his mistresses. His answer was worthy of a monarch whose 
 neglect and baseness had brought defeat to the British fleet 
 in a few brief years after the Restoration ; and Englishmen 
 hung their heads in shame, and murmured the name of 
 the dead Oliver, and longed for the days that were gone. 
 
 But in the reign of George II., when the rougher char 
 acteristics of naval men were toning down in common 
 with the general softening of manners everywhere, the 
 question again arose as to the uniformity of dress in the 
 Royal Navy ; and, as usual when important things happen 
 in this world, a woman unconsciously had something to 
 do with it, for relates Admiral of the Fleet, Hon. John 
 Forbes : " I was summoned one day to attend the Duke 
 of Bedford, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and being 
 introduced into an apartment where various dresses were 
 spread around the room, my opinion was asked as to the 
 most appropriate for the Navy. I said, Blue and red, or 
 red and blue, as these were our national colors. No, 
 replied his grace, the King has determined otherwise ; 
 for having seen my Duchess riding in the park a few 
 days ago in a habit of blue faced with white, the dress 
 took the fancy of His Majesty, who has appointed it for 
 the uniform of the Royal Navy. " This was in 1748 ; and 
 from that day to this the full dress uniform of the British 
 Navy has been of blue cloth, faced with white silk, with 
 appropriate trimmings of gilt buttons, gold lace, and em 
 broidery. Such is also the full dress of our own service 
 in material and color, but with different arrangement of 
 trimmings and insignia. 
 
19 
 
 Let us note here the tradition that soon after the 
 Roman invasion, the British seamen dyed their sails a 
 light blue to resemble the color of the sea ; while to les 
 sen still further the chance of being seen, the crews of 
 the vessels wore clothing of the same hue. An old Eng 
 lish naval captain said, indeed, generations ago, that " Our 
 British uniform was worn by Admiral Noah, aye, and 
 before his time ; old Ocean himself wore it, time out of 
 mind. You have noted his blue jacket, I suppose, and 
 seen his white lapels when he puts on his full dress ; and 
 he always wears that, d ye see, in a gale of wind ! " 
 
 It is also suggestive to know that the dress proposed 
 by Admiral Forbes to the Duke of Bedford, as before 
 related, was in line with the dress adopted by the Marine 
 Committee of Congress, September, 1776. The uniform 
 then prescribed for a Captain in the Continental Navy 
 was a coat of blue cloth with red lapels, slashed cuffs, 
 and stand-up collar, flat, yellow buttons, blue breeches, 
 and a red waistcoat with yellow lace ; while the Marine 
 officers were to have a green coat faced with white, slashed 
 sleeves and pockets, with buttons around the cuffs, a sil 
 ver epaulette on the right shoulder, skirts turned back, 
 buttons to suit facings, with waistcoat and breeches edged 
 with green, black gaiters and garters. 
 
 From such display of various hues, adopted by serious- 
 minded statesmen during the height of war, we may well 
 conclude that love of color and brilliant decoration in 
 dress is by no means confined to the gentler sex. 
 
 The first step in the creation of the Navy was the reso 
 lution of the Continental Congress, November 10th, 1775, 
 authorizing the raising of two battalions of Marines, and 
 providing that particular care be taken that no person be 
 appointed as officers or enlisted men but such as are good 
 seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be 
 able to serve to advantage by sea when required. When 
 
20 
 
 we consider such historic fact, the saying, "Tell it to the 
 marines " seems but poor wit. 
 
 The first extended code for the government of the Navy 
 commonly known as the Articles of War was enacted 
 by Congress in 1799. The Department of the Navy had 
 been established the year before, 1798. Prior to that 
 time the Navy had been under the jurisdiction of the War 
 Department. The next year, 1800, new articles were 
 enacted; the principle change was in their phraseology 
 only. 
 
 The Articles of 1799 had this fine old phrase of Bun- 
 yan English, " Every Captain shall 4 heart on, and encour 
 age the inferior officers and men to fight courageously." 
 The revision of 1800 left out those fine words "heart 
 on," much to the loss of vigorous and idiomatic expression, 
 it seems to me. 
 
 Up to the era of the rebellion, some of our statesmen 
 and hyper-constitutionalists contended that the United 
 States was not a nation but a confederacy ; but the closing 
 paragraph of the naval enactment of 1799 provided " that 
 every Commander-in- Chief and Captain, in making pri 
 vate rules and regulations and designating the duties of 
 his officers, should keep in view also the usage of the 
 sea service most common to our nation," a pronounce 
 ment of nationality at once legislative and specific. 
 
 The enactment of 1800 continued with but few changes 
 until 1862, when the code was revised and put in a more 
 concise form. 
 
 The codes of 1799 and 1800 awarded the death penalty 
 on three counts without qualification nine others death 
 or such other punishment as a Court Martial might ad 
 judge. The Articles of 1862 designate no absolute death 
 penalty, but define twenty distinct offences on which a 
 Court Martial may award such penalty. 
 
 In the British service the Act of 1749, George II., pro- 
 
21 
 
 vided the absolute penalty of death on ten distinct counts, 
 and twelve other counts where a Court Martial might 
 award such punishment. It was under this sanguinary 
 code that Admiral Byng was judicially murdered in 1757 ; 
 the Court Martial on its finding had no alternative but to 
 award the death sentence. Such code was amended on 
 lines of amelioration in 1779, and again in 1847. 
 
 I have often heard it alleged that in the early days of 
 our service, a captain could give at his own discretion four 
 dozen lashes of the cat to an offending seaman, but such 
 was not the fact. The law permitted him to give but one 
 dozen. It required a Court Martial to award a higher 
 number. 
 
 Those were hard days. The late Admiral Foote, of 
 pious and glorious memory, told me that as a young officer 
 and mate of the gun-deck of a frigate, he always carried 
 a colt in his cap. The colt was a small sized rope, some 
 three feet long, used in flogging for minor cases. Old Ad 
 miral Thatcher, when first Lieutenant of a ship, used to 
 keep one, it is said, under his pillow, so as to have it 
 handy at night for the discipline of the ward-room boys. 
 
 In those stern days of two generations ago, it was the 
 custom on board ships to colt or flog the last man to get 
 on deck when all hands were called for drills or evolu 
 tions. That is the way they made "smart ships," so 
 called ; but it savored something of the ferocity of the cus 
 tom of ancient Gaul that, in war, required the last man 
 reaching the battlefield to be tortured to death as a moni 
 tion to the rest. 
 
 The cat-o -nine-tails consisted of nine small hard-twisted 
 cords of cotton or flax, some eighteen inches in length, 
 fastened to a wooden handle for the better wielding by the 
 boatswain s mate. Smaller cats for the punishment of the 
 boys were called " kittens," and lively kittens they were 
 in their palmy day ! 
 
22 
 
 Our law forbade the use of any other but plain cats ; 
 but in the British service they sometimes pickled the cats 
 in brine, or made them of wire. The salt in the pickled 
 cats made the broken skin smart the more acutely and the 
 more difficult to heal. The wire cut dreadfully. 
 
 English captains were empowered to inflict four dozen 
 lashes at a time, and the floggings sometimes awarded by 
 their Courts Martial were terrible in their severity ; but 
 there is no flogging now in the British Navy, except under 
 sentence of a Court Martial, and such sentence cannot be 
 carried out without the approval of the Board of Admi 
 ralty. But they continue to birch the boys, and the Par 
 liamentary returns of the present year report 266 boys so 
 treated. I guess they deserved it, and a little application 
 of the birch on this side of the water would do no harm 
 in some instances. With us, old officers used to say that 
 discipline could not be maintained on shipboard with 
 out resort to flogging; but from 1850 to 1855, at which 
 latter date a special law was enacted for disciplinary 
 purposes, the service went on under the old statute with 
 flogging omitted, and no special trouble ever grew out 
 of such fact. We wonder now, indeed, how the en 
 listed men ever stood it, or why public sentiment ever 
 permitted it. 
 
 Let me here ask you to note the fact that the Constitu 
 tion of the United States provides, among other things, 
 that " the Congress shall have power to raise and support 
 armies, but no appropriation of money shall be for a 
 longer term than two years," but that with regard to the 
 Navy, the empowering clause simply says, " To provide 
 and maintain a navy." No limitation is imposed. Con 
 gress fixes the pay of the enlisted soldier ; the President 
 fixes the pay of naval seamen. A like difference also 
 governs the status of the army and navy in England. 
 The British army, indeed, had no legal existence for a 
 
23 
 
 hundred and ninety years from 1689, except through 
 annual enactment by Parliament of the statute known as 
 the Mutiny Act. True, the sovereign established regula 
 tions for the government of the army, commonly desig 
 nated as the Articles of War ; but without the yearly 
 enactment of the Mutiny Act there could be no army for 
 the sovereign to regulate. In 1879 Parliament consoli 
 dated the Mutiny Act and the Articles of War into one 
 Act called the Army Act, but such act also requires the 
 yearly sanction of Parliament to be of legal effect. The 
 Crown, however, is still left with the power to frame new 
 regulations if it chooses, but not in contravention of 
 law. 
 
 No limitations of the character described have ever 
 been put upon the British Navy ; for that grand service, 
 founded by Alfred the Great, and confirmed in its power 
 at the great sea-fight of Swanage a thousand years ago, is 
 first in the hearts of the English people and has ever been 
 trusted. With us, it is the Army and Navy ; with Eng 
 land, it is the Navy and Army, for England knows that 
 
 "Who holds the sea, perforce doth hold the land, 
 And who lose that, must lose the other too." 
 
 Said Mr. Labouchere in a recent issue of Truth, "As 
 in 1805, so now, the country looks to its Navy for defence, 
 and it is the business of the Admiralty, not the War Office, 
 to provide this." 
 
 With true insular prejudice, the English at first looked 
 askant at the new marine our Revolutionary fathers had 
 put afloat ; but there came a time when they had to recog 
 nize, at the sore cost of defeat, that not all the valor or 
 seamanship of the race was to be found under the cross 
 of S. George. 
 
 The new Navy soon proved itself indeed worthy of its 
 valorous descent ; for the stormy sea that beats against our 
 
24 
 
 rock-bound coast had bred a race of seamen that for skill, 
 endurance, and courage was never surpassed. The men 
 who had served with Hawkins and Drake, and other stout 
 captains of Britain in the 16th century, were no hardier or 
 of more heroic strain than the seamen of Salem, Marble- 
 head, and Gloucester. Their valor indeed, their dogged 
 purpose and staunch fidelity, have been grimly tested in 
 many a sea-fight, fierce, obstinate, and bloody; and some 
 of their prime victories have been won over the meteor 
 flag of their great ancestry. 
 
 The new service that had come so suddenly upon the 
 scene in the great drama of modern nationality began at 
 once to harass the enemy at sea, both on our own coasts 
 and the coasts of the mother country. Many armed 
 transports laden with munitions of war were captured and 
 their cargoes diverted from the Royal headquarters to 
 Washington s camp, while Paul Jones and other Conti 
 nental captains harried British commerce in their own 
 waters with such vigor and success that, as a last resort 
 for safe trading, British merchants forsook their own 
 bottoms, and shipped their goods abroad under the French 
 flag. Fancy the feelings of the average John Bull of that 
 day when he felt obliged to seek the shelter of his heredi 
 tary enemy s flag for the safe transport of his goods on 
 the domain he claimed for his own as the ruler of the 
 waves I 
 
 All England was astounded ; and Jones was denounced 
 as a pirate, to be hung at short order if captured, although 
 he bore the commission of the Continental Congress. But 
 we ourselves indulged in such peevish talk in 1861. 
 
 At the close of the Revolution, it was found that the 
 little navy and privateers had captured some eight hun 
 dred vessels and 16,000 seamen from the enemy. The 
 political effect of such maritime success was incalculable ; 
 it undoubtedly contributed largely to the winning of our 
 
25 
 
 independence, Captain Mahan to the contrary notwith 
 standing, for when British commerce is hampered or put 
 in jeopardy the commercial dons of England at once be 
 siege the ministry and cry for peace ! 
 
 The year 1794 was one of marked interest to the ser 
 vice, for in that year the keels of six frigates were laid of 
 the Constitution and Chesapeake classes. Their dimen 
 sions and scantling were larger, and their models finer, 
 than had hitherto characterized ships of that class. They 
 were designed to be the most efficient frigates afloat. 
 European officers scouted the attempt at such superiority; 
 and our English friends deemed such efforts presumptuous 
 on the part of the " King s rebel subjects," as many of them 
 still affected to call us. The Constitution and United 
 States, Congress and Constellation were lucky ships, 
 the Chesapeake and President unlucky ones from the 
 start. Both of them finally fell into the hands of the 
 enemy, as you know. It used to be said of the United 
 States that the sailors dubbed her the " Old Wagon " when 
 first fitted for sea, owing to her poor sailing qualities ; but 
 it was soon found that she could hold her own with the 
 most of her class when trimmed by the head. She did 
 not mind the bone in her teeth, provided her heels were 
 lightened. 
 
 The Constitution made her first cruise in the West 
 Indies. One day the captain of a crack English frigate 
 challenged Captain Talbot to an all-day race, wagering a 
 cask of wine on the result. The challenge was promptly 
 accepted. The race began the next morning at sunrise 
 and continued until sunset. The Constitution had it all 
 her own way from the beginning. When the sunset gun 
 was fired, the English ship was miles astern. Backing 
 the main-topsail, Captain Talbot waited for his antagonist 
 to come up. When arrived within hail, the British cap 
 tain gracefully acknowledged his defeat, promptly lowered 
 
26 
 
 a boat, and sent the wine on board the winner. There 
 was no Dunraven about him ! 
 
 In the quasi war that ensued between our country and 
 France, as the century drew towards its close, our ships 
 were the victors in every encounter. Commodore Trux- 
 ton in the Constellation, and Captain Little in the Boston 
 won great fame by their captures of the frigates Insurgent 
 and Vengeance, and the corvette Borceau, to the great 
 discomfiture of their gallant foe. 
 
 Then in the first decade of this century, 1801 to 1807, 
 the Barbary Powers were taken in hand, and again in 
 1815. For three hundred years those pirates had 
 been permitted to ravage the commerce of the Mediter 
 ranean. England had been the only sea-power strong 
 enough to suppress them ; but in order to maintain her 
 dominance as " Mistress of the Sea," she permitted them 
 to keep on in their villanous work, and so continue to be 
 a scourge to the other European powers. She emphasized 
 such policy by paying those barbarians a tribute so great 
 that other states would have great embarrassment in their 
 attempt to buy immunity from their plunderings. And 
 when we became an independent nation, our exasperated 
 mother included us in the category of weak powers who 
 must submit to the exactions, the robberies, and the cruel 
 ties of those recognized, and in some sense petted, corsairs, 
 in those classic waters of southern Europe and northern 
 Africa. When the Duke of Kent visited the Dey of 
 Algiers, in 1818, the Dey, thinking to be complimentary, 
 said to him, "Your father is the greatest pirate in the 
 world, and I am the next I " Said Lord Sheffield, in 1783, 
 " It is not probable that the American states will have a 
 very free trade in the Mediterranean. It will not be for 
 the interest of any of the great maritime powers to protect 
 them from the Barbary states. If they know their own 
 interests, they will not encourage the Americans to be 
 
27 
 
 carriers. The Americans cannot protect themselves ; they 
 cannot pretend to a navy." And when our government 
 attempted to negotiate with the Barbary states, the diplo 
 matic hand of English obstruction was shadowed forth in 
 every direction. But we had great men at the head of 
 our affairs in those days, who did not propose to submit 
 to such wrongs ; and the Corsair states were soon dealt 
 with so energetically, that they finally renounced the trib 
 ute they had hitherto exacted from all the Christian powers 
 to the infinite discredit to Christendom. It was a great 
 moral and political triumph for our then young nation. 
 It impressed the European states profoundly. It was a 
 lesson in national ethics they have never forgotten. 
 
 And never since the Argo floated in the middle sea, 
 
 Such noble men and valiant have sailed in company 
 
 As the men who went with Preble to the siege of Tripoli. 
 
 Stewart, Bainbridge, Hull, Decatur how their names ring out 
 
 like gold ! 
 Lawrence, Porter, Trippe, MacDonough, and a score as true and 
 
 bold; 
 
 Ever} r star that lights their banner tells the glory that they won ; 
 But one common sailor s glory is the splendor of the sun." 
 
 So sings a gifted American poet of our time. One of 
 the last men to deal with these pirates with old-fashioned 
 naval diplomacy was Commodore Decatur, who conducted 
 his negotiations with the Dey of Algiers on the quarter 
 deck of his flag-ship. The basis of Decatur s demand was 
 the renunciation of tribute. The Dey begged that it 
 might continue, " if only a little powder for form s sake." 
 Decatur replied, " If you insist upon receiving powder, 
 you must expect to receive balls with it." That settled 
 it; and I may say that the readiest way to unravel 
 stubborn problems of diplomacy, when impossible terms 
 are insisted upon, is this forceful method of powder and 
 ball, a diplomacy we ought at all times to be prepared 
 
28 
 
 for, not as a menace of war, but as insurance bonds for 
 peace. 
 
 During the first operations against the Infidel powers, 
 the more thoughtless of our English cousins looked dis 
 dainfully on. They said it was quite within bounds for 
 the Yankees to beat those barbarians ; but it would be im 
 pertinent in them to think they could meet British forces 
 with any promise of success in war, especially on the sea. 
 The London Times, indeed, characterized the Constitution 
 as " a bunch of pine boards, flying a bit of striped bunting, 
 a gridiron flag that had no meaning." But such vapor 
 ing was soon to be discredited, for the War of 1812 drew 
 nigh. 
 
 England had chafed under the loss of her colonies, and 
 she resented with growing heat the increasing rivalry of 
 our merchant marine. Our New England seamen were so 
 superior that British naval captains insisted that they 
 were not Americans, but English, and as such impressed 
 them into the Royal Navy wherever they could find them. 
 No American merchantman was safe from visitation and 
 the outrage of impressment, and the attack upon the un 
 ready and ever unfortunate Chesapeake near the Capes of 
 Virginia still further exasperated our people. These 
 continued provocations, together with others equally grave 
 and unbearable, finally determined Congress to declare 
 war. The country was not at all prepared for war ; but it 
 was felt that we must fight or else be compelled to sink 
 back into a semi-dependent condition a condition that 
 Great Britain longed to bring about. Many defeats befell 
 the land forces, but the little Navy came out of the con 
 test crowned with many laurels of victory. Such bright 
 chapter in our annals would have had no place, however, 
 if the government s plan had been carried out. That 
 plan was to lay the ships up out of harm s way. The 
 Navy protested ; and Commodores Stewart and Bain- 
 
29 
 
 bridge sought the President, and begged him to let the 
 Navy have a chance. They promised him that the Navy 
 would give a good account of itself in its encounters with 
 the enemy, if but given the opportunity. 
 
 Those intrepid souls and their fellows had met many 
 of the English ships in their cruisings, and knowing their 
 captains in that heartsome way peculiar to the sea, and 
 the character and state of their commands, felt convinced 
 that, ship for ship, the chances in the game of war would 
 be equal. They had watched with keenest eye the Brit 
 ish cruisers and their manoeuvres, both .at sea and in port ; 
 and whether at feats of seamanship or the grimmer tests 
 of guns, they felt they had nothing to fear. They knew, 
 indeed, from long acquaintance with other seafaring folk, 
 that, in every detail of seamanship, quality of pluck, and 
 fertility of resource, the American seaman acknowledged 
 no superior. The gallant crews of our cruisers were 
 equally confident of their powers as seamen and fighters 
 and equally eager to meet the enemy. Happily the argu 
 ments and entreaties of our grand old captains prevailed 
 over the timidity of the President and his Cabinet, and 
 England soon learned an unexpected lesson on her 
 vaunted element. 
 
 On the other hand, the British officers and men, stand 
 ing for centuries of naval experience and achievement, 
 and representing a navy overwhelming in strength and of 
 acknowledged domination, looked with scorn, if not with 
 contemptuous amusement, at the presumption of the little 
 Navy of the United States in thinking for a moment 
 that its ships could cope, in any degree, with the ships 
 of the Royal Navy. And so it came to pass that the 
 Philistines were not more astonished when David slew 
 Goliath, than were the British folk when the news of 
 their first naval defeats in the War of 1812 came to their 
 startled ears. 
 
30 
 
 The strength of the British Navy at the outbreak of the 
 war was appalling. It comprised a thousand vessels of 
 all rates and one hundred and forty thousand men, and 
 back of all stood a history luminous with great deeds and 
 replete with the names of illustrious commanders unsur 
 passed in the naval annals of the world for the grandeur 
 of their work : while we could only count upon seventeen 
 vessels six frigates and eleven sloops-of-war and some 
 worthless gunboats, manned by a few thousand men, 
 whose experience in war had been but slight in compari 
 son with that of their antagonists. In two hundred 
 actions between single ships in the European wars the 
 British Navy had been defeated but five times, but in the 
 first six actions with the hitherto invincible enemy our 
 ships were the victors. Our success in the fleet actions 
 on the lakes was overwhelming, and at the end of two 
 years and a half war with the United States British com 
 merce had been almost destroyed. In eighteen naval 
 engagements, the Royal Navy had sustained fifteen de 
 feats, and the press of London teemed with articles ex 
 pressive of chagrin and bewilderment. Officers of the 
 British Navy had not conceived such results. They had 
 been accustomed to beat the French and Spaniards with 
 such ease that it never entered their heads that the 
 Yankees could in any way match them upon the seas. In 
 the words of a distinguished English writer, they did not 
 grasp the fact that " race traits are immortal," and that on 
 this continent the picked British stock had in no wise 
 suffered deterioration. 
 
 Our success, indeed, astounded and mortified the Brit- 
 ish, gratified the Continental powers, always chafing at 
 England s superiority on the ocean, and electrified our 
 own people. 
 
 The renown gained by the Navy was imperishable. It 
 was of incalculable value to the country. It gave the 
 
81 
 
 United States a prestige on the ocean it has never lost. 
 We can never give the full meed of praise and honor to 
 the men who won such glories for the flag. How, indeed, 
 would we have stood among the powers had we suffered 
 like disasters afloat that befell the land forces, in such 
 degree as to allow Washington to be captured, our Cap 
 itol and presidential mansion and our national archives 
 to be burnt by a ruthless enemy ? 
 
 While the English excused their defeats under the 
 pretence that they had been generally outmatched in force, 
 other powers saw that superior seamanship, better gun 
 nery, and the greater alertness of the Americans, were the 
 prime causes of John Bull s discomfiture. How was it, 
 they asked, that the British officers, with their overwhelm 
 ing number of ships, ever allowed themselves to be out 
 matched by the Yankees ? The English claimed, most 
 absurdly, that our frigates were line-of-battle ships in 
 disguise, and blamed us for taking such unfair advantage ! 
 Heaven save the mark ! Their whines remind one of the 
 complaints of the Austrian generals against Napoleon for 
 ignoring the obsolete tactics in the field they still clung 
 to with routine stupidity, and to their certain defeat. 
 
 Here let me give you a story of British accounting for 
 their naval defeats. 
 
 When, during the War of 1812, Admiral Warren in 
 command of a British fleet was lying in the Chesapeake, 
 Captain Smith of our Navy was sent down from Norfolk 
 by Commodore Stewart under flag of truce to negotiate 
 an exchange of prisoners. The news had just arrived of 
 the capture of the Java by the Constitution ; and the 
 Admiral, speaking of that event, as well as of the cap 
 tures of the Guerriere and Macedonian, asked Captain 
 Smith how it happened that the American frigates were 
 so successful in taking theirs. Smith said he knew no 
 reason for it, unless that our people fought better. " No," 
 
32 
 
 replied the Admiral, " that cannot be ; the reason is that 
 two-thirds of your men are British seamen." "Well," 
 responded Smith, " the other third being Americans, 
 makes the difference I " The Admiral had nothing more 
 to say. 
 
 A similar story is told of William Cobbett, the notable 
 English radical of two generations ago. 
 
 One day, in London, he was speaking somewhat boldly 
 and exultantly on the subject of the naval victories of the 
 Americans, in the hearing of a British officer. The 
 officer, much nettled at Cobbett s assertions, sharply said : 
 " There was good reason for it. I went on board their 
 men-of-war after our defeats, and found half their sailors 
 were English." "And had you not all English?" 
 replied the dauntless radical. What answer could the 
 officer make ? 
 
 This story gives a glimpse of the patriotism of the old 
 time man-o -war s man and his rugged frankness of that 
 day. During the blockade of New London, in the War 
 of 1812, a celebrated Connecticut divine, making a visit 
 to that town, improved the occasion by preaching a ser 
 mon to the sailors and soldiers on duty there. The good 
 Doctor took for his text, "Fear God and honor the 
 King." During the sermon he frequently quoted the 
 words of the text, much to the evident ire of one of 
 the sailors of the Macedonian. Finally, the unwitting Doc 
 tor once more repeating the words " honor the king," the 
 old salt could restrain his indignation no longer, and 
 springing to his feet, shouted, " Fear God and honor the 
 Congress let the King alone ! " In the midst of the 
 excitement caused by such interruption, an officer of 
 the church stepped up to the irate seaman, and told him 
 to be quiet or he would put him out of the church. 
 " Oh, choke your luff," replied the old veteran, " if the 
 lubber says so again I ll pull him out of his bunk ! " 
 
33 
 
 Let no one think that the English in those days did 
 not do their best. They never fought more valiantly. 
 At Trafalgar, Lord Nelson s ship the Victory after 
 five hours fighting, lost 159 killed and wounded, or 26 
 per cent of her crew of 600 men. 
 
 In the action between the Constitution and the Java, 
 lasting little more than two Lours, the Java lost in 
 killed and wounded 161 out of a complement of 426, or 
 34 per cent. The loss of the Constitution was but 34. 
 
 The Bellerophon, 74-gun ship, 584 men, sustained the 
 greatest loss of any British ship at the battle of the Nile. 
 Her loss was 197, or 34 per cent, in a fight of twelve 
 hours. 
 
 The Macedonian, with a complement of 300, lost in her 
 fight with the United States of 90 minutes duration, 104, 
 or 35 per cent. The United States lost but twelve killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 At the great battle of Camperdown, in 1797, the British 
 74-gun ship Monarch, with a crew of 593, sustained a loss 
 of 136 killed and wounded, or 23 per cent. The Guer- 
 riere, in her fight with the Constitution, lost 30 per cent. 
 The Reindeer, captured by the Wasp, lost 56 per cent. 
 The Peacock, captured by the Hornet, lost 30 per 
 cent of her complement in the fight of fourteen minutes. 
 
 In the fight between the Shannon and the Chesapeake, 
 our loss was 43 per cent ; the British loss 26 per cent. 
 The Essex, in her fight at anchor in Valparaiso Bay with 
 the Phoebe and Cherub, lost 49 per cent of her crew in 
 killed and wounded, or 124 men out of a complement of 
 255, and twelve per cent were missing, men who had 
 jumped overboard and swum ashore rather than be taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 These percentages of death and disablement illustrate 
 the dogged character of the naval actions of 1812-14; 
 and when our British kinsmen had recovered somewhat 
 
34 
 
 from their amazement, and taken to heart the fact that 
 the old Viking blood had not suffered a whit in quality 
 from its trans-Atlantic environment, they began to ex 
 amine the causes of their defeat in the spirit of judicial 
 inquiry, and to take measures for the correction of the 
 faults that Yankee valor had revealed to them. 
 
 The first thing the more candid among them admitted, 
 was the fact that a new power had arisen upon the ocean, 
 of such intrepid character as to command their most 
 serious respect. Second, the inculcation of the principle 
 that the navy of Great Britain could no longer rely upon 
 the prestige of past achievements to overcome the enemy, 
 but that in future it must be better prepared for the 
 emergencies of battle and more circumspect in the inci 
 dents of attack. Third, that they must better their gun 
 nery, if they would hope to contend with an American 
 fleet upon equal terms. 
 
 The late Admiral Sir Charles Napier, R.N., K.C.B., 
 addressed a series of letters, covering a period from 1816 
 to 1850, to the Prime Minister, the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, and other distinguished personages, as well as 
 to the editor of the Times. The pungent comment and 
 stinging criticism with which he boldly attacked the short 
 comings of the British Admiralty and its mal-administra- 
 tion of naval affairs, would take away the breath of our 
 service folk, but which the liberty of English law and 
 the birthright of the British subject permitted that dis 
 tinguished officer to indulge in without hurt to his status 
 as an officer of the Royal Navy ! 
 
 In the first of the series, addressed to Lord Melville, 
 March 1, 1816, he says, " Formerly we had to contend 
 with nations that we believed to be less brave, and that 
 we knew to be less skilful than ourselves ; but from the 
 want of discipline, and our inattention to the main point 
 the guns we have not only taught the Americans to 
 
35 
 
 despise us, and given them confidence that will take all 
 our skill and exertion to destroy, but have opened the 
 eyes of other nations, and shown them that we are not 
 invincible on the sea. However distant it may be, we 
 must look forward to a war with that young nation, proud 
 of its young navy and the glory it has acquired ; I say 
 glory, because I look upon beating our ships, though 
 much inferior to them, a great glory in so young a navy." 
 
 The next year 1817 he wrote the same minister, 
 " Let us see the difference at this moment, my Lord, be 
 tween the seamen of the greatest maritime nation in the 
 world, England, and those of a power that has only within 
 a few years claimed the name of a maritime power, 
 America. Both have squadrons in the Mediterranean. 
 The latter come into port well manned, well clothed, well 
 paid, and are handled like men-of-war. The former come 
 into the same port ill manned, clothed in purser s slops, 
 ill managed, and ill paid or rather not paid. The 
 Americans go on shore, spend their money, and laugh 
 at the poor Englishmen who have none ! " 
 
 Again he says, " The moment the American War broke 
 out, we had to fight a navy better disciplined than our 
 own, and we were defeated, by superior force it is true ; 
 but be it remembered, we were most severely punished 
 without inflicting any great injury on our opponents." 
 
 Now I beg you to bear in mind that Sir Charles is 
 speaking of that navy which Paul Jones and his gallant 
 compeers first made famous, and that under the supreme 
 test of war, Preble, Dale, Somers, Rodgers, Decatur, 
 Stewart, Hull, Bainbridge, Porter, Lawrence, Biddle, Jones, 
 Blakely, Perry, McDonough, and other intrepid souls 
 brought to such a high state of discipline, efficiency, and 
 wealth of achievement. Note, also, that it was a new 
 thing for a British naval officer to be obliged to confess 
 defeat under the excuse of superior force of an opponent, 
 
36 
 
 nor fail to remember that the glory won over the flag of 
 England by our ships was your glory also. 
 
 The grim old captains, who had done such valiant 
 things, acquired so much respect and power thereby, that 
 they dominated the Navy Department for more than a 
 generation afterward. Some of them carried things with 
 so high a hand that it was said indeed, and not without 
 reason, that there was no law for Post-Captains in those 
 days. 
 
 This story is told of old Commodore Chauncey when in 
 command of the New York Navy Yard, sixty odd years 
 ago. 
 
 One Sunday the Chaplain read a church notice in the 
 Yard chapel. " By what authority, sir, do you read that 
 notice here ? " asked old Chauncey. " The Bishop of the 
 diocese sent me the notice, sir," replied the Chaplain. 
 " Well, sir," replied Chauncey, " I d have you know that 
 I am the bishop of this diocese, and you will read no more 
 notices of that sort here without my permission ! " 
 
 The Chaplain bided his time, but his opportunity soon 
 came. It so happened that the next Sunday the old Tar 
 tar was late in getting to chapel ; and the Chaplain, to the 
 amazement of the congregation, waited his appearance 
 before he would begin the service. At last the Commo 
 dore s footsteps were heard in the porch ; and the moment 
 he entered the door the Chaplain sprang to his feet, and 
 began in his most impressive voice, " The Lord is in his 
 Holy Temple ; let all the earth keep silence before him ! " 
 The congregation understood and chuckled, and old 
 Chauncey himself enjoyed the Chaplain s counterstroke ! 
 
 But with all their idiosyncrasies, the Fathers of the 
 Navy well met this summing up by Judge Kent, of the 
 powers given them, and of the qualities they should pos 
 sess as commanding officers. Says the Judge, " The naval 
 commander is clothed with the power and discretion to 
 
3T 
 
 meet unforeseen and distressing vicissitudes, and ought to 
 possess moral and intellectual qualities of the first order. 
 His authority is necessarily summary and absolute ; and 
 if he chooses to perform his duties or exert his power in a 
 harsh, intemperate, or impressive manner, he can seldom 
 be resisted. He must have the talent to command in the 
 midst of danger, and courage and presence of mind to 
 meet and surmount extraordinary perils. He must be 
 able to dissipate fear, to calm disturbed minds, and inspire 
 confidence in the breasts of all under his command. In 
 tempest as well as in battle, he must give desperate com 
 mands, he must require instantaneous obedience. He must 
 watch for the preservation of the health and comfort of 
 his crew, as well as for the safety of the ship. It is 
 necessary that he should maintain perfect order and pre 
 serve the most exact discipline, under the guidance of 
 justice, moderation, and good sense. Cultivate imperturb 
 ability ! " 
 
 When, after the war, Decatur appeared again off Algiers 
 for the further chastisement of those Barbarians, the Dey s 
 Prime Minister said reproachfully to the British Consul : 
 " You told us that the Americans would be swept from 
 the sea in six months by your navy, and now they make 
 war on us with some of your own vessels which they have 
 taken I " 
 
 No event in the British Navy ever caused more exulta 
 tion than the Shannon s capture of the Chesapeake. The 
 city of London gave Captain Broke a sword, and the free 
 dom of the city ; the tower guns saluted, and Broke was 
 made a Baronet, and a Knight-Commander of the Bath for 
 his successful gallantry ; but despite what Englishmen may 
 believe, it was one of the most unequal fights of the war. 
 True, the ships were equal in tonnage and armament; but 
 in the conditions and circumstances of the fight, and the 
 personnel of the ships as regarded the enlisted men, the 
 
38 
 
 advantage and superiority were markedly and unmistak 
 ably in favor of the English ship. It was, in fact, a 
 grave error of judgment on the part of Lawrence, to ac 
 cept Broke s challenge to combat at that time. Broke had 
 been in continuous command of the Shannon for six years, 
 and the same crew had served with him continuously for 
 five-sixths of that time. The Shannon, indeed, was the 
 most efficient English frigate in drill and discipline of her 
 day. On the other hand, the Chesapeake had a new and 
 motley crew undrilled and undisciplined and Law 
 rence was warned by his brother Captains not to give 
 battle under such unequal conditions, and especially not 
 to fight the first day out of port with a drink-demoralized 
 crew to lessen his chances ; but Lawrence had captured 
 the Peacock with such ease that he underrated his enemy. 
 Had it been Broke s fate to have fallen in with the ever- 
 victorious Constitution, with her crew of battle-seasoned 
 Marbleheaders, the odds are that he would have continued 
 to remain plain Captain Broke. 
 
 Soon after the close of the war, when the Constitution 
 was refitting at the Boston Navy Yard, a distinguished 
 British officer visited her. He was shown all over the 
 ship, and upon returning to the quarter-deck, he remarked, 
 " This is one of the finest, if not the finest, frigates I ever 
 put my foot aboard of ; but as I must find fault with some 
 thing, I ll just say that your wheel is one of the clumsiest 
 things I ever saw, and it is unworthy of the vessel." The 
 American captain replied : " That wheel, sir, is the only 
 English thing in the ship. Our wheel was shattered in 
 the fight with the Java, and we brought the Java s wheel on 
 board to replace it. We think it as ugly as you do, yet 
 we keep it as a trophy." The British officer was Admiral 
 Sir George Collier. 
 
 Let me give another incident connected with the famous 
 old Constitution. 
 
39 
 
 Captain Hull of that ship had known Captain Dacres 
 of the Guerriere, well before the war, and upon one occa 
 sion Dacres had wagered a hat with him on the result of a 
 possible meeting between their respective ships. When 
 Dacres, after the loss of his ship, came on board the Con 
 stitution to deliver his sword, Hull said : " No ! No ! I 
 will not take a sword from one who knows so well how 
 to defend it, but I ll take that hat ! " Such are among 
 the amenities of civilized war. 
 
 Said Admiral John Rodgers, of glorious memory, to me 
 one day over at the Navy Yard here, when he was about 
 to set out for the Asiatic Station, as Commander-in-Chief, 
 " How did you get on with the English out there ? " " My 
 relations with them were always very agreeable," I 
 answered, " and I feel sure you will be warmly welcomed 
 by all Englishmen in that quarter and especially by naval 
 men." " Well," he replied, "when I was an infant, and 
 my father was away at sea in the President, my mother 
 had to fly with me and my brothers and sisters into the 
 woods from our home on the Susquehanna, just above 
 Havre de Grace, to avoid the insults and hen-stealing dep 
 redations of Admiral Cockburn s fleet, and to this day I 
 have never been able to overcome my aversion towards 
 British officers. Nor can I forget that the British Ad 
 miral in the Pacific broke his word after promising to act 
 jointly with me in belligerent measures to prevent the 
 bombardment of Valparaiso by the Spanish Admiral in 
 1866." Rodgers had the old two-turreted monitor 
 Monadnock in his squadron, and longed to try conclusions 
 with the Spanish iron-clad. It has been said that he 
 would have been sustained at home had he intervened, 
 regardless of the attitude of the British Admiral. 
 
 But, as a matter of fact, as time rolled on and the bit 
 terness engendered by the War of 1812 died out, the offi 
 cers and men of both services became very chummy. 
 
40 
 
 Ship visiting was frequent, and many hospitalities were 
 exchanged between officers and men. 
 
 The tobacco on board our ships was naturally superior 
 to the niggerhead article supplied to Her Majesty s ships, 
 and the Queen s sailors were only too glad to exchange 
 their good blue broadcloth for the strong unadulterated 
 Virginia plug that our seamen could command. 
 
 I recall the fact that back in the fifties, when smoking 
 hours were much restricted in the British service as re 
 garded both officers and men, the officers of the English 
 cruisers lying in port with our ships used to come on 
 board frequently to get a good smoke; and though not 
 accustomed to our whiskey, they did not absolutely re 
 fuse it especially in the form of a toddy. Admiral 
 Simpson used to tell a story of a British officer who when 
 visiting a ship he was in got his first taste of a mint julep. 
 The jolly Britisher did not know at first what to make 
 of the fragrant mixture when it was set before him, but 
 the first pull through the inviting straw convinced him that 
 it was good, so good that he soon made way with it and, 
 like Oliver Twist, asked for more ; for after a little while 
 he expressed his wishes in this wise : " I say, fellows, let s 
 have another salad toddy." Many of us here can doubt 
 less appreciate the delight the Britisher s palate must 
 have received when first introduced to that rare drink 
 which my friend Admiral Ammen pronounces to be a 
 sovereign remedy for diphtheria. 
 
 This story told of Admiral Gregory, as occurring about 
 the time of the Mexican war, illustrates the good fellow 
 ship that exists in times of peace between the different 
 navies of the world, and especially as regards our own 
 and the British services, and I may add the Russian ; 
 for the latter are heavy drinkers, and expect their guests 
 to do their whole duty when discussing the contents of 
 the flowing bowl. 
 
41 
 
 Gregory, then a Captain and in command of one of our 
 frigates in foreign waters, was invited by the captain of a 
 British man-of-war to dine with him on board. Gregory 
 knew what that meant ; for the custom was in those rol 
 licking days, to drink your guest under the table, if pos 
 sible a custom that is still in full observance in the 
 Russian service. 
 
 To make a sure thing of it, Gregory s British host had 
 arranged that his officers should spell one another at 
 intervals, so as to keep the bottle going; meanwhile 
 Gregory, having no relief, had to keep the American end 
 up alone. Now, in those days our naval officers wore 
 high black stocks, coming well up under the chin like the 
 collars that choke the luffs of the ears of some of the 
 young men of this time. This enabled Gregory, when he 
 threw back his head to swallow the liquor, to pour it 
 inside his stock instead of down his throat. 
 
 After a time the British captain gave in, and had to be 
 put to bed by his steward. The next morning he asked 
 the officer of the deck of the night before what had 
 become of the Yankee captain. " Well, sir," said the 
 officer, " he came on deck shortly after midnight, walked 
 up and down with me for a while, talking about the 
 weather, the spars of this ship, and one thing and another, 
 then bade me good-night and went over the side into his 
 gig, and pulled for his ship." " Was he sober ? " " Per 
 fectly sober, sir." 
 
 The steward was next questioned. " My eyes, sir," he 
 answered, " I never seen a man who could drink like that 
 Yankee captain. After all the others were under the table 
 he called for a fresh bottle of brandy, poured out a stiff 
 drink, tossed it off, and then asking that his gig might 
 be ordered, went on deck." "Was he sober?" "Yes, 
 sir, but you ought to have seen how he sweat ! The sweat 
 ran off of him in streams and all over the cabin floor 1 " 
 
42 
 
 It is an interesting fact that at the trial of a British 
 officer before a naval Court Martial, the sword of the 
 accused is placed across the table ; and when he comes in 
 to hear the finding of the court, he knows whether it is 
 favorable or not, according as the hilt or point is placed 
 towards him. Such nice punctilio is not known to our 
 Navy. In fact, with us, no person who has the mis 
 fortune to be Court Martialed is ever brought before the 
 Court to hear the finding. On the contrary, he may be 
 kept in suspense for weeks and months before he is 
 informed of the decision of the Court. 
 
 As the reverse of such procedure, let me give you the 
 closing incident of the English Court Martial that tried 
 Captain Bourke, and the surviving officers and crew of 
 H. M. S. Victoria, sunk in collision with H. M. S. Cam- 
 perdown, June 22, 1893, causing the loss of Admiral Sir 
 George Try on, 22 officers, and 336 enlisted men. I quote 
 from the record : 
 
 " The court was re-opened ; the prisoners brought in ; 
 the Prosecutor, Witnesses and Audience were admitted ; 
 the finding read ; and the prisoners acquitted accordingly. 
 The president declared the Court dissolved." 
 
 Thus you see Captain Bourke, his officers and men, 
 were tried by their peers and adjudged. That ended the 
 matter; there could be no review, no influence of any 
 sort, no political or social pull could touch the finding or 
 judgment. Picture to yourselves the delight Captain 
 Bourke must have felt when his anxious eye caught sight 
 of the sword with its hilt lying towards him ; and take to 
 your souls the thought that when we laid the corner-stone 
 of Americanism there were some things British that we 
 had better have held on to. 
 
 Let me give you another fact. It is this: when an 
 Englishman enters the naval or military service of the 
 Queen he does not lose thereby any of his privileges as a 
 
43 
 
 subject. He may take his seat in the House of Lords, or 
 be elected to the House of Commons. In either capacity, 
 he may freely criticise the government and vote against 
 its policies, and yet not imperil his Commission, nor forfeit 
 any right common to every British subject. With us no 
 officer of the army and navy on the active list is eligible 
 to a seat in Congress, and the privilege of expressing 
 opinions on political matters or service affairs is sternly 
 frowned upon, or put under mortifying restriction. Thus 
 we see that the liberty of the British subject is broader in 
 some directions than that of the American citizen. 
 
 When I entered the service fifty years ago, as a 
 youngster of fifteen, just caught, many of the customs 
 and traditions as well as drolleries of man-of-war life, so 
 vividly portrayed by the magic pens of Cooper and 
 Marryat, were still in vogue and of authority. The 
 nomenclature was puzzling, and the terms of speech often 
 heard were strange and startling, if not jargonish. The 
 bearing of officers and men was that of the old school 
 before steam had begun to play havoc with the zest and 
 poetry of the sea. The officers were punctilious and 
 stern in every detail of duty, while the men, weather- 
 beaten of countenance and with unconscious roll in their 
 gait, had the habits of respect and obedience that bespoke 
 the discipline and training of the men-of-war s men in the 
 hard days of the cat and colt, long passages and salt junk, 
 and infrequent shore-going. The black tarpaulin or white 
 sennet hat, heavy, rakish and broad brimmed, constituted 
 their general head gear. Some of the veterans still wore 
 gold rings in their ears and curled their locks, while their 
 Sunday rig of blue or white was set off with a jacket of 
 jaunty cut, having slashed sleeves and trimmed with 
 bright buttons. 
 
 The inspiriting drum and fife had not yet given way to 
 the trumpet, and the handling of the boatswain s call or 
 
44 
 
 whistle was a fine art. The boatswain and his mates 
 vied with one another in its skilful use. Each one put 
 so much individuality into his piping that the style and 
 quality of his notes invariably disclosed his identity. 
 
 The call had a vocabulary all its own readily under 
 stood when skilfully sounded. The veer, the haul, the 
 aloft , the lay out, the lay in, the down from aloft, the lower, 
 the meal call, the turn to, the belay all had clearest ex 
 pression ; and every boatswain s mate was gauged as to his 
 efficiency in some degree by the quality of the notes he 
 blew, and the way he swung the cat. 
 
 My first service was on board the brig Porpoise ten 
 guns on the West Coast of Africa. She was commis 
 sioned at Norfolk early in January, 1848. The day we 
 went on board what confusion there seemed to be in the 
 reception and mustering of the crew the stowage of bags 
 and hammocks and mess-gear, the work going on alow and 
 aloft, the constant piping, the gruff commands, the unin 
 telligible orders, the strange and emphatic utterances of 
 the boatswain s mates. In the midst of my dazed wonder 
 at such seeming hurly-burly, my ears were suddenly sa 
 luted with, " Mr. Belknap, don t stand there, sir, with your 
 hands in your pockets ! Stir yourself about the deck and 
 make yourself useful, sir ! " As I did not know at that 
 moment a squilgee from a marlinspike, a lubber s hole from 
 a magazine scuttle, a jack-stay from a flemish-horse, I could 
 not conceive just what useful thing I could do ; but it is 
 needless to add that I stirred around to the best of my 
 ability, and kept stirring ! 
 
 One of the first special things I had to do was to attend 
 at grog serving. When the Purser s Steward had got 
 through with the roll-call, an old boatswain s mate, whose 
 ears were decorated with ear-rings, stepped up, and touching 
 his stiff tarpaulin hat in the most respectful and winning 
 manner, said, " Beg pardon, sir, but my name was missed ; " 
 
45 
 
 and before I had grasped the fact he had " doubled the 
 tub " on me I I was more wary the next time. 
 
 Two or three days afterwards, I was put in temporary 
 charge of the deck. I felt as green as current story tells 
 us another midshipman felt when he first wrestled with 
 the hawse. It was the midshipman s first day on board a 
 ship of any kind ; and the Lieutenant of the watch having 
 been allowed to go on shore for the night, he was put in 
 charge of the deck from 8 P.M. to midnight. About nine 
 o clock the Captain put his head out of the cabin door and 
 said: " Quartermaster, how is the hawse ? " " The hawse 
 is all right, sir," answered the Quartermaster. " Well," said 
 the middy to himself, "they have a horse onboard it seems; " 
 and he went forward to take a look at him. Not finding 
 him, he returned to the quarter-deck, and asked the Quarter 
 master if the Captain had not inquired into the condition 
 of the horse. " Yes, sir," the old salt replied, " the hawse 
 is all right." "Well, I so understood," said the puzzled 
 reefer, and he spent the rest of the watch looking for the 
 animal. 
 
 A day or two after, when the ship got a foul hawse by 
 swinging around her anchors and twisting up her cables, 
 which had to be cleared for safe riding, he learned what the 
 hawse meant ! 
 
 We had been on board but a few days when one after 
 noon a playing-card came fluttering down from the main 
 top to the quarter-deck. Now, cards were expressly 
 forbidden on shipboard in those days, and the officer of 
 the deck ordered me to go aloft and take the names of the 
 culprits. No sooner had I reached the top than a man 
 lashed me to the topmast rigging with two or three turns 
 of small stuff, and I was told that I must pay my footing 
 in the shape of a bar of soap or a plug of tobacco before I 
 could be released. Casting my eye down to the officer of 
 the deck, I saw that he was in a broad grin, and I con- 
 
46 
 
 eluded that he knew what would happen when he sent me 
 aloft. It is needless to add that the footing demanded 
 was promptly promised. 
 
 It used to be said before the war that the two biggest 
 liars in the army were John Magruder and John Pope ; 
 but old Commodore Skinner of the navy well matched 
 them in the stretch of his imagination. 
 
 Among other yarns he used to tell, was this : " One 
 day I was out hunting on my plantation in Virginia. My 
 pointer dog had just settled down to a point, when one of 
 the household darkies came running up to me with one of 
 those ominous drab envelopes in which the Navy Depart 
 ment used to send its orders. Tearing it open, I found 
 orders to repair to Norfolk and hoist my broad pennant on 
 board the old Constellation, proceed to the West Coast of 
 Africa, and assume command of the African squadron. 
 Hurrying to the house, I packed my sea-chests and went 
 on my way. The cruise lasted two years. When I got 
 back home, and had exchanged greetings with the house 
 hold, I inquired what had become of the pointer. No 
 one could tell. He had never been seen since the morning 
 he had gone out into the field with me. It then struck 
 me that in my haste to obey orders, I had forgotten to call 
 the dog off. And sure enough, when I sought the spot in 
 the field where I had left him, I found the poor creature s 
 bones still pointing in the direction I had last seen him. 
 The faithful dog had remained at a point until he starved 
 to death." 
 
 The one great failing of the old-time man-of-war s-man 
 was his love of grog. He took to his glass with as much 
 gusto as did Dick Swiveller to his modest quencher. 
 Such habit had logical excuse, however, in the fact that 
 the use of strong drink was a general failing of the age he 
 lived in ; but his thirst was unquenchable, and it required 
 unremitting watchfulness to prevent the smuggling of 
 
47 
 
 liquor on board our ships-of-war when in harbor. A ration 
 of grog one-half a gill of whiskey used to be served 
 twice a day, a custom that tended to strengthen and confirm 
 the appetite for it, and the men would do almost anything 
 to get a clandestine drink, regardless of consequences. 
 
 In talking with an old man-o -war s-man at the National 
 Sailors Home, Quincy, the other day, it came out that he 
 was one of the crew of the steam frigate Colorado, the 
 flag-ship of the Home Squadron in 1859-60. I said, " Do 
 you remember how fond the Colorado s men were of sar 
 dines when the old ship was lying at Aspinwall? " " Oh, 
 yes, sir," he replied, as a broad grin lighted up his counte 
 nance in chuckling recollection. The tale that hung 
 thereby was this. For days and weeks the men were 
 smuggling liquor on board, and getting drunk in the most 
 unaccountable manner, and no clew could be found in solu 
 tion of the mystery. Finally, it was observed that the 
 men seemed to be extravagantly fond of sardines ; so one 
 day, when a man came out of the bumboat with a dozen or 
 more boxes in hand, the Master-at-Arms, the chief police 
 officer of the ship, was directed to open one of them at the 
 gangway, when lo ! not the toothsome sardine met the eye, 
 but the vilest sort of whiskey trickled upon the deck. It 
 need not be said that instant embargo was laid upon that 
 sort of fish, much to the disgust of the smugglers and the 
 rascally bumboatmen ! 
 
 This reminds me of an experience with tin hams dur 
 ing the war. 
 
 One day, off Charleston, some of the New Ironsides 
 crew brought on board from the supply steamer, which 
 visited the blockading fleet once every three weeks, a 
 batch of hams, neatly covered with cotton cloth, painted 
 yellow, and branded true grocer fashion. Noticing that 
 one of the hams, perfect in form, seemed to have a liquid 
 oozing out of it, I called for a battle-axe, and ordered the 
 
48 
 
 Master-at-Arms to ply it on the suspected package. A 
 blow and a spurt, and an unmistakable odor showed that 
 the tinsmith and the rumseller had put their heads to 
 gether to get Jack s money in that nefarious way, and 
 give him a chance to get drunk in the face of the enemy. 
 
 On another occasion, despite the utmost vigilance, one- 
 half the ship s company got more or less drunk. The 
 why and wherefore was solved when, after much search, 
 a five-gallon demijohn of whiskey was found packed in 
 the middle of a barrel of potatoes. 
 
 I recollect that one of my first duties upon arrival in 
 a foreign port, nearly fifty years ago, was to take charge 
 of a boat, land an officer, and await his return. The 
 further order was to allow no man to leave the boat, and 
 on no account to let any one of them have a drop of 
 liquor. Pretty soon a man came down to the landing, 
 and began to talk with the bow oarsman. A moment 
 later I looked back to the ship to observe some routine 
 of harbor work she was engaged in. As I turned my 
 head back towards the boat s crew, I saw one of the men 
 with a bottle of Portuguese brandy in his hand, pouring 
 the liquor into the heel of his low-quartered shoe, which 
 he had slipped off to serve as a pot or tumbler, the pot 
 for drinking purposes being under the stern sheets where 
 I was sitting. I thought to myself, " I can t help it now ; 
 if you want a drink so bad as that, you can have it this 
 time ; " but wisdom came with experience, and thereafter 
 I made boats crews lie off on their oars some distance 
 from the landing. Luckily for me the men did not get 
 liquor enough on that occasion to make them drunk ! 
 
 But such untoward doings do not mark the old sailor 
 alone ; for the other day I saw it chronicled in the news 
 papers that an actress in New York had been testing the 
 devotion of her admirers by offering them champagne in 
 her satin slipper ! 
 
49 
 
 We had a trim, dapper boatswain s mate, Jack Ryan by 
 name, of the old school, on board the Porpoise, who blew 
 notes on his silver call as clear and sweet as the song of 
 a canary, and he sometimes broke into rhyme. 
 
 This doggerel will show his feeling and that of his 
 fellows on the question of grog before the late Senator 
 John P. Hale, dubbed by the sailors " Cold Water Jack," 
 succeeded in abolishing that ration. 
 
 I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled 
 Around the fore hatch that dinner was nigh; 
 
 And I said, if there s anything good in this world 
 T is made in our mess, and they call it sea-pie. 
 
 T is twelve, and the boatswain is ordered to pipe, 
 His mates they stand ready to answer and bawl; 
 
 The grog-tub is out, and, the line stretched along, 
 Each hand is awaiting the sound of the "call." 
 
 By the side of yon grog-tub how sweet t is to stand, 
 And listen to catch the dear sound of your name: 
 
 But oh ! how much sweeter when the tot s in your hand, 
 You drink and are off for some sea-pie to claim. 
 
 And thus in a snug man-of-war did I say, 
 
 With a cook to attend me, and make me sea-pie, 
 
 With my half pint of whiskey to drink every day, 
 How sweet could I live, and how calm could I die! 
 
 So sang the old time man-o -war s-man, a type of salt 
 water man now as extinct as the man-at-arms in the days 
 of the Crusaders. 
 
 To offset this, let me give you another story to show 
 how some of the old-time officers loved their grog, as told 
 by the late Billy Parker. 
 
 A somewhat eccentric officer much addicted to drink 
 had great difficulty in getting a command. Finally his 
 friends got him the command of a brig upon condition 
 
50 
 
 that he would take no liquor to sea with him. After 
 being at sea a week or two, the Captain felt very dry. 
 Now, in small vessels the ration of grog was served to the 
 men on the lee side of the upper or spar deck. One day, 
 at 12 o clock noon, the grog-tub was brought up, as usual, 
 and the Captain, after passing it several times with long 
 ing eyes, suddenly strode up to the Purser s Steward, 
 and said : " What s this complaint I hear of the ship s 
 whiskey? Give me a tot! " Pouring it down with great 
 gusto, he exclaimed : " It s as good whiskey as ever I 
 drank; let me hear no more complaints!" It is need 
 less to say there had been none. On the contrary, it 
 was well understood by everyone on board that he would 
 have been glad to test the quality of the whiskey every 
 day of his life ; and we had, during the cruise of the 
 Porpoise, two or three officers who would often slip over 
 to the grog-tub and beg a tot. 
 
 They would have delighted the heart of bluff William 
 IV., England s last sailor King. You may recall this 
 story that Greville tells of that irascible monarch. Water 
 was to him an abomination, and brusqueness a prime 
 trait of his character. One day King Leopold of Bel 
 gium was dining with him at Windsor, and had the 
 temerity to call for water. " What s that you are drink 
 ing, sir ? " asked the royal host. " Water, sir." " God 
 d n it," rejoined William, " why don t you drink wine ? 
 I never allow anybody to drink water at my table I " 
 
 In those days, when at sea, it was the custom for the 
 officers to assemble every Saturday evening around the 
 flowing punch-bowl to tell stories, sing songs, and drink 
 to sweethearts and wives; but that custom is no more, 
 for in 1862, during the height of the war, Congress abol 
 ished the grog ration in the Navy, and neither officers nor 
 men are now allowed to bring on board our men-of-war 
 any drink stronger than wine or beer. 
 
51 
 
 It has been said that the custom went out with the 
 " flog and the grog ; " but flogging was abolished in 1850, 
 or twelve years before the grog ration was taken away. 
 A better reason was this. The Navy was losing its drink 
 ing habit in common with the rest of the people ; and the 
 shorter passages of the increasing steam-navy and the 
 more frequent receipt of home letters, abated the desire to 
 gather round the flowing bowl for the whiling away the 
 time, as in the tedious sea passages of yore. 
 
 In other services grog or wine is still served out to the 
 men. Some of you may have visited H. M. ship Blake 
 when she was in Boston harbor a little time ago. If so, 
 you may have noticed on the main deck a big grog-tub of 
 black oak, bearing the legend in big letters of brass, " God 
 bless the Queen ! " The Queen s sailors will have their 
 grog ; the eighty odd thousand of them are a power, and 
 will not stand prohibition 1 
 
 The English are more conservative than we are ; and in 
 a service whose personnel now approaches some ninety 
 thousand men, innovations affecting time-honored customs 
 and privileges are adopted with great caution. 
 
 In the abolition of the spirit ration good move as it 
 was the wishes of the enlisted men were not consulted 
 at all. Such procedure could not have taken place in 
 England, for there is no service in the world where the 
 privileges of " the man behind the gun " have been so 
 carefully considered and so specifically ordered as in 
 H. M. Navy. 
 
 We Americans are prone to think that the mantle of 
 wisdom of all the ages has fallen on our shoulders, but 
 there are many good things in this world not dreamt of in 
 our philosophy ! 
 
 There is perhaps no life that so quickly discerns and 
 lays bare special traits and eccentricities as that pertain 
 ing to the sea, and especially to the Navy. Nicknames 
 
52 
 
 once given cling forever. The late Admiral Nicholson 
 came of a naval family coeval with the Revolution. He 
 knew from tradition what to expect from the " oldsters " 
 when he first went on board ship as a young midshipman 
 or " youngster," for hazing is by no means a new plague 
 in the world ; so he provided himself with a pair of big 
 horse pistols, and brandishing them about with a defiant 
 air, declared that he would shoot the first man that ven 
 tured to lay hazing hand upon him. The rollicking 
 " oldsters," delighted at such unwonted show of spirit, 
 dubbed him " Warhorse " on the spot ; and " Warhorse 
 Nicholson " he was called from that day forward down to 
 his death. " Horse Williamson " was an officer so-called 
 from the resemblance of his head to that of a horse. 
 "Alphabetical Kennedy," and Porter, Craven and Cald- 
 well, were so dubbed because of the number of initial 
 letters to their names. Old Commodore Elliot went by 
 the name of " Old Bruin." 
 
 In 1855 I sailed with a pompous old Captain by the 
 name of T. Darrah Shaw. We were bound from Norfolk 
 to the West Indies. One day he came out of the cabin 
 in a tearing sort of humor saying : " They ve sent me 
 charts all the way from Buffin s Bay to Holmes s Hole, but 
 not a single one of West Indian ports 1 " From that 
 moment we never spoke of him but as " Old Buffin." 
 He was a character ; tall, handsome, and portly, he was 
 vain as a peacock ; but he was now well along in years, 
 and the salt in him had never struck in. In other words, 
 he was a poor sailor. Where once had been a luxuriant 
 head of hair was now bare and smooth as a well holy 
 stoned deck ; but two or three days before we were to get 
 into port, he would retire into the innermost recesses of 
 his cabin with an attack of neuralgia, and leave the care 
 of the ship to the First Lieutenant. The moment, however, 
 we got in, and were snugly moored, he would appear on 
 
53 
 
 deck, furbished up in all the glory of a flowing wig, 
 coal-black whiskers and moustache, set off by his newest 
 uniform of blue and gold in readiness for the delights of 
 shore. 
 
 " Mad Jack Percival " and " Monkey Hall " were two 
 notable characters in our own and in the British service in 
 bygone days. " Mad Jack " saw his last service afloat in 
 the old frigate Constitution. He took it into his head 
 that he might die during his three years cruise around 
 the world ; so he provided himself with a stout oak coffin, 
 made to order, which he carried for safe-keeping in his 
 cabin. When he got home safe and sound with no signs 
 of dying, he took such cheerful furnishing, and turned it 
 into a watering-trough by the roadside of the then rural 
 Dorchester, where the unconscious horses and cattle re 
 freshed themselves long after the old Commodore s 
 death ! 
 
 " Monkey Hall " had distinguished himself in the 
 Baltic during the Crimean war, but his personal make-up 
 was so much like that of a monkey that his brother 
 officers dubbed him accordingly. Darwin had not then 
 promulgated his theory of evolution. Possibly had he 
 met the gallant Admiral, he would have hastened the 
 announcement ! When I knew him he was Flag-Captain 
 to Admiral Sir Michael Seymour on the China Station in 
 1856-58. At that period Sir John Bowring was the 
 Governor of Hong Kong and Minister Plenipotentiary of 
 England to China. Sir John was a great radical, and 
 had been given that appointment to get him out of the 
 kingdom. The English naval officers on the station 
 most of them Tories did not like him at all. Your 
 native born insular Britisher is a queer being. He is 
 at once a compound of ineradical flunkeyism and of the 
 sturdiest independence. 
 
 Said one of them to an officer of our squadron, " So 
 
54 
 
 you are going to call on Bowring," as they called the 
 governor, " and make the acquaintance of Vinegar and 
 Pickles ! " " Vinegar and Pickles " were the sour-visaged 
 daughters of Sir John, whom the British officers detested. 
 
 You may recollect that the late English Bishop Wilber- 
 force went by the name of " Soapy Sam " the kingdom 
 over. We used to match that in the navy .in the having 
 of a chaplain whose nickname was " Slicky- Jones," so 
 smooth were his ways and so oily his tongue. Both 
 " Soapy " and " Slicky " were men of parts. The latter 
 accompanied Perry in his expedition to Japan, and made 
 scientific observations upon the phenomena of the north 
 ern lights. 
 
 I have a soft spot in my heart for Mr. Jones because, as 
 Assistant Professor at the Naval Academy, he taught me 
 the rudiments of navigation there in 1847. The first 
 lesson he gave us youngsters was to learn to " box the 
 compass." Then in further instruction in navigation, he 
 taught us "dead reckoning," which accomplished, we 
 thought ourselves quite salty ; but the moment we got out 
 of port, and felt the long, heavy swell of " the placid ocean 
 plains," of which Tennyson so mistakenly sings in " In 
 Memoriam," we found that our christening as incipient 
 seamen had not been of the briny sort, but of land-lubber 
 experience of the freshest kind. 
 
 I well recollect the lovely day in January, 1848, when 
 we left Fortress Monroe in the brig Porpoise for Cape de 
 Verde Islands. We had dined at one o clock, and the 
 rice pudding we had had for dessert seemed particularly 
 nice. But when we got outside Cape Henry, and the 
 vessel began to roll and butt into the sea, I was suddenly 
 seized with a headache, followed by a dreadful sickness 
 that lasted me all the way across the ocean. I first laid 
 it all to the rice pudding, but learned to know better, for 
 it took me fourteen years to fully conquer sea-sickness. 
 
55 
 
 Lieutenant Junius J. Boyle was another eccentric char 
 acter. He lived in Washington. One day some ladies 
 called to see his wife and daughters. Boyle put in an ap 
 pearance first, and greeted the callers with this sea-smack 
 ing information : " Mrs. Boyle and the girls will be down 
 as soon as they are done cleaning themselves." The ladies 
 thought that a queer way of designating the finishing 
 touches of the toilette, although old Pepys tells us in his 
 diary that his wife stayed at home all of one day cleaning 
 herself. 
 
 Boyle was fond of drink, and one of his bouts brought 
 him before a Court Martial. His counsel was Purser 
 Levi D. Slamm. Slamm had been co-editor of a lively 
 Democratic newspaper in New York, and from the vigor 
 of his editorials went by the name of Slamm, Bang, & Co., 
 until Mr. Polk made him a Purser in the Navy. Civil 
 service reform had not then blighted the hopes of political 
 editors after the fashion of this purer day ! 
 
 During the trial, one of the witnesses was asked how he 
 knew Boyle had been drinking on the occasion he was 
 charged with drunkenness. " I smelt the liquor on him," 
 he answered. When Slamm presented the written de 
 fence to the Court, which Boyle and himself had prepared, 
 it contained this adaptation of Burns : 
 
 "Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us, 
 To smell oursel s as others smell us 1 " 
 
 Boyle was acquitted. 
 
 In the war with Mexico the Navy had no naval foe to 
 meet ; but it co-operated effectively with the Army in the 
 Gulf, blockaded or captured all the important Gulf ports, 
 and landed General Scott s army at Vera Cruz and all its 
 belongings in a few brief hours without loss of a man, 
 confusion in any direction, or mishap of any sort. 
 
 It also landed, established, and fought a battery of six 
 
56 
 
 g uns 32 s and 64 s from the fleet at the bombard 
 ment of Fort San Juan de Ulloa. 
 
 One day an artillery officer visited the naval battery. 
 " Ah," said he, as he watched the work of the blue jackets 
 at the guns, "those are the boys for me. Our fellows 
 stand up like ramrods, and do everything by rule of 
 thumb ; but your men jump about with the freedom of cats, 
 and serve their guns as though they really loved them 1 " 
 
 The blockade of the port, before the fall of its defences, 
 by the Saratoga and Germantown, St. Mary s and Albany, 
 Decatur and other sailing ships of that period had been 
 so admirably conducted as to extort the praise of the 
 British Admiral watching operations there. Coming on 
 deck one morning at break of day, he called his officers 
 about him and bade them " note with what precision and 
 alertness the American cruisers kept their stations in all 
 weathers whether by night or by day and to take such 
 lessons of fine seamanship and rigid performance to heart 
 and not to forget them, for they might be called upon 
 some day to meet ships so well manned and so smartly 
 handled as enemies." 
 
 If the work of the Navy had been secondary to that of 
 the Army on the eastern seaboard of Mexico the conditions 
 were reversed in the Pacific ; for by the timely and ener 
 getic action of Sloat, Stockton, and Montgomery the Navy 
 possessed and occupied all the seaboard towns of Cali 
 fornia, and secured that splendid territory to the country. 
 
 The first mayors of the coast towns under our flag were 
 Navy officers ; and the Navy had control, afloat and ashore, 
 until Army detachments arrived to garrison the different 
 places and assume the direction of affairs on land pending 
 the readiness of the civil authority to assert its supremacy. 
 
 Admiral Seymour, R.N., was cruising in the line-of- 
 battle-ship Collingwood along the Mexican coast at the 
 time of our conquest, with orders to seize the bay of San 
 
5T 
 
 Francisco as an offset to British claims held against 
 Mexico. This assertion has been denied by the " unctuous 
 rectitude " so characteristic of British folk, according to 
 the latest utterance of Cecil Rhodes; but some seven 
 years ago, Commander Adam D. Dundas, R.N., retired, 
 told me at Yokohama that the story was true. Said he, 
 " I was serving on board the Colling wood as a young offi 
 cer at the time, and I know our Admiral had such orders, 
 but with this qualification, that if he found the American 
 flag hoisted in occupation, he was to respect it." 
 
 It was a pet theory of the Southern officers, as well as 
 of the secession leaders, that the Navy was too small to 
 maintain an effective blockade of the extended coasts of 
 the South, and that it could accomplish nothing of moment 
 in inland waters and against shore batteries and forts. 
 John Bull also hugged such delusion to his breast, and 
 scouted what he was pleased to call a paper blockade. 
 He insisted, indeed, that that was the only sort of block 
 ade the United States could maintain. But a rude awak 
 ening was soon to confound such calculations. Necessity 
 pointed the way; and, as if touched by the hand of a 
 magician, the Navy suddenly expanded into a great ser 
 vice. Officers and men were at once taken in from our 
 then splendid merchant marine and put under naval in 
 struction. Keels of new ships were immediately laid 
 some of them even on Sunday ; merchant ships were 
 bought, and converted into ships-of-war in hot haste, and 
 the construction of iron-clads hastened. Hardly was the 
 ink dry, indeed, on the written fulminations of Lord John 
 Russell against ineffective blockades, when the most effec 
 tive blockade known to the world s history was established 
 from the capes of the Chesapeake to the mouth of the 
 Rio Grande ; and our courts of Admiralty were soon all 
 too busy with the work of adjudicating the cases of Brit 
 ish blockade runners which had encountered, to their sore 
 cost, that matchless cordon of ships. 
 
58 
 
 It was said at the dinner of the New England Society 
 in New York the other day that "the New Navy was born 
 amid the throes of civil war ! " 
 
 Shades of Farragut and Foote, Porter and Du Pont, 
 Davis and Dahlgren, Rowan and Rodgers, Stringham and 
 Goldsborough, Worden and Winslow and their distin 
 guished compeers. It would astonish them, I think, to 
 learn that they, and the officers and men whom they led in 
 rebellion days, were of the new birth. It was not so : 
 there was no glint of such newness. It was the spirit 
 and traditions, the organization and methods, of the fathers 
 that dominated the souls of those intrepid seamen at the 
 capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet ; the circling fight 
 at Hilton Head ; the brilliant passage of forts St. Philip 
 and Jackson, and the capture of New Orleans ; the battle 
 incomparable of Mobile Bay ; the river fights at forts 
 Henry, Donelson, and Arkansas Post, Port Hudson and 
 Vicksburg ; the running of the batteries at Island No. 10 ; 
 the battle of Memphis and destruction of the rebel fleet 
 there ; the fateful combat of the Monitor with the Merri- 
 mac in Hampton water; the fight of the double-enders 
 with the iron-clad Albemarle, and the battles of Roanoke 
 Island, Plymouth, and Newbern in the sounds of Carolina ; 
 the work of the New Ironsides and Monitors at Charleston 
 and Fort Fisher ; the destruction of the Alabama by the 
 Kearsarge ; the establishment and effectiveness of the 
 extended blockade, and many other notable things of 
 achievement in that memorable time. 
 
 It is told of Captain Samuel Barron, one of the ablest 
 of the Southern officers who threw up their naval commis 
 sions at the outbreak of the war, that when the ships of 
 Stringham s fleet began to throw their shells in continu 
 ous stream into the Hatteras forts, with unerring aim, he 
 forgot for the moment that he was a rebel, and with pas 
 sionate gesture and exultant voice exclaimed, " There is 
 
59 
 
 nothing like our Navy." What tender memories of the 
 past must have flashed through his brain at that revealing 
 moment ! 
 
 The Old Navy was incarnate in Farragut. Battle-sea 
 soned from the day when, as a mere lad of thirteen, he 
 fought on board the Essex in her desperate fight with the 
 Phoebe and Cherub, he loved and believed in the old ser 
 vice, and knew that its noble personnel led, as in his in 
 most being he felt he could lead it, could accomplish 
 anything of daring and high emprise that men of the sea 
 of whatever race or prestige of achievement had ever done 
 or could do. Like Grant, he did not stay his purpose or 
 slacken his grip because of what the enemy might attempt, 
 but bent his whole thought and aim towards what himself 
 and his eager officers and men were expected to do. And 
 so with transcendent genius for war and self-confidence, 
 bouyant courage and intuitive grasp, he succeeded in 
 straits of threatened disaster where others less heroically 
 endowed would have failed. 
 
 What incident, indeed, of naval warfare in the chronicles 
 of time presents a theme of more dramatic or inspiring 
 interest than the figure of that Sea-King, standing high up 
 in the main rigging of the Hartford, holding on to the 
 futtock shrouds as he guided the fleet to victory through 
 the torpedo-strewn fire-swept channel leading past Fort 
 Morgan. You may recall the fact that in approaching 
 Fort Morgan the monitor Tecumseh was suddenly torpe 
 doed ; that the Brooklyn, the ship Farragut had reluc 
 tantly assigned to lead the main column, suddenly stopped, 
 appalled at the disaster to the monitor. To stop at that 
 point was to get the concentrated fire of the fort and rebel 
 ships ; to turn back was disaster and defeat ; to go ahead 
 was to tempt the hidden power of the torpedoes. In this 
 strait, Farragut, always a devout man, offered up a silent 
 prayer for divine guidance. And it seemed, said he, that 
 
60 
 
 in answer to his petition, a voice commanded : " Go on ! " 
 And on he went to victory and fame eternal I Who can 
 doubt that God illumined his soul with heavenly light at 
 that crucial moment? 
 
 It was on that occasion, too, that brave Craven of the 
 Tecumseh, when that monitor was blown up by a torpedo, 
 did an act of grace and quiet heroism that lights his name 
 with a ray of immortality. You will recall that as the 
 ship reeled to the torpedo stroke the pilot and himself 
 made for the scuttle leading from the pilot tower to the 
 turret below; but Craven suddenly drawing back, with 
 the characteristic dignity so well known to his fellow 
 seamen, said, with a gracious wave of his hand, " After 
 you, pilot ! " There was no " after " for him ; for, said the 
 pilot, " The bottom seemed to drop from under me as I 
 clambered out of the turret, and Craven went down with 
 the ship." 
 
 Alas! No after" was there for him, 
 Waiting in tower so stout and grim, 
 For shrouded in iron he sank to rest 
 To sleep with those forever blest. 
 On swept the fleet, mid flame and smoke, 
 And thunderous roar and cannon stroke, 
 But the bubbles that rose to the surface brim 
 Were the last of earth that told of him. 
 
 In the realms of diplomacy and of independent action, 
 flag-officers and captains of the older day had wider and 
 more responsible fields of action than they can now have. 
 Submarine cables and overland telegraph lines now put 
 most civilized governments in immediate touch with their 
 officials abroad ; and, as a rule, the diplomatic and naval 
 officers of the Powers are under the constant direction 
 of their respective governments in matters of moment and 
 responsibility, requiring diplomatic or naval action. Be 
 fore this day of ready communication, our naval command- 
 
61 
 
 ers were obliged to act frequently on questions and 
 exigencies arising in different parts of the world that 
 admitted no delay. Among such occasions were Commo 
 dore Perry s action at Great Berribee, West Coast of 
 Africa, 1843 ; Commander Charles H. Bell s at the river 
 Gaboon the same year ; Commander Glynn s at Nagasaki 
 in 1849 ; Commodore McCauley s at Valparaiso in 1851 ; 
 Commodore Ingraham s at Smyrna in 1853 ; Captain 
 Kelley s at Shanghai, 1854 ; Commander Foote s at Canton, 
 and Commodore Armstrong s at Barrier Forts, Canton 
 River, 1856 ; Commander Poor s at Rio Hacha, 1860, and 
 Commander Roe s at Vera Cruz, Mexico ; John Rodgers s 
 at Valparaiso in 1866, and at Korea, 1871 ; Admiral H. H. 
 Bell s at Formosa, 1867; the landing of seamen and 
 marines at Panama on many occasions to protect the tran 
 sit ; and at Honolulu in 1874 and 1893 ; Kimberly at 
 Samoa in 1889 ; Belknap at Korea in 1890 and 91. Let 
 me note here that when Commodore Armstrong, under the 
 inspiration of the late Admiral Foote, captured and de 
 stroyed the Barrier Forts, mounting one hundred and 
 seventy-six guns, in the Canton River, 1856, for firing on 
 the flag, his action was approved by the government ; but 
 that the officer who landed a force at Honolulu in 1874, 
 restored order, and held the town until Kalakaua was 
 firmly established on the throne in the interest of the 
 United States, got no word whatever from Washington. 
 On the other hand, the English captain who had allowed 
 the Americans to get ahead of him on that occasion was 
 called home, and to the day of his death was never given 
 another hour s duty by the Admiralty. 
 
 As there are exceptions to every rule, so in this day of 
 world-wide telegraphic communication. 
 
 Admiral Benham s firm and independent action at Rio 
 de Janeiro, in 1893, gave more prestige to the United 
 States as a nation which must be heeded than any other 
 
62 
 
 event since the Treaty of Washington up to the date of 
 President Cleveland s significant message to Congress, 
 last December, in interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine 
 as applied to the status of Venezuela. It gave correct 
 interpretation of international law as regards belligerent 
 rights, and effectually stopped the intrigues of the Euro 
 pean powers against the Republic of Brazil. Knowing he 
 was right, he stood ready to enforce such interpretation at 
 the muzzle of his guns. From that moment the insurgent 
 cause, which had for its aim the restoration of the Empire, 
 began to crumble, European intrigue and hope were check 
 mated, and the battle of freedom for the people of Brazil 
 was won. For such consummation in behalf of the people 
 and of human rights, I claim the credit for Benham and 
 the Old Navy. 
 
 As diplomatists with shotted guns back of them at times 
 for the unravelling of knotty questions, Commodore De- 
 catur negotiated a treaty in 1815 with Algiers and Tripoli ; 
 in 1831 Commodore David Porter, who had resigned his 
 naval commission, made a treaty with Turkey; in 1821 
 Commodore Stockton acquired by treaty with the African 
 chiefs the territory which now comprises the Republic of 
 Liberia; in 1826 Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones con 
 cluded our first treaty with Hawaii ; in 1854 Commodore 
 Perry finished his successful negotiations with Japan, and 
 twenty-eight years later Commodore Shufeldt brought 
 home a treaty with Korea. 
 
 Nor is it too much to say that Perry s treaty with 
 Japan was one of the most momentous achievements 
 known to the diplomacy of modern times. The Commo 
 dore s pictures are scattered all over Japan, and his 
 name and fame are held more and more in respect and 
 admiration by her people as the years roll on. His expe 
 dition and its accomplishment marked the beginning of a 
 new era in their national life. Its incidents will go 
 
63 
 
 down in their annals and literature, glorified by their 
 exquisite art, and enriching the song and story of that 
 imaginative and legend-loving people. During the three 
 years I commanded our squadron in Asiatic waters, 1889- 
 92, the Japanese government took special pains to send a 
 ship-of-war to Yokohama each year to take part in the 
 celebration of the Fourth of July. The flag of no other 
 nation was so honored by the Imperial government in the 
 observance of national anniversaries there during that 
 period. Such fact was significant, and it was meant to be. 
 It was meant to show special friendship for the United 
 States and for the American people. My first glimpse of 
 Japan was in 1857, when we went to Shimoda and Hako- 
 data in the Portsmouth the " black devil " of the Barrier 
 Forts. At that time no change had been made in the 
 customs of the empire, and we saw feudalism in all its 
 restrictions and severity. The Samurai the two-sworded 
 men were omnipresent ; they walked about as the lords 
 of all they saw, and the common folk were continually 
 prostrating themselves before them. "We could neither 
 buy nor look at anything without their supervising pres 
 ence ; but one day at Hakodata, two of us managed to 
 escape their annoying surveillance, and we strayed out into 
 the country, and falling in with a man working alone in a 
 field, we exchanged buttons cut from our coats for a couple 
 of quarter itzeboos a silver coin of the then value of 
 eight cents. The exchange was made with great trepida 
 tion on the part of the laborer, for it was then a capital 
 crime to permit any foreigner to take the Mikado s coin 
 out of the empire. 
 
 What a marvellous change has since come over that 
 most interesting of countries ! A stranger dining at the 
 Grand Hotel at Yokohama, the Imperial at Tokyo, or the 
 Yaami at Kyoto, might think himself in London or New 
 York, so far as freedom, comfort, and good service go. Or 
 
64 
 
 if he wishes to live in pure Japanese style, he can find 
 excellent Japanese inns amidst the rugged hills of Royal 
 Nikko, the beautiful summer retreat of the Takugawa 
 Shoguns lake-bound Hakone or the sulphur-bath 
 region of Myanoshita. 
 
 Then what a delight after dinner to take a rickshaw for 
 an evening ride through the decorated and thousand-lan 
 tern-lighted streets of town and country, hamlet and park, 
 especially on holiday occasions. Who can ever forget 
 busy Theatre Street in Yokohama, the broad Ginza or 
 moated quarter of Tokyo, picturesque Shiba, or the fairy 
 night scenes in templed Kyoto ? The progress of Dai 
 Nippon in Western civilization during the past quarter of 
 a century has indeed been the marvel of the age ; but its 
 chiefest interest and greatest charm for the traveller lie in 
 the opportunity that now permits him, without restraint, 
 to look upon the old-time things, the quaint ways, the 
 childlike abandon, the exquisite art and splendid temple 
 architecture of that lovable people. 
 
 When you go abroad, let me commend to you for your 
 most enjoyable pleasuring that interesting land of the 
 Mikado. 
 
 The man of Japan drinks in love of his land from his 
 birth; the legends and stories of an heroic past are his 
 daily inspiration ; his soul thrills with the stirring chron 
 icle ; and, as he grows up to manhood, he longs to show 
 his devotion to his Emperor and country by deeds of sac 
 rifice or martial prowess, that will link him to the intrepid 
 deeds of his fathers. 
 
 In the feudal days of the Empire days that lasted 
 from before the Christian era until 1868 the great mili 
 tary class was known as the samurai, and the sword was 
 its most cherished possession. "A girded sword is the 
 living soul of a samurai," said the great leyasu in his 
 legacy to his people, and the cherished story of the loss 
 
65 
 
 and hunt for the famous sword Masmune approaches in 
 significance the Christian legend of the Holy Grail ; there 
 is, indeed, no more patriotic or determined man in the 
 world to-day than the man of Japan. Mikado, banzai I 
 banzai ! Long live the Emperor I is the cry of the subject. 
 In such spirit he clings to the past, and stoutly heeds the 
 prime factor of national being the corner-stone of all 
 successful government from the creation to this day the 
 power of the sword ; a factor that lies at the bottom of 
 all England s colonizing achievements and world round 
 Empire, and which has given us our national life. 
 
 In the earlier days of the Navy, duelling was an unwrit 
 ten law of naval and military life. The code, indeed, was 
 much in vogue everywhere during the first half of this 
 century for the settlement of personal differences, and 
 especially among naval and military men. There was no 
 statutory inhibition with us so far as concerned the Navy 
 until 1862. That was well; for there were occasions 
 when not to send or accept a challenge would have been 
 disastrous to the prestige of the service and the fair fame 
 of the country, for when we had put on the robes of 
 young nationality, officers of the European services were 
 disposed to look upon us as upstarts and intruders in pre 
 suming to have a navy, and sometimes went out of their 
 way to show such feeling offensively. Wherefore check 
 had to be given to such impertinence, and the gospel of 
 civility be shot into them. 
 
 Now, as a rule, our folk of that day, born and bred in 
 a new country, and more generally accustomed to the use 
 of firearms than any other people, were the best shots in 
 the world; and after many encounters in the field, in 
 which our officers came out best three times out of four, 
 impertinence yielded to respect and toleration to welcome. 
 
 In these difficulties, which savor of savagery now to 
 some extent, our British friends were perhaps the fore- 
 
66 
 
 most offenders. They still resented our separation from 
 the Mother Isles, and neglected no opportunity to show 
 such feeling. Let me recall some well known examples. 
 
 One evening in the British port of Malta in the Medi 
 terranean, in 1803, Midshipman Bainbridge and some of 
 his companions were in the lobby of a theatre there. In 
 their hearing, the Military Secretary to the Governor, Sir 
 Alexander Ball, said : " These Yankees will never stand 
 the smell of powder," following up the remark by brush 
 ing up offensively against Bainbridge. The intent of the 
 insult was but too manifest. Quick as thought Bainbridge 
 knocked the offender down and a challenge ensued. The 
 then Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, acting as Bainbridge s 
 second, and as the challenged party, chose pistols at four 
 paces twenty feet. 
 
 The Britisher was known to be a confirmed duellist, 
 sure at ten paces ; and his second objected to the shorter 
 distance, saying to Decatur, " This looks like murder ! " 
 " No, sir," replied Decatur, " this looks like death ; your 
 friend is an expert duellist ; mine is wholly inexperienced ; 
 the shorter distance will make things more equal." Deca 
 tur carried his point, for he was clearly in the right. The 
 two men took their places and waited for the word. At 
 the first fire Bainbridge s ball passed through his antag 
 onist s hat ; the Secretary missed his aim altogether. Once 
 more they stood on the line ; and this time the Englishman 
 fell to the ground mortally shot, while Bainbridge stood 
 unharmed. 
 
 Sir Alexander Ball tried to make a diplomatic matter 
 of the affair ; but it was seen that his Secretary had de 
 liberately insulted the American and had courted the 
 encounter. 
 
 Another instance was when Tattnall, he whose chivalric 
 action and " blood thicker than water " expression at the 
 Peilo in 1859, sounded round the world with such acclaim 
 
67 
 
 among English-speaking folk, challenged and wounded a 
 British officer of Lord Cochrane s fleet at Valparaiso in 
 1819. Cochrane, subsequently the Earl of Dundonald, 
 had been wrongfully cashiered from the British Navy. 
 He was now, in the early days of Chilean independence, in 
 command of the Chilean fleet, and many of his officers 
 were English. Some time after Tattnall s own affair he 
 acted as a second to Midshipman Pinckney of the Mace 
 donian, who had also challenged an English officer of 
 Cochrane s fleet. In this case the second of the British 
 officer refused to abide by the terms that had been agreed 
 upon ten paces. After much altercation, Tattnall 
 strode up to the English second and said to him : " You 
 are a coward and a scoundrel ; you have made all this 
 difficulty. Now you shall first fight me at five paces ! " 
 The officer backed down and apologized, and the duel pro 
 ceeded. Several shots were exchanged, and the clothing 
 of both principals was cut; but finally the Englishman 
 was wounded, and the affair came to an end. Tattnall s 
 part had been so prominent and decided, that the officers 
 of the British flag-ship in port, sympathizing with their 
 countryman of Cochrane s fleet, indulged in comments 
 which Tattnall resented. He therefore sent word on 
 board by a responsible messenger to the effect that if his 
 course had in any way displeased them he would be most 
 happy to fight them of all grades, from " the cockpit to the 
 cabin-door ! " 
 
 The late Commodore Stockton when First Lieutenant of 
 the Erie up the Mediterranean, in 1816, had at one time 
 accepted challenges to fight from all the Captains of a 
 British regiment stationed at Gibraltar, and several meet- 
 ings took place. In one instance, after wounding his 
 adversary, he escaped arrest by knocking one of the guards 
 from his horse, and, jumping astride the horse himself, 
 rode down to his boat, and pulled off to the ship. 
 
68 
 
 Such lessons were luminous ; they were sternly educa 
 tional as to the manner of man the American was and is. 
 They taught that the Yankees would not only stand the 
 smell of gunpowder, but that they could burn it most 
 effectively. And much as the moral and religious sense con 
 demns duelling to-day, our officers to whom was intrusted 
 the honor and dignity of the flag in foreign waters at the 
 crucial period of which I speak, felt it to be a stern duty 
 to conform to the demands of the code. Nor need I re 
 mind you that a prime tenet of the sailor s creed was and 
 is, that, 
 
 "None but the brave deserve the fair/ 
 
 a sentiment that in many a strait of fight or peril on 
 shipboard has nerved the arms and thrilled the souls of 
 seamen to noblest effort and supremest courage. 
 
 Witness the chivalric Captain of the Vandalia, the in 
 trepid Schoonmaker, at Samoa s great tragedy of wreck in 
 1889, when he left the deck for a few brief moments to 
 take a last, fond, loving look at the pictures of his wife 
 and children in the cabin, and then went calmly back to 
 his post on deck to meet a cruel but heroic death a fate 
 which, from his weakened physical condition, he knew 
 might come to him at any moment, as it did come to him 
 almost instantly after resuming his place of duty on the 
 poop deck. When urged by his Executive Officer to 
 climb up into the mizzen rigging to avoid the heavy seas 
 that swept continually over the ship, he said, " No, I am 
 not strong enough to hold on there, and my post of duty 
 is here, but you go up and save yourself. I shall not sur 
 vive this strain." A moment later a tremendous sea 
 boarded the ship and swept him into eternity. When the 
 gale abated, his mangled remains were found and given 
 Christian burial. The pension his widow and orphan 
 daughters receive is the paltry sum of $30 per month. 
 
69 
 
 A distinguished officer of our service Admiral Roe 
 now on the retired list, an officer who did most valiant 
 and intrepid service on the Mississippi and in the sounds 
 of North Carolina during the war of the Rebellion, relates 
 that " some years after the close of the war, he stood 
 upon the Mole at Naples, watching the sundown divisions 
 of boats from the different squadrons at anchor in the bay, 
 with an English officer at his side, though a stranger to 
 him. It was observed that English and American divi 
 sions of boats pulled in and out from the Mole, always 
 side by side, with colors flying. There was a natural 
 gravitation which brought them always together. They 
 pulled the same stroke at the oars, their officers gave the 
 same orders to the crews, they tossed off all, boated 
 their oars, shoved off and let fall precisely as if they 
 were under the same flag, for they were under the same 
 traditions of habit, movement, and discipline. With a 
 gentle wave of the arm, the English officer exclaimed 
 passionately: "PuT THOSE Two FLAGS TOGETHER 
 AND THEY WILL CONTROL THE WORLD!" And yet 
 the American and Englishman were entire strangers to 
 each other! Verily, blood is thicker than water. Of 
 the same blood, and speaking the same tongue the all- 
 conquering tongue of Milton and Shakespeare, and of the 
 English Bible their every thought, instinct with the 
 throbbings of kinship and the ineradicable bonds of race, 
 the people of the British Isles and America, whatever 
 their political differences, will ever stand closer together 
 than any other peoples. Let, then, the folk of the Mother 
 Isles be more just and appreciative than has been their 
 wont in contemplating the strides and achievements of 
 this daughter land, and seek to strengthen by fair dealing 
 and considerate purpose the natural ties of lineage and 
 literature, law and liberty, and the historic instincts of a 
 common race. Then the estrangement and bitterness of 
 
70 
 
 the past will no longer be a bar to the respect and appre 
 ciation, the kindly forbearance and unaffected sympathy, 
 the good-fellowship and Christian love, that the two great 
 English-speaking peoples should bear the one towards the 
 other. 
 
 A word now as to the present personnel of the Navy, 
 and I can speak the more freely as one retired from active 
 duty. 
 
 The differences in the types of ships and the changed 
 condition of motive power and guns have made percepti 
 ble changes in the character of enlisted men. The habits 
 of the men are better, and the skill demanded of them is 
 of a more mechanical order ; and while we miss some of 
 the characteristics which made the old man-of-war s-man 
 so attractive and interesting, so unique and so superb as 
 a sailor, the new man is imbued with the same loyal devo 
 tion to the flag that possessed the souls of our seamen in 
 the Colonial and Revolutionary days, the War of 1812, and 
 at foul rebellion s outburst in 1861, and may be depended 
 upon to do equally gallant service whether in peace or 
 war. 
 
 As to the officers, no service in the world can match 
 them. In every branch and corps they are superior in 
 education and training to the officers of any other service, 
 men so well grounded and practised, schooled and 
 equipped, that their services are sought in many direc 
 tions. Many officers, indeed, have resigned their com 
 missions for the higher pay and greater civil advantages 
 eagerly tendered them by individuals and firms, colleges 
 and corporations, than the government gives or affords. 
 We have officers to-day, graduates from our Naval Acad 
 emy at Annapolis, and from civil colleges in the land, who 
 can take the metal from the mine, and put it through all 
 the processes of preparation and manufacture, until it 
 appears in completed form in the hulls and engines, 
 
71 
 
 boilers and dynamos, guns and armor, shells and torpedoes, 
 of our ships-of-war. Expert as electricians, they invent 
 or improve electrical appliances ; as chemists, they manu 
 facture the needed explosives for naval use ; as inventors, 
 the guns and gun-carriages of our Navy, since the days of 
 Dahlgren, have been designed by them in their every part 
 and built under their supervision. The guns turned out 
 at the naval gun factory at Washington are not excelled 
 by Krupp or any other fabricator of heavy ordnance in 
 Europe ; as linguists and mathematicians, naturalists and 
 adepts in therapeutics and surgery, sanitation and hygiene, 
 they have won world-wide fame ; as hydrographers, they 
 have no superiors, whether in surveying the coasts and 
 harbors of the globe, or in sounding the depths of the sea. 
 Equally at home in the handling of infantry and artillery 
 on shore, they lead the world as versatile and accomplished 
 officers on shipboard. Nor are there any harder worked 
 men in the country to-day than its navy officers; and 
 whether in peace or war, they can always be depended 
 upon to do their duty loyally and devotedly in every 
 emergency of demand or of peril their profession may call 
 upon them to meet. 
 
 To-day you may meet some of them in the midst of the 
 busy life about you ; to-morrow you may learn that they 
 have gone to South America, the Orient, or some other 
 remote part of the earth in obedience to the summary 
 orders that hang over the head of every officer on the 
 active list. Take such fact home to you and think of it 
 when, upon meeting a navy officer, you are inclined, at 
 first blush, to think he is having an easy time of it. Said 
 a distinguished historian, politician, and administrator 
 (Theodore Roosevelt), in writing me the other day: "I 
 do not think there is any body of men in this country, 
 or in any country, that on the whole stands as the equal 
 of our Navy officers." You will pardon me, as one on 
 
72 
 
 the retired list, in accepting such flattering expression 
 as being not far from right. 
 
 Nor may you forget that in the paths of literature Navy 
 men have plucked modest flowers by the wayside. I 
 might give you many names and instances ; but you will 
 perhaps call to mind Captain Alfred T. Mahan, whose 
 works on Sea Power in History have not only commanded 
 the profound attention of naval and military men the 
 world over, but have brought to him the rare and distin 
 guished honor of the honorary degrees bestowed upon him 
 by the two great universities of England. 
 
 Where classic Cambridge students tread 
 
 He doffed awhile the blue and gold, 
 And civic-robed in gown of red 
 
 He, modest, joined the lettered fold. 
 Lo ! List the cheers sweep o er the sea 
 
 From Sigeberht s old and storied town 
 When rare Mahan, as LL.D., 
 
 Receives the scholar s laurelled crown. 
 Old Oxford, too, great Alfred s seat, 
 
 Around this Alfred throws its spell, 
 And bids him seek its spired retreat 
 
 With added grace of D. C. L. 
 Ah ! Severn s Halls, what happy days 
 
 Where alma mater waits her son, 
 So honored with scholastic bays, 
 
 From mother England grandly won. 
 
 But besides the few of the many glories of the Navy 
 that I have enumerated, it has carried your flag into every 
 sea and every clime. The flag so borne has thrown its 
 protecting folds over your commerce in all waters ; it has 
 gladdened the sight of the trader and sojourner, the mer 
 chant and traveller, the explorer and missionary, in every 
 quarter of the globe. Wherever you have seen an Amer- 
 can ship-of-war in foreign waters, there you saw American 
 soil, for the deck of that ship was inviolate. The Navy, 
 
73 
 
 let me repeat, brought Japan and Corea into the society 
 of the nations ; it went forth in successful exploring and 
 scientific expeditions to the remotest parts of the sea ; it 
 surveyed the Amazon and the Orinoco, and their tribu 
 taries; mapped the southern heavens; surveyed and 
 charted the winds and currents and dangers of the ocean ; 
 devised apparatus for measuring its depths, and bringing 
 up soil from its bed ; it made the physical geography of 
 the sea, one of the most interesting of the sciences ; 
 examined the Isthmus for canal routes ; located routes for 
 submarine cables ; braved the icy terrors of the Arctic ; 
 broke the solitudes of the Antarctic ; and has done many 
 other notable things. Nor let it be forgotten that in 
 every period of its organization, it has raised up brilliant 
 officers and commanders, whose deeds and achievements 
 have ennobled mankind and glorified the nation. 
 
THE HOME SQUADRON IN THE 
 WINTER OF 1860-61. 
 
 BY 
 
 REAB-ADMIBAL GEOEGE E. BELKNAP, U.S.K 
 
 Bead March 5, 1895. 
 
 75 
 
THE HOME SQUADRON IN THE 
 WINTER OF 1860-61. 
 
 THERE were perhaps no citizens of the United States 
 more unhappily situated during the last six months of 
 1860 and the first six months of 1861 those fateful 
 months that preluded and initiated the rebellion than the 
 officers and men of the Army and Navy, and particularly 
 the Navy, as in the quarters of shipboard it is ever impos 
 sible to get away from uncongenial company, or from 
 people with whom you may have a constantly irritating 
 source of disagreement or antipathy. And while, as a 
 rule, officers of the Navy pay but little attention to 
 politics and political manipulations, thoughtful men 
 among them took in the gravity of the political situation 
 when in the late spring of 1860 the democratic National 
 Convention broke up at Charleston in hopeless disagree 
 ment and disorder, and began to prepare their minds for 
 the worst. 
 
 There were optimists, however, who could not believe 
 the Southern politicians were in dead earnest, and who 
 looked to see the usual panacea or compromise applied 
 for the smoothing over of the Southern discontent and 
 the suppression of the treasonable intent of the Southern 
 leaders. I recall one officer on board the old St. Louis, 
 a Kentuckian, who pooh-poohed the possibility of war, 
 and who said that in case South Carolina carried out her 
 threats of secession, the people of his state alone would 
 send a force down there and whip the deluded Carolinians 
 
 77 
 
78 
 
 back into the Union. Alas 1 he but little comprehended 
 the forces at work, stealthy in character, persistent in aim, 
 and dogged in resolution that brought on the greatest 
 civil war of modern times, and in which he was to lose 
 his own life. 
 
 The Home Squadron, as the naval force in the North 
 Atlantic was then designated, consisted at the period of 
 which I speak, of the steam frigate Powhatan, sailing 
 frigate Sabine, the steam sloop Brooklyn, sailing sloops 
 Cumberland, Macedonian, and St. Louis, the steamers 
 Pocahontas, Wyandotte, Mohawk, and Crusader, and, 
 the latter part of the time, the steam sloop Pawnee. 
 
 I was then serving on board the St. Louis as junior 
 lieutenant. We had had a hard cruise of it. We had 
 lain off Greytown, rolling guns under almost continu 
 ously for thirteen months, watching for the possible 
 advent of Walker and his filibusters at that point. 
 Finally, in the late spring of 1860, we got orders to make 
 a cruise to ports on the Spanish Main and among the 
 West India Islands, a cruise which was a God-send to us 
 in those days, but the like of which, at this period, would 
 be looked upon as a great hardship. The early part of 
 October, 1860, saw the special cruise completed and the 
 ship snugly at anchor in Pensacola Bay, off the Navy Yard, 
 for the purposes of refitting and the taking on board of 
 a fresh supply of provisions and other necessary stores. 
 
 Congress had enacted a law that summer increasing the 
 pay of the Navy, and it was a significant fact, in the light 
 of later events, that Senator Toombs and other rampant 
 secessionists had endeavored to persuade President 
 Buchanan to veto the bill. Toombs and his confreres 
 doubtless feared the effects of such legislation upon 
 Southern officers, whom they expected to dragoon in a 
 body out of the service the moment their traitorous pur 
 poses were declared and put in motion. 
 
79 
 
 The presidential election was then close at hand. 
 Douglas was making his plucky tour through the Gulf 
 States, and political excitement was at fever heat, so 
 much so that it was a subject avoided as much as possible 
 by the officers, both ashore and afloat, for the bitter feel 
 ing of the Southern officers became more pronounced as 
 the conspiracy progressed. Nor was such feeling confined 
 to the Southern-born man, for some of the officers who 
 had married in the South were the most vehement in 
 their denunciations of Mr. Lincoln and the cause he rep 
 resented. Two officers in that category indeed, Farrand 
 and Renshaw, did more to betray Commodore Armstrong 
 and to turn the Pensacola Yard over to the rebels, a few 
 weeks later, than any other officers on duty there. 
 
 We had hoped to remain there until after the election ; 
 but we were hurried off some ten days before, with orders 
 to proceed to Vera Cruz. When we arrived at that 
 port we found Flag-Officer Pendergrast there with the 
 Powhatan flag-ship, the Sabine, Brooklyn, and Pocahon- 
 tas, all at anchor in that part of the roadstead known as 
 Sacrificious. We made the fifth vessel of the force. It 
 was a bad season of the year to be at Vera Cruz, for the 
 heavy northers were frequent and the anchorage at Sacri 
 ficious a bad one at best. Every few days lower yards 
 and topmasts had to be struck to ease the ship in the 
 heavy gales blowing directly on shore, and to lessen the 
 chance of dragging the anchors. I recollect that during 
 one blow a nervous Captain sat all night long between 
 the bitts under the topgallant-forecastle, watching the 
 cables of his ship, which from their constant heavy sur 
 ging, he feared might part at any moment. 
 
 The purpose of concentrating so large a part of the 
 squadron there at so untoward a season was alleged to be 
 the strengthening of the hands of our Minister in pushing 
 to settlement some important claims of our government 
 
80 
 
 against Mexico. Be that as it may, it was most unfor 
 tunate that such negotiations, attended by the display of 
 so large a naval force, should have been conducted at that 
 critical time, for the ships were sorely needed on our own 
 coasts. 
 
 There was no telegraphic communication with Mexico 
 at that period, and the mails were brought to Vera Cruz 
 by British steamer via Havana. The second steamer after 
 our arrival in the St. Louis brought the news of Mr. Lin 
 coln s election and of the mad doings at Charleston over 
 such pregnant event. I shall never forget the feeling I 
 had when the officer sent to board the steamer stepped 
 over the gangway on his return with the announcement 
 that the Republicans had carried the election. In my ser 
 vice association with the Southern officers I had carefully 
 observed their character, taken note of their assumed 
 superiority over their Northern fellows, and drawn out 
 their opinions and beliefs as far as practicable ; but I knew 
 that, as regarded secession, the most aggressive among 
 them but faintly represented the sentiments of the men 
 who were determined to rule the country or to ruin it, as 
 best suited their purposes, in their dogged determination 
 to retain political power ; hence I felt that the Southern 
 conspirators had at last got what they had long wanted ; 
 that they had wilfully and intentionally broken up the 
 Democratic party in order to ensure Mr. Lincoln s election 
 and give them the long sought opportunity of firing the 
 Southern heart and of destroying the government, and that 
 war was inevitable. 
 
 The negotiations at the Mexican capital progressed 
 slowly. The minister was a Southern man, and some of 
 us got the impression that he was making haste slowly in 
 his diplomatic work in order to keep the ships at Vera 
 Cruz, and so give the secession conspirators a freer hand 
 in their designs upon our Southern ports and navy yards. 
 
81 
 
 Meanwhile every incoming mail from Havana brought 
 worse and worse tidings of the fateful progress of the 
 secession madness, and of the intense excitement prevail 
 ing throughout the country. Constraint, anxiety, and 
 bitterness of feeling pervaded the entire squadron. On 
 board every ship there were officers who, while deploring 
 the grave questions of loyalty and allegiance which so 
 suddenly confronted them, could not veil their sympathy 
 for the Southern cause, and who intended to throw up 
 their commissions at the first opportunity. Loyal officers 
 could hardly restrain their indignation at such proposed 
 desertion of the flag in its dire hour of need, and the 
 utmost forbearance had to be observed to avoid personal 
 conflicts. When fresh news arrived the officers would 
 gather into hostile groups or camps, as it were, to discuss 
 the situation ; and when they had to come together, as at 
 the mess table, the bated breath and measured speech 
 with which all allusion was made to the intelligence 
 received, bespoke but too well the bitter currents of feel 
 ing that ran underneath the surface so cold, so reserved, 
 and so exasperating. 
 
 On shore our Consul, Mr. John T. Pickett, a Ken- 
 tuckian, and a rabid secessionist, fanned the flame of 
 disloyalty. Not content with doing all he could by 
 speech and action, in his office, to discredit the govern 
 ment whose commission of honor and trust he carried in 
 his pocket, he went about the city of Vera Cruz pro 
 claiming vehemently the disruption of the Republic, and 
 warning merchants and bankers of the risk they would 
 run if they continued to deal with its agents. He asserted 
 that the United States were already hopelessly bankrupt 
 and would never pay another dollar of their debts. In 
 short, his conduct was so traitorous that I thought then, 
 and think now, that he should have been gotten on board 
 ship in some way, and held in custody until he could 
 have been sent home under charges of high treason. 
 
82 
 
 Finally came the news of the secession of South Caro 
 lina and of the occupation of Fort Sumter by Major 
 Anderson; and about this time the Minister informed 
 Flag-Officer Pendergrast that his negotiations had been 
 completed, but some mysterious power or order still held 
 us at Vera Cruz, although the Brooklyn was soon de 
 spatched to Hampton Roads. The latter part of Jan 
 uary, however, the ships dispersed to different points, the 
 Pocahontas, I think, alone remaining behind. 
 
 Some delay was made in getting off through the diffi 
 culty of getting funds to pay the squadron bills. Consul 
 Pickett had so demoralized the bankers by his traitorous 
 proceedings that they feared to take the bills of the gov 
 ernment drawn on the Baring Bros., London ; but after 
 awhile the fleet paymaster succeeded in getting twenty 
 thousand dollars, for which, if my memory serves me 
 aright, he had to pay the round premium of eighteen 
 per cent. 
 
 The destination of our ship, the St. Louis, and of the 
 Sabine was Pensacola, and all sail was crowded in the 
 hope of reaching there in time to save the Navy Yard at 
 that important point from the machinations of the rebels. 
 But we were too late. We had been kept at Vera Cruz 
 just long enough for the conspirators to accomplish their 
 purposes so far as concerned that Yard. 
 
 The two ships soon parted company at sea, the Sabine 
 being the better sailer ; and late one afternoon in the first 
 week of February we of the St. Louis arrived off the bar at 
 the entrance of the bay. There an unwonted sight greeted 
 us. We found the Sabine already arrived, but cruising off 
 and on the port ; the Wyandotte, Lieutenant-Commander 
 Berryman, lying at anchor inside with a flag of truce at 
 her fore ; the flag of the insurgents flying over the Navy 
 Yard and at Forts Barrancas and McCrea ; and Fort Pick- 
 ens, hitherto forlorn and tenantless, now occupied by a 
 
83 
 
 small garrison, comprised of Company G, First U. S. Ar 
 tillery, under command of First Lieutenant Slemmer; 
 which had been transferred from Fort Barrancas by the 
 aid of the officers and men of the store-ship Supply and 
 the Wyandotte on the 10th and llth of February. 
 
 When Commander Poor of our ship returned from his 
 visit to Captain Adams of the Sabine and senior officer 
 present, we were told that the rebels had full possession 
 inside ; that a truce had been arranged by Senator Mallory 
 of Florida with the Secretaries of War and Navy, by 
 which all offensive operations on either side were sus 
 pended, and that the ships were not to attempt to enter 
 the bay without further orders from Washington. Also 
 that the Wyandotte was to be permitted to make her head 
 quarters inside under a flag of truce, and to communicate 
 freely with the ships inside in carrying the mails back and 
 forth, and for such other duty as the situation demanded 
 in the line of peaceful effort. The rebel authorities were 
 also to allow us, as an act of gracious consideration, to 
 receive fresh provisions and water from the shore. 
 
 To navy folk, not specially versed in the finesse and 
 intricacies of constitutional law, the situation seemed 
 humiliating almost beyond endurance, and the proposi 
 tions and demands of the secessionists unparalleled in 
 impudence and absurdity. Plain blunt sailors, indeed, 
 could not understand where the people of Florida derived 
 their authority for such impertinent action under the 
 guise of reserved constitutional rights. They knew that 
 every foot of Florida s territory had been bought from 
 Spain by the United States at a cost of millions of dollars ; 
 that the war waged against the Indians to make the terri 
 tory habitable for the white man had cost three times the 
 original amount paid for it ; that the people of that state 
 had been admitted to a share in the government solely by 
 the grace of the people of the United States, and that in 
 
84 
 
 presuming to assume a supreme sovereignty over that 
 domain they were attempting to take what they really 
 never possessed, as of natural right, an attempt which, 
 from the navy point of view, ought to have been met 
 on the instant by the armed forces of the Nation for its 
 vigorous suppression. 
 
 That the great majority on board the St. Louis and 
 Sabine were disgusted and angered at this state of affairs 
 found at Pensacola, goes without saying; but there was no 
 help for it except through disobedience of orders, which 
 might bring on a war that both North and South were 
 anxious to avoid, a war which the scandalous weakness of 
 the one and the turbulent action of the other were uncon 
 sciously doing their utmost to promote. For a few days 
 we kept cruising off and on ; for it had been an article of 
 old service faith, most stoutly believed in, that to anchor 
 off the coast during the winter months when southerly 
 gales were likely to spring up at any moment, was to 
 tempt Providence and invite the sure destruction of a ship; 
 but after a while the ships were brought to anchor, and 
 experience soon taught that vessels anchored along the 
 coast could ride at their cables during the winter gales of 
 the Gulf with reasonable safety. 
 
 Meanwhile the Brooklyn arrived from the north with 
 Captain Vogdes company of the First Artillery on board. 
 Captain Walker, commanding the ship, had sailed with 
 instructions to land the troops at Fort Pickens imme 
 diately upon arrival; but no sooner had he got to sea 
 than the wily Mallory got the ear of the War Department, 
 ruled by the traitor Floyd, and had orders telegraphed to 
 the senior officer present, Captain Adams of the Sabine, 
 to have the company kept on board the Brooklyn until 
 further advised, another act in the drama of weakness, 
 irresolution, and treachery the country was soon to pay 
 for dearly in blood and treasure. The immediate result 
 
85 
 
 of these several acts was to self-tie the hands of the 
 government while the insurgents were left at liberty to 
 erect more batteries, strengthen old defences, and raise 
 and equip an army for their revolutionary purposes. 
 
 One day we were roused by the firing of a national 
 salute from a field battery at Barrancas. We soon learned 
 that it was in celebration of the Confederate States Gov 
 ernment, which had just been established and proclaimed 
 at Montgomery. The rebels were in high feather over 
 the event ; and one of the Sabine s officers who had gone 
 inside on board the Wyandotte to visit the shore, happen 
 ing to meet the renegade, Renshaw, the latter held up a 
 piece of parchment and exclaimed gleefully, " See, I have 
 got my commission back again already. I now hold the 
 same position in the Confederate States Navy that I did 
 in the old service ! " The loyal officer gave Renshaw a 
 withering look, and then turned his back upon him in 
 silent contempt. 
 
 Commodore Armstrong, who had surrendered the Navy 
 Yard to the rebels in the middle of January, had been 
 betrayed and doubtless bullied into such an act by Com 
 mander Farrand and this Lieutenant Renshaw, the one 
 from New Jersey, the other a Pennsylvanian. Armstrong 
 was a veteran of the war of 1812. He was old and in 
 firm, and had been invalided home from the command of 
 the East India squadron but a short time before. He 
 suffered continually from a disease (diarrhoea) contracted 
 in China, and protested against being sent on duty to so 
 enervating a climate as that of Pensacola, and when forced 
 to go had left his family behind at his home over here in 
 Charlestown. Thus he was living alone in the big house 
 of the Commandant, with no one to turn to for counsel 
 when the trying days of secession set in, except the officers 
 of the Yard and of the ships calling there. Farrand, the 
 executive officer of the Yard, stood naturally in closer rela- 
 
86 
 
 tion to him than anybody else. He was, in fact, intended 
 to be the right arm of the Commandant ; and, being a man 
 of Northern birth and training, Armstrong could not bring 
 himself to believe that an officer so circumstanced was 
 doing all he could to blind his eyes and to lead him astray 
 as to the real condition of affairs, while that officer was 
 covertly playing into the hands of the secessionists every 
 moment of the time. 
 
 A few days before the surrender of the Yard the Wyan- 
 dotte, Lieutenant-Commander Berryman, arrived from Key 
 West, and the store-ship Supply, Commander Walke, came 
 in from New York. Neither vessel amounted to anything 
 for offensive purposes. The Supply was bound to Vera 
 Cruz, but had called at Pensacola to land some stores 
 there en route. The ships had not been there twenty-four 
 hours, when Walke and Berryman, as well as their officers, 
 began to distrust the loyalty of the officers of the Yard, 
 and especially Farrand and his aid and brother-in-law, 
 Renshaw. They saw, too, but too plainly how completely 
 the venerable and perplexed old Commodore was in the 
 hands of the traitors surrounding him, among whom the 
 Northern ones were the foulest of all. 
 
 On the 3d of January the headquarters of the Army 
 at Washington had awakened from the ban of lethargy 
 Mr. Secretary Floyd had purposely put upon it, long 
 enough to send an order to Lieutenant Slemmer " to take 
 measures to prevent the seizure of either of the forts in 
 Pensacola harbor by surprise or assault, consulting first 
 with the Commandant of the Navy Yard, who will proba 
 bly receive instructions to co-operate with you." The 
 orders reached Slemmer on the 9th ; but he well knew that 
 it would be an utter impossibility to hold the three forts 
 with forty-six (46) men, all the force he had; and he 
 decided at once to abandon McCrea and Barrancas, and 
 to occupy Pickens if it was possible to accomplish it ; and 
 
8T 
 
 what must we think of the intelligence at Washington that 
 at the eleventh hour dictated so absurd an order ? 
 
 Calling on the Commandant immediately, Slemmer 
 found that that officer was in receipt of orders from the 
 Navy Department to co-operate with him in his measures 
 of defence, and received from him (Armstrong) the assur 
 ance of assistance in every way, including the services 
 of the Supply and Wyandotte. The Commodore said he 
 could not attempt to hold the Yard, but promised to have 
 Slemmer and his command, ammunition and other sup 
 plies, taken over to Pickens by the Wyandotte at one 
 o clock P.M. of that day, the 9th of January ; and to fur 
 nish plenty of provisions. No sooner had Slemmer left 
 the office than the treacherous Farrand slipped in, and he 
 so worked upon the mind of the weak and excited old 
 man that he failed to keep faith with Slemmer. Farrand 
 made Armstrong believe that it would be an outrage, a 
 crime when he intended to surrender the Yard to 
 co-operate with a young officer like Slemmer, and so pro 
 voke a bloody conflict with the state troops that would 
 hand down his name to perpetual execration everywhere 
 in the country. 
 
 In this strait of failure, Slemmer again visited the Com 
 modore, and remonstrated with him for his failure to keep 
 his promise. Finally, in presence of Farrand, Berryman, 
 and Lieutenant Renshaw, the Commodore gave orders for 
 the Wyandotte to be at Barrancas wharf at five o clock P.M. 
 of that day in readiness to transport the garrison to Pick- 
 ens. Nevertheless the Wyandotte did not move that 
 night. Farrand had evidently gotten in his dastardly 
 work again. His game was delay. He was in constant 
 communication with the secessionists at Pensacola, nine 
 miles above ; and he knew that within forty-eight hours 
 the rebels would demand the surrender of the Yard, and 
 he hoped the way to the occupancy of Pickens would be 
 open also. 
 
88 
 
 At eight o clock the next morning, however, the 10th, 
 Lieutenant, now Rear- Admiral, John Irwin, then on leave 
 of absence, near the Yard, went to Barrancas with a big 
 scow, which the army folk loaded at once with provisions 
 and munitions, together with all the other boats they 
 could collect. The Wyandotte then ran down and took 
 all in tow across the harbor to Pickens. Berryman also 
 carried over in that vessel thirty ordinary seamen and 
 transferred them to the fort, but without arms or equip 
 ments. Later, however, Berryman supplied thirty muskets, 
 which he had obtained on the Commodore s order in face 
 of the vehement remonstrances of Farrand, and forty-eight 
 hundred musket cartridges. 
 
 But now the Commodore, under the malign influence 
 which he could not escape, and distracted by the compli 
 cations surrounding him, began to give such erratic and 
 contradictory orders that Walke and Berryman made up 
 their minds that their principal business at that juncture 
 was to co-operate with Slemmer in the effort to make 
 Pickens secure, and they gave little further heed to the 
 Commandant s orders. 
 
 The same day of the occupation of Pickens, Lieutenant, 
 now Rear-Admiral, Erben, went down to Fort McCrea 
 from the Supply, with a boat s crew, and threw into 
 the sea all the powder stored there, some twenty-two 
 thousand pounds, to prevent its falling into the hands 
 of the rebels. When he returned from that duty in the 
 evening he went to the Commodore s house, and, report 
 ing what he had done, volunteered to destroy the ammu 
 nition in the Naval Magazine located a short distance 
 outside the Yard. The Commodore sent for Farrand ; that 
 officer immediately advised Erben s arrest, and the send 
 ing of him on board ship, asserting that he was drunk. 
 Armstrong refused. Then Farrand sprang up in great 
 rage, and throwing his chair at Erben s head abruptly 
 
89 
 
 left the Commandant s quarters. Erben remained talking 
 with the Commodore a little longer, and then bade him 
 good-night. The moment Erben got outside the front 
 door, Farrand, who had been lying in wait on the piazza, 
 stepped up, and shaking his fist in Erben s face, said, 
 " Damn you, I will teach you how to treat your superior 
 officer ! " " He was so violent," says Erben, " that I took 
 him by the throat, saying, Damn you, I will have you 
 hanged as a traitor, as you are. We clinched, and in 
 the struggle rolled down the Commandant s steps. Then 
 Farrand called for help, and Lieutenant Renshaw came 
 out from the hedge near the house, where he had been 
 playing the spy; but Assistant-Surgeon Wm. M. King, 
 who had accompanied me, stepped out on my side of the 
 path, when Farrand and Renshaw, seeing a row very im 
 minent, ran off to the other quarters, telling the officers 
 wives as they went along that Erben is going to blow 
 the Yard up ! " Farrand s whole conduct had been so 
 unmistakably disloyal and treacherous all through, that 
 Erben and other officers planned to seize him at the first 
 good opportunity and carry him on board ship. Berry- 
 man said he would receive him on board the Wyandotte, 
 and, if necessary, put him in the coal-bunkers for safe 
 keeping. But Farrand was too wary; he felt he was 
 suspected and obnoxious to all the loyal officers and men, 
 and that the best measure of personal safety for him was 
 to keep away from the water front. He could not be 
 induced to approach the wharf on any matter of duty 
 whatsoever, for had he ventured there, he was sure to 
 have been seized, and he seems to have had such presenti 
 ments. He carried things with a high hand when at the 
 upper part of the Yard, with the distracted old Commo 
 dore ; but when he looked in the direction of the wharf, 
 and saw the flag floating from the peaks of loyal ships, 
 his conscience made him a coward. " He made a narrow 
 
90 
 
 escape," adds Erben, " for had he been captured he would 
 never have got ashore again." And Erben goes on to say, 
 "Whatever orders Armstrong gave to protect the Yard 
 were countermanded without his knowledge by Farrand. 
 He knew the very hour that Victor M. Randolph would 
 present his rebel force at the gate for the surrender, and 
 was there in brand new uniform awaiting Randolph s ap 
 proach. He directed all the details of the surrender, and 
 ordered the punishment of the faithful old quartermaster 
 Conway, the loyal old salt at the halliards of the flagstaff." 
 Conway had obeyed the order to go to the flagstaff ; but 
 when the miserable Renshaw gave the order to haul down 
 the flag, in capitulation, he said, " I won t do it, sir ; that 
 is the flag of my country ; I have served under it many 
 years ; I won t dishonor it now ; " and Renshaw had to 
 do the traitorous work with his own hands. Then Far- 
 rand and Renshaw, both still holding the commissions of 
 the United States in their pockets, deliberately set about 
 punishing the veteran old seaman for his fidelity. " The 
 Yard might have been defended," continues Erben, " and 
 had any attempt been made in that direction the rebels 
 would never have come near it. It is a long and most 
 interesting story, and one almost unknown too." 
 
 Walke and Berryman, of the Supply and Wyandotte, 
 continued to lend all possible aid to Slemmer and his 
 command in getting safely settled at the fort, and to give 
 protection at night. 
 
 On the morning of the 12th of January, Slemmer 
 addressed a last note to Commodore Armstrong. In it he 
 said, " I have been apprised that the Yard is besieged : in 
 case you have determined to surrender, will you please 
 send the marines to me to increase our force at Pickens ? " 
 No reply to such request was ever received ; and a few 
 hours later, or at noon of that day, the flag of the United 
 States was hauled down at the Yard and Marine Barracks, 
 
91 
 
 and the flag of the state of Florida hoisted in its stead. 
 The feelings of indignation and disgust that pervaded the 
 ships and fort at such wanton doings may well be imag 
 ined, but cannot be described in words. Captain Walke 
 showed his defiant opinion of the act by at once hoisting 
 the flag at each mast-head of the Supply ; and the fort, 
 not as yet having a flagstaff, hung the flag over the wall 
 of the fort where the rebels could best see it. 
 
 During that afternoon the Wyandotte towed the Supply 
 outside the harbor, and both ships anchored off the Navy 
 Yard ; but on the sixteenth the Supply got underweigh, 
 and sailed for New York. Waiving for the time being the 
 orders of the Navy Department and of Commodore Arm 
 strong, to continue on to Vera Cruz, Walke deemed it to 
 be his duty to take on board the families of Slemmer s 
 command, and the loyal seamen, marines, and government 
 employees, whom the rebels had failed to corrupt, and 
 carry them to a loyal part of the country. The Depart 
 ment, still dominated by baleful influences, censured him 
 for his action, but a Court Martial gave him honorable 
 acquittal. His subsequent service during the war was 
 most brilliant. His fighting record on the Mississippi 
 was not surpassed in gallantry or achievement by any 
 other officer of the fleet. 
 
 The Wyandotte remained in the bay under flag of 
 truce, to give assistance to Pickens, if occasion arose for 
 it ; and when the quasi armistice had been made in Wash 
 ington, she was allowed to run back and forth without 
 question from the rebels, as we had found on our arrival 
 from Vera Cruz a status we were powerless to change, 
 so perforce we had to settle down to the exasperating and 
 mortifying situation of witnessing the rebel occupation 
 of the Navy Yard and Barrancas, and of constantly re 
 ceiving intelligence of rebel deceit, encroachment, and 
 devastation in every direction, while endeavoring to keep 
 
92 
 
 within bounds our indignation at the supineness of the 
 government under such incredibly provocative conditions. 
 
 One morning H. B. M. ship Gladiator, Captain, now 
 Vice- Admiral, Hickley, R.N., appeared off the fort, and 
 after communicating with Captain Adams of the Sabine, 
 the senior officer, went in over the bar and ran up to the 
 anchorage off the town. When he returned outside a 
 couple of days later, he again communicated with us 
 outside, offering to take our mails or to do any other 
 service he could. We had met him before off Greytown. 
 He was a fair spoken Englishman of genial manners ; and 
 while he marvelled at the situation, and was profuse in 
 his expressions of sympathy, it was quite evident that the 
 facts did not disturb his mind to an extent that would 
 in any degree work to the detriment of British interests 
 in view of the opening vistas of plentiful trade and traffic 
 with the Confederates ! Like a bird of prey John Bull 
 sits enthroned on the British Isles in the North Sea, 
 watching with sleepless eye the affairs of all peoples; 
 and when troubles arise in any quarter of the globe, he 
 scents the profits of trade afar off, and straightway sends 
 his ships of war to spy out the land and prepare the way 
 for the plentiful flow of British goods. At least such was 
 his record until a very recent date. 
 
 At the Navy Yard, Barrancas and the camps, the rebels 
 were having a jovial time. General Bragg was now in 
 command of the rebel forces, largely increased; and his 
 headquarters were constantly enlivened by visitors from 
 all parts of Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. Now and 
 then some of the parties would come off to the ships to 
 gratify their curiosity as to the construction, organization, 
 and arrangements of men-of-war, discuss the outlook, and 
 express their surprise and displeasure because " their 
 share of the Navy," as they said, " had not been turned 
 over to them." I recall one man from Alabama, a vocif- 
 
93 
 
 erous secessionist, who boasted that " he had been working 
 for thirty years to bring about the rebellion, and," said 
 he, " if you give us a new pen and a clean sheet of paper, 
 and tell us to write our own terms, we will not come back 
 into the Union." I ventured to think aloud that they 
 would; that if they brought on a war they would lose 
 every darkey they possessed before they got through 
 with it. 
 
 One day the wretched Renshaw had the temerity to 
 visit the Sabine. He met with a cool reception except 
 from one or two officers, who subsequently joined the 
 rebels. The men, ever loyal to the flag they had carried 
 into every sea and every clime, were incensed that the 
 man who had hauled down the flag on shore at the bidding 
 of the rebels, and who had helped punish old Con way for 
 doing his duty, should have the impudence to come on 
 board ; and when he went over the gangway to go down 
 the ship s side and into his boat, to return to the Navy 
 Yard, some one among them threw a bowline out of one 
 of the gundeck ports, hoping to get it around his neck, 
 and either strangle him or jerk him overboard. Renshaw, 
 pale with fright, remonstrated, and demanded the man s 
 punishment ; but it is needless to say the man could not 
 be identified, and the general feeling was that Renshaw 
 had been served right for his traitorous conduct and 
 impertinence. 
 
 The Mobile Register in those exasperating days was 
 one source of immediate news. During the presidential 
 campaign it had supported Douglas for the presidency, 
 and had been a moderate-toned conservative paper ; but 
 now it out-Heroded the Charleston Mercury in its denun 
 ciations of the North. I remember one editorial in which 
 it was said that " in the event of general hostilities the 
 gentlemen of the South would not need to take the field ; 
 that the ordinary men of the confederacy could be trusted 
 
94 
 
 to do all the fighting ; that the average Southerner was 
 equal in prowess to three Yankees at any time and under 
 all circumstances." Such talk perhaps nerved the South 
 and fed its vanity : it certainly did the North no harm. 
 
 The inauguration of Mr. Lincoln now drew nigh. The 
 rebels fondly hoped that his inaugural address would 
 foreshadow the abandonment of Sumter, Pickens, and 
 other public places in the South ; and their chagrin knew 
 no bounds when he announced his purpose "to hold, 
 occupy, and possess " all property and places rightfully 
 belonging to the United States. On the other hand, our 
 spirits in the fleet outside rose like a barometer in clearing 
 weather. Nevertheless, we waited days and weeks with 
 out any material change in the situation. True, a few 
 days after the inauguration General Scott sent an order 
 to Captain Vogdes to land the troops from the Brooklyn, 
 but no word was sent to Captain Adams of the Sabine 
 that the truce had ended, and the orders he held from 
 the Navy Department to observe such truce he regarded 
 as still in force. He therefore would riot permit the in 
 structions to his subordinate to be carried out, and there 
 the matter rested for weeks. 
 
 Meanwhile Lieutenant-Commander Berryman of the 
 Wyandotte died. The constant strain, excitement, and 
 worry had killed him. It was a bitter pill to be obliged 
 to ask General Bragg s permission to bury the dead in the 
 Naval cemetery near Barrancas. 
 
 Our provisions were now getting short, the pay officers 
 had no funds, and the anxious days dragged on more 
 wearily than ever. At last a streak of relief appeared. 
 At noon, on the 12th of April, Lieutenant, now Rear- Ad 
 miral, Worden, arrived on board the Sabine from Wash 
 ington with orders from the President to land Captain 
 Vogdes company and all the marines for the reinforce 
 ment of Pickens. The order was carried out that even- 
 
95 
 
 ing. As we were rounding in the boats the western point 
 of Santa Rosa Island to enter the port, two guns were 
 suddenly fired, and we thought the rebels were opening 
 upon us. It turned out that Lieutenant-Commander 
 Mullany, now commanding the Wyandotte, had grounded, 
 and he had fired the guns by way of calling attention to 
 his mishap, the very thing he ought not to have done, 
 especially as the rising tide soon floated the ship. The 
 rebels made no sign that night, but the next day Worden 
 was arrested at Montgomery and held as a prisoner till 
 November. 
 
 The truce now was at an end; the war had begun; 
 for, a few hours later, we knew that the attack on Sumter 
 was in progress. Then came in quick succession the 
 reports of Sumter s surrender, the President s Proclama 
 tion, and the call for men. A great burst of joy went 
 up from all the ships. We felt that we had a govern 
 ment once more, and thanked God for it ; that trimmers 
 and traitors must now declare their purposes and take 
 their proper places ; that the sole arguments to be pur 
 sued henceforth were the gun, the musket and the sword. 
 It was high time. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 15th of April, a most wel 
 come incident rejoiced all loyal hearts. It was the arrival 
 of the Collins steamer Baltic, with Colonel Harvey Brown 
 and more companies of the First Artillery for the further 
 reinforcement of Pickens. Colonel Brown was accom 
 panied by Captain Montgomery C. Meigs of the U. S. 
 Engineers. That evening, with no sign of opposition 
 from the rebel camp, these fresh troops were landed, 
 the Wyandotte towing the boats close in to Santa Rosa 
 point. In my boat were Colonel Brown and Captain 
 Meigs, whom I personally piloted to the sally-port of the 
 fort. Leaving them at that point, I went back to the 
 Baltic for a fresh load of troops. On returning from 
 
96 
 
 this second trip Captain Meigs accompanied me. On 
 the way off he became confidential. Said he, " I am act 
 ing under the direct orders of the President, verbal and 
 written. Lieutenant Porter of the Navy is on his way 
 here, in command of the Powhatan. Upon his arrival 
 off the port, he is to pay no attention to the fleet, but 
 to steam directly on into the harbor and take control of 
 the waters of the bay. If fired upon by the rebel bat 
 teries, he is to return the fire instantly, and bring on an 
 engagement. Only four persons have any knowledge 
 of the Powhatan s destination, the President, Secretary of 
 State, Porter, and myself. She should be here at any 
 moment, for she left New York before we did ; but," he 
 continued, "if, upon thorough examination of the fort, 
 Colonel Brown and myself decide that it is not advisable 
 to draw the fire of the rebels yet, I have in my pocket 
 orders from the President to go off and meet the ship, 
 and give Porter orders to suspend entrance into the bay 
 till further advised." Here was a precious bit of news, 
 and I need not say that the advent of the Powhatan was 
 looked for with intense satisfaction. 
 
 Leaving Captain Meigs on board the steamer, I re 
 paired on board the Sabine to report the latest intelli 
 gence from Pickens. Captain Adams appeared stolidly 
 indifferent ; though a Northern man, he had large interests 
 in Louisiana, and was too strict a constructionist to suit 
 the stern demands of that portentous time. The officer 
 of the deck, a Virginian, had received me with studied 
 coldness and silence. A few days later he resigned, hast 
 ened home, and entered the rebel service. To-day he 
 holds an office of trust and emolument under the govern 
 ment he did all he could to destroy. 
 
 That afternoon the Powhatan came steaming in at full 
 speed and disguised as a British man-of-war. She stood 
 directly in and over the bar, and was making for close 
 
97 
 
 quarters with McCrea and Barrancas amidst the breathless 
 and excited expectations of the fleet, when suddenly a 
 tug, carrying Captain Meigs, shot out from Pickens, and, 
 intercepting the ship, stopped her further progress on the 
 authority of the President s order, for both Colonel Brown 
 and Meigs had decided that Pickens was not yet suffi 
 ciently prepared to tempt an engagement with the enemy. 
 Porter reluctantly obeyed the order, but he did not re 
 treat. He was already within range of some of the 
 enemy s guns; and hoping to draw the rebel fire, he 
 hauled down the British flag and hoisted the stars and 
 stripes ; but Bragg had no idea of firing the initial gun, 
 and kept silent. Then Porter, in full view of all that 
 was going on in the bay, dropped anchor, and waited 
 developments. 
 
 The stoppage of the Powhatan was a grievous mistake. 
 Porter had drilled the officers and men night and day on 
 the run down from New York, and they were burning to 
 attack the rebel defences. The ten nine-inch guns of 
 each broadside, and the eleven-inch pivot, were loaded with 
 grape and canister, and the twenty howitzers on board 
 charged with shrapnel. There can be no doubt but that 
 the first broadside would have demoralized Bragg s 
 green gunners, and two or three delivered in quick succes 
 sion would have driven them from their works. More 
 over, he could have passed Tartar Point and enfiladed the 
 Navy Yard so that no living soul could have stayed there. 
 Had Porter had his way, indeed, he would have brought 
 the Brooklyn, the Sabine, and the St. Louis inside, and 
 within twenty-four hours there would not have been an 
 armed rebel left either on the Naval or Army Reservation, 
 or at Pensacola, and the Navy Yard would have been re 
 possessed intact by the government. The second day 
 after the Powhatan s arrival, a number of tugs and 
 schooners filled with soldiers came down from Pensacola 
 
98 
 
 and steered for Pickens. That sight was more than 
 Porter s view of the fitness of things could stand, so he 
 fired an eleven-inch shrapnel shell in their direction, timed 
 to burst just ahead of them. That monition was enough. 
 The flotilla put about and made back to Pensacola in the 
 quickest time possible. Here was an overt act; a chal 
 lenge indeed to the enemy. The petted rebels had been 
 fired upon in their own sacred waters, yet they remained 
 carefully silent. Bragg well knew, indeed, that if he 
 opened fire the game would be up with him; that here 
 was a ship and an officer ready to fight at any moment. 
 
 Porter said of this incident that " when he saw the 
 rebels approaching he felt like the old fellow at Bunker 
 Hill who was much amused at the volleys from the ad 
 vancing British until a ball struck the calf of his leg, 
 when he roared out to his son at his side, c Dang it, Jim, 
 they re firing bullets : we must fire back at em I So 
 Porter, when he saw apparent hostile intent, thought it 
 high time to begin gun practice. It was. 
 
 Captain Adams, the senior officer outside, was incensed 
 at Porter s act, and thought him very reckless in firing 
 that shot ; but he could not interfere, because Porter had 
 the President s confidential orders in his pocket. On 
 the other hand, Porter began to remonstrate with Adams 
 for the laxity that permitted the rebels to strengthen 
 themselves in every direction unmolested, and he suc 
 ceeded in getting authority to stop the Mobile steamers 
 from entering the port with supplies and munitions for 
 Bragg s camp. 
 
 A few days after this Captain McKean arrived in the 
 Niagara, and, as senior, he assumed control of the fleet. 
 The first thing he did on arrival was to signal for the 
 commanding and all other officers to repair on board. At 
 the proper moment McKean addressed the officers assem 
 bled in the cabin, saying that " the time had now come for 
 
99 
 
 the government to know, beyond doubt or question, how 
 every officer stood," and he invited them to take anew the 
 oath of allegiance, and to subscribe to it. Most of the 
 officers eagerly complied, but two or three declined, and 
 Captain Adams subscribed to the oath under protest. 
 The officers who declined soon resigned. The patient 
 government accepted their resignations instead of sending 
 them into imprisonment. Captain Adams soon went 
 home, and was never after given employment; but his 
 son and namesake did most gallant service as a lieutenant 
 during the war, and was made a commander in 1866. 
 
 Now Captain McKean dispersed the ships for the 
 establishment of the blockade. We were sent first to 
 Key West via Tortugas, although for blockading purposes 
 against steam vessels the old St. Louis was of little 
 account. 
 
 The Mohawk and Crusader, Lieutenants-Commanding 
 Craven and Maffit, small purchased steamers like the 
 Wyandotte, had been cruising in Cuban and other West 
 Indian waters for the suppression of the slave trade ; for 
 after the Dred Scott decision by the supreme court, the 
 slave trade had revived, and several cargoes, direct from 
 Africa, had been landed on Southern soil or captured in 
 the attempt, two such prizes having fallen to the Mohawk. 
 Maffit proved to be a secessionist, and threw up his com 
 mission the moment the confederacy was established ; but 
 gallant Craven, who was subsequently sunk in the 
 Tecumseh, at the battle of Mobile Bay, was loyal to the 
 core. He had assisted Captain Brannan of the First Artil 
 lery in the transfer of his command and munitions from 
 the barracks at Key West to the incompleted Fort Taylor 
 commanding the town, and also in transporting men and 
 supplies to Fort Jefferson at Tortugas, to prevent its 
 seizure by the rebels, who had organized a force at New 
 Orleans to occupy it. When Craven reported to the 
 
100 
 
 Navy Department that he had done this, his action was 
 disapproved. He was informed, indeed, that the Depart 
 ment had had no information of intention on the part of 
 anybody to occupy those public works. Mr. Secretary 
 Toucey was apparently blind to all passing events ; or 
 did he expect the rebels to go about with a brass band 
 proclaiming what they were going to do? 
 
 After a short stay at Key West we were ordered to 
 Mobile to take blockade duty at that point; thence to 
 Southwest Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi. Finally, 
 in October we were ordered to proceed to Philadelphia 
 and go out of commission. This was a welcome change, 
 first because we had been away from home for three years, 
 and second because it gave us opportunity for service on 
 board more effective ships than the old St. Louis, a ser 
 vice all looked eagerly forward to. 
 
 One officer only had left us to join the rebels, a South 
 Carolinian. We had been more fortunate in that regard 
 than most of the ships. 
 
 The officer who had pooh-poohed so flippantly all idea 
 of war, in the summer and fall of 1860, and who had 
 been invalided home from Vera Cruz, was now, by special 
 assignment of the President, in his native state of Ken 
 tucky at work to save the state from secession, and to 
 enroll volunteers and organize them into regiments of 
 the Union Army. He had found, indeed, that Kentucky, 
 instead of whipping South Carolina back into the Union, 
 was inclined to go out herself. You will doubtless have 
 recognized that this officer was Lieutenant William Nelson 
 of the Navy, who became Major-General of Volunteers, 
 and did gallant service in the field until his death at 
 Louisville in September, 1862. 
 
THE STORY OF THE CUMBERLAND. 
 
 EEAE-ADMIEAL THOMAS 0. SELEEIDGE, JE., 
 
 U.S.N. 
 
 Head March 10, 1891. 
 
 101 
 
THE STORY OF THE CUMBERLAND. 
 
 SINCE the last meeting of this Society the Nation has 
 been called upon to mourn the loss of the two highest 
 officers of the Army and Navy, men who have immor 
 talized themselves in their country s history, General 
 Sherman and Admiral Porter. 
 
 Closely united as they were in life, there is something 
 that touched our sympathies as we saw them stricken at 
 the same moment, and within the space of a day reunited 
 beyond the dark river from whence no traveller returns. 
 For though it may not be generally known, General Sher 
 man from past associations was closer to the Navy than 
 any one of the high officers of the Army prominent in the 
 late war. 
 
 As the young Lieutenant of Artillery during the Mexi 
 can War, he took passage in the sloop-of-war Erie around 
 Cape Horn ; and from this connection sprung an intimacy 
 that brought him in close contact with the Navy, and a 
 mutual dependence that was strikingly shown in the co 
 operation of Porter and Sherman in their work of open 
 ing the Mississippi. Of Sherman, Porter writes as follows 
 in a letter addressed to General Grant, dated, 
 
 ^MISSISSIPPI SQUADRON, FLAG-SHIP BLACK HAWK, 
 
 CAIRO, ILL., Dec. 26, 1863. 
 MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT, 
 
 COMMAND MILITARY Drv. OF MISSISSIPPI, 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. 
 
 Dear General : I was glad to receive yours of the 20th inst. 
 and to hear that I was soon to see my old friend Sherman, whom I 
 
 103 
 
104 
 
 esteem as much as you do. Indeed we have been so much together, 
 and in so many hard places, that we look upon him as the property 
 of the Navy," etc. 
 
 It has so happened that upon this meeting of your 
 Society, the first since the death of these illustrious men, 
 it is to be both my privilege and pleasure to read to you 
 a short paper on one of the incidents of the Rebellion ; and 
 before proceeding to do so, it seems to me most pertinent, 
 if there is no objection, that I should speak a few words 
 of my much beloved Commander and friend the late 
 Admiral Porter. 
 
 My first acquaintance with the Admiral took place 
 twenty-eight years ago last December. As a young 
 officer in command of a large iron-clad, the Cairo, I had 
 been so unfortunate as, by pushing perhaps a little farther 
 to the front than prudence dictated, to lose my ship by the 
 explosion of a torpedo in the Yazoo River, back of the 
 defences of Vicksburg. I was on my return up the Mis 
 sissippi, with my crew and officers, when I met the flag 
 ship Black Hawk, with Admiral Porter going down for 
 the first time to his fleet, then assembling at Vicksburg. 
 He knew nothing up to the period of the loss of the Cairo, 
 whose destruction at that moment was calculated to irri 
 tate a commander whose squadron was none too large or 
 formidable for the work cut out for it. Going on board 
 the Black Hawk and reporting the incidents of the affair, 
 I said to the Admiral, " I suppose you will want to hold 
 a Court," that being the usual course in the service. 
 
 " Court," replied he, " I have no time to hold Courts. I 
 can t blame any officer who puts his ship close to the 
 enemy ; is there any other vessel you would like to have ? " 
 I told him there was at that time but one without a com 
 mander. " Well," he said, " you shall have her. Breese," 
 calling his Fleet Captain, " make out Captain Selfridge s 
 orders to command the Conestoga." I left that ship with 
 
105 
 
 a feeling that I would go through fire and water for that 
 man. And it was this feeling that Porter inspired amongst 
 all his subordinates by being always ready to recognize 
 and reward merit that made him so successful in his or 
 ganization of that great Mississippi fleet which grew under 
 his inspiring touch from a small squadron of a dozen ves 
 sels when he took command, to a fleet of over one hundred 
 and fifty steamers of all classes. When I asked Assistant 
 Secretary Fox upon returning from a short leave after the 
 fall of Vicksburg, if he had any word to send to Porter, 
 he replied, " No, Porter can take care of himself." 
 
 But I do not propose to take up your time this evening 
 telling you of Porter s deeds. With a heart overwhelmed 
 with grief, I only desire this opportunity to say how I 
 admired, how I esteemed him. 
 
 Whether pushing his iron-clads within fifty yards of 
 the casemates of Arkansaw Post ; whether with his fleet 
 stuck fast in the narrow treacherous waters of Deer Creek, 
 his progress impeded by the great cottonwood trees cut 
 down ahead and behind him, his men picked off by the 
 rebel riflemen in the woods, a position of great peril 
 from which he was rescued by Sherman and his Division ; 
 whether running the batteries of Vicksburg, when night 
 was made as light as the day by the fire of the rebel batter 
 ies, and the lighting of great stacks of wood ; whether 
 under the guns of Grand Gulf, he was the same calm, 
 imperturbable Commander, making us strong by his own 
 matchless courage, energy and fortitude. Nowhere were 
 these qualities more strongly shown than upon the Red 
 River campaign, where after the defeat of our forces under 
 General Banks, the Navy, which had approached within 
 thirty miles of Shreveport, was obliged to return. The 
 heaviest portion of the fleet were sent back to Alexandria, 
 on account of the rapid falling of the Red River. Por 
 ter staid behind on his temporary flag-ship, a little 
 
106 
 
 gunboat called the Cricket, to assist the Eastport, a 
 large iron-clad, which had been injured by a torpedo. 
 The attempt to save the Eastport had to be abandoned. 
 But the rebels had had time to line the banks with their 
 guns, and when Porter passed he had to run the gantlet, 
 within pistol shot of twenty pieces of artillery. 
 
 He was in the pilot house, and when the pilot was 
 shot down beside him, took the wheel and brought her 
 safely through with the loss of half of her crew. 
 
 Time will not permit me to speak of the final rescue 
 of our fleet by the splendid engineering work of Colonel 
 Bailey in damming the Red River at Alexandria. 
 
 The Mississippi River now opened by the combined 
 work of the Army and Navy, we of the Navy expected 
 that our fighting was over. 
 
 But the Government had resolved upon the reduction 
 of Fort Fisher. The command of the fleet for this pur 
 pose was offered to Farragut, who had returned from his 
 victory at Mobile. But he declined it on account of ill 
 health, and Porter was summoned from the Mississippi 
 River. He took with him some of his officers, myself 
 amongst the number. Here he organized the largest 
 fleet ever assembled under one Commander. How he 
 handled that fleet in the two bombardments, how he sent 
 his sailors on shore and by an attack with them upon the 
 sea face, while the army assaulted the land side, thus 
 compelling the enemy to divide his garrison, I have only 
 time to glance at. 
 
 At the beginning of the war a Lieutenant, at its close 
 he was next to Farragut the ranking officer of the Navy. 
 After the war he was for four years the Superintendent 
 of the Naval Academy. Upon relinquishing this post he 
 removed to Washington, which he made his permanent 
 home. Here his advice and counsel were frequently 
 sought by the Secretaries of the Navy ; and his annual re- 
 
107 
 
 ports upon the Navy, and his recommendations, show how 
 thoroughly he kept his professional touch with the times. 
 
 But the organization of our Navy upon a peace footing, 
 which caused it to become an insignificant force within a 
 few years after the war, did not, like the Army, con 
 template an officer of the rank held by Porter. The 
 Secretary of the Navy with his Bureau officers, and com 
 manding officers of squadrons, constitute the executive 
 power, and the law did not define the position of Admiral, 
 as it has that of the General of the Army. For this 
 reason and no other, Admiral Porter did not exert the in 
 fluence in time of peace, that his talents, his experience, 
 and his rank entitled him to. 
 
 Porter s two strongest attributes, I should say, were 
 great firmness of character and great love for his profes 
 sion. These, with his untiring energy, fertility of re 
 sources, and coolness in battle, made him in my opinion 
 one of the greatest Naval Commanders that our country 
 has ever produced. 
 
 His hospitality was unbounded, and his bonhommie and 
 sense of humor made him a delightful raconteur. 
 
 A loving husband, a kind and affectionate father, it was 
 always a pleasure for me to visit him, in his Washington 
 home, where he never tired of talking over the affairs of 
 the Navy and the incidents of our Mississippi life. 
 
 When I bade him Good-by " last summer at his beau 
 tiful home on the shores of Narragansett Bay by that sea 
 upon which the " Porters " had won imperishable laurels 
 for our Navy, I little thought I should never look upon 
 his face again. 
 
 In him the country has lost a hero, his family an affec 
 tionate and generous husband and father, and myself my 
 dearest friend. 
 
108 
 
 "THE CUMBEELAND." 
 
 On a quiet Sunday morning, the 9th of March, 1862, 
 the people of the North were startled with the intelligence 
 of the fight between the Cumberland and Merrimac ; and 
 as later on the details of the battle became known, the 
 heroic resistance of the former, and the terrible power 
 exerted by the latter, produced a profound impression, 
 and a vague sense of terror, that probably was un 
 equalled at any period before or since, during the Civil 
 War. 
 
 Great armies met afterwards in deadly conflict, the 
 losses on both sides were far greater ; but the unexpected 
 ness of the event, the bravery shown by the Cumberland, 
 the appearance of a terrible engine of war whose existence 
 was unsuspected, the providential arrival of the Monitor 
 when the Merrimac had the whole wooden navy at her 
 mercy, the combat between the two armored vessels, the 
 first in history, all unite in stamping the 8th arid 9th of 
 March, 1862, as two days at least as memorable as any in 
 the war. 
 
 It is a singular coincidence that the Cumberland and 
 Merrimac were both launched from the Boston Navy 
 Yard, the former in 1842, the latter in 1856. It seems 
 to be fitting, therefore, that the story of these ships, built 
 by Boston mechanics, should be read to and preserved by 
 the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts. I would, 
 however, that the task of putting on paper the heroic 
 deeds of the Cumberland s crew could, have fallen into 
 more eloquent hands than mine. 
 
 Twenty-nine years have passed since that day; many 
 stirring events took place during the war to blunt the 
 edge of my memory ; and though much occurred that will 
 never be effaced, yet I have found it not an easy matter 
 to group all the stirring events of this fight in one con- 
 
109 
 
 nected narrative worthy to be filed in the archives of your 
 Society. 
 
 The Cumberland, a first-class frigate of 1,726 tons, was 
 laid down in the Navy Yard at Charlestown in 1825 and 
 launched in 1842. 
 
 At that time her armament was ten 8-inch, and eighteen 
 32-pounder guns on the gun deck, and sixteen light 32 s 
 on the spar deck ; and she belonged to the frigate class, 
 which contained the Potomac, Brandywine, Columbia, 
 Savannah, Raritan, St. Lawrence, Santee, and Sabine. 
 She was always a favorite, and served as the flag-ship of 
 Commodore Joseph Smith in command of the Mediter 
 ranean Squadron, and Commodore Conover of the African 
 Squadron. About 1856 she was razed, that is, cut down 
 into a heavy sloop-of-war. Her gun-deck battery was ex 
 changed for twenty-two 9-inch shell guns, and the spar 
 deck battery of 32 s removed, and two 10-inch pivot guns, 
 one at the bow and one at the stern, put in their places. 
 This was the battery at the time of the fight, except that 
 for the after 10-inch, there had been substituted a 70- 
 pounder Dahlgren rifle gun. 
 
 In September, 1860, the Cumberland was commissioned 
 as the flag-ship of the Home Squadron at Portsmouth, 
 N.H., Commodore Prendergrast commanding, myself and 
 Lieutenant, now Colonel, Heywood, of the Marine Corps, 
 being the only officers that remained by the ship from this 
 date to her final destruction. Her crew, however, en 
 listed mostly in Boston and the vicinity, had suffered but 
 few changes beyond the usual ones of a long enlistment. 
 They were proud of their ship, they had the mutual 
 dependence upon each other arising from long associa 
 tions, and they had been subjected to a discipline which 
 gave them great faith in themselves and in the armament 
 of the ship. They really believed themselves invincible, 
 and indeed could they have had a fair fight would have 
 
110 
 
 shown themselves to be such. With but few officers, for 
 the first time in their lives exposed to a terrible shell fire, 
 seeing their comrades mangled and dead before them, the 
 manner in which these decimated guns crews stood 
 unflinchingly at their guns, with the water pouring over 
 the decks, the ship trembling in the last throes of her dis 
 appearance, until the word was passed from their officers, 
 just before the ship went down, " Every man look out for 
 himself," was not only sublime, but ought to embalm the 
 name of the Cumberland in the heart of every American. 
 History gives no example of braver resistance in the face 
 of utter hopelessness, a sterner feeling of " never surren 
 der," than was shown by the Cumberland on the 8th of 
 March, 1862. Does it not seem strange, then, that this 
 name should have been allowed to disappear from the 
 Navy List? And yet such is the case, and the memory 
 of her deeds is almost unknown to the present generation 
 of the Navy. 
 
 What ship bearing the name of " Cumberland," in the 
 light of her past history, could ever haul down her flag ? 
 Sailing from Portsmouth, N.H., in the fall of 1860, she 
 remained at Vera Cruz till February, 1861, when the 
 rapid procession of events which led to the secession of 
 the Gulf States, caused her recall to Hampton Roads, 
 where she arrived in March, 1861. At this time the 
 excitement ran high in Norfolk : many inducements were 
 held out to the crew to desert, but few yielded to the 
 temptation. At the suggestion of officers who afterwards 
 resigned and went into the Rebellion, the Cumberland 
 was finally moored head and stern off the Navy Yard at 
 Norfolk, ostensibly as a protection to that Yard, but 
 really that she might not interfere with the plan of block 
 ing the channel at the mouth of Elizabeth River with 
 sunken vessels, which if done effectually would have left 
 her penned like a rat in a trap. It may all sound strange 
 
Ill 
 
 at this period ; but at that time so fearful was the paternal 
 government of hurting the feelings of the Virginians, that 
 it permitted this attempted closing by a so-called Vigil 
 ance Committee of Norfolk, a body of self-constituted 
 individuals, to go on day and night without protest or 
 interference. The writer volunteered to take the brig 
 Dolphin and a detachment of the Cumberland s crew 
 to Craney Island and keep the channel open at all 
 hazards. 
 
 This was approved by Captain Marston and Commo 
 dores Prendergrast and Paulding. But the rebel officers 
 who were at the Yard advised Commodore McCauley, the 
 senior commanding officer present, not to do it, as the 
 youth and rashness of Lieutenant Selfridge might bring 
 on bloodshed, which would hasten Virginia out of the 
 Union. It was this desire to conciliate the latter that led 
 to the evacuation of the Norfolk Yard, and not the fear 
 of rebel forces. 
 
 At this time there was lying abreast of us at the Nor 
 folk Yard the steam frigate Merrimac, which on account 
 of the threatening condition of affairs had been ordered to 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Engineers had been detailed, a detachment of officers 
 and sailors from the Cumberland under Lieutenant Alex 
 ander Murray selected to man her, and to proceed as far 
 as Hampton Roads. Steam was actually raised upon the 
 boilers, when the Naval officers of the Yard (who the 
 next day resigned) went to Commodore McCauley, and 
 persuaded him not to let the Merrimac go, as it would 
 imply a distrust of Virginia s loyalty. 
 
 The news would be telegraphed at once to Richmond, 
 where the Commission, none too loyal, was sitting to 
 decide if Virginia should secede; its effect would be dis 
 astrous, and upon Commodore McCauley rested the re 
 sponsibility of sending the state out of the Union. 
 
112 
 
 Influenced by this specious argument, Commodore 
 McCauley gave the order to haul fires, and the opportu 
 nity was lost of saving this fine frigate that a year later 
 was to prove the destroyer of the Cumberland. The sit 
 uation of the latter at this time was a singular one: a 
 powerful vessel securely moored in a narrow channel from 
 which its motive power of sails was useless to extricate 
 it, it was left without any instructions either to defend 
 itself or engage in offensive operations against those who 
 were plotting the capture of the Yard, and the destruction 
 of the Cumberland by fire-rafts. Had there been a reso 
 lute man at the head of the Navy department, the stern 
 order would have been sent to the Cumberland, " Hold 
 the Navy Yard and protect public property at all hazards," 
 when she was first moored off the Norfolk Navy Yard ; 
 the Yard would never have been evacuated, and its three 
 thousand cannons, of every calibre from 32-pounders to 
 11-inch, which were afterwards scattered through the 
 Confederacy, would have been saved to the Union. 
 
 Without the immense store of artillery and ammunition 
 furnished by the Norfolk Yard, many points which were 
 rapidly fortified could never have been defended. For 
 example, the guns on the strong fortification at Glouces 
 ter Point, York River, which prevented the Confederate 
 lines at Yorktown from being flanked, and caused McClel- 
 lan to lose a precious month in the attempt to reduce it, 
 were from the Norfolk Yard. Those of Fort de Russey 
 on the far-off Red River, which gave our Mississippi 
 fleet so much trouble, were from the same place. 
 
 Friday, April 14th, brought the news of the bombard 
 ment of Fort Sumter, and caused the wildest excitement 
 in Norfolk. The Navy Yard was closed, the Comman 
 dant had sent his family away ; all the officers resigned, 
 including about one-half of the Cumberland s, but not 
 one of the crew asked this privilege : they were all truly 
 
113 
 
 loyal. There remained the Cumberland and a small body 
 of marines to defend the Yard. 
 
 It should be remembered that at this time war had not 
 been declared, Virginia had not seceded, and, without in 
 structions, our commanders considered it was their duty 
 to wait and let events take their course. 
 
 This irresolution must seem difficult to understand, as 
 we look back upon that long and disastrous war; and I 
 well remember how all of us younger officers chafed under 
 this do-nothing policy. But it should not be forgotten 
 that there was a disposition at Washington to make every 
 possible sacrifice to keep Virginia in the Union ; and the 
 knowledge of this hampered our officers, and instituted a 
 most disastrous policy. 
 
 On the following day, Saturday, hearing nothing from 
 Washington, it was determined to scuttle the Merrimac ; 
 that is, to open her under-water valves, and let her sink. 
 I begged the Captain of the Cumberland to withhold the 
 order, for assistance might be sent, and at any time she 
 could be sunk with a shell from our battery. But the 
 order was given, and the Merrimac slowly sank till she 
 grounded with her gun deck a little out of water. 
 
 Saturday evening the steam sloop-of-war Pawnee, with 
 a number of officers and a small detachment of the Third 
 Massachusetts, taken on board at Fortress Monroe, all 
 under the command of Commodore Paulding, arrived from 
 Washington. The latter was the senior officer present, 
 and, after a consultation with Commodore McCauley and 
 other commanders, decided to set fire to the shipping and 
 buildings, and abandon the Navy Yard. 
 
 I believed then, and events afterwards proved it, that 
 this was a most unfortunate decision. We should not 
 have left without a fight ; and the presence of the 
 Pawnee, a handy and powerful steam vessel, put the situ 
 ation in a very different light from the one where the 
 
114 
 
 Cumberland was left alone and incapable of moving. To 
 say nothing of the Merrimac and the immense quantity of 
 cannon and munitions of war, the use of the work-shops 
 acquired by the rebels was of the greatest assistance to 
 the Rebellion in its early stages. Three line-of-battle- 
 ships, the Pennsylvania, Columbus, and Delaware, four 
 frigates, the Merrimac, Brandywine, Columbia, and Rari- 
 tan, one sloop-of-war, the Germantown, and the brig-of- 
 war Dolphin, with the immense ship houses, were fired. 
 
 Thus was destroyed at one blow one-fourth of the 
 American Navy. It was a splendid but melancholy 
 spectacle ; and in the lurid glare which turned night into 
 day, the Cumberland slipped her moorings, and in tow of 
 the Pawnee left Norfolk. 
 
 Had the Merrimac not been previously sunk, she 
 would have been totally destroyed with the rest. But 
 resting on the bottom with her gun deck above water, 
 only the upper works were burned. After taking posses 
 sion of the Yard it was not a difficult matter for the 
 rebels to close the valves, pump the ship out, and float 
 her into the dry dock, from which she emerged several 
 months after as an iron-clad, called the " Virginia." 
 
 At daylight the Cumberland was off Se wall s Point, at 
 the mouth of the Elizabeth River, where for two weeks a 
 body of disaffected and irresponsible people had been 
 allowed in the face of the United States authorities to 
 seize and sink three lightships at anchor in Norfolk har 
 bor, and several schooners belonging to Northern owners. 
 
 This must seem strange reading at present ; but it is an 
 example of the weak and vacillating policy of the govern 
 ment in the early days of the war to win back states to 
 their allegiance, which had but one idea, and that, the 
 severance of all relations with the hated North. 
 
 But to return to the Cumberland : With the assist 
 ance of the Pawnee, Keystone State, and the tug Yankee, 
 
115 
 
 she was finally forced over the obstructions, and at night 
 fall anchored off Fortress Monroe. 
 
 Here she remained as a guard-ship till the summer, 
 when she was sent to Boston to be docked, and damages 
 from grinding on the wrecks off Sewall s Point made 
 good. 
 
 After completing these repairs, and filling the vacan 
 cies in her crew, she sailed for Hampton Roads, and was 
 employed in the blockade off Hatteras Inlet until she took 
 part with the steam frigates Minnesota, Wabash, and 
 Susquehanna in the bombardment and capture of the 
 Hatteras Forts. An example of the splendid crew with 
 which the Cumberland was manned took place on the 
 second day of this affair. The appearance of the weather 
 on the previous evening caused the ship to seek an offing. 
 
 In the morning she stood in ; and finding the three 
 steam frigates at anchor and engaged, the Cumberland 
 stood down for the head of the line, and luffing ahead 
 of the leading ship, the Susquehanna, shortened and 
 furled sails with one watch, while the other manned the 
 guns, and as the anchor was let go, opened with the 
 whole battery. 
 
 Old officers who saw the manoeuvre have often spoken 
 of the beauty of the ship as she stood in under all sail, 
 and the magnificent manner with which she went into 
 action, the last American frigate to go into battle under 
 sail. 
 
 But the era of steam had arrived, sailing ships were 
 useless on a blockade, and the Cumberland was ordered 
 to Hampton Roads. 
 
 At this time two steamers, known as the Jamestown 
 and Yorktown, belonging to the Old Dominion Steam 
 ship Company, had been seized at Richmond, armed as 
 privateers and threatened to run out. To prevent their 
 escape the Cumberland was sent in November, 1861, to 
 
116 
 
 the mouth of the James River, off Newport News. Here 
 she was afterwards joined by the Congress, a sailing 
 frigate of a little more tonnage, but with a greatly inferior 
 battery of 32-pounders. 
 
 The winter of 1861-62 was occupied on the Cumber 
 land in constant drill, to meet every imaginable contin 
 gency in a combat with the Merrimac, the news of whose 
 preparation reached us from time to time. 
 
 In fact, rumors of her expected appearance came so 
 often, that at last it became a standing joke with the 
 ship s company. 
 
 The winter was a severe one ; no fires were allowed, and 
 our enforced idleness became extremely irksome, and we 
 all looked forward to a relief in the spring, and a chance 
 for active operations. 
 
 All the winter one watch slept at the guns, the ship 
 nightly cleared for action, ready for any emergency. 
 
 In view of a possible encounter with the Merrimac, 
 solid shot had been supplied for the nine guns, the normal 
 charge increased from ten to thirteen pounds of powder, 
 and the guns provided with double breechings, to stand 
 the increased recoil. 
 
 Commodore Prendergrast had hauled down his flag 
 after the evacuation of Norfolk. Captain John Marston 
 had been transferred to the Roanoke, after the bom 
 bardment of Hatteras. Captain John Livingston suc 
 ceeded him, to be in turn relieved by Captain William 
 Radford, who commanded the ship at the date of the 
 action, but was temporarily absent on court-martial duty 
 at Hampton Roads. 
 
 The officers of the Cumberland on the 8th of March, 
 1862, in the fight with the Merrimac, were, 
 
 Lieutenant George N. Morris, Executive Officer. 
 Lieutenant Thomas O. Self ridge, Jr. 
 Master M. S. Stuyvesant. 
 
117 
 
 Acting Master W. W. Kennison. 
 
 Acting Master W. P. Randall. 
 
 Second Lieutenant Marines, Charles Heywood. 
 
 Surgeon Charles Martin. 
 
 Assistant Surgeon Edward Kershner. 
 
 Paymaster Cramer Burt, absent. 
 
 Chaplain John T. Lenhart, killed. 
 
 Acting Master s Mate John Harrington, killed. 
 
 Acting Master s Mate Charles O Neil. 
 
 Acting Master s Mate H. Tyson. 
 
 Acting Master s Mate H. Wyman. 
 
 Boatswain Edward Bell. 
 
 Gunner Eugene Mack. 
 
 Carpenter W. M. Laighton. 
 
 Sailmaker David Bruce. 
 
 Paymaster s Clerk Hugh Knott. 
 
 Pilot Lewis Smith. 
 
 Lieutenant Morris as Executive Officer, in the absence 
 of Captain Radford, was in command. On the gun deck 
 Lieutenant Selfridge commanded the forward division of 
 five 9-inch guns, Master Stuyvesant the after division 
 of four 9-inch, and the two extreme after guns were 
 manned by marines. 
 
 The gun s crews consisted of sixteen men and a powder 
 boy. 
 
 The forward 10-inch pivot was in charge of Acting 
 Master Kennison, the after in charge of Acting Master 
 Randall. 
 
 Sailmaker Bruce commanded the powder division, as 
 sisted by Gunner Mack. 
 
 When the Norfolk Yard was evacuated the Confederates 
 raised the Merrimac, placed her in the dry dock, and cut 
 down the upper works even with the berth deck. She 
 was of the same class as the Wabash (at present receiving 
 ship at the Boston Navy Yard), some 4,500 tons burden, 
 about 300 feet long, 52 feet beam, and drew about 24 
 feet. A low casemate was built upon her, with sides re- 
 
118 
 
 ceding at an angle of about 45 degrees, and extending 
 about 200 feet of her length. 
 
 This casemate was armored with four inches of iron, 
 laid on in two layers diagonal to each other. Each slab 
 was four inches wide and two inches thick, the whole 
 backed by two feet of oak. Her sides were armored, and 
 also the deck forward and abaft the casemate. She had 
 a freeboard of not more than a foot when she engaged the 
 Cumberland. Her armament consisted of one 7-inch 
 rifle in the bows, a similar gun aft, two 6-inch rifles and 
 six 9-inch guns in broadside. She was fitted with a ram 
 made of cast iron, which projected three feet from the 
 stem, and at about six feet under water. 
 
 THE FIGHT. 
 
 Saturday, the 8th of March, 1862, was a beautiful 
 spring day, bright and clear. The Cumberland was lying 
 at single anchor, with her sails loosed to dry, when at a 
 half hour after noon, the writer, who was the officer of 
 the deck, reported that the Merrimac had just hove in 
 sight a long distance off in the direction of Norfolk. 
 Owing to the mirage, her movements were much obscured, 
 and her progress was so slow that it seemed doubtful at 
 first if she was really coming out. 
 
 But as the low hull came in view abreast of Craney 
 Island Light, heading for the mouth of the Elizabeth 
 River, all surmises were dispelled. All hands were called, 
 the sails quickly furled, and the quick beat to " quarters " 
 aroused every one, and told that the hour which had been 
 so long looked forward to had come. At that moment 
 the Cumberland was a splendid type of the frigate of the 
 old times, with her towering masts, long yards, and neat 
 man-of-war-like appearance. 
 
 But her crew, as they stood at their guns for the last 
 time, cool, grim, silent, and determined seamen, confident 
 
119 
 
 in their discipline, proud of their ship, were a model crew, 
 a crew that has never been excelled and perhaps rarely 
 equalled. It was a crew, that knowing no surrender, could 
 they have had a motive power other than sails, would 
 have whipped the Merrimac by the sheer force of their 
 battery and their determination to conquer. On account 
 of the contour of the land at the mouth of the James 
 River, the Merrimac passed out of sight from the deck of 
 the Cumberland for over one hour ; and it seemed doubt 
 ful whether the first attack would be upon the squadron at 
 Hampton Roads, or against the Congress and Cumberland. 
 The delay was so great that many feared the opportunity 
 would not be given to try their heavy guns ; for little was 
 known at that time of the relative merits of iron-dads 
 and wooden ships, and great confidence was felt on the 
 Cumberland in her trained crew and solid shot of eighty 
 pounds weight. 
 
 But at 2.30 P.M. the Merrimac hove in sight, heading 
 directly for the Congress, which was riding to the last of 
 the flood. The Cumberland above and a little inshore 
 had begun to swing, and lay almost across the river, her 
 bows outward. 
 
 As the Merrimac passed the Congress, the latter opened 
 with her whole broadside, which rattled from the sides 
 like hail upon a roof. This effect caused no surprise on 
 the Cumberland, because her guns were so much lighter 
 than ours, being mostly 32-pounders. 
 
 The Merrimac moved slowly across the bows of the 
 Cumberland, and manoeuvred for position to ram. Three 
 times were the gun-deck divisions sent from one battery 
 to the other, till finally she came sufficiently in sight upon 
 the starboard bow to train the forward guns, and fire 
 was at once opened with them and the bow 10-inch 
 pivot. 
 
 The Merrimac replied with her 7-inch rifle, and broad- 
 
120 
 
 side guns, sometimes aiming the latter at the small fort 
 on shore. 
 
 Her first shot passed through the starboard hammock 
 netting, killing and wounding nine marines; and their 
 Commander, Lieutenant Heywood, who was amongst them, 
 was knocked down, but uninjured. The groans of these 
 men, the first to fall, as they were carried below, was 
 something new to those crews as they stood at their guns, 
 and an introduction to a scene of carnage unparalleled in 
 the war. 
 
 Three soldiers from the shore, who had come off to visit 
 the ship, were unable to return, and asked permission to 
 join the guns crews. Two of them were killed, and one, 
 McNamara, escaped. 
 
 The Merrimac, lying about three hundred yards on 
 the starboard bow, raked the Cumberland at every shot, 
 while only the forward pivot and the guns of the first 
 division by extreme train could be brought to bear on 
 her. 
 
 No. 1 gun of this division was fired but once. The 
 second shell from the murderous 7-inch rifle burst among 
 the crew as they were running it out, destroying literally 
 the whole crew except the powder man, and the gun 
 remained disabled for the rest of the action. 
 
 The captain of this gun, a splendid seaman named 
 Kirker, rated Commodore s coxswain, had both arms taken 
 off at the shoulder as he was holding his handspike and 
 guiding the gun. He passed me as he was carried below, 
 but not a groan escaped from him. 
 
 The spring from the starboard quarter was now manned 
 on the spar deck, and an attempt made to spring the broad 
 side to bear ; but this was ineffectual, for on account of 
 the slack tide and no wind, the spring lay fore and aft and 
 useless. Events followed too fast to record them. The 
 dead were thrown over the other side of the deck, the 
 
121 
 
 wounded carried below : no one flinched, but went on load 
 ing and firing, taking the place of some comrade killed or 
 wounded as they had been drilled to do. But the carnage 
 was something awful ; great splinters, torn from the side, 
 wounded more men than the shell. Every 1st and 2d 
 captain of the guns of the first division were killed or 
 wounded ; and the writer, with a box of cannon primers in 
 his pocket, went from gun to gun, firing them as fast as 
 the decimated crews could load them. 
 
 But to return to the Merrimac. She kept up this de 
 structive fire for some fifteen minutes, when she headed for 
 the Cumberland, striking her upon the starboard bow, her 
 ram penetrating the side under the berth deck. She could 
 not extricate herself ; and as the Cumberland commenced 
 to sink she bore the Merrimac down with her, until the 
 water was over the forward deck. Had the officer forward 
 on the spar deck of the Cumberland had the presence of 
 mind to let go the starboard anchor, it would have fallen 
 on the Merrimac s deck, and the latter have been carried 
 down in the iron embrace of the Cumberland. But the 
 opportunity was lost; the weight upon the ram broke it 
 off in the Cumberland s side, and the Merrimac swung 
 around broadside to the Cumberland. Whether the Mer 
 rimac was demoralized by this narrow escape, or her 
 engines caught on the centre, or for some other cause, 
 she lay for some moments without moving. 
 
 This was the Cumberland s opportunity, the first she had 
 had, for the Merrimac had all along maintained a sneak 
 ing position on the bow almost out of gunshot ; and 
 three solid broadsides at a distance of not more than one 
 hundred yards were poured into her, that rebel officers 
 have told me made the Merrimac fairly reel. Cheer upon 
 cheer went up from the Cumberland, followed with rage 
 and despair as she slowly moved away, with the muzzles 
 of two of her broadside 9-inch guns shot away. 
 
122 
 
 Seeing that our shot made so little impression, the gun 
 captains were ordered to fire only at the ports. 
 
 The Merrimac at this time hailed the Cumberland and 
 asked if she would surrender. The reply went back, 
 " Never, we will sink with our colors flying." 
 
 It is a question whether Captain Buchanan was wounded 
 at this time by one of the marines on the spar deck, or 
 later on. 
 
 Lieutenant Heywood, who at Mobile had charge of 
 him after the fight with the Tennessee, writes me that 
 Captain Buchanan told him he was wounded by a shot 
 from the Cumberland as he incautiously exposed himself 
 in the pilot-house of the Merrimac, but I have seen rebel 
 accounts which place this event later. 
 
 The water was rising rapidly, the Cumberland going 
 down by the bows. The forward magazine was flooded ; 
 but the powder tanks which supplied the forward divisions 
 had been whipped out, carried aft, and the supply of 
 powder kept up. As the water made its appearance on 
 the berth deck, which by this time was filled with the 
 badly wounded, heart-rending cries above the din of the 
 combat could be heard from the poor fellows as they 
 realized that they were helpless to escape a slow death 
 as the water rose over them. The Merrimac again took 
 a position upon the starboard bow of the doomed Cumber 
 land and opened her fire. 
 
 The first cutter was sent with a hawser from the port 
 quarter to a schooner near by, and an effort made to 
 spring our broadside to bear, but the Cumberland was 
 becoming so water-logged that she could not be moved. 
 
 The writer gathered the remains of the first division, 
 some thirty men, and took them forward to transport 
 No. 1 gun to the bridle port, in a position where it could 
 bear upon the Merrimac. The tackles were scarcely 
 hooked, when a shell passing through the starboard bow 
 
123 
 
 burst among them, killing and maiming the greater 
 number. 
 
 It was about this time that Master s Mate Harrington 
 had his head shot off, and fell dead at my feet in the 
 act of receiving an order to slip the cable. There was no 
 one left in the first division ; not a gun s crew could be 
 mustered from the brave fellows who went into action 
 three quarters of an hour before, so confident in their 
 ship. 
 
 No men ever stood at their guns better than the first 
 gun-deck division of the Cumberland. They had literally 
 disappeared, died at their posts. 
 
 The appearance of the gun deck forward at this time 
 was something never to be forgotten. The deck, covered 
 with the dead and wounded, slippery with blood, the large 
 galley demolished, and its scattered contents added to the 
 general destruction, some guns run in, as they had last 
 been fired, many of them bespattered with blood, rammers 
 and sponges broken and powder blacked, lay in every 
 direction. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the water had been rapidly gaining, 
 in spite of the efforts of the after division, which had 
 been sent to the pumps. At this time the Merrimac 
 again rammed the Cumberland, striking her abaft the 
 fore channels, but doing no especial damage. Why she 
 did so I have never understood, unless to give a final 
 coup-de-grace, for she must have seen that the Cumberland 
 was rapidly sinking. 
 
 If there had been any men left, there was no longer any 
 powder to serve the guns of the first division. The writer 
 went aft, and as he did so the ship gave a lurch forward, 
 and the water poured into the bridle ports. The ship was 
 sinking, no time was to be lost ; and the order was passed, 
 " Every man look out for himself," an order never given 
 till the last extremity. 
 
124 
 
 The survivors rushed from the berth and gun decks, 
 crowding up the after ladders, and some ran along the 
 spar deck and jumped into the launch moored astern; 
 others climbed the rigging ; and others saved themselves 
 on gratings and material from the deck. Fortunately 
 all the boats were lowered before the action commenced, 
 and two of the largest were uninjured. 
 
 In this moment of dire confusion, with the water closing 
 over the doomed ship, the last gun was fired, sounding the 
 death knell ; generally believed to have been No. 7 gun, 
 and fired by Matthew C. Tierney, Coxswain, who was 
 mortally wounded and perished in the ship. 
 
 The writer was one of the last to leave the main deck, 
 the water upon which was up to the main hatch. The 
 ship had a heavy list to port, the ladders were almost 
 perpendicular, and as he turned to the wardroom hatch 
 ladder he found it blocked by our fat drummer, Joselyn, 
 who was struggling up with his drum, and who was after 
 ward picked up in the water using it as a life buoy. He 
 then threw off his coat and sword, and squeezing through 
 the port-hole on the port side, jumped into the water, and 
 seeing the launch astern, swam to her and was picked up 
 almost exhausted. 
 
 As has been stated, the ship went down bow first, with 
 the stern high in the air. There were about one hundred 
 men in the launch, among them Lieutenant Morris and 
 Master Stuyvesant. 
 
 It was with difficulty that the boat was shoved clear, 
 as with one plunge the Cumberland settled beneath the 
 surface. 
 
 Her flag could almost be touched as the boat moved 
 away ; but it was left to wave over the glorious dead who 
 had defended its honor with their lives. 
 
 The crew of the Cumberland, on the day of the engage 
 ment, numbered two hundred and ninety-nine bluejackets, 
 
125 
 
 and thirty-three marines. Of this number, eighty were 
 killed or drowned, and some thirty wounded saved, or a 
 total of killed and wounded of over thirty-three per cent. 
 
 I doubt if any battle of the war, ashore or afloat, can 
 exhibit so large a proportion of dead to the number en 
 gaged, and it shows the desperate character of the fighting. 
 
 The brunt of the fight fell upon the first division, com 
 manded by the writer, and out of a total of eighty-five 
 more than half were killed. 
 
 It is not easy to estimate the damage done to the Mer- 
 rimac. Her smoke-stack was so perforated with shot 
 holes, as to fill the gun deck with smoke, and seriously 
 decrease the draft of her boilers. The flag-staff was 
 shot away. Many of the plates on the casemate were 
 loosened. The muzzles of two of her guns were shot 
 away; and of the crew two were killed, and numbers 
 wounded, amongst the latter her Captain, Buchanan, who 
 was a great loss to the Confederacy. 
 
 Her ram was wrenched off in the Cumberland s side, 
 causing the Merrimac to spring a leak, and the wounding 
 of her Commander was a serious misfortune to them. 
 
 Thus perished the Cumberland: no vessel ever went 
 into a fight against greater odds, so great that but one 
 result was possible, and yet fought to the bitter end, until 
 the waters closed over her last gun. 
 
 The Merrimac was more than double the size of the 
 Cumberland, with armor four inches thick to oppose to 
 the wooden sides of the latter, and enabled to take any 
 position at will, while the latter was chained to the bottom 
 and helpless to move. 
 
 There would have been no dishonor in surrendering to 
 such odds; and yet what would have been the result? 
 The Merrimac, fresh from the surrender of the Cumber 
 land, would have destroyed the fine steam frigate Minne 
 sota that had grounded while going to the assistance of 
 
126 
 
 the Cumberland, would have captured the remaining Naval 
 force at Hampton Roads, consisting of the frigate Roanoke 
 which had lost her screw, and the sailing frigate St. Law 
 rence, and when the Monitor arrived late that Saturday 
 night she would have found herself alone. 
 
 What would have been the fate of the Monitor when 
 she was rammed by the Merrimac on the second day s 
 fight, if the latter had not lost her spur in the Cumber 
 land s side ? 
 
 And yet the government bestowed neither promotion 
 nor medals upon the officers and crew of the Cumberland, 
 and only some years after made an appropriation giving 
 a month s pay to the survivors for the loss of their effects. 
 
 History can point to no greater sacrifice for the honor 
 of the flag than that made by the crew of the Cumberland. 
 
 Without hope of assistance, against fearful odds, they 
 fought to the end, and their ship was their tomb. Let 
 their memory be kept green in the hearts of their country 
 men ; and if their example stimulates the youths of coming 
 generations to be true to their country and their flag, it 
 cannot be said they died in vain. 
 
 No braver vessel ever flung her pennon to the breeze, 
 
 No bark e er died a death so grand. 
 
 Her flag the gamest of the game 
 
 Sank proudly with her, not in shame, 
 
 But in its ancient glory. 
 
 The memory of its parting gleam 
 
 Will never fade while poets dream. 
 
 The echo of her dying gun 
 
 Will last till man his race has run, 
 
 Then live in angels history. 
 
THE STORY OF THE MONITOR. 
 
 BY 
 
 EEAE-ADMIEAL STEPHEN B. LUCE, U. S. N. 
 
 Bead January 7, 1896. 
 
 127 
 
THE STOKY OF THE MONITOR. 
 
 OF every decisive battle fought, either on land or at 
 sea, there may be said, in general, to be three results, viz., 
 the strategic, the tactical, and the moral. To these the 
 historian has added a fourth, the political. 
 
 In the action between the Monitor and the Merrimac, 
 fought on the 9th of March, 1862, all four results followed ; 
 but it is our purpose here to treat principally of the 
 moral effect, and only incidentally of the political, and to 
 show how a battle confined mainly to but two vessels, and 
 not at all decisive in its character, exercised an influence 
 the extent and importance of which it would be difficult 
 to overestimate. 
 
 As the effect of this action reached far beyond our own 
 shores, it will be necessary, to a full understanding of the 
 subject, to refer briefly to the relations which existed 
 between this country and the two countries with which it 
 was most closely connected, by the ties of friendship and 
 political and commercial intercourse, both before and after 
 the fight. 
 
 In his message to Congress in 1860, President Buchanan 
 declared that our relations with Great Britain were of the 
 most friendly character ; and the tone of the message was 
 couched in such kindly terms in regard to England, that 
 Lord Lyons, then British Minister in Washington, spoke 
 of it as the most cordial which had appeared in any 
 President s message since the foundation of the Republic. 
 
 In December of the same year (1860) the diplomatic 
 correspondence on the subject of the visit of the Prince of 
 
 129 
 
130 
 
 Wales to the United States indicated the closest ties of 
 friendship between the two great branches of the Anglo- 
 Saxon race. And yet, at that very time, England, as we 
 shall presently see, was actually conspiring against the 
 integrity of the Union. It was only a few days later that 
 Lord Lyons informed his Government that " domestic 
 differences in the great American Union were deepening 
 into a fierce feud which threatened the national existence." 
 And when, later on, he reported to his Government the 
 policy foreshadowed by the United States, Lord John 
 Russell, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, wrote back, "that 
 England would take care to let the Government which 
 multiplied provocations and sought quarrels, [i.e. the 
 United States] understand that their [England s] forbear 
 ance sprang from the consciousness of strength, and not 
 from the timidity of weakness. They would warn a Gov 
 ernment which was making political capital out of bluster 
 ing demonstrations that their [i.e. England s] patience 
 might be tried too far." This is rather a sharp contrast 
 to the recent love feast I 
 
 The Civil War opened by the firing on Fort Sumter on 
 the 12th of April, 1861. On the 19th the President issued 
 a proclamation declaring the Southern ports to be in a 
 state of blockade ; and on the 13th of May, England, with 
 unseemly haste, issued a proclamation recognizing the 
 Southern States as belligerents. France followed "by a 
 similar proclamation in June. 1 
 
 1 The endeavor here is to represent the state of affairs as it appeared 
 to us at the time. 
 
 The United States Supreme Court decided, December, 1862, that 
 the President s proclamation of blockade of April 19, 1861, was 
 conclusive evidence that a state of war existed. Hence, as a question 
 of international law, England was strictly within her rights in 
 issuing the proclamation a month later, recognizing the Confederates 
 as belligerents. 
 
131 
 
 Mr. Charles Francis Adams had been sent to England 
 for the express purpose of explaining to the British Gov 
 ernment the state of affairs here and the views of our 
 Government. But although his coming and the nature of 
 his mission were known, yet the proclamation was made 
 public the day before Ins arrival, and without the slightest 
 regard for the wishes or views of the United States. This 
 hasty act of according to the insurgents the rights of 
 belligerents was regarded by us as an evidence of un 
 friendliness, and a measure which would go far towards 
 prolonging the struggle between the two sections of the 
 country. But to all the arguments of our Government, 
 England and France turned a deaf ear. It was assumed 
 from the outset that the rebellion would succeed, that 
 the country would be rent in twain, and that the growing 
 power of the " Great American Union " would be broken 
 forever. 
 
 The recognition of marine belligerency of the South, be 
 it understood, gave the rebel " Corsairs," as they were then 
 considered, the same rights of asylum in the ports of those 
 countries as were accorded to the friendly flag of the 
 United States; and the restrictions applied to these 
 corsairs in English and French ports were rigorously 
 applied to our cruisers. Well might it be said that Eng 
 land s proclamation of neutrality " lighted the torch which 
 destroyed our commerce." 
 
 Not content with recognizing the rebellious States as 
 belligerents, England and France proceeded to treat with 
 them as with a sovereign power. Through their respec 
 tive consuls at Charleston, South Carolina, negotiations 
 were entered into, which resulted in a compact binding 
 the parties concerned to the principles of the Declaration 
 of Paris of 1856, as far as related to the 2d, 3d, and 4th 
 articles. That is to say, that by the 2d article the neutral 
 flag was to cover enemy s goods ; by the 3d, neutral goods, 
 
132 
 
 save contraband of war, were not liable to capture under 
 an enemy s flag ; and by the 4th, blockades must be bind 
 ing. But the 1st article, which prohibited privateering, 
 was omitted. By this arrangement, England protected 
 her own property on the ocean, while it left the commerce 
 of the Northern States a prey to Southern privateers. As 
 it was impracticable, moreover, to maintain an efficient 
 blockade of the long line of Southern coast by the few old 
 ships which then composed the Navy of the United States, 
 no mere paper blockade, like the President s proclamation, 
 would be allowed to shut out the abundant supplies 
 which were to be sent in exchange for the cotton of the 
 seceded States. This treaty, as it may be called, was a 
 virtual recognition by England and France of the sover 
 eignty of the Confederacy, and was a severe blow at the 
 commerce of the North. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the English and French 
 consuls at Charleston had been accredited to the Govern 
 ment of the United States, and had received their exequa 
 turs from the very authority they were now, by instructions 
 from their respective Governments, plotting to destroy. 
 
 Such were the proofs of England s friendship, fostered 
 by over half a century of social, political, and commercial 
 intercourse. 
 
 With certain exceptions the popular sentiment in each 
 country (England and France) was with its Government. 
 Under the firm conviction that the days of the Great 
 Republic were numbered, people did not hesitate to openly 
 express their opinion of us. The venerable statesman 
 Guizot had little love for Americans. " They have no 
 scruples," said he, "no public morality, and no fears. 
 They are terrible neighbors, and I am glad the Atlantic 
 is between us." M. Circourt, an experienced diplomat 
 and the translator of Mr. Bancroft s " History of the 
 United States," thought we were the natural enemies of 
 
133 
 
 all Europe, and freely commented upon the effect of the 
 " insulting, arrogant habit of fifty years of wonderful 
 prosperity and unchecked ambition " upon the people of 
 this country. " If the North could conquer the South," 
 said he, " and re-establish the United States, it would in 
 twenty years be the most arrogant, the most rapacious, 
 and the most unscrupulous power on the globe. All 
 Europe, and still more all America, is interested in its 
 disruption." In England the popular feeling found ready 
 and unmistakable expression. According to one English 
 authority: " The vast majority of what are called the 
 governing classes were on the side of the South. By far 
 the greater number of the aristocracy, of the official world, 
 of members of Parliament, of military and naval men, 
 were for the South. London club life was virtually all 
 Southern. The most powerful papers in London, and the 
 moskpopular papers as well, were open partisans of the 
 Southern Confederation. In London, to be on the side of 
 the Union was at one time to be eccentric, to be un- 
 English, to be Yankee." l (See " A History of Our Own 
 Times " by Justin McCarthy, Chap. XIII.) 
 
 The voice of London that is, the voice of what is 
 called Society, and of the metropolitan shopkeeping 
 classes who draw their living from Society all this 
 was for the South. It was a Liberal who declared with 
 exultation that "the republican bubble had burst." It 
 was a Liberal, Mr. Roebuck, who was most clamorous 
 
 1 The following appeared in a recent paper: Ground for Yankee 
 Hatred. Qaeensberry Eecalls the Spirit Shown by English in 1861-5. 
 London, Jan. 18. The Marquis [of Queensberry] discussed America s 
 alleged hatred of the English. He said the "feelings of this country 
 [England] were entirely for smashing the Union. Our men used to sing 
 nightly, lying off New Orleans, surrounded by half a dozen Federal 
 ships, The Bonny Blue Flag. Fancy if we were fighting to preserve 
 the union here with Ireland a Yankee crew in Portsmouth harbor singing 
 *The Wearing of the Green/ " 
 
134 
 
 for English intervention to help the South ; but it was a 
 Conservative, Lord Robert Cecil, the present Marquis of 
 Salisbury, who in the House of Commons led the party 
 that was friendly to the Southern cause. 1 
 
 In all this we must not, we cannot, forget Mr. Cobden 
 and Mr. Bright and what was called the Manchester 
 School, who were all steadfastly for the North, nor John 
 Stuart Mill and his school, who stood firmly by the Union. 
 But these were, in the hour of our sorest trial, in the 
 minority. 
 
 The English, on the whole, were not so much swayed 
 by a partiality for one side or the other, as by a disincli 
 nation for both, and a desire that the growing power of 
 the Union should be diminished by a permanent separation 
 of the States. 
 
 In 1858, to go back a year or two, Spain communicated 
 to England and to France her earnest desire to have a 
 stronger government in Mexico. She wanted to set up 
 a throne in that country, and place upon it a ruler of her 
 own choice. By this means Mexico would become a 
 dependency of the Spanish Crown. She also desired 
 greater security for Cuba, the negotiations for the pur 
 chase of that island by the United States, with a view to 
 the extension of slavery, having greatly alarmed her. In 
 short, she aspired to the restoration of Spanish prestige 
 in the Western Hemisphere. France, or rather Louis 
 Napoleon, lent a willing ear to the proposition. He had 
 designs of his own in that quarter which would be devel- 
 
 1 "Everyone who watches the current of history must know that the 
 northern States of America never can be our true friends, for this simple 
 reason : Not merely because the newspapers write at each other, or that 
 there are prejudices on both sides, but because we are rivals ; rivals 
 politically, rivals commercially. We aspire to the same position. We 
 both aspire to the government of the seas. We are both manufacturing 
 people, and in every port, as in every court, we are rivals to each 
 other." LORD SALISBURY. 
 
135 
 
 oped at the proper time, while England fell in with the 
 scheme for various reasons. She wanted a check put upon 
 her commercial rival. Our ocean tonnage, at that time, 
 it will be remembered, was second only to that of Eng 
 land. She was fearful lest with our extraordinary capacity 
 for expansion, we would soon absorb Mexico, and gradu 
 ally encircle her West India possessions. But it was as 
 a commercial rival that she most feared us. We were 
 rapidly getting the carrying trade of the world. Any plan 
 by which that trade could be injured met with approval 
 in England. She little dreamed then what a powerful 
 ally she had in the Congress of the United States. Before 
 a shot had been fired at Sumter, our foreign-going ship 
 ping had commenced to fall off through the operation of 
 our own Navigation Laws ! 
 
 Mexico, as an appanage of a European power, and 
 under a strong military government, would act as a whole 
 some check to the United States. Certainly, England 
 would gladly join the other two powers in carrying out 
 the plan proposed. There was but one obstacle in the 
 way of its fulfilment: the Monroe Doctrine. Once get 
 rid of that and the road would be clear. And now this 
 one obstruction was about to be overcome, or neutralized. 
 The Secession of the Southern States and the Convention 
 of February 4th, 1861, which met in Montgomery, Ala 
 bama, and organized a government, under the name of the 
 Confederate States of America, were sufficient proof to 
 the statesmen of Europe that a new nation was about 
 to spring into existence, a nation hostile to England s 
 great commercial rival ; a nation whose free-trade policy 
 would exchange its cotton for the products of English 
 industries, and one which would realize Louis Napoleon s 
 dream of a Western Empire extending from the Potomac 
 to Brazil ! 
 
 It only remained for the auspicious moment to arrive 
 
136 
 
 when the independence of the Southern Confederacy 
 should be formally acknowledged and the new state 
 welcomed into the great commonwealth of nations. That 
 moment was now apparently at hand. On the 8th of 
 November, 1861, Messrs. Mason and Slidell were forcibly 
 taken from the English mail steamer Trent. Here, then, 
 was a casus belli. England at once prepared for war. 
 Additional ships of war were commissioned as fast as 
 crews could be obtained for them, merchant vessels were 
 bought or chartered as transports, and troops and muni 
 tions of war were despatched with all speed to Halifax 
 and Bermuda, ready for the opening of hostilities. At 
 the same time the English Government issued a proclama 
 tion prohibiting the exportation of saltpetre, powder, guns, 
 arms, lead, and in general, munitions of war of all kinds. 
 Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, with a powerful squad 
 ron at Halifax, received instructions which prepared him 
 for opening the campaign. These warlike measures were 
 adopted, be it remembered, before the United States Gov 
 ernment had time to disavow the act of Captain Wilkes. 
 It was evident that England gladly welcomed the occasion 
 of a war with us, and anticipated a speedy and easy 
 triumph. 
 
 All that was needed was for the foreign office to write 
 such a despatch as would precipitate hostilities, and such 
 a despatch was actually prepared by Lord John Russell. 
 Everything was now at a white heat. The time for action 
 had at length arrived. By a convention signed in London, 
 twelve days after the Trent affair (November 2d), by 
 the representatives of England, France, and Spain, an 
 agreement was entered into, to send a joint force to 
 Mexico in accordance with the programme of 1858, the 
 ostensible reason being that that country had repudiated 
 her foreign debt. The Monroe Doctrine might now be 
 set at nought. The Union was down, and it was England s 
 
13T 
 
 time to strike. Punch came out in a cartoon represent 
 ing Britannia resting her elbow on a loaded cannon and 
 pointing to the United States, with the legend, "Waiting 
 for an answer " ; and the London Times, the semi 
 official organ of the English Government, which, accor 
 ding to Mr. Motley, had been " playing the very devil with 
 our international relations," now threw off all disguise, 
 came out openly as an advocate of the Southern Confed 
 eracy, and clamored for war with America. 
 
 " If in seven days," Lord Russell wrote to Lord Lyons, 
 " a satisfactory answer is not given, you, with the members 
 and archives of the Legation, will repair immediately to 
 London." That meant war. 
 
 Mr. John Lothrop Motley, who enjoyed exceptionally 
 good opportunities for judging of public opinion in Eng 
 land, and who, moreover, was very friendly towards Eng 
 lishmen in general, wrote in reference to the Trent 
 affair : " The English crown lawyers have decided that 
 the arrest was illegal. ... So England has at last the 
 opportunity which a very large portion of its inhabitants 
 have been panting for ; and they step into the field with 
 the largest fleet which the world has ever seen, as cham 
 pions and allies of the Southern Confederacy. If the 
 South has now secured the alliance of England a restora 
 tion of the Union becomes hopeless." (Motley Corre 
 spondence, p. 46, vol. ii.) 
 
 Western Europe being now ready, under the leadership 
 of England, to welcome the new state, let us turn for a 
 moment to that state. 
 
 Fiske (the historian) has finely observed that " the 
 American people had entered into the shadow of the 
 Civil War before they had fairly emerged from that of 
 the Revolution." This is literally true. In the Conven 
 tion of 1787 for drawing up the Constitution, the question 
 of Slavery first arrayed the Slave States against the Free. 
 
138 
 
 John C. Calhoun, who has been styled "the author of 
 Secession," long foresaw the inevitable result of trying to 
 maintain slavery in a country whose head corner-stone 
 was freedom. As early as 1820 it was openly said that if 
 the slave question should result in a dissolution of the 
 Union, the South would be, from necessity, compelled to 
 form an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Great 
 Britain. Fully ten years before Mr. Lincoln s election, 
 Calhoun had declared that " as things then stood the 
 Southern States could not remain in the Union." (States 
 men Series, " J. C. Calhoun," by Von Hoist, p. 349.) The 
 idea, therefore, of secession and an alliance with England 
 had long been familiar to the minds of Southern states 
 men. 
 
 Thus we see England with extended arms ready to 
 receive the new State and that State more than willing to 
 receive her friendly aid. There was only a slight barrier 
 interposed that of the blockade which, contrary to all 
 expectation abroad, had been rigidly enforced by a Navy 
 extemporized with unprecedented rapidity. England was 
 ready to break through this barrier, and seized with 
 alacrity upon the Trent affair as the pretext. Fortunately 
 that crisis was tided over. The modified tone of the 
 demand for the restitution of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, 
 was met by our Government in a friendly spirit, and war 
 was averted. Few realized at the time how imminent war 
 with England was. (See NOTE 1.) 
 
 Having failed in the present instance to force a war 
 upon us, England and France stood ready to avail them 
 selves of the first excuse that offered to interpose, by 
 force, between the contending parties. Such an excuse 
 was about to present itself. The blockade of the broad 
 waters of Virginia was to be broken. 
 
 Let us now turn to affairs at home. They were far 
 from encouraging. Norfolk and its Navy Yard, with a 
 
139 
 
 large amount of war material, had been abandoned by us. 
 The surrender of Fort Sumter ; the disgraceful rout at 
 Bull Run, which left Washington at the mercy of the 
 enemy; the severe check received by a portion of the 
 Union forces at Ball s Bluff, followed by the Confederate 
 successes at Carthage, Mo., Wilson s Creek, and Belmont, 
 and the blockade of the Potomac below Alexandria, 
 were certainly reverses little creditable to the North. 
 These unfavorable conditions were trumpeted about Europe 
 as evidences of the incapacity of the Union forces. Thomas 
 King, of Georgia, and Dudley Mann, of North Carolina, 
 the emissaries of the South, had little difficulty in per 
 suading Lord Palmerston and Louis Napoleon that the 
 triumph of the Confederacy was already assured. The 
 prospects of the Southerners were bright indeed. 
 
 The naval successes of the Union at Hatteras and Port 
 Royal ; the advantages gained in the west in the capture 
 of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Columbus, and Nashville, 
 resulting in the battle of Shiloh ; and a general advance of 
 the Northern forces to the borders of Tennessee, did not, 
 in the eyes of those unwilling to see, offset the reverses. 
 The reports which reached Europe of Northern successes 
 were wholly discredited. The numbers of troops reported 
 to have been engaged, the numbers reported to have been 
 killed and wounded, in the various battles, were ascribed 
 to that disposition on our part to misrepresent and exag 
 gerate, which we think characteristic of the Chinese. The 
 agents of the South played upon this delusion. There 
 was no difficulty now in placing Confederate bonds ! The 
 rise in Confederate stock created a corresponding depres 
 sion of spirits on the part of those abroad whose sym 
 pathies were with the North. Our representatives in 
 Europe were continually writing home for good news. 
 " Send us," they wrote, " send us word of some substantial 
 victory. It is the only argument listened to abroad." 
 
140 
 
 But for a long and painful period our Government had 
 no good news to send. 
 
 The objective of the Army of the Potomac, on which 
 all hopes were at this time centred, was Richmond. The 
 line of operations to that point lay, according to the 
 best military authorities, through the peninsula compre 
 hended between the James, on the one hand, and Chesa 
 peake Bay and York River on the other ; the extreme 
 south-eastern point being commanded by Fort Monroe. 
 It is obvious, therefore, that an army operating on that 
 line should have its flanks secured by the command of 
 the waters on either side, and that Fort Monroe was 
 essential as a base of operations. The U. S. Navy did 
 command the Chesapeake and the James, as far as was 
 necessary to the commencement of operations; and it 
 was of vital importance to the North that the absolute 
 control of those waters should be maintained. 
 
 To carry out the plan of the campaign which had been 
 agreed upon at the seat of Government, after much debate 
 and careful consideration of the military and political 
 conditions involved, the Army of the Potomac had to be 
 transferred from before Washington to the lower or south 
 eastern point of the peninsula. The order for the trans 
 portation was given on the the 27th of February, 62, and 
 in little over a month from that date, there were char 
 tered over 400 steamers and sailing vessels, to transport 
 an army of 121,500 men. Besides these, there were 
 14,592 animals, 44 batteries, and the wagons, ambulances, 
 pontoon-trains, telegraph materials and the enormous 
 equipage for an army of such magitude. 
 
 While these gigantic operations were in the course of 
 execution, there was introduced into the military problem 
 a new factor; one which not only threatened to thwart 
 the whole plan of the campaign, but give an entirely new 
 direction to the course of events, and effect such a com- 
 
141 
 
 plete change in the character of the war as would lead to 
 the probable success of the South. 
 
 On the 8th of March, just ten days after the order for 
 the movement of the Army of the Potomac had been 
 given, while the vast preparations were being carried out 
 with the utmost ardor, and Hampton Roads was already 
 beginning to be crowded with transports and store-ships, 
 carrying great quantities of war material, the rebel iron 
 clad Merrimac, known in the South as the Virginia, 
 appeared upon the scene. 1 
 
 Steaming down from Norfolk on that day she attacked 
 the blockading squadron at Newport News, and destroyed 
 the frigates Cumberland and Congress with a readiness 
 and despatch which spread consternation on every side. 
 Having accomplished her work of destruction for that day, 
 she retired flushed with victory, to complete on the mor 
 row the utter annihilation of the Union fleet. " What 
 wild excitement" says Swinton, in describing the scenes, 
 " what grief, what anxiety, what terrible forebodings for 
 the morrow, possessed the Union fleet, when night fell, 
 cannot be described." On shore and afloat all was panic 
 and confusion and consternation. The Minnesota, hasten 
 ing to participate in the fight, had grounded within a 
 mile and a half of Newport News, remaining a helpless 
 spectator to the sinking of the Cumberland and the burn 
 ing of the Congress. The St. Lawrence, frigate, eager to 
 
 1 The Prince de Joinville wrote, " Soon the Roads [Hampton Roads] 
 were crowded with vessels coming from Alexandria or Annapolis, and 
 filled, some with soldiers, some with horses, cannon, and munitions of 
 all kinds. Sometimes I counted several hundred vessels at the anchor 
 age, and among them twenty to twenty-five large steam transports 
 waiting for their turn to come up to the quay, and land the fifteen or 
 twenty thousand men whom they brought. It may be seen how fearful 
 would have been the catastrophe had the Merrimac suddenly appeared 
 among this swarm of ships, striking them one after another, and send 
 ing to the bottom these human hives with all their inmates 1 (Barnard s 
 41 Peninsula Campaign," p. 16.) 
 
142 
 
 succor her consorts, had grounded near the Minnesota. 
 The Roanoke, like the others, on her way to the scene of 
 the conflict, had also grounded ; but getting afloat subse 
 quently retired to the Roads. The two former ships 
 seemed doomed to certain destruction the following morn 
 ing; and even Fort Monroe, whose importance as a 
 strategic point was of incalculable value, was deemed 
 untenable, in the probable event of an attack on the 
 following day. The scene of precipitation and dire con 
 fusion beggars all description! The destructive career 
 of the Monster had been witnessed by the thousands of 
 spectators, citizens and soldiers, who lined the shores 
 from Newport News along Hampton, to Old Point 
 besides those who manned the fleet of transports and 
 store ships in the Roads ; but the importance of the crisis 
 was so great, the interests involved so momentous, that 
 few then present were able to take in the situation in all 
 its bearings. To comprehend the true condition of affairs, 
 let us place ourselves on the dismal shore of the James, 
 and in the glare of the burning Congress contemplate the 
 reasonable anticipation of the morrow. 
 
 The noble Minnesota would be the Merrimac s next 
 victim ; the St. Lawrence would follow ; and the Roanoke, 
 sister ship to the Minnesota, forced to an ignominious 
 retreat, or suffer a like fate with the others. The fleet of 
 merchant vessels anchored in the Roads would be cap 
 tured, yielding to the enemy quantities of store and 
 munitions of war so much needed in the South. Fort 
 Monroe itself, it was admitted, would surrender in a few 
 days. The extensive waters of the Chesapeake Bay 
 would then be controlled by the Confederates and the 
 doors thrown wide open to the supplies from abroad. 
 The passage from London to Richmond would be clear. 
 Foreign recognition, so impatiently longed for by the 
 South, would inevitably follow. Admiral Milne, then in 
 
143 
 
 Halifax with a powerful English fleet, was prepared to 
 take instant advantage of the breaking of the block 
 ade. The base of operations lost to the Union side, 
 and the lines of communication broken, the Peninsula 
 campaign would be impracticable, and the whole character 
 of our military operations in the East undergo a complete 
 change. Nay, more ; the Monster, it was believed, might 
 ascend the Potomac, and completely blockade the national 
 capital itself. With the captured transports an insurgent 
 army might ascend the Chesapeake, and landing near the 
 mouth of the Elk River follow the British Campaign of 
 1777, and occupy Philadelphia. Or, putting to sea, she 
 might proceed to New York and lay that great city under 
 contribution ; and preparations were actually made there 
 for her reception. Standing to the southward, she might 
 recover the control of Pamlico Sound, raise the blockade 
 off Wilmington and Charleston, admitting freely the 
 numerous blockade runners that were swarming about 
 Bermuda and Nassau. Port Royal, invaluable to the 
 North as a base of supplies, with its vast accumulations of 
 military and naval stores, would be at her mercy. When 
 to all this is added the loss of prestige to the North, con 
 sequent upon the raising of the blockade at such an im 
 portant strategic point, and the enormous accession of 
 moral and material strength which would accrue to the 
 South, some idea of the momentous crisis may be formed. 
 The Government may well have been dismayed ! 
 
 On Sunday morning, March 9th, the Secretary of the 
 Navy received a telegram from General Wool, a trained 
 soldier of long experience, commanding at Fort Monroe, 
 stating that the Merrimac had come down from Norfolk 
 the preceding day, attacked the fleet in Hampton Roads ; 
 and expressing the apprehension that the remaining 
 vessels would be made the victims the following day, and 
 that Fort Monroe itself was in danger, for the Merrimac 
 
144 
 
 was impenetrable to shot, and could take what position she 
 pleased for assault. Mr. Welles says in his " deadly note 
 book" (Nicolay s and Hay s " Lincoln "), " I had scarcely 
 read the telegram, when a message from the President 
 requested my immediate attendance at the Executive 
 Mansion. The Secretary of War, on receiving General 
 Wool s telegram, had gone instantly to the President, and 
 at the same time sent messages to the other Cabinet 
 officers, while the Assistant Secretary came to me. I at 
 once went to the White House. Mr. Seward and Mr. 
 Chase, with Mr. Stanton, were already there ; they had 
 read the telegram, and were discussing the intelligence 
 in much alarm. Each inquired what had been done, and 
 what could be done, to meet and check the formidable 
 Monster, which in a single brief visit had made such 
 devastation, and would, herself uninjured, probably repeat 
 her destructive visit with still greater havoc while we 
 were in council." It was indeed a memorable occasion, 
 that Cabinet meeting, and full of dramatic interest. 
 There sat Mr. Lincoln, his honest, rugged features calm, 
 but expressive of the deepest anxiety, as we may believe. 
 The noble countenance of Mr. Chase was oppressed with 
 care; the buoyant spirits of Mr. Seward completely cast 
 down ; but the restless, impulsive disposition of Mr. 
 Stanton, the " great War Secretary," as he was called, 
 forbade his being seated. He stalked about the room, 
 declaiming against everbody and everything. His fervid 
 imagination, inflamed by the intelligence of the disaster, 
 pictured the Merrimac as already ascending the Potomac 
 to destroy the city. " She will change the whole char 
 acter of the war," he cried ; " she will destroy every ship 
 of war in turn; she will lay all the cities on the sea 
 board under contribution. I shall immediately recall 
 Burnside (then in Pamlico Sound) ; Port Royal must be 
 abandoned. I will notify the Governors and municipal 
 
145 
 
 authorities in the North to take instant measures to pro 
 tect their harbors." Walking up to a window that com 
 manded a fine view of the Potomac, " Who can tell," he 
 cried, apprehensive of her momentary appearance, " if one 
 of her guns may not send a shell through the White 
 House before we leave this room I " 
 
 The whole Cabinet turned to the Navy as represented 
 in the person of Mr. Welles. That gentleman was calm 
 and self-possessed. He stated in a few simple words that 
 his main reliance was in the Monitor, whose arrival at 
 Hampton Roads he was momentarily expecting to learn 
 by telegraph ; and, as for the Merrimac, she could not, on 
 account of her draft, ascend the Potomac beyond Kettle 
 Bottom Shoals, eighty miles below the city, and could 
 not, therefore, surprise them by a shell. He advised that 
 instead of adding to the general panic, by alarming notes 
 of warning to the Northern ports, it would better become 
 them to calmly consider the situation, and endeavor to 
 inspire confidence in the public mind by acting with dis 
 cretion and judgment. These counsels prevailed, though 
 for the time only; for Mr. Stanton subsequently tele 
 graphed to the Northern cities "to look out for them 
 selves." He also purchased a large number of boats, had 
 them loaded with stones at the Washington Navy Yard 
 and taken down the river ready to obstruct the channel 
 should the Merrimac threaten the destruction of the city. 
 Having little faith in Naval officers and less in the Moni 
 tor, he employed Mr. Vanderbilt to destroy the Merrimac, 
 which that gentleman promised to do, with his great ship 
 the Vanderbilt, provided the Monitor kept out of the 
 way and Naval officers were not allowed to interfere. 1 
 Such was the effect produced on our Government by the 
 Merrimac s raid. 
 
 1 The Annals of the War, by Leading Participants, North and 
 South. Times Publishing Company, Philadelphia 1879. 
 
146 
 
 The effects abroad of her unchecked career would have 
 been equally disastrous to the North. To open an avenue 
 for the cotton of the South to reach the French market, 
 was one of the great hobbies of Louis Napoleon. It was 
 a part of his policy to embroil England with the Federal 
 Government, or, at least, to prevail upon her to recognize 
 the independence of the Confederate States. He would 
 have instantly followed the example. " In that event," 
 said the Due de Broglie, " he would make an alliance 
 with the South, obtain her tolerance of his Mexican 
 scheme, break the blockade, restore prosperity to the cot 
 ton manufactories of England and France, and establish an 
 Empire under French influence over all America, from 
 the Potomac to Brazil. He would gratify, too, his old 
 grudge against the French aristocracy whose sympathies 
 were generally Northern." The breaking of the blockade 
 by the Merrimac would have furnished the very pretext 
 he had so eagerly sought. He would have renewed, and 
 now with ready success, his urgent entreaties with Eng 
 land to recognize the Confederacy as a free and indepen 
 dent State; Southern bonds would have appreciated; 
 iron-clads and all the material of war would have been 
 generously supplied to the new State, and the war indef 
 initely prolonged, if indeed, it had not ended in the per 
 manent rupture of the Union, as so many abroad hoped. 
 
 Some of these views may, at this late day, seem extrav 
 agant. But at the time of which we are speaking, they 
 were deemed by thinking men to be quite within the 
 bounds of possibility. In fact, we know the Southerners 
 themselves contemplated making a demonstration on New 
 York, and Commodore Tatnall actually proposed the 
 capture of Port Royal. Indeed, knowing, as we do now, 
 what the Merrimac really was, and judging by the light of 
 subsequent events, it may be safely assumed that the 
 material and moral effects of her simply anchoring in the 
 
147 
 
 Roads, after accomplishing her work of destruction, and 
 thus raising the blockade of the Chesapeake, would have 
 proved an incalculable disaster to the Union cause. Now, 
 to stay this train of evils was the province of the Monitor. 
 That she fulfilled her high mission is her glory 1 
 
 Let us pause here for one moment to glance at the two 
 principal actors in this great drama. 
 
 On the 23d of June, 1861, the Secretary of the Con 
 federate Navy ordered the Merrimac to be converted into 
 an iron-clad ; and on the 4th of October following the 
 Honorable Gideon Welles signed the contract for the 
 building of the Monitor. Now began a race which was 
 literally for life or death. The Confederates were driv 
 ing ahead with their vessel with the utmost energy, the 
 mechanics at the Norfolk Navy Yard volunteering to work 
 on her night and day without pay. While they were plat 
 ing their vessel with iron, we were only drawing up the 
 contract for ours. The authorities in Washington natu 
 rally felt the greatest solicitude in regard to the progress 
 of the work on the Merrimac ; and this was intensified by 
 the extraordinary pains the Confederates took to keep the 
 secret of their labors and their purposes. They, on the 
 other hand, were kept well informed, by their numerous 
 spies in the North, of the progress made on the Monitor. 
 
 To heighten the dramatic interest, must be thrown in 
 the anecdote related by Mr. Welles, of the colored woman 
 who, dusty and travel worn, one day presented herself at 
 his office. She had walked all the way from Norfolk to 
 Washington, bringing with her the information that the 
 Merrimac was nearly finished and was about to receive 
 her armament. This news, of course, hastened, if greater 
 haste were possible, the work on the Monitor, and dissi 
 pated all thoughts of experimenting with the battery or 
 of drilling her crew. The active energy of Ericsson 
 admitted of no rest for himself. He labored day and 
 
148 
 
 night, and plans fresh and warm from his fruitful brain, 
 were transmitted to the drawing-board and thence to the 
 work-shop with marvellous rapidity. It was his genius 
 that had conceived, and his spirit that animated this ex 
 traordinary work, from its inception to its completion. 
 The keel was laid on the 22d of October, 1861 ; and on 
 the 30th of January, 1862, one hundred days after, the 
 Monitor was launched from the Continental Iron Works, 
 Green Point, Brooklyn, N.Y. The rapidity of this work 
 has few parallels in the history of marine architecture. 
 
 She left the lower bay of New York on the afternoon of 
 March 6th. Even the strain of battle could not have 
 tried the courage and endurance of her brave crew more 
 than that perilous voyage south. " Nothing but the sub 
 sidence of the wind prevented her from being shipwrecked 
 before she reached Hampton Roads," is the language of 
 the late Commander S. Dana Greene, U.S.N., her execu 
 tive officer. She passed Cape Henry at 4 P.M. of Saturday, 
 March 8th, and anchored on Hampton Roads at 9 P.M. 
 Was she too late? Worden heard the distant booming 
 of the guns which told him the Monitor s rival was already 
 in the field, and had begun her work of devastation. 
 
 Had the Monitor been a day earlier, one of the most 
 impressive lessons in naval warfare would have been lost 
 to the world. Had she been a day later the consequences 
 to the Union cause would have been deplorable beyond 
 conception. Thus the fate of the country hung on that 
 small untried engine of war, carrying but two smooth 
 bore 11-inch guns, and a time element limited to a 
 few hours ! The fate of the Nation hung upon a thread ! 
 No ! The little Monitor was not too late. Her arrival 
 was well timed for the highest and best ends. 
 
 Everything is so plain to us now that it is difficult to 
 realize that only two hours after her departure from New 
 York orders were telegraphed for her to proceed up the 
 
149 
 
 Potomac River ; and it is greatly to the credit of Captain 
 John Marston, commanding the Roanoke and senior 
 officer at Hampton Roads, that he withheld similar 
 instructions. 
 
 We left the Minnesota ashore at Newport News, and 
 the burning Congress lighting up the dismal scene. " It 
 was a memorable night," to refer once more to Swinton. 
 " In fort, on shipboard, and on shore, Federals and Con 
 federates alike could not sleep for excitement ; the latter 
 were flushed with triumph, and wild with anticipation; 
 the former were oppressed with anxiety or touched the 
 very depths of despair. Norfolk was ablaze with the 
 victory, and the sailors of the Merrimac and her consorts 
 caroused with the grateful citizens. In Hampton Roads, 
 amidst the bustle of the hour, some hopeless preparations 
 were made for the morrow." 
 
 At 8 o clock of the morning of the 9th of March, the 
 Merrimac got under way from her anchorage off Sewall s 
 Point, and accompanied by the Patrick Henry, James 
 town, and Teaser steamed down for the Minnesota, bent 
 upon her destruction. When about a mile off, she opened 
 fire. She was promptly met by the Monitor, however, 
 which, as we have said, had arrived from New York the 
 night before. We need not dwell upon the details of the 
 battle that ensued ; they have been fully and graphically 
 described by more competent hands. Suffice it to say 
 that after four hours fighting the Merrimac withdrew to 
 the Norfolk Navy Yard, leaving the Monitor in undis 
 puted possession of the field. The general sense of the 
 thousands of excited spectators who had lined the shores 
 and thronged the shipping gave the battle to the Monitor, 
 and shouts of exultation rent the air. The enthusiasm 
 was all the greater from the depth of depression of the 
 previous night. The glad tidings were flashed through 
 out the North, and from every loyal source congratula- 
 
150 ? 
 
 tions were showered upon all who had contributed to the 
 happy result. (See NOTE 2.) 
 
 The immediate consequences were that the Minnesota, 
 which was about to be abandoned and destroyed by her 
 own people, now relieved from further molestation, was 
 floated on the morning of the 10th, and soon after 
 anchored off Fort Monroe. The Roanoke and St. Law 
 rence were saved from destruction; and the large fleet 
 of merchant vessels and army transports in the Roads 
 were freed from capture. All apprehension of the raising 
 of the blockade, either in the Chesapeake or on the coast, 
 ceased. Fort Monroe relieved from the possibilities of 
 attack, rendered the Peninsula Campaign practicable ; the 
 spirits of our people were greatly elated, and our foreign 
 relations underwent a vast change for the better. In 
 short, the great crisis was over. The day had been won. 
 The Monitor had accomplished her purpose ; and the 
 Union was saved ! 
 
 On the 14th General McClellan wrote to Captain Fox, 
 Assistant Secretary of the Navy, as follows : " From all 
 accounts received, I have such a living faith in the 
 gallant little Monitor that I feel we can trust her ; so that 
 I have determined on the Fort Monroe movement." (It 
 had been determined three weeks before.) It is true that 
 the Merrimac, after completing certain repairs at the 
 Norfolk Navy Yard, did reappear, but as a factor in the 
 military operations on the James, she was completely 
 neutralized by the Monitor, and was finally destroyed by 
 her own people as no longer of any military value. 
 
 The effect produced abroad was most marked. 
 
 Mr. Adams, our minister to England, wrote home under 
 date of April 3d : " The late naval action in Hampton 
 Roads has made a great sensation, and is regarded as 
 likely to work a complete change in the policy of this 
 country (England) in fortifications and the Naval Marine. 
 
151 
 
 You will not fail to observe the notice already taken of it 
 in Parliament. The opinion on the Military and Naval 
 efficiency of the United States has undergone an astonishing 
 change within the last month." 
 
 Mr. Adams was correct in his surmises ; for the indif 
 ference with which the Palmerston administration had 
 regarded the building and equipping, in the home ports, 
 of privateers to prey on the commerce of the United 
 States, gave place to a more rigid compliance with the 
 duties of a neutral. 
 
 Mr. Dayton, the United States Minister to France, 
 wrote in the same strain. * The change in the conditions 
 of things at home," he writes from Paris, " has produced 
 a change, if possible, more striking abroad. There is little 
 more said just now as to the validity of our blockade, or the 
 propriety of an early recognition of the South. The fight 
 between the Monitor and the Merrimac has turned the 
 attention of these maritime governments, and of England 
 more especially, in another direction." 
 
 Mr. Sanford, Minister to Belgium, writing from Brus 
 sels, says : "No one event in the course of the War has 
 excited more interest in Europe than the naval action in 
 Hampton Roads. Its results can hardly be measured. It 
 is admitted on all sides that the Monitor has revolution 
 ized the whole system of maritime warfare." 
 
 Mr. Thomas Dudley, who at the time of the battle was 
 United States Consul at Liverpool, expressed the delib 
 erate opinion that " this fight between the Monitor and 
 the Merrimac did more to preserve the peace between 
 England and the United States than any other event that 
 took place during the War." l The Count of Paris, in his 
 History of the War, refers to the action as " the naval 
 combat which marks the greatest and most sudden of all 
 
 1 "Three Critical Periods," by Thomas H. Dudley, U.S. Consul, 
 Liverpool. Pennsylvania Mag. of History, vol. xvii. 
 
152 
 
 revolutions that have been effected in the science of mari 
 time warfare." The London Times on learning the news 
 of the action, declared that the Navy of England would 
 have to be at once reconstructed on lines suggested by 
 the Monitor. Admiral Colunib, an officer of the English 
 Navy who has given much time and study to the subject 
 of Naval warfare, declared that " in the American Civil 
 War, the deciding battle was between the Monitor and 
 the Merrimac ; and no one can doubt," he affirms, " that 
 ... if the Merrimae had gained the victory there would 
 scarcely now be the United States of America. The fate 
 of that Nation was decided then and there." l And the 
 Comptroller of the English Navy, writing in 1867, ob 
 serves : " I still hold that for coast defences the turret 
 system of armament in vessels known as the Monitor type 
 is superior to all others, and the most formidable engine 
 of war that can be well conceived." 
 
 Such in brief is the story of the Monitor. 
 
 All honor to the genius who designed her, and to the 
 gallant officer who carried her into action ! 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 NOTE 1. 
 
 Even in such a cursory review as the present one of the events 
 of those early days of the Civil War, it would not be proper to 
 omit mention of the steadfast friends of the Union. One was Her 
 Majesty, Queen Victoria, the other the Emperor of Russia. It is 
 conceded by those best qualified to judge that had Earl Russell s 
 despatch demanding the surrender of Mason and Slidell been sent 
 as prepared by him, war with England would have been inevitable. 
 It seems to be the practice of the foreign office to submit to the 
 
 1 Blackwood s Mag. May, 95, " Thoughts on Imperial Defense " 
 Major H. d A. Brebon. Footnote. In the Times of Dec. 94, 
 Admiral Columb wrote as above. 
 
153 
 
 Queen for her approval all important despatches. In the present 
 instance the very offensive despatch of Earl Russell (and we have 
 seen how offensive his language could be) was taken to Her 
 Majesty while seated by the bedside of the Prince Consort. The 
 emotion she betrayed on reading it, being noticed by the Prince, 
 he asked what distressed her. She told him, at the same time 
 expressing her displeasure at its tone. On reading it himself the 
 Prince exclaimed, " This will never do; it must not be sent in this 
 form ; it is couched in offensive language such as will irritate and 
 provoke a war between the two nations." On being propped up 
 in his bed, he took a pencil, and, striking out the objectionable 
 passages, interlined it so as to give it a totally different character. 
 He then requested the Queen to have it sent in the form as he had 
 drawn it. This was done. The despatch, dignified and courteous in 
 tone, reached the United States and was met, as we have said, in an 
 equally friendly spirit. Some time after the Trent affair had been 
 disposed of, Lady Cowley, wife of Lord Cowley, British Minister to 
 Paris, was dining at Windsor Castle, when the Queen related the cir 
 cumstances connected with the despatch, and how the Prince Consort 
 had altered it while lying on his death-bed. The Queen remarked 
 that this was the last official act of his life, and went on to say that 
 she rejoiced to think that this act was in the interests of peace 
 between the two nations. Lady Cowley, at the Queen s request, 
 communicated the facts to our Minister at Paris, Judge Dayton, 
 who, in turn, communicated them to the Department of State in 
 Washington. 
 
 It will be remembered (to refer to the Trent affair once more) 
 that in order to justify a declaration of war against the United 
 States, the English Government submitted the question of the 
 seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell to the law officers of the 
 Crown. They decided against the United States and contrary to 
 their ancient claim of the Rlght-of- Search, which was one of the 
 main causes which led to the War of 1812. The Treaty of Ghent 
 was absolutely silent on the subject; and when, in 1842, Mr. 
 Webster and Lord Ashburton had settled the North-East boundary 
 question, the former found the English Commissioner unwilling to 
 discuss this subject. After a lapse of fifty years, then, we find the 
 highest judicial authority of England finding in favor of this country 
 in its contention regarding the Right-of-Search. 
 
 In July, 1861, the Emperor of Russia communicated to our 
 Government an earnest hope that the Union would not be dissolved : 
 
154 
 
 and that he was perfectly sincere we may judge from the fact that 
 he repelled overtures made by Louis Napoleon to acknowledge the 
 Southern Confederacy. When war between this country and Eng 
 land was imminent by reason of the Trent affair, he was ready to 
 side with us ; and, as if to emphasize his views, he sent a Russian 
 squadron to rendezvous at New York. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln settled the question at once. On hearing of the 
 seizure he said, "This will never do. It was upon that very 
 question that we went to war in 1812." 
 
 In a letter to Lord Lyons, under date of December 26th, 1861, 
 Mr. Seward wrote, respecting the giving up of Messrs. Mason and 
 Slidell, "I express my satisfaction that by the adjustment of the 
 present case upon principles confessedly American, a question is 
 finally and rightfully settled between them (the United States and 
 Great Britain) which heretofore exhausting not only all forms of 
 peaceful discussion but also the arbitrament of war itself (the War 
 of 1812) for more than half a century alienated the two countries 
 from each other." This was probably the ablest despatch penned 
 by that very able statesman. 
 
 NOTE 2. 
 
 The South claimed the victory. We do not purpose discussing 
 that point here. Suffice to say that Captain Wm. H. Parker, author 
 of "Recollections of a Naval Officer," and who commanded the 
 Beaufort, one of the consorts of the Merrimac, says : * * Why the 
 Merrimac did not persist in destroying the Minnesota, I never 
 exactly understood. . . . Whatever the cause, candor compels me 
 to say that the Merrimac failed to reap the fruits of her victory. 
 She went out to destroy the Minnesota, and do what further damage 
 she could to the enemy. The Monitor was there to save the 
 Minnesota. The Merrimac did not accomplish her purpose. The 
 Monitor did. She did it by resisting the Merrimac as long as she 
 did, even if she had to withdraw. 11 
 
 And Lieutenant John Taylor Wood, formerly of the U.S. Navy 
 and one of the officers of the Merrimac, who was sent to Richmond 
 to make a verbal report of the two days 1 fight, stated to Mr. Da vis s 
 Cabinet as follows: "As to the future," I said, "that in the 
 Monitor we had met our equal, and that the result of another 
 engagement would be very doubtful." (The Century for March 
 1885, p. 746.) 
 
REMINISCENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SIEGE OF CHARLESTON. 
 
 BY 
 
 KEAK-ADMIKAL GEORGE E. BELKNAP, U. S. N. 
 
 Read April, 1896. 
 
 155 
 
REMINISCENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SIEGE OF CHAELESTON. 
 
 THE siege of Charleston may be said to have begun 
 immediately upon the arrival of the iron-clad frigate New 
 Ironsides off the bar of the harbor the first week in Feb 
 ruary, 1863. 
 
 Her arrival there at that time was a matter of vital 
 necessity to the maintenance of the blockade, for the raid 
 of the Confederate iron-clads Palmetto State and Chicora 
 on the blockading fleet of that port the week before, or on 
 the 31st of January, had resulted in the disabling of the 
 Keystone State, Commander William E. Le Roy, and the 
 Mercedita, Commander Henry S. Stellwagen, and a par 
 tial dispersion of the other ships of the blockading fleet, 
 comprising in all ten vessels. The attack had been made 
 about an hour before dawn that dank, drowsy hour 
 when seamen and soldiers are more likely to be caught 
 napping than at any other period of the day a point it 
 is needless to emphasize in the presence of the veteran 
 soldiers and seamen here to-night. 
 
 The Palmetto State, Captain John Rutledge, bore the 
 flag of Flag Officer Duncan N. Ingraham, and the Chicora 
 was commanded by Captain John R. Tucker. The two 
 ships had been built under contract with the Confederate 
 government at private ship-yards at Charleston. Their 
 construction was similar in hull and character of casemate 
 to those features of the Merrimac. They were armored 
 
 157 
 
158 
 
 with four inches of iron, bolted to a backing of wood 
 twenty-two inches in thickness. Their speed was from 
 six to eight knots, and had their batteries been heavier, 
 they would have been quite formidable as iron-clads. 
 The Palmetto State carried four guns an 80-pounder 
 rifle in the forward part of the casemate, a 60-pounder rifle 
 in the after part and two 8-inch shell guns, in broadside 
 while the Chicora s battery consisted of two 9-inch Dahl- 
 grens smooth bores and four 60-pounder rifles. 
 Guns of such calibres could illy cope with the guns of 
 the Ironsides and the Monitors, but Captain William H. 
 Parker, one of the brightest and ablest of the Navy Offi 
 cers who went south, and who was the " first Luff " of the 
 Palmetto State, says, in his "Recollections of a Naval 
 Officer," that " both ships were creditable vessels ; that 
 when they had been in commission a short time they were 
 fine specimens of men-of-war, and would have done credit 
 to any Navy." 
 
 Now in view of such statement, when those iron-clads 
 had in reality captured the Keystone State and Mercedita, 
 both merchant-built ships, but neglected to take posses 
 sion of them in their haste to attack the other vessels be 
 fore daylight broke and disclosed their character to their 
 blockading enemy, it is strange that they did not remain 
 outside the bar and really raise the blockade for the time 
 being, for the battery of the Housatonic the only sub 
 stantial cruiser of the fleet could have done no material 
 damage to the iron-clads and might have been worsted 
 herself had she sought close encounter with them. But 
 the Housatonic and the other vessels stood out to seaward, 
 and at 7.30 A.M. Flag Officer Ingraham turned back with 
 his two ships, and at 8.45 A.M. anchored near the bar of 
 Beach Channel, where he remained seven hours waiting 
 for the flood to take him inside. 
 
 Meanwhile the Keystone State and Mercedita had escaped 
 
159 
 
 and made for Port Royal for repairs, and Capt. William 
 Rogers Taylor of the Housatonic and Senior Officer 
 Present, had closed in all along the coast again with the 
 rest of the blockaders, and had dispatched the captured 
 blockade-runner Princess Royal to report to Admiral Du 
 Pont at Hilton Head. 
 
 The blockading vessels had never been dispersed to any 
 great distance beyond their stations, yet Flag Officer Ingra- 
 ham the moment he dropped anchor off Fort Moultrie - 
 where he arrived at four o clock in the afternoon issued 
 a proclamation jointly with General Beauregard, declaring 
 to the world that the blockade of the port of Charleston 
 had been raised 
 
 Says Parker in his recollections, " I thought the procla 
 mation ill-advised, and am constrained to say that this was 
 a badly managed affair on oar part, and we did not make 
 the best use of our opportunity." Had Ingraham handled 
 his ships with the dash and resolution displayed by Bu 
 chanan in the Tennessee at Mobile Bay, the blockade might 
 have been lifted until the Ironsides appeared on the scene. 
 As it was, the situation was at no time secure from farther 
 raids that a more dashing officer than Ingraham might have 
 made, prior to the arrival of that noble ship off the bar. 
 
 The New Ironsides was one of the three iron-clads deter 
 mined upon by a Board of officers consisting of Commo 
 dores Joseph Smith and Hiram Paulding, and Commander 
 Chas. H. Davis. Seventeen models, together with their 
 specifications, had been presented for examination, and on 
 the 16th of September, 1861, the Board reported favorably 
 on three of them. 1st, the New Ironsides ; 2d, the Moni 
 tor ; and 3d, the Galena ; and recommended their construc 
 tion. The Department accepted the report, and immediately 
 contracted for their building with the parties who had sub 
 mitted the models selected. 
 
 To Messrs. Merrick and Sons, Philadelphia, went the 
 
160 
 
 contract for the New Ironsides. That firm built the en 
 gines and fitted the armor, but sub-let the construction of 
 the hull to the Messrs. Cramp, the most noted builders of 
 wooden ships on the Delaware of that day, as they are now 
 the most famous builders of the ships of steel construction of 
 this period on that river. 
 
 Both firms put their best work into the ship, as stress of 
 gale, frequent hammerings of shot and shell, and shock of 
 torpedo stroke amply demonstrated in the grim days she 
 was called upon to meet. 
 
 Frigate built, her dimensions as given by the Board in 
 their report to the Secretary of the Navy were as follows : 
 length, 220 feet; breadth of beam, 60 feet; depth of hold, 
 23 feet; draught of water, 13 feet; displacement, 3,296 tons; 
 calculated speed, 9 knots. In practice, according to my 
 recollection, she drew some 16 feet of water, and the great 
 est speed we could get out of her in smooth water was 
 eight knots. Massively built of oak, her sides tumbled in 
 at an angle of some 17 degrees, from a point some three 
 feet above the water line. Her armor, extending from 
 three feet below the water line to the waterways of the 
 spar-deck, was in solid plates of rolled iron in lengths of 
 fifteen feet with a breadth of three feet, and a thickness of 
 4J inches. The plates were fastened to the solid sides of 
 the ship 18 inches in thickness by wood screws, their 
 heads being countersunk in the plating. The screws did 
 not come quite through the inner planking. There were, 
 therefore, no nuts on the inside of the ship to break off and 
 fly like grape shot when the armor received the blows of 
 the enemy s projectiles, as was unfortunately the case in 
 the turrets and pilot houses of the Monitors when those 
 vessels first encountered the concentrated fire of forts at 
 close quarters. 
 
 The ends of the ship were but partially armored ; the 
 line of plating up to the knuckle or elbow, from which 
 
161 
 
 point the sides began to tumble in, alone extended all 
 around and terminated at the bow in a ram. But massive 
 iron bulkheads with heavy sliding doors gave protection 
 on the gun-deck from fore and aft fire, and the port-holes 
 were shielded by iron shutters the same thickness as the 
 plating. They were fitted in halves, and handled from 
 the inside by means of lever and tackle. 
 
 The weak point of the vessel as is the case with all 
 armored ships was the upper or spar deck. An iron 
 plating one inch in thickness laid under the three and one- 
 half inch of pine planking gave the only protection from 
 vertical or plunging fire. The hatches were covered with 
 heavy built up gratings of iron, fitted with sectional traps 
 to be triced up from below whenever necessary. In sig 
 naling when under fire, the signal numbers were to be 
 sent up through these gratings. 
 
 Her battery was a grand sight to look upon, whether 
 at rest or in action. It consisted of fourteen 11-inch 
 Dahlgren smooth bores, and two 150-pounder Parrott 
 rifles or rifles of eight-inch calibre. This gave a broad 
 side of eight heavy guns. The guns were mounted on 
 iron gun-carriages, the first iron carriages for heavy ord 
 nance used in the Navy. They gave some trouble in 
 their working at first, and the then Captain Dahlgren 
 came down from Washington to Newport News in Novem 
 ber, 1862, to test their handling personally and remedy 
 defects. This he did effectually, for in that day he was 
 the most accomplished and expert officer of any service 
 in naval ordnance. Besides this main battery, there were 
 two 50-pounder Dahlgren rifles mounted on the spar-deck 
 at bow and stern, but they were never used in action. A 
 pilot house some nine or ten inches thick, built up with 
 laminated plates, like the Monitor turrets, was placed 
 about amidships. It was arranged like the pilot houses 
 of the Monitors with the exception of the wheel. That 
 
162 
 
 important factor of the ship for battle purposes was at 
 first located on the berth-deck, but after the first trial of 
 the ship in action, it was brought up on the gun-deck and 
 adjusted immediately under the pilot house. For ordinary 
 steering there was another wheel on the spar-deck. 
 
 In appearance, the ship was the personification of ugli 
 ness. She had neither graceful line nor curve. Her very 
 lack of symmetry suggested the grimness of her intent. 
 It bespoke defiance to foe confidence to friend. She 
 was the bane of the colliers. Not one of them liked to 
 go alongside of her to deliver coal, especially when there 
 was any sea on. Such occasions, indeed, gave a rude test 
 of their patriotism, for it was like being thrown against a 
 rock to touch her in rolling, and the recording angel must 
 have been busy at times blotting out the transgressions of 
 the exasperated skippers as they hurled their oaths at 
 what they called the " d d iron box I " 
 
 The ship was commissioned in the early fall of 1862, 
 with Commodore Thomas Turner in command, and I soon 
 joined her as Executive Officer. Her first three months 
 service was in the waters of Hampton Roads, whence 
 she sailed for Hilton Head the latter part of January, 
 1863. 
 
 During her construction and fitting for sea, many 
 officers looked upon her unfavorably. Some predicted 
 that the armor would not keep shot out ; others that she 
 would roll over in the first gale she encountered at sea ; 
 but the fallacy of such opinions was soon demonstrated. 
 
 Arriving at Hilton Head on the 31st of January, 1863, 
 Admiral Du Pont ordered the ship to be prepared at once 
 for the coming attack on the defences of Charleston. 
 These preparations were further hurried by the news of 
 the raid of the enemy s iron-clads outside Charleston Bar 
 as already narrated. The masts and rigging, hammock 
 nettings and all other movable top-hamper were landed, 
 
163 
 
 and studding-sail booms were rigged in place of the masts 
 for signaling and other purposes. 
 
 During her brief stay at Port Royal, the ship had many 
 visitors. The naval and military croaker abounded. 
 Those wiseacres settled to their own satisfaction the 
 many points of vulnerability their own doubting minds 
 suggested. The most exaggerated ideas of the power of 
 the enemy s ordnance possessed their souls, and dire were 
 the results predicted. How they supposed the pent up 
 Confederacy had been able to obtain better ordnance than 
 the United States could command I never understood. 
 It seems hardly necessary to add that the forebodings 
 indulged in never met with verification. Neither shot nor 
 shell from the rebel defences ever took the direction or 
 worked the mischief the croakers had traced, or their 
 fears had bespoken. The more, indeed, the ship was 
 tried in battle, the more confidence she inspired. 
 
 Her arrival off Charleston was heartily welcomed. Her 
 presence, indeed, was a great relief to the fleet that since 
 the night of the 31st of January, 63, had been uneasy 
 with constant visions of renewed raids of the Palmetto 
 State and the Chicora. 
 
 For several weeks there was nothing to do but to keep 
 a sharp eye on the bar, await the arrival of the Monitors, 
 and look at the enemy adding to his defences and practi 
 cing at range buoys, planted in different parts of the 
 roadstead inside the bar and in the channel leading up to 
 the city. 
 
 As the first of April drew nigh, the preparatory inci 
 dents of the forthcoming attack began to multiply. The 
 Monitors had arrived at Hilton Head. Some of them, in 
 deed, had measured strength with Fort McAllister in 
 Ossabaw Sound, and had retired from the contest with 
 somewhat diminished prestige as regarded the offensive 
 powers of that class of vessels against forts. 
 
164 
 
 A ten-inch mortar shell filled with sand had crushed 
 in the deck of the Passaic, which in the opinion of Com 
 mander Drayton would have broken through entirely had 
 not the projectile struck over a beam. 
 
 As the Monitor decks were stronger than the spar-deck 
 of the Ironsides, nervousness on that head increased. 
 It had already been arranged to cover the deck with bags 
 of sand, closely packed, but it was now determined to 
 supplement such protection by spreading green raw hides 
 over the layers of sand bags. The idea also seized the 
 directing powers that grease on the armor would lessen 
 the bite of the projectiles so that they would the more 
 readily glance off. Strange, indeed, was the outward 
 plight, and foul the smell of the trusty ship, when she 
 went into action, thus dressed and coated with hides and 
 tallow ! It is no discredit to the Christian character of 
 the Monitor Captains, who came on board for final in 
 structions on the day of attack, to add that their wrest 
 lings with the grease as they clambered up the ship s side 
 by means of Jacob s ladder and man-ropes, conduced 
 neither to amiability of temper, nor to special observance 
 of the third Commandment. As they stepped on deck, the 
 hides " smelt to heaven," and were slippery under their 
 feet, but their own vessels had been plastered with grease, 
 and they had doubtless brought on their hands and cloth 
 ing smearings of their own tallow. The casemate of the 
 Merrimac had been slushed down, I think, when she 
 attacked the Cumberland and Congress, but the whole 
 procedure would seem to have been puerile in the extreme. 
 
 On the 5th of April, the Monitor s transports and sup 
 ply vessels began to arrive from Port Royal, and by noon 
 of the 7th or just thirty-three years ago to-day all 
 the attacking force, including the Ironsides, with Admiral 
 Du Pont and staff on board, were across the bar and in 
 readiness for the attack. 
 
165 
 
 The substance of the Admiral s order of battle was that 
 the 9 iron-clads at intervals of a cable s length, the Iron 
 sides in the centre, were to pass in silence the enemy s 
 batteries on Morris Island, and to keep on up the Chan 
 nel until reaching a position to the Northward and West 
 ward of Fort Sumter, where they were to engage that 
 work at a distance of from 600 to 800 yards, firing low 
 and aiming at the centre embrasure. 
 
 The order of battle will be in line ahead, in the follow 
 ing succession : 
 
 1 Weehawken 2 guns Capt. John Rodgers 
 
 2 Passaic 2 guns " Percival Drayton 
 
 3 Montauk 2 guns " John L. Worden 
 
 4 Patapsco 2 guns Comd r Daniel Ammen 
 
 5 New Ironsides 16 guns Commo. Thomas Turner 
 
 6 Catskill 2 guns Comdr. George W. Rodgers 
 
 7 Nantucket 2 guns " Donald McN. Fairfax 
 
 8 Nahant 2 guns John Downes 
 
 9 Keokuk 2 guns " Alex. C. Rhind 
 
 A squadron of reserve, of which Captain Jos. F. Green 
 was the senior officer, was formed outside the bar, and 
 near the entrance buoy, consisting of the five vessels, all 
 wooden ships, the Canandaigua, Housatonic, Huron, 
 Unadilla and Wissahickon, to be held in readiness to 
 support the iron-clads when they attacked the batteries at 
 Morris Island. 
 
 The Weehawken, Monitor, had a big wooden raft at 
 tached to her bow. Its purpose was to brush aside rope 
 obstructions in the channel, and to receive the shock of 
 the first torpedo that might be met. In getting her 
 anchor, the ship s chain fouled this raft and occasioned 
 some delay, but at a quarter past one, or at early ebb, the 
 fleet was under weigh, and steaming up the channel. 
 Probably no one thought the Monitor turrets could be 
 penetrated by the enemy s ordnance, but there were some 
 
166 
 
 who had grave doubts as to the resisting powers of the 
 Ironsides. The Fleet Captain, the late Admiral C. R. P. 
 Rodgers, said to me on the gun-deck as we started ahead : 
 "I shall be agreeably surprised if the first fire of the 
 enemy does not strip the plating off this ship. * The ship 
 had not been tried under fire as had been the Monitors, 
 and perhaps such distrust was excusable, but it occurred 
 to me that no officer holding such close relations to the 
 Commander-in-Chief should have given utterance to such 
 foreboding at so tense a moment, to any person whatever. 
 
 The attack, gallantly made, failed, as we know but too 
 well. An officer of the Wabash, the permanent flag-ship, 
 and now a retired rear Admiral, said ; " Du Pont was 
 beaten before he left Hilton Head." "The reason was 
 that he had contemplated defeat with more earnestness 
 down there, than he had counted upon success." 
 
 The enemy opened fire upon the Weehawken at fifty 
 minutes past two ; a moment more, and a tempest of shot 
 and shell smote the advancing Monitors and waters of the 
 bay with thunderous roar and incessant shock. In one 
 hour and forty minutes, 2209 shot, shell, and rifle bolts, 
 ranging in calibre from the 32-pounder to the 10-inch 
 Columbiads, were hurled at the little fleet, to which storm 
 of fire the reply of only 109 shells, from the 8-inch rifles 
 and the 11- and 15-inch smooth bores, could be made. 
 The aim of the enemy was very accurate ; it could not 
 help being so at such close quarters, because their ranges 
 were marked by buoys, and there were certain points in 
 the channel where the advancing vessels met perfect hurri 
 canes of fire, searching out and developing defects and 
 weaknesses that showed they were by no means perfect in 
 their appointments, or as had been believed by the Depart 
 ment invulnerable. Turrets and port stoppers jammed 
 and would not work; gun-carriages and steering gear 
 were disabled; bolt-heads and nuts broke off from the 
 
167 
 
 blows of the shot and flew like grape-shot inside the tur 
 rets and pilot houses ; and other mishaps occurred, dimin 
 ishing the offensive force of the eight Monitors, and 
 rendering repairs and additional appointments necessary, 
 to make them more effective against any enemy, and less 
 liable to derangement as fighting machines. 
 
 The Weehawken, in leading in, stopped just short of 
 a line of obstructions between Sumter and Moultrie. 
 The obstructions, marked by rows of casks, seemed so 
 formidable that Captain Rodgers, one of the bravest of 
 men, deemed it imprudent to attempt to force their pas 
 sage, and so sheered aside and stopped. This incident 
 checked the other Monitors, and threw them into tempo 
 rary confusion. From that time forward no further 
 thought of a definite formation was entertained by the 
 several Captains. Tactical formations look pretty on paper, 
 but in the mele and ever changing conditions of marine 
 fighting, methodical positions and movements of ships cannot 
 be maintained, a fact always borne in mind by the two great 
 est sea officers of modern times, Nelson and Farragut. 1 
 
 The two vessels that got nearest Sumter were the 
 Keokuk and the Nahant. The Keokuk had two turrets, 
 each carrying one gun only. She differed essentially in 
 details of construction from the Ericsson Monitors, and 
 unfortunately the difference was on the side of weakness. 
 The armor of the hull and turrets was composed of alter 
 nate layers and rings of wood and iron laid horizontally, 
 and made compact by much bolting, through and through. 
 The idea was to lighten the armor and still hold its im 
 pregnability ; but the shot spread layer and ring apart, 
 and went through at every point where they struck. The 
 ship drew less water than the other vessels, and when the 
 fleet became entangled by the halt at the obstructions, the 
 
 1 Such facts had abundant illustration in the Naval fight off San 
 tiago, July 4th, 1898. 
 
168 
 
 gallant Rhind dashed up close alongside the walls of 
 Sumter, and for thirty minutes sustained the concentrated 
 fire of that work and of Moultrie. In that brief time she 
 was completely riddled. She had been struck ninety times. 
 Nineteen of these shots went through and through her, at 
 and below the water-line. The turrets were pierced in many 
 places, one gun-carriage was disabled, and one of the for 
 ward port shutters shot away. Soon the water began to 
 pour into the ship so freely that the pumps could barely 
 keep her afloat in the smooth water of the day. Under 
 such circumstances Rhind felt compelled to retire from 
 the front ; and the next morning, at about 7 o clock, in 
 the choppy sea that had come up in the night, she went 
 down in shoal water, a sight never to be forgotten. Hap 
 pily the officers and crew were all saved, and subsequently 
 did other brilliant service against the enemy. The 
 Nahant, Commander Downes, went to the support of the 
 Keokuk in her grapple with Sumter, the moment she 
 could do so. 
 
 Dr. Charles Ellery Stedman, of this city, the surgeon 
 of the Nahant, who entered the service at the first stroke 
 of the rebellion, has kindly allowed me to copy from his 
 diary or letters written at this time, as regards the events 
 of the day. He says : " I saw the first gun, a flash, a 
 burst of white smoke, the report of the shell near the 
 Weehawken, followed by broadsides from the forts on 
 Sullivan s Island, the shot falling thick and fast, churning 
 up the water around the leading vessels. Then the Cap 
 tain sent me below, and I went to my station in the ward 
 room, where all was in readiness. Pretty soon a shot 
 struck us just over Lovering s head, knocking him off his 
 stool, to his great delight ; and after that, balls, shell and 
 bolts rattled like hail upon us. Every now and then 
 showers of water would fall on us and down the turret, 
 thrown up by shot dropping alongside. * Here comes a 
 
169 
 
 wounded man, cried one of the boys, and who should it 
 be but the poor old pilot. Open the door for another, 
 and the old signal quartermaster, Cobb, was brought down 
 with his skull crushed. * Stand by, boys ; make room for 
 McAllister G d, we are catching it now ! 
 
 "When the Weehaw T ken signaled, she had nearly 
 reached the obstructions, our shot were falling short, and 
 Fort Sumter was sending balls into and over us. Her 
 barbette was one living sheet of flame, blazing from 10- 
 inch guns and steel-pointed Whitworth rifle shot. 
 
 " My quartermaster is killed, sang out our Captain, 
 Downes. * Pass him down and send up another ! Mr. 
 Clarke, to the ensign in charge of the 15-inch gun, 
 1 you hav n t hit anything yet 1 We ain t near enough, 
 Captain Downes, roared Clarke. Not near enough I 
 G d d n it, I ll put you near enough I Starboard 
 your helm, quartermaster 1 and our gallant little skipper 
 headed the ship for the obstructions, with only the Keo- 
 kuk in our company, for the Ironsides had only fired four 
 guns. Then the pilot and Cobb were struck down at 
 the Captain s side by bolts flying from inside the pilot 
 house. As they fell, a piece of iron, 78 pounds in weight, 
 fell on the Captain s foot, its fall having been broken by 
 striking the wheel, and thus saving his leg. We were 
 now in a concentrated fire of terrible heat and accuracy. 
 We were going right at the piles, when two or three big 
 shot struck the pilot house and turret, jamming the latter 
 so that it wouldn t turn ; and we had to retreat perfectly 
 disabled. As we turned, the cry was heard, Our 
 wheel-ropes have parted ! At the moment it seemed like 
 certain death ; but they were righted at once by relieving 
 tackles, and we dropped down the channel to our old 
 berth. We went up farther than any but the Keokuk, 
 and had all been as brave and gallant and cool as John 
 Downes, the result might have been doubtful a while 
 
170 
 
 longer. I always said he would fight, and he has won 
 the admiration of his officers and crew." 
 
 This is, I submit, a splendid tribute to the intrepid 
 bearing of that gallant son of Massachusetts, which should 
 not be hid. But what was the Ironsides doing all this 
 time ? Truth to say, unskilful management made her lag 
 behind. The pilot house would hold only three persons 
 without crowding; and the Admiral, Fleet Captain, and 
 Fleet Pilot occupying it, there was no room for the com 
 manding officer. Commodore Turner should have insisted 
 upon his right to be there ; instead of that, he allowed 
 himself to be superseded as it were by the Fleet Captain, 
 his junior; and, taking station on the gun-deck, was as 
 completely shut off from all sight of the enemy, and from 
 the handling of the ship, as though he had been miles 
 away. Like the Monitors, the ship had helm peculiarities 
 that demanded special knowledge and experience for suc 
 cessful management. The pardonable nervousness of the 
 Fleet Pilot, piloting the ship for the first time, was in 
 creased by his utter ignorance of her helm qualities. The 
 experience of the Captain and that of his own pilot hav 
 ing been thus thrust aside, bad management naturally 
 ensued. It was a fatal mistake on the part of Admiral 
 Du Pont. Had he carried his flag on board one of the 
 other vessels, he would have had no occasion to say in his 
 official report that " the Monitors became unmanageable in 
 the narrow channel and occasioned delay." The ship 
 would have been carried into action, and, in my judgment, 
 the sun would have set upon an iron-clad victory. As it 
 was, the ship was anchored twice to avoid colliding with 
 some of the Monitors, and so lost untold opportunity ; 
 since at 4.30 the Admiral made signal to withdraw from 
 action. 
 
 The Ironsides had been given opportunity to fire but 
 one broadside, and some thoughtless people said that she 
 
171 
 
 did not get near enough to the enemy to receive any dam 
 aging hits, but three of her port shutters were shot away, 
 and some of the blows showed as crushing effects on the 
 armor as she ever received subsequently. 
 
 The officers and men had unbounded faith in the prow 
 ess of the ship, and sore was their disappointment at this 
 day s failure. Sorer still was the feeling when it was 
 given out on the next morning that the attack would not 
 be renewed ; and when the Admiral left the ship with his 
 flag the crew maintained a sullen silence when ordered to 
 cheer him. 
 
 Meeting Fleet Captain Rodgers on the quarter-deck just 
 after we had resumed our anchorage down the channel, I 
 said to him: "I suppose the Admiral intends to go in 
 again in the morning." " No," he said, " would you ? " 
 " I most certainly would," I replied. The Admiral, be it 
 said, however, had intended to go in again ; it was only 
 when the reports of his Captains had acquainted him with 
 the damaged condition of their respective commands that 
 he decided to the contrary. 
 
 With the results before him viewed in all their bear 
 ings, he concluded that it would be useless to attempt 
 further the capture of Charleston by naval effort alone. 
 He knew that such decision would occasion great disap 
 pointment to the country and bring upon his head merci 
 less criticism, but he believed he was pursuing the wisest 
 course, and sturdily held to his decision. Yet had he 
 known the damage Fort Sumter had sustained by the com 
 paratively few shots it had received, and the real conster 
 nation of the garrison, he would have been eager to renew 
 the attack the moment repairs to his disabled ships could 
 have been effected. 
 
 Had the Ironsides, indeed, been carried up the channel 
 to the support of the Keokuk and Nahant, the rapid and 
 continuous handling of her guns would have kept down 
 
172 
 
 the fire of Sumter and readily have breached its walls, 
 but the grim sort of soul that " damned " the torpedoes 
 in Mobile Bay was lacking, and it was not done. Yet in 
 the light of subsequent operations and of the erratic way 
 in which they were conducted, Du Font s opinions had 
 ample verification, for no purely naval attempt " to possess 
 and occupy " the harbor was ever again made. The de 
 fences of Charleston, with the exception of those on Mor 
 ris Island, were never abandoned until taken in the rear 
 by General Sherman ; and whatever adverse criticism Du 
 Font s action called forth, he never called councils of war, 
 nor sought to throw on others the responsibility that he 
 should alone bear. Still, we must think that he erred in 
 not " picking his flint to try again," and in the unprofit 
 able correspondence he entered into with the Department, 
 he made the mistake of his life-time. He affirmed that 
 the Monitors could not lie safely in heavy weather inside 
 the bar at Charleston ; that the wooden ends of the Iron 
 sides made her very vulnerable ; and that with the Iron 
 sides inside the bar, the enemy s iron-clads might pass out 
 to the Northward through Maifit s channel and renew the 
 raid of the 31st of January; and he concluded, in his 
 letter of April 16th, 1863, the suggestion of his relief from 
 command in this language : " I am painfully struck by 
 the tenor and tone of the President s order, which seem 
 to imply a censure, and I have to request that the Depart 
 ment will not hesitate to relieve me by any officer, who, 
 in its opinion, is more able to execute that in which I 
 have had the misfortune to fail, the capture of Charles 
 ton." The President had sent two direct orders to Du 
 Pont immediately after the failure of the 7th of April, 
 and looking over them at this day, it would, in my judg 
 ment, puzzle the most profound lawyer in Christendom to 
 find the least hint of a censure in them. Like too many 
 others the Admiral failed to take into just account the 
 
173 
 
 colossal burden that great man had to bear, a burden 
 he carried with a patience and fortitude, and a sweetness 
 of soul perhaps without parallel in modern times. What 
 Mr. Lincoln asked of Du Pont was to hang on at Charles 
 ton and at least to keep up a demonstration against the 
 enemy s defences ; and in sympathetic obedience to such 
 wish, he should have hung on with bull-dog grip at any 
 cost. Farragut or Foote would have done so beyond 
 question. Too much reckoning in war sometimes defeats 
 vital movements. Seamen like Farragut and Nelson and 
 Foote looked for results rather than for pessimistic search- 
 ings for obstacles. They tested the enemy s preparation 
 and resource by closing in upon them at close quarters at 
 every opportunity, and so long as ships engaged the enemy 
 vigorously, even if not quite in the original order, they 
 were content. When Du Pont withdrew from Charles 
 ton, he returned to Hilton Head and re-established his 
 headquarters on board the Wabash, directing the Moni 
 tors to report to him there, and the Ironsides to take 
 station outside the bar again. 
 
 Once more outside the bar, the Ironsides made haste to 
 rid herself of the hide and tallow adjuncts to her armor ; 
 the sand was thrown overboard and the bags stowed away 
 for future use. This done, the ship was put in cleanly 
 trim again, and the anxious and harassing monotony of 
 blockade duty was resumed. But the ship had hardly 
 settled down to such tiresome work, when rumors began 
 to reach us to the effect that the attack inside would be 
 renewed at an early day, and have the co-operation of the 
 army. Also that Du Pont would be relieved by Rear 
 Admiral A. H. Foote with Rear Admiral Dahlgren as 
 second in command. 
 
 Meanwhile the Monitors were undergoing repairs at 
 Port Roj r al, and being equipped with additional appliances 
 to meet the weak points the ordeal of battle had developed. 
 
174 
 
 The Passaic had been so badly damaged that she was de 
 spatched to New York for such purpose. When their 
 defects, revealed on the 7th of April, had been remedied 
 so far as practicable, their decks continued to be a weak 
 point, and close action, where plunging fire could have but 
 little scope, was a prime factor of safety ; wherefore, in 
 Admiral Dahlgren s time, the many heavy hits in closely 
 contested actions did no serious damage. Under orders 
 to relieve Du Pont, Admiral Foote left Washington the 
 latter part of June, but he sickened and died in New York 
 on the eve of his proposed departure for the South. To 
 those who knew Foote, his death at such a juncture seemed 
 a national calamity. I had served with him as a young 
 lieutenant at the capture of the Barrier Forts in the Can 
 ton River, China, in 1856, and I knew what a dogged 
 fighter he was. He was the Oliver Cromwell of our Navy. 
 He could preach, fight or pray with equal facility. A su 
 perb seaman, rigid disciplinarian, and of surpassing execu 
 tive ability, he was the most persistent and energetic officer 
 I ever knew. Superior to Farragut as an organizer, and 
 his equal in boldness of conception and audacity of attack, 
 the enemy would have had no rest, night or day, until they 
 had surrendered, had he lived to conduct naval operations 
 at Charleston. His advent there as the relief of Du Pont, 
 with good health given him for three months, would, in 
 my opinion, have seen our flag restored over that fountain 
 head of secession. But alas ! death intervened, and Rear 
 Admiral Dahlgren, who was to have been second, came 
 down and relieved Du Pont as Commander-in-chief. Dahl 
 gren and Foote had been close friends for more than a 
 quarter of a century. Dahlgren was able, brave, and 
 learned, and unquestionably the most accomplished man 
 in naval ordnance of his day, but no one would think of 
 putting him alongside of Foote as a seaman and tactful 
 commander, or as an officer of genial spirit and attractive 
 
175 
 
 manner. In his operations at Charleston he had many 
 plans, but unfortunately never tested one of them thor 
 oughly. He assumed command at Hilton Head on the 
 6th of July, 1863. Admiral Du Pont, under the instruc 
 tions of the Department, had made all preparations for 
 renewing offensive operations at Charleston, and Admiral 
 Dahlgren hastened to put them into execution, together 
 with plans and purposes of his own. 
 
 The idea had been abandoned of making a dash by the 
 batteries for the inner harbor; so much had been con 
 ceded to Du Font s opinion, and to the results of the 7th 
 of April. A joint attack by land and sea was arranged 
 between the Admiral and General Gillmore. The plan 
 was to capture the defences, one by one, the first objective 
 being Morris Island. Folly Island had been occupied by 
 the army as a base, and masked batteries had been erected 
 along its northern shore, opposite the southern end of 
 Morris Island. This work had been accomplished un 
 known to the enemy, although their pickets, across Light- 
 House Inlet, were not more than 600 yards away. 
 
 Meanwhile the Monitors, with their repairs and im 
 provements completed, were held at Hilton Head, and the 
 Ironsides, on the blockade, made no sign of preparation, 
 in order that the ever watchful enemy should get no hint 
 of the coming assault upon their works at the southern 
 end of Morris Island. 
 
 But on the 8th of July, the Catskill, Montauk, Nahant, 
 and Weehawken left for Charleston bar, arriving there 
 the next day. At early daylight of the 10th, they 
 crossed, the Catskill, bearing Dahlgren s flag, leading, 
 and made for the southern end of Morris Island to cover 
 the operations of General Gillmore s columns. 
 
 The land forces, in the meantime, under the immediate 
 command of General Strong, had crossed the inlet, sur 
 prised the enemy, and put them to rout after an engage- 
 
176 
 
 ment of three hours. The Monitors swept along the 
 shores of Morris Island, pouring a continuous fire into the 
 retreating columns of the enemy, and finally engaged Fort 
 Wagner and Battery Gregg, defending its northern point. 
 Those fortifications replied with vigor, and the action was 
 kept up until sunset, when the Monitors hauled off for 
 the night. Special attention had been paid by the enemy 
 to the flag- vessel ; she received no less than 60 hits, but 
 neither she nor her sister Monitors were at all damaged. 
 
 The boats of the fleet, in command of Lieutenants 
 Bunce of the Weehawken and Robeson of the Ironsides, 
 had assisted in putting the land force across the inlet 
 from Folly Island, and Robeson was the first man to land 
 in the enemy s midst. Bunce also, as senior officer, 
 landed a battery of naval boat howitzers manned by blue 
 jackets, and did effective service in dislodging the enemy, 
 a fact studiously ignored in General Gillmore s report. 
 
 Admiral Dahlgren says in his report that " Lieutenant 
 Mackenzie of the Wabash had charge of the boats that 
 landed an assaulting column on Morris Island, and did it 
 well." Admiral Porter also, in his Naval History of the 
 War, full of inaccuracies, repeats the same statement. 
 The fact was, Mackenzie was not there at all. He 
 attempted to get there from the Ironsides with a lot of 
 the squadron boats, but failed to get into the inlet until 
 after the major part of Morris Island was possessed by our 
 forces. Mackenzie was a gallant officer, and lost his life 
 on the Island of Formosa in the China sea in 1867, where 
 he accompanied me as second in command in an attack 
 upon the Indians in the southern part of that Island, 
 a most foolish expedition ordered by the Commander-in 
 Chief, Admiral H. H. Bell, who was drowned a little 
 more than a year later in Osoko, Japan. 
 
 The next morning, the llth of July, Gillmore assaulted 
 Wagner, but the work had been reinforced during the 
 
177 
 
 night, and his attack was repulsed. Then it became evi 
 dent that Wagner and Gregg could only be taken by regu 
 lar approaches, unless indeed, the army siege guns and the 
 fire of the iron-clads could effect such purpose. 
 
 The crew of the Ironsides were aflame at sight of so 
 much work going on without their participation, but 
 their time was at hand. The sand bags were now filled 
 again, and closely packed over the deck, but the nonsense 
 of the hides and tallow was not repeated. Crossing the 
 bar on the 17th, the ship was ready for immediate action. 
 
 Commodore Turner had been relieved at his own request 
 when Du Pont hauled down his flag, and the vessel was 
 now commanded by Captain, subsequently Vice Admiral, 
 Rowan. As he was promoted to the grade of Commodore 
 soon after he assumed command, for prior distinguished 
 services, he will be spoken of in this paper as Commodore 
 Rowan. Now Gillmore, on the 18th of July, having ad 
 vanced a number of heavy Parrott rifles and mortars to 
 the front, determined to make another attempt to carry 
 Wagner by storm, the assault to be preceded by a heavy 
 bombardment, both from the guns of the fleet and from 
 the shore batteries. At a few minutes past twelve o clock, 
 noon, on that day, the Admiral made signal to weigh for 
 action. The Catskill, still bearing the Admiral s flag, 
 and the army batteries, were the first to engage the enemy. 
 
 Let us take a look at the gun-deck of the Ironsides as 
 she is steaming forward to the attack. The length of the 
 casemate is about 160 feet with a breadth of 58 feet from 
 water-way to water-way. At each of the seven 11-inch 
 Dahlgrens, and one 150-pounder Parrott rifle, in broadside 
 stand the crews of thirty-five men. Ten men of each crew 
 are stationed at the tackles for tricing up the heavy port 
 shutters, and also to spell the side tackle men in serving 
 the guns in rapid and continuous fire. The after gun is 
 manned by the marines, a splendid crew, rivaling the blue- 
 
178 
 
 jackets in the perfection of their drill and in their eager 
 ness to begin the fray. In addition to the men at the 
 guns, the officers, quarter gunners, helmsmen and signal 
 men, make a grand total of 315 within the casemate. 
 
 With port shutters down and iron gratings over the 
 hatches, the deck is very close. The day is hot and sultry, 
 and most of the crew and some of the younger officers are 
 stripped to the waist. Division tubs stand amidships filled 
 with hot coffee, and the gun-carriages are whitewashed to 
 light up the darkened deck. 
 
 On the berth-deck, and still further down in the mag 
 azine and shell rooms, the powder divisions are waiting in 
 silence, powder-boxes full, and tackles hooked on and 
 manned in readiness to whip up the heavy shells at the first 
 call, while the Chief Engineer and his force of officers and 
 men in the bowels of the ship are attending to the motive 
 power, and keeping every detail of machinery in the high 
 est state of efficiency. Though out of sight and missing 
 the excitement attendant upon the handling of the guns, 
 the hit and explosion in hostile works, the incessant roar 
 of the cannonade, and sight of the restless guns, now dash 
 ing inboard in swift recoil from well-delivered fire, now fly 
 ing out through ports by strength of stalwart arms for 
 other deadly work, they know their duties are second to 
 none, for were the motive power to fail, or the supply of 
 ammunition to -give out, the ship would be but a mockery 
 in the face of the enemy. 
 
 The Ironsides got within feel of Wagner and Gregg at 
 a little past one. The enemy s fire, which had not percep 
 tibly slackened under the attack of the Monitors and land 
 batteries, was now concentrated upon the Ironsides with 
 furious force as she drew near their works. Holding 
 steadily on her way until the desired position was reached, 
 she anchored within twelve hundred yards of Wagner, or 
 as close in as the pilot would venture to take her. Then 
 
179 
 
 the good ship that had so long been made to play the part 
 of a Quaker, opened her fire with grim intent and soulful 
 precision. And when the gun captains had perfected 
 their aim, their continuous and irresistible fire quickly 
 told on the morale of the enemy, whose fire soon slackened. 
 At times it ceased altogether. The bursting shells from 
 the ships threw up clouds of sand, and if the 15-inch 
 projectiles from the Monitors, with their greater explosive 
 force, threw up the biggest masses, the fire of the frigate, 
 with its uninterrupted storm of missiles, kept the sand 
 flying all the while. General Beauregard said, indeed, 
 " Her fire was delivered with more rapidity and accuracy, 
 and she was the most efficient naval engine employed in 
 the reduction of Wagner." 
 
 As the fight went on the deck was filled with smoke, 
 and the paint-work and white-wash turned a dead black 
 from its effect. The lee ports were kept open, but despite 
 that ventilation, the heat and sulphurous odor became 
 well-nigh unbearable. Many of the guns crews and some 
 of the younger officers would crane their necks out of the 
 weather ports for a bit of fresh air. Among these was 
 Ensign Benjamin Porter, just out of the Naval Academy, 
 who was subsequently killed at the assault upon Fort 
 Fisher. I seem to see him now, standing with naked breast 
 and arm, patting the breech of his grim 11-inch gun in 
 affectionate admiration, his skin fair as a maiden s, his clean, 
 well-rounded limbs swelling with muscle, and his hand 
 some, lovable face glowing with the light of battle. Ah ! 
 how little the thoughtless throng of to-day think of the 
 cost in blood, in young life and human aspiration that 
 gives the peace and serenity of this time ! While it is a 
 growing fad to seek connection with Colonial and Revolu 
 tionary ancestry, and to found societies and orders upon 
 the rock of their achievements, the unsurpassed work, the 
 intrepid deeds, and the untold sacrifice of a generation 
 
180 
 
 ago, are too often passed by with scant recognition or 
 scornful heed. Yet did the puerile drawing-room senti 
 ment or counting-house spirit that dominates the urban 
 centres of this nation to-day, inquire into the composition 
 of the forces that saved the country in foul rebellion s 
 time, they would learn that the matchless soldiers and 
 seamen, and master spirits in control of the government in 
 that perilous time, were the lineal descendants of the 
 generations that fashion now seeks to admire. 
 
 But to return to our story. The fight with Wagner 
 and Gregg continued with more or less spirit until seven 
 o clock, when those works became silent. The fire of the 
 fleet had slackened considerably two hours earlier. It 
 was understood that Gillmore would assault the works, 
 making preconcerted signal therefor, the moment the 
 naval fire ceased ; but it was a full hour before the move 
 ment of the troops was made, and after a desperate con 
 flict until near midnight, the assaulting columns, not 
 properly supported by Gillmore as we now know, were 
 obliged to retreat with heavy loss. At one time the 
 storming force had partial possession of Wagner, but 
 under the cover of the night the Confederates threw in 
 reinforcements from James Island and drove our people 
 back. When such fact became evident, the iron-clads 
 hauled off out of range for the night. 
 
 The Ironsides had fired 805 shells from her broadside 
 of eight guns during the afternoon, or a weight of 
 metal handled and thrown, of forty tons. She had 
 been struck but four times, showing that the enemy s 
 accustomed vigorous fire had been smothered. 
 
 Gillmore and Dahlgren now came to the conclusion that 
 the works at Cumming s Point, Wagner and Gregg, could 
 only be taken by regular approaches. And to give the 
 men in the trenches and the artillery-men advancing the 
 siege batteries, cover from the enemy s fire, the iron-clads 
 
181 
 
 engaged those works almost every day for weeks, while 
 the Monitors having Parrott rifles pounded away at 
 Sumter, until the sappers fairly burrowed into Wagner. 
 
 Sometimes the Monitors would be ordered to engage 
 the enemy alone ; but frequently at such times the enemy 
 would respond with such spirit that Gillmore would 
 request that the Ironsides might be sent to the front. 
 Then the Confederates would hie to their bomb-proofs, 
 and the brave fellows in the trenches could dig with 
 comparative immunity for the time. 
 
 In these repeated engagements, the Ironsides was often 
 struck ; the power of her battery had compelled the enemy 
 to strengthen their traverses with heavier masses of sand 
 bags to enable them to stand the longer at their guns 
 under the storm of shells poured in upon them. Full of 
 pluck and ever alert, whenever the Ironsides slackened 
 her fire, they would spring to their guns, deliver a round, 
 and then fly to cover. 
 
 One morning with an exceptionally high tide, the ship 
 got within nine hundred yards of the enemy. On this 
 occasion she received thirty-one hits, mostly from 10-inch 
 solid shot, though now and then the blow was from a 
 rifle bolt. The round shot made the most impression on 
 the armor; the rifle bolts hardly ever struck fairly on 
 end, and their vaunted punching powers never had verifi 
 cation in the experience of the Ironsides. The ship never 
 received serious damage. 
 
 Sometimes a shot would knock away with thunderous 
 clang a port-shutter, or make the splinters fly from the 
 top-rail or wooden ends. The smoke-stack was com 
 pletely riddled, and the iron ceiling of the casemate shat 
 tered in several places. When a shot struck the sand 
 bag protected deck, it scooped off the bag, and then 
 glanced upward and overboard, and while the deck planks 
 were left almost unscarred, the inch iron plate underneath 
 
182 
 
 was invariably shattered ; the only harm arising from the 
 blow was the tendency of the deck to leak at that special 
 spot. 
 
 In all the ship s fighting, both at Charleston and at 
 Fort Fisher, no man was ever seriously hurt ; the nearest 
 approach to it was one morning when a shot from Wagner 
 cut away a port-shutter. The shot broke into fragments, 
 splintered the rammer handle in the sponger s hands in 
 the act of ramming home the charge, and flying inboard, 
 slightly wounded some of the gun s crew. It was said by 
 the enemy that in the attack of the 7th of April, the ship 
 was for some time directly over a heavy torpedo which 
 happily for us could not be made to explode. 
 
 When once fairly in action, the port>shutters would, as 
 a rule, be kept up, and the Commodore, Executive, and 
 Pilot would go on deck for a clearer look at the effect of 
 our fire. Sometimes the party would be reinforced by the 
 Surgeon, the Paymaster, and the Chief Engineer, but the 
 bullet of a sharpshooter now and then, as it whistled over 
 the ship, made it discreet to step behind the pilot house, 
 heavily buttressed with sand bags, at such times. The 
 10-inch shot showed so well, their course could be readily 
 traced in the air, and one could step aside if their direc 
 tion seemed to point uncomfortably straight toward the 
 observer. The descending blows at long range always 
 crushed into the armor with more effect than the shots 
 received at closer work. 
 
 While Gillmore was advancing his trenches, he had 
 reinforced his siege batteries, so that on the 16th of 
 August, he had about sixty guns in position for the 
 bombardment both of Wagner and Sumter. Four guns 
 so placed were 150-pounder Parrotts from the fleet, under 
 the command of Commander Foxhall A. Parker, and served 
 by seamen and marines under the direction of Parker 
 and his gallant lieutenant, George C. Reemey. The 
 
183 
 
 attack began early in the morning, the iron-clads co 
 operating ; and while Wagner was at times almost hidden 
 by showers of flying sand, great masses of masonry were 
 thrown from the walls of Sumter by the explosion of 
 shells from the Parrotts, some of them two and a third 
 miles away. 
 
 It was on this day that a plunging shot struck the top 
 of the Catskill s pilot house, and shattering the inner 
 plates into fragments, killed the lamented Commander 
 George W. Rodgers, and Paymaster Woodbury, and 
 wounded the Pilot, Mr. Penton, and Master s Mate Tres- 
 cott. The Admiral on that day carried his flag on board 
 the Weehawken. So went on the work day after day, 
 and whatever happened to the Monitors, the Ironsides 
 seemed to bear a charmed life. Ever ready, she never 
 had any damage to repair except the replacing of port- 
 shutters. At one period of this bombardment, the crews 
 of the iron-clads were kept at the guns for seventy-two 
 hours without other rest than could be snatched at brief 
 intervals when the enemy were quiet. 
 
 Gillmore kept up his fire on shore with more or less 
 vigor night and day, until the morning of the 7th of 
 September, when it was found that both Wagner and 
 Gregg had been abandoned during the night, and now our 
 forces were in full possession of the whole island. 
 
 Nineteen guns were found in Wagner, and the bomb 
 proof shelter of that work was still unharmed, although 
 it had been subjected to the most prolonged bombard 
 ment of modern times up to that day. The iron-clads 
 could batter down traverses by day, but the enemy could 
 rebuild at night with equal facility. General Gillmore 
 had reported the demolition of Sumter as accomplished 
 on the 24th of August, but the enemy kept a few 
 guns mounted, bearing on the channel, which they well 
 served whenever the iron-clads approached its vicinity. 
 
184 
 
 One afternoon the Ironsides received an 11-inch shot from 
 that quarter. The gun was one of those the Con 
 federates had skilfully recovered from the wreck of the 
 Keokuk. The shot went through the unprotected port of 
 the bow, cut away the heavy chain, demolished the bits, 
 and finally brought up against the iron bulkhead. I took 
 possession of the shot and shipped it to New Hampshire 
 as a trophy. 
 
 In the afternoon of the day of the evacuation of Morris 
 Island, the Admiral ordered Colhoun of the Weehawken 
 to sound the channel between Cumming s Point and 
 Sumter. It was not service for which an iron-clad was 
 adapted, for if she touched bottom she would be apt to 
 stick, and as a matter of fact she did ground and held fast 
 with the falling tide. The enemy at once discovered her 
 perilous position, and opened fire upon her from Moultrie. 
 This led the Admiral to hurry the fleet up to the front to 
 engage the batteries on Sullivan s Island and draw the 
 brunt of their fire, and on this single occasion carried his 
 flag on board the Ironsides. It was a hot fight while it 
 continued, but darkness soon coming on, the firing sud 
 denly ceased on both sides as if by concerted arrange 
 ment, and the iron-clads retired to their anchorages for the 
 night. The Ironsides had fired one hundred and fifty-two 
 shells, and had received twenty-four hits. On board the 
 Catskill, Fleet Captain Badger received a severe wound 
 from a flying plate of iron which lamed him for life. It 
 was the irony of fate that compelled that gallant officer to 
 go on the retired list just as the highest grade in the navy 
 was within his grasp. Under cover of the night two tugs 
 were sent to the assistance of Colhoun, but all efforts to 
 get the Weehawken afloat failed. High water the next 
 morning still saw the ship hard aground. As the ebb 
 made once more, the vessel canted over so far as to expose 
 the under part of the overhang and the unarm ored part 
 
185 
 
 of the hull to the enemy. The enemy bided their time, 
 and about eight o clock every gun on Sullivan s Island 
 that would bear, opened fire upon the devoted vessel. 
 
 Colhoun with undaunted courage replied as best he 
 could, recognizing the perilous position he was in, for the 
 hull might be strained from the shock of his own fire, and 
 if a shot got in under the overhang, the wound would be 
 fatal. It would, indeed, have torn through the vessel and 
 have destroyed her. 
 
 Meanwhile the other Monitors were hurrying to the 
 front. The Ironsides was detained a little while along 
 side an ordnance vessel, replenishing her ammunition. As 
 she moved up the channel, the Monitors were already hotly 
 engaged, but as the frigate approached, the enemy concen 
 trated most of their fire upon her. Though exposed to an 
 " end-on " fire, a fire Du Pont had believed she could not 
 endure, for some twenty minutes, and repeatedly struck, she 
 held steadily on her way like a leviathan keeping holiday. 
 
 When arrived within 1,000 or 1,200 yards of Moultrie, 
 she dropped anchor and swung slowly to the flood, bring 
 ing her port guns to bear, the enemy meanwhile pouring 
 upon her a terrific storm of solid shot. Waiting with great 
 coolness until her guns would bear, she began in her wonted 
 way to fire with great deliberation to get the range. Then 
 she broke forth into a continuous sheet of flame, and the 
 " diapason of the cannonade," and the hurtle and crash and 
 explosion of shot and shell, made grandest music in loyal 
 ears. There never was a more inspiriting sight in war 
 than the rapid handling of her heavy guns presented. They 
 seemed but toys in the hands of their stalwart crews, and 
 often for two or three rounds the port-shutters were kept 
 lifted, giving the enemy a chance to show their skill by 
 making lodgement of shot in the port-holes of the ship. 
 Many of the shot striking her armor would break into 
 fragments and fly like grape-shot around her; others would 
 
186 
 
 glance off unbroken, and shooting up into the air, a hun 
 dred feet or more, drop down in the midst of the Monitors. 
 During the height of the action, Stevens of the Patapsco, 
 ever unmindful of exposure, manned his gig and came over 
 to the Ironsides to communicate personally with Rowan, 
 for Dahlgren was not in this fight at all, and then coolly 
 pulled back again. Simpson in the Passaic, stood well up 
 the channel along the whole line of fire, and engaged Bat 
 tery Bee at the inner extremity of the works. The 51 hits 
 he received attested the severity of the fire he encountered. 
 
 Davis of the Montauk, full of enthusiasm and "dog- 
 goning his cats " his wonted phrase closed in on bat 
 tery Marion until the pilot protested he could go no further, 
 while Cornwall in the Nahant and Bryson of the Lehigh 
 sought closest quarters with the enemy with equal dash 
 and gallantry. Colhoun, full of the old Covenanter pluck 
 he had been born to, still did his full part in the fray. One 
 of his shells produced an explosion in Moultrie that killed 
 sixteen men and wounded twelve others of the garrison. 
 
 Moultrie soon weakened under the concentrated fire of 
 the Ironsides ; her fire became intermittent, and at times 
 stopped altogether ; but the Ironsides had been obliged 
 to go into action with only one-third of her supply of 
 powder and shell, and when the enemy quieted down, she 
 would economize her ammunition ; such incident would 
 give the enemy fresh heart, but only to be smitten again 
 with the instantly renewed roll of fire. 
 
 There were two or three guns in battery Rutledge, 
 between Moultrie and Beauregard, that were specially 
 well served. Now and then Rowan would send word to 
 Lieutenant Robeson, commanding the first division and 
 the one having the rifle to give them attention. Robeson 
 would sight the gun himself, and twice out of three times 
 would land the shells plum ply into the embrasures, and 
 finally dismounted one or two of their guns. 
 
1ST 
 
 The action continued three hours, when the hostile 
 works having been beaten into silence for the time, and 
 the Ironsides store of ammunition reduced to less than 
 half a dozen rounds, Rowan made signal to withdraw. 
 The moment the enemy discovered such movement they 
 sprang at their guns again and renewed their fire; but 
 the ships made no reply, retiring to their old berths in 
 the roadstead as if on review. Meanwhile, the generous 
 flood had floated the Weehawken once more, and she 
 steamed down the channel to rejoin her consorts amidst 
 the resounding cheers of the fleet. 
 
 Thus ended what was perhaps the most remarkable 
 and exciting fight between iron-clads and forts during the 
 war. It was, indeed, a glorious day. I never recall its 
 incidents without a thrill of delight. As the fight had 
 progressed, the crews of the blockaders outside the bar 
 and the supply craft in the lower roadstead could not 
 restrain their enthusiasm, and gave vent to their feelings 
 in cheers that could be heard at the front above the roar 
 of battle. The Ironsides had been struck seventy-four 
 times, but received no other harm than the loss of a 
 couple of port- shutters. She had shown beyond question 
 that she was irresistible in attack, and impregnable in 
 defence as against any ordnance of that day. The nearly 
 two hundred shells she had thrown that morning increased 
 the respect the enemy always felt towards her ; and had 
 she been full of ammunition that morning she possibly 
 might have dismounted every gun in Moultrie ; but 
 Secretary Welles, and Assistant Secretary Fox, of the 
 Navy Department had pinned their faith to the Monitor 
 class of iron-clad, and they, as well as Dahlgren, seemed 
 to ignore the prowess of that ship in every possible way. 
 Had there been two or three ships more like her to 
 co-operate with the Monitor, the capture of Charleston 
 would have been an easy matter, providing the Admiral 
 
188 
 
 commanding had the pluck and resolution to direct their 
 offensive use in the spirit of intrepidity which is a prime 
 requisite in war. The millions thrown to the winds on 
 double enders that wouldn t steer, light draft Monitors 
 that wouldn t float, and heavy steam sloops that rotted on 
 the stocks, would have built a dozen armored frigates, 
 which would have been of incalculable service in the days 
 of the rebellion. 
 
 Had a part of the energy that had been put forth in 
 the construction of the Monitors, early in the war, been 
 applied to the building of half a dozen ships of the 
 Ironsides class, the capture of Charleston, "Wilmington, 
 and Mobile, early in 1863, would have been an easy 
 matter ; rebel supplies would have been easily cut off, 
 and the great expense of blockading those ports would 
 have been saved. Both classes of iron-clads were incom 
 parable for their special purpose ; but unfortunately for 
 the country, the Monitor class had the most potent coun 
 tenance of the Navy Department. 
 
 But what was Dahlgren himself doing on this memor 
 able 8th of September, 1863 ? Let us see. Immediately 
 upon being apprised by General Gillmore of the evacuation 
 of Wagner and Gregg by the enemy, he sent in a flag of 
 truce demanding of General Beauregard the surrender of 
 Sumter. Beauregard sent a reply through Major Elliott, 
 the Commanding Officer of Sumter, couched in the fol 
 lowing language : " Inform Admiral Dahlgren that he 
 may have Fort Sumter when he can take and hold it I " 
 (This recalls the sententious reply of the German Chief 
 Ariovistus to the urgent demand of Caesar for negotia 
 tions. Said Ariovistus : "HI wanted anything of Caesar, 
 I should go to him ; if Caesar wants anything of me, let 
 him come where I am 1 ") 
 
 Now what did Dahlgren do when he got Beauregard s 
 answer? He proceeded forthwith to signal the blockading 
 
189 
 
 ships outside the bar to report to him alongside his flag 
 ship, all their heavy boats fully manned, equipped and 
 armed for an assault on the enemy s works. Now early 
 in the siege, the enemy had become possessed of the vari 
 ous forms of our signals especially of the Meyers code 
 and the Confederate officers read the signals as readily 
 as did the ships to which they were made. But not con 
 tent with such open notice of his intentions to the enemy, 
 the Admiral had the boats, filled with seamen and marines, 
 coming in over the bar at intervals all day long. Their 
 purpose was unmistakable in the light of Dahlgren s 
 demand upon Beauregard, and the enemy must have been 
 stupid indeed not to have discerned it and prepared for it. 
 
 The assault so openly advertised failed disastrously; 
 the enemy were prepared at all points. The assaulting 
 party, under the command of Commander Thos. H. 
 Stevens, pulled in for the fort in two lines of boats about 
 midnight, one for the northeastern angle, the other for 
 the southwestern one. 
 
 When within close range, not only did the garrison 
 hurl at the advancing boats an incessant fire of musketry, 
 hand grenades and fire-balls, but the batteries of Sullivan s 
 and James Islands, and the guns of the iron-clad Chicora, 
 covered three fronts of the approaches to Sumter s base 
 with a storm of shell, grape and canister. Under these 
 circumstances even, some of the boats effected a landing, 
 but every officer and man in them was either shot down 
 or obliged to surrender. The supposed gentle slope of 
 debris up into the fort was but a myth. The breaches in 
 the walls had been filled on the inside by huge masses 
 of sand, and only a party well equipped with scaling 
 ladders could have had any chance of success. 
 
 In less than half an hour the assault was all over, and 
 Stevens had to retreat with a loss of 124 officers, seamen 
 and marines, killed, wounded and missing, and five 
 
190 
 
 launches. The enemy lost not a man. It was a happy 
 night for them. 
 
 It was understood that the army was to have made a 
 joint attack with the naval force ; but there was no real 
 concert of action between Dahlgren and Gillmore, and 
 though the latter had his columns for assault arranged, he 
 withheld their advance, and doubtless, under the circum 
 stances, wisely. He probably reasoned that Dahlgren s 
 open preparations had too clearly acquainted the enemy 
 with what to expect. The Admiral s methods on that 
 occasion, indeed, remind one of the sort of politician that 
 goes hunting a nomination with a brass band ! 
 
 The power of the iron-clads, and especially the Iron 
 sides, on the forenoon before this disastrous assault, to 
 withstand the enemy s fire from Sullivan s Island had been 
 so completely demonstrated, that had Dahlgren replen 
 ished his ammunition, and moved up to Sumter with his 
 fleet, instead of attempting that boat assault, the chances 
 are he would have succeeded. Why he did not do so 
 seemed strange and incomprehensible at the time, and is 
 a source of wonder now. But the failure of that unfor 
 tunate attack seemed to paralyze the Admiral in the 
 direction of attack ; and if my memory serves me right, 
 no sustained effort to batter down or capture the ene 
 my s defences was ever attempted by the iron-clads after 
 that memorable bombardment of the 8th of September, 
 1863. 
 
 About a month after that affair, the nearly successful 
 attempt to sink the Ironsides by a torpedo stirred up the 
 whole fleet with a feeling of discomfort that, in the minds 
 of some, time never effaced. It was on the evening of 
 October 5. The watch on deck had been set, and the 
 watch below were sleeping at the guns. The marines, 
 not on sentinel duty, were gathered aft on the port 
 side of the quarter-deck, lying down in their overcoats, 
 
191 
 
 accoutrements buckled on, and muskets at their sides. 
 Many of the officers were sitting on the stern rail telling 
 stories and fishing, for after evening quarters the sacred 
 character of the quarter-deck was put in abeyance for the 
 time, and sentinels and lookouts were posted at short 
 intervals, fore and aft, on both sides. A gallant fellow 
 by the name of Howard was officer of the watch. He had 
 been promoted to the grade of Acting Ensign from the 
 forecastle. Rowan and myself had been walking the 
 quarter-deck together engaged in chat, when about nine 
 o clock the former said " he would go below." I replied 
 that " I would go below also, as I had some letters in 
 hand." But hardly had we reached our respective quar 
 ters, when Howard was heard to hail a boat, and the 
 hail seemed unanswered. " Boat ahoy ! " again rang out 
 from Howard s lips : still no reply. " Boat ahoy ! if you 
 don t answer, I ll fire into you," was his final command. 
 At that instant a musket flashed from the approaching 
 object, and Howard fell back from the gangway, exclaim 
 ing " I am shot 1 " And ere the words were fully spoken 
 the ship shook and trembled, from rail to keelson, from the 
 shock of a tremendous explosion. A moment more, and a 
 huge column of water, which had been thrown up into the 
 air not less than sixty feet, deluged the deck amidships, and 
 the engine and fire-rooms by its falling flood. The flash 
 of the musket, the cry of Howard and the crash of the 
 explosion came in successive strokes like the beats of a 
 clock. 
 
 The marines, springing to their feet, poured forth volley 
 after volley of musketry at the faintly discernible object, 
 which rapidly drifted to seaward with the strong ebb and 
 soon disappeared from sight. Meanwhile the officers and 
 crew hurried to their stations at quarters, the watch below 
 rubbing sleepy eyes and wondering what it all meant. 
 
 The Commodore was on his way out of the cabin, and 
 
192 
 
 he was running up the ward-room ladder when the explo 
 sion took place. The pumps were immediately sounded, 
 and a cutter dispatched, in command of Lieut. J. J. Read, 
 in quest of the audacious stranger, but the night was misty 
 and moonless, and the search unsuccessful. 
 
 The Monitors had in the meantime slipped their cables ; 
 they had heard the explosion and felt the shock, and were 
 groping about in search of other infernal machines that 
 might be lying in wait. 
 
 Howard and the sentries said the torpedo boat or David, 
 as the daring stranger proved to be, looked like the back 
 of a grampus with a small smoke-pipe and hatch amidships. 
 
 Some of the water thrown up by the explosion fell back 
 over the David, and down her smoke-pipe and put out her 
 fires. The volleys poured in by the marines also compelled 
 Lieut. Glassell the plucky officer in command and his 
 three men to jump overboard. Glassell and one of the 
 men swam under the bow of a coal schooner and hid them 
 selves amongst the head gear. They were soon discovered 
 by the master of the collier who in due season turned them 
 over to the Admiral. The other two men clung to the 
 David until she had drifted well outside, when they got 
 on board, got up steam again, and put back safely into 
 the harbor by the Beach channel. The ship was not 
 materially damaged. The torpedo must have rebounded 
 some inches before it exploded, thus placing a cushion of 
 water between it and the ship s bilge. The explosion drove 
 in one of the hanging knees below the water line some eight 
 inches, broke and splintered several of the eight-inch thick 
 ceiling planks, and crushed into broomed fragments one of 
 the heavy beams running across the engine room. The 
 Master-at-Arms a giant marine 6 J feet in height and a 
 weight of some 300 pounds, was thrown up against the ceil 
 ing of the berth deck and came down with a broken leg. 
 Ponderous in size his name was Little ! 
 
193 
 
 Outside the vessel, the effect of the shock was hardly 
 perceptible : her massive strength had again been abun 
 dantly demonstrated. The old ship seemed to bear a 
 charmed life, and the enemy must have been sadly disap 
 pointed when day broke, disclosing her battle-scarred 
 ugliness still menacing their sore sight ; and, as a matter 
 of fact, she could have moved on their works within ten 
 minutes of the explosion had she been ordered to do so. 
 
 The Admiral promoted Howard on the spot, but the 
 gallant fellow had been shot in the groin with buck-shot 
 and lived but three days. 
 
 The Ironsides was now surrounded by a stout netting 
 of rope, rigged out from the ends of fenders several feet 
 from the side, and a powerful calcium light mounted on 
 top of the pilot house, revolved around the horizon at 
 night. Boats also rowed guard on moonless nights. But 
 the ship did no more fighting at Charleston. As already 
 intimated, the Admiral made no further general movement 
 against the enemy so long as the ship remained in his fleet. 
 
 The Weehawken and two or three other Monitors were 
 obliged to go to Hilton Head for repairs after the ham 
 mering of the 8th of October. While those repairs were in 
 progress, Dahlgren summoned all the iron-clad Captains 
 to a council of war the Department had suggested. After 
 a talk of six hours, the majority confirmed the Admiral in 
 his decision not to make another general attack until ex 
 pected reinforcements arrived in December. This was 
 on October 22d, but desultory attacks were continued on 
 Sumter by the Monitors carrying Parrott guns. One 
 day the Lehigh grounded under the guns of Moultrie. 
 When such fact was signaled from her the other Mon 
 itors one of them flying the Admiral s flag and a 
 couple of tugs went to the rescue, and after sharp work, 
 in which Assistant Surgeon Longshaw of the Lehigh car 
 ried a hawser to the Nahant, when a line officer should 
 
194 
 
 have done it, the Lehigh was hauled afloat. Be it said 
 here that Longshaw was a most intrepid soul. He subse 
 quently lost his life at the assault on Fort Fisher. The 
 bother of getting clear of the protective netting that had 
 been rigged around the Ironsides delayed her getting to 
 the front until all was over. 
 
 That is the trouble with all such exterior contrivances ; 
 they can never be relied upon for effective defence, and 
 are sure to cause delay when rapid movement is imperative. 
 And to come down to this time, it may be said, indeed, that 
 the absurdity of some of the gimcracks that have been 
 placed on board our recent cruisers was emphatically shown 
 at the battle of Yalu, little more than three years ago. 
 I predict that the next naval battle will eliminate still 
 more of them. 
 
 But to return to our reminiscent talk, one blowy Sunday 
 forenoon in December the 7th it was with consider 
 able sea running in the roadstead, I suddenly noticed from 
 the spar-deck of the Ironsides large volumes of black 
 smoke, pouring out from the smoke-stack of the Weehaw- 
 ken. Walking across the deck for a spyglass, when I 
 turned round, the deck of the Monitor presented to view 
 an angle of some 45 degrees with the horizon, and before 
 one could fully grasp the situation, the ship went down. 
 Four officers and twenty-seven enlisted men went down 
 in her. Commander Duncan had relieved Colhoun only 
 two days before, and was on board the flag-ship at the time 
 of the catastrophe. 
 
 The cause of such disaster could not be fully determined 
 by the Court of Inquiry, but there seemed to have been 
 carelessness in letting water accumulate in the anchor 
 room, which bringing the ship s head down insensibly, 
 would not permit the water to run aft freely enough to be 
 discharged by the pumps. Water, however, made its way 
 undoubtedly in between the overhang and main hull 
 
 
195 
 
 due in the opinion of many officers, to the straining the 
 vessel had received when aground three months before. 
 
 Some two months and a half after this startling event 
 or on the evening of Feb. 19, 1864 Rowan and my 
 self, after the habit of ship life, were promenading the 
 quarter-deck of the Ironsides, when suddenly our attention 
 was called to signals a ship was burning outside. Seizing 
 the signal-book, I read : " Torpedoes out to-night assist- 
 tance in need of." The tug Geranium was immediately 
 called up, and jumping on board, I went outside to inquire 
 into the cause of such signals. Approaching the Canan- 
 daigua, the ship of the senior officer, Captain Jos. F. 
 Green, the late Admiral Green of Brookline, I had some 
 difficulty in communicating, for " Joe Green " was an ex 
 ceedingly alert and cautious officer, and it was some time 
 before we could convince him that we were friends. Fi 
 nally, we were allowed to run alongside, and climbing on 
 board, I learned that the Housatonic a sister ship 
 had been torpedoed and sunk, but that Captain Pickering 
 a son of Portsmouth, N.H., who had had command but a 
 few days, and his officers and crew with the exception 
 of two of the former and three of the latter had been 
 rescued by the boats of the Canandaigua. 
 
 Pickering was much shaken up and badly wounded, 
 especially in the head. The same David that had come 
 so near blowing up the Ironsides had done this work ; but 
 she herself had also gone down with the stricken ship. 
 Her approach had been discovered in good season by the 
 forecastle lookouts of the Housatonic, the cable had been 
 slipped, and the screw had put the ship in motion. 
 
 Pickering, on deck at the time, had called for his 
 double barreled fowling-piece, which he always kept 
 loaded on shipboard, jumped onto the horse-block, abreast 
 the mizzenmast, and had fired one charge into the David 
 when she struck the ship just under him. The next 
 
196 
 
 moment Pickering found himself blown up into the air, 
 and when he came down he found himself entangled in 
 the shattered and splintered mass of timbers and plank 
 ing of what a minute before had been the after part of 
 his splendid ship I The depth of water in which she 
 sunk was a trifle less than four fathoms. 
 
 As the ship settled, the officers and men took to the 
 rigging, clinging there until the Canandaigua s boats took 
 them off. The only man that saved his arms was an 
 enlisted " Contraband." He had been posted on the fore 
 castle with a musket and cartridge box, and he never let 
 go of them. The Captain s clerk, whom Pickering had 
 sent below for his revolver, never came back. 
 
 This second torpedo exploit of the enemy did not tend 
 towards feelings of security inside. Some of the Monitor 
 captains, indeed, never left the deck at night, and one of 
 them took an involuntary bath one evening by walking 
 overboard. (I tell you, Mr. President and gentlemen, it 
 is much more comfortable to spend an evening at the 
 Somerset, the Algonquin, or the St. Botolph in Boston in 
 these times than it was to pass the night on board ship 
 off Charleston in rebellion days.) 
 
 Just a week later than this event, Dahlgren went North 
 in conformity with permissive orders from the Depart 
 ment. Rowan was, of course, left in command with 
 orders to maintain the status quo. 
 
 At the end of seventy days Dahlgren returned to 
 Charleston Roads and resumed command. The meeting 
 between himself and Rowan was most cordial, and the 
 Admiral was full of plans for another strong naval 
 attack upon the enemy s works ; but the next evening, 
 when he was about to convene the iron-clad captains for 
 consultation, he was handed a fire-brand, in the form of a 
 communication from Dr. Duval of the Ironsides, report 
 ing to the Department Rowan and his Executive Officer 
 
19T 
 
 Belknap and other officers, as being partners to dispar 
 aging remarks on himself which had demoralized the 
 whole fleet. Rowan had endorsed the statement as false, 
 and preferred charges against Duval. Then says Dahl- 
 gren in his diary, " As Belknap was not exonerated, I 
 decided to begin with him as the senior officer." And he 
 adds, " After swearing everybody, it seems that nobody 
 ever spoke disrespectfully of him on board the Ironsides." 
 Fortunate man 1 
 
 But the Admiral was not appeased by the finding of 
 the inquiry, and told Rowan if they attacked the enemy 
 as he proposed to do, that Belknap should not go in I 
 He was as stern as a certain deaf old Commodore of ante 
 bellum days. One day a midshipman was sent into the 
 cabin to make a report to him. " What s that ? " asked 
 the Commodore ! " I can t hear you ! " " Oh," said the 
 midshipman to himself, in an undertone, " you bloody old 
 fool you, what do you understand ? " " Ah ! " blandly 
 replied the Commodore. " I hear that, sir, and you may 
 go below, sir, and consider yourself as suspended from 
 duty ! " Dahlgren, however, soon got over his pique ; he 
 seemed to bear no malice, and nothing more was heard 
 of the business except that after a Court of Inquiry in 
 Philadelphia, a few months later, Duval was court- 
 martialed, and only saved from dismissal by the extreme 
 favor of Secretary Welles and Assistant Secretary Fox. 
 
 Dahlgren, indeed, had the loyal support of every officer 
 in the squadron ; but some of them did not think he used 
 his force as offensively against the enemy as the power of 
 his fleet warranted, and sometimes when talking amongst 
 themselves said so. 
 
 Had it been the rule to court-martial and shoot every 
 officer of the army and navy during that four years of 
 war for similar criticisms of superior officers, I fear we 
 would have a very slim attendance here to-night ! I am 
 
198 
 
 not sure, in truth, but that some of the men who carried 
 muskets and cutlasses, sometimes thought aloud on lines 
 of impatient opinion. When, during the first hours after 
 Dahlgren s return from the North, it was given out that 
 we were going into Charleston or attempt to do it 
 all hands rejoiced exceedingly. 
 
 But when his captains were convened, he laid before 
 them a written document from the Department stating 
 that the attack might be made if there was certainty of 
 success, and the risk to the iron-clads not too great, for 
 1st, the iron-clads were needed for further service at 
 Mobile; 2d, that it was the only iron-clad fleet the 
 country possessed; 3d, that our relations with France 
 and England were very critical at that juncture, and the 
 country could not afford to lose any more of its iron 
 clads. 
 
 Under such conditions, the council of commanding 
 officers voted against going in. Lieutenant-Commander 
 Miller, now Admiral Miller, and commandant of the 
 Boston Navy Yard, voted to go in; but the Admiral 
 thought he was too young to vote on so grave a question. 
 and that in case of attack an older officer would take 
 command of the Nahant in his place. 
 
 After the decision just noted, so disappointing, the 
 ships did little more than nightly picket duty in turn at 
 the front, with an occasional fling at Sumter and Moul- 
 trie, which in effect advanced the cause not a whit. 
 
 It may be said here, that the service in the confined, 
 damp Monitors was so exhausting that the officers and 
 men were changed continually. Hence each Monitor, 
 during her service off Charleston, had several different 
 commanding officers. 
 
 One day Lieutenant-Commander Luce, now Admiral 
 Luce, went up in command of the Nantucket in company 
 with two or three other Monitors and engaged Sumter ; 
 
199 
 
 but a plunging shot soon struck the ship abaft the turret, 
 smashed in the deck, broke the beam, wrecked the 
 Purser s store-room below, and left a hole about three 
 feet long. Some of the crew were hurt by flying splinters, 
 but none were killed. 
 
 A few months after Luce was transferred to the Pontiac 
 double-ender and one night while lying not far from 
 Battery Marshall, he slipped and gave chase to a blockade 
 runner. The next morning, while picking up his anchor, 
 a rifle shot from that battery killed six of his men and 
 wounded six others. 
 
 In the latter part of May, 1864, when the Department 
 found that Dahlgren had decided not to renew aggressive 
 operations at Charleston, the Ironsides was ordered to 
 Philadelphia for docking. As she crossed the bar to go to 
 Hilton Head to take in her spars and other gear, the enemy 
 showed their delight by opening all their guns on the Moni 
 tors and store vessels, compelling them to seek a safer an 
 chorage further down the channel of the roadstead. 
 
 When the ship reached Philadelphia in the middle of 
 June, the officers and men were relieved and given leaves 
 of absence for a brief time. For nearly eighteen months, 
 I had not laid eyes on womankind, and it struck me that 
 there were more pretty girls in Philadelphia than any other 
 city could boast of. 
 
 Within a few brief weeks, I was ordered to the command 
 of the gunboat Seneca ; but after some two months ser 
 vice in her, I was transferred to the command of the Mon 
 itor Canonicus, two 15-inch guns, up the James River. 
 We had two or three fights with the enemy s batteries at 
 Drury s Bluff, and then the ship was ordered to Newbern 
 and Fort Fisher with the rest of Porter s fleet. Taking 
 part in all the naval fighting there, the ship, on the capture 
 of that stronghold, was ordered to proceed to Charleston 
 and report to Admiral Dahlgren. Nothing could have 
 
200 
 
 been pleasanter than the manner of the Admiral when I 
 reported ; but I found the same old scenes and methods 
 awaiting me, though to give one a reminder, as it were, of 
 the torpedo scare days, the Patapsco had fouled a torpedo 
 off Moultrie the night before, and went down with a loss 
 of 42 officers and men, making the third Monitor that had 
 been sunk during the siege. Admiral Sampson was the 
 executiv6 officer, and during this Spanish war we have been 
 told that he was blown sky-high into the air, although it 
 was not chronicled at the time. 
 
 Resumption of duty there seemed almost second nature, 
 and things went on in much the same old way, except that 
 the big crew and spacious decks of the Ironsides were not 
 ably missed in my case. But the end was drawing near. 
 On the night of Feb. 17, 1865, I had the advance picket 
 duty in the Canonicus, supported by the Mahopac and 
 several tugs and picketrboats. 
 
 The wind was fresh from the N. W. Throughout the 
 entire night the army and naval batteries on Morris Island 
 kept up a heavy fire on the rebel batteries on Sullivan s 
 Island, to which the rebels replied by an occasional gun 
 from Moultrie during the first watch. Heavy explosions 
 were heard in the direction of James Island. And it was 
 said our signal officers on Morris Island read this signal 
 from Moultrie to the garrison on James Island : " I 
 wonder if the d d Yankees know what we are doing 
 to-night! " Towards morning, heavy fires broke out in 
 the city, and explosions occurred from time to time. 
 At break of day, all the tugs and picket boats, with 
 the exception of the tug Catalpa, returned to the bar 
 anchorage. 
 
 About 6.30 A.M., the Canonicus got under way, and 
 steamed up the channel towards Fort Moultrie, the Maho 
 pac and the Catalpa following ; but the air was so hazy, 
 and so filled with smoke, that only a dim outline of 
 
201 
 
 the city and the adjacent islands could be seen. About 
 7.30 A.M., the sun cleared the atmosphere a little, and the 
 Canonicus approached to within long range of Moultrie, 
 and threw two shells into that work, being, as events after 
 ward demonstrated, the last hostile shots fired in the siege 
 of Charleston. These shots eliciting no response, a tug 
 was immediately dispatched to Capt. Scott, senior officer 
 present inside the bar, to inform him that no movement 
 was discoverable on Sullivan s Island. The rebel flag was 
 still flying there, however, as well as on Castle Pinckney, 
 Fort Marshall, and in the city ; and some twenty minutes 
 after throwing the shells into Fort Moultrie, a magazine 
 blew up in Battery Bee. Judging from these indications 
 that a party of rebels still remained on the island to com 
 plete the destruction of their stores and magazines, it was 
 not deemed prudent to risk a boat s crew on shore until 
 the state of affairs was better known, nor (with the recent 
 fate of the Patapsco staring us in the face) was it deemed 
 justifiable to risk the Canonicus in a further reconnaissance 
 up the channel. 
 
 Soon after the explosion in Battery Bee, all hands were 
 piped to breakfast, and the Canonicus steamed slowly 
 down towards Wagner Buoy, passing the Mahopac on our 
 way. When nearly down to Wagner Buoy, an Army 
 boat was observed to push off from Cummings Point and 
 pull in the direction of Sumter; and a few minutes later, 
 a boat, showing a white flag, was discovered pulling over 
 from Sullivan s Island. The Canonicus was immediately 
 put about, and was soon steaming up the channel again 
 at full speed. A boat was also manned, and armed, and 
 sent in charge of Acting Ensign R. E. Anson, to land on 
 Sullivan s Island and bring off the rebel flag, flying on 
 Moultrie, if possible. In the meantime, the Army boat 
 and a boat from the Mahopac had communicated with the 
 boat carrying a flag of truce, and now all three boats were 
 
202 
 
 pulling for the coveted prize the Moultrie flag. The 
 Army boat had the start, however, and after a hard pull, 
 reached the beach a few lengths ahead of the other boats. 
 Mr. Anson then changed his course, and landing at Fort 
 Beauregard, hoisted the national colors on that work ; the 
 Mahopac s boat, pulling in the opposite direction, soon put 
 the flag on the flag-staff of Battery Bee. Slow matches, 
 leading into all the principal magazines, had been fired, 
 but all, with the exception of the one applied to the mag 
 azine at Battery Bee, failed to go off. 
 
 While this exciting scene was enacted, another boat 
 pushed off from Battery Gregg, on Cummings Point filled 
 with our soldiers, who, in a few minutes, occupied Sumter, 
 and placed the flag again on the ruins of that work. As 
 the officer jumped ashore with the colors in his hand, the 
 crews of the Canonicus and Mahopac joined with the Army 
 in nine rousing cheers at the glorious termination of all 
 their trials and discomfiture, anxieties and hard work, at 
 this fountain-head of treason and rebellion. A little later, 
 the tug Catalpa steamed into the harbor, and took posses 
 sion of Mount Pleasant Battery, while a boat from the 
 Catskill landed at Battery Marshall. By this time Cap 
 tain Scott had arrived at the front, and about one o clock 
 the Admiral arrived, and went up to the city in the Har 
 vest Moon. The evacuation of Sullivan s Island must have 
 been very hurriedly conducted, as the guns and ammunition 
 were left in perfect condition, very few of the former 
 being spiked. In some of the batteries cartridges were 
 found lying on the gun-carriages, and projectiles immedi 
 ately under the muzzles of the guns, as though they were 
 abandoned in the act of loading. 
 
 The last shot fired at the naval branch of the siege, was 
 fired from a rifled gun in Moultrie, at the Canonicus, on 
 the 4th of February. The projectile was an eight-inch 
 shell, and struck the ship just abaft the smoke-stack, ex- 
 
203 
 
 ploding on the impact, but doing no other harm than cut 
 ting away a boat davit. 
 
 The last blockade runner that attempted to get into 
 Charleston was the English steamer Deer. On the morn 
 ing of the evacuation of the defences of that city by the 
 Confederates when Sherman came up in their rear, the 
 late Commodore Barrett and myself went ashore on Sulli 
 van s Island, and in Fort Moultrie we got hold of the sig 
 nal code the rebels had used to assure the incoming 
 blockade runners that everything was all right for them 
 to run in. 
 
 Equipped in such wise we went ashore again just after 
 nightfall to await developments. Pretty soon, as the twi 
 light deepened, the sound of a steamer s screw announced 
 the near presence of a blockade runner, and we threw out 
 the accustomed signals. 
 
 A few moments later the long, low, lead-colored hull 
 of the vessel began to show itself creeping close along 
 the shore of the island in what is known as Maffit s 
 channel. 
 
 As she got near, we hailed her to stop, and told her 
 that we would send a boat alongside. We then jumped 
 into our respective boats and pulled for her. Barrett, 
 having the faster boat, got alongside first, and boarding 
 her announced to the astonished -Captain that he was a 
 prisoner. The steamer had several passengers on board, 
 and among them were two or three Englishmen. The 
 disgust of the Captain and his passengers, and the officers 
 and crew can be better imagined than described. 
 
 The steamer was a brand new craft, making her first 
 trip. Her owners had little thought when they named 
 her the Deer that she would soon prove to be a dear in 
 vestment for them. The profits of successful trips from 
 Nassau to Charleston or Wilmington were enormous. 
 They sometimes netted 800 per cent : and if one vessel out 
 
204 
 
 of three got in and out safely, back and forth, the ventures 
 paid well. Indeed, a clear profit of $300,000 for a round 
 trip was not unusual. 
 
 For several days before the enemy abandoned Charles 
 ton, the Admiral had been busy in visiting different 
 points in the vicinity of the city. The night of the 
 evacuation he was in Stono inlet. Up to 10 o clock A.M. 
 of the 18th, he had been unable to get definite news of 
 the enemy s withdrawal. At that hour he steamed out 
 of Stono to see for himself. He says in his diary, " By 
 1 P. M. reached the bar and steamed in ; everything looked 
 as usual. Could not see our flag, but the Monitors looked 
 higher up." The Monitors, indeed, were well up between 
 Moultrie and Sumter, and when the Admiral reached 
 their vicinity, all the Captains went on board his vessel 
 and accompanied him to the city. Not a soul was to be 
 seen in any direction when we landed. Desolation and 
 ruin were apparent on every hand. The silence was 
 oppressive, and after wandering for a while through the 
 deserted and grass-grown streets, we were glad to return to 
 our respective ships. 
 
 I saw no more of Charleston, for I was soon ordered to 
 go with the Canonicus to Hilton Head. After a few days 
 rest there Acting Rear Admiral S. W. Godon, came in 
 with his flagship Powhatan with orders for the Monad- 
 nock and Canonicus to join his special squadron to 
 Havana in quest of the rebel iron-clad Stonewall. 
 
 When I went to say good-by to Admiral Dahlgren he 
 seemed to be much disturbed at a letter he had received 
 from the Bureau of Ordnance, asking his consent to have 
 his 9-inch and 11-inch guns cast in future on the Rodman 
 principle. He talked more than an hour in the most in 
 structive and fascinating way upon the subject of naval 
 ordnance. Among other things he said, " Several thou 
 sand of my guns have been in constant use during the 
 
205 
 
 war, and not one of them ever burst or showed the least 
 sign of weakness. Nor have I ever received a cent of 
 royalty from the government. Now," he bitterly con 
 tinued, " they want to change the character of their con 
 struction, but they shall not do it with my consent." He 
 was certainly justified in his anger. 
 
 I never saw him again. As Commander-in-chief in the 
 trying days of the long and memorable siege we have been 
 considering, he made mistakes both of conception and of 
 execution, more or less grave in character, as I thought 
 at the time, and am still constrained to think, but the 
 country never had a braver man, nor the navy a more 
 zealous commander. In ordnance he was unquestionably 
 the ablest and most accomplished officer of his time, 
 whether in our service or in any other. To his genius 
 and labors, let me repeat, the country was indebted for the 
 best and most effective smooth-bore guns the world ever 
 saw until the perfected rifle guns of these days have ren 
 dered them comparatively obsolete. It is sad to say that 
 his last days, like those of Du Pont, were embittered by 
 belittling procedures at Washington that left their sting of 
 injustice and brand of discourtesy to rankle in his breast 
 and hasten his end. 
 
 Had Mr. Lincoln lived to complete his second term, the 
 Admiral would not have been subjected to the annoyances 
 that so beclouded the last years of his career, for the 
 great President ever held Dahlgren in great esteem and 
 honor. 
 
 We know that Mr. Lincoln was not given to profanity, 
 but it was said that upon one occasion during the war 
 when he was approached with a request to relieve Dahl 
 gren from his command, the President refused to do so 
 with great heat, saying that " he would be damned if he 
 would do anything to discredit or disgrace John A. 
 Dahlgren." The President did not forget the dark days 
 
206 
 
 of early 61, when faithful among the few at the Wash 
 ington Navy Yard, Dahlgren stood by the flag and became 
 a tower of strength to the Administration in naval matters 
 when treason stalked forth in the land and secessionists 
 in their desperation hoped to seize and possess that im 
 portant naval base but two miles away from the White 
 House. 
 
 Let me close this paper in recalling an incident con 
 nected with the capture of the British steamer Cumbria 
 by the gunboat Huron, Commander Downes, off Charles 
 ton, May, 1862. 
 
 After an exciting chase of some ten hours we got near 
 enough to reach her with shells from our 20-pounder 
 Parrott rifle mounted on the topgallant forecastle. At 
 first the chase paid no attention to the work of the gun, 
 but pretty soon a shell whizzed just over the head of the 
 helmsman, who in his fright sprang away from the wheel. 
 This caused the steamer to fall into the trough of the 
 sea, and to lose ground. Her captain, now seeing that 
 the game was up, stopped his engines and waited for the 
 Huron to come up. 
 
 When I boarded the vessel to take possession of her as 
 a lawful prize of war, the Captain said, " This is hard 
 luck; it is a bonus of ,2,000 pounds out of my pocket. 
 I was to have been paid that sum in addition to my regu 
 lar pay if I ran the Cumbria safely into Charleston." 
 
 The Cumbria was a fine steamer, laden with clothing, 
 blankets, medicines and other articles needed by the 
 Confederacy. Her Captain and officers were dressed in 
 a uniform similar to that worn by the British Naval 
 Reserve. 
 
 She had several cabin passengers on board, who learned 
 to their astonishment that they must go to Philadelphia 
 and not to Charleston, and they were invited to pay a 
 visit to the Huron. " Why," said the astonished British- 
 
207 
 
 ers, as they stepped over the gang-way of the Huron, 
 " this is a real man-of-war ; how clean she is, and the 
 officers are gentlemen. What a fine looking man the 
 Captain is. They told us the Yankees had no navy 
 only a few old merchant steamers with a rough lot of 
 officers and no sailors ! " And such was John Bull in 
 those days ! 
 
THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 
 
 BY 
 
 COMMODOKE FOXHALL A. PAKKEE, TJ.S.K 
 Read December 10, 1877. 
 
THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. 
 
 That arm of the Gulf of Mexico, which, extending for 
 thirty-five miles into the state of Alabama and varying in 
 width from seven to fifteen miles, is known as Mobile Bay, 
 will ever be regarded with interest by the student of 
 history. For there is scarcely a rood of its shores but has 
 served as the last resting-place of one of the early dis 
 coverers, while the bay itself derives its name from the 
 Indian town of Manvila, whose governor, the gigantic 
 Tascaluc.a, received Hernando de Soto, seated, while all 
 around him stood, and his standard-bearer unfolded that 
 banner which excited the astonishment of the Spaniards, 
 and was so soon to be waved defiantly in their midst ; for 
 in Manvila s blood-stained streets it was, that, among 
 other cavaliers of note, De Soto s two nephews fell. 
 
 During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 
 Mobile Bay fell into the hands of the French and Span 
 iards, alternately ; in 1812 it was taken possession of by 
 United States troops, and annexed to Mississippi territory, 
 and in 1819 it became included within the limits of the 
 State of Alabama. 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1814, the stillness that 
 usually hangs over its sluggish waters was for the first 
 time broken by the roar of heavy artillery (for it was on 
 that day that the British squadron, under Percy, was re 
 pulsed in its attack on the little redoubt called Fort 
 Bowyer, with a loss of one vessel, the Hermes, and over 
 two hundred men) ; and on August 5, 1864, it was rudely 
 
 211 
 
212 
 
 awakened from its half-century slumber by the noise of 
 the great battle which it has become my province to 
 describe. 
 
 Alabama, having thrown her sword into the scale of the 
 Southern Confederacy in January, 1861, turned her first 
 thoughts toward the security of her only seaport, Mobile. 
 To this end Governor Moore seized upon the United < 
 States Arsenal in the city, and garrisoned with State & 
 troops Forts Morgan and Gaines. As these forts, being at 
 the entrance of Mobile Bay, were the keys to Mobile 
 from the Gulf side, a brief description of their condition 
 and armament must now be given. 
 
 Fort Morgan, on the site of old Fort Bowyer, is a pen 
 tagonal, bastioned work, built of brick, whose full scarp, 
 wall is four feet, eight inches thick. It is located on the 
 main land at the west end of Mobile Point, and mounted, 
 at the time of the passage of Farragut s fleet, eighty-six 
 guns of various calibres, consisting of rifled 32 s, 
 10-inch columbiads, and two 7- and 8-inch, " Brooke 
 rifles." In each of its bastion-flanks were two smooth 
 bore 24- pounders. Twenty-nine additional guns were 
 placed in the exterior batteries, of which the most 
 formidable, "the water battery," bore two rifled thirty- 
 twos, four 10-inch columbiads, and one 8-inch Brooke 
 rifle. Within the fort was a citadel (containing quarters 
 for soldiers), whose brick walls, loop-holed for musketry, 
 were four feet in thickness. The garrison of the fort, 
 including officers and men, numbered six hundred and 
 forty. 
 
 Fort Gaines, erected on the ruins of Fort Tombigbee, 
 stands at the eastern extremity of Dauphine Island, three 
 nautical miles in a W. N. W. direction from Fort Morgan. 
 It is built of brick, in the form of a star, with semi 
 detached scarp five feet thick, and small works in angles 
 for flank defence. When invested by General Granger it 
 
213 
 
 had forty-four gun platforms laid ; but upon only thirty 
 of them were guns mounted, of which three were colum- 
 biads, and the rest 32- and 24-pounders. Its garrison 
 consisted of forty-six officers and eight hundred and 
 eighteen men. 
 
 On the flats to the southward and eastward of Fort 
 Gaines innumerable piles were driven to obstruct the pas 
 sage of small vessels; and from] these two lines of torpe 
 does extended to ward j Fort Morgan, and their eastern 
 limit was marked by a large red buoy. The channel be 
 tween this and the fort was left open for blockade run 
 ners, and, being but a few hundred yards wide, forced 
 every vessel using it to pass close to the fort. 
 
 Such were the works, and such the means employed for 
 guarding the main ship channel. But about six nautical 
 miles northwest of Fort Gaines there is a narrow cut for 
 light-draught vessels, called Grant s Pass, which it was 
 also deemed necessary to prevent the blockading fleet 
 from getting possession of. For this purpose, between 
 Cedar Point and Little Dauphine Island, on an islet of 
 mostly made land, covering an area of about half an acre, 
 the Confederates had begun the construction of a redoubt, 
 which they called Fort Powell. The front-face of the 
 work was nearly completed, and in a defensible condition, 
 mounting one 8-inch columbiad and one 6 T 4 ^ and two 
 7-inch Brooke rifles. The face looking toward Fort 
 Gaines was about half finished, its parapets being nearly 
 complete, while its galleries and traverses had only been 
 framed. The rear face was without parapets; and the 
 10-inch columbiad and 7-inch Brooke rifle mounted there 
 were exposed from the platform up. This part of the 
 fort was strewed with a large quantity of lumber, which 
 was being used in the construction of galleries, magazines, 
 etc. 
 
 Inside of these defences, to the northward of, and 
 
214 
 
 about five hundred yards distant from, Fort Morgan, lay 
 the iron-clad steamer Tennessee, two hundred and nine 
 feet in length and forty-eight feet broad, with an iron 
 spur projecting beyond her bow at a depth of two feet 
 below the water-line, which made her, in public estima 
 tion, the most formidable ram of her time. Yet, not trust 
 ing to ramming alone for victory, she carried in her 
 casemate, whose sloping sides covered with armor, vary 
 ing in thickness from five to six inches, were supposed to 
 be impenetrable to shot, six Brooke rifled cannon. Of 
 these two were pivot and the others broadside guns, the 
 former throwing solid projectiles of one hundred and ten 
 pounds weight, the latter solid projectiles of ninety-five 
 pounds weight. The ports, of which there were ten, were 
 so arranged that the pivot guns could be fought in broad 
 side, sharp on the bow and quarter, and on a direct line 
 with the keel. Her vital defect was her steering gear, 
 which was badly arranged and much exposed. 
 
 As but little is known, outside of the state of Alabama, 
 of the history of this vessel, which bore the whole brunt 
 of the battle on the Confederate side after the Union 
 fleet had fairly passed the forts, the following resume of 
 it cannot fail to prove interesting, I am sure, to the 
 majority of my hearers assembled here to-night. She was 
 built at Selma, on the Alabama River, in the winter of 
 63- 64 ; and, so soon as her frame was put together, she 
 was towed to Mobile to receive her armor and armament ; 
 both of which, it is said, were made of iron taken from 
 the ground early in 63, at the very time that the timber 
 was being cut in the forests, which, after passing through 
 the hands of the shipwright, was used in the construction 
 of her hull. About four months were consumed in put 
 ting on her plating, and this made her mean draught of 
 water a little less than thirteen feet. On her trial trip in 
 March, 64, her speed was set down at eight knots ; but 
 
215 
 
 this was afterwards reduced to six, by the increased draft 
 caused by her heavy battery and ammunition and the 
 supply of fuel required to be placed on board after she 
 was taken down^the bay. 
 
 And now, the ram being ready, the great problem to 
 solve was how to get her over Dog River bar, on which 
 at high tide the depth of water was but eight feet. To 
 effect this long wooden tanks or caissons, called in 
 nautical language camels, were prepared, so fashioned as 
 to fit tightly to the Tennessee s bottom. These were 
 to be placed on either side of the vessel, sunk, by 
 being filled with water, and then lashed securely in 
 their places with heavy chains; after which, the water 
 being pumped out, they would rise by their buoyancy, 
 and of course lift the ship with them, if the lashings 
 held. 
 
 The camels were just pronounced by their designer 
 ready for service, when they were fired and destroyed ; 
 yet, not discouraged thereby, the Confederates set to work 
 with a will to fell trees for the making of others. This 
 being successfully accomplished, the Tennessee, in May, 
 64, was raised some seven feet out of water, and carried 
 across the bar into Mobile Bay. 
 
 Near the Tennessee were anchored three wooden gun 
 boats ; viz., the Morgan, the Gaines, and the Selma. 
 The Morgan carried one 63-cwt. 8-inch gun, and five 57-cwt. 
 32-pounders ; the Gaines, one Brooke rifle, and five 57- 
 cwt. 32-pounders ; the Selma, three 8-inch Paixhans, and 
 one old-fashioned heavy 32-pounder converted to a rifle 
 and banded at the breech, throwing a solid projectile 
 weighing about sixty pounds. During the time that the 
 Alabamians were putting their forts into the condition 
 described above, and assembling their vessels, they were 
 almost unmolested. A small squadron, it is true, had 
 been despatched early in May, 1861, to blockade Mobile 
 
216 
 
 Bay, which Fort Morgan welcomed by displaying under 
 the Confederate flag a United States ensign with its 
 "Union down," and after the capture of New Orleans 
 that squadron was augmented until it had reached the 
 proportions of a fleet ; but it was not until every strong 
 hold on the Mississippi had fallen into our hands, and 
 the Confederacy was thereby cut in twain, that the 
 Government seriously directed its attention to the reduc 
 tion of Mobile. Accordingly, on January 20th, 1864, we 
 find Farragut, who possessed all its confidence, making a 
 reconnoissance of the defences of Mobile Bay, and thus 
 writing of them to the Navy Department: 
 
 " I went in over the bar in the gunboat Octorora, Lieu 
 tenant-Commander Lowe, taking the Itasca in company as 
 a precaution against accident. We passed up to Sand 
 Island, and laid abreast of the light-house on it. The day 
 was uncommonly fine, and the air very clear. We were 
 distant from the forts three (3) and three and a half 
 (3J) miles, and could see everything distinctly. 
 
 " I am satisfied that, if I had one iron-clad at this time, 
 I could destroy their whole force in the bay, and reduce 
 the forts at my leisure, by co-operation with our land 
 forces, say five thousand men. We must have about 
 two thousand five hundred men in the rear of each fort 
 to make regular approaches by land, and to prevent the 
 garrison s receiving supplies and re-enforcements; the 
 fleet to run the batteries, and fight the flotilla in the bay. 
 But without iron-clads we should not be able to fight the 
 enemy s vessels of that class with much prospect of 
 success, as the latter would lie on the flats, where our 
 ships could not go to destroy them. Wooden vessels can 
 do nothing with them unless by getting within one 
 hundred or two hundred yards, so as to ram them or pour 
 in a broadside. 
 
 " The iron-clad Nashville, I am told by a refugee, will 
 
217 
 
 not be ready before March ; and he says Buchanan made 
 a speech to his men, saying that, as soon as she is finished, 
 he will raise the blockade, etc. It is depressing to see 
 how easily false reports circulate, and in what a state of 
 alarm the community is kept by the most absurd rumors. 
 If the Department could get one or two of the iron-clads 
 here, it would put an end to this state of things, and re 
 store confidence to the people of the ports now in our 
 possession. 
 
 " I feel no apprehension about Buchanan s raising the 
 blockade of Mobile ; but with such a force as he has in 
 the bay, it would be unwise to take in our wooden vessels 
 without the means of fighting the enemy on an equal foot 
 ing. By reference to the [chart you will see how small a 
 space there is for the ships to manoeuvre." 
 
 Early in May the Tennessee, having been floated upon 
 camels, as we have said, over Dog River bar, steamed 
 across the bay, in full view of the blockading fleet ; and 
 Farragut seems to have been greatly; impressed with her 
 warlike appearance. " Unless she fails in some particu 
 lar," he reports to the Department, " I fear it will be 
 much more difficult to take Mobile than it would have 
 been one" week ago." 
 
 Day by day now, however, the Rear Admiral s spirits 
 rose as fresh vessels reported to him for duty ; and on the 
 12th of July he issued General Order No. 10, wherein, 
 after presenting the manner in which the ships shall be 
 stripped for the conflict, he says : 
 
 " The vessels will run past the forts in couples, lashed 
 side by side, as hereinafter designated. The flagship will 
 lead and steer from Sand Island N. by E. by compass, 
 until abreast of Fort Morgan, then N.W. ^ N. until past 
 the Middle Ground, then N. by W. ; and the others, as 
 designated in the drawing, will follow in due order, until 
 ordered to anchor ; but the bow and quarter line must be 
 
218 
 
 preserved, to give the chase-guns a fair range, and each 
 vessel must be kept astern of the broadside of the next 
 ahead. Each vessel will keep a very little on the star 
 board quarter of her next ahead, and, when abreast of 
 the fort, will keep directly astern, and, as we pass the 
 fort, will take the same distance on the port-quarter of 
 the next ahead, to enable the stern-guns to fire clear of 
 the next vessel astern. 
 
 " It will be the object of the Admiral to get as close to 
 the fort as possible before opening fire ; the ships, however, 
 will open fire with their chase and other guns, as fast as 
 they can be brought to bear, the moment the enemy opens 
 upon us. Use short fuzes for the shell and shrapnel, and, 
 as soon as within three or four hundred yards, give the 
 grape. It is understood that heretofore we have fired too 
 high; but with grape-shot it is necessary to elevate a 
 little above the object, as grape will * dribble from the 
 muzzle of the gun. If one or more of the vessels be dis 
 abled, their partners must carry them through, if possible ; 
 but if they cannot, then the next astern must render the 
 required assistance ; but, as the Admiral contemplates 
 moving with the flood-tide, it will only require sufficient 
 power to keep the crippled vessels in the channel. 
 
 " Vessels that can must place guns upon the poop and 
 topgallant forecastle, and in the tops on the starboard 
 side. Should the enemy fire grape, they will remove the 
 men from the topgallant forecastle and poop to the guns 
 below, until out of grape range. 
 
 " The howitzers must keep up a constant fire with shrap 
 nel from the time they can reach until out of range." 
 
 On July 29th, General Order No. 10 was supplemented 
 by these, Farragut s last written instructions to his com 
 manders before engaging : " Should any vessel be disabled 
 to such a degree that her consort is unable to keep her 
 in her station, she will drop out of line to the westward, 
 
219 
 
 and not embarrass the vessels next astern by attempt 
 ing to regain her station. Should she repair damages 
 so as to be able to re-enter the line of battle, she will 
 take her station in the rear, as close to the last vessel as 
 possible. 
 
 " So soon as the vessels have passed the fort, and kept 
 away northwest, they can cast off the gunboats at the 
 discretion of the senior officer of the two vessels, and 
 allow them to proceed up the bay to cut off any of the 
 enemy s gunboats that may be attempting to escape to 
 Mobile. There are certain black buoys, placed by the 
 enemy, from the piles on the west side of the channel 
 across it towards Fort Morgan. It being understood that 
 there are torpedoes and other obstructions between the 
 buoys, the vessels will take care to pass eastward of the 
 easternmost buoy, which is clear of all obstructions." 
 
 While all this was happening afloat, the great general, 
 who, after he had taken Vicksburg in violation of every 
 recognized military principle, and beaten Bragg at Mis 
 sionary Ridge, was invested with supreme command 
 ashore, failed not to recognize the importance of massing 
 troops in Alabama to co-operate with the fleet. " Assum 
 ing," says Andrews, "that the Red River expedition 
 would be successful, Grant, on the 31st of March, 1864, 
 in a despatch to Banks, expressed the opinion that, after 
 reserving a force sufficient to guard the Mississippi River, 
 he (Banks) would have left, according to the last returns, 
 a force of over thirty thousand effective men with which 
 to move against Mobile ; to which he expected to add 
 five thousand men from Missouri. * If, however, he con 
 tinued, you think the force here stated too small to hold 
 the territory regarded as necessary to hold, I would say 
 concentrate at least twenty-five thousand men of your 
 present command for operations against Mobile; with 
 these, and such other additions as I can give you from 
 
220 
 
 elsewhere, lose no time in making a demonstration, to 
 be followed by an attack. " 
 
 The defeat of Banks, however, inspirited the Confed 
 erates west of the Mississippi to such a degree that they 
 at once assumed the offensive ; so that General Canby, 
 Banks s successor, rinding ample employment for all his 
 forces in Arkansas and Louisiana, was unable to carry 
 out his superior s instructions, especially as he had been 
 compelled to send six thousand men of his command to 
 Washington, then menaced by Early. Grant thereupon 
 postponed his contemplated movement upon Mobile to a 
 more convenient season, contenting himself, meanwhile, 
 with sending an order to Canby to despatch to Farragut 
 the troops necessary to invest Forts Gaines and Morgan. 
 
 Circumstances, however, making it impossible for Canb} r 
 to spare men enough to invest both forts at once, it was 
 agreed, at Farragut s suggestion, that Gaines should be 
 first invested. 
 
 For this purpose, on the afternoon of August 3d, fifteen 
 hundred men were landed on Dauphine Island, by the 
 boats, and under cover of the guns of a flotilla commanded 
 by Lieutenant-Commander J. C. P. De Kraft. 
 
 The troops, which consisted of detachments from the 
 77th Illinois, 34th Iowa, 96th Ohio, 3d Maryland dis 
 mounted cavalry, and Cobb s colored regiment of engineers, 
 under the immediate orders of Brigadier-General MeGin- 
 nis, and accompanied by General Gordon Granger as com- 
 mander-in-chief, took up their march the moment they 
 reached the shore for Fort Gaines, distant from them 
 fifteen miles. Their progress through the heavy sand 
 was slow and laborious ; and when night shut in, with a 
 drenching rain, so intense was the darkness that " three 
 times the skirmish line got in rear of the main column." 
 They pushed forward with spirit, however, until midnight, 
 and then at the word of command threw themselves down 
 
221 
 
 on the wet ground without a murmur, and slept the sleep 
 of the weary, until awakened by the bugles of the morrow, 
 when they resumed their march, and before the day closed 
 were intrenched about the fort, their skirmish line being 
 less than half a mile from it. 
 
 At sunrise on the 5th Fort Gaines opened fiercely upon 
 the besiegers ; but an hour later the sharp crack of its 
 rifles was hushed by the loud continuous roar of artillery 
 on the opposite side of the channel, where the magnificent 
 spectacle presented itself of Farragut s fleet, wreathed 
 in smoke, its leading vessels one sheet of fire from 
 their starboard batteries, forcing the passage of Fort 
 Morgan. 
 
 From the day General Order No. 10 was promulgated, up 
 to the very moment of conflict, the greatest activity had 
 prevailed in the Union fleet, all of whose vessels had in 
 turn visited Pensacola (but a few hours sail from Mobile), 
 to get ready for the fray. In the ships carrying spars 
 nothing above the topmasts was left standing, and the Rich 
 mond had wisely struck and landed even her topmasts and 
 topsail yards. On the outside of each vessel, in the wake 
 of her engines and boilers, chain cables were ranged fore 
 and aft, and inside sand bags were placed from stem to 
 stern, and from the berth to the spar deck ; and in short 
 every contrivance that Yankee ingenuity could suggest 
 was resorted to for the protection of the vessels and their 
 crews from shot and shell, from splinters and falling spars. 
 
 Farragut had fully intended to run into the bay on the 
 day the troops were landed on Dauphine Island ; but his 
 design was frustrated by the non-arrival of the Monitor 
 Tecumseh until the evening of August 4th, when she 
 steamed in and took up her anchorage in the Sand Island 
 channel, with her consorts the Winnebago, Manhattan, 
 and Chickasaw. 
 
 On the following morning at four o clock the wooden 
 
222 
 
 vessels, which were anchored three and a half miles S.S.E. 
 of the iron-clads, commenced getting underway, and form 
 ing double column, or column of twos lashed together, the 
 starboard vessels of which were the Brooklyn, Hartford, 
 Richmond, Lackawanna, Monongahela, Ossipee,and Oneida ; 
 the port ones, the Octorora, Metacomet, Port Royal, Semi- 
 nole, Kennebec, Itasca, and Galena. 
 
 The inboard and starboard waist and quarter boats of 
 many of the vessels of the fleet had been left at Pensa- 
 cola ; the others were being carried (lowered to the water s 
 edge), or towed out of harm s way on the port side of the 
 column, with the exception of the little Loyal, the Ad 
 miral s steam barge, which, with its saucy howitzer in the 
 bows, was making its way into rebeldom unaided. 
 
 As the Brooklyn had four chase-guns, and was pre 
 sented with a torpedo-catcher, Farragut, at the instance of 
 his captains, had given her the lead. " They urged it 
 upon me," he says in his report to the Secretary of the 
 Navy, " because in their judgment the flag-ship ought not 
 to be too much exposed. This I believe to be an error ; 
 for, apart from the fact that exposure is one of the penal 
 ties of rank in the navy, it will always be the aim of the 
 enemy to destroy the flag-ship, and such attempt was very 
 persistently made, but Providence did not permit it to be 
 successful." 
 
 The Hartford, a vessel already of historic fame from 
 her having borne the flag of Farragut at New Orleans, 
 was destined to bear it again in triumph on this memorable 
 occasion. She was a screw ship of the second class, with 
 full sail power, and of nineteen hundred tons burden ; her 
 extreme length being two hundred and twenty-five feet, 
 her greatest breadth of beam forty-four, and her mean 
 draught of water, with everything in, sixteen feet three 
 inches. Her engines were direct-acting, developing a 
 speed of eight knots, and her greatest speed under sail and 
 
223 
 
 steam combined was eleven knots. Her armament con 
 sisted of eighteen 9-inch Dahlgrens, two 100-pound Par- 
 rotts, and one 30-pound Parrott ; and the whole weight of 
 solid projectiles thrown by her at a broadside was nine 
 hundred and eighty pounds. 
 
 The Brooklyn and the Richmond were sister ships to 
 the Hartford, the Lackawanna and Monongahela about 
 five hundred tons smaller ; and from the Monongahela the 
 fleet gradually decreased in size and armament, until we 
 reach the little Itasca of five hundred tons, with a bat 
 tery of one 11-inch gun, two 32-pounder, of 57 cwt, two 
 20-pounder Parrotts, and one 12-pounder Dahlgren. 
 
 The Tecumseh and the Manhattan were single-turreted 
 monitors of the burden of five hundred and fifty tons, 
 whose extreme length was two hundred and twenty-five 
 feet, and extreme beam forty-three feet. The diameter of 
 their 10-inch turrets, in the clear, was twenty-one feet, 
 and each turret carried a 15-inch gun. Their side-armor 
 was five, their deck-armor two, inches thick, and the 
 height of their decks above water eighteen inches. 
 
 The Chickasaw and the Winnebago were not so heavily 
 armored as their consorts, and differed from them in 
 having two turrets each, and in their light draught of 
 water, which was but six feet. In each of their turrets 
 were mounted two 11-inch guns. 
 
 The total weight of metal of the advancing fleet was 
 fourteen thousand two hundred and six pounds; that 
 thrown by it at a broadside, nine thousand two hundred 
 and eighty-eight pounds. 
 
 So soon as the vessels were in position, they hoisted 
 an ensign at each mast-head, and steered for the Sand 
 Island channel, the monitors joining them as they crossed 
 "the outer bar," and forming in column of vessels, on 
 their starboard side, abreast of the Brooklyn, Hartford, and 
 Richmond. 
 
224 
 
 The morning was a beautiful one ; the sea smooth, and 
 the sky unclouded ; and, as the fleet steamed steadily up 
 the main ship-channel drum answering drum from van 
 to rear in hoarse summons to the officers and men of each 
 ship to assemble at their quarters De Kraft, who was 
 watching it from the mast-head of the Conemaugh, was 
 struck with its " stately appearance and compact order." 
 " I noticed also with great satisfaction," he remarks, " that 
 a light breeze was springing up from the westward, which 
 must certainly blow the smoke from our guns, as soon as 
 they opened, full upon the fort and batteries." 
 
 At six o clock the Confederate vessels, upon signal 
 from their Admiral, emerged from behind the fort, and 
 took position in single echelon across the channel, with 
 their port batteries bearing upon our fleet. The Selma 
 on the right was in advance and farthest to the north 
 ward, while the ram Tennessee on the left rested a little 
 to the westward of the red buoy, and close to the inner 
 line of torpedoes, upon which, as the tide was flood, there 
 was no danger of her drifting. 
 
 About this time, too, the steamers Genesee, Pinola, 
 Pembina, Sebago, Tennessee and Bienville came to anchor 
 to the southward and eastward of Fort Morgan, and 
 opened fire upon it. The station assigned to them was 
 to the northward of the South East shoal, as close to 
 Mobile Point as they could get, so that they might in a 
 measure keep down the fire of the fort while the fleet 
 was passing it ; but through some misunderstanding per 
 haps on the part of their senior-officer, Lieutenant-Com 
 mander Grafton, they were anchored at such a respectful 
 distance from the shore as to render their fire useless. 
 
 After forty-seven minutes past six the Tecumseh, which 
 was then in the lead about three hundred yards from the 
 Brooklyn, and sharp on her starboard bow, fired her guns, 
 merely for the purpose of scaling them, and then loaded 
 
225 
 
 each with sixty pounds of powder and a steel shot in 
 readiness to engage the ram. 
 
 At six minutes past seven the fort opened, and was 
 replied to by the Brooklyn, and in a few minutes there 
 after the action became general on both sides. 
 
 The scene from the Conemaugh was now grand beyond 
 all description: the forts, batteries, and monitors envel 
 oped in smoke, made luminous by the flashes of their 
 guns; the wooden vessels in plain view, vomiting fire 
 from stem to stern ; and the grand old Admiral in the port 
 main rigging of the Hartford just below the futtock staff, 
 reclining as it were in a sort of bridle or swing passed 
 around his back and under his arms, whose ends were 
 fastened to the futtock shrouds. One hand grasped the 
 rigging and in the other he held a marine glass ; and thus, 
 without danger of losing his hold or footing, he could 
 turn easily in every direction, and see all that was passing 
 below him, on the water and on the land. Beneath him 
 on the poop was his fleet-captain, Percival Drayton, an 
 officer noted for his professional ability and zeal for the 
 service; and in the top above his head, leaning against 
 the rail, stood his trusty pilot, Martin Freeman, whose 
 services should ever be remembered with gratitude by the 
 republic. Communicating through a speaking-tube with 
 the deck of the Hartford, and signalling with his hands to 
 the commanding officer of her consort, LieutenankCom- 
 mander Jouett, who stood on the starboard wheel-house of 
 his vessel, he piloted the flag-ship amid all the vicissitudes 
 of battle with a calmness and intrepidity truly heroic. 
 
 And indeed throughout the whole fleet a spirit of devo 
 tion to duty was manifested, worthy of the descendants of 
 the men who had blown up the Philadelphia in the harbor 
 of Tripoli, followed Perry and McDonough on Lakes Erie 
 and Champlain, and burned a Mexican schooner moored 
 to the Castle of San Juan D Ulloa. 
 
226 
 
 The signal quartermaster, with his flags at hand, kept 
 his glass steadily fixed upon the flag-ship. What cared 
 he for shot or shell, if the signals of the Admiral were but 
 truly transmitted or replied to ? 
 
 The helmsman, with his hands grasping the spokes of 
 the wheel, had ears alone for his Captain and the pilot 
 "Starboard a little!" "Port a little!" he cried from 
 time to time, echoing the orders of his superiors. 
 
 The leadsman in the chains gave out the soundings as 
 coolly and deliberately as if they were entering a friendly 
 harbor, and, mingling with the cries of the helmsman as 
 the water shoaled came the warning words "By the mark, 
 three ! " or, " A quarter less four ! " in the musical tones 
 so dear to seamen. 
 
 The bronzed veteran and the old salt who had seen 
 service in Mexico and China, stood side by side at the 
 guns with the young marine officer and the boy grad 
 uate of the Academy, and each had equal faith in the 
 other ; for all knew that to die for one s country, when 
 need be, is not only " sweet and decorous," but strictly 
 according to Navy teaching, and " the usage of the sea- 
 service." 
 
 And in this faith all went to their posts, prepared to 
 obey the regulations and " fight courageously ; " for in a 
 fleet where a single shell exploding in the boiler of a 
 vessel might subject the engineers and firemen to [the 
 fate of Marsyas, or a torpedo or infernal exploding under 
 her bottom send all hands journeying ad astra, no one 
 could properly be considered a non-combatant. 
 
 The morale of the Union fleet, then, was what the 
 French would call superb ; all, from the highest to the 
 lowest, placing implicit faith in Farragut, and all pre 
 pared to take any risks when led by him. Thus, while 
 the gallant Captain of the Winnebago was coolly walking 
 back and forth on the bridge of his vessel, giving orders, 
 
227 
 
 first to the gunners of one turret, then to those of the 
 other, how to direct their fire, a negro seaman, probably 
 stationed at the life-buoy, was as coolly promenading the 
 poop-deck of the Galena. Seemingly unsconscious of all 
 that was passing around him, this man, with his hands 
 uplifted to Heaven, was loudly singing a negro hymn. 
 God knows what thoughts were passing through his mind 
 on this his day of Jubilee ! 
 
 At a quarter past seven the flag-ship signalled to the 
 wooden vessels " Closer order" when the column was 
 closed as compactly as possible, the bows of each pair of 
 vessels being within a few yards of the vessels next 
 ahead, and a little on their starboard quarter. The fleet 
 was now heading about a point to the left of Fort Morgan, 
 its rear being past Sand Island, and the van within a half- 
 mile of the water-battery, whose galling fire, as well as 
 that of the Confederate squadron, could only be replied 
 to by the bow-chasers of its leading vessels. 
 
 By half past seven the Tecumseh, which still main 
 tained her position ahead of the Brooklyn, was well up 
 with the fort, and drawing slowly by the Tennessee, 
 leaving her on the port beam. At this moment, when 
 the eyes of all were riveted upon the ironclads, expecting 
 to see them hotly engaged so soon as the Tecumseh 
 should have passed the lines of torpedoes intervening 
 between them, the Brooklyn and the Hartford poured a 
 broadside into Fort Morgan, driving the enemy helter- 
 skelter from their barbette and water-batteries. 
 
 The sight was an inspiriting one ; and in the enthusiasm 
 of the moment, the gallant Craven, who thirsted for the 
 honor of engaging the ram singly, gave the fatal order, 
 " Hard-a-Starloard ! " and dashed straight at her, Us 
 course taking Mm to the westward of the large red luoy. 
 The bow gun of the Tennessee, loaded with a steel bolt 
 weighing one hundred and forty pounds, was kept steadily 
 
228 
 
 trained upon the Monitor as she advanced. " Do not 
 fire, Mr. Wharton," cried Captain Johnston of the Tennes 
 see to the lieutenant in charge of her first division, " until 
 the vessels are in actual contact." " Aye, aye, Sir," was 
 the cool response of Wharton, as he stepped to the breech 
 of the bow gun " in expectation of a deadly fight at close 
 quarters." Scarce were the words uttered when the 
 Tecumseh, reeling to port, as from an earthquake shock, 
 foundered head foremost with almost every soul on board, 
 destroyed by a torpedo. A few of her crew were ob 
 served to leap wildly from her turret ; for an instant her 
 screw was seen revolving in air and then there was 
 nothing left to show that the Tecumseh had ever formed 
 one of that proud Union fleet, but a small boat washed 
 from her deck, and a number of half drowned men strug 
 gling fiercely for life in the seething waters which had 
 closed over their vessel forever. Such was the fate of 
 the Tecumseh ! 
 
 Short shrift had they who went down with her I Yet 
 short as the time of her foundering was, it has furnished 
 us with one of those magnificent episodes of war which 
 make famous the annals of nations. Craven and Mr. 
 John Collins, the pilot of the Tecumseh, met, as their 
 vessel was sinking beneath them, at the foot of the ladder 
 leading to the top of the turret. Great and good men 
 often err ; but they differ from ordinary mortals in this, 
 that they are willing to atone for their errors, even with 
 their lives if necessary. It may be then, that Craven 
 in the nobility of his soul for all know he was one of 
 nature s noblemen it may be, I say, that in the nobility 
 of his soul the thought flashed across him, that it was 
 through no fault of his pilot that the Tecumseh was in 
 this peril he drew back " After you, pilot," said he 
 grandly. " There was nothing after me," relates Mr. 
 Collins, who fortunately lived to tell this tale of heroism. 
 
229 
 
 " When I reached the utmost round of the ladder, the 
 vessel seemed to drop from under me." 
 
 Yet Craven s words, carried to heaven by approving 
 angels as evidence of man s humanity to man, will live 
 forever in the book of life, with no tear on the page to 
 efface the record. Therefore the Navy points with exul 
 tation not regret to the buoy off Fort Morgan, which 
 watches over his iron tomb. 
 
 His sword is rust, 
 
 His body dust 
 
 His soul is with the Saints, we trust. 
 
 Appalled at the disaster to the Tecumseh, the Brooklyn 
 stopped. " What is the matter with the Brooklyn ? " 
 asked the Admiral anxiously ; " Freeman, she must have 
 plenty of water there ! " " Plenty of water and to spare, 
 Admiral," replied the sturdy pilot : " but her screw is 
 moving ; I think she is going ahead again, Sir." " Ahead 
 again!" If that were true, it were glorious news indeed! 
 But no! By heaven, she backs I backs full upon the 
 flag-ship ! thus arresting the advance of the whole fleet ; 
 so that the rear presses upon the van, the van upon the 
 rear, and all is disorder and confusion. The enemy, not 
 slow to comprehend this condition of affairs, take advan 
 tage of their opportunity, and, manning all the guns from 
 which they have so recently been driven, pour in a mur 
 derous fire upon our fleet, which meets with but a feeble 
 fire in return. At this critical moment," writes an eye 
 witness, "the batteries of our ships were almost silent, 
 while the whole of Mobile Point was a living line of 
 flame." The slightest vacillation then, on the part of the 
 Admiral and the battle would have been lost, and the 
 greater part of our fleet destroyed. But Farragut was 
 equal to the emergency. His great qualities as a com- 
 
230 
 
 mander, which were apparent to all who were near him 
 in times of extreme peril, were never more conspicuous 
 than on this trying occasion. Danger there was, and 
 disaster there might be ahead, he knew ; but astern were 
 sure defeat and dishonor ; and for America s great Ad 
 miral the man who was born to be a hero there 
 could be but one course to steer, that leading straight into 
 Mobile Bay, where the Confederate vessels were awaiting 
 him. But between him and the Confederates interposed 
 the Brooklyn, and how to get by her was the problem ; 
 for she lay right athwart the Hartford s hawse, bows on 
 to Fort Morgan. 
 
 Then was made manifest the soundness of the Admi 
 ral s judgment in lashing his vessels together by pairs ; 
 for, the Hartford going ahead while the Metacomet backed, 
 the bows of the former were swung to the westward until 
 clear of the Brooklyn s stern, when both vessels gathered 
 headway. As they were slowly passing the Brooklyn, 
 her Captain reported "a heavy line of torpedoes across the 
 channel." " Damn the torpedoes ! " was the emphatic 
 reply of Farragut. " Jouett, full speed ! Four bells, 
 Captain Drayton ! " And the Hartford, as if eager to 
 bear the Admiral s flag to the front, bounded forward 
 "like a thing of life," and increasing her speed at each 
 instant crossed both lines of torpedoes, going over the 
 ground at the rate of nine miles an hour ; for so far had 
 she drifted to the northward and westward while her 
 engines were stopped as to make it impossible for the 
 Admiral, without heading directly on to Fort Morgan, to 
 obey his own instructions to " pass eastward of the eas 
 ternmost buoy." 
 
 As soon as he could get his vessel s head to the north 
 ward, Alden, the Captain of the Brooklyn, " pushed up 
 the channel at full speed in the Hartford s wake," and 
 during the fight which ensued with the Confederate ram 
 
231 
 
 displayed his usual gallantry. A good seaman, a skilful 
 officer, whose battle record attests his bravery, his hesi 
 tancy at " Mobile s Gate " must needs be ascribed to an 
 error of judgment, since all will admit that in many a 
 
 stubborn fight elsewhere he served the Republic well. 
 
 While " the guardian of the fleet," as one of the offi 
 cers who served under him appropriately styles Farragut, 
 was engaged in extricating it from its perilous position, 
 he was not unmindful of the survivors of the Tecumseh, 
 whom he beheld in the water near by. " Send a boat, 
 Jouett," said he, " and pick up the poor fellows." Jouett, 
 who had anticipated the order, had already despatched a 
 boat on this humane mission in charge of Acting Ensign 
 (now Lieutenant-Commander) Henry C. Nields. Start 
 ing from the port quarter of the Metacomet, and steering 
 the boat himself, this mere boy pulled directly under the 
 battery of the Hartford and around the Brooklyn to 
 within a few hundred yards of the fort, exposed to the 
 fire of both friends and foes. After he had gone a little 
 distance from his vessel he seemed suddenly to reflect 
 that he had no flag flying, when he dropped the yoke- 
 ropes, picked up a small ensign from the bottom of the 
 boat, and unfurling it from its staff, which he shipped in 
 a socket made for it in the stern-sheets, he threw it full 
 to the breeze amid the loud cheers of his men. " I can 
 
 1 scarcely describe," says an officer of the Tennessee, " how 
 I felt at witnessing this most gallant act. The muzzle of 
 our gun was slowly raised, and the bolt intended for the 
 Tecumseh flew harmlessly over the heads of that glorious 
 boat s crew far down in the line of our foes." After 
 saving Ensign Zettich, eight men, and the pilot, Nields 
 turned, and pulling for the fleet, succeeded in reaching 
 the Oneida, where he remained until the close of the 
 action. 
 
 The order of battle being restored through Farragut s 
 
232 
 
 indomitable pluck and decision of character, the Union 
 fleet sped swiftly by Fort Morgan, each vessel as she got 
 fairly abreast of the fort pouring into it such a shower of 
 shell, shrapnel, grape, and canister as for the time com 
 pletely silenced its batteries ; and although many of the 
 vessels were repeatedly hulled by the enemy s missiles as 
 they drew near to or receded from the fort, yet all escaped 
 serious damage with the exception of the Oneida, which, 
 being the starboard rear vessel of the column, was ex 
 posed to the concentrated fire of every gun on Mobile 
 Point not previously dismounted or disabled. She was 
 almost by the fort, however, when a rifled shell passed 
 through her chain armor, and, entering the starboard 
 boiler, exploded in it, causing sad havoc among the fire 
 men and coal-heavers of the watch below, all of whom 
 were either killed outright or fearfully scalded by the 
 escaping steam. Another shell exploding in the cabin 
 cut both wheel-ropes, while a third set fire to the deck 
 above the forward magazine; yet, encouraged by the 
 chivalric bearing of their Commander, and the fine exam 
 ple set them by the Executive Officer and the Chief 
 Engineer of the ship, the crew of the Oneida behaved 
 splendidly. The relieving tackles were instantly manned, 
 the fire put out, and connection between the starboard 
 and port boiler cut off; and the Oneida, assisted by the 
 Galena, went on as if nothing unusual had happened on 
 board of her, her guns never for a moment ceasing to 
 respond to the really terrific fire of the enemy. 
 
 When she got beyond the range of the fort, De Kraft 
 signalled to his flotilla to get under way, and, approaching 
 Fort Powell as near as the depth of water would permit, 
 anchored his vessels in the form of a crescent, and com 
 menced a vigorous bombardment of the fort, which the 
 Confederates spiritedly replied to. 
 
 As the Hartford entered Mobile Bay the ram " dashed 
 
233 
 
 out " at her, and, failing to overtake her, turned and made 
 for the Brooklyn, Richmond, and Lackawanna in succes 
 sion, but missed them all, saluting each, however, as she 
 went by with a broadside which did great injury to the 
 vessel, and laid many a brave fellow low, while their mis 
 siles in reply made not the slightest impression on her 
 iron shield. 
 
 Then Strong in the Monongahela determined to resort 
 to ramming, and getting a good position on the Tennes 
 see s beam, he attempted at full speed to run her down. 
 The Tennessee, to avoid being struck amidships, put her 
 helm a-starboard, and the two vessels collided at an acute 
 angle, the ram swinging alongside of the Monongahela s 
 consort, the Kennebec, whose sharp cutwater cut her 
 barge in two. As she lay close aboard of the Kennebec, 
 she succeeded in exploding a shell on that vessel s berth- 
 deck, which killed and wounded several of her officers and 
 men, carried away all her ladders, and so filled the ship 
 with smoke that she was supposed to be on fire, and the 
 alarm was sounded. This created some excitement 
 among the crew, which was quickly allayed, however, by 
 the calm, cool conduct of her commanding and other 
 officers. 
 
 Passing the Ossipee without firing a gun at her, the 
 ram next steered for the crippled Oneida, and, shooting 
 under her stern, fired two broadsides at her in rapid suc 
 cession, which destroyed her boats and cabin furniture, 
 cut away the greater part of her lower rigging, damaged 
 her mainmast and one of the heavy gun carriages, and dis 
 mounted the 12-pounder howitzer on the poop. Fortunately 
 the enemy fired high, or there would have been but few 
 left on board the Oneida to tell the story of her engage 
 ment with the dreaded ram. Among the wounded was 
 the gallant Mullany, who had volunteered for the fight, 
 and throughout the whole of it had given to his officers 
 
234 
 
 and crew " a noble example of unflinching courage and 
 heroism." The fight was now at an end, so far as the 
 Oneida was concerned, which shortly afterward came to 
 anchor well up the bay, while the Tennessee sought the 
 shelter of Fort Morgan. 
 
 During the time that their flag-ship was engaged in her 
 work of destruction, the Confederate gunboats were far 
 from idle. From their position ahead of the Hartford 
 they had been enabled to keep up a most destructive fire 
 upon her, " a single shot from the Selma killing ten and 
 and wounding five men at Nos. 1 and 2 guns." At a little 
 past eight, however, the Admiral, observing that all his 
 vessels were clear of the fort, made signal " Gunboats, 
 chase enemy s gunboats" The signal was hardly above the 
 Hartford s deck, when Jouett, cutting the fasts which 
 bound him to that vessel, started in obedience to it, fol 
 lowed, at some distance, by the Itasca, Kennebec, and 
 Port Royal. The Confederates had no course open to 
 them but retreat, keeping up a heavy fire from their stern 
 guns as they fled. A violent rain squall coming on just 
 then, the Gaines was enabled to seek the cover of the 
 fort, which she reached in a sinking condition, her com 
 manding officer running her on shore, and setting fire to 
 her, to prevent her falling into Union hands. At nine 
 o clock " the Morgan hauled off to starboard," and at ten 
 minutes past nine the Selma struck her flag to the Meta- 
 comet. She had been well defended. Two of her officers 
 and five of her men were killed, and the number of her 
 wounded amounted to ten, among whom was her Captain, 
 Lieutenant-Commandant Murphy. 
 
 And now, having witnessed with admiration and pride 
 the heroism of the Union fleet in entering Mobile Bay, 
 despite Fort Morgan, the Confederate squadron, and the 
 torpedoes so thickly strewed in its way, we shall contem 
 plate with hardly less pride, and with similar admiration 
 
235 
 
 I am sure, the heroic daring of our brothers-in-arms on 
 board the Tennessee, who, when the forts were passed, 
 and the Confederate gunboats dispersed, resolved unaided 
 to attempt the " forlorn hope " of wresting victory from 
 three ironclads and fourteen wooden vessels. 
 
 So soon as the Tennessee reached Fort Morgan, her 
 armor was carefully examined and found intact, while not 
 an officer or man on board of her was injured in the 
 slightest degree ; a few shot-holes in her smoke-stack alone 
 telling of her conflict with the Union fleet. These were 
 soon patched, and she steered once more for the Hartford, 
 now lying quietly at anchor about three miles away. The 
 moment Farragut saw her coming he signalled to his 
 monitors and largest wooden vessels, " to attack the ram, 
 not only with their guns, but bows on at full speed " ; 
 and then began one of the fiercest naval combats on 
 record. 
 
 The Monongahela, not having anchored, was the first to 
 make a rush at her, going through the water at full ten 
 miles an hour ; yet so bent was Admiral Buchanan on the 
 Hartford s destruction, that he entirely ignored every other 
 vessel, not deigning to take the slightest notice of the 
 Monongahela s approach, until she was close aboard of 
 him on his starboard beam. Then he ordered the Tennes 
 see s helm a-port, which caused the Monongahela to strike 
 her at a slightly oblique angle ; nevertheless, the shock of 
 the collision was such that many of the crews of both vessels 
 measured their lengths on their respective decks. " The 
 Tennessee," writes Lieutenant Wharton, " yielded to the 
 impact, and spun swiftly round as upon a pivot. I felt as 
 if I were going through the air. * What is the matter, Cap 
 tain Johnston? I asked. We ve been rammed, sir, was 
 the response from the pilot-house where he stood. Dur 
 ing the instant of actual contact, the ram fired two shots 
 at her antagonist, piercing her through and through, while 
 
236 
 
 the Monongahela s whole broadside discharged at the case 
 mate of the ram rolled harmlessly down its sloping sides. 
 
 " The Monongahela was hardly clear of us," says Whar- 
 ton again, " when a hideous-looking monster came creep 
 ing up on our port side, whose slowly revolving turret 
 revealed the cavernous depths of a mammoth gun. * Stand 
 dear of the port side! I shouted. A moment after a 
 thundering report shook us all, while a blast of dense, 
 sulphurous smoke covered our port-holes, and 440 pounds 
 of iron, impelled by sixty pounds of powder, admitted 
 daylight through our side, where before it struck us there 
 had been over two feet of solid wood, covered with five 
 inches of solid iron. This was the only fifteen-inch shot 
 that hit us fair. It did not come through ; the inside net 
 ting caught the splinters, and there were no casualties 
 from it. I was glad to find myself alive after that shot." 
 
 The Lackawanna next bore down upon the Tennessee; 
 and although her stem was stove into the plank ends 
 " for the distance of three feet above the water line to five 
 feet below it," no perceptible effect was produced on the 
 ram beyond giving her a slight list, from which she quickly 
 righted, going on as before, and always heading for the 
 Hartford. Nor did the Hartford shun the encounter ; but, 
 following closely in the Lackawanna s wake, she too struck 
 the Tennessee a fearful blow, at the same time throwing 
 her whole port broadside full upon the casemate of the 
 ram, which, like the Monongahela s broadside, failed to 
 injure it in the slightest degree. 
 
 Surrounded as she was by enemies, the ram^had this 
 advantage, that she could fire or run at every vessel in 
 view, while the Unionists had to be careful not to fire at, 
 or come in collision with, their own vessels. Indeed, it 
 so happened that the Hartford, while making for the ram 
 a second time, was run into by the Lackawanna, and cut 
 down to within two feet of the water s edge. 
 
237 
 
 Thus for an hour or more the Tennessee contended 
 successfully against the whole Union fleet ; but at the 
 expiration of that hour it became evident to all on board 
 of her that victory was impossible and defeat certain, 
 unless she could get a second time under the protection 
 of Fort Morgan ; for which Captain Johnston, in obedience 
 to Buchanan s orders, then steered. But by this time, to 
 use the language of Farragut, " she was sore beset." The 
 Manhattan was hanging on her starboard quarter, pound 
 ing her with fifteen-inch solid and cased shot ; the Win- 
 nebago not far off, saluting her with eleven-inch steel 
 bolts ; and the wooden vessels ramming her, one after the 
 other in quick succession, " with a reckless daring worthy 
 of success." But the vessel that undoubtedly inflicted 
 the most injury upon the ram was the monitor Chickasaw, 
 commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Geo. H. Perkins, 
 " which hung," said the pilot of the Tennessee, " close 
 under our stern. Move as we would, she was always 
 there, firing the two 11-inch guns in her forward turret 
 like pocket pistols, so that she soon had the plates flying 
 in the air." 
 
 Thus " stormed at by shot and shell," and rammed every 
 few minutes by a heavy vessel going at great speed, with 
 three of her wrought iron port-shutters jammed while half 
 closed, and her steering-apparatus, relieving-tackles, and 
 smoke-stack shot away, the Tennessee lay at last like a 
 log on the water a mere target for her foes. 
 
 Then Captain Johnston, repairing to the berth deck, 
 where Admiral Buchanan was lying under the surgeon s 
 hands with a fractured leg, sorrowfully reported to his 
 superior that resistance was no longer possible. " Do the 
 best you can, Johnston," was the Admiral s reply, "and, 
 when all is done, surrender." 
 
 When Johnston returned to the pilot-house, he beheld 
 the Ossipee approaching at full speed, while the fire of 
 
238 
 
 our vessels was each instant increasing in intensity. The 
 Tennessee had already done her best, and there was no 
 time for dilly-dallying ; so hastening to the top of " the 
 shield," which was exposed to a perfect storm of shot and 
 shell, this truly brave man hauled down the Confederate 
 ensign with his own hands. It had been raised in 
 triumph, it was lowered without dishonor. 
 
 The captured officers and men were transferred to the 
 Ossipee, and soon afterward sent to Pensacola ; and it is 
 pleasant to know that to this day they speak warmly of 
 the hospitality extended to them by their captors. 
 
 It will be remembered that, while this fierce naval fight 
 was taking place in Mobile Bay, De Kraft s flotilla, an 
 chored in Grant s Pass, was busily engaged shelling Fort 
 Powell. During the morning, although the fort was hit 
 several times, no particular damage was done to it; but 
 about two in the afternoon the Chickasaw, steaming up 
 to within seven hundred yards of its eastern face, com 
 menced a rapid fire with shell and grape, which the enemy 
 was only able to reply to with a single Brooke rifle. A 
 shell entering one of the sally-ports passed entirely through 
 the bomb-proof, and buried itself without exploding in the 
 opposite wall ; another and another following burst in 
 the face of the fort, displacing the sand so rapidly that 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, its Commandant, became 
 convinced that it would soon be rendered untenable. He 
 therefore telegraphed to Colonel Anderson, commanding 
 Fort Gaines, " Unless I can evacuate, I will be compelled 
 to surrender within forty-eight hours." Anderson s reply 
 was : " Save your garrison, when your fort is no longer 
 tenable" At the time this despatch was received it was 
 growing dark; and the Lieutenant-Colonel instantly de 
 cided that it would be better to save his command and 
 destroy the fort, than to allow both to fall into the enemy s 
 
239 
 
 hands. The fleet had not yet moved up to intercept his 
 communications, the tide was low, and he could not expect 
 to find another such favorable opportunity for escaping ; 
 so he silently withdrew, leaving Lieutenants Savage and 
 Jeffers to spike the guns and blow up the fort, so soon as 
 he made signal to them that its garrison had reached the 
 main land. This signal was made about 10.30 P.M., just as 
 De Kraft and Lieutenani^Commander Franklin, who had 
 arrived during the day with a mail for the fleet, were 
 returning to the Conemaugh in a small gig, from a visit 
 to the victorious Admiral. " Now, to find Grant s Pass 
 at night," writes De Kraft, "it was necessary to steer 
 directly for Fort Powell, which loomed up boldly against 
 the clear sky. When within a half-mile of it, a bright 
 port-fire was observed to burn for a few seconds, then a 
 dark column rose suddenly to a great height, and a heavy 
 report and vivid flash announced that Fort Powell had been 
 blown up." 
 
 About daylight the next morning Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Williams marched into Mobile with every officer and man 
 of his command, consisting of two infantry companies of 
 the 31st Alabama, and a detachment of Culpepper s bat 
 tery ; in all about one hundred and forty souls. 
 
 At the same time Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Pome- 
 roy, commanding the Estrella, hoisted the Stars and 
 Stripes over the ruins of the fort, and a large force was 
 set to work to remove the obstructions in Grant s -Pass ; 
 which being soon effected, direct communication by water 
 was once more established between Mobile Bay and New 
 Orleans. 
 
 During the morning of the 6th of August the fleet 
 was occupied in repairing damages ; but on the afternoon 
 of that day it began to make preparations for a general 
 bombardment of Fort Gaines on the morrow, the Chicka- 
 saw getting underway a little before sunset and dropping 
 
240 
 
 several shells into it, as a forerunner of what was to fol 
 low. The besieging army meanwhile had mounted two 
 30-pounder Parrotts and four 12-pounder rifles, and was 
 at hard work laying down platforms for new guns. 
 
 But Admiral Farragut, knowing full well that the fort 
 could not hold out long against such a fire as would be 
 brought to bear upon it, and anxious to spare the further 
 effusion of blood, sent a flag-of -truce boat to the fort, as 
 soon as the Chickasaw withdrew from it, with a request 
 that Colonel Anderson and his Staff would come to see 
 him on board the Hartford. Colonel Anderson accepted 
 the invitation, and was accompanied by Major Brown ; 
 and both were very kindly received by the Admiral in his 
 cabin. There were present at this interview, besides the 
 Admiral and the two Confederate officers, Major-General 
 Gordon Granger, Captain Percival Drayton, and Major 
 James E. Montgomery, Assistant AdjutankGeneral and 
 Chief of Staff of the 13th Army Corps. The Admiral 
 then said to Colonel Anderson that he had sent for him 
 to advise the immediate surrender of the fort. " Sur 
 rounded on three sides by my vessels, and on the fourth 
 by the army," said he, "you cannot possibly hold it. 
 Submit, then, like a man to this hard necessity, and pre 
 vent further loss of life." 
 
 Anderson at once saw the force of the Admiral s advice, 
 and appreciated its humanity. But Major Brown de 
 murred, and wanted " to fight it out " ; when Farragut 
 told him that he could understand his feelings, and was 
 the last man to advise a surrender as long as there was a 
 hope of preventing it, adding with much feeling, " Gentle 
 men, if hard-fighting could save that fort, I would advise 
 you to fight to the death ; but by all the laws of war you 
 have not even a chance of saving it." The Major ad 
 mitted it was a forlorn hope, and finally agreed with his 
 Colonel that the surrender was necessary ; and it was then 
 
241 
 
 and there agreed that it should take place on the follow 
 ing morning at nine o clock. 
 
 The officers took a glass of wine together, and signed 
 the surrender, and the meeting broke up; Captain Dray- 
 ton and Major Montgomery being appointed by their 
 respective chiefs to take possession of the Fort on the 
 morrow in the name of the Army and Navy of the United 
 States. Accordingly at 9 A.M. of the 7th Dray ton and 
 Montgomery were admitted into the fort, and an hour or 
 two later the besieging army, conducted by Montgomery, 
 appeared before its walls. Then the garrison marched 
 out and stacked their arms, and the officers delivered up 
 their swords, and Fort Gaines passed into Federal hands, 
 striking its flag to the Navy. 
 
 The Confederates were now embarked in transports 
 and sent to New Orleans, while the Union troops, finding 
 in the fort a large quantity of supplies, regaled them 
 selves, according to Andrews, " with the best meal they 
 had had since arriving on Dauphine Island, corn 
 dodgers, fried bacon, and coffee." 
 
 Immediately after the surrender of Fort Gaines, Fort 
 Morgan was formally summoned by the Admiral and Gen 
 eral Granger ; the message from the former being de 
 livered in person to General Page, who commanded it, by 
 Lieutenant J. Crittenden Watson, that of the latter by 
 Major Montgomery. But General Page expressed his de 
 termination to defend his post to the last extremity ; and 
 preparations were therefore at once made by the com 
 bined forces to reduce it. 
 
 " On the 9th, at daylight, General Granger s command, 
 now re-enforced by the 20th Wisconsin, 38th Iowa, and 
 94th Illinois, embarked for Navy Cove, four miles from 
 Fort Morgan on the bay side." From this point they 
 gradually advanced until by the 21st (a siege train hav 
 ing previously arrived under Brigadier-General Richard 
 
242 
 
 Arnold) the land forces had sixteen mortars and twenty- 
 five cannon in position within five hundred yards of the 
 fort ; the Naval Battery of four 9-inch Dahlgrens, manned 
 by seamen taken from the Hartford, Brooklyn, Richmond, 
 and Lacka wanna, and commanded by Lieutenant H. B. 
 Tyson, being of the number. 
 
 At daylight on the 22d the monitors and other 
 vessels of the fleet took the stations assigned them, 
 north, south, and west of the fort the army being on 
 the east so that it was completely invested. Then 
 began one of the most furious bombardments that sailor 
 or soldier has ever witnessed. It continued all day long 
 without intermission, but after sunset began to slacken, 
 until by nine at night it had become slow and irregular. 
 Just then, however, a bright light shot up from the centre 
 of the fort ; and it was discovered that the citadel was 
 on fire, when the besiegers sprang with renewed vigor to 
 their guns, whose never-ceasing flashes fairly illumined 
 the sky. Six or eight mortar-shells could be seen in the 
 air at once, while the roar of the artillery was heard even 
 in Mobile. 
 
 Yet amid all the horrors of this disastrous night, with 
 their walls breached, almost every piece of ordinance dis 
 abled, and the magazines endangered by the conflagration 
 which raged fiercely for several hours, the garrison of 
 Fort Morgan was not dismayed. Some of the soldiers 
 applied themselves to throwing their powder into the 
 cisterns, others to spiking or destroying dismounted guns, 
 while others again contended successfully with the devour 
 ing flames. Among these, Privates Murphy, Benbough, 
 and Stevens of the 1st Tennessee, were especially com 
 mended by their General " for great courage and daring 
 displayed." 
 
 As day dawned the citadel was again set on fire, and 
 burned until it was consumed. To resist longer would 
 
243 
 
 have been madness ; and at 6 A.M. a white flag was dis 
 played upon the parapet of the fort, when the firing of 
 the Unionists ceased. At two in the afternoon the cere 
 mony of surrender took place ; and the brave garrison, 
 whose loss had been between fifty and sixty in killed and 
 wounded, was sent to New Orleans in the steamers 
 Bienville and Tennessee. 
 
 Thus the Confederate banner disappeared from view, 
 and the whole of Mobile Bay was ours. 
 
 Yet, remembering that of the actors in this strife all 
 were Americans, we glory not in our brothers defeat, 
 rejoice not in our victory, save as these have tended to 
 the restoration of the Union. God grant that, when the 
 next war comes, in every fight, whether by land or by sea, 
 we may stand shoulder to shoulder and side by side, with 
 the Star Spangled Banner, the emblem of equal rights to 
 all, waving above our heads, and not one single sectional 
 flag to be seen upon the battlefield. 
 
 God grant, too, that Farragut s name may ever be 
 revered by his countrymen, and that in remembrance of 
 his glorious services, his patriotism, and his valor, the old 
 Hartford be preserved by us, as the great English nation* 
 preserves Nelson s flag-ship, the Victory. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Military Historical Society of Massa 
 chusetts, the task you have been pleased to assign to me ? 
 however inadequately performed, is finished. My tale 
 is told. 
 
THE NAVAL BRIGADE. 
 
 BY 
 
 LIEUTENANT JOHN C. SOLEY, U.S.N. 
 
 Read February 11, 1890. 
 
 245 
 
THE NAVAL BRIGADE. 
 
 I COME before a body of Military Officers with great 
 diffidence when I speak as a sailor upon military affairs ; 
 but at the same time with great pride, when recording his 
 torically the gallant achievements of our sailors, when 
 they have been called upon to do service upon the land. 
 I feel still more appreciative when I recollect that before 
 1862, the best sailors held the duty of a soldier in detesta 
 tion, and the drill was an abomination to them. A dislike 
 of infantry tactics was inherent in the sailor of the olden 
 time, and its practice was considered by officers and men 
 as a necessary evil. But its use was so frequent that its 
 necessity was recognized, and when an officer could be 
 found on board a vessel to take an interest in infantry 
 exercises, they were generally found to be beneficial. In 
 spite of the good service done by the Naval Brigade, its 
 organization was hap-hazard and generally ridiculed until 
 the moment for action came, and then the best drilled 
 ship did the best service ; but it was always in spite of, 
 and not in consequence of, the feelings with which these 
 drills were regarded by officers and men. 
 
 The term Naval Brigade is applied to the forces of a 
 ship or ships, which may be landed for operations on 
 shore ; and the force is composed of infantry and artillery, 
 and their necessary accompaniments. This force may be 
 used for a variety of purposes, but each one involves the 
 possibility of fighting. In general, it will be noticed that 
 in a war like that with Mexico, all naval operations involve 
 
 247 
 
248 
 
 landing parties ; and that in time of peace, it is principally 
 by means of landing parties that the Navy acts when it is 
 called upon to act at all. Landings are always liable to 
 take place when we have treaty guarantees to execute, as 
 at Panama and Nicaragua; in revolutionary countries 
 where American citizens require protection, as at Honolulu 
 or Montevideo; in uncivilized countries where attacks 
 may be made on shipwrecked crews, as at Formosa and at 
 Corea; and at distant points not readily accessible to 
 troops. To ignore the utility of this work is to neglect 
 one great source of usefulness in a squadron which can 
 appear unexpectedly at different points on an enemy s 
 coast, and harass him very materially, besides obliging him 
 to keep strong garrisons at all these points. Constant 
 drill becomes more and more necessary because our pos 
 sible enemies are likely to be better prepared ; and while 
 the main purpose of the Navy is to train up men to fight 
 on the sea, there is always a possibility of their being 
 called upon to fight on shore. The history of the Navy 
 includes so many cases where the men have been landed, 
 that the ever present contingency has enforced a more 
 complete study by naval officers, of military tactics, and 
 a thorough organization, and drill for operations on shore. 
 The dislike of infantry drill, which was so characteristic 
 of the old Navy, has given way to a pride of skill in the 
 use of arms and in manoeuvring and a more practical 
 method of instruction, which, combined with the seaman s 
 qualities of activity, of readiness in emergency, and his 
 almost daily habit of facing danger, have been great aids 
 in making the sailor an efficient fighter on shore. 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 1813. June 22. Defence of Craney Island by a party 
 of one hundred seamen and fifty marines under Lieutenant 
 Neale of the Constitution. 
 
249 
 
 1813. October 23. The Essex, under Porter,~at Nooka- 
 hevah in the Marquesas, went to refit, made a station, 
 and engaged in wars with the natives. 
 
 1814 August 17. The Adams, under Morris, having 
 been injured by going ashore on the coast of Maine, and a 
 squadron of the enemy approaching, she was taken up the 
 Penobscot to Hampden and an attempt was made to pro 
 tect her. Batteries were erected on the river bank ; and 
 the seamen and marines endeavored to beat off an attack, 
 assisted by the local militia. The latter gave way ; and 
 the seamen, being without muskets, could make no effec 
 tual resistance. The ship was burnt and the men 
 retreated. 
 
 1814- August 24* Battle of Bladensburg. The only re 
 sistance of any account, made to the enemy s attacks in 
 this battle, was made by the detachment under Captain 
 Barney, of three hundred and seventy seamen, and seventy- 
 eight marines from the Chesapeake flotilla. The militia 
 gave way entirely. 
 
 1814- August and September. Seamen and marines 
 under Commodore Rodgers were constantly engaged dur 
 ing these two months in the Potomac and around Balti 
 more, partly in boats, but most of the time on shore or in 
 forts. (In September occurred the battles of North Point 
 and Fort McHenry.) They were of course peculiarly fitted 
 for this mixed service, and did good work. 
 
 In several small engagements on shore, on the lakes, the 
 Navy gave valuable assistance to the troops. 
 
 1822. January. The Porpoise, Lieutenant Ram age, 
 sent a force of forty men on shore on the north-western 
 coast of Cuba, and broke up a depot of pirates, after a hot 
 fight. 
 
 1823. April 16. Captain Cassin, commanding the 
 Fox and three other small vessels, landed his men near 
 Cayo Blanco and had a running fight on shore with 
 
250 
 
 pirates. Their establishment of five houses was taken 
 and burnt. 
 
 1823. July 22. Attack on pirates near Cape Cruz by 
 the Greyhound, Lieutenant Kearney, and the Beagle, 
 Lieutenant Newton. Similar to Cassin s fight in April. 
 Farragut commanded the landing party. 
 
 1832. February 6. Attack on Quallah Battoo in Su 
 matra. This was an elaborate and extensive operation. 
 Two hundred and fifty seamen and marines and a six- 
 pounder were landed under command of Lieutenant Shu- 
 brick. 1st division, Lieutenant Pinkham; 2d division, 
 Lieutenant Hoff ; 3d division, Lieutenant Ingersoll ; how 
 itzer, Master Totten; marines, Lieutenant Edson. Four 
 forts taken by assault, and town burnt. This expedition 
 was sent from the United States to punish the Malays for 
 an assault on the American ship, Friendship. 
 
 1840. July. Landing parties were sent ashore in the 
 Fiji Islands on two different occasions, from the Vin- 
 cennes and Penobscot in Wilkes exploring expedition, to 
 punish attacks of the natives. In the second landing the 
 party met with considerable resistance from the natives, 
 who were well armed. The stockade was captured, and 
 two towns were burnt. 
 
 1846-18 ^8. War with Mexico. It must be remem 
 bered, in looking at the naval character of the war with 
 Mexico that it was entirely on one side. Mexico had no 
 Navy whatever, and made no attempt to prosecute the war 
 on the sea; consequently our Navy was almost wholly 
 occupied in coast and landing operations. Of course the 
 main feature of the war was Scott s campaign between 
 Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico ; the army of invasion 
 broke the power of the enemy, but the army never aimed 
 at conquest of territory ; and when the question of annex 
 ation came up, it was settled largely on the basis of per 
 manent conquest. These conquests, which were of so 
 
251 
 
 much importance in their bearing on the question of an 
 nexation, were almost wholly accomplished by the Navy. 
 At the outbreak of hostilities, in June, 1846, Commodore 
 Sloat was in command of the squadron on the west coast ; 
 and he sailed in the Savannah for Monterey, where he 
 landed two hundred and fifty seamen and marines and 
 took possession, while the Portsmouth did the same at 
 San Francisco. He was relieved in July by Stockton, 
 who determined to strike a sudden blow at Los Angeles, 
 where the California Legislature was in session, and 
 which was defended by a force of about fifteen hundred 
 men. He immediately issued a proclamation to the people 
 of California, and organized a battalion of volunteers which 
 he put under command of Colonel Fremont ; but this force 
 did not participate in the capture of Los Angeles. He 
 sailed southward to the port of San Pedro, which is thirty- 
 five miles from Los Angeles, where he landed three hun 
 dred and fifty seamen and marines, with several 6-pounder 
 and one 32-pounder carronade. He then formed a camp 
 and commenced drilling them, and it is worthy of note that 
 he made no attempt to exact the same sort of discipline 
 that is required in the army ; but they were directed to 
 obey a few words of command, such as " halt," " march," 
 " form line," " form square," " charge," and always to keep 
 the same comrade on the right or left. In executing the 
 necessary evolutions in which they were exercised, though 
 all at first appeared confusion, yet every man soon took 
 his proper place, and the most perfect order was immedi 
 ately obtained. " They saw their Commodore sharing 
 with them all their hardships, partaking of their rations 
 and their toils, marching side by side with them, always 
 going ahead in the hour of danger, and they caught with 
 inspiration the ardor which excited him." The march was 
 accomplished successfully, the enemy routed, and Los 
 Angeles surrendered August 13. It was left with a small 
 
252 
 
 garrison, and Stockton returned to the north. Late in the 
 fall it was retaken by the Mexicans ; and they drove off 
 the men landed at San Pedro, which they also took. 
 Stockton returned, took San Pedro, and then went to San 
 Diego, from which place he determined to march again 
 on Los Angeles, distant one hundred and fifty miles. His 
 force, this time, consisted of five hundred seamen and 
 marines, sixty mounted riflemen, Kearney s sixty dis 
 mounted dragoons, one howitzer, and six 6-pounders. He 
 started December 29, fought two engagements, and Los 
 Angeles surrendered January 10. Resistance was now at 
 an end, and a temporary civil government was established. 
 When the time came to settle the conditions of peace, the 
 territory of the United States was increased by this im 
 mense district, comprising over six hundred and fifty 
 thousand square miles. The conquest may be laid to the 
 credit of Stockton and the Navy. 
 
 OTHER OPERATIONS ON THE WEST COAST. 
 
 1840. September. Party landed from the Cyane, at San 
 Bias, under Lieutenant Rowan, spiked guns, etc. 
 
 18#7. September. Captain Lavalette landed party at 
 Guaymas to resist threatened attack of the place ; enemy 
 drew off. 
 
 1847. October 1. Fight at Mulje. Landing party of 
 fifty seamen and marines from the Dale, under Lieutenant 
 Craven. 
 
 18^7. November 11. Capture of Mazatlan by landing 
 party from Independence, Congress, and Cyane, six hun 
 dred seamen and marines, five guns. No resistance. This 
 was well organized. Commodore Shubrick commanded 
 the squadron and superintended all the details. Mazatlan 
 was occupied, civil government was established, and two 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars collected in five 
 months. 
 
253 
 
 18^7. November 27. Fight at Guaymas. Landing 
 party of sixty-five seamen and marines, under Commander 
 Selfridge ; enemy defeated. 
 
 1847. November 19. ) Gallant defence of San Jose by 
 
 1848. February 4-14- ) Lieutenant Heywood, with a 
 small force of seamen and marines. Finally, relieved by 
 landing party from the Cyane, under Dupont, after a close 
 engagement. 
 
 18^8. January 12. Landing party at San Bias, under 
 Lieutenant Chatard. Two guns captured. 
 
 OPERATIONS ON THE EAST COAST. 
 
 1846. May 8. Five hundred seamen and marines from 
 the squadron under Captain Gregory, landed and assisted 
 in the defence of posts on the Rio Grande. 
 
 1846. Summer and Fall. Tampico, Laguna, Frontera, 
 all taken and occupied by landing parties. 
 
 1847. March 22-29. Bombardment of Vera Cruz. 
 Principal execution done by the naval battery ; a battalion 
 of marines marched with the army to the City of Mexico. 
 
 1847. April 12. Capture of Tuspan. Landing party 
 of fourteen hundred and ninety seamen and marines, and 
 four field guns, under Captain S. L. Breeze. 
 
 1847. June 15. Capture of Tobasco. Landing party of 
 eleven hundred seamen and marines, with eleven field pieces, 
 under Commodore M. C. Perry. Fatiguing march, and 
 severe engagements. Tobasco was occupied, and the naval 
 garrison was constantly engaged in fights with guerillas. 
 
 It may be said that these were small affairs. So they 
 were, in one sense, as compared with a modern pitched 
 battle; but they represent the whole service performed 
 by the Navy during that war, except blockade duty and 
 transport duty. The results were very important, and out 
 of all proportion to the skirmishes that took place. All 
 the seaport towns on both the east and the west coasts 
 
254 
 
 were taken ; the blockade of the coast was turned into an 
 occupation, and at all the ports a naval government was 
 organized, a naval officer appointed Collector of Customs, 
 a tariff established, and the whole customs revenue of 
 Mexico, for the time being, turned into the treasury of the 
 United States. 
 
 1854- April 4- Combined English and American land 
 ing party at Shanghai to protect foreign residents. Sharp 
 engagement with the Chinese. 
 
 1855. Summer. Landings and engagements at the Fiji 
 Islands by parties from the John Adams. 
 
 During the war of secession landing parties were being 
 constantly used, and did important service, both on the 
 Mississippi and on the coast. It would take too much 
 time to recount them all, and I shall only mention one 
 which was the most instructive, and, at the same time, the 
 most important ; and that was the landing at Fort Fisher. 
 The details of this landing party are familiar to all. It 
 was conceived in a spirit of gallantry, and from a natural 
 desire that the Navy should gain as many laurels as pos 
 sible. But while the attack helped our land forces to 
 victory it was most disastrous to the Navy. It failed, not 
 merely because our men were opposed to disciplined troops, 
 but because they were sent with inferior arms to fight 
 against men who were behind intrenchments, and who had 
 the best weapons of the time. I will not enter into any 
 details beyond giving extracts from the orders issued 
 relative to the landing, and an extract from the report of 
 the officer in command of the landing. 
 
 These extracts will sufficiently explain the failure. 
 " The sailors will be armed with cutlasses, well sharpened, 
 and with revolvers. When the signal is made to assault, 
 the boats will pull around the stern of the monitors, and 
 land right abreast of them and board the fort on the run 
 in a seamanlike way. The marines will form in the rear 
 
255 
 
 and cover the sailors. He will first advance with a thin 
 line of sappers, as soon as he can get a ditch deep enough 
 for shelter, the marines will go in thin squads and occupy 
 them. No move is to be made forward until the army 
 charges, when the navy is to assault the sea, or south-east, 
 face of the work, going over with cutlasses drawn and 
 revolvers in hand." 
 
 Lieutenant^Commander Breeze, who commanded the 
 landing party, in his report says : " I can but attribute 
 the failure of the assault to the absence of the marines 
 from their position ; as their fire would have enabled our 
 boarders to use their pistols and cutlasses most effectu 
 ally." And again he says: "By this I would imply 
 the lack of proper organization, it being impossible in the 
 short space of time, on account of throwing so many small 
 squads of men from the different vessels together in one 
 mass, lacking proper company organizations and wholly 
 unacquainted with each other, to secure such organiza 
 tion." From a careful perusal of all the reports, it 
 appears that the fault did not lie entirely with the marines, 
 as they only shared the general panic. It seems almost 
 too much to expect of men that they should march up to 
 a fort in the face of a deliberate fire, with weapons which 
 were only useful in a hand to hand conflict. The bayonet 
 is superior to the cutlass always, because, as a double 
 weapon, a man has more confidence, and properly drilled 
 with the bayonet, even without ammunition, would be more 
 than a match for men with cutlasses. Such a landing 
 should only have been attempted when every detail of organ 
 ization had been properly perfected, when companies and 
 battalions were formed and with the men properly armed. 
 
 OPERATIONS SINCE THE WAR. 
 
 1867. June 13. Hartford and Wyoming at Formosa. 
 One hundred and eighty-one seamen and marines landed 
 
256 
 
 under Commander Belknap and Lieutenant-Commander 
 MacKenzie. 
 
 1868. February 4> Assault at Hiogo by Japanese 
 troops on foreign residents. Joint landing of naval forces 
 present. 
 
 1868. February 7 and 19. Two landings at Monte 
 video to protect foreign residents. 
 
 1868. April. Force landed from the Penobscot at 
 Aspinwall. 
 
 1871. June 9 and 10. Attack on Corean forts. Five 
 hundred and forty-six seamen, one hundred marines, seven 
 howitzers, under Commander H. C. Blake. 
 
 1873. May. Landing at Panama. Two hundred sea 
 men and marines, four guns, to protect the railway and 
 American citizens. 
 
 1873. September. Landing at Panama. One hundred 
 and thirty men and howitzers. 
 
 1874 Riot at Honolulu. Landing party of one hundred 
 and fifty seamen and marines, and one gatling. 
 
 187$. Landing at Key West of seventeen hundred 
 men, and later of twenty-seven hundred men ; total force, 
 five thousand. 
 
 1885. Force landed on Isthmus, to protect railroad 
 and property of American residents. Eight hundred men, 
 ten guns. Revolution suppressed. 
 
 1885. Force of six hundred sixty men landed from 
 North Atlantic Squadron on Gardus Island. 
 
 1887. Combined military and naval manoeuvres. Land 
 attack by the fleet. 
 
 ORGANIZATION. 
 
 The basis of the organization of. the landing party of 
 each ship is the number of men that can be carried by the 
 boats without overloading them ; having fixed upon the 
 total, it is divided into infantry companies, howitzer and 
 
257 
 
 gatling crews, and the special details. The infantry com 
 panies are carried in the cutters and smaller boats ; cer 
 tain of the larger boats are fitted for howitzers, and are 
 generally used for that purpose, although it will be for 
 the commanding officer to decide, in some cases, whether 
 it is better to carry in the boat thirty men as infantry, 
 with sixty rounds each, or a howitzer, whose locomotion is 
 slow, which requires twenty men to manoeuvre it, and 
 which has at best only about forty rounds. 
 
 The landing party is composed of : One commanding 
 officer, one aide or adjutant, one officer commanding in 
 fantry, one officer commanding artillery. Marines, as 
 many as are allowed. Infantry companies, two officers, 
 forty men, each. Howitzer crews, one officer, twenty 
 men, each. Gatling crews, one officer, twelve men, each. 
 Signals, one officer, one quartermaster, four men, or less. 
 Pioneers, one officer, carpenter ; armorers and four men to 
 each company. Field Hospital, one medical officer, one 
 apothecary and four men. Provisions, one pay officer, 
 one pay writer and one man for each company and crew. 
 Ammunition, one gunner, one gunner s mate, one man to 
 each company and crew, one master-at-arms, one ship s 
 corporal, one ship s cook. 
 
 The men to form the companies are taken from the gun 
 divisions, and the companies are officered from the divis 
 ions to which they belong. In the same way the howit 
 zers are manned and officered from certain divisions, so 
 that the men will find their comrades in drill next to 
 them, and they will be under the officers to whose com 
 mands and instructions they are accustomed. The pio 
 neers are selected from those who are used to the tools 
 required, preferably from the carpenter s crew and engineer s 
 force, with the armorer and his mates ; the ammunition, 
 provision and hospital men from the powder division, and the 
 signal men and gatling crew from the navigator s division. 
 
258 
 
 In assigning the details to the boats, care is taken to 
 keep the men together under their own officers, the howit 
 zer crews being placed in their proper boats, and the com 
 panies assigned to any two boats that will carry them, 
 with the commanding officer of the company in one boat 
 and his junior in the other ; and these two boats are kept 
 together under all circumstances. The special details are 
 assigned as is most convenient, but it is better to keep 
 them together than to mix them up in the other boats. 
 
 When the landing parties of several ships are combined 
 to form a naval brigade, the same thoroughness in detail 
 is to be observed. The infantry companies are united in 
 battalions of four companies each, and the howitzers into 
 batteries of four guns each. For each battalion and bat 
 tery a staff is assigned, consisting of adjutant, ordnance 
 officer, medical officer and pay officer, from those furnished 
 by the different landing parties, so that the organization 
 of each unit will be complete. These details are all to be 
 perfected before the boats leave their ships, and published 
 to all, so that every officer and man will know his station 
 and his own duty, and will know exactly all who are 
 associated with him. Every boat which is used is num 
 bered or lettered, the letters being used for howitzer boats, 
 and the numbers for the infantry and other boats. When 
 organizing the force from a single ship, the boats are num 
 bered according to the force ; but when landing the naval 
 brigade, numbers or letters are assigned by the command 
 ing officer of the expedition according to the organization. 
 
 EQUIPMENT. 
 
 The officers wear undress and leggings, and carry^sword, 
 revolver, haversack, water bottle, pocket book, knife, 
 spoon, cup, and blanket rolled containing flannel shirt, 
 stockings and towel. 
 
 The marines wear undress uniform with leggings. 
 
259 
 
 Knife with lanyard; canteen, haversack, tin cup and 
 spoon; blanket rolled containing shirt, stockings and 
 towel; rifle, bayonet, accoutrements, and sixty rounds of 
 ball cartridge. 
 
 All blue-jackets wear blue uniform, cap, leggings, 
 knife and lanyard, tin cup, spoon, canteen, haversack, and 
 rolled blanket containing shirt, stockings and towel. 
 
 All, officers and men, wear flannel underclothes, and a 
 rigid inspection of shoes and leggings is made before 
 leaving the ship, and tobacco is served out to every one. 
 
 The men of the infantry companies carry magazine 
 rifle, bayonet, accoutrements, and sixty rounds of ball and 
 cartridge. 
 
 The men of the howitzer and gatling crews carry their 
 ammunition pouches, a pistol and cartridges. Provision 
 is made in the Ordnance Instructions, which permits some 
 of the crew to carry rifles under certain circumstances ; 
 but the artillery officer has to consider whether the advan 
 tages gained by having the rifles will outweigh the 
 diminished celerity of the piece in consequence of the 
 added weight to be carried by the men. 
 
 Signal men carry, each, a signal kit with gear for signal 
 ling by day or night, and are armed with pistols. The 
 signal officer and quartermaster carry glasses. 
 
 The pioneers are equipped with tools to whose use they 
 are most accustomed; the most useful tools are axes, 
 picks and shovels, while saws, crow-bars and sledge 
 hammers are occasionally needed. Telegraph implements 
 are also provided. The armorer, who acts as sergeant of 
 the pioneers, carries a bag containing tape measure, pow 
 der, flask, gimlet, and implements for repairing machine, 
 guns, and small arms. 
 
 The field hospital corps carry a stretcher and the medi 
 cine chest, and each man in the hospital party should 
 have a tourniquet and be instructed in its use. A small 
 
260 
 
 flag, the Geneva Cross, is used to indicate the position of 
 the hospital, and the same device is worn on the arm. 
 
 The paymaster s corps, being charged with the supply 
 of provisions, have to improvise some way of carrying 
 what is needed beyond what is contained in the haver 
 sacks. Cooked rations for two days can be canied in 
 haversacks. If the men are to be on shore for only a few 
 hours, they have one day s rations ; if for a whole day, 
 they have two days rations, and so on. 
 
 The gunner s gang is charged with maintaining a supply 
 of ammunition. The reserve ammunition can be best 
 carried in limbers, which are supplied for all gatling guns ; 
 in default of these, other means of transport may be im 
 provised by joining two field carriages. The ammunition 
 for small arms is in boxes containing one thousand, and 
 they weigh one hundred and eighteen pounds. One thou 
 sand rounds of pistol ammunition in a box weigh seventy- 
 two pounds. Probably not much will be required for 
 pistols ; but for the rifles, if the firing is rapid, the expendi 
 ture in an action may be as high as eighty rounds a man, 
 though it is not likely. It is desirable to have some 
 means of supplying ammunition readily to any part of the 
 command which may be in immediate need. The gatling 
 limber (three box) can carry about three thousand five 
 hundred rounds. 
 
 COMPANY DRILL. 
 
 Sailors need to know so many things, that it is not 
 desirable to increase the time, for their other drills are 
 quite as important. The time allowed for instruction in 
 company drill will average one hour a week through the 
 year. This seems very little, but a great deal can be done 
 even in this time if every minute be utilized. To accom 
 plish this the division officer must set before himself a defi 
 nite standard to be attained, and this must depend upon the 
 
261 
 
 kind of work his men may have to do. Their work does 
 does not consist in executing dress parades, or passing in 
 review, but in operating, in large or small bodies, in a town 
 or country unfamiliar to them, in the midst of a hostile 
 people, in guarding consulates, in repressing insurrections, 
 in bush fighting, or, perhaps, in storming fortified places. 
 To prepare them for these duties it is necessary to elabo 
 rate a system of instruction which may be changed from 
 time to time as experience suggests, and to make it pro 
 gressive, so that each time something new is learnt, and, 
 little by little, the man gains in knowledge, and what he 
 learns is learned thoroughly. Before the piece is put into 
 a man s hand, he is taught carefully the principles of the 
 direct step and of the double step, because the habit of 
 marching properly will be of the greatest service when he 
 has to go any distance on shore. The movements of the 
 company which are needed are very few, but they are so 
 taught that no amount of confusion will throw them out. 
 Wheeling by fours, forming line by either flank and to the 
 front or rear, are all the movements that are necessary ; 
 and when these are thoroughly understood the rifle may 
 be put into the man s hand, and he has passed from his 
 A B C to solid work. The test of efficiency in the man 
 ual is proficiency in rifle practice, in the different kinds of 
 fire, and in bayonet exercise. 
 
 To meet such tests the men are first taught all the parts 
 of the rifle and their uses, and to dismount and assemble 
 it themselves ; then the aiming and position drill, carefully 
 in all the details loading and rapid firing with dummy 
 cartridges, aiming at different elevations, with the use of 
 the wind gauge, firing with blank cartridge singly and in 
 volleys, and finally ball practice at known ranges, and 
 judging distance ; next a few movements of attack and 
 defence with the bayonet, and the instruction in the man 
 ual is completed. These are not all to be taught in a 
 
262 
 
 day, but they can be taught in a wonderfully short time, 
 if it is done systematically and without useless repetitions. 
 The next drill is instruction in skirmishing. Formerly 
 the skirmishers prepared the way for the attack of the 
 main body ; now the fighting is done by the skirmish line, 
 and this kind of fighting makes a greater demand for in 
 dividual instruction. Each man is taught to act inde 
 pendently, and yet with the others, and to exercise a 
 certain amount of judgment. The next instruction is in 
 the duties required of outposts, advanced guards, and 
 working by small squads under petty officers. Care is 
 given to the teachings of the petty officers, and they are 
 habituated to exercise command in their companies as 
 readily as in their parts of the ship, or in their boats. 
 
 BATTALION DRILL. 
 
 The movements of the battalion which we need to know 
 are very few, and as a general rule the simplest are the 
 best. Although at first sight it appears difficult to teach 
 any of the movements of the battalion on board ship, 
 these difficulties are removed by having a skeleton drill, 
 that is, using all the officers and petty officers of the com 
 panies, and only four men to represent a company. In 
 this way those who need the drill can get it even in con 
 fined space. The necessary movements for the march are 
 forming column of fours, and reforming the line, close 
 column of companies or divisions, the deployment of the 
 close column, and forming front into line faced to the 
 front or rear. The column of fours is the only practicable 
 order of march, and whenever the column has occasion to 
 halt it is formed up into close column of companies or 
 divisions. In this formation, in case of sudden attack, it 
 is ready for deployment, and there is no question about 
 the time necessary to bring up the rear, or their condition 
 when they arrive on the ground. Having mastered these 
 
263 
 
 evolutions, the whole attention is given to skirmishing. 
 The battalion of four companies is deployed for attack as 
 follows : The battalion is formed in two lines, with the 
 first, second and third companies in the first line, and the 
 fourth company in the second line as reserve. In advan 
 cing to attack, the battalion is divided into (1) fighting 
 line, (2) supporting line, (3) main body, and (4) reserve. 
 The movements of the fighting line are regulated by the 
 battalion commander, and it is important to establish a 
 perfect system of linkmen between himself and the com 
 pany commanders on the fighting line, and the officers 
 with the main body and reserve, so that his orders may be 
 passed rapidly without necessitating the use of drum or 
 bugle. The duty of the fighting line is to keep up a fire 
 on the enemy whenever it is effective and until the final 
 rush is made. The duty of the supporting line is to re- 
 enforce the fighting line, when needed, to make up its 
 losses, to supply ammunition, so that its fire may not 
 slacken. The duty of the main body is to follow up the 
 movements of the fighting line, and with it, to finally 
 force the enemy s position. The reserve is used as cir 
 cumstances may require. The distances between the 
 several parts of the battalion depend upon circumstances, 
 the fighting line being thrown forward so that it will be 
 about one thousand yards from the enemy, the supporting 
 ] line about two hundred yards in rear, and the main body 
 about three hundred yards from the supports. Previous 
 to the advance an objective point is decided upon, and 
 explicit instructions given to the company leaders. At a 
 distance of about fifteen hundred yards from the enemy, 
 the column is deployed into line with intervals between 
 the companies of half distance. The deployment of 
 skirmishers commences by sending to the front a thin 
 line, numbers one of front rank of each four, as a fighting 
 line ; and, as they advance, the skirmishers extend to the 
 
264 
 
 right and left. This is followed at the proper distance 
 by the supporting line, numbers two and three of front 
 rank of each four, followed in turn by the main body. 
 The fighting line must take advantage of any cover it can 
 obtain, but must not diverge from the direct line. The 
 supports and main body keep covered as much as possible. 
 The company commanders accompany that part of their 
 companies which is on the fighting line ; the chief petty 
 officers are with the supporting line and the junior com 
 pany officers are with the main body. This arrangement 
 leaves under the control of the company commander his 
 fighting line and supports, and prevents the confusion 
 which is likely to occur when one company is supported 
 by another. Each company commander can judge if he is 
 so strongly pressed as to need re-enforcement, and can re- 
 enforce his own line from his own men. Thus the men 
 are always under the control of the officer to whose direc 
 tion they are accustomed, and who knows them all person 
 ally. When firing begins it should be slow and careful 
 so as not to waste ammunition. No firing is permitted 
 while advancing, but at a given signal the fighting line 
 will cease firing and advance with a rush for about thirty 
 paces, when they lie down and commence firing again ; 
 this gives every man a chance to regulate his sight, 
 and to fire from a rest. The supports and main body 
 follow the movement, gradually diminishing their dis 
 tance; the thin fighting line is pushed up as close as 
 possible before it is re-enforced ; and this is done by send 
 ing numbers from the supporting line who are replaced 
 from the main body. On approaching the enemy s posi 
 tion the fighting line is strengthened until it has absorbed 
 the main body, and the reserve is brought up into a sup 
 porting position ; after this the firing is by alternate com 
 panies kneeling, by word of command, and the lines 
 pushed up by companies, advancing with a rush succes- 
 
265 
 
 sively for short distances, under cover of the fire of the 
 rest of the companies. A front attack should be a last 
 resort ; before this is attempted every means should be 
 tried to turn one flank or the other. When ready to make 
 the attack, word is passed along to prepare to charge, 
 when bayonets are fixed and the line advances at the 
 double ; when it has arrived within charging distance, the 
 bugles and drums sound the charge. From the moment 
 when the double commences, the first line will appear to 
 be in confusion, which becomes greater as they near the 
 enemy s line. This is in a great measure unavoidable, 
 but every attempt should be made to preserve the align 
 ment to the last moment ; and the reserve must be ready 
 to re-enforce any portion of the line. In advancing, care 
 should be taken to keep the flanks always protected, and 
 this is done by extending the skirmishers on the right and 
 left flanks and bending them back. In receiving an 
 attack, the skirmishers are to be kept in front as long as 
 possible, and when they are driven in, the fire must be 
 given deliberately. 
 
 ARTILLERY DRILL, 
 
 The same general principles of instruction are applied 
 to the howitzers as to the company. The only manoeuvres 
 necessary for the howitzer on shore, are wheeling to the 
 right, left, and about, going into battery, and moving 
 by hand to the front or rear, and a very short time is 
 necessary to obtain considerable proficiency in these. 
 What is of vital importance, however, is to teach the men 
 all about the charges, projectiles, and fuzes, the service of 
 the piece, the manipulation of the sight, and judging dis 
 tance ; so that each man will know the capabili ties of his 
 piece and be able to perform any duty at the piece. To 
 make the drill successful it must be systematic, so that in 
 a certain time everything necessary shall have been taught. 
 
266 
 
 As soon as the instruction in working the piece, both on 
 shore and in the boat, has been completed, a series of 
 exercises in target practice is commenced, with all kinds 
 of ammunition, from the boat and on shore if it be pos 
 sible. The men are to be taught that their weapon is the 
 piece, that their safety in action will depend upon the way 
 they work their piece, and that it only needs judgment 
 and coolness to make it a powerful weapon. 
 
 I have shown you this evening how, without failing in 
 their duty as sailors, our men have, in the past history of 
 the navy, done valuable service on shore. We have seen 
 them at Bladensburg and at the head of the Chesapeake, 
 when the militia gave way and they had to stand the 
 brunt of the attacks and secured the safety of Baltimore ; 
 we have seen them breaking up nests of pirates in the 
 West Indies, and pushing the Malays in the East Indies ; 
 we have followed them in the Mexican war when Stockton 
 in the north with his naval brigade conquered a large 
 territory ; when Shubrick in the south captured Mazatlan, 
 and Rowan, Lavalette, Craven, and Selfridge kept the 
 west coast in a blaze while Perry occupied and laid under 
 contribution the east coast from the Rio Grande to Vera 
 Cruz ; we have been stirred to sympathy for the gallant 
 fellows who fell at Fort Fisher where their defeat con 
 tributed to the victory of their brothers in the army ; and 
 since the war we know of the disastrous affair at Formosa, 
 of our men being landed in different parts of the world to 
 protect our own people and the foreign residents, and of 
 the successful expedition to Corea to punish an insult to 
 our flag. 
 
 Such a record in the past has to be maintained in the 
 present and in the future. With limited drill and inferior 
 arms our predecessors of glorious memory acquitted them 
 selves well. But modes of warfare have changed entirely 
 in fifty years, and even the savage of the present day is 
 
267 
 
 no mean enemy, while our men are likely to be pitted 
 against disciplined troops. We cannot decline to give 
 battle for the honor of our flag, or for the protection of 
 our citizens, because our enemies may be well armed and 
 drilled, or because we should be off our natural element. 
 The question is not whether the seamen are primarily in 
 tended for another kind of service ; everybody agrees that 
 the primary purpose of seamen is to man ships and to 
 fight at sea. The question is, rather, in what way we can 
 bring the most effective force against an enemy whose 
 positions on land we are attacking. If we have a squad 
 ron with a thousand men on board, and all the operations 
 have been concluded of which the squadron, as a squad 
 ron, is capable, we cannot allow our thousand men to 
 remain on board idle while troops are engaged on shore, 
 simply because their vocation is to fight on the water. 
 There are times, however, as I have shown, when the ser 
 vice required is that combined land and water service for 
 which the seamen are peculiarly fitted. And so, while we 
 first of all train up a body of men to fight on the sea, we 
 prepare for the possibility of their having to fight on shore, 
 also. By making our drills practical and instructive we find 
 that our men learn readily what is needed, and we know 
 that the true sailor possesses a gallantry which only needs 
 to be properly directed, to enable him to overcome any 
 obstacles. 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR, 
 1861-1865. 
 
 BY 
 
 LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER 
 
 WILLIAM G. SALTONSTALL, U.S.N. 
 
 Read May 10, 1886. 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To THE MILITARY HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MASSA 
 CHUSETTS. 
 
 Gentlemen, To those of you belonging to the army 
 during the war, who participated in some of its most im 
 portant contests, whose ears became accustomed to the 
 thunder of artillery, and whose eyes to fields of carnage 
 thickly strewn with the dead and dying, and who since, 
 at these interesting meetings, have had those thrilling 
 scenes eloquently revived, I feel that a few words of pre 
 face are necessaiy before spinning my comparatively inno 
 cent and bloodless yarn. It was written at odd times, of 
 late, not to read here, but for my own and my children s 
 entertainment ; and I frankly confess that the latter, thus 
 far, seem to have failed to adequately appreciate the 
 efforts of the author. It may be, however, that one of 
 these days, too late, alas ! for them to assure him of 
 their awakened interest, they may be glad to have a 
 record of his humble efforts in aiding to secure to them 
 the blessing of a united country, efforts which, though 
 not so momentous as some, took up just as much of his 
 time as anybody s. Let me suggest that you veterans 
 follow my example. If our fathers had participated in 
 such a contest, and borne record of honorable and patriotic 
 striving to do well the duties, large and small, which fell 
 to their lot, such would have great value in our eyes, and 
 
 271 
 
272 
 
 those of future generations of their descendants. At the 
 request of our good friend Mr. Ropes, who wished to 
 arrange for this meeting, I sent him this paper, and he, 
 being hard up, I suspect, has requested me to read it, 
 which I cheerfully do. On his shoulders, therefore, must 
 rest the responsibility, should you find it uninteresting, or 
 lacking sufficiently high flavor for your sanguinary tastes. 
 
 ESTTBODTJCTION. 
 
 At the beginning of the war there were but 42 naval 
 vessels in commission, mostly abroad, with a force of 7,600 
 men ; 207 men only were on board receiving-ships on the 
 Atlantic coast. In 1865, at its termination, there were 
 694 vessels, mostly steamers, belonging to the navy, about 
 200 of which were regulars, built in navy or private yards, 
 and 418 bought out of the merchant service and trans 
 formed into gunboats ; and a force of 51,500 men. Three 
 hundred and thirty-two Southern officers resigned, and 
 about 7,500 volunteer officers came in. 
 
 It cannot be claimed that all the additions to our navy 
 were handsome or effective. The class of schooner-rigged 
 gunboats and double-enders hastily built during the war 
 answered a very useful purpose, though slow, and our 
 blockade would have been badly off without some of the 
 merchant steamers like the " Connecticut," " Quaker City," 
 and " Keystone State," fast enough to overhaul and cap 
 ture the speedy craft built for blockade running, in Eng 
 land. The ferry-boat class, from their capacity for carrying 
 heavy armaments, were useful but vulnerable, and the 
 iron-clads as good as we could expect from their novelty 
 and our total lack of experience in their construction. I 
 confess that in the matter of iron-clads, considering their 
 very limited resources, the South were more energetic than 
 we, frequently causing us alarm and considerable damage. 
 All that the navy left of floating things were taken by the 
 
273 
 
 army for transports ; and such a collection of crazy, homely, 
 shackly, and dangerous craft, collected from lakes, rivers, 
 and canals, as were sent to sea, were never before encoun 
 tered in fleets risking the dangers of the Atlantic coast. 
 A merciful Providence, however, seemed to reserve the 
 poor soldiers, who went down to the sea, crammed like 
 sardines into these frail boxes, for some other fate, as few 
 wrecks occurred. I shuddered when I saw the Port 
 Royal expedition leave Hampton Roads, but they all 
 arrived safely. 
 
 When you consider the condition of the navy in April 
 of 1861, but few of the existing vessels being suitable 
 or available for the duty required of them, and with the 
 service demoralized by the withdrawal of so many officers, 
 and then consider what was accomplished during the first 
 year, it is truly remarkable, and reflects the greatest credit 
 on both the Secretary of the Navy and especially his assist 
 ant, Mr. G. V. Fox, to whom it was chiefly due. Besides 
 instituting the extensive blockade of the coast line of 
 3,549 miles by means of the North and South Atlantic 
 and East and West Gulf Squadrons, naval expeditions 
 were organized to restore the national authority at impor 
 tant points within the insurrectionary region. The first 
 of these sailed from Hampton Roads in August, 1861, 
 under Rear Admiral Stringham, and resulted in the cap 
 ture of Hatteras. This was followed a few weeks later by 
 the victory of Rear Admiral Dupont at Port Royal, which 
 secured a good harbor for the ships of the South Atlantic 
 Squadron. Pensacola with its naval station was fortu 
 nately saved to us ; and then followed, in April of 1862, 
 the capture of New Orleans by Rear Admiral Farragut. 
 These important expeditions comprised a larger fleet than 
 had ever been fitted out on this continent, two of them 
 seldom surpassed in naval annals, while all the time the 
 blockade was so vigilantly enforced that the rebels even 
 
274 
 
 then felt its severity. Nor was the contest confined to 
 the seaboard ; for on our inland waters, the Potomac, 
 Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers, a flo 
 tilla of gunboats had materially aided the army in its 
 movements, penetrating and patrolling those waters. 
 
 The War of the Rebellion commenced by the firing on 
 Fort Sumter, on the 12th of April, 1861. Tempted by 
 curiosity to see something of it, and quite willing to lend 
 a hand if opportunity offered, I obtained a passage to 
 Fort Monroe the latter part of May, 1861, in the steamer 
 Cambridge, bound there from Boston with troops and 
 munitions of war. Major-General Benjamin F. Butler 
 was then in command of the Fort and district, and, as 
 certaining from a mutual friend that I had had consid 
 erable nautical experience in the merchant service, pro 
 posed my going to Washington with a letter from him to 
 the Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Gideon Welles, asking 
 an appointment in the Navy, with permission to serve 
 under his (Butler s) orders, in command of one of two 
 steam vessels he had sent to purchase, which he proposed 
 arming on their arrival at the Fort, and using in conjunc 
 tion with the Army. With an excess of zeal (for I had 
 better have waited to see the vessels before shipping) I at 
 once went to Washington and made my application. The 
 Secretary smiled at the idea of thus amalgamating the 
 two branches of the service, but granted the unusual re 
 quest by conferring upon me the appointment of " Acting 
 Master in the United States Navy, * without pay/ with 
 permission to serve under Major-General Butler at Fort 
 Monroe." No pay could be allowed, as, from the nature 
 of the appointment, my name could not well be on the 
 rolls of either an Army or Navy paymaster. My patri 
 otism far exceeding my cupidity, I accepted this docu 
 ment, and returned to my commander, who desired me to 
 select the vessel I preferred of the two which had arrived 
 
275 
 
 during my absence, and proceed, with his assistance of 
 course, to convert her into a gunboat. To my chagrin I 
 soon found myself relieved of the latter responsibility, for 
 one of the vessels was the smallest tug-boat I ever saw, 
 filled up on deck with bitts and houses to an extent which 
 prevented the mounting of the smallest piece of ordnance, 
 and with accommodations only for a captain, engineer, 
 and one deck-hand. The other, a canal-boat for the con 
 veyance of fruit and vegetables through some canal ; of 
 the very lightest possible build, with boiler and engine on 
 deck, and a very small propeller out behind. The dis 
 charge of a 24-pounder on deck would have shaken her 
 to pieces, and she had no accommodations whatever. 
 Where these vessels had come from, or by whom bought, 
 I never learned ; but there had evidently been a job some 
 where. The General, upon examination, agreed with me 
 that they were entirely unsuited for such service as he 
 had proposed, and the object was abandoned. My high 
 hopes and ambitions received a heavy blow, and I was 
 naturally, for the time being, very sorry I had shipped. 
 
 Active occupation was soon found for me, however, 
 in organizing a naval brigade, from the riff-raff there 
 abouts, to man and pull ten very large flat-bottomed fish 
 ing boats requiring at least twelve men each, which had 
 been collected up the bay for the purpose of ferrying 
 across Hampton Creek, where the bridge had been burned 
 by the enemy, the detachment of troops from Fort Mon 
 roe which was to join one from our camp at Newport 
 News in the celebrated advance upon and battle of Big 
 Bethel. My recruits for this service consisted of a set 
 of nautical New York ruffians, constituting Bartlett s 
 Naval Brigade, which somehow had been recruited and 
 brought down by him shortly before in a steamer, at 
 whose expense I do not know, with the promise that on 
 their arrival they would be armed, equipped, and mus- 
 
276 
 
 tered into the United States service. This the Govern 
 ment had declined doing; and after an attempt to kill 
 their General, who I believe unfortunately escaped, they 
 were hungry, ragged, willing to kill anybody else or do 
 anything to procure food, which I engaged to provide in 
 exchange for their services. 
 
 Leaving the fort on the evening of June 9, the long 
 procession of boats made their way through the darkness 
 to the Creek, which was reached after running the gaunt 
 let of our own pickets, who, although they had been in 
 formed of our coming, insisted upon regarding us as rebels, 
 and emptying their muskets at us before running away, 
 without, however, doing any material damage. 
 
 Though not behind the scenes, I understood that the 
 first object of the expedition, numbering about twenty-five 
 hundred men and two guns, was to surprise the small 
 body of rebels quartered at Little Bethel, a few miles up 
 country; and in case of success the commander, Briga 
 dier-General Pierce, was to exercise his discretion about 
 proceeding farther on toward Big Bethel and Yorktown. 
 After a most arduous night s work, it was dawn before 
 our detachment got away from the town of Hampton and 
 proceeded up the road. The heat was intense ; the men 
 were in heavy marching order, with overcoats, knapsacks, 
 etc., as if going to stay. The detachment from Newport 
 News first arrived at the fork of the roads selected for 
 the rendezvous ; but, strangely enough, seeing the others 
 approaching, concealed themselves, and fired a volley at 
 their friends, in case they should happen to be enemies, 
 doing some execution among them, and causing the larger 
 proportion to return in haste to the boats. Having heard 
 the firing, and looking up the street wondering at the 
 cause, I saw a singular apparition approaching on the 
 run, which turned out to be the bass drummer of the 
 band with his bulky instrument before him, who had 
 
277 
 
 distanced all others in the race, although so badly handi 
 capped. 
 
 The mistake being discovered, the column at length 
 re-formed and proceeded up the road in broad daylight ; 
 and, finding no opposition at Little Bethel, continued 
 gayly on until confronted by a line of works mounting 
 several guns, on the other side of a swamp commanding 
 the road, behind which was a force under command of 
 General Magruder. Here they came to a very sudden 
 halt ; and soon all discipline was lost excepting by the 
 small party of regular artillery commanded by Lieutenant 
 Greble, who, being ordered to place his guns in the road 
 in full sweep of the enemy, soon fell mortally wounded. 
 
 " Damn em 1 they re firing bullets," one soldier was 
 heard to exclaim to another from behind their respective 
 trees, his first realization of war. When this was fully 
 realized, the entire command concluded of their own ac 
 cord to return hastily in light marching order, without a 
 serious attempt to take the battery by assault. And so 
 throwing away anything heavy or warm in the way of 
 muskets, overcoats, and knapsacks, they replaced these 
 encumbrances with livestock, where they could find it, and 
 returned pell mell to the boats, a thoroughly disorganized 
 mob. Had the enemy pursued, which they seem to have 
 been quite content not to do, they could have created fear 
 ful havoc among them and bagged what they did not kill. 
 
 Thus ended the celebrated battle of Big Bethel, which 
 later in the war would have been accounted nothing, but 
 which, being the first action, sent a pang through the 
 North and hope to the South. Theodore Winthrop was 
 one of the few victims. He had conceived the enterprise, 
 and doubtless hoped it would end in our possessing York- 
 town. But, seeing how things were going, in desperation 
 he advanced almost alone toward the enemy, and was shot 
 down in the act of mounting their breastworks. 
 
278 
 
 General Butler, who had not accompanied the expedi 
 tion beyond Hampton Creek, was, of course, together with 
 every one else, greatly depressed by the result ; and find 
 ing there was little chance of usefulness thereabouts, I 
 soon again applied to the Navy Department for a more 
 regular appointment, and, as an Acting Master, was 
 ordered to the frigate Minnesota then lying in Hampton 
 Roads, where for a year I served as Flag Lieutenant on 
 the staffs of Rear Admirals Goldsborough and Lee. 
 
 A few words here about volunteer officers. There were 
 five grades open to us, viz. : Acting Master s Mates, 
 Acting Ensigns, Acting Masters, Acting Volunteer Lieu 
 tenants and Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Commanders, 
 the latter of corresponding rank to Lieutenant Colonel in 
 the army, and beyond which we could not go by law. 
 This seemed unjust compared with army regulations, un 
 less length of title was a compensation for higher rank. 
 We all received our appointments, after examination, from 
 the Navy Department, signed by the Secretary instead of 
 the President, and were at once placed on a par with the 
 regulars of similar grade, thus attaining the rank in a 
 day which it had taken them years to acquire. Naturally, 
 considerable prejudice had to be overcome, and doubtless 
 considerable annoyance was caused by the invasion of 
 their messes by a lot of men not all bred to the standard 
 of manners of the Naval Academy or its mode of perform 
 ance of nautical duties. It was so plainly evident, how 
 ever, that though the service according to the regulars 
 
 was going to with us, it would much more surely and 
 
 quickly go there without, that they became reconciled to 
 the necessity ; and certainly for zeal and general efficiency 
 the volunteer officers compared favorably with regulars, 
 though doubtless dispensing with a good deal of the red 
 tape of the service. Speaking of zeal, I recall what 
 seemed to me at the time a strange piece of advice given 
 
279 
 
 me by an old regular navy officer, but which on further 
 acquaintance with the class seemed quite characteristic. 
 " Never volunteer for any service," said he. " You are 
 much more likely to get blame than thanks for it. Do 
 what falls to your lot and let it go at that." 
 
 Most of us had been officers in the merchant service, 
 and it naturally required time to acquire the routine, 
 etiquette, and drill of the Navy. Many breaches of eti 
 quette were made, but few more amusing than one of 
 which I was guilty the day after reporting for duty, when 
 ordered to accompany Admiral Goldsborough, a thorough 
 specimen of a gruff old naval officer, huge in dimen 
 sions as well as importance, on a visit of state to the Fort. 
 The stately barge was alongside ; the full marine guard 
 was drawn up on deck, the boatswain s mates and side 
 boys ready at the gangway, and all hands interested 
 observers of the pageant. The Admiral, in full uniform, 
 issued from his cabin, and, accompanied by the Captain 
 of the ship, the executive officer, officer of the deck, and 
 myself, proceeded along the deck while arms were pre 
 sented, drums rolled, and side piped. Arriving at the 
 gangway ladder amid all this pomp, the Admiral paused 
 for me to go down into the boat first, as etiquette strictly 
 demanded, while to me the reverse seemed true politeness, 
 and I waited for him to precede me. I quickly saw that 
 j something was very wrong indeed, causing a grin from all 
 
 | the observers, until from the Admiral, " it, young 
 
 man, get into that boat I" caused me to hasten down, 
 when I for the first time learned that in entering a boat 
 juniors go first, according to rank, standing till the senior 
 is seated, while in leaving the reverse is the rule. Thus 
 I had early violated etiquette, causing much amusement 
 on the ship, and a wigging from the Admiral on our way 
 to shore for so detracting from his dignity. 
 
 My duties as Flag Lieutenant were to act as aid, 
 
280 
 
 supervise all signals to the squadron, at times a very 
 responsible position, attend to much flag of truce 
 communication with Norfolk, but with no watch or ship 
 duty to perform, and I found the position a very pleasant 
 one. In fact, compared with the army, naval life was 
 luxurious. Clean clothes and boots, comfortable beds in 
 stead of straw or mud, good and regular meals in place 
 of hazardous ones, though possibly less good appetite for 
 them. To be sure, strong drink was absolutely forbidden, 
 but bottles labelled " Navy Sherry " were good substitutes 
 for any containing commissary whiskey that my friends 
 ever tendered me in camp. 
 
 One day in December, 1861, as I was standing in the 
 port gangway requesting the captain of a tug which had 
 brought some ice alongside, to hurry its discharge as I 
 wanted to use his boat, a large block of ice, suspended by 
 a tackle from the main yard, was swung in over my head, 
 partially lowered, and through the carelessness of a sailor 
 at the guy allowed to swing out again, striking me in the 
 back. I was thrown some eight feet horizontally before 
 dropping eighteen perpendicularly, bringing up on the 
 deck of the tug, unfortunately, instead of in the water. 
 I was reported by the ubiquitous newspaper reporter 
 " mortally injured," and my family hurried down to see 
 the last of me. The result was a serious and painful 
 internal injury, which necessitated my going north into 
 hospital for many weeks for repairs. This was the only 
 wound I received in the service, and though severe did 
 not bring the advantages in the way of promotion that 
 might have attended one caused by a different material 
 not so easily melted. Thus I was prevented from partici 
 pation in two important events occurring during my 
 enforced absence, the Roanoke Island expedition in the 
 North Carolina Sounds, and the witnessing of the memo 
 rable contest between the Merrimac and Monitor, in 
 
281 
 
 Hampton Roads, March 9, 1862. The former had been a 
 sister ship to the Minnesota and had fallen into the hands 
 of the Confederates when they seized the Norfolk Navy 
 Yard. It was well known that they had razeed and were 
 plating her with iron, with a view to attacking our vessels 
 in the Roads and doing whatever damage she could. Her 
 rival, the Monitor, was also being hurried to completion 
 in New York. 
 
 I will here relate an incident which came near ending 
 my earthly career. Before my accident, the Congress and 
 Cumberland frigates shortly afterward sunk by the 
 Merrimac were guarding the entrance to the James 
 River, and kept a sharp lookout for anything approaching 
 them at night. One evening, after dark, I was ordered to 
 take the steamer Philadelphia and carry some dispatches 
 to the commander of the Congress. It seems that the 
 quartermaster on watch had reported us as coming out 
 from Norfolk ; and although we had our signals set, they 
 decided we were a rebel vessel trying to get up the James, 
 and prepared to stop us. On we went, unsuspecting 
 danger, until nearly up to the Congress, when fortunately 
 the bell was rung to stop, and simultaneously a hail came 
 from the ship, ordering us to stop. Our boat was lowered 
 and I proceeded on board, well aware from appearances 
 that something unusual was up. I found all hands at 
 quarters, and, being invited into the cabin, was informed 
 by the captain that had we not stopped as we did a broad 
 side would the next instant have been poured into us, the 
 belief was so strong that we were a Confederate steamer 
 trying to run the blockade. 
 
 My flag of truce duties with Norfolk for the purpose of 
 exchanging prisoners, etc., had brought me in contact with 
 many who gave full information about the Merrimac ; but 
 the Admiral was inclined to under-estimate her powers 
 until she proved them. At the time she came out he was 
 
282 
 
 absent (as I should doubtless have been) in the North 
 Carolina Sounds, and hastily returned to find the two 
 frigates sunk, while his own flag-ship, the Minnesota, had 
 barely escaped destruction. When her consorts off New 
 port News had been attacked, Captain Van Brunt, her 
 commander, had got under way to go to their assistance ; 
 but, grounding on the bar about half way up, was com 
 pletely at the Merrimac s mercy, when, having dispatched 
 the other two, she turned her attention upon her, and 
 taking up a raking position where the Minnesota could 
 bring few guns to bear, while their shot glanced from the 
 Merrimac s side, she soon caused considerable loss of life 
 and havoc on board. Darkness coming on, the iron-clad 
 withdrew for the night, during which the Monitor arrived 
 from New York, and before morning reported alongside, 
 hastily prepared for the memorable conflict before her. 
 With breathless interest the manoeuvring and fighting 
 was watched by my friends on the frigate ; and at one 
 time, when the Monitor seemed to have withdrawn from 
 the action, active preparations were made for destroying 
 the ship, should she be again attacked, the crew being 
 largely transferred to tugs, and steps taken to blow her up 
 to avoid useless loss of life, and her falling into the hands 
 of the enemy. Just in time, however, the Monitor re 
 turned to renew the encounter, which resulted in the 
 defeat and return to Norfolk of her adversary. That 
 night the Minnesota was floated and returned to her 
 anchorage. 
 
 I do not think that sufficient credit was ever given 
 First-Lieutenant Greene, executive officer of the Monitor, 
 now dead, who himself told me that Captain Worden, 
 after being wounded, sent for him to leave the turret, 
 take command, cease fighting, and continue to retire 
 toward Fort Monroe, as he had directed before leaving 
 the pilot-house. Greene, on his own responsibility, turned 
 
283 
 
 her about and renewed the action, with its well-known 
 results, and, in reality, was not the lesser hero of the two. 
 
 Admiral Goldsborough returned in haste from the 
 Sounds, no longer swearing that he would sink the Mer- 
 rimac if she ventured out, as he had always valiantly 
 threatened when I had carried him accurate information 
 of her powers. All sorts of appliances, from the great 
 steamer Vanderbilt to the smallest tug-boat, were kept in 
 preparation to run her down, or otherwise destroy her; 
 and great was the excitement in the Roads, and of the 
 Admiral, at times when she was reported coming. One 
 day when black smoke was seen over Sewall s Point, 
 and it was reported the Merrimac was coming out, the 
 Admiral was raging up and down the deck in terrible 
 excitement, when an innocent little officer appeared from 
 a boat alongside with a roll of requisitions under his arm, 
 on which he wanted the Admiral s signature. Vessels 
 used to be sent from Northern Navy Yards with little or 
 nothing on board, and told that when they reached Hamp 
 ton Roads everything could be had by making requisitions ; 
 whereas, there was nothing to speak of there, and requisi 
 tions had come to have the same effect on the excitable 
 Admiral that a red flag has on a bull. Catching sight of the 
 unfortunate, he yelled, " What have you got there, sir ? " 
 
 " Requisitions, sir," was the meek reply. " D you, sir, 
 
 go back to your ship, sir ; don t you see that I am expect 
 ing the Merrimac ? " A vision of horizontal coat-tails rapidly 
 disappearing, and the hasty departure of a boat, ensued. 
 
 The Merrimac did not again risk an attack, and just 
 as I returned to duty, owing to a successful advance by 
 the army upon Norfolk, she was destroyed by her officers, 
 May 10, 1862, and the place evacuated, the Minnesota 
 taking her station off the town ; the Navy Yard, which we 
 had made such a mistake in abandoning, being a mass of 
 smoking ruins. 
 
284 
 
 Our debt of obligation to the Monitor and her officers 
 is incalculable. I do not think the Merrimac would have 
 ventured outside the Capes, but she would have held 
 undisputed possession of the Roads, Chesapeake Bay, 
 Baltimore, the Potomac and Washington, could she have 
 reached them. The day which witnessed that unpre 
 cedented action was, like several others during that tedi 
 ous and terrible war, momentous with the fate of the 
 Union. 
 
 While at Norfolk I had an opportunity of witnessing 
 the virulence of the Southern women, who, so far as I am 
 aware, while behind their Northern sisters in acts of mercy 
 and love, displayed a spirit which made the alternative of 
 facing the enemy much more desirable to their male friends 
 and relatives than staying at home. In fact, of the two 
 fires, ours was the mildest. On our walks through the 
 streets, dresses would be ostentatiously pulled aside to 
 prevent coming in contact with us, while " Dixie " and 
 other Confederate airs would be vigorously played and 
 sung as we passed their houses. 
 
 One day, in a severe thunder-squall, I took refuge in 
 the open doorway of a house, and encountered two veri 
 table wild-cats, the lightning from whose eyes caused that 
 of the heavens to pale, while their tongues poured out a 
 rain of venom which made the pour outside preferable and 
 refreshing. 
 
 On one occasion, after our occupation of Norfolk, I was 
 ordered to take charge of a detachment of sailors from the 
 Minnesota, for New Berne, North Carolina, and proceed 
 in the small steamer captured at Norfolk, through the 
 Dismal Swamp Canal. We started early one pleasant 
 morning, and on the way had to pass through several 
 lakes. In the middle of the last and longest one, during 
 the afternoon, quite too late to return, our rickety craft 
 sprung a bad leak, and it was only with the greatest dim*- 
 
285 
 
 culty the water could be kept from putting out the fires 
 under the boiler. As many as possible were set to work 
 bailing with whatever implements we could find on board, 
 even to the men s caps ; and in this way we reached and 
 passed through the last section of the canal, in the midst 
 of a hostile country, where a few armed men, had they 
 been there, would have had us entirely at their mercy, as 
 we were unarmed; and so out into Currituck Sound, 
 where a United States gunboat, sent for the purpose, was 
 providentially awaiting our arrival. As we approached 
 her the leak increased rapidly, and the boat became so 
 water-logged and cranky that it was only by keeping part 
 of the men moving from side to side that her attempts to 
 roll over were counter-balanced. On approaching the 
 gunboat I ordered all hands to be ready to jump with 
 their traps as soon as we were alongside, an order most 
 willingly obeyed, the result being that as the last one 
 left her she rolled over and sank to the bottom. We 
 could not have gone many rods further, and had not the 
 vessel most fortunately been just there to receive us, we 
 should have had to accept the alternative of drowning, or 
 the very doubtful hospitalities of North Carolina rebels, 
 could we have reached the shore. It was a wonderfully 
 narrow escape, and laughter and congratulations immedi 
 ately took the place of anxiety and foreboding, as we 
 found ourselves safe and among friends. 
 
 Reaching New Berne, and delivering my rather lively 
 charge to the commander of the squadron for distribution 
 among his fleet, I was directed to take passage on a side- 
 wheel river steamer under Government charter, bound to 
 Hampton Roads by the outside route. There were a good 
 many soldiers below, and but a few cabin passengers, in 
 cluding one lady. When rounding Cape Hatteras in the 
 night, we encountered a southeaster, with the usual ugly 
 sea peculiar to that locality. Our flimsy craft labored and 
 
286 
 
 rolled so heavily that I could not sleep ; and at length a 
 tremendous sea striking under guards sent her almost on 
 her beam ends. Jumping from my berth, I opened the 
 stateroom door, and looked out into the dimly-lighted 
 saloon; at the same moment, the lady passenger nearly 
 opposite and a well-known Massachusetts army surgeon 
 a few doors distant on my side, and exactly opposite hers, 
 all in a state of alarm and dishabille, did the same 
 thing. Just then came another fearful roll down our side, 
 and the lady, losing her hold, started with involuntary but 
 incredible speed across the saloon, bringing up full against 
 the doctor, causing him to quit his hold, and both dis 
 appeared from my sight into his room. The next roll 
 brought both out and hurriedly across into hers, he vainly 
 trying to assist, and both ghostly objects again disappeared 
 from view, he speedily returning in similar haste alone ; 
 and the scene ended by all again retiring to our berths 
 and, after an anxious night, reaching our destination 
 safely next day. I never meet the doctor without his 
 recalling this very amusing bit of farce with such tragic 
 surroundings. 
 
 In the autumn of 1862, 1 was detached from the frigate, 
 and ordered to New York to fit out and command the 
 United States steamer Commodore Hull. Among various 
 other strange looking and unseaworthy craft, the Govern 
 ment had altered to gunboats many ferry-boats, owing to 
 their ability to carry heavy armaments, and go up and 
 down narrow rivers without turning around ; and this was 
 a small specimen of that class. She carried at each end 
 a fifty-pound Parrott rifled gun on pivot carriages; the 
 bulwarks, of half-inch iron plates, being lowered in action, 
 affording a half-circle sweep for the guns : also, four 
 twenty-four-pound brass howitzers on slides in broadside. 
 The original cabins were divided into officers quarters, 
 store and cook rooms; while the men slung their ham- 
 
287 
 
 mocks in the enclosed space between. She was not a 
 craft to take much pride in, or to care to go to sea or to 
 fight in, being perhaps one hundred and fifty feet long, 
 with side wheels and broad guards, both engines and 
 boilers being partly above the water line. Officers and 
 crew numbered about one hundred, very many of whom 
 had never been on a naval vessel before, and some not on 
 any. The operation of fitting out at the Brooklyn Navy 
 Yard was anything but agreeable in those days of hurry 
 and confusion ; and it was only after much delay and strife 
 that I succeeded in getting the craft into a decent state of 
 efficiency and ready for her crew, which was then trans 
 ferred from the receiving-ship, little resembling typical 
 men-of-war s men, a few cartloads of stores (consisting 
 more of what then happened to be left on hand than 
 what I wanted) were dumped on deck in the rain, and I 
 was ordered to get out of the way as quickly as possible, 
 and report to Admiral Lee at Hampton Roads for duty 
 in the North Atlantic Squadron. 
 
 At length, early one pleasant Sunday morning in 
 November, I left the Navy Yard and paddled down the 
 harbor, passing on the way a large English frigate just 
 arrived and anchored. There was apparently the greatest 
 excitement and interest on board as we approached, they 
 probably mistaking us, with our sheet-iron lined sides 
 and pilot houses, for one of the new American iron-clads 
 which the Monitor had made famous. All hands were 
 apparently interested, the rigging and hammock nettings 
 were crowded with men, while all the officers from the 
 captain down were examining through their glasses this 
 new and strange little war vessel so bravely paddling off 
 to sea. As we passed, their ensign was hastily run up 
 and dipped, caps were waved, and cheers given. Answer 
 ing these salutes in kind, we passed on smiling audibly. 
 
 Outside, the sea was smooth, and we succeeded in 
 
288 
 
 reaching Hampton Roads without accident. After a few 
 days of picket duty on the James River, orders came late 
 one afternoon to start immediately for North Carolina 
 Sounds via Hatteras Inlet ; and though the weather was 
 threatening I put to sea that evening. The next day, 
 about noon, we were off Cape Hatteras, with a contin 
 ually increasing southeast gale, and sea coming up. 
 I had no pilot or special charts for this dangerous local 
 ity, on board. Our compasses were entirely unreliable 
 from local attraction ; and soon after passing the Cape 
 it came on so thick and rainy that we lost sight of the 
 land. The chance of getting into the Inlet looked poor ; 
 but get in there before dark we must, or go ashore or 
 founder during the night. Every moment the gale was 
 increasing and the boat wallowing and steering worse, 
 while frequently the sea would strike under her guards 
 with threatening force. Slowly we labored on, firing, at 
 short intervals, signal guns in the hope of inducing a 
 pilot to venture out. Suddenly a large can buoy loomed 
 up through the mist; and, deciding that it must mean some 
 thing, I rounded it and headed the vessel for the Inlet, or 
 the beach. It must be the one, with safety, or the other, 
 with death, for there was no going back in the face of 
 the gale. Driving before it with but little control over 
 the vessel, we soon heard the terrible sound of breakers 
 on the beach, and ere long, as we shoaled our water, 
 were among them, though we thought we could perceive 
 a comparatively smooth course between the lines, indica 
 ting a channel, in which we strove to keep. With no 
 land yet visible, with the darkness coming rapidly on, 
 the rain pouring down in sheets, the gale ever increasing, 
 and the breakers foaming and howling on each side as we 
 ran blindly and almost helplessly in toward the dreaded 
 beach, the situation and responsibility were terrible beyoncl 
 description. Officers and men stood silent and awed, 
 
289 
 
 awaiting a result which must very soon arrive. Suddenly 
 the sand hills of the beach loomed up but half a mile 
 ahead; and simultaneously we perceived a whale-boat, 
 with a brave and lusty crew, struggling in our direction, 
 the steersman signalling us with his arm to "starboard 
 our helm 1 " to keep in the channel. Soon they were 
 alongside, and a pilot with difficulty on board, who said, 
 as he carried us through the Inlet to smooth water and 
 safety, that if he had not heard our guns, and gone out and 
 caught sight of us that moment to give us the signal he 
 did, the next one would have seen us ashore in the 
 breakers, with the inevitable consequence of death and 
 destruction. All night long the gale howled, and the 
 breakers roared outside ; and never a more thankful crew 
 enjoyed the blessing of safety and rest after our trying 
 experience and hazardous voyage in a craft which only 
 the emergency of the times excused sending to sea. 
 
 The next day I proceeded to New Berne and was soon 
 ordered to report for duty off the town of Washington, 
 N.C., in the Pamlico River. Early in the war the Con 
 federates had practically closed this river about seven 
 miles below the town, by driving piles, sinking vessels, 
 and the erection on Hill s Point, a high bluff commanding 
 the obstructions, of a very strong casemated earthwork. 
 The place having been evacuated by them later on, our 
 forces had taken quiet possession of the town, contenting 
 themselves with simply opening a channel, and marking 
 it with a buoy on each side, leaving the battery intact, 
 and ready for occupancy again. Arriving there in 
 December, the vessel was stationed off the lower part 
 of the town, abreast of a small island, while the gunboat 
 Louisiana (subsequently used as a powder boat off 
 Wilmington, N.C., in General Butler s characteristic but 
 abortive attempt to take its defences by bluster rather 
 than fighting) guarded the upper portion. 
 
290 
 
 Here I passed the winter very pleasantly, making some 
 few agreeable acquaintances among the inhabitants, 
 though, as usual, the female portion were very shy of 
 Union officers. I here met a Miss Dimmock, fifteen or 
 sixteen years of age, poor, but a most intelligent girl, 
 of partly Northern parentage. She had a natural fondness 
 for the study of medicine, which I gratified by borrowing 
 books from my surgeon. Before the end of the war she 
 came to Boston, went into a hospital, attracted the atten 
 tion of some of our best physicians by her zeal and apti 
 tude, who sent her abroad to study. After a highly 
 successful experience she returned to take charge of the 
 New England Hospital for Women and Children, and 
 after some years of excellent work was lost on the 
 steamer Schiller, when wrecked on the Scilly Island, 
 where she displayed most heroic courage in the face of 
 death. Her body was one of the few recovered, and was 
 buried from Rev. James Freeman Clarke s church, filled 
 to overflowing with her sorrowing friends ; a most not 
 able instance of high achievement from a very small be 
 ginning. 
 
 While speaking of North Carolina women, I will allude 
 to their fondness for snuff-dipping. This consists, as a 
 preliminary, in chewing the end of a twig from a certain 
 bush till it becomes a sort of brush, when it is dipped in 
 snuff and rubbed slowly around the teeth and gums, with 
 as much or more apparent satisfaction as smoking or 
 chewing affords the opposite sex. It is claimed that this 
 habit, which I often saw practised, is confined to the 
 lower classes; but the higher circles are not above 
 suspicion. 
 
 Cruising down the river one day after the siege, when 
 the neighboring country had been thoroughly ransacked 
 for recruits and provisions, I landed at a decent looking 
 house to try and buy some poultry. The occupants were 
 
291 
 
 two half-starved looking women, who stated that the 
 husband of one, together with all their provisions and 
 live stock, had been gobbled up by a Confederate foraging 
 party shortly before, leaving them in great destitution. 
 They begged some provisions of me, and added : " For 
 God s sake, Captain, send us some snuff." 
 
 Nothing of importance occurred during the winter, 
 unless I note the invention, by Engineer Lay, of the 
 torpedo boat, which later made him famous. In a deserted 
 forge on shore, and with but few tools and materials, he 
 constructed a rude model of a system, since perfected, and 
 which not very long after, .in the hands of the brave 
 Lieutenant Gushing destroyed the rebel ram Albemarle 
 at Plymouth. 
 
 I will here diverge to say a few words about Gushing, 
 a brother officer of mine on the Minnesota. He had been 
 at the United States Naval Academy, just previous to the 
 war, but was dismissed, and obtained an appointment as 
 Acting Master s Mate, subsequently being reinstated in 
 his class as Lieutenant. From being a poor subordinate 
 officer he soon made himself famous for dash and gal 
 lantry, and obtained a small command. Then began a 
 series of extraordinary excursions into the enemy s terri 
 tory, where he took prisoners, captured property and 
 mails, and generally raised a commotion from which he 
 always escaped, unharmed, though in one instance obliged 
 to destroy his vessel, owing to her grounding on his way 
 out of New River Inlet. Being unable to get her off, and 
 under a hot fire from shore, he transferred his crew and 
 everything of value into a captured schooner, and, having 
 fired and destroyed his vessel, escaped. His chief exploit, 
 however, was the destruction of the rebel ram Albemarle, 
 for which object he had been detached from his vessel, 
 gone to New York, where I met him, and superintended 
 the fitting out at the Navy Yard of a Lay torpedo boat 
 
292 
 
 for the especial purpose. This formidable iron-clad ram, 
 mounting several heavy guns, had been built up the 
 Roanoke River, and came down on the night of April 
 19th, 1864. The United States gunboats Southfield and 
 Miami, lying off Plymouth, N.C., tried to run her down ; 
 but the Southfield was herself sunk by the collision, and 
 the brave Lieutenant-Commander Flusser of the Miami 
 killed by the fragments of a shell, fired by himself, which 
 recoiled from her sides. Solid shot failed to affect her, 
 and she became the terror of the neighborhood, for we 
 could bring no iron-clad into those shallow waters to com 
 pete with her. She made an excursion down the Albe- 
 marle Sound on the 5th of May, where a number of our 
 wooden gunboats were prepared to meet her. She with 
 stood with apparent success a heavy fire at short range, 
 and finally returned to Plymouth without having done us 
 much damage, and I do not find that she again assumed 
 the offensive. 
 
 On the night of the 27th of October, 1864, Lieutenant 
 Gushing in his launch, with thirteen volunteers from our 
 different vessels, succeeded in reaching the vicinity of the 
 ram, when the light of a fire on shore disclosed her, made 
 fast to the wharf, inside of a pen of logs, about thirty feet 
 from her side. Here he was discovered, and under a hot 
 fire succeeded in forcing his launch over the logs, and 
 sufficiently near to explode his torpedo under her over 
 hang. Just at that moment the Albemarle s gun was 
 fired. The shot went crashing through the little boat 
 and a dense mass of water rushed in from the torpedo, 
 filling and completely disabling her. Under a terrible 
 musketry fire he and those of his companions alive, 
 jumped into the river and swam for it, declining to 
 surrender. Most of the party were shot, captured, or 
 drowned, only one escaping besides himself. Reaching 
 the shore half a mile below the town, he hid till the next 
 
293 
 
 night in a swamp, when, capturing a skiff, by eleven 
 o clock he was safely back to our vessels. For this brave 
 and important service he received the thanks of Congress 
 and promotion. He told me once that he had the most 
 implicit confidence in his luck, which certainly never 
 seemed to fail him. After all his extraordinary adven 
 tures, without a wound, he died naturally, not long after 
 the completion of the war. 
 
 I will now return to Washington. On the shore our 
 troops had erected a series of earthworks on the land side 
 of the town for their protection, but did not require them 
 until the latter part of March, 1863, when a considerable 
 force of infantry and artillery, under the Confederate 
 Major-General D. H. Hill, having attacked New Berne 
 without success, were reported on the 29th of March as 
 on their way to visit us at Washington. Fortunately, 
 Major-General J. G. Foster, in command of the depart 
 ment, divining their motives, arrived that day by steamer 
 with reinforcements from New Berne ; the available Union 
 forces, the day after his arrival (March 30), consisting of 
 eight companies each of the 27th and 44th Massachusetts ; 
 two companies of the 1st North Carolina ; Battery G, 3d 
 New York Artillery ; and Company G, 3d New York Cav 
 alry ; in all 1139 men ; very insufficient to properly man 
 the long lines of defence around the town, in the centre of 
 ! which was one principal work Fort Washington with 
 an armament of four 32-pounders, two 6-pound Wiard, and 
 two 12-pound Napoleon guns. 
 
 The rebel forces very largely outnumbered us, consisting 
 of Garnett s brigade 17th, 18th, and 19th North Caro 
 lina, 8th, 18th, and 56th Virginia regiments; Pettigrew s 
 brigade 26th, 32d, 43d, 45th, 47th, and 52d North Caro 
 lina regiments ; Daniell s brigade 56th North Carolina, 
 20th, 28th, and 59th Virginia, and 64th Georgia regi 
 ments ; Robertson s cavalry brigade 59th North Caro- 
 
294 
 
 lina, 2d Georgia, and 7th Confederate cavalry regiments ; 
 seventeen regiments of infantry, three of cavalry, and forty 
 pieces of artillery, making in all about 14,000 men. Gar- 
 nett s brigade, with Starr s Battery and the 59th cavalry, 
 occupied Clay Hill north and west of the town; and 
 Daniell s brigade, respectively, Rodman s and Hill s Points, 
 on the right bank of the river ; while their artillery and 
 infantry were suitably posted for offence on the river, and 
 defence against New Berne by land. 
 
 General Foster, having undoubted information of the 
 enemy s approach, ordered me on the evening of the 30th 
 of March, to drop down the river and shell the woods in 
 the rear of the town until ordered to stop, about midnight, 
 by which time I had expended much of my ammunition 
 for the large guns. During the night a company from our 
 North Carolina regiment, which had been stationed at 
 Rodman s Point, abreast of where I was, were driven to 
 their boats by the enemy ; and the next morning I ascer 
 tained that Hill s Point below, commanding the obstruc 
 tions, had been reoccupied by them, and the buoys marking 
 the channel been removed, thus rendering any attempt to 
 pass through extremely hazardous under their plunging 
 fire. 
 
 At dawn on the first of April, a shell whistled over my 
 vessel, quickly followed by others, which I observed pro 
 ceeded from Rodman s Point, where an earthwork had 
 been erected during the night, mounting several Whit- 
 worth rifled guns. The crew were mostly asleep at the 
 time, and had never before been under fire ; but after a 
 few moments of confusion, obeyed their officers, stowed 
 their hammocks and went to quarters, returning the fire 
 effectually. The wind for the previous twenty-four hours 
 had been blowing hard down the river, forcing the water 
 into the Sounds ; and the consequence was that, when, 
 finding the enemy had got my exact range, and were hit- 
 
295 
 
 ting us every time, I tried to change the position of my 
 vessel, we very soon ran hopelessly aground, heading up 
 stream, at short range from the battery, and there remained, 
 partly careened, throughout the day and until the water 
 came up upon the subsidence of the wind after dark. We 
 here returned the fire from the Rodman s Point battery 
 with our after pivot, and from another earthwork in a corn 
 field with our forward one, until our ammunition gave out 
 about 12 o clock, when, as the crew could no longer be of 
 use on deck, I sent them as far below as possible, remain 
 ing on deck with one or two adventurous spirits to watch 
 the progress of affairs that had become very decidedly 
 lively. At least six or seven guns were blazing away at 
 us all day, half to three-quarters of a mile distant, and, as 
 nearly as we could tell, hitting the hull and the light up 
 per works over ninety times, tearing the latter pretty thor 
 oughly to pieces, riddling the smoke-stacks and doing all 
 sorts of damage except to life and boilers, both of which 
 miraculously escaped. Some men were wounded by splint 
 ers, but subsequently recovered ; and it was to the infinite 
 surprise of all outside the vessel who witnessed the affair, 
 and who thought that when we stopped firing it was be 
 cause of great loss of life, that we appeared at our old 
 anchorage the next morning, a sorry-looking craft to be 
 sure, and very deficient in sleeping accommodations, but 
 nevertheless with the majority of crew intact, and ready to 
 do further fighting as soon as we could get ammunition. 
 Of course all had had most wonderful escapes. Among 
 others, a shrapnel shell had entered and exploded in the 
 little fire-room in front of the boilers, where six men were 
 standing, and none were harmed ; while another, which I 
 have in my possession, passing through the oak sides of 
 the vessel and the outer and inner casings of the magazine, 
 dropped on its floor with the fuse-hole so tightly calked 
 with oak in its passage through, as to have extinguished 
 
296 
 
 the fuse and prevented our sudden exaltation. My mess- 
 room was strewn with the fragments of my furniture and 
 crockery, while my little cabin, through which many shot 
 passed, looked like a rat s nest from the remnants of cloth 
 ing, bedding and uniforms scattered about. The attentions 
 of the enemy that day were all directed to my vessel, and 
 hundreds of various missiles, but mostly solid shot they 
 believing us an iron-clad were fired at her. My report 
 states that from 5 to 5.30 P.M., I counted twenty-five shot 
 and shell thrown at us, twelve of which took effect My 
 consort, the Louisiana, with the exception of a very mild 
 attempt to assist me, was guarding her end of the town 
 that day in comparative peace and comfort, while her Cap 
 tain, my senior officer, was mainly engaged, I understood, 
 in drinking confusion to his enemies wherever he could 
 find the material ; a strong point of his when a fight im 
 pended. 
 
 Soon a large fleet of gunboats and transports collected 
 in the river below Hill s Point, and in plain sight, but 
 considered the risk of getting through the obstructions, 
 and running the gauntlet for seven miles of artillery and 
 sharpshooters, too great to venture, the channel running 
 close to the shore occupied by the enemy s batteries all 
 the way. A notable example was set the others in the 
 early morning of April 4th, when the small side-wheel 
 gunboat Ceres, Captain McDiarmed, came up safely, shell 
 ing the enemy without reply. She was loaded with am 
 munition, and her unopposed arrival was unaccountable 
 to us. After unloading the ammunition, under the im 
 pression that possibly the enemy might have evacuated, 
 some troops were put on board, and she approached Rod 
 man s Point, only to meet with a reception so unattractive 
 as to compel her immediate return with the loss of some 
 of the men. In the meanwhile, the enemy in large force 
 had erected to the north and west of the town eight bat- 
 
29T 
 
 teries, with ten rifled and six smooth-bore guns, from 
 which, at frequent intervals during the days that followed, 
 they poured a converging fire, ploughing the face of our 
 works and frequently going into the houses in town occu 
 pied largely by people with Southern sympathies, who felt 
 great confidence in the ultimate success of their friends 
 outside. 
 
 General Foster had made our fortifications as complete 
 as possible. Parapets were turfed, port-holes constructed 
 for riflemen, blockhouses erected, traverses and bomb- 
 proofs conveniently arranged, and every man assigned to 
 a place and always ready to defend it when wanted, but 
 in the meantime lying low and keeping dark in their bomb- 
 proofs, and holding their ammunition for an emergency. 
 In addition to the river batteries I have mentioned, a very 
 disagreeable one with two guns, constructed of sand-bags 
 and cotton-bales at night, just opposite where I lay, six 
 hundred and fifty yards off in a swamp, opened on me at 
 dawn of April 3, the shot and shell going through us in a 
 lively manner for a while, or until we knocked it down 
 and dismounted their guns by our fire. They were re 
 placed once or twice with similar results, and the loss of 
 some life, until they found it too dangerous to pay. 
 
 Thus day after day passed on, after a summons to sur 
 render on the first one, which Foster politely declined; 
 and still the assault to which all looked forward, and were 
 constantly prepared for, did not, to our astonishment, take 
 place. There they were, with their great superiority in 
 men and artillery, firing away powder and shot at our little 
 force on land and on water as if their lives depended upon it, 
 and still no attempt to take the place in the only way they 
 could take it. Did they want to starve us out, or wear us 
 out? It certainly was very wearing, and after a time the 
 troops had to be put on a decreasing allowance. And so 
 the anxious days went by, no one knowing at what moment 
 
298 
 
 one of the many shot that filled the air might end his 
 career, until we got in a measure used to the life, but 
 never to like it. It was odd after a while how nearly we 
 could tell where a shot from the Rodman s Point or corn 
 field batteries would strike. With the noise of the report, 
 the projectile could be seen, and if its arc seemed to end 
 on board, there was naturally more anxiety felt than if it 
 did not. 
 
 At dawn on the fourteenth day of the siege, after hear 
 ing an unusually heavy fire of cannon and musketry be 
 low, through the haze appeared like a welcome ghost, the 
 little white transport steamer Escort, with stores, ammuni 
 tion, and the Fifth Rhode Island Regiment, Colonel Sisson, 
 who had gallantly volunteered for the perilous service. 
 She had miraculously found her way through the obstruc 
 tions and escaped important injury on her eventful trip, 
 and brought to us the first ray of light and real substan 
 tial assistance and encouragement we had received, and 
 naturally was greeted with hearty cheers from both army 
 and navy. An attempt had been made by General 
 Spinola to come to our assistance overland from New 
 Berne ; but his generalship did not avail much, and when 
 confronted by the enemy at Blount s Bridge, he retired 
 after a short engagement, whence he came. 
 
 The gunboats below Hill s Point kept up an inter 
 mittent but useless fire at the Hill s Point battery, the 
 question of the possession of Washington being as yet 
 dependent upon the valor and endurance of its immediate 
 defenders. On the 15th of April, General Foster con 
 cluded to turn over the command to Brigadier-General 
 Potter, his chief of staff, and attempt to run the blockade 
 in the Escort, that he might himself command an expedi 
 tion from New Berne for our relief. Starting just before 
 daylight, she again succeeded in getting through, notwith 
 standing a tremendous fire of cannon and musketry all the 
 
299 
 
 way down (the latter killing her pilot) ; and though 
 repeatedly struck by shot, was not vitally injured. A 
 heavy storm now set in, making it extremely uncomfort 
 able for all, and apparently dampening the enemy s ardor ; 
 for on the morning of the 16th of April our pickets dis 
 covered that they were in full retreat from both sides of 
 the river, and our troops soon occupied their works with 
 great rejoicing. 
 
 And thus ended one of the most remarkable experiences 
 of the war, and, so far as I am aware, quite unlike any 
 other. Had it not occurred at a time when public atten 
 tion was absorbed by other much more important events 
 in South Carolina and Virginia, it would have attracted 
 considerable interest. As it was, only those there, and 
 those at home specially interested in them, were aware 
 how tight a place we had been in. Certainly, I know no 
 other instance where a little vessel was struck over one 
 hundred times by cannon shot, mostly from rifled Whit- 
 worth field pieces, to be sure, but some thirty-two-pound 
 round shot and shells. We seemed to have been under 
 special protection, the sailors claimed because the Cap 
 tain had complied with the Navy regulations and read ser 
 vices Sundays. For eighteen days the town had been 
 very closely besieged. All attempts to raise the siege 
 had been unsuccessful. We were so largely outnumbered, 
 it seemed to all that a determined assault against our 
 thinly manned lines could not fail of success, though 
 attended with much loss of life, as the garrison were 
 always alert, brave, and determined. Once in possession 
 of our lines and the town, the prospect for the gunboats, 
 with musketry and artillery pouring in on them from all 
 sides, seemed hopeless, and surrender or destruction un 
 avoidable. It was understood by my officers that in the 
 last emergency the vessel would be blown up rather than 
 surrendered. 
 
300 
 
 To my great gratification, my promotion to a lieuten 
 ancy "for gallantry displayed in action at Washington, 
 North Carolina," followed close upon the affair above 
 described, and I was detached from the Commodore Hull 
 and ordered to command the gunboat Governor Bucking 
 ham, then fitting out at New York, and intended for out 
 side blockading service off Wilmington, N.C. She was a 
 large new sea-going steamer, with an armament of five 
 rifled guns as follows : a hundred-pounder Parrott amid 
 ships on a pivot ; a smaller pivot rifled on the forecastle ; 
 two broadside thirty-pounder Parrotts, and another on 
 pivot at the stern. I sailed from New York in October, 
 1863, and arrived off Wilmington, N.C., soon after, being 
 stationed on the west side of Smith s Island, off Lockwood 
 Folly Inlet, making one of a line of vessels guarding about 
 twenty miles of coast, we each having our separate beats. 
 A similar squadron was on the east side of the island, 
 while some of the faster vessels, and consequently much 
 more fortunate in prize money, cruised in the offing, and, 
 when they could, overhauled and captured the blockade 
 runners which had got through the inner lines, but, re 
 vealed by their black smoke, were discovered before they 
 could get out of sight. The incoming blockade-running 
 steamers, guided by a system of signal lights on the beach, 
 would generally make the land towards dark, and later on, 
 depending on the condition of the moon, go stealing along 
 just outside the surf line ; and being very fast, low in the 
 water, and painted lead color, with no masts or simply 
 lower masts, would very frequently elude our vigilance, or 
 if seen, would brave our shot and trust to their heels, 
 frequently, I fear, being successful, although a consider 
 able number were run on the beach when in a tight place 
 and destroyed by their crews or our shells, as it would be 
 almost impossible to get them off through the surf, or 
 even to board them, without danger of swamping boats or 
 
301 
 
 losing their crews from the fire from shore, where artillery 
 and infantry were constantly patrolling, and prepared to 
 open a hot fire from behind the sand hills which offered 
 an admirable and always-ready protection. The outward 
 bound steamers would drop down the river when loaded, 
 and, protected by heavy batteries on Smith s Island, await 
 a favorable opportunity for running at full speed through 
 our lines and escaping in the darkness ; our vessels often 
 having narrow escapes from being run into by them. If 
 seen or heard, it was only momentarily ; and though we 
 were always under way from dark till daylight, or at 
 anchor ready for slipping, with our guns and steam as 
 nearly ready as possible, the chance of escape would 
 always be in their favor, unless overhauled the next morn 
 ing by one of the fast outside cruisers, some of whose offi 
 cers made fortunes in prize money. It was a hard service, 
 especially in winter, with frequent heavy southeast gales 
 blowing on a lee shore ; and at some such times all of us 
 would be obliged to vacate our posts and seek a safe offing 
 till the gale abated. When the weather permitted, the 
 blockading vessels usually anchored during the day, to 
 rest their crews until darkness called them to active duty 
 again, when we would drop in as close to the beach as we 
 dared, and keep a sharp lookout till daylight. A system 
 of flash lights, constantly ready, enabled us to distinguish 
 friend from foe ; and though absolutely necessary to pre 
 vent our firing into each other, often gave warning to the 
 blockade runners, as the order was imperative to signal 
 before firing at night. Our supplies of fresh meats, etc., 
 as well as news, were brought down frequently by supply 
 vessels. I had a hand in the destruction of several ves 
 sels, but was not thereby enriched by prize money. 
 
 I was not present at either of the attempts to capture 
 Wilmington, by powder boat or otherwise, which occurred 
 later on, the last of which was successful. In the spring, 
 
302 
 
 my vessel was ordered north for repairs, and, being de 
 tached, I was next ordered (July 18, 1864) to command 
 the steamer Kensington, five guns, which for a time was 
 used as a despatch boat to the different squadrons. I 
 went in her to Mobile Bay, just after its capture by Farra- 
 gut ; and one pleasant Sunday afternoon, on the quarter 
 deck of his ship, with the scene before us, he most kindly 
 and graphically described to me the details of the recent 
 action. 
 
 On my return to New York, when off Wilmington I 
 sighted and chased a blockade-runner heavily loaded with 
 cotton, then worth $2.50 to f 3.00 per pound. Had she 
 not proved too fast I should have made my fortune ; but 
 as it was, they probably did. It was, doubtless, the 
 famous steamer R. E. Lee, as I learned by the papers 
 soon after of her arrival at Halifax, having escaped from 
 Wilmington the night before I fell in with her. 
 
 On another trip to Hampton Roads I was ordered to 
 take a large number of men some three hundred from 
 the receiving-ship, then overflowing on account of the 
 recent draft; and the unfortunates, having been given 
 some choice as to which branch of the service they would 
 prefer, a great many had chosen the navy as probably the 
 least hazardous and easiest. Doubtless they were right, 
 as no forced marches, less dust, good and regular rations, 
 and a much smaller likelihood of martyrdom awaited them 
 therein. The term of enlistment was three years, unless 
 sooner discharged. Of course most were landsmen, though 
 some few desperate nautical characters and professional 
 bounty jumpers were mixed up with seedy representatives 
 from the professions even including God-forsaken-looking 
 ex-ministers, schoolmasters, and lawyers. No baggage to 
 speak of impeded their movements. They had come into 
 the service with their poorest (and perhaps their only) suit 
 of clothes, anticipating the outfit to be supplied later on. 
 
303 
 
 No well-filled bag and comfortable hammock came with, 
 them; and the poor fellows themselves looked neither 
 well-filled nor comfortable patriots as they filed on board. 
 Knowing the jumping propensities of some, I had marines 
 posted at different parts of the ship, and causing it to be 
 understood that if any tried to escape they would be fired 
 at, started down the East River. Suspicious looking 
 wherries were lurking about, and at least eight or ten 
 men jumped boldly overboard before reaching the Battery ; 
 and though we did our best to shoot them, all were appar 
 ently picked up, and doubtless tried the substitute and 
 bounty-jumping game again as they had before. Arriving 
 at Sandy Hook, a heavy easterly gale was blowing with 
 high sea, and I remained at anchor until it partially mod 
 erated the next day, and then went out. The scene which 
 followed can be better imagined than described. My liv 
 ing freight rolled helplessly about the decks, caring little 
 what became of them, and by no means improving in per 
 sonal appearance until smooth water was reached at 
 Hampton Roads the following day, when the unnautical 
 procession was re-formed and transferred to the deck of 
 the Minnesota much to the disgust of her officers and 
 natty-looking crew. 
 
 In December, 1864, at the request of my old com 
 mander, Admiral Lee, I was ordered to join him on the 
 western waters where, at the time, the navy was co-oper 
 ating with the army under General Thomas on the Ten 
 nessee and Cumberland rivers, principally in the convoying 
 of transports with troops and army supplies a duty of 
 great responsibility and danger from rebel artillery and 
 sharp-shooters on the banks, the latter picking off the offi 
 cers and men about decks from safe cover. A long line of 
 perhaps twenty! ,or thirty river boats lashed together would 
 be under the convoy of two or three " tin-dads," so-called, 
 or simply merchant steamers bought by the Government, 
 
304 
 
 armed with light guns and casemated between the first 
 and second decks with oak, covered with light bullet-proof 
 plating of boiler iron, easily pierced by artillery. A favor 
 ite game of the rebels was to mask batteries at some favor 
 able portion of the river, perhaps a mile apart, get one of 
 these convoys between them, and then blaze away, throw 
 ing the line into great confusion, and frequently creating 
 much destruction before they could be shelled out by the 
 gunboats. In command of several gunboats, I was in this 
 duty for a while, and later on commanded the large flag 
 ship Black Hawk, going to New Orleans and to different 
 points of interest, in style, with the Admiral on board. 
 
 In February, 1865, I was sent to Cincinnati to super 
 intend the construction of some gunboats; and, taking 
 command of the last one on her completion, arrived at 
 Mound City Navy Yard May 18. The next day, the flag 
 ship Black Hawk accidentally took fire while at anchor in 
 midstream of the Ohio River, with a strong current run 
 ning and a heavy gale blowing. As soon as steam could 
 be raised I put my vessel alongside the burning mass, the 
 Admiral and all hands some three hundred in all 
 having by that time been driven on to the forward deck. 
 It did not take them long to transfer themselves to my 
 vessel, and we had scarcely got two hundred yards away 
 when the magazine of the Black Hawk exploded and the 
 stately vessel disappeared, carrying with her much of my 
 personal outfit, sword, and official papers which I had left 
 on board the previous evening an irreparable loss to me. 
 
 Promotion to Lieutenant Commander, the highest grade 
 to be attained by a volunteer officer, " in consequence of 
 the very favorable report of the Admiral commanding the 
 squadron in which you are serving," rapidly followed; 
 and after about four years naval experience, the war being 
 over, I gladly resigned and retired to private life in 
 September, 1865. 
 
SAMOA AND THE HUEKICANE OP 
 MARCH, 1889. 
 
 BY 
 
 REAB-ADMIBAL LEWIS A. KIMBEELY, U.S.N. 
 
 805 
 
6076 feet, 1 nautical mile. 
 126 fathoms, 1 cable s length. 
 
 8 cables, 1 nautical mile. 
 
 1 knot = 61 feet; sometimes 48 feet. 
 
SAMOA AND THE HURKICANE OF 
 MAECH, 1889. 
 
 "Our memories are gentle waves that flow 
 Against the shore line of the long ago, 
 A dim land stretching neath a dimmer sky, 
 Where past events, like ships at anchor lie." 
 
 Haynes. 
 
 THIS paper will treat of Samoa, its inhabitants, the 
 political condition at the time, 1887 to 1889, and the 
 hurricane and its incidents. 
 
 I will also state that there are two men who at the time 
 I write bore the title of Malietoa who must not be con 
 founded. One Lu-pe-pa, the rightful king to whose fam 
 ily that title belongs by inheritance ; he was exiled, having 
 been deported by the Germans. 
 
 The second man, Mataafa, one of the highest chiefs, 
 who on becoming regent of the Loyal party assumed the 
 title pro tern. ; he, by all odds, was the most able man of 
 all the native Samoans ; he was a leader of men, possessed 
 military abilities of no mean order, and great moral quali 
 ties, strange to say. He is now in exile, and Lu-pe-pa 
 now reigns, he having been restored through the action of 
 the Berlin conference, after an absence from Samoa of 
 more than two years. 
 
 In these days of surprising changes, events are followed 
 by others in such rapid succession, that each later one 
 serves to veil its predecessors with a mantle of obscurity. 
 
 This condition fortunately provides a relief to our minds 
 from the increasing burdens that otherwise would over- 
 
 307 
 
308 
 
 power them by their multiplicity, and bar the road to 
 future and necessary progress, in the pursuit and solving 
 of the manifold problems constantly arising from the 
 advanced condition of civilization and demands of the 
 present age. 
 
 It is well that this is so, for the majority of them can 
 be spared without injury, and some with profit, until they 
 may be required occasionally to elucidate some subject for 
 the edification of an inquiring mind, or the searchings of 
 a future historian. 
 
 This is the condition of the report of a once very inter 
 esting, exciting, and unfortunate event, in which two 
 powerful nations were involved, and indirectly a third 
 one, as well as two of its most important colonies in the 
 far-off South Pacific by their sympathies with the natives. 
 
 This event I will read now ; it has already in one form 
 or another been told by others, both in song and story. 
 
 Having been requested several times to give my version 
 of the hurricane that occurred at Apia, Samoa, of March, 
 1889, I comply after a silence of over seven years. The 
 recital will be as concise as I can make it with due regard 
 to facts. It is as follows : 
 
 The Samoan Archipelago consists of four principal 
 islands and quite a number of smaller ones. The western 
 most is Savaii, the largest of all. Then east of it is Upolu, 
 the most important one commercially and politically; 
 about seventy miles to the southeast from it, lies Tutuila, 
 celebrated for its fine harbor of Pago-Pago, and still 
 farther on comes Manua and its adjacent islands. 
 
 Savaii, Upolu and Tutuila contain about seven-eighths 
 of the whole of the Samoan territory, nearly 1400 square 
 miles. Apia, the chief port and capital of the group, is 
 situated on the northern coast of Upoul, in 13 50 S. lati 
 tude, and 171 44 "W. longitude from Greenwich; we 
 now have its geographical position. 
 
309 
 
 The islands are volcanic in origin, are mountainous, and 
 have several extinct volcanoes. The mountains form the 
 backbones of Upolu and the others. They vary in alti 
 tude throughout the group from 2000 feet up to nearly 
 5000 feet. They are covered with dense vegetation and 
 forests from their summits to the sea ; following the coast 
 line is a belt of level land varying in width from a few 
 yards in places to a mile. This is covered with heavy 
 timber and an undergrowth of an almost impervious char 
 acter, pierced here and there by narrow footpaths leading 
 to the mountains, and over them across the islands. 
 
 It is mostly on this low land, and back in the valleys, 
 that the majority of the natives live, as they prefer being 
 near the sea, which to them takes the place of roads, and 
 over which is transported their traffic. They are expert 
 canoe-men, and in earlier days were bold navigators sailing 
 from one group of islands to another. 
 
 The coral reefs, with breaks here and there in their 
 continuity, formed a safe waterway when a boisterous sea 
 was running outside, which also served them as a fine 
 fishing-ground. 
 
 The Samoans are physically a fine race, of good height, 
 presenting almost perfect forms, accompanied by free active 
 movements, giving one an idea how the ancient Greeks 
 might have appeared in the days of Homer. Their women 
 compare in all respects favorably with the men, are their 
 equals in family matters; both sexes are easy in their 
 manners, polite, very hospitable and sociable. Their 
 chiefs, as a rule, are able men, and their influence is great 
 over their people, which appears to be derived from 
 heredity ; they are slightly of a lighter color, and in many 
 instances larger men than their clansmen. 
 
 All are now nominally Christians ; schools and churches 
 are to be found in every village. Owing to the mission 
 aries, most of the children attend schools, and can read 
 
310 
 
 and write their own language, which is remarkably soft 
 and agreeable, owing to the number of vowels used in the 
 formation of the words. Of the religious sects, the 
 Presbyterians largely outnumber the others. There are 
 Wesleyans, Roman Catholics, and a few Mormons. (See 
 Appendix, pages 339 and 340.) 
 
 Their character, compared with Europeans, is child 
 like. They are communists, and have been so for ages, 
 are brave, and go to battle with as much zest as our foot 
 ball teams enter into their contests. In fact, they are like 
 grown-up boys and girls of robust character, and delight 
 in excitement. Their clans greatly respect their chiefs ; 
 it is these traits and habits that account for many of their 
 peculiarities in their intercourse with the whites. The 
 most savage custom they still retain is decapitating the 
 slain in battle. Like nearly all of the dark-skinned races, 
 they are fond of intoxicants, and when under their influ 
 ence are apt to be quarrelsome. The women then inter 
 fere as peacemakers, and successfully, as a rule. 
 
 The climate is equable ; rains are equally distributed 
 throughout the year ; but January, February, and March 
 heavy rain storms are prevalent; destructive storms are 
 rare, occurring at intervals of several or more years. 
 
 Before my arrival at Apia, the political status was 
 unsettled, and had been so for more than a decade of 
 years. This condition arose partially from the peculiari 
 ties and inherent traits of the Samoan character, and was 
 greatly aggravated by the jealousy, selfishness, ambition, 
 and interference of the foreign residents between them 
 selves and with the natives. The prime incentive for 
 these bickerings, especially amongst the foreigners, was 
 commercial gain and political preponderance. Conse 
 quently, the result, as it always has been, and always will 
 be between two races, was the relegation of the native 
 and weaker one, to the grinding surface between the mill- 
 
311 
 
 stones. I heard it frequently mentioned by residents well 
 posted in Samoan affairs, that if the land-claims held by 
 foreigners were enforced, the natives would be driven into 
 the sea. This probably was an exaggerated statement, 
 but it was an apt expression to define the grasping pro 
 clivities that were practiced by the insatiable strangers on 
 the Samoans. It was as bad as the fable of the wolf and 
 the lamb. 
 
 The nationality most prominently engaged in this piti 
 able business was the German ; it was aggressive and 
 energetic, unscrupulous and active in furthering its inter 
 ests, both in trade and politics. The state of affairs was 
 daily growing worse and more critical ; it had so managed 
 affairs by interference that a civil war was inaugurated. 
 Under its auspices Tamasese led one of the native parties, 
 Mataafa led the loyal natives, encouraged by the foreigners 
 of the English and American nationalities. Conflicts that 
 had already taken place inured to the advantage of 
 Mataafa ; 1 Lu-pe-pa, the rightful king, having been de 
 ported by the Germans, and retained in captivity until 
 released by the action of the Berlin Conference. He 
 might be termed a weak man, as to character. (See 
 German Consul s letter, Appendix, page 340.) 
 
 We have now a slight idea of Samoa and its people. 
 The group being situated midway on the great ocean 
 route from California, via. Hawaii to Australia, passing en 
 route by Tonga and New Zealand ; it is this fact that in 
 the future will probably decide the question as to whom 
 they will belong. 
 
 The native population numbers nearly 40,000 souls. 2 
 At Apia the population varies; the Europeans number 
 about 400. There may be as many as thirty Americans 
 
 1 See Appendix, pages 340 to 342. Letters of Malietoa and Consul 
 Becker. 
 
 a See Appendix, page 340. 
 
312 
 
 included, good, bad, and indifferent, some of whom are 
 half-breeds (in 1889). 
 
 1 will now describe the harbor of Apia, where soon 
 destruction, death, and untold suffering were to hold sway, 
 where man s efforts amidst the awful war of elements 
 were too puny to alleviate or save. 
 
 In approaching the harbor from the sea, you see ahead, 
 stretched out before you, a beautiful green landscape of 
 mountains, hills and valleys, covered with the fleeting 
 shadows of the trade clouds as they are wafted over them 
 to the westward towards Savaii. On the low coast as you 
 approach, the long pendent leaves of the cocoa palms are 
 swaying in the breeze, their stems overhanging the beach 
 along which the only road in Apia extends from Matauta 
 point on the east, to Mulinuu on the west. One side of 
 this road is lined with houses, stores, compounds, and 
 churches, all facing the bay. If the tide is high, you see 
 nothing but water right up to the edge of this road laving 
 the roots of the trees that- border it; if the tide is low, 
 instead of water, you see spread out before, the flat sur 
 face of the coral reef, like a plain with coral boulders 
 scattered here and there, which at times are surrounded 
 by shallow pools of sea-water. This reef extends from 
 the two points Matauta and Mulinuu. I should judge 
 them to be over a sea mile apart, and where the rivers 
 Vaisiquano and Mulvai debouch, they have cut the coral 
 out from the reef ; and this clear space forms the anchor 
 age, as the coral polypifer ceases work wherever the influ 
 ence of fresh water is felt. 
 
 This anchorage is in shape of an irregular letter V with 
 the wide part facing the north and sea, where it is about 
 three cable s lengths in width ; from the entrance through 
 the reef to the beach, the distance is about three-fourths 
 of a sea mile. 
 
 In the rainy season the Vaisiquano becomes a mountain 
 
313 
 
 torrent that sweeps through the harbor and out to sea ; it 
 was the great amount of water discharged from it, that 
 caused in part the strong undertow and whirlpool that 
 cost the lives of so many of the Vandalia s crew, although 
 in ordinary times it brought down along its course, soil 
 that formed here and there patches of good holding 
 ground in the harbor. On the occasion of the hurricane, 
 the increase of the amount of its water, and the force 
 with which it was ejected, scoured the bottom of the har 
 bor throughout its extent, leaving nothing but the bare 
 coral bottom, so the anchors had nothing to hold by. This 
 was one cause of the ships dragging later on. 
 
 Most of the casualties of the Vandalia s crew occurred 
 in less than a score of yards from the beach, for the rea 
 son, that the accumulation of the ocean s water rushing in 
 a strong current to the eastward and meeting the river s 
 discharge, rendered attempts to cross it abortive, for the 
 swimmers becoming exhausted were sucked into the whirl 
 pool and drowned. It was here that the natives joined 
 hands, and forming a line entered this current to grasp the 
 struggling seamen as they were swept by to the inevitable 
 death that awaited them a short distance farther on. 
 Some few of them were rescued, but the majority were 
 not; for combined with this mill-race of the sea (as it 
 might properly be called) was the heavy surf with its 
 reactive undertow that swept the rescuers off their feet, 
 so their own salvation depended entirely on their stalwart 
 arms and firm grip of each other s hands that formed the 
 living chain stretching from the shore into this seething 
 and rushing water. 1 If many of those here lost had re 
 mained by their ship instead of trying to swim this short 
 and treacherous distance to the beach, they would not 
 have lost their lives. 
 
 The seven men lost from the Nipsic, five met their fate 
 1 See Appendix, pages 343 to 348. 
 
314 
 
 from being thrown out of a boat that was being lowered 
 after the ship was beached ; the other two men jumped 
 overboard. Some of the Vandalia s men who were trying 
 to reach the Nipsic by a line made fast between the two 
 ships were also lost, being jerked off by its sudden tauten 
 ing by the Nipsic s heavy rolling. 
 
 Before I proceed farther with this narrative, I think it 
 would be as well to briefly describe a hurricane. 1 
 
 No man who has not experienced the force of the 
 winds and seas in one of these meteors can appreciate their 
 terrific power, but once experienced is never forgotten. 
 There are only two other natural forces that can approach 
 it; and they are the earthquake and tornado. Some 
 times both earthquake and hurricane occur at the same 
 time; when this happens description fails. So, too, 
 there is much difference in being involved in a cyclone 
 on shore and at sea ; in one case you have only the wind 
 and rain to combat, in the other, you have not only 
 these but a quivering ship and unstable deck to work 
 3 T our salvation on. Then there is the great storm-wave 2 
 that rises above the surrounding waters, an elevation of 
 the sea which travels on within the center of the storm, 
 submerging everything in its path where it strikes low 
 land, becoming a flood sweeping everything before it to 
 destruction. 
 
 A peculiarity of this wave is, notwithstanding its ele 
 vation above the normal level of the sea engendered by 
 the cyclonic force of the howling gusts, great seas criss 
 cross over its surface, adding thereby to its abnormal 
 height, assisted by the diminution of atmospheric pres- 
 
 1 See Appendix, page 362. "God s Ownership of the Sea," by 
 Leonard Swain. 
 
 2 A storm-wave differs in cause from either a tidal wave or seismic 
 wave ; all are equally destructive under the special conditions that 
 govern them. 
 
315 
 
 sure that ever is present in the revolving centers of all 
 cyclones and tornadoes ; no matter what may be their 
 diameter, from yards to miles, it is a veritable piling of 
 Pelion on Ossa. These great storms vary in their diame 
 ters from scores of miles up to hundreds and more ; in 
 their center is always a calm region which varies with the 
 diameter of the gale. Overhead you may see the stars 
 and a clear sky, bounded by an impenetrable bank of the 
 densest clouds rising in the distance like walls above the 
 horizon from which can be heard, as it approaches, the ter 
 rific screechings of the mighty gusts of the gale as from 
 so many demons. Whilst in this space there is a confused 
 and raging hell of mighty billows, and woe to the craft 
 that is unfortunate enough to be within its weird and 
 overpowering embrace. The seamen always try to avoid 
 this center by following well established rules. 
 
 It is supposed that those cyclones having a greater 
 diameter are not as powerful as those having a lesser one ; 
 but, as you approach the center of all of them the wind 
 increases in force, and the seas in confusion, as in addition 
 to the gyratory motion of the wind, there is also an on 
 ward motion. 
 
 Still another peculiarity attending them, is that they 
 revolve in opposite directions in the northern and southern 
 hemispheres, always increasing their distance from the 
 equator either north or south, as the case may be, from 
 their initiation to their collapse. 
 
 On the occasion of the Samoan hurricane the southern 
 coast of Upolu was struck by the storm-wave which de 
 stroyed a stone church and a plantation of 500 cocoanut 
 trees. As it passed on to the Sd. and Ed. its effects were 
 felt on islands over 1,300 miles distant from Samoa, if 
 contemporaneous accounts can be credited. 
 
 From the time it made its appearance at 3 P.M. on the 
 15th of March at Apia, until it passed away was about 
 
316 
 
 forty hours, but not blowing hard all of this time ; for 
 twenty-eight hours it blew almost steadily in direction 
 from the N. E. quadrant of the compass, and finally set 
 tled down at N., consequently blowing right into the 
 harbor, a thing never recorded before. For twelve of 
 those twenty-eight hours it was blowing with no percepti 
 ble abatement of force in the gusts. This was because it 
 was a very slow moving meteor during this time ; for it 
 increased in rapidity of movement after clearing the 
 islands, as it was their influence that retarded it, the moun 
 tains acting as a barrier to its onward course, as a dam 
 Would to a swift running stream. During this storm the 
 barometer fell from 29 60 to 29 19 the lowest reading 
 at 1 P.M. on the 16th. At midnight of that date it 
 slowly rose to 29 52 , wind N. N. W. 1 On the afternoon 
 of the 17th the people left the sunken Trenton for the 
 shore. 
 
 I mention the Trenton oftener because she was the 
 Flagship and I was aboard. I narrate only what I saw 
 and experienced, and quoting from the reports from the 
 other ships there at the time. All passed through just as 
 severe an ordeal, if not more so, as the number of their 
 casualties and final condition showed after the storm 
 had passed away, the difference being in the longer time 
 the people of the Trenton had to endure a torturing 
 and terrible anxiety without hope, and certainty of the 
 final destruction of their ship and probably of them 
 selves. 
 
 There were many brave acts of individuals, and inci 
 dents I have not mentioned, because they would make this 
 narrative too long, but they were all reported officially to 
 the Department and are on file for future reference. I 
 
 1 When the wind was south at Apia the center of the storm disk was 
 east, and as it passed over that place with center to the Northward, it 
 left the islands with the wind at N. N. W. 
 
317 
 
 will also state that very serious damage occurred to many 
 of the ships from collision. The German ship Olga heads 
 the list in this particular. 1 She knocked the smoke-stack 
 out of the Nipsic, carried away several of her boats, her 
 rail, main-chains, and sprung her mainmast; she struck 
 the Trenton twice, taking off a quarter-gallery at each 
 blow and carrying away the starboard quarter-davits with 
 their boats. She also damaged the Vandalia; she gave 
 much trouble to the Calliope. In turn, of course, she sus 
 tained much damage herself, losing her bowsprit close up 
 to the knight-heads and having a hole stove in her quarter 
 besides other mishaps. She was, however, the only German 
 ship saved. When hauled off the beach, where she was 
 forced by the Trenton, she proceeded to Sydney for repairs. 
 She was not responsible for the damage she did to the 
 other vessels, or what she received, as the storm was 
 master, and worked its will on the ships as easily as if 
 they had been so many chips. What men could do was 
 done, but after the elements were unchained, human 
 efforts were unavailing. 
 
 I left San Francisco in the Dolphin to join the Trenton 
 at Panama ; on arriving there I shifted my Flag to her, 
 and awaited the arrival of stores that had been shipped 
 from New York ; before the stores arrived, I was ordered 
 by telegram to proceed at once to Samoa. 
 
 "To extend full protection and defence to United States 
 citizens and United States property, consult the United 
 States Consul, examine the Consular Archives, and collect 
 all information possible as to recent occurrences. Protest 
 against subjugation and displacement of Native Govern 
 ment of Samoan islands by Germany as in violation of 
 positive agreement and understanding between Treaty 
 Powers. 
 
 1 For detailed description of her colliding with the Nipsic, see pages 
 346, 347, 348, Appendix. 
 
318 
 
 To inform German and British representatives of my 
 readiness to cooperate in causing Treaty rights to be re 
 spected, and in restoring peace and order on the basis of a 
 recognition of right of Samoan islands to independence. 
 I was to prevent extreme measure against the natives of 
 Samoa, and procure a peaceful settlement if such arrange 
 ment can be made on that basis. 
 
 I was to report same for the approval of my Govern 
 ment, and to inform it as soon as possible after my arrival 
 of condition of affairs, and prospect of peaceful adjust 
 ment, and when conflict occurred if Germany was acting 
 impartially between opposing forces. 
 
 I was informed also that the German Government in 
 vites the United States Government to join in establishing 
 order in Samoa in the interests of all, giving assurance of 
 careful respect for our Treaty. The United States Gov 
 ernment has informed the German Government of willing 
 ness to cooperate in Samoan Islands on the basis of full 
 preservation of American Treaty and autonomy of Samoan 
 Islands as recognized and agreed to by Germany, the 
 United States, and England." 
 
 The above was the list of my instructions, under 
 which I sailed, to carry out in Samoa. 
 
 Upon my arrival in Apia, I opened communications 
 with the Consuls, and very much to my surprise, I found 
 that they had received no instructions to cooperate with me, 
 and later on in an official conversation with the German Con 
 sul, he said he was aware of the nature of my instruc 
 tions, which was a surprise to me at the moment, but it 
 was not strange, as they had, I had reason to believe, be 
 come public through the press. It was something like 
 playing a game of cards with my opponents knowing 
 what trumps I held. 
 
 I thus found if I wished to accomplish my mission, I 
 would have to do it alone. I was not sorry at all for this ; 
 
319 
 
 as I always believed that there were occasions where one 
 head was preferable to several, and that this case, as it 
 then stood, was in this category. I therefore inaugurated 
 a plan of action, and held to it whilst I remained in the 
 islands, and which proved successful as far as hostilities 
 were concerned. 
 
 The hurricane and its aftermaths delayed me for nearly 
 a month in doing much else than attending to our people 
 encamped on shore, each ship s company in its own camp. 
 As soon as they became somewhat settled, I issued to the 
 Samoans two proclamations, and had them distributed 
 throughout the islands in the native language and Eng 
 lish, to all in authority, chiefs, consuls, etc. In Apia they 
 were posted on trees, and published in the newspaper 
 in fact, made them as public as possible. The German 
 Consul thought they would amount to nothing, but the 
 leaven was working. Tamasese, the German puppet of a 
 king, who was encamped at Luatuanu, supposed to be 
 acting by German advice, remained within his fortifica 
 tion ; but his force gradually dwindled away, so that it was 
 no longer a dangerous factor to the peaceful settlement of 
 the country, which continued until affairs were settled by 
 the action of the Berlin Conference. 
 
 Mataafa assisted me all in his power. He commanded 
 over 6,000 loyal Samoan warriors in the field, and in good 
 faith sent them to their homes and fields to plant their 
 crops. Peace reigned throughout the land, which I tele 
 graphed to Washington ; and now the foreigners felt the 
 favorable influence of the change, and manifested it by 
 honoring me with a public dinner previous to my depar 
 ture, nearly all attending but the Germans. In connection 
 with this I will read a letter from Mataafa, the king (pro 
 tern), and from it you can judge his sentiments and char 
 acter. He is a Catholic and strict in all the require 
 ments of his church. 
 
320 
 
 MAGIAGI, April 22d, 1889. 
 L. A. KIMBERLT, 
 
 Admiral of the American Fleet. 
 
 Tour Excellency. I and the Chiefs and the Councillors of my 
 Government at Magiagi have consulted together to-day the 22d of 
 April, 1889. We are highly pleased with the Proclamation, the 
 kindness of the Government of the United States is beyond compari 
 son, and I am now able to understand it. To-day my desire for 
 war with our kindred at Luatuanu is finished. I declare the war 
 which was carried on between this part of Samoa and that part of 
 Samoa is at an end, because I earnestly desire that Samoa should 
 find a state of prosperity, and to give over to you the office of Um 
 pire between us both, and let us all work to the same purpose. 
 Besides, I declare that Samoa would escape danger if the United 
 States alone were to protect and give their support to it and be the 
 sole master of all Samoa, without the interference of any other 
 power, for in years gone by we have been endeavoring to form a 
 strong government on the basis of protection of the three powers. 
 In consequence Samoa has been constantly torn to pieces, and many 
 lives have been lost, and the country has been brought down to a 
 very "low condition. On this account we are sure that a recurrence 
 of the triple system would be useless. If now one power took 
 charge of Samoa and continued to do so forever, then would Samoa 
 for the first time enjoy standing prosperity. 
 
 I place every hope in your good wishes towards Samoa and hope 
 you will not draw back from them. 
 
 May you live. 
 
 Your brother in the Lord, 
 
 MALIETOA MATAAFA, 
 
 King of Samoa. 
 
 We arrived at Apia on the llth of March ; and being 
 the last ship to arrive before the hurricane, our berth was 
 taken outside of all the other vessels, and not far from 
 the entrance of the harbor. The Trenton, like the other 
 ships, was moored ; next to us, but farther in, was the 
 Vandalia; then came the Nipsic. When I visited this 
 ship the day after my arrival, the officers were congratu 
 lating themselves on occupying the best berth in the har- 
 
321 
 
 bor, because it was the only spot they could find, not 
 already taken, where a good muddy bottom could be 
 found for a holding ground. Nearly abreast of the Van- 
 dalia to the windward lay the Calliope, then farther in the 
 Olga, Adler, and Eber, the last three named vessels all 
 German, in the order mentioned ; in addition to the men- 
 of-war, there were six merchantmen, ranging from twenty- 
 five tons up to five hundred tons, and a number of other 
 smaller craft. 
 
 We will now look back in our minds to where I de 
 scribed the peaceful and calm scene that first struck my 
 view. The day was approaching when all this was to be 
 changed ; where the sea had been placid, with only a rip 
 ple here and there caused by the light trade winds sweep- 
 ping over the tree-crowned shore striking the water of the 
 anchorage, soon great ocean surges with a clear sweep of 
 thousands of miles were to rise in angry majesty, submer 
 ging the low lying reefs under fathoms of water, which 
 rushing onward with maddened speed dashed themselves 
 against the shore, throwing their spray far inland as carried 
 on the wings of the mighty gale, blighting, withering, I 
 might say scorching all vegetation for over a hundred 
 yards inland from the beach. 
 
 On the 12th and 13th of March we had fine weather, 
 a little hazy, but the air particularly pleasant. On the 14th 
 the wind was from the south and off shore with passing 
 showers. On this day the barometer began to fall and con 
 tinued to do so ; then it fluctuated up and down, but with 
 a downward tendency. On the 15th, at 3 P.M., the indi 
 cation of a decided change in the weather for the worse 
 was unmistakable ; the wind had been freshening all day, 
 blowing from the Southward off shore but with no sea. 
 
 Lower yards were sent down, and topmasts housed, 
 steam raised, storm main and mizzen staysails were bent. 
 Before the arrival of the Trenton there had been three 
 
322 
 
 quite heavy gales blowing at Apia, and several merchant 
 men had been wrecked. The local pilots and other old 
 residents on shore supposed the back-bone of the season s 
 bad weather had been broken. All said that the present 
 indications, judging from the experience of previous years, 
 meant only heavy rains, which the fall of the barometer 
 indicated, and that on such conditions of weather at Apia 
 it always fell. 
 
 This statement and reasoning was satisfactory to many 
 but not at all so to me ; for I felt there was a gale brewing 
 and that we would soon feel it, hence our preparations. I 
 also considered that with steam, and four heavy anchors, 
 with top hamper down, that there would be no trouble, or 
 still less, danger to the ship ; besides, it would save coal to 
 remain at anchor, as nearly all of the coal to be had at that 
 time was in the ship s bunkers ; it was a very necessary 
 article to have in case affairs should take such a turn as 
 to require active measures in the future. 
 
 A hurricane 1 I did not expect, nor did any one else 
 that I heard of. I did not think that the mud and sand 
 on the bottom of the anchorage would be scoured out and 
 swept to sea ; such a contingency never entered my mind, 
 for this required a local knowledge of the currents under 
 the special conditions then about to take place, which was 
 impossible to acquire in the short space of four days. 2 The 
 pilots did not know this themselves, or if they did, never 
 told it. I did not anticipate, with battened down hatches, 
 having water in the hold up to the engine room-platforms, 
 nor that we should lose our steam by having our furnaces 
 flooded, nor that we should lose our rudder and rudder- 
 post No human being could have foreseen these accidents, 
 nor avoided them under the circumstances if they had. 
 As bad as it was with the Trenton, she was the last one of 
 
 i See Appendix, page 350. 
 3 Tho Trenton arrived March llth ; hurricane commenced March 15th. 
 
323 
 
 all that storm-battered fleet that remained at anchor, to 
 settle down into a wreck. She lost but one man. 
 
 The question will occur to many no doubt, how it could be 
 known that the bottom of the harbor had been scoured out 
 clear of mud and sand, leaving the anchors nothing to hold by. 
 
 When the Nipsic was hauled off the beach, we had to 
 send down divers a to find her anchors ; in seeking them, 
 they found an inextricable tangle of chains and anchors 
 resting on a bottom of hard smooth coral, as clear as if it 
 had been swept by a broom. The Nipsic managed to get 
 the end of one of these submerged chains ; but when the 
 anchor came up after a week s work, it was found to be 
 long to one of the German vessels, and was returned to 
 them after the Nipsic reached Honolulu. I may as well 
 state here, that when she was hauled off the beach, which 
 was accomplished under the superintendence 2 of her Ex 
 ecutive Lieutenant Hawley with 150 Samoans in addition 
 to her own crew, it was found she had lost her forefoot, 
 part of her stern, all of her keel up to the garboard streak, 
 her heel up to the propeller casing, her rudder-post and 
 rudder, the blades of her propeller were distorted and two 
 of them nearly bent double, her smoke-stack was gone, her 
 mainmast sprung, her rail and main chain plates carried 
 away, and yet, with a jury rudder, and smoke stack impro 
 vised from the Vandalia s, under convoy of the Alert, she 
 arrived safely at Honolulu under the command of Lieuten 
 ant Commander Henry Lyon (who was the Executive 
 Officer of the Trenton) and who was placed in command 
 when Commander Mullan was detached at his own re 
 quest. The ship was repaired, and finished the remainder 
 of her cruise on the station, and was an efficient vessel. 
 
 1 There being no diver s suit or air-pump in the squadron I borrowed 
 one from Capt. Kane, commanding H. B. M. Ship Calliope, who kindly 
 left it for our use when we sailed for Sydney. It was a great help to us. 
 
 2 See Appendix, pages 350 and 351. 
 
324 
 
 Honolulu is 2,800 miles from Pago-Pago, but the distance 
 covered by the Nipsic to reach there was much greater. 
 
 If any officer deserved promotion for work well done, 
 under the most trying circumstances during and after the 
 hurricane, and in successfully taking a disabled ship such 
 a voyage, superintending her repairs, and volunteering for 
 this arduous duty, it is the officer I have just mentioned. 
 Also in connection with this ship, I will say that the Fleet 
 Engineer Kiersted volunteered to make the passage in her, 
 and rendered the most valuable service both profession 
 ally and by example. He also superintended many of her 
 repairs in reaching Honolulu. No one knows, unless sit 
 uated as 1 was under the circumstances, the relief to mind 
 and heart in having two such men come forward and give 
 their brave helpful aid in the dark day of trial to their 
 Commander-in-Chief. I most heartily and sincerely pray 
 that it may never be the fate of any of my professional 
 brethren to undergo a like experience. 1 
 
 We will now return to the Trenton once more. Time 
 midnight of the 15th ; she was now riding to four anchors 
 and long scopes of chain, with steam to relieve the strain 
 ing cables, hatches battened down, all hands on deck, men 
 at the wheel. She rode very steadily considering the 
 very heavy seas that were rushing into the harbor ; they 
 continued to increase in power and magnitude with the 
 wind. When striking the ship, sheets of water were 
 thrown up from the bows, and borne by the wind over the 
 lower mast-heads, then falling on deck deluged it faster 
 than the scuppers could free it ; at times there must have 
 have been a foot or more of water in the spar-deck water 
 ways. The air was filled with foam and spray, both salt 
 
 1 This is the first and only time up to date that such a catastrophe 
 ever happened to the United States Navy in squadron, or to a similar 
 incident of a ship so disabled as the Nipsic making such a long passage, 
 belonging to the United States Navy. 
 
325 
 
 and fresh, for in the squalls it was raining in torrents. In 
 the gusts you could hardly look to windward, the eyes 
 could not bear the pain of the constant beating spatter. 
 On shore people had to protect their eyes and faces by 
 holding up shingles, or whatever they could find, to keep 
 from being blinded by the drifting sand driven along by the 
 gale. And still, the wind must have been much greater 
 in power nearer the center of the storm than we were 
 experiencing, as it did not pass over us, but out to sea to 
 the Northward and Westward before it turned to the 
 Southward and Southward and Eastward. 
 
 This was the condition of affairs when a report came 
 from the main deck that the starboard bridle port was 
 stove in by the sea, killing one of the crew. The damage 
 had to be repaired at once, as the port was about four feet 
 square, and such an opening at such a time meant incalcu 
 lable danger. It was in a measure repaired, but with 
 great difficulty and dangerous risk. 
 
 Gunner Westfall, in his account of this incident, wrote : 
 " At half past 7 o clock A.M. I heard the word passed that 
 the starboard bridle-port, the bow-port on the gun-deck, 
 had been burst in by the sea, and I knew that the ship 
 was gone if we did not keep the water out in some way. 
 I called out for volunteers and went forward. Every 
 plunge the ship made, water came pouring in through a 
 space six feet by four, completely flooding the gun-deck. 
 I ordered capstan bars and hammocks to be brought at 
 once, and we began our fight for life. A capstan bar was 
 needed outside the ship to hold the material that we were 
 using to block the port with in place, and with the help of 
 one man I got it in place ; then I saw that two tackles 
 must be hooked to the bar so that we could pull our barri 
 cade in place. No one would go out to place the straps 
 on the bar, and I said, * Well, I will go. The men begged 
 me not to go, and even tried to hold me back ; but I went 
 
326 
 
 out at what I thought a favorable opportunity and did the 
 work, but not a moment too soon, as a sea came in as I 
 was being hauled back, and God help me if I had been 
 five seconds late. Then we got a table ; and standing it up 
 with both tackles hooked behind, we began to pile ham 
 mocks in front, and for five hours we had the most desper 
 ate struggle ; as every sea came in we would be knocked 
 down, and what was worse some of the barricade would be 
 driven in. Oh God ! what discouragement. I didn t dare 
 give in ; for if I did the men would give up, and all would 
 be lost, so we worked on. After each sea knocked us flat, 
 we would get up and with a cheer make a rush for the 
 barricade, stuffing in mattresses, and using capstan bars 
 to ram them home with ; and at last we got a good barri 
 cade built, but still the water came in fearfully, so we 
 built another barricade of lumber abaft the first, and forced 
 the water to run out the W. C. chutes, and at last very 
 little water was going aft. Now some one says : * Mr. 
 Westfall, the ventilator holes are open on the spar-deck 
 and the water is pouring down them ; so I called Boat 
 swain s Mate Gray and asked him if he would go on the 
 forecastle with me and nail some canvass over the hole. 
 We went aft on the gun-deck and up on the spar-deck, and 
 crawled along till we got to our destination and went to 
 work. About one minute afterward we were both struck 
 by a sea, and in five seconds were hurled one hundred feet 
 aft. When I recovered my senses two men were dragging 
 me out from under a mass of wreckage near the mainmast. 
 I tried to stand ; no use, the last sea had been to much ; I 
 was half drowned and my right foot was hurt. " Thus 
 ended this trying incident. 
 
 All of this time the sea was increasing until it had 
 resolved itself into hills, and they were trying to turn sum 
 mersaults, which they were not very far from doing. At 
 intervals our cables parted one after another until at last 
 
327 
 
 we were riding to the starboard sheet anchor with 90 
 fathoms of chain, with no abatement of wind, but an in 
 creasing sea. We were in a confusion of waters, white 
 foam of breakers around us, the air filled with a misty 
 pull that limited the vision to about 100 yards at times 
 from the ship ; as the seas rushed over the reefs with a 
 tremendous roar, the great flood of water piled up against 
 the shore, until its mass overcoming the force of the gale 
 spread out and running in a steady stream as a cascade 
 over the edges of the reefs and out to sea, only to return 
 and repeat the operation. This seaward current was 
 estimated by those on shore to be running at the rate of 
 at least six knots an hour within a few feet of the beach. 
 
 The wind and seas continuing without abatement of 
 force found the Trenton still holding on with her one 
 cable. This was about 3 P.M. on the 16th. But to go 
 back a few hours. At 7 A.M. our wheel was wrecked 
 with a crash, the two helmsmen were thrown over it and 
 their legs broken and otherwise injured. The cause of 
 this was the breaking of the rudder-post and unshipping 
 the rudder. Why this happened I never could decide, 
 whether by a blow from the sea, from wreckage that was 
 drifting to sea from the inner anchorage, or whether in 
 the interval between two mighty seas her heel touched 
 the bottom. 1 From this time on we had nothing to con 
 trol the drift of the ship but the storm trysails. Water 
 in the hold was gaining on the pumps ; before 10 A.M. our 
 furnace fires were extinguished ; we had now to rely on 
 man-power with the main pumps and bailing. 2 We knew 
 when the steam pumps failed the others could not keep 
 
 1 There were two merchantmen wrecked just astern of the Trenton 
 and it is possible that her heel and rudder may have come in contact 
 with some part of their wrecks. The true reason for this accident will 
 never be known. 
 
 2 See Appendix, page 351. 
 
828 
 
 the water down, because it was coming in through the 
 hawse-pipes faster than the pumps could free her ; but to 
 avail ourselves of every chance, to prolong the inevitable 
 moment that was surely approaching, over 400 strong 
 arms in relays worked the breaks, to the time of a Chantey- 
 Song of " Knock a man down." I have a feeling of reli 
 ance and esteem for our " Blue Jackets " when in a tight 
 place, for I never found them wanting in my active service, 
 which has covered a period of forty-five years in peace, 
 war, and storm ; they will do and dare as much as any 
 men if properly lead. When in this hopeless condition, 
 one might, on looking astern into the thick curtain of 
 misty haze, have seen the hull of a large ship looming 
 forth in the dim distance ; it was slowly, very slowly ad 
 vancing right for us, now up high on the crest of the sea, 
 and then down so low that only her tops could be seen. 
 It was the Calliope taking her chances of being sunk by 
 collisions at her anchors, or running the gantlet of the 
 reefs for the open sea. Perhaps I could not do better 
 than to give the description of this incident from Captain 
 Kane s account, her Commanding Officer, viz. : 
 
 " The harbor of Apia is as bad a one as you would care 
 to enter. l . . . There was everything to indicate that the 
 gale would be heavier than had been already experienced, 
 and had not implicit faith been placed in all the pilots and 
 other weather-wise prophets of Apia, every man-o -war 
 would have put to sea early Friday morning, taking warn 
 ing by the falling barometer, Another point peculiar to 
 this storm is the fact, that instead of blowing from the 
 north-east as all previous hurricanes had done, it set in 
 dead from the north, thus exposing the war-ships to its 
 full fury. 
 
 " After sunset on Friday it was impossible to see the reef 
 
 l Report of Interview with Captain Kane, R. N., credited to the Sea- 
 men s Journal. 
 
329 
 
 for the thick weather, and what was worse, it was impos 
 sible to see if the vessels were dragging their anchors. 
 As a matter of fact, every ship dragged during the night ; 
 for in the morning we all found ourselves considerably in 
 shore, and to make things considerably more dangerous 
 the wind was blowing straight into the harbor. At 5 P.M. 
 the Eber, which was nearest in, was thrown upon the reef 
 and broken into bits, for at daylight nothing was to be 
 seen of her. The Vandalia, which had been anchored a 
 long way outside of the Calliope before the storm, was 
 dragging down on us. About 7.30 A.M. the Nipsic, one 
 of the innermost vessels, went on shore on a bed of sand, 
 and the smart way that the men were leaving her made 
 me conclude that she was breaking up. Only five men 
 lost their lives trying to reach the shore, which is credit 
 able to the Captain s management. The Adler was the 
 next ship astern of the Calliope ; she touched the reef at 
 8 o clock with her stern ; just as she did so, the cables 
 were slipped, and almost immediately the vessel was lifted 
 bodily out of the sea on to the reef, where she now lies 
 out of smooth water altogether. That will give you 
 some idea of the force of the waves and the sea that was 
 running. The crew lived on board the wreck from 8 A.M. 
 on Saturday until Sunday A.M. when they were rescued, 
 all very much knocked about and bruised. These three 
 ships, the Adler, 1 Eber, and Nipsic, were thus cleared 
 away, and the Calliope was within twenty yards of the 
 reef. The Vandalia now came down on our port bow, the 
 reef being on our port-quarter. I could not let my vessel 
 ride to the extent of my cables, with the reef so close 
 astern of me. To move ahead would be to run down the 
 Vandalia, and if the Olga had gone ahead she would have 
 battered into the Calliope. It was the most ticklish posi 
 tion I was ever in, and without exaggeration several times 
 i For Adler see Appendix, page 352 ; also page 353 concerning Nipsic. 
 
330 
 
 the Calliope s rudder was within six feet of the reef ; had 
 she touched, it would have been all up with us. I had to 
 sheer over to get out of the way of the Olga, to go ahead 
 to clear the reef, and to slack cables when the Vandalia 
 came down on me. At one time the three vessels were 
 locked together ; and had it not been for the powerful en 
 gines of the Calliope, we never would have separated. 
 Not liking the idea of being knocked to pieces, I decided 
 not to remain in this position any longer. There were 
 two courses open, to beach the vessel on the sand, which 
 would save the lives of all on board, but may be destroy 
 the vessel. The other to slip the cables and make 
 straight for sea, taking the chances of the machinery 
 breaking down or being powerful enough. I said I 
 would endeavor to save all. Accordingly I slipped the 
 cables and went hard ahead, calling up every pound of 
 steam, and every revolution of the screw, in fact having 
 everything working as hard as they could go. In making 
 the passage, the vessel literally stood on end ; the water 
 coming in at the bows as she dipped, running off aft im 
 mediately as she rose. I really wondered how the ma 
 chinery and rudder stood the strain of the tremendous sea 
 that was running. I managed to clear the Vandalia with 
 out mishap, and went so close to the Trenton as to put the 
 fore-yard arm over her deck ; and as the Calliope lifted up 
 she rolled to port, and the fore-yard over the Trenton just 
 cleared her. It was as pretty a thing and as lucky an 
 escape as could well be imagined. I just managed to 
 clear the outside reef by some sixty yards. Although I 
 was driving the Calliope at the rate of fifteen knots an 
 hour, yet such was the force of the wind and sea, that she 
 did not make more than half a mile an hour. 
 
 " Throughout the whole gale nothing affected the crew 
 of the Calliope and myself so much, as when passing the 
 American Flag-Ship Trenton which was lying helpless, 
 
331 
 
 with nothing to guard her from complete destruction, the 
 American Admiral and his men gave us three such ring 
 ing cheers that they called forth tears from many of our 
 eyes, they pierced deep into my heart, and I will ever 
 remember that mighty outburst of fellow feeling, which I 
 felt came from the bottom of the hearts of the noble and 
 gallant Admiral and his men. Every man on board of the 
 Calliope felt as I did ; it made us work to win." In 
 speaking of American sailors the gallant Captain said 
 " God bless America, and her noble sailors. If the Amer 
 icans stand as nobly to their guns as they bravely faced 
 that tremendous hurricane, the United States need fear 
 nothing." Thus ends Captain Kane s account. 
 
 But to continue : To me, it was one of the grandest and 
 most exciting sights I ever beheld. There was just room 
 between the Trenton and the reef for the Calliope to pass ; 
 to collide with the Trenton or to strike the reef meant 
 destruction, in the first instance to both ships, in the sec 
 ond, to herself; and as the great plunging, rolling ship 
 staggered through the boiling surf abreast us, a man on 
 our lower yard arm could have clasped hands with one on 
 hers. A swerve, a yaw, of the helpless Trenton at this 
 moment would have been annihilation; but good fortune 
 attended the Calliope on that day, for she gained the open 
 sea. It was when her yards lapped ours amidst the war 
 of the elements, that all our long and deep anxiety was 
 turned to admiration for the daring and plucky deed that 
 was passing before our eyes, that then our pent-up feel 
 ings burst forth into cheers. 
 
 I will candidly confess that my extreme anxiety at this 
 supreme moment made me feel as rigid and as cold as a 
 harp-string. As her stem slowly passed our bow, I was 
 so extremely anxious for her safety and success, that I felt 
 by a concentration of mere will I was helping her sea 
 ward. 
 
332 
 
 It was one of the grandest sights a seaman or any one 
 else ever saw ; the lives of two hundred and fifty souls 
 depended on the hazardous venture. All was staked on 
 this grand and daring endeavor, and they won ; it was a 
 victory of mind over matter. The London Telegraph said, 
 " We do not know in all naval records any sound which 
 makes a finer music upon the ear than that cheer of the 
 Trenton s men; it was distressed manhood greeting tri 
 umphant manhood. The doomed saluting the saved ; it 
 was pluckier and more human than any cry ever raised 
 upon the deck of a victorious Line-of-Battle-Ship ; it never 
 can be forgotten, and never must be forgotten by English 
 men speaking of Americans." 
 
 The disabled Trenton slowly dragged her laboring way 
 all the remainder of that long, long day, to the end of the 
 anchorage, not striking the reefs as she swerved from one 
 side of the harbor to the other, prevented by the rush of 
 water from the top of their flat surfaces which acted as an 
 offset from them. This action was a constant one, as 
 they were submerged by every wave many feet, and as 
 water will always find its level, this was the only way it 
 could do so. But this cause and natural force on which 
 the safety of our lives depended was either not under 
 stood or appreciated at least by one of our officers, and 
 consequently it remains for me in a paper of this charac 
 ter to correct once and for all an impression and statement 
 that appeared in the public press of that day. It stated, 
 on what authority I never knew, that he saved all hands 
 on board of the Trenton by his exceptional seamanship in 
 preventing the ship from striking the reefs by working 
 the storm-sails, which consisted in hauling aft their sheets 
 or brailing them up as occasion seemed to require, and 
 manning the mizzen shrouds. 
 
 In the House of Representatives of the 54th Congress, 1 
 1 See Appendix, page 355. 
 
333 
 
 a member of this late date brought in a bill to promote 
 said officer to the grade of Commander on the Retired List 
 for jumping overboard with a line, by which all were to 
 be saved, when, in fact, no such act was performed, as he 
 never left the deck. This officer, then lieutenant and nav 
 igator, being officer of the deck, probably forgot, in his 
 desire for fame and promotion, that if his uncalled-for 
 advice and pressing request had been followed, to slip our 
 last cable when the ship s taffrail was overhanging the 
 reef, not a soul would have lived to tell the tale ; to have 
 complied therewith would have been very bad seamanship 
 under the circumstances, and his appeal for promotion for 
 saving all of us by working those fore and aft sails and 
 manning the mizzen shrouds, which is a very old idea and 
 understood by all midshipmen as a question often given 
 in their examinations in seamanship, would never have 
 been made. It is marvelous how hallucinations will in 
 cubate in some minds. It must strike my professional 
 brethren as ridiculous for an officer-of-the-deck to arrogate 
 to himself the right or power to do this or that in the 
 immediate presence of his captain, to say nothing of his 
 commander-in-chief, when both were on the bridge, from 
 whom all orders were either issued or permitted, as they 
 alone were responsible for what was done. In all cases 
 where the captain of a ship is on deck, the officer in 
 charge is considered his mouth-piece. This is, and always 
 will be ; it is because the commanding officer is always on 
 duty, and cannot, if he would, divest himself of responsi 
 bility ; it is the law, the custom, and the etiquette of the 
 naval service, and is founded on experience from time 
 immemorial. (Unless sick, the captain is always on duty 
 and responsible.) 
 
 The Captain in his report, dated March 19th, 1889, says: 
 " Lieutenant R. M. G. Brown, the Navigator, was by my 
 side the whole time, and to his excellent judgment one 
 
334 
 
 time, at least, the ship was cleared of a reef. Had we 
 struck it I fear few of the 450 people on board of the 
 Trenton would be alive to-day." This quotation from 
 the Captain s report I think was the only basis on which 
 the Lieutenant s claim for promotion rests. I take it for 
 granted that when the Captain made that report, that such 
 was his opinion. I forwarded this report to the Depart 
 ment, unfortunately having overlooked this statement 
 amidst the multiplicity of official dispatches that presented 
 themselves for prompt action and consideration at the time. 
 In regard to this matter I must say 1 differ in opinion 
 from the Captain. In justice to the Lieutenant, I most 
 heartily acknowledge that he was zealous in the discharge 
 of his duty on this occasion ; he was bound to be so ; so 
 were other officers and men. Promotion should only be 
 given for valor, or for great and exceptional services. 
 When it is sought publicly by having one s acts pro 
 claimed through newspapers and bulletins, from an inor 
 dinate desire for notoriety, it should be withheld. Our 
 naval service is jealous of its honor ; her sons cherish it 
 as the first and brightest virtue, for without it all else is 
 naught. 
 
 Everything has an ending, so did the long, arduous strug 
 gle of the grand old ship. After pounding on the hard 
 coral bottom, she gradually brought up, and gave up her 
 life alongside of her submerged sister the Vandalia, 1 whose 
 masts, bowspirit, and forecastle were the only visible parts 
 left above water. Her lower rigging and tops were 
 crowded with her crew and officers. Now our great care 
 was to rescue them before her masts went by the board. 
 This was successfully accomplished by sending rockets 
 with lines attached into her tops, thereby establishing an 
 effective means of communication between the two vessels. 
 All that remained of her crew were placed in safety on the 
 i See Appendix, page 345. 
 
335 
 
 deck of the Trenton where they remained until the subsi 
 dence of the storm, after which they were transferred 
 under the command of Lieutenant Carlin to quarters on 
 shore. They lost everything but the clothes they stood in. 
 Some used their shirts to wrap around the ratlins to 
 relieve the pain in their feet by standing so long. 1 
 
 That fine officer, Lieutenant Carlin of the Vandalia, 
 states in his report, " We slipped the sheet chain to avoid 
 fouling the Olga s ground tackle, and veered on both 
 bowers to clear the ship herself. After passing the Olga 
 we made strenuous efforts to bring her head to the wind ; 
 but they were of no avail, and the stern took the inner 
 point of the reef at 10.45 A.M. The engines were kept 
 going until we were convinced that the ship was hard and 
 fast. They were then stopped, safety valves opened, and 
 the firemen called on deck. The ship s head swung slowly 
 to starboard, she began to fill and settle, and the rail was 
 soon awash, the seas sweeping over her at a height of fif 
 teen feet above the rail. We were within two hundred 
 yards of the shore, but the current was so strong, and the 
 seas so high that swimming was a reckless undertaking." 
 The Lieutenant in closing his report says : " This does not 
 complete the list of gallant acts and brave men; danger 
 and suffering have effaced from the memory many deeds 
 of valor, and it is claimed for the men in general that their 
 conduct before, during, and after the gale will bear the 
 closest inspection ; and now that the lips of their gallant 
 Commander are closed forever, the Executive Officer raises 
 his voice in their behalf, with the earnest hope, that, as 
 they have left a clean wake, they may have a fair wind in 
 all time to come, and that they may encounter only the 
 waves of prosperity in their course." This letter was 
 written to the Secretary of the Navy from San Francisco, 
 and endorsed by the Commandment of Mare Island Navy 
 1 See Appendix, pages 343 to 345 inclusive. 
 
336 
 
 Yard thus, " Lieutenant Carlin showed himself a worthy 
 leader of brave men." Captain Schooninaker s body some 
 days after the gale was recovered five miles down the coast 
 and interred temporarily on a German plantation near by. 
 This shows the force of the current setting out of the har 
 bor and down the coast between the reefs. Lieutenant 
 Carlin, who was a man of splendid physique, endeavored 
 to save his Captain ; but the Captain from an injury pre 
 viously received was too weak to help himself, otherwise 
 he too might have been saved by gaining the mizzen 
 shrouds, as both officers were on the poop from which the 
 Captain was washed overboard. The Vandalia lost forty- 
 three souls, four of whom were officers, viz. : the Captain, 
 Paymaster, Marine Officer, and Paymaster s clerk. The 
 Nipsic lost seven men. The Eber seventy-six, all but four 
 of entire crew. The Adler twenty. The Trenton one, 
 whose skull was fractured when the bridle-port was stove 
 in. This does not include the wounded. We established 
 our hospital at first in a church, and afterwards in a school- 
 house, as being better adapted for the business, both offered 
 to us by the kindness of the London Missionary Society. 
 After the crews of the vessels had reached the shore and 
 were engaged in preparing their camps, Mataafa offered to 
 have all the native houses in the vicinity vacated for our 
 use. This generous offer was declined, for the reason that 
 the men would have been too much scattered to be under 
 proper control. 
 
 I have neglected to mention, that when drifting slowly 
 down the harbor, we made use of oil by pouring it down 
 the head-chutes to keep the seas from breaking; it did 
 very little good to the Trenton, but, as it travelled shore 
 ward, its effect was observed and remarked by some on 
 board of the Vandalia as beneficial. 
 
 I will now close this narrative by reading a part of the 
 
337 
 
 Navy Department s letter to me, iii answer to my official 
 report of the catastrophe, with a request for a Court of 
 Inquiry. The official letter is dated April 27th, 1889, 
 Navy Department, Washington, D.C. 
 
 Sir: 
 
 In reply to your request and that of Captain Farquhar for a 
 Court of Inquiry, the Department has to say, that it deems such a 
 Court unnecessary. It is satisfied that the officers in command of 
 ships at Apia, did their duty with courage, fidelity, and sound judg 
 ment, and that they were zealously and loyally seconded by their 
 subordinates. That the hurricane which caused the destruction of 
 the vessels, and the loss of so many lives, was one of the visitations 
 of Providence in the presence of which human efforts are of little 
 avail ; that the measures actually taken by yourself and the officers 
 under you were all that wisdom and prudence could dictate, and 
 that it was due to these measures that so large a portion of the 
 crews were saved ; that the one step that might have averted the 
 catastrophe, namely, to have put to sea before the storm 
 developed, could only have been justified in view of the great 
 responsibilities resting upon you at Samoa, by the certainty of 
 overwhelming danger to your fleet, which could not have been 
 foreseen. That you rightly decided to remain at your post, and 
 that the Department, even in the face of the terrible disaster which 
 it involved, approves absolutely your decision, which has set an ex 
 ample to the Navy that never should be forgotten. 
 
 To convene a Court of Inquiry under the circumstances would 
 seem to imply a doubt on the part of the Department, where no 
 doubt exists ; and instead of ordering an investigation, it tenders to 
 you, and through you to the officers and men under your command, 
 its sympathies for the exposures and hardships you have encountered, 
 and its profound thanks for the fidelity with which you performed 
 your duty in crisis of appalling danger. 
 
 (Signed) B. F. TRACEY, 
 
 Sec y of the Navy, 
 To REAR ADMIRAL L. A. KTMBERLY, 
 
 Comdg. U.S. Naval Force, Pacific Station. 
 
338 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 310. 
 
 " Who is Predominant Partner in Samoa." 
 
 IN the Westminster Review for September, 1896, Mr. I. 
 F. Rose-Soley publishes an elaborate paper on German 
 and English interests in Samoa, which will not be read 
 with satisfaction at Berlin. For Mr. Rose-Soley s point is 
 that excepting the great firm of Goeddefroy, which might 
 be bought out to-morrow by any English capitalist, its in 
 terests being purely commercial, Samoa is virtually a 
 British settlement. 
 
 Mr. Rose-Soley s paper is a valuable feature of the ex 
 tent to which a single commercial firm can create a polite 
 ical interest and establish a position which becomes essen 
 tial to an Imperial Policy. But in Samoa, outside of 
 Goeddefroy s firm, the Germans are nowhere. Mr. Rose- 
 Soley says ; " Once we have done with the German s firm 
 and its plantations, we have done practically with Ger 
 man influence in Samoa. If the German Company, as is 
 quite feasible, were to be bought out to-morrow by an 
 English or French syndicate, the national interest in the 
 group would entirety cease. 
 
 The removal of this one company would leave British 
 influence predominant in every direction, whether in the 
 matter of land, population, or wealth. Let us take pos 
 session inland first. The Germans own 75,000 acres, 
 nearly the whole of which belongs to the German firm. 
 The British come next, with 36,000 acres, and following 
 are the Americans with 21,000 acres, the French with 
 13,000 acres, and the people of various nationalities with 
 2,000 acres. Of the cultivated land, 8,100 acres went to 
 Germans ; 2,900 acres to the British ; 500 to the Ameri 
 cans; 780 to the French, and the balance to people of 
 various nationalities. Thus Germany again stands first 
 
339 
 
 on the list; but if we deduct the area 7,800 acres, of the 
 plantations owned by the firm, the German landed inter 
 est takes the lowest place. Even in the matter of resi 
 dential white population, Germany, in spite of her many 
 plantation employees, does not come first. Great Britain 
 leads with 193 residents ; the Germans are next with 122. 
 Then come the Americans, 46; a number, however, in 
 which 20 Mormon missionaries are included. There are 
 only 26 Frenchmen, and the total foreigners residing in 
 the group is but 412. 
 
 SAMOA ENGLISH BY LANGUAGE. 
 
 Out of the German population, nearly one-half are em 
 ployed by the German firm ; the balance mainly store or 
 hotel keepers. The professional men, the lawyers, ac 
 countants, and so on, are of the English race. The two 
 newspapers published in Apia are printed in the English 
 language. The head of Victoria appears on all the coin 
 in circulation, and the natives, whenever they speak a for 
 eign tongue at all, speak English. The German language 
 has no hold on the land ; it is spoken only among a lim 
 ited circle, and for all intercourse with natives, or busi 
 ness correspondence, the Teuton has to fall back on 
 English. 
 
 It is a significant fact, that the German firm, though it 
 employs clerks exclusively of its own nationality, keeps 
 its books in English. The import returns are decidedly 
 in favor of the British ; for out of .90,000 worth of goods 
 imported in 1894, 75,000 came from Great Britain and 
 her Colonies, 16,000 direct from Germany, and the 
 balance from the United States. 
 
 AND BY RELIGION. 
 
 It is more than sixty years since the London Mission 
 ary Society first commenced operations in Samoa, and 
 
340 
 
 to-day the whole group is nominally converted to Christi 
 anity. As far as all outward signs go, the Samoan of 
 to-day is a most devout Christian. The missionary of 
 to-day has become a schoolmaster rather than an evangel 
 ist. Thus we arrive at the significant fact, that the 
 Samoans have been, and are being, entirely educated by 
 the missions. j 
 
 The utterly incapable and impecunious Samoan Gov 
 ernment contributes not a penny toward the cost of teach 
 ing its own people. The work has been performed almost 
 entirely by English money and English brains. The Lon 
 don Missionary Society, first in the field, has done the 
 giant s share, and to-day it claims as adherents some 
 27,000 Samoans. In the absence of a census, whether 
 religious or secular, exact figures as to population are not 
 obtainable, but it is estimated that the group is inhabited 
 by about 40,000 natives. Of this number the Roman 
 Catholics, who have many workers in the field, may have 
 5,000 converts. The Wesleyans, perhaps, an equal num 
 ber, the remainder belonging to the London Mission. 
 The whole credit of Christianizing these islands belongs 
 to the English, an achievement which certainly ought to 
 rank higher than the purchase of a few thousand acres of 
 land, at a low price, from half-savage native chiefs." 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 311. 
 
 " Lu-pe-pa." The following is a copy of a letter from 
 the German Consul Becker to Malietoa, which throws full 
 light on his intentions towards the Samoan King : 
 
 GERMAN CONSULATE, 
 
 Your Majesty: Apia, August 23d, 1887. 
 
 I am commanded by the German Government to inform you as 
 follows : 
 
 1st. That your people attacked German people on the evening of 
 the day celebrating the anniversary of the birthday of his majesty 
 
341 
 
 the Emperor, on the 22d day of March of the present year. This 
 action has caused great offence and much distress of mind to the 
 Emperor and to all German people. 
 
 I now inform you to become on friendly terms with Government 
 of Germany in this wise. You will be quick to punish the above 
 offenders, and do so at once. You will also pay the sum of 1000 
 to those who are wounded, and you are to make the most abject 
 apology to Germany. 
 
 2nd. From one year to another year in the past your people have 
 stolen animals and produce from Plantations belonging to Germans, 
 and have injured their lands, to the extent of more than 3000 each 
 year. 
 
 I now inform you that you are to pay quickly for all this abuse 
 by your people. 
 
 3rd. For many years past your judges have been unable by them 
 selves to protect Germans among you, and this is the reason your 
 people have been abusing the Germans. I now tell you it is highly 
 necessary that the Government should be more severe in their trials 
 and judgments in order that they may be able to protect Germans 
 in future. It is my opinion that there is nothing just or correct in 
 Samoa in all the days that you may have the rule, or while you are 
 at the head of the Government. 
 
 I send you this letter the morning of the present day. I shall 
 be at Apega on the morning of to-morrow, Wednesday, Aug. 24th, 
 at 11 o clock, A.M. I want to hear from you, your reply, 
 
 May you Live. 
 
 (Signed) BECKER, German Consul. 
 
 Malietoa, the king, being unable to comply with the 
 demands, writes the two following letters, viz. : 
 
 MALIETOA LU-PE-PA S FAREWELL TO SAMOA. 
 
 To all Samoa : On account of my great love to my country, and 
 my great affection to all Samoa, that is the reason that I deliver up 
 my body to the German Government. That government may do as 
 they please to me. The meaning of this is that I do not desire that 
 again shall the blood of Samoa be spilt for me. But I do not know 
 what is my offence which has caused their anger to arise to me and 
 my country. Tuamasauga farewell ! Manono and my family fare 
 well ! So, also, Salafai, Tutuila, Aana, and Atua farewell ! If we 
 
342 
 
 do not again see one another in this world, pray that we may be 
 again together above. May you be blessed. I am, 
 
 MALIETOA THE KING. 
 
 Malieota s farewell to the Consuls the night before his 
 surrender to the German Consul is as follows : 
 
 APIA, SAMOA, 
 To W. H. WILSON, ESQ., Sept. 16th, 1887. 
 
 British Pro-Consul. 
 
 I Malietoa, King of Samoa, write this letter to you, as I am 
 now in great distress. When the Chief Tamasese and others com 
 menced present troubles, it was my wish to punish them, and put 
 an end to the rebellion they had raised. Acting, however, on the 
 advice and under the assurance of the then British and American 
 consuls, I refrained from doing so. I was repeatedly told by the 
 representatives of the British and American Governments that they 
 would afford me and my government every assistance and protec 
 tion if I abstained from doing anything that might cause war among 
 the Samoan people. Relying on these promises, I did not put 
 down the rebellion. Now I find that war has been made upon me 
 by the Emperor of Germany, and Tamasese has been proclaimed 
 King of Samoa. The German forces and the adherents of Tama 
 sese threaten to make war upon all of the Samoan people who do 
 not acknowledge Tamasese as king. I am innocent of any wrong 
 ful act, and hereby protest against the action of Germany ; but, as 
 the German nation is strong and I am weak, I yield to their power 
 to prevent bloodshed and out of love to my people. I desire to 
 remind you of the promises so repeatedly made by your Govern 
 ment, and trust you will so far redeem them as to cause the lives 
 and liberties of my people to be respected. I wish to inform you 
 that I fear the Germans will compel me, as they are now forcing 
 my people to sign papers acknowledging Tamasese as king ; and if 
 I sign such papers it will only be under compulsion and to avoid 
 war being made on my people. 
 
 MALIEOTA, King of Samoa. 
 
 Malietoa was deported on his surrender to the German 
 authorities, but was returned to his country and reinstated 
 by the Berlin Conference, through the insistence of the 
 United States. 
 
343 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 313. 
 
 The schoolmaster of the Vandalia gives a most vivid 
 account of the ship about this time in a letter dated Apia, 
 March 18th, 1899, he writes: 
 
 " The facts hereunder stated will be attested by all the officers 
 of the Vandalia who were on the poop-deck, and what I have stated, 
 I saw with my own eyes, for I was on the poop until it broke up, 
 and in the mizz en-rigging until it was carried away by the Tren 
 ton, at which time both my legs were crushed, (?) and cut very badly 
 but not broken. I was taken off just as the Lord made me, naked. 
 
 " On Friday, March 15th, a strong wind sprang up from the land, 
 increasing to a gale about 8 P.M., the barometer falling rapidly to 
 (29.09) at 2 A.M. Saturday morning. The wind shifted and increased 
 to a terrible hurricane, blowing directly from the sea. All 
 hands were called and full steam put on, but without avail, for we 
 commenced to drag our anchors and drift down on the Calliope, 
 who was compelled to slip her chains to keep from cutting us 
 down. The Calliope, after parting her chains (?) commenced to run 
 * amuck. She came down on us, staving in our side and losing 
 her jib-boom in the encounter. She same down on us once or 
 twice, nearly cutting us in two ; thinking we were all lost gave 
 them a rousing cheer. (?) She then steered off and succeeded in 
 steaming out of the harbor. We continued to drift down on the 
 reef towards the Eber and Adi er; finally one tremendous sea struck 
 the Adler, and lifting her like a feather tossed her one hundred 
 and fifty yards upon the reef, broadside on, turning her over on 
 her side. A few moments later a wave struck the Eber, drove her 
 against the reef broadside on, stove her in and sunk her immedi 
 ately. We drifted down within twenty feet of the reef, and ex 
 pected to go on it any moment, but we succeeded by a hard 
 struggle in steaming ahead a few feet. Three or four heavy 
 seas began to board us and flood the fire-room. The pumps were 
 manned all the time, but they were of little avail. We gradually 
 drifted down towards the Nipsic, which was beached on the small 
 beach of sand lying before the U. S. Consulate. At about 10 A.M. 
 our stern began to strike the reef, and the ship gradually sank. 
 Captain C. M. Schoonmaker, Lieutenant J. W. Carlin, Lieutenant J. 
 C. Wilson, Lieutenant F. E. Sutton (Marine Corps), Paymaster 
 
344 
 
 F. H. Arms and cadets H. A. Wiley, I. A. Lejeune, and L. A. 
 Stafford, and about thirty of the crew were on the poop-deck 
 over the cabin. Only one of our boats were left, the second 
 cutter, and Lieutenant J. W. Carlin, the executive officer, gave 
 orders to have her lowered and try to get a line to the Nipsic, 
 which lay about one hundred yards from us. When the cutter 
 was manned it was found she was stove in, Then a number 
 of men jumped overboard and made for the beach; but only a 
 very few succeeded in making it, on account of a very strong cur 
 rent running. Those who tried to make the shore would strike 
 this current about twelve feet from shore, and be washed around 
 the bow of the Mpsic and then out to sea ; it was a terrible sight to 
 see one s shipmates go down almost within arm s length and not be 
 able to render them any assistance. One man would jump over, 
 swim for the shore, be washed out to sea, and come back on some 
 monster wave with his head nearly severed from his body. (?) An 
 other would reach the Nipsic, catch a rope and be compelled to let 
 go, and drown from sheer exhaustion. At one time there were fif 
 teen men clinging to ropes of the Nipsic, and only two had strength 
 to hold on and be hauled up, the rest went down. Chief Engineer 
 Green was one of the first to swim for the Nipsic ; he made it, but 
 was compelled to let go, and drifted seaward, where he met one of 
 the men of the crew, who rendered great assistance, and together 
 they succeeded in reaching the beach, exhausted, where they were 
 hauled in by the natives. About 3 P.M. there were left on the 
 poop-deck Captain C. M. Schoonmaker, Lieutenants J. W. Carlin, 
 A. E. Sutton, and Paymaster Arms, and about eight of the crew, 
 the rest having taken to the mizzen rigging. The Paymaster re 
 ceived a cut over his right eye which seemed to stun him, and the 
 next large wave coming broke his hold on the rail and carried 
 him away; he disappeared in a few seconds. The next to go was 
 A. E. Sutton, Lieutenant of marines ; he seemed stunned, and lay 
 down on the deck, making no effort to save himself, and was 
 carried away on the top of a swell. The Captain lay between the 
 Gatling gun and howitzer on the port side ; one of the legs of the 
 Gatling broke, and he was fearful of it falling and crushing him. 
 Lieutenant Carlin back of him rendered all the assistance possible, 
 but it was of no use. Sea after sea breaking over him gradually 
 weakened him, until a great sea striking us broke his hold, and he 
 was swept away, striking the rail as he went over. The succeed 
 ing wave took him, and he was seen no more. Lieutenant Carlin 
 
345 
 
 went up the mizzen rigging on the port side, but afterward came 
 down on deck again, where he stood some terrible punishment, but 
 was compelled to take to the rigging again. About half past six 
 P.M .(16th) the Trenton, which had had her fires put out by a large 
 sea, came dragging on top of us helpless, with almost a certainty of 
 crushing us to death and sinking herself on us. As she came down 
 her rigging was full of men, and filling and sinking as she was, 
 they gave us three rousing cheers" . . . "which we answered 
 with a heavy heart, but with a will ; not a solitary act of cowardice 
 was shown. About 8 P.M. she came down to the foremast, taking 
 the men off in every direction. She then drifted down to the main 
 mast, taking the men and knocking the mast over. It then came 
 our turn on the mizzen mast ; she came down on us, taking most of 
 us off, and catching the rigging and knocking the mast down also. 
 The men taken out of the rigging were a fearful sight. Some were 
 entirely naked, cut and bleeding ; others had but a shirt, with legs 
 bruised, but there was not a murmur nor groan. When the main 
 mast toppled over, Ensign Bipley jumped overboard and swam 
 ashore. He then enlisted the service of a native chief Senamana 
 and his followers. They found the Nipsic s gig upside down in the 
 road in front of the Tivoli house. They carried it down to the 
 beach, and at about 4 o clock the next morning they succeeded in 
 launching it, and pulled over to the Trenton, but did not succeed in 
 getting a line. About 8 o clock they commenced to take the Van- 
 dalia s men ashore, and during the day succeeded in landing all of 
 them. Ensign Ripley stood on the beach and served all the 
 wounded, and had them carried up to a native church, which he 
 had turned into a hospital." 
 
 NOTE. The above letter is valuable as giving an ac 
 count of how the officers and men were lost. Where the 
 writer uses the word "crushed" he evidently means 
 bruised." L. A. K. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 334. 
 
 When the Trenton brought up alongside of the Van- 
 dalia, she gradually settled down and sank alongside of 
 her, the Vandalia acting as buffer keeping her from the 
 reef, as here delineated. 
 
346 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 317. 
 
 This letter written by the schoolmaster of the Nipsic is 
 dated March 26th, 1889. 
 
 " For five long hours the Nipsic made a gallant fight against the 
 gale with the anchors planted in good holding ground, and driving 
 into it under a full head of steam. It is more than probable that 
 she could have held her ground had it not been for the Olga, which 
 vessel reached a position in the middle of the harbor at the com 
 mencement of the gale, and at once became a menace to every ves 
 sel within the sweep of her long cables. An effort was made to 
 change the position of the Nipsic so as to place her beyond the 
 reach of the Olga, but scarcely had we lifted the starboard and 
 sheet anchors for this purpose when she grazed our port quarter, 
 carrying away the poop railing and the dinghey, and leaving the 
 whale boat hanging a useless mass of splintered timber from her 
 bent and twisted davits. We had barely dropped our anchors 
 again and were steaming ahead to avoid the Eber, which vessel 
 was bearing down on our stern, when we ran down the small 
 schooner Lily. Only two men were on board, Captain Douglass 
 and Mr. Ormsby, a citizen of Apia. As the Nipsic steamed ahead 
 to avoid the Eber, her jib-boom swept away the Lily s masts and 
 head booms ; the vessels then drifted apart, but as the ship yawed 
 in the heavy sea, she again struck the little schooner and stove in 
 her bow, when she drifted past us and sank. At this time the gale 
 was terrific, and the Nipsic was pitching like mad into the short 
 quick seas that were rolling continuously into the harbor. Sud 
 denly a little after 5 o clock, through the dense gloom a dark mast 
 was seen rising above us on the crest of a mighty sea, and the next 
 moment the Olga s head booms were over our weather bulwarks. 
 As she fell off into the trough of the sea, she carried away our port 
 hammock rail and steam launch, and sheared the smoke-stack 
 within two feet of the jacket ; again she rose and fell off, crushing 
 the port main-chains, and striking the main-yard with such force as 
 to throw the shattered out-board in upon our decks. Once again 
 she touched us before drifting clear, and our second cutter was 
 thrown from the davits. We were in collision only a few seconds, 
 made horrible by the crashing, breaking timbers, the rattle of part 
 ing guys and grinding of rent metal. Yet, in those few short mo 
 ments the Nipsic was practically thrown at the mercy of the storm. 
 
347 
 
 The upper sections of the smoke-stack fell with a crash into the 
 starboard gangway, carrying with them the wreck of the fire-room 
 ventilators. The wind now poured down the stump of the stack 
 and drove the flame out through the furnace doors, forcing the fire 
 men repeatedly from their posts. The steam, upon which our main 
 dependence was placed, fell rapidly from sixty to thirty-five 
 pounds. The furnaces were at once fed with salt pork, which, 
 though it helped the steam in slight degree, still left us without 
 sufficient pressure to render our engines effective against the vio 
 lence of the gale. At daylight there was danger of a second collis 
 ion with the Olga, which vessel was racing like mad around the 
 harbor, seemingly at the mercy of the wind and wave, and was 
 only prevented from going on shore by the strength of her ground 
 tackle and the power of her engine. Again and again she bore 
 down upon us threatening to crush us beneath her superior weight ; 
 but each time we avoided her by paying out our cables, or letting 
 the ship s head fall off ; this latter manoeuvre, however, repeatedly 
 threw us into the trough of the sea, and we shipped great quanti 
 ties of water. It became almost impossible to move about the 
 decks on account of the mass of wreckage which was hurled from 
 side to side by each roll of the laboring vessel. Our escape from 
 a collision which at this time would in all probability have been 
 fatal to the entire crew, was wholly due to the calm skill with 
 which the vessel was managed and the promptitude with which the 
 men responded to each command. Throughout that awful night 
 and during the ensuing morning, in the midst of the most imminent 
 danger, our officers never lost their presence of mind nor failed to 
 give just those orders which the desperate situation necessitated. 
 Finally, about half-past six, the Olga drifted down on our bow, 
 broadside on, and collision seemed inevitable. When drifting 
 down upon the reef we would have unquestionably have struck just 
 where the shattered wreck of the Eber lay had it not been decided 
 to beach the vessel. The port chain was slipped by the captain s 
 order ; and the vessel, relieved of her port, anchor, swung to her 
 sheet chain, which under the enormous pressure ran out, tearing 
 away the securing bolts in the locker. Steaming ahead at full 
 speed the vessel swung in toward the shore, her stern barely graz 
 ing the edge of the reef ; and in a moment more we ran bows on 
 upon the sandy beach in front of the American Consulate. In at 
 tempting to get a line to the shore the gig was lowered with five 
 men in her. The boat dropped into the hollow of the sea, and in a 
 
348 
 
 minute she was capsized and her occupants drowned, despite des. 
 perate efforts to reach the shore. A number of the crew who 
 jumped overboard succeeded in reaching the beach, with the assist 
 ance of the natives who rushed fearlessly into the surf to aid the 
 swimmers. At length a volunteer swam ashore with a line, and we 
 soon had a number of life-lines stretched through the seething water. 
 Commander Mullan ably seconded by Lieutenant Hawley, the exec 
 utive officer, superintended the landing of the crew. He was the 
 last to leave the ship, and that only when convinced that every man 
 under his command was in safety. It is to his credit that when the 
 destruction of his vessel seemed practically unavoidable he suc 
 ceeded in beaching her so advantageously as to enable her to be 
 gotten off subsequently in comparatively good condition. The skill 
 with which he commanded the Nipsic throughout the gale, and the 
 seamanlike manner in which at the last moment he saved his vessel 
 and the lives of his crew, have won for him the warmer plaudits of 
 
 his professional brethren 
 
 At ten o clock the Vandalia, after losing her anchors and having 
 been crushed into by the Olga, came down at a fearful pace on the 
 sand beach where the Mpsic lay. She had had bad weather of it 
 throughout, answering her helm poorly and often lying broadside 
 to the sea, which poured over bulwarks and flooded her decks. It 
 was a fearful sight to see her driving before the gale, her officers 
 and crew grouped upon the poop and forecastle, gazing helplessly 
 at the destruction which yawned before them. She approached 
 within fifty yards of the Nipsic and began to sink. Captain 
 Schoonmaker and others of her officers and crew had already been 
 hurled overboard and lost. Some of the men endeavored to swim 
 to the Nipsic, and about twenty succeeded in reaching her, while 
 many poor fellows went to the bottom in making the attempt." . . . 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 319. 
 PROCLAMATION. 
 APRIL I?TH, 1889. 
 
 APIA, SAMOA. 
 
 What the Samoans need most is peace amongst themselves. I 
 "have therefore prepared a Paper that can be signed by both parties 
 desirous of obtaining Peace and establishing Order. Men who love 
 their country better than themselves are Patriots; are there no 
 
349 
 
 Patriots in Samoa ? I should not like to believe it. This Paper I 
 have written, only applies to the Samoans themselves, not to for 
 eigners and strangers. Therefore it is as a father speaking to his 
 sons. A happy family is one that is united, a quarrelsome family 
 is weak and unhappy and a prey to strangers. I have a great 
 respect for a brave people. The Samoans are brave, but in keep 
 ing up this war they are not wise. If they wish to preserve their 
 country for their children, they must have peace and become 
 united. A man s life is but short, but a nation lives many gener 
 ations, and the country given by the Great Father of all should be 
 preserved by the Fathers for the Children. No one can deny facts, 
 and this is fact, because it is true. 
 
 L. A. KIMBERLY, 
 
 Hear Admiral, U. S. N. 
 Commanding U. S. Naval Force, 
 
 Pacific Station. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 319. 
 TO THE SAMOAN PEOPLE. 
 
 SAMOANS ! 
 
 Your country is more important to you than to strangers, there 
 fore serve it by becoming one People, it is the only way to save it 
 for your Children. To this end, a mutual and general amnesty 
 should be accepted by all bearing arms. This amnesty should be 
 honored and kept in good faith by all concerned, thereby bringing 
 back the blessings of Peace, Order, Good- will, and Prosperity to all 
 Samoans. 
 
 Samoans, become brothers and friends, and bury the war in so 
 deep a grave that it will sleep forever, unseen and forgotten. To 
 love your country is a duty, by so doing you serve God and your 
 selves. 
 
 Remember ! 
 
 United, you will stand. Divided, you must fall. 
 As ye sow, so shall ye reap." 
 
 L. A. KIMBERLY, 
 Eear Admiral, U. S. Navy, 
 Commanding U. S. Naval Force, 
 
 Pacific Station. 
 
350 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 322. 
 SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, APRIL 1?TH, 1889. 
 
 . . . "But there are storms and storms. The Fleet had already 
 ridden out three gales in safety, and might have ridden out a 
 fourth. The disposal of the vessels was purely a matter of judg 
 ment. The question as to whether that judgment was good or bad 
 is not to be decided by the event ; it must be considered in the 
 light of the circumstances as they appeared at the time to those 
 concerned. It is easy to say that these vessels ought to have put to 
 sea at the first alarm, but the Commanders had many things to con 
 sider. There can be no doubt, however, that if the great violence 
 of the recent hurricane had been known beforehand, some, at least, 
 of the vessels anchored in the port of Apia would have put to sea. 
 . . . The event shows the weather signs misread,that is all. There 
 is nothing in the circumstances to warrant any harsher criticism. 
 
 " As to the behavior of officers and men in a time of great trial, 
 nothing more need be said, than has been said already, their eon- 
 duct speaks for itself." 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 323. 
 
 LIEUTENANT J. M. HAWLEY. This energetic and able 
 officer deserves all the credit for hauling the Nipsic off the 
 beach into deep water, her commanding officer, Commander 
 Mullan, being ashore at the time when this important 
 operation was being executed. 
 
 After the Nipsic had been hauled off the beach into 
 deep water, I met Lieutenant Hawley on shore proceeding 
 up the road. I asked him where he was going. He re 
 plied he was on his way to report to Commander Mullan 
 that the Nipsic was afloat. I then said to him, "Was 
 not the commander on board when this was done ? " He 
 replied, " No." Then I told him to never mind reporting 
 to his Commanding Officer, but to return to his ship and 
 get things to rights as soon as possible ; which he accord 
 ingly did. 
 
351 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 323. 
 
 The Nipsic left Apia on May 9th, bound for Auckland. 
 On the llth at 9 A. M., the bolt on the head of the jury- 
 rudder drew out ; it was hoisted on board and repaired. 
 When she returned to Apia on May 15th, she had been 
 at sea six days and steamed 600 miles. On her return to 
 Apia, Commander Mullan applied to be detached, and was 
 succeeded in command by Lieutenant-Commander H. W. 
 Lyon. She left Apia for Pago-Pago at 5.30 P. M. the 
 same day, where she anchored the next afternoon. At 
 this place four of the Nipsic s guns were put on board of 
 the store-ship Monongahela, and enough coal on board to 
 amount to 230 tons. She sailed from Pago-Pago on May 
 31st, convoyed by the Alert, bound for Honolulu (the 
 season for good weather having passed for her to go to 
 Auckland. She anchored at Fanning Island, June 14th ; 
 she remained there six weeks waiting for a cargo of coal 
 to be sent to her from Honolulu. On July 24th the two 
 ships in company sailed again for Honolulu, and arrived 
 there at noon on the 9th of August. During the passage 
 she leaked fourteen inches per hour, but was readily freed 
 by the steam pumps. She made better speed after leaving 
 Fannings Island, and on several occasions ran away from 
 her escort, and slowed down to allow her to come up. 
 
 (From an account by her Executive Officer, Lieutenant 
 J. M. Hawley, U. S. N.) 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 327. 
 
 To try and stop the rush of water through the hawse- 
 pipes I directed Lieutenant G. A. Merriam, my secretary 
 and aid, to go down on the berth-deck and try to wind 
 the chain with blankets and strands of rope, and to use 
 hammocks if practicable in trying to plug the hawse-pipes. 
 Nothing that he could do would answer the purpose, owing 
 to the constant surging of the heavy chain-cables. As 
 
352 
 
 soon as the work in a measure was thought to be done, 
 the force of the seas and the jerking and sawing motion 
 of the cable rendered all efforts useless. All the water 
 found its way into the hold, the only place it could go, 
 as the deck was below the water line. 
 
 L. A. K. 
 
 On May 20th, 1889, the chartered steamer Rockton, 
 bound for Mare Island Navy Yard, from Apia, Samoa, 
 sailed with twelve (12) officers and three hundred and 
 three (303) men from the Trenton, and nine (9) officers 
 and one hundred and forty-one (141) men of the Van- 
 dalia ; also Ensign Field of the Nipsic was a passenger. 
 Seven (7) officers and seventy-six (76) men were left at 
 Samoa to finish the work of wrecking. Total souls as 
 passengers, 466. 
 
 L. A. K. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 326. 
 
 The only part of the hull of the Eber that was visible 
 after the storm was part of her bow, that was wrenched 
 off when she struck the reef, and carried by the current to 
 the beach about one-eighth of a mile from where she was 
 wrecked. There were 76 souls down below when she 
 struck, and all were lost. Only one officer and three of 
 her men were saved, they being on deck at the time of the 
 catastrophe. 
 
 L. A. K. 
 
 The Adler was lifted by the waves over the edge of the 
 reef and landed over 150 feet on its table-like surface, on 
 her side, with her deck facing the shore and perpendicular 
 to the reef on which she lay. She had part of her keel 
 torn away and her bottom faced seaward ; this position 
 protected her crew from the seas that broke over her. She 
 
353 
 
 lost 20 men as it was. On the gale abating, she was left 
 high and dry, so one could walk almost dry-shod around 
 her. 
 
 L. A. K. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 334. 
 
 There being no doubt in my mind in regard to our final 
 fate, I said to the captain, " If we have to go down, let us 
 do so with our flag flying." He gave the order, and our 
 storm ensign was hoisted, and remained flying until the 
 Olga in her collision with us carried it away by fouling its 
 halliards ; it blew on board of her. It was returned by 
 her captain after the storm. 
 
 L. A. K. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 329. 
 
 OFFICIAL REPORT OF COMMANDER D. W. MULL AN, COMMANDING 
 THE NIPSIC. 
 
 U. S. S. NIPSIC (3D RATE), 
 APIA, SAMOA, March 21st, 1889. 
 
 Sir : I regret to report that I was compelled to beach this vessel 
 in Apia harbor on the morning of the 16th of March, 1889, in 
 order to save her from total destruction and to save the lives of 
 those under my command. The necessity was occasioned by the 
 severe hurricane raging on that day and the parting of all chains. 
 During this hurricane the vessel had three anchors down and veered 
 to their full scopes as far as possible, in order not to collide with 
 either of the German men-o -war Olga or Eber, the former on the 
 port beam and the latter astern and close aboard. During the 
 height of the hurricane, about 5 A.M, of March 16th, the German 
 war vessel Olga fouled this vessel, carrying away the whale-boat, 
 dinghey, and port railing of poop-deck, bending boat davits, etc. 
 About 6 A.M. the Olga again fouled this vessel, this time cutting 
 away the port hammock-rail from the bridge to the gangway, and 
 the upper and a portion of the lower section of the smoke-stack, 
 the after ventilators, the port main yardann, the steam launch and 
 second cutter. Having lost the smoke-stack, and there being no 
 draft, I found it necessary to use pork in the furnaces. During the 
 
354 
 
 morning watch three men were washed overboard and swam safely 
 to the shore. The seas were breaking over the ship so rapidly 
 that some of the gun-ports were let down and the water bailed 
 through them overboard. At this time an effort was made to ^et 
 the forecastle-gun overboard as an additional anchor, when at 630 
 A. M. the starboard bower chain parted and the ship continued to 
 drag towards the reef astern of the ship; finding it impossible to 
 keep steam up, and there being every probability of the ship going 
 on shore on the reef, I decided to beach her to save life. At 6.50 
 A.M. the port-chain was slipped and the ship was beached in front 
 of the U. S. Consulate. Prior to slipping, all the prisoners were 
 released. As soon as the ship was beached all the sick were sent 
 on shore. In attempting to lower the gig in order to run a line on 
 shore she was capsized, and the following named men, I regret to 
 report, were lost, viz. : Henry Pontseel (seaman), John Gill (sea 
 man), George W. Callan (apprentice) , and Thomas Johnson (cabin 
 steward). D. P. Kelleher (C. H.) and William Watson (oiler) 
 jumped overboard, and were also lost. Lines were run from the 
 forecastle, by means of which all hands abandoned ship the afore 
 said morning. During the abandonment the Samoans did excellent 
 work. The casualties of the ship during the hurricane are as fol 
 lows : Cutwater gone ; both bower anchors gone ; jibboom sprung ; 
 starboard foretopsail-sheet bit gone; mainmast broken at second 
 band from spar-deck ; port hammock rail carried away from bridge 
 
 to gangway ; port main chains carried away ; four shrouds of port 
 
 main rigging carried away; port mizzen chains carried away; 
 
 steam launch, second cutter, whale-boat, and dinghey all gone; 
 
 sailing launch badly damaged ; deck seams opened on quarter-deck ; 
 
 rudder-post and rudder gone ; main-yard gone ; upper section of 
 
 smoke-stack carried away and lower section badly damaged ; both 
 
 after-ventilators gone. 
 
 In the Ordnance Department many articles . . . were either 
 
 damaged by salt water or washed overboard. 
 
 In the Navigation Department such articles as ... have been 
 
 rendered useless by being filled with salt water, the seas coming 
 
 down the ward-room hatch. 
 
 In examining the magazine four inches of water were found 
 
 therein, but it is now comparatively dry. . . . 
 
 In the Engineer s Department boilers Nos. 5 and 6 have spread 
 
 about three inches, bending tie-rods and lugs attached to after-side. 
 
 The forward cylinder of main engine appears to be raised about 2 
 
355 
 
 inches. The after-bunker, starboard side, is carried away along 
 the lower edge. The engines cannot be jacked a full revolution, 
 showing that they are considerably out of line. From an examina 
 tion by a diver, it is found that the three blades of the propeller are 
 bent and a portion of the fourth gone, a portion of the false keel 
 gone ; also a portion of the stern-post ; the planking on the port 
 side from abreast the smoke-stack to break of forecastle is slightly 
 chafed, several sheets of copper are off. There are some sails, 
 hawsers now foul of the propeller ; the rudder and rudder-post are 
 gone, and the shoe is carried away. The ship is at present making 
 no water. In conclusion I will say that everything was done that 
 could have been done to save the vessel from a total wreck and the 
 lives of those attached to the ship. Regretting this sad occurrence, 
 I am, Sir, Respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 (Signed) D- W. MULLAN, 
 
 Commander Commanding. 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL L. A. KIMBERLY, U. S. N., 
 
 Commanding U. S, Naval Force on Pacific Station. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGES 332-3. 
 
 In the Congressional Record of March 2d, 1889, p. 
 2647, Mr. Hull of Iowa on the floor of the House 
 said . . . 
 
 " What did he do ? in the midst of that great storm that wrought 
 such havoc among the shipping at Apia, when the elements were 
 warring as they never warred before in any of the harbors of the 
 world, when men were panic stricken ; when ships were being 
 destroyed, when it looked as though there was not one chance in 
 a thousand for those whose lives were imperiled to escape. This 
 man, keeping full control of his faculties, with undaunted courage 
 took a rope in his mouth and swam through the surf in order to 
 carry a life line ; by his skill, his courage, his sacrifices (in conse 
 quence of which, as I understand from those acquainted with him, 
 he cannot hope to live more than a year at the outside) he saved 
 for this country its war vessel, and saved also the lives of four 
 hundred brave officers and men." 
 
 In regard to the above, I will state that Lieutenant 
 R. M. G. Brown performed no such feat ; he neither saved 
 
356 
 
 the ship nor crew, nor did he receive any physical injuries 
 on the ship on that occasion. L. A. K. 
 
 Some one has most egregiously misrepresented the 
 whole thing to Mr. Hull. Who was he ? 
 
 L. A. KIMBEKLY, 
 E. A., U. & N. 
 
 COPY OF MY ORDER TO N. H. FARQUHAR, CAPTAIN 
 
 U. S. N., D. W. MULLAN, COMMANDER U. S.N., 
 
 J. W. CARLIN, LIEUTENANT U. S. N. 
 
 Sir: APIA, SAMOA, March 18th, 1889. 
 
 You are appointed the senior member of a Board to investigate 
 and report on the causes and condition of losses and present condi 
 tion of the Nipsic, Trenton, and Vandalia, driven on shore, and in 
 two cases sunken, the Vandalia and the Trenton. 
 
 You will also state your opinion in regard to the Nipsic, as 
 to whether she can be got into deep water, and as to whether she 
 can be rendered seaworthy to proceed either to Honolulu or San 
 Francisco. Very respectfully, 
 
 L. A. KlMBERLT, 
 
 Eear Admiral U. S. N. 
 Commanding U. S. Naval Force, 
 
 To CAPTAIN FARQUHAR, Pacific Station 
 
 U. S. N. 
 
 THE BOARD S REPORT. 
 
 APIA, SAMOA. 
 Sir: MARCH 20th, 1889. 
 
 In obedience to your order of the 18th inst. herewith appended, 
 marked A, we have the honor to report as follows : 
 
 We are of the opinion that it would be unsafe to send the Nipsic 
 in her present condition to either Honolulu or San Francisco, as 
 these ports are distant and to windward. 
 
35T 
 
 We are, however, of the opinion that when good weather sets in 
 she might be towed or convoyed to some leeward port, as Auck 
 land, to be docked and repaired, 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 f N. H. FARQUHAK, Captain U. 8 N. 
 (Signed) 1 D. W. MULLAN, Commander U. S. N. 
 
 ( J. W. CARLIN, Lieutenant U. S. N. 
 
 As the result of the above report, see Note, page 351, 
 Appendix, and to pages 323-4 of the Text L. A. K. 
 
358 
 
 ABSTRACT FROM TRENTON S LOG 
 (CAPTAIN FARQUHAR S REPORT). 
 
 MONTH. 
 
 DAY. 
 
 BAR. 
 
 "WIND. 
 
 FORCE. 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 March 
 
 14 
 
 29.70 
 
 
 
 Noon to midnight much 
 
 
 u 
 
 29.60 
 
 Sd 
 
 2 to 4 
 
 rain, got up steam in mid 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 watch. 
 
 (i 
 
 15 
 
 29.60 
 
 
 
 The wind from this direc 
 
 
 
 29.66 
 
 u 
 
 Oto4 
 
 tion from 4 A.M. until 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8A.M. 
 
 8A.M. 
 
 
 29.42 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 29.30 
 
 (i 
 
 2 to 6 
 
 
 Noon 
 
 U 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 During this watch prepared 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 to house topmasts and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 send down lower yards. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 u 
 
 
 (1 
 
 
 
 
 1P.M. 
 
 u 
 
 29.24 
 
 East 
 
 1 to 2 
 
 From meridian to 4 P.M. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sent them down and 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 housed them, made prep 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 arations for bad weather. 
 
 2 " 
 
 u 
 
 29.20 
 
 u 
 
 1 to 2 
 
 At 2 P.M. wind variable in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 force, at 3 P.M. wind 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 N.E. 
 
 4 
 
 (( 
 
 29.29 
 
 North 
 
 4 to 7 
 
 This seemed to indicate the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 gale had broken & that 
 
 8P.M. 
 
 
 29.36 
 
 N.E. 
 
 
 the wind would haul W. 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 
 
 instead it backed to the 
 
 Midnight 
 
 (( 
 
 29.40 
 
 NEbyN 
 
 7 to 8 
 
 N.E. Bar. rising at 8 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 P.M. Up to this time ship 
 
 
 
 
 NNE 
 
 
 was moored to 52 fms on 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 port bower & 45 fms on 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 stbd bower with stbd 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sheet under foot, at 7.57 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 port bower chain parted, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 let go port sheet, steamed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ahead veering to 60 fms 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 on it and stbd bower. 
 
 
 
 29.36 
 
 
 
 
 Mid Watch 
 
 16 
 
 29.38 
 
 NNE 
 
 7 to 8 
 
 Steaming ahead slowly to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 relieve strain on anchors. 
 
359 
 
 MONTH. 
 
 DAY. 
 
 BAB. 
 
 WIND. 
 
 FORCE. 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 6A.M. 
 
 (4 
 
 29.23 
 
 NbyE 
 
 6 to 9 
 
 Tremendous sea, about 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 A.M. wheel ropes carried 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 away, rudder broken in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 two pieces, rendered use 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 less. 9 A.M. wind N. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fires were extinguished by 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 water in fire-room, which 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 came in through hawse- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pipes notwithstanding all 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 precautions in way of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 jackapes, hammocks, &c. 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 Hand and steam pumps 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 going, men bailing, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 hatches battened down, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 dragging slowly at times. 
 
 9A.M. 
 
 16 
 
 29.30 
 
 North 
 
 Hurri 
 
 Set storm main and mizzen 
 
 
 
 at 
 
 
 cane 
 
 stay-sails with sheets 
 
 
 
 11 A.M. 
 
 
 
 amidships, to prevent ship 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 sheering about. 
 
 1P.M. 
 
 it 
 
 29.19 
 
 u 
 
 
 At about 3 P.M. parted port 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hurri 
 
 sheet chain, shortly after 
 
 
 
 
 
 cane 
 
 starboard bower, veered to 
 
 
 
 
 
 till 
 
 90 fathoms on remaining 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mid 
 
 anchor. Shortly after 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 night 
 
 P.M. dropped alongside 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Vandalia, took her crew 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 from tops and rigging, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and made fast to her. 
 
 Midnight 
 
 u 
 
 29.52 
 
 N.N.W. 
 
 
 When Bar. slowly rose. 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 Pounding terribly all night, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 but the wreck of the Van 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 dalia kept us off the reef. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nothwithstanding every 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 effort could not keep the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 water down in the bold. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 About midnight 17th a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 line was sent us from the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 shore, as much provisions 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 as could be handled, was 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 gotten on the spar deck. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In the P.M. of 17th the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 water still gaining it was 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 deemed advisable to land 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 the crew and officers. 
 
360 
 
 "TO THE MEN OF THE TRENTON." 
 
 RESPECTFULLY OFFERED TO REAR ADMIRAL LEWIS A. KIMBERLY, 
 U. S. NAVY, BY MR. JOHN MALONE. 
 
 NEW YORK, March loth, 1890. AN EPIC. 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Through the black hurricane hear 
 The hearty English cheer ; 
 Defiance to death and fear ; 
 By half a thousand throats out-thrown, 
 
 From the decks of the "Trenton." 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Tis the salvo of the stars 
 To Saint George s crossed-bars 
 As the sturdy British tars 
 Steer their ship into the arms of the storm, 
 Slowly past the " Trenton." 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Hearts that beat neath Berserk shields, 
 Hearts that crimsoned holy fields, 
 Bore, of old, the blood that yields ; 
 That brother-hail of death doomed valor. 
 From the men of the Trenton." 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 
 Sea-eagles of the Elder strain, 
 
 The Saxon, Gael, Scot, Norse and Dane 
 
 Were mated in war s bloody rain, 
 
 And we, their brood, join death s song greetings 
 
 With our brothers of the " Trenton." 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Clontarf, Culloden, Fontenoy; 
 The battle-blasts where the alloy 
 Was forged, which kings cannot destroy ; 
 To the stern music of the song we chant 
 With the men of the "Trenton." 
 
361 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 How the brave tongues gave bay 
 From Lucknow, Balaklava, and the gray 
 War dusk of Nelson s glorious day ! 
 And their echoes out-thunder the wild sea s thunder 
 Around the helpless " Trenton." 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Breast to breast in the New-Engle-land, 
 We smote each other with steel clad hand, 
 And the blows but toughened the welded band, 
 That ties our hearts, brave lads, to yours, 
 Brave lads on board the * Trenton." 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Ye had your fiery trial too, 
 
 When your fathers in gray and your fathers in blue 
 Laid their hot brows in the gory dew, 
 That their sons might be shoulder to shoulder to-day 
 JSTeath the starry Flag of the " Trenton." 
 
 Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 
 Whatever the fate that betide ye, 
 God and Saint George abide ye ! 
 Though we leave ye, we fondly confide ye 
 To the kindred love of love of the age unborn, 
 Heroic hearts of the " Trenton." 
 
 OUR FLAG. 
 BY ANNIE BRONSON KING. 
 
 Across the peach blow sky of spring 
 The storm dark clouds are looming ; 
 With sullen voice the breakers ring, 
 The thunder loudly booming. 
 The huddled war ships ride apace, 
 Each at her anchor straining ; 
 Black, black is all of heaven s face, 
 It lightens twixt the raining. 
 
362 
 
 Like crumpled rose leaves the mist edge 
 
 The hidden reef enwreathing, 
 
 But cruel as hell the jagged edge 
 
 Beneath those waters seething. 
 
 On, on they come, the poor dumb things, 
 
 The storm winds fiercely driving ; 
 
 At her dread work each breaker sings, 
 
 For conquest madly striving. 
 If we must die the leader s voice 
 
 Outswelled the roar of thunder 
 
 It is our own our solemn choice 
 
 To die our dear flag under. 
 For us to-day the battle-field 
 
 Is where the seas are lying. 
 
 We claim the right we cannot yield 
 
 To glory in our dying. 
 
 He ceased ; upon the topmost mast 
 
 The stars and stripes were floating, 
 
 The sight is like a trumpet blast ; 
 
 And other ships quick noting, 
 
 Up to the sky there sounds a cheer, 
 
 That starts the echoes flying. 
 
 Back comes the answer loud and clear, 
 
 From gallant hearts though dying. 
 
 A moment s space the waves in brine 
 
 Baptize the flag low lying, 
 
 And from the breakers comes no sign 
 
 Of living or of dying." 
 
 O Flag, dear Flag, once more thy name, 
 As always in thy story, 
 Has set a thousand hearts aflame 
 For thee and for thy glory. 
 
 SEE TEXT, PAGE 314. 
 "GOD S OWNERSHIP OF THE SEA." 
 
 " God has given the land to man, but the sea he has reserved to 
 himself. The sea is his, and he made it! He has given man 
 * no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot upon. If 
 he enters its domain, he enters it as a pilgrim and a stranger. He 
 may pass over it, but he can have no abiding place in it. He can- 
 
363 
 
 not build his house nor so much as pitch his tent upon it. He 
 cannot mark it with his lines, nor subdue it to his uses, nor rear 
 his monuments upon it. It steadfastly refuses to own him as its 
 lord and master. Its depths do not tremble at his coming. Its 
 waters do not flee when he appeareth. All the strength of all his 
 generations is to it as a feather before the whirlwind. All the 
 noise of his commerce, and all the thunder of his navies, it can 
 hush in a moment in the silence of its impenetrable abysses. 
 
 " Whole armies have gone down into that unfathomable darkness, 
 and not a floating bubble marks the place of their disappearing. 
 If all the populations of the world, from the beginning of time, 
 were cast into its depths, the smooth surface of its oblivion would 
 close over them in an hour; and if all the cities of the earth, and 
 all the structures and monuments ever reared by man, were heaped 
 together over that grave for a tombstone, it would not break the 
 surface of the deep, or lift back their memory to the light of the 
 sun and the breath of the upper air. The sea would roll its billows 
 in derision, a thousand fathoms deep, above the topmost stone of 
 that mighty sepulchre. The patient earth submits to the rule of 
 man, and the mountains bow their rocky heads before the hammer 
 of his power, and the blast of his terrible enginery. The sea cares 
 not for him ! Not so much as a single hair s-breadth can its level 
 be lowered or lifted, by all the art, and all the effort, and all 
 enginery, of all the generations of time. He comes and goes upon 
 it, and a moment after it is as if he had never been there. He may 
 engrave his titles on the mountain top, and quarry his signature 
 into the foundations of the globe, but he cannot write his name on 
 the sea. ^ 
 
 " And thus does the sea ever speak to us, to tell us that its builder 
 is God. He hewed its channels in the deep, and drew its barriers 
 on the sand, and cast its belted waters round the world. He gave 
 the sea its wonderful laws, and armed it with its wonderful powers, 
 and set it upon its wonderful work. 
 
 CTer all its breadth His wisdom walks, 
 On all its waves His goodness shines. 
 
 . . . Let us remember him that gave it such vast dominion and 
 made it to be not only the dwelling-place of His awful presence, 
 . . . and the mighty instrument of His goodness. ... * He has 
 made nothing in vain ! LEONARD SWAIN. 
 
THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY. 
 CAPTAIN ASA WALKEE, U.S.N. 
 
 Bead January 2, 1900. 
 365 
 
THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY. 
 
 I HAVE been requested to tell my experience as a 
 participant in the Battle of Manila Bay. It will become 
 evident in the narrative, that though old in years, I am 
 but an infant in the literary sphere, and as such shall 
 need all kindly consideration. My paper will, neces 
 sarily, be confined largely to what came under my per 
 sonal observation, both before and during the action of 
 which so much has been written by pens far abler than 
 mine. It seems like threshing over old straw, to add to 
 the literature already existing, yet, mayhap, in the mass 
 of chaff may be found a few more grains of the wheat 
 of truth to increase the grand total. 
 
 The vessel which I had the good fortune and honor to 
 command for two years, and which took a small part in 
 the events under consideration, bore the historic name of 
 Concord, in remembrance of that town where our fore 
 fathers, trusting in the justice of their cause, and with 
 firm faith in overruling Providence, invoking the God 
 of their fathers to be with them, threw down the gage of 
 battle to the mightiest empire in the world. The citizens 
 of Concord had presented to the ship a statuette of the 
 " minute-man," on the headboards of her gangways was 
 carved the same figure, and we adopted that for our 
 semi-official crest. 
 
 The Concord after having been in commission for 
 nearly six years and cruised on widely separated stations, 
 under various commands, had returned to Mare Island in 
 
 367 
 
368 
 
 1896 for thorough repairs and outfitting. On May 22d, 
 1897, she was again put in commission, the command 
 being given to me. During the remainder of that year 
 she was employed on the Pacific coast and in Alaskan 
 waters, returning to Mare Island in December, to outfit 
 for the Asiatic Station. 
 
 Leaving the Golden Gate on Jan. 8th, 1898, and touch 
 ing for coal at Honolulu, we arrived at Yokohama on Feb. 
 9th, where the Olympia, flying the broad pennant of 
 Commodore George Dewey, was awaiting our arrival. 
 We had on board, in addition to our own supplies, thirty- 
 five tons of ammunition for distribution to the Olympia, 
 Boston, and Petrel. 
 
 Having received her invoice of ammunition and that of 
 the Petrel, the Olympia sailed on Feb. llth for Hong 
 kong, leaving me orders to proceed in the Concord to 
 Chemulpo, Korea, to relieve the Boston and assume the 
 duties of that part of the station, as soon as convenient. 
 
 On the night of Feb. 18th, I received a dispatch from 
 the Commodore informing me of the destruction of the 
 Maine. On the next day we sailed for Chemulpo by 
 way of the Indian Sea, arriving there on the 26th. I 
 might tell of the marvellous beauty of this sea, but it 
 would be an old, old story ; and besides, on this occasion 
 we saw no beauties, the entire scene being shrouded in 
 snow, rain, and mist, from entrance to exit. 
 
 We found the Boston anxiously awaiting our appear 
 ance, each and all on board eager to bring to a close their 
 long stay of six months in this uttermost part of the 
 earth. 
 
 The next morning, Sunday, I went to the Boston to 
 have a talk with Captain Wildes, in reference to the duty 
 to be performed, to receive the correspondence in con 
 nection therewith, and to make arrangements for the 
 transfer, on Monday, of stores and ammunition for his 
 
369 
 
 ship. Just as I was on the point of leaving, the orderly 
 brought to him a telegram in cipher, which, being trans 
 lated, proved to be an order to him, as senior officer, to 
 proceed with the Boston and Concord, with all despatch, 
 to Hongkong. The Boston at once got out her boats, 
 and that quiet Sunday afternoon was spent in the trans 
 shipment of stores from the Concord. 
 
 At daylight the next morning we were underway at 
 full speed. So well did Captain Wildes obey orders, that, 
 at midnight on March 3d, we were anchored in the harbor 
 of Hongkong, where we found the Olympia, Raleigh and 
 Petrel. Some time later the revenue cutter MacCulloch 
 joined. 
 
 Here we learned that American and Spanish affairs had 
 reached such a critical state, that war between the two 
 countries might be declared at any moment, and we were 
 informed that all preparations must be made to do our 
 part, should hostilities commence. Meanwhile, the whole 
 force of the squadron would be concentrated, so as to be 
 able to act as a unit. It became the duty of each com 
 manding officer to see that his ship was put and kept in 
 the most efficient condition, as to drill and equipment. 
 Especially was it impressed, that the supplies of pro 
 visions and coal must be kept to the highest point, and 
 the batteries ready for immediate service. 
 
 The destruction of the Maine, with the fearful loss of 
 life attendant, was still fresh in every mind, so that the 
 eagerly scanned telegrams, indicating from day to day a 
 closer approach to the border line between peace and 
 war, were as balm to wounds. Believing, as we did, that 
 cowardly murderers had sent those our brothers to un 
 timely graves, it needed more than the average sailor s 
 allowance of Christianity to eradicate from our hearts 
 the desire for revenge. 
 
 As Americans, we are apt to boast of our wonderful 
 
370 
 
 school systems, and point to their results, with feelings 
 of national or state pride. Our schools and colleges are 
 credited with turning out multitudes of students, who 
 know something of everything ; yet I will venture to say 
 ^ that few of our citizens would have recognized the title 
 Philippine Islands," fewer could have located them, and 
 still fewer could have given any account of them; for 
 instance, when the war was imminent, the wife of an 
 officer serving on the Asiatic Station was congratulated 
 that her husband was too far from the scene of conflict to 
 take part in it, and yet it was here, in this most remote 
 region, that the first crushing blow to Spanish dominion 
 was delivered. 
 
 While the war seemed to be drawing nearer each day, 
 it behooved our commander-in-chief to make provision, 
 not only for striking his blow, but to subsist his forces, 
 when the time should come in which there would be no 
 port where supplies could be obtained, or where refuge 
 from disaster could be taken ; when neutrality would be 
 proclaimed and the combatants forced to rely on their own 
 resources. We read in history of fleets which kept the 
 sea for months, subsisting the personnel on the supplies 
 stored in their capacious holds ; but these fleets collected 
 their motive power from nature, the winds of heaven 
 wafted them to and fro, without demanding a vast space 
 in their interior. Food, water, and ammunition was the 
 freight that filled their enormous hulls, and of these the 
 supply could be made to last almost indefinitely. 
 
 The modern man-of-war presents no canvas to the 
 winds ; within her bowels is an insatiable monster whose 
 demand is ever for coal, and still more coal. Every cubic 
 inch of available space is filled with fuel, and when this is 
 consumed the vast machine becomes an inert mass. Coal, 
 then, may be considered as the life-blood of the man-of- 
 war, and upon its supply depends her existence as a living 
 
371 
 
 factor in the battle equation. With the increase of space 
 for coal and machinery has followed a decrease in the 
 room devoted to provisions. A supply of food for from 
 forty-five to ninety days is all that now can be counted 
 upon. 
 
 With wise forethought Commodore Dewey made pro 
 vision for the " lean days " that were sure to come. A 
 steamer, the Nanshua, loaded with three thousand tons of 
 coal, was lying in the harbor of Hongkong. This he pur 
 chased, cargo and all, and for her shipped a crew. The 
 Zafiro, formerly in the Manila trade, was also purchased, 
 as well as a shipload of coal in a sailing vessel. The 
 squadron, at the last moment, coaled from this ship, and 
 the coal remaining was put into the Zafiro, some seven 
 hundred tons. Provisions for three months were pur 
 chased and loaded on board the Zafiro. This was the 
 best and all that could be done to provide for the un 
 known. All through these long weeks the Commodore 
 was forming his plans, and waiting for orders to proceed 
 on his mission. 
 
 On the 21st the Baltimore came to swell our squadron. 
 She at once was docked, cleaned and painted, and in 
 twenty-four hours was filling her bunkers with coal. On 
 the 22d Commander Lamberton arrived under orders to 
 command the Boston. Captain Wildes requested to be 
 permitted to retain the command, under the circumstances, 
 and his request was granted, Commander Lamberton be 
 ing assigned to duty as Chief of Staff. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 23d an official communication 
 from the Governor of Hongkong informed the Commodore 
 that, as a state of war existed between the United States 
 and Spain, he was requested to withdraw his squadron 
 from British waters within forty-eight hours. Later the 
 Commodore received a message from the Navy Depart 
 ment announcing the war, and directing him to proceed 
 
372 
 
 against the Spanish forces in the Philippines, concluding 
 with the words : " You must capture vessels or destroy. 
 Use utmost endeavor." 
 
 The next day the Boston, Concord, Petrel, MacCul- 
 loch, Nanshua, and Zafiro left Hongkong harbor and an 
 chored in the upper end of Mirs Bay, where they were 
 joined on Monday by the remaining ships, the Olympia, 
 Baltimore, and Raleigh. Mirs Bay was, at that time, 
 Chinese waters, though since then it has been annexed to 
 the Hongkong colony. Chinese neutrality was considered 
 as a vanishing quantity ; and though neither then nor at 
 any other time were objections made by the Chinese gov 
 ernment to the use of its territory by belligerents, I am of 
 the opinion that any such objections, if made, would have 
 been ignored. The civilized (?) nations of the world 
 seem to consider the empire of China as " no-man s-land," 
 rather than as a nation to which the usual laws of cour 
 tesy and custom should apply. 
 
 Of course, during all our stay at Hongkong, every 
 endeavor had been made to ascertain the strength and 
 position of the Spanish fleet, and to find out the location 
 of all forts and mines. In these endeavors, we were, at 
 best, but partially successful. That our squadron was 
 superior in weight of metal to theirs, we had no doubt, 
 but we could get no reliable knowledge of the batteries in 
 and about Manila and Subic Bays. If met in the open, 
 we felt assured that the Spanish squadron would be 
 destroyed, but, how about the batteries ? Our consul at 
 Manila, Mr. "Williams, had, from the first, zealously 
 striven to accumulate all information available to him, 
 but, naturally, being a suspect, all of his movements were 
 Watched and his opportunities minimized, so that, so far 
 .as land defences and mines were concerned, he was able 
 to give but the vaguest rumors. 
 N For some days before our vessel left Hongkong, the 
 
373 
 
 masters of steamers coming from Manila told how that, on 
 leaving Manila, they had been forced to take pilots, who 
 steered courses quite different from those usually steered 
 in leaving the bay, thus giving the impression that they 
 were pursuing authorized tracks to avoid mine fields. 
 From these reports, it became rumored abroad that both 
 the Boca Chica and Boca Grande were thickly mined, and 
 that there were mine fields further up the bay. 
 
 In getting underway from Hongkong, the Raleigh had 
 disabled one engine by the breakage of a circulating pump. 
 To repair this accident and to allow time for Consul 
 Williams to embark on board one of our ships (he arrived 
 in Hongkong after all of our vessels had left) necessitated 
 a delay until Wednesday, April 27th, when, at 2 P.M., in 
 single column, with the MacCulloch, Nanshua and Zafiro 
 on the right flank, the war vessels put to sea, ten miles to 
 the westward of Cape Bolinau being given as a rendez 
 vous, in case of separation. Fancy this Little squadron of 
 six ships, the largest under 6,000 tons and the smallest 
 of only 800, setting forth to do battle in an enemy s 
 waters, seven thousand miles from a home port, with no 
 base of supplies except the two small steamers accompany 
 ing it, with all neighboring ports closed by the stern laws 
 of neutrality, and with no hope of aid from any source. 
 Can it be wondered at that our friends at Hongkong prog 
 nosticated the most direful results and designated our 
 enterprise as "Yankee temerity?" 
 
 The next two days were spent in a more careful and 
 complete "clearing the ship for action." All of our 
 vessels had been built before the use of wood in warships 
 had been so universally condemned. In all of them, the 
 bulkheads, ceilings, wainscotings, bunks and other furni 
 ture were of wood, made more highly inflammable by paint 
 and varnish. So much of this light wood as possible was 
 ripped out and thrown overboard. Turpentine, alcohol, 
 
374 
 
 shellac and varnish chests were committed to the vasty 
 deep, wringing the hearts of the executive officers as only 
 the loss of such necessary articles in a ship s housekeep 
 ing could do. Spare chain cable was wrapped about 
 shellhoists, and otherwise disposed of where it might 
 afford protection to vital parts of the mechanism. Boats, 
 spars and booms were securely lashed, and the first 
 covered with canvas and nettings. All hose was con 
 nected with the fire plugs, and laid along the decks, ready 
 for immediate use. All guns were loaded, and a good 
 supply of ammunition for the rapid-fire guns and small 
 arms was got on deck. These and many other prepara 
 tions were made, and the men drilled at the various sta 
 tions to which the emergencies might call them. When, 
 therefore, the land at Cape Bolinau was sighted, every 
 ship was in readiness to meet the enemy, when or where 
 he might appear. 
 
 In the early morning of April 30th, the commodore 
 made signal to the Boston and Concord to " proceed at 
 full speed and explore Subic Bay." Putting on all steam, 
 these two vessels soon left the rest of the squadron far 
 behind, and in a few hours were apparently alone on the 
 waste of waters. Before leaving Hongkong, it had been 
 rumored that the Spanish fleet were concentrating at 
 Subic Bay and would there make its stand. From 
 Admiral Montojo s report, we afterwards learned that 
 such had been the intention, and that having assembled 
 there, was withdrawn to Manila Bay only on April 29th, 
 the day before our arrival. Rumor also told us that in 
 view of making it the principal base, one entrance to the 
 bay had been blocked and the other heavily mined. 
 Subic Bay is a most beautiful sheet of water, completely 
 landlocked, with good, though deep, anchorage through 
 out its whole extent. A small island lies near the middle 
 of the entrance, dividing it into two channels, the western 
 
375 
 
 one, about three-quarters of a mile wide, with deep water 
 from shore to shore, is the main ship channel, the eastern 
 one, rather narrower, is more crooked and has much less 
 water; this latter is the one which had been blocked. 
 
 Arriving off the entrance, Captain Wildes, in the 
 Boston, steered for the main channel, wisely keeping the 
 mainland shore close aboard. He had received orders to 
 explore, and mines or no mines, batteries or no batteries, 
 he boldly steamed into the bay ; the Concord followed, 
 about two cable-lengths astern. The passage into the bay 
 was made without encountering any mines. When well 
 inside, the Boston stopped and signaled the Concord to 
 proceed, and explore the arms of the bay to the north 
 ward and eastward. It was a scene of most entrancing 
 beauty ; the smooth waters of the bay flashing back the 
 brilliant sunshine of that perfect April day; from the 
 water s edge on all sides rose up the massive hills, clothed 
 from base to summit in tropical verdure ; in the distance, 
 to the north, could be seen the native town of Subic em 
 bowered in trees ; nearer, to the east, was the Spanish 
 settlement of Olongapo, with its whitewashed walls gleam 
 ing in the sun ; not a sign of human life was visible, not 
 even a canoe broke the calm waters of the bay. 
 
 After thoroughly searching each inlet and bend in the 
 bay with glasses, the Concord signaled " Nothing in sight " 
 and was directed to return and follow the Boston. Pass 
 ing out in the same order, and as nearly as possible over 
 the same ground, we reached the open sea about 4 P.M. 
 There we saw the Baltimore coming up at race-horse 
 speed, pursuing a small schooner. As she didn t seem to 
 need any assistance from us, we stood on to rejoin the 
 flagship and other vessels, which were seen approaching 
 from the northward. In talking over the events after 
 wards with the commander-in-chief, he explained to me 
 the arrival of the Baltimore. He said that after the 
 
376 
 
 Boston and Concord had drawn well ahead, it suddenly 
 occurred to him, " supposing they should find the Spanish 
 fleet," and with this thought, he signaled the Baltimore 
 to our support 
 
 Later in the season the Concord again visited Subic 
 Bay and counted, lying on the beach near the entrance, 
 six big mines that had either been washed up there, or 
 had been hauled up by fishermen. This proved that 
 the rumor of mines had been true. A Spanish officer, in 
 conversation after the battle of May 1st, would not credit 
 the statement that our vessels had entered Subic Bay, for, 
 he said, " eighty mines had been planted in the channel." 
 
 Shortly before sundown, the squadron having resumed 
 its formation and standing slowly down the coast of 
 Luzon, the flagship signaled for the commanding offi 
 cers to repair on board. The commander-in-chief now 
 announced his intention to enter Manila Bay that night 
 and engage the enemy s forces, should they be found. 
 Orders for the night were given, and after an informal 
 talk, the commanding officers returned to their commands. 
 
 Each ship was directed to show but a single light, and 
 that was to be displayed from the stern, showing but two 
 points on either side from dead astern. These were for 
 following vessels to steer by and keep position. Not the 
 faintest gleam of light, save that mentioned, came from 
 any ship. Like dim ghosts, these grim phantoms plowed 
 through the water, the color with which all had been 
 painted rendering them barely distinguishable from the 
 gray of the ocean itself. 
 
 With all hands at quarters, all fires lighted under the 
 boilers, and in perfect silence and darkness, we stood 
 slowly down the coast. The dark bank of the land on 
 our port beam was plainly visible. Each navigator, from 
 time to time, assured himself and his captain of the ship s 
 position, though well knowing that the pilotage of the 
 
377 
 
 leading ship was in the hands of that most accurate and 
 reliable officer, Lieutenant Calkins. It has been erro 
 neously stated that the Olympia had on a board a Manila 
 pilot. To Lieutenant Calkins is due all the credit of 
 piloting the squadron on that night and on the following 
 day. Since the Olympia drew more water than any of 
 the other vessels, where she could go, all could follow. 
 At about eleven o clock a sudden change of the course of 
 the leading ship told us that we were about to enter the 
 Boca Grande, the southern of the two entrances made by 
 the island of Corregidor. This entrance is about five 
 miles wide, divided near its middle by a small rocky 
 islet, El Fraile. Toward this islet we were now heading, 
 and soon, through the gloom and darkness, its rocky out 
 line was seen, looking very much like a ship under full 
 sail. So near did we pass to this rock, that some of the 
 vessels sheered off a bit to give it a wider birth. When 
 abreast of El Fraile, the Olympia again changed course 
 to about N.N.E., followed in succession by the ships astern. 
 (The order in column was as follows : Olympia, Baltimore, 
 Raleigh, Petrel, Concord, and Boston, which order was 
 kept during the operations of the early morning next day). 
 When four ships had followed the Olympia and just as 
 the Concord had put her helm to starboard to change her 
 course, a flash of light was seen proceeding from the rock, 
 having the appearance of a defective rocket. We thought 
 for the instant, that it was intended to signal our entrance 
 to stations farther up the bay, and to Caballo Island. 
 Instantly thereafter the scream of a shell, and the boom 
 of the discharge of a cannon of large size informed us 
 that here was located a battery, of which we had no 
 knowledge. At this instant, to add to the interest of 
 the occasion, the soot in the funnel of the MacCulloch 
 burst into a blaze, sending up a tall column of flame and 
 rendering her visible for miles as a beacon. 
 
378 
 
 The shell from the battery, owing to our closeness to 
 the rock, passed harmlessly over the fleet, though each 
 man in each ship was satisfied, in his own mind, that it 
 passed just between the masts of his own vessel. This 
 initial shot was followed by two others, and was replied to 
 by the Raleigh, Concord, Boston and MacCulloch in the 
 order named. The failure of a primer on board the Con 
 cord deprived that ship of the honor of opening the ball 
 in this part of the world ; a shell from that ship, however, 
 exploded in the battery, and the enemy s fire ceased. 
 Later on I shall refer to this battery and others in this 
 vicinity. It was now about half-past twelve in the morn 
 ing of May 1st. It had been intended to proceed to the 
 upper end of the bay and there bring the squadron to 
 anchor; but the commander-in-chief concluded to keep 
 underway, steaming slowly for a point just north of the 
 mouth of the Pasig River, so as to be in position at early 
 daylight. The men had been at their guns all night, being 
 allowed to sleep there if inclined, but, I fancy, few had 
 availed themselves of that privilege. At about four 
 o clock, hot coffee, beans and bread were served out, to 
 stay the stomachs for the ordeal we knew was coming. 
 The utmost enthusiasm prevailed throughout the squad 
 ron. No one could predict the result of the coming 
 conflict, yet each, from the lowest to the highest, was pre 
 pared to do his level best. Slowly the night drew on to 
 a close and the ruddy light in the east proclaimed the 
 approach of day. In the early gray of the morning, one 
 by one the ships of the squadron distinguished, flying 
 from the mast of the Olympia, the signal : " Prepare for 
 general action " ; later, " Form in single column," and 
 later still, " Close up." This last signal was kept flying 
 during the whole action, indicating to each ship that its 
 station was close astern of its leader. As the first of 
 these signals was read and answered, from each masthead 
 
379 
 
 and peak of each vessel the folds of " Old Glory " were 
 given to the morning breeze, and I doubt not that each 
 man and officer resolved in his heart that his life-blood 
 should flow ere that glorious banner should pass from his 
 keeping. 
 
 It had been rumored that the Spanish defence would 
 be made off the breakwater at Manila and under the guns 
 of the city batteries, but other counsels had prevailed, 
 and we found only merchant vessels occupying the anchor 
 age off the city. 
 
 O J 
 
 Five miles to the southward of the city, behind a little 
 peninsula, and situated on another peninsula is the town 
 and naval arsenal of Cavite. Here, in the shallow waters 
 of the bays thus formed, could be seen, drawn up in line, 
 the fleet of Spain. Steaming slowly down past the city 
 front, the battery at Malate, followed by the ships of his 
 squadron, the Commodore headed for his prey. In vain 
 the batteries thundered, the shots flew wild. Without 
 making any reply, the Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, and 
 Petrel stood on their way. The Concord and Boston, 
 however, without slackening speed, sent a few shells into 
 the batteries, to let the enemy know that we were not 
 there solely to become targets. 
 
 At long range, the enemy s ships opened fire. Their 
 shells fell short, throwing up from the smooth surface of 
 the bay jets of foam and water. Still the Olympia stood 
 on. Thicker and thicker fell the shell and wilder and 
 wilder became the shooting. The shore batteries all 
 along the Manila front kept up a continuous fire. Finally, 
 when the lead showed that the Olympia had little water to 
 spare under her keel, the helm was put aport and, at the xT 
 distance of about 4,000 yards, the Commodore said, " Grid- ! 
 ley you may fire when you are ready." In that instant 
 began the storm of shell on that foredoomed fleet. It 
 was now nearly six o clock. As each ship, in its own 
 
380 
 
 order, arrived at the turning point, she took up the fire 
 and soon the roar of guns was continuous. The dons 
 stood well to their guns, and endeavored to give us " A 
 Roland for our Oliver," but their shooting was of the 
 worst. Spray was dashed on our decks, shells screamed 
 overhead, yet none of the projectiles came home. Slowly 
 steaming along the Spanish column, past the batteries on 
 Sangley Point, our vessels passed, when, turning with 
 port helm, we again swept over the course, engaging with 
 our starboard batteries. Five times in all we passed 
 through that line of fire, and for an hour and a half de 
 voted our energies to the destruction of our enemy. At 
 this time, when two of the enemy s vessels were in flames 
 and a third in a sinking condition, a report was brought 
 to the Commodore that the ammunition supply for the 
 5-inch guns of the Olympia was almost exhausted. He 
 thereupon signaled to the squadron to withdraw from 
 action, and to let the people get breakfast, and later, for 
 the commanding officers to repair on board the Olympia. 
 
 Although the incorrectness of this report with refer 
 ence to the ammunition must have been immediately 
 found out, it is probable that the commander-in-chief was 
 anxious to learn the condition of the other vessels in the 
 command, and to take, as it were, an account of stock, as 
 well as to give the crews a breathing spell, and he there 
 fore adhered to his order to withdraw from under fire. 
 As it turned out, it was the right order at the right time, 
 for it gave the enemy a chance to look over the field, and 
 to recognize the fact that he was hopelessly defeated ; and 
 so well did he recognize this fact, that when again we 
 opened on his works, there was not a single shot fired 
 from his vessels. 
 
 On hauling off, the Concord had been signaled to go 
 in to find out the enemy s loss, but while proceeding on 
 this mission had been recalled. While getting my gig 
 
381 
 
 ready to proceed to the flagship, I received a request by 
 signal, from Captain Wildes of the Boston, to take him 
 as a passenger. It seems that the Boston had not a boat 
 in condition to float, all of them having been stove by the 
 blasts from her own guns. 
 
 Up to this time, no one had any knowledge of the con 
 dition of any other vessel than his own, so that each com 
 manding officer was prepared to listen to a tale of casualties. 
 Imagine our surprise, when we learned the whole list of 
 injuries was summed up in seven men slightly wounded, 
 and a few insignificant scratches to the vessels. 
 
 As we pulled past the vessels of the squadron on "our 
 way to the flagship, the crews of each ship greeted us 
 with ringing cheers, calling out the names of our com 
 mands and cheering to the echo. 
 
 At the hour of assembling on board the flagship, we 
 were not aware of the extent of our victory, but when 
 the Castillo broke into flames, the Christana being already 
 ablaze, and the smaller vessels were seen seeking the 
 shelter of the Arsenal Point, we then knew that we had 
 bagged the whole covey, and that little else remained to 
 be done the enemy was totally beaten. 
 
 With the Spanish fleet had been an armed transport, 
 the Isla de Mindanao. This vessel, in endeavoring to 
 escape, had run aground to the northward of Bacoor, 
 where she was now lying in shoal water. 
 
 The battery on Sangley Point was the only defence 
 now remaining to the enemy, and signal was made to the 
 Baltimore, Boston, and Raleigh to go in to silence it; 
 " the Baltimore to lead." At the same time, the Con 
 cord was ordered to burn the grounded transport, and 
 the Petrel to go in to bring the arsenal under her guns 
 and complete the destruction of the fleet. At once the 
 various vessels proceeded to the execution of their orders. 
 The Baltimore, Olympia, Boston, and Raleigh opened a 
 
382 
 
 storm of shell on the devoted battery, which pluckily, 
 though ineffectually, replied. The Concord, in proceeding 
 to execute her orders, passed to the southward of Sangley 
 Point, thus opening the flank of the battery. This was 
 too good a position to be wasted, so, stopping her engines, 
 she opened a flank fire with shrapnel, with what effect I 
 am unable to state, though the next day, when the cap 
 tured battery was inspected, fragments of her shrapnel were 
 found within the walls. Proceeding on her mission, the 
 enemy s vessels under Arsenal Point were uncovered, and 
 again the Concord stopped and opened fire on these vessels, 
 and on the arsenal. She then steamed toward the grounded 
 transport, and when within good range fired upon her 
 with shell. Ten boatloads of men were seen to leave her 
 and take to the woods. Soon smoke was seen coming up 
 the forward hatch ; later, flames appeared, and after wait 
 ing until the flames had made too much headway to be 
 extinguished, the Concord hauled off and rejoined the 
 fleet. Meanwhile the Petrel, drawing but twelve feet of 
 water, had rounded Sangley Point, and stood carefully in 
 toward Arsenal Point, meeting with no opposition, though 
 firing at the fortifications of the arsenal and vessels in 
 side. With her keel in the mud, she lay off the point 
 until the Spanish flag was hauled down at 12.30 P.M., 
 when, receiving signal to destroy all shipping, the whale- 
 boat with seven men, in charge of Lieutenant (now Lieu 
 tenant-Commander) E. M. Hughes, was sent in behind 
 the Arsenal Point, and the seven remaining ships of the 
 Spanish fleet were fired. In returning to the fleet, the 
 Petrel towed out two tugs and three steam launches, 
 which her commanding officer thought might be service 
 able to our forces. 
 
 So furious and well directed had been the fire of the 
 vessels engaging the battery, that its defenders were 
 driven from the works and all opposition ceased. 
 
383 
 
 The orders to the cornmander-in-cbief had been : " You 
 must capture vessels or destroy. Use utmost endeavor." 
 Never were orders more literally carried out. Every one 
 of the vessels of the Spanish fleet had been destroyed, and 
 with the exception of a small transport and a tiny gun 
 boat far up the Pasig River, and another gunboat of the 
 same size in a river to the northward, which was after 
 wards captured, not an armed vessel in the waters of 
 Manila Bay floated the Spanish flag. 
 
 We now had time to sum up the cost at which the 
 victory had been won. The list of casualties to the per 
 sonnel of the fleet was : not one man killed and but eight 
 slightly wounded. Three ships of the squadron were un 
 touched, and the injuries to the other three were of the 
 most trivial character. The squadron was, practically, 
 in as good condition for action as before the engagement 
 began. The reports of commanding and executive officers 
 are published in full in the " Appendix to the Report of 
 the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Depart 
 ment, 1898." 
 
 In the city of Manila a perfect panic reigned, and it 
 needed but the demand to bring about its surrender. The 
 lack of troops for policing the place, however, prohibited 
 us from taking possession of the city. The commander- 
 in-chief opened communication with the governor-general, 
 informing him that, if the Manila batteries fired on our 
 vessels, he would at once shell the city. It was then 
 tacitly agreed that neither party should open on the other. 
 At the same time the Commodore asked permission to use 
 the cable to send despatches to his government. This re 
 quest was refused. Thereupon, by the Commodore s 
 orders, the cable was cut off Sangley Point, so that it 
 became useless to either belligerent. A week later it was 
 discovered that, by another cable connecting Manila with 
 the southern islands, messages could be sent, which (by 
 
384 
 
 vessel to Borneo, involving a delay of two days ) could be 
 forwarded to the Spanish home government. This being 
 cut, Manila was henceforth out of cable communication 
 with the outer world. 
 
 As it was impracticable for us to guard and subsist 
 prisoners, the crews of the Spanish ships and the marine 
 infantry, in garrison at Cavite, were allowed to make the 
 best of their way to Manila by land. The Spanish 
 wounded, gathered at various hospitals, were collected 
 and sent under a flag of truce to Manila, with the sur 
 geons and nurses attendant on them. This was done, not 
 so much to get them out of our hands as for protection to 
 them from the natives, of whose disposition toward them 
 we were doubtful. The Spaniards themselves had no 
 doubt in the matter, and were impressed with the idea 
 that the natives would cause them to reap as they had 
 sown. The rulers had, by means of violent and abusive 
 proclamations and teachings, impressed the lower orders 
 with the belief that a victory for the Americans meant 
 the death of all who fell into our hands, and the violation 
 of everything by them held sacred. To illustrate: on 
 May 2d I landed with Lieutenant Howard on Sangley 
 Point to inspect the battery there, which had stood such 
 a hammering. After walking about awhile, we saw ap 
 proaching us, displaying a large white flag, two Spaniards 
 in uniform, with two Sisters of Charity. We turned out 
 to meet them. One of the officers, who could speak Eng 
 lish fairly well, introduced himself as the Surgeon of the 
 Isla de Luzon, and his companion as another medical offi 
 cer. He said that they came to me to ask that we would 
 not fire on their hospital, and to request our protection 
 for the women and wounded. We at once set their minds 
 at rest, assuring them that no injury or insult would be 
 offered by any of our men, pointing out to them that many 
 of our officers and men were of their own religion, and 
 
385 
 
 that the garb of a Sister of Charity was as familiar to us 
 and as much respected as it was in their own land. On 
 separating we told them the name of our ship, and offered 
 to render them any assistance possible in their good work. 
 The next day, in the morning, a native canoe came along 
 side the Concord, and from it appeared our surgeon friend 
 and a companion. They stated that early on that morn 
 ing the storehouse of the hospital had been broken into 
 and looted by the natives, and that they themselves had 
 been threatened with death by throat-cutting (a favorite 
 method with the natives of ending an enemy s life), and 
 that, on the spur of the moment, our friend of May 2 had 
 taken up the buckler our former interview had furnished 
 and effected their escape. To use his own words, " I told 
 them, in English, that I was an American, that I belonged 
 to the Concord, and that the Concord would fire on them 
 if they maltreated us." Thus they escaped, and, procur 
 ing a canoe, boarded the Concord to surrender themselves 
 as prisoners. They were in wretched plight, covered with 
 blood from the operations they had performed, wet, and 
 hungry. We washed, clothed, and fed them, and, in the 
 afternoon, sent them back to their wounded comrades, 
 who were being embarked for Manila. They expressed 
 themselves as filled with gratitude for the treatment re 
 ceived, and in bidding us good-by Surgeon Ronando said, 
 " Your kindness will never be forgotten ; whenever I 
 think of this I shall say " Concord-peace." 
 
 We now had secure possession of the arsenal and town 
 of Cavite, in which was posted a guard of marines to pro 
 tect the public property that had escaped injury, and to 
 guard against fire. In the arsenal and in Fort St. Phi 
 lippe were immense stores of ammunition for cannon and 
 small arms. 
 
 Manila, with its heavy batteries, could easily be block 
 aded when we had made secure the entrance and the rest 
 
386 
 
 of the littoral. Expeditions were sent to the entrance 
 to demand the surrender of all fortified positions therein. 
 There was no attempt at defence made by the enemy, and 
 in a few days every battery was surrendered and de 
 stroyed. In the Boca Chic a, the northern and more nar 
 row entrance, were four batteries, three on the mainland 
 of Luzon, mounting, in all, eight guns of different cal 
 iber, and one of three 8-inch M.L.R. on Corregidor. In 
 the Boca Grande were three batteries of rules : one on the 
 mainland of Luzon, on the southern side of the entrance, 
 of three 6.3-inch M. L. rifles; one on El Fraile, our friend 
 of the night of April 30th, consisting of three 4.7-inch 
 B.L. rifles ; and one of three 6-inch B.L. rifles on Caballo, 
 a small island in prolongation of Corregidor. 
 
 We now had free exit and entrance to the bay, and 
 could prevent the introduction by water of all supplies to 
 the city. A strict blockade was proclaimed and executed. 
 
 All of the neutral merchant sailing vessels anchored off 
 Manila on our arrival were directed to leave that anchor 
 age and take up position under our guns. Several of these 
 were loaded with coal ; and as it was impossible to permit 
 this coal to be landed at its original destination, the agents 
 readily agreed to sell it, at market rates, to us. Thus we 
 became possessed of several thousand tons of the article, 
 which was as life blood to us. A limited amount of other 
 supplies was obtained at various places until the arrival 
 of a refrigerating ship from Australia with frozen beef, 
 sheep, and vegetables, placed us beyond all want. We 
 thus waited the arrival of the military force necessary to 
 keep order in the city when it should fall into our hands. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adams, Henry A., 83, 84, 94, 96, 
 
 98, 99. 
 
 Adams, Henry A., Jr., 99. 
 Adams, Charles Francis, 131, 
 
 150. 
 
 Adams, The, 249. 
 Adams, John, The, 254. 
 Adler, The, 321, 329, 336, 352. 
 African Chiefs, 62. 
 Alabama, 211, 212. 
 Alabama Troops, Infantry, 31st 
 
 Regt., 239. 
 
 Albemarle, The, 291, 292. 
 Alden, James, 230, 231. 
 Alert, The, 323. 
 Alfred the Great, 23 
 Algiers, The Dey of, 26, 27, 37, 
 
 62. 
 
 Ammen, Daniel, 40, 165. 
 Anderson, Charles D., 238, 240. 
 Andrews, George L., 219, 241. 
 Annapolis, 9. 
 
 Anson, Robert E., 201, 202. 
 Apia, 308, 311, 312. 
 Armament, 109, 112, 118, 119, 
 
 148, 158, 161, 199, 212, 213, 
 
 214, 215, 286, 300, 386. 
 Arms, Frank H., 344. 
 Armstrong, James, 61, 85, 87, 90. 
 Armor, 118, 157, 158, 160, 161, 
 
 163, 164, 167, 171, 214, 221, 
 
 234, 304. 
 
 Arnold, Richard, 241, 242. 
 Arsenal Point, 381, 382. 
 Articles of War, 20. 
 Aspinwall, 256. 
 
 Badger, Oscar C., 43. 
 Bainbridge, William, 27, 28, 64. 
 Ball, Sir Alexander, 66. 
 Baltic, The, 95. 
 Baltimore, The, 371, 372, 375, 
 
 376, 377, 381. 
 Bancroft, George, 12. 
 Bancroft s History of U.S., 132. 
 Banks, Nathaniel P., 219, 220. 
 Barbary Powers, The, 6, 26, 27. 
 
 Barney, Joshua, 249. 
 
 Barrier Forts, The, 61, 63. 
 
 Barren, Samuel, 12, 58. 
 
 Battery Bee, 201. 
 
 Battery Gregg, 176. 
 
 Battle, Order of, 165, 217, 219, 
 
 222, 223, 376, 377, 378. 
 Bayonet and Cutlass, 255. 
 Beagle, The, 250. 
 Beaufort, The, 154. 
 Beauregard, G. T., 159, 179, 188. 
 Belknap, George E., 1, 61, 75, 
 
 155, 162, 191, 195, 196, 197, 
 
 255. 
 
 Bell, Charles H., 61. 
 Bell, Henry H., 61, 176. 
 Bellerephon, The, 33. 
 Belligerents, Confederate States 
 
 Proclaimed, 130, 131. 
 Benbough, Private, 242, 61, 62. 
 Benham, A. E. K., 61, 62. 
 Bent, Silas, 11. 
 Berryman, Otway H., 82, 86, 87, 
 
 88, 89, 90, 94. 
 Biddle, Mr., 10. 
 Bienville, The, 224, 243. 
 Black Hawk, The, 104, 304. 
 Bladensburg, Battle of, 249. 
 Blake, Homer C., 256. 
 Blake, The, 51. 
 Blount s Bridge, 298. 
 Blockades, 57, 132, 138, 142, 143, 
 
 146, 157, 158, 159, 203, 206, 
 
 215, 217, 272, 273, 300, 301, 
 
 302, 386. 
 Board of Admiralty, British, 
 
 9. 
 Board of Commissioners, U.S. 
 
 Navy, 9. 
 
 Boca Chica Battery, 386. 
 Borceau, The, 26. 
 Boston, The, 368, 369, 372, 374, 
 
 375, 377, 378, 379, 381. 
 Bourke, Captain, 42. 
 Bounty Jumpers, 302, 303. 
 Boyle, Junius J., 55. 
 Bowring, Sir John, 53. 
 
 (389) 
 
390 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bragg, Braxton, 92. 
 Brandy wine, The, 114. 
 Brannan, John M., 99. 
 Brazil, 62. 
 
 British Navy, 3, 29, 30, 69. 
 Breese, K. Randolph, 104. 
 Breese, Samuel L., 253, 255. 
 Bright, John, 134. 
 Broglie, Due de, 146. 
 Broke, P. B. V., 37, 38. 
 Brooke, John M., 12. 
 Brooklyn, The, 59, 78, 79, 82, 
 
 84, 222, 223, 225, 227, 229, 230, 
 
 231, 233, 242. 
 Brown, Harvey, 95, 96. 
 Brown, Major, 240. 
 Brown, Robert M. G., 333, 334. 
 Bryson, Andrew, 186. 
 Buchanan, Franklin, 12, 122, 
 
 125, 217, 235, 237. 
 Buchanan, James, 129. 
 Bunce, Francis M., 176. 
 Burnside, Ambrose E., 144. 
 Butler, Benjamin F., 274, 275, 
 
 278, 279. 
 Byng, Admiral, 21. 
 
 Cairo, The, 104. 
 
 California, 251. 
 
 Caldwell, Charles H. B., 52. 
 
 Calhoun, John C., 138. 
 
 Calkins, Carlos G., 377. 
 
 Calliope, The, 321, 328, 332. 
 
 Cambridge, The, 274. 
 
 " Camels," 215. 
 
 Camperdown, Battle of, 33. 
 
 Canandaigua, The, 165, 196. 
 
 Canonicus, The, 199, 200-202. 
 
 Canton, 61. 
 
 Cape Cruz, 250. 
 
 Carlin, James W., 335, 336, 343, 
 
 344, 357. 
 
 Cassin, Stephen, 249. 
 Castillo, The, 381. 
 Catalpa, The, 200. 
 Cat o nine Tails, 21, 22. 
 Catskill, The, 165, 175, 176, 177, 
 
 183. 
 
 Cayo Blanco, 249. 
 Cecil, Lord Robert, 134. 
 Ceres, The, 296. 
 Chain Armor, 221, 232, 374. 
 Charleston, 204, 157 et seq., 202. 
 Charleston Mercury, 93. 
 Charts and Instruments, Depot 
 
 of, 10. 
 Chase, Salmon P., 144. 
 
 Chatard, Frederick, 253. 
 Chauncey, Isaac, 36. 
 Cherub, The, 33, 59. 
 Chesapeake, The, 25, 28, 33, 36, 
 
 37. 
 Chickasaw, The, 221, 223, 238, 
 
 239, 240. 
 
 Chicora, The, 157, 158, 163. 
 Christina, The, 381. 
 Circourt, Mr., 132. 
 Civil War, The, 271. 
 Clark, Charles E., 169. 
 " Clearing Ship ".for Action, 373, 
 
 374. 
 
 Coal, 370, 371. 
 Cobb, John C., 220. 
 Cobb, Signal Quartermaster, 169. 
 Cobbett, William, 31. 
 Cobden, Richard, 134. 
 Cochrane, Lord, 67. 
 Cockburn, Admiral, 39. 
 Code, The Naval, 20. 
 Coffin, Sir Isaac, 16. 
 Colhoun, Edmund R., 184. 
 Collier, Sir George, Admiral, 38. 
 Collingwood, The, 57. 
 Collins, John, 228. 
 Colorado, The Steam Frigate, 47. 
 Colored Troops, 96th Regt. (En 
 gineers), 220. 
 Columb, Admiral, 152. 
 Columbia, The, 114. 
 Columbus, The, 114. 
 Commerce, American, 131. 
 Commissioners, Board of, U.S. 
 
 Navy, 9. 
 Commodore Hull, The, 287, 294, 
 
 296, 300. 
 Concord, The, 367, 368, 369, 372, 
 
 374, 375, 377, 378, 379, 380, 
 
 381, 382. 
 
 Conemaugh, The, 224, 225, 239. 
 Conestoga, The, 104. 
 Confederate Bonds, 139. 
 Confederate States of America, 
 
 135. 
 * Confederate "Troops,7thCav., 
 
 293. 
 Congress, The, 5, 25, 116, 119, 
 
 141, 152, 281. 
 Connecticut, The, 272. 
 Conover, Thomas A., 109. 
 Constellation, The, 25. 
 Constitution, The, 25, 28, 31, 33, 
 
 38, 248. 
 
 Convoying, 303, 304. 
 Conway, Quartermaster, 90. 
 
INDEX 
 
 391 
 
 Corregidor Battery, 386. 
 Corsairs, Confederate, 131. 
 Corea, 61, 62, 248, 256. 
 Courts-martial, 42. 
 Cramp, Wm. & Sons, 160. 
 Craney Island, Defense of, 248. 
 Craven, Tunis A. M., 52, 60, 99, 
 
 227, 228, 252. 
 Cricket, The, 106. 
 Crusader, The, 78, 99. 
 Cruisers, Wooden, 7. 
 Cuba, 249. 
 
 Culpepper s Battery, 239. 
 Cumberland, The, 78, 101, 108, 
 
 117, 281. 
 Cumberland, Officers of the, 116, 
 
 117. 
 
 Cumberland River, 303, 304. 
 Cumbria, The, 206. 
 Cummings Point, 180. 
 Cushing, William B., 291-3. 
 Cutlass Compared with Bayonet, 
 
 255. 
 
 Cyane, The, 252, 253. 
 Cyclones, 314, 315. 
 
 Dacres, Captain, 39. 
 Dahlgren, John H., 6, 11, 174, 
 
 175, 177, 183, 184, 188, 189, 
 
 190, 204, 205. 
 
 Dahlgren Guns, 12, 204, 205. 
 Daniel, Junius, 293, 294. 
 David, The, 192, 195, 196, 197, 198. 
 Davis, John L., 186. 
 Davis, Charles H., 159. 
 Dayton, William L., 161. 
 Death Penalty, 20, 21. 
 Decatur, Stephen, 27, 37, 62, 66. 
 Decatur, The, 56. 
 Deep Sea Soundings, 11. 
 Deer, The, 203. 
 De Haven, Edwin J., 11. 
 De Kraft. J. C. P., 220, 224, 232, 
 
 238, 239. 
 
 Delaware, The, 114. 
 De Soto, Hernandez, 211. 
 Dewey, George, 368, 371, 372. 
 Dimmock, Miss, 290. 
 Discipline, 8. 
 
 Dismal Swamp Canal, 284. 
 Dock Yards, 12. 
 Dolphin, The, 111, 114. 
 Douglass, Captain, 346. 
 Downes, John, 165, 168. 
 Drafted Men, 302, 303. 
 Drayton, Percival, 164, 165, 225, 
 
 230, 240, 241. 
 
 Drury s Bluff, 199. 
 
 Dudley, Thomas, 151. 
 
 Duelling, 65, 68. 
 
 Duncan, James M., 194. 
 
 Dundas, Adam D., 57. 
 
 Dundonald, Earl of, 67. 
 
 Du Pont, Samuel F., 6, 9, 12, 
 
 159, 162, 164, 165, 166, 170, 
 
 174, 253, 273. 
 Duvall, Marius, 196, 197. 
 
 Eastport, The, 106. 
 
 Eber, The, 321, 329, 336, 346, 
 347, 352. 
 
 Edson, Lieutenant, 250. 
 
 El Fraile, 377, 386. 
 
 Elliot, Jesse D., 52. 
 
 Elliott, Stephen, Jr., 188. 
 
 England, 129 et seq., 150, 195. 
 
 English Sympathy for the Con 
 federacy, 133 et seq. 
 
 Engineers, Naval, 12. 
 
 Equipment of Landing Parties, 
 258, 260. 
 
 Erben, Henry, 88, 89, 90. 
 
 Ericsson, John, 4, 5, 147. 
 
 Erie, The, 67, 103. 
 
 Escort, The, 298. 
 
 Essex, The, 33, 59, 249. 
 
 Estrella, The, 239. 
 
 Fairfax, Donald McN., 165. 
 Farquhar, Norman H., 357. 
 Farragut, David G., 6, 9, 12, 16, 
 
 59, 106, 212, 216 et seq., 225, 
 
 229, 230, 231, 234, 240, 241, 
 
 243, 250, 273, 302. 
 Farrand, Ebenezer, 79, 85, 87, 
 
 88, 89, 90. 
 
 Ferry-boats, 272, 286. 
 Fiji Islands, 250, 254. 
 Fire, Preparations for, 374. 
 Flag Officers, The, 6. 
 Flogging, 21, 22, 23, 51. 
 Florida, 83, 91. 
 Flusser, Charles W., 292. 
 Folger, William M., 71. 
 Folly Island, 175. 
 Foote, Andrew H., 6, 9, 21, 61, 
 
 174. 
 
 Forbes, John, Admiral, 18. 
 Formosa, 61, 248, 255. 
 Fort Barrancas, 82, 83. 
 Fort Beauregard, 186. 
 Fort Bowyer, 211, 212. 
 Fort DeBussey, 112. 
 Fort Fisher, 106, 199, 254, 255. 
 
S92 
 
 Fort Galnes, 212, et seq., 220, 
 
 288, 239, 241. 
 Fort Gregg, 180. 
 Fort JettVrsou, 99. 
 Fort McAllister, 163. 
 Fort Molleiiry, 249. 
 Fort Mellae, 82, 86, 88. 
 Fort Monroe, 140, 142. 
 Fort Morgan, 69, 212 et seq., 
 
 220, 221, 227, 232, 241, 242. 
 Fort Monltrie, 1G7, 184, 185, 186, 
 
 200, 201, 202. 
 
 Fort Piekens, 83, 87, 88, 94, 97. 
 Fort Powell, 213, 232, 238, 239. 
 Fort Sumter, 112, 130, 165, 167, 
 
 169, 171, 172, 181, 182, 183, 
 
 188, 189, 193, 198, 202. 
 Fort Taylor, 99. 
 Fort Tombigbee, 212. 
 Fort Wagner, 176, 177, 178, 183. 
 Fort Washington, 293. 
 Foster, John G., 293, 294, 297, 298. 
 Fox, Gustavus V., 105, 273. 
 Fox, The, 249. 
 France, 26, 130, 132, 134, 135, 
 
 136, 161, 198, 211. 
 Franklin, Samuel R., 239. 
 Freeman, Martin, 225, 229. 
 Fremont, John C., 251. 
 Friendship, The Ship, 250. 
 Froutera, 253. 
 
 Gaboon River, 61. 
 
 G Allies, The, 215, 234. 
 
 Galena, The, 159, 222, 227, 232. 
 
 Gardus Island, 256. 
 
 Garnett, Richard B., 293, 294. 
 
 Gaspe, The, 16. 
 
 Geuesee, The, 224. 
 
 Georgia Troops, Cav., 2d Regt., 
 
 224. 
 Germans at Samoa, 307, 311, 
 
 319, 340, 343. 
 Germantowu, The, 56, 114. 
 Gibbon, Lardner, 11. 
 Gibraltar, 67. 
 Gllliss, James M., 10. 
 Oilmore, Qulncy A., 175, 177, 
 
 180, 188, 190. 
 Gladiator, The, 92. 
 Glassell, W. T., 192. 
 Gloucester, 24. 
 Gloucester Point, 112. 
 Glynn, James, 61. 
 Godon, Sylvanus W., 204. 
 Goldsborough, Louis M., 10, 12, 
 
 278, 279, 281, 283. 
 
 Governor Buckingham, The, 300. 
 Granger, Gordon, 212, 220, 240, 
 
 241. 
 
 Grafton, Edward C., 224. 
 Grant, Ulysses S., 101, 219, 220. 
 Grant s Toss, 213, 239. 
 Gray, Boatswain s Mate, 326. 
 Great Berribee, 61. 
 Greble, John T., 277. 
 Green, Joseph R., 165, 195. 
 Greasing Armor, 164. 
 Greene, S. Dana, 148, 282. 
 Gregory, Francis H., 11, 40, 41, 
 
 253. 
 
 Greyhound, The, 250. 
 Grey town, 78. 
 Gridley, Charles V., 379. 
 Grog, 44, 46, 47, 49, 51. 
 Guaymas, 252, 253. 
 Guerrlere, The, 31, 33, 39. 
 Gui/ot, 132. 
 Gulf Stream, 11. 
 Gunboats in the Civil War, 274. 
 Guns, Blast of, 381. 
 
 Hakodata, 63. 
 
 Hale, John P., 51. 
 
 Hall, Admiral, 63. 
 
 Hampdeu, Me., 249. 
 
 Hampton Roads, Battle of, 118 
 
 et seq , 141 et seq., 154. 
 Harrington, John, 117, 123. 
 Hartford, The, 59, 222, 225, 227, 
 
 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 
 
 242, 243, 255. 
 
 Hatteras, Cape, 285, 286, 288. 
 Hatteras Forts, 115, 273. 
 Hatteras Inlet, 288, 289. 
 Hawaii, 62. 
 
 Hawley, John M., 323, 348, 350. 
 Hermes, The, 211. 
 Herudon, William L., 11. 
 Heywood. Charles, 109, 117, 120, 
 
 122, 253. 
 
 Hickley, Admiral, 92. 
 Hill, Daniel H., 293. 
 Hill s Point, 289. 
 Hiogo, 256. 
 Hiogo Bay, 7. 
 Hitchcock, Robert B., 12. 
 HotT, Henry K., 250. 
 Home Squadron, The, 77, 109. 
 Hongkong, 369. 
 Hongkong. Governor of. 371. 
 Honolulu, 61, 248, 256. 
 Hornet, The, 33, 
 Housatoilic, The, 158, 165, 195. 
 
INDEX 
 
 893 
 
 Howard, Thomas B., 884. 
 Howard, Charles W., 191, 193. 
 HudHon, William L., 11. 
 Hughes, Edward M., 382. 
 Hull, Isaac, 27, 39. 
 Huron, The, 165, 206. 
 Hurricanes, 307, 314, 815, 316, 
 817, 821, 337. 
 
 Illinois Troops, Infantry, 77th 
 
 llegt., 220; 94th llegt., 241. 
 Independence, The, 262. 
 Ingersol, Lieutenant, 250. 
 Ingraham, Duncan N., 61, 157, 
 
 158. 
 
 Isle de Mindanao, The, 381. 
 Insurgent, The, 26. 
 Iowa Troops, Infantry, 34th 
 
 Regt., 220; 88th Kegt., 241. 
 Ironclads, 187, 188, 190, 198, 
 
 272. 
 
 Irwin, John, 88. 
 Itasca, The, 216, 222, 234. 
 Ito, Admiral, 7. 
 
 James Island, 189, 200. 
 
 Jamestown, The, 115, 149. 
 
 Japan, 62, 63, 64. 
 
 Japan Stream, 11. 
 
 Japanese, The, 61, 64, 65, 226. 
 
 Japanese Navy, 7. 
 
 Java, The, 81, 33, 38. 
 
 Jefters, E. G., 239. 
 
 Jeffers, William N., 11, 12, 239. 
 
 Jenkins, Thornton A., 11. 
 
 Joinville, Prince de, 141. 
 
 Jones, Paul, 24. 
 
 Jones, Thomas ap Catesby, 62. 
 
 Johnston, James D., 228, 235, 
 
 237. 
 
 Joselyn, Drummer, 124. 
 Jouett, James E., 226, 230, 231, 
 
 234. 
 
 Kalakaua, King, 61. 
 Kane, Elisha K., 11. 
 Kane, Captain, 328, 331. 
 Kearney, Lawrence, 250. 
 Kearney, Stephen W., 252. 
 Kelly, John, 61. 
 Ken ne beck, The, 222, 223, 234. 
 Kennedy, Charles H. A. II. , 52. 
 Kensington, The, 302. 
 Keokuk, The, 165, 167, 168, 
 
 169, 184. 
 Keystone State, The, 114, 167, 
 
 168, 272. 
 
 Key West, 266. 
 Kiersted, Andrew J., 324. 
 Kimborly, Lewis A., 61, 805. 
 King, Annie Bronson, 861. 
 King, Thomas, 139. 
 King, William M., 89. 
 Kirker, Coxwain, 120. 
 Korea, 61, 62, 248, 256. 
 
 Lackawanna, The, 222, 223, 233, 
 
 236, 242 
 Laguna, 253. 
 
 Lamberton, Benjamin P., 871. 
 Landing Parties, 256 et seq. 
 Lavalette, Elie A. F., 252. 
 Lawrence, James, 27. 
 Lay, John L., 291. 
 Lee, H. E., The, 802. 
 Lee, Samuel P., 278, 287, 808. 
 Lehigh, The, 186, 193. 
 Lenhart, John T., 117. 
 Lejeune, I. A., 844. 
 Lenthall, John, 5. 
 Lelloy, William, 157. 
 LI Hung Chang, 8. 
 Liberia, 62. 
 
 Lighthouse Department, 11. 
 Lily, The, 846. 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 80, 144, 172, 
 
 178. 
 
 Little, George, 26. 
 Little, Master-at-Arms, 192. 
 Livingston, John W., 116. 
 Longshaw, William, Jr., 193, 
 
 194. 
 
 Los Angeles, 251, 252. 
 Losses, American, 33, 126, 189, 
 
 194, 195, 199, 200, 243, 381. 
 Losses, British, 24, 88. 
 Louisburg, 16. 
 Louisiana, The, 289, 296. 
 Loverlng, Francis J., 168. 
 Luce, Stephen B., 12, 127, 198, 
 
 199. 
 
 Lu-pe-pa, 807, 311, 340, 341, 342. 
 Luzon, Batteries, 886. 
 Lynch, William F., 11. 
 Lyon, Henry, 232, 324, 351. 
 Lyons, Lord, 129, 137. 
 
 MacCullough, The, 369, 372, 
 
 873, 377, 378. 
 
 MacDonough, Thomas, 27. 
 Macedonian, The, 31, 33, 67, 68. 
 Mackenzie, Alexander S., 176, 
 
 256. 
 Maillt, John N., 99. 
 
594 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Magruder, George A., 11. 
 Magruder, John B., 277. 
 Mahan, Alfred T , 10, 25, 72. 
 Mahopac, The, 200, 201. 
 Maine, The, 368, 369. 
 Malate, 379. 
 Malays, 250. 
 
 Mallory, Stephen R., 83, 84. 
 Malone, John, 360. 
 Manhattan, The, 221, 223, 237. 
 Manila Bay Battle, 367, 376. 
 Mann, Dudley, 139. 
 Man vila, 211. 
 Marblehead, 24. 
 Marines, 19, 248, 257. 
 Maryland Troops, Cavalry, 3d 
 
 Regt., 220. 
 
 Marion, Battery, 186. 
 Marquesas Islands, 249. 
 Marston, John, 111, 116, 149. 
 Mason, John M., 136, 138, 153. 
 Massachusetts Troops, Militia, 
 
 3d Regt., Volunteer Infantry, 
 
 27th, 24th Regts., 293. 
 Mataafa, 307, 311, 319, 336. 
 Matanta, 312. 
 Maury, Dabney H., 10. 
 Maury, Matthew F., 10. 
 Mazatlan, 252. 
 McCauley, E. York, 61, 111, 112, 
 
 113. 
 
 McClellan, George B., 150. 
 McDiarmid, John, 296. 
 McKean, William A., 98, 99. 
 McNamara, Private, 120. 
 Meigs, Montgomery C., 95, 96,97. 
 Mercedita, The, 157, 158. 
 Mercury, Charleston, 93. 
 Merriam, Greenlief A., 351. 
 Merrick & Sons, 159. 
 Merrimack, The, 4, 108, 111, 113, 
 
 117, 141 et seq., 154, 281, 283, 
 
 284. 
 Metacomet, The, 222, 230, 231, 
 
 234. 
 Mexico, 80, 134, 135, 136, 247, 
 
 250, 251, 254. 
 Mexico City, 253. 
 Miami, The, 292. 
 Mill, John Stuart, 134. 
 Miller, Joseph N., 198. 
 Milne, Alexander, 136, 142. 
 Mines, 375, 376. 
 Minnesota, The, 115, 125, 141, 
 
 149, 150, 282, 283. 
 Mirs Bay, 373. 
 Mobile Bay, Battle of, 211 et seq. 
 
 Mobile Register, 93. 
 Mohawk, The, 78, 99. 
 Monarch, The, 33. 
 Monitor, The First, 4, 5, 108, 126 V 
 
 127, 128 et seq., 154, 159, 164, 
 
 165. 
 Monitors, The, 160, 163, 164, 
 
 167, 170, 172, 173, 174, 181, 
 
 185, 188, 198. 
 Monongahela, The, 222, 223, 233, 
 
 235, 236. 
 
 Monroe Doctrine, 135, 136. 
 Montauk, The, 165, 175. 
 Monterey, 251. 
 Montevideo, 248, 256. 
 Montgomery, James E., 240, 241. 
 Montgomery, John B., 56. 
 Montojo, Admiral, 374. 
 Moore, A. B., 212. 
 Morgan, The, 215, 234. 
 Morris, Charles, 11, 249. 
 Morris, George N., 116, 117, 
 
 124. 
 
 Morris Island, 165, 176. 
 Motley, John Lothrop, 137. 
 Mulje, 252. 
 Mullan, Dennis W., 323, 348, 
 
 350, 351, 353-5, 356. 
 Mulinu, 312. 
 
 Mullany, J. R. M., 95, 233. 
 Murphy, Patrick W., 234. 
 Murphy, Private, 242. 
 Murray, Alexander, 111. 
 Mutiny Act, The British, 23. 
 
 Nagasaki, 61. 
 
 Nahant, The, 165, 167, 175. 
 Nanshua, The, 371, 372, 373. 
 Nantucket, The, 165, 198. 
 Napoleon III., 134, 135, 139, 
 
 146, 154. 
 
 Napier, Charles, 33. 
 Nashville, The, 216. 
 Nation, The, 20. 
 Naval Academy, U.S., 9, 12. 
 Naval Apprentices, 12. 
 Naval Appropriation, 22. 
 Naval Brigade, 247 et seq. 
 Naval Brigade, Bartlett g, 275, 
 
 276. 
 
 Naval Code, 20. 
 Naval Engineers, 12. 
 Naval Observatory, 10. 
 Navigation Laws, 135. 
 Navy, British, 21, 33, 34, 35. 
 Navy Department, U.S., 20, 107 
 Navy, Japanese, 7. 
 
INDEX 
 
 395 
 
 Navy, The New U.S., 5, 58, 70. 
 
 Navy, Provincial, 14-17. 
 
 Navy, U.S. of 1812, 29, 30. 
 
 Navy, U.S. of 1861-65, 272, 273. 
 
 Neale, Benedict, 248. 
 
 Negroes, 227. 
 
 Nelson, William, 100. 
 
 Netting for Torpedoes, 193, 194. 
 
 Neutrality, 131 et seq., 371, 372. 
 
 New Berne, 284, 289, 293. 
 
 New England, 13, 14. 
 
 New Ironsides, The, 157, 159, 
 160, 165, 170, 182, 184, 187, 
 199. 
 
 New Orleans, 273. 
 
 Newton, Lieutenant, 250. 
 
 New York Troops, 3d Regt., 
 Art., 3d Regt. Cav., 293. 
 
 Niagara, The, 98. 
 
 Nicaragua, 248. 
 
 Nicholson, J. W. A., 52. 
 
 Nields, Henry C., 231. 
 
 Nile, Battle of, 33. 
 
 Nipsic, The, 314, 317, 323, 329, 
 336, 343 et seq., 350, 351, 
 353-7. 
 
 Nookahevah, 249. 
 
 Norfolk, 110, 111, 280, 281, 283, 
 284. 
 
 North Carolina Troops (U.S.), 
 1st Regt. 
 
 North Carolina Troops, Confed 
 erate, Infantry 17th, 18th, 
 19th, 26th, 32d, 43d, 47th, 
 52d Regts., Cavalry, 69th 
 Regt., 293. 
 
 North Pond, 249. 
 
 Observatory, National, 10. 
 
 Observatory, Naval, 10. 
 
 Octorora, The, 216, 222. 
 
 Officers, American, 43, 70, 71, 72. 
 
 Officers, British, 42, 43. 
 
 Officers, Southern, 80. 
 
 Officers, Volunteer Naval, 272, 
 278, 279. 
 
 Ohio Troops, 96th Regt., Infan 
 try, 220. 
 
 Oil Used on Waves, 336. 
 
 Olga, The, 317, 321, 329, 330, 
 346, 353. 
 
 Olympia, The, 368, 369, 372, 
 377, 381. 
 
 Oneida, The, 222, 231, 234. 
 
 Ordnance, Bureau of, 12. 
 
 Ormsby, Mr., 346. 
 
 Ossipee, The, 222, 233, 237, 238. 
 
 Page, Thomas J., 11. 
 Page, Richard L., 241. 
 Pago Pago, 308. 
 Palmerston, Lord, 139. 
 Palmetto State, The, 157, 158, 
 
 163. 
 
 Pamlico River, 289. 
 Panama, 61, 248, 256. 
 Paris, Count de, 151. 
 Paris, Declaration of 1856, 131 
 
 et seq 
 
 Parker, Foxhall A., 182, 209. 
 Parker, William H., 164, 158, 
 
 159. 
 
 Passaic, The, 164. 
 Patapsco, The, 165, 200. 
 Patrick Henry, The, 149. 
 Paulding, Hiram, 11, 111, 113, 
 
 159. 
 
 Pawnee, The, 78, 113, 114. 
 Peacock, The, 33. 
 Peiho, The, 66. 
 Pembina, The, 224. 
 Pendergrast, G. J., 79, 82, 109, 
 
 111, 116. 
 
 Peninsular Campaign, 140, 150. 
 Pennsylvania, The, 114. 
 Penobscot, The, 250, 256. 
 Pensacola, 79, 82, 86, 90, 221. 
 Penton, Pilot, 183. 
 Percival, John, 53. 
 Percy, Lord. 211. 
 Perkins, George H., 237. 
 Perry, Matthew C., 6, 12, 61, 62, 
 
 253. 
 
 Personnel of U.S. Navy, 70. 
 Pettigrew, John J., 293. 
 Petrel, The, 368, 372, 377, 379, 
 
 381, 382. 
 
 Phoebe, The, 33, 59. 
 Physical Geography of the Sea, 
 
 10. 
 
 Pickering, Charles W., 195. 
 Pickett, John T., 81, 82. 
 Pierce, Ebenezer W., 276. 
 Pinckney, Midshipman, 67. 
 Pinkham, A. B., 250. 
 Pinola, The, 224. 
 Pirates, 26, 27, 28, 249, 250. 
 Pocahontas, The, 78, 79, 82. 
 Pomeroy, George P., 239. 
 Pontiac, The, 199. 
 Poor,:Charles H., 61, 83. 
 Porpoise, The, 44, 49, 54, 249. 
 Port Royal, The, 222, 234. 
 Port Royal, Battle of, 273. 
 Port Royal Expedition, 273. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Porter, Benjamin, 179. 
 Porter, David, 27, 62, 249. 
 Porter, David D., 4, 5, 12, 96, 
 
 97, 98, 103, 104-107. 
 Porter, William, C. B. S., 52. 
 Portsmouth, The, 63, 251. 
 Potomac, The, 249. 
 Potomac, Army of, 140. 
 Potter, Edward C., 298. 
 Powhatan, The, 78, 79, 96. 
 Preble, Edward, 27. 
 President, The, 25, 39. 
 Princess Royal, The, 159. 
 Princeton, The, 12. 
 Privateers, 15, 132. 
 Punch, 137. 
 
 Quaker City, The, 272. 
 Quallah Battoo, 250. 
 Queensbury, Marquis of, 133. 
 
 Radford, William, 116, 117. 
 Raleigh, The, 369, 372, 373, 377, 
 
 378, 379, 381. 
 Ramage, James, 249. 
 Rams and Ramming, 118, 121, 
 
 123, 125, 126, 161, 214, 233, 
 
 235, 236, 237. 
 Randolph, Victor M., 90. 
 Raritan, The, 114. 
 Read, John J., 192. 
 Register, Mobile, 93. 
 Reindeer, The, 33. 
 Remey, George C., 182. 
 Renshaw, Francis B., 79, 85, 89, 
 
 90, 93. 
 
 Rhind, Alexander C., 165, 168. 
 Rhode Island Troops, Infantry, 
 
 5th Regt., 298. 
 Richmond, The, 221, 222, 223, 
 
 233, 242. 
 
 Right of Search, 28, 153, 154. 
 Ringgold, Cadwalader, 11. 
 Rio Grande, 253. 
 Rio Hacha, 61. 
 Ripley, Charles S., 345. 
 Roanoke, The, 116, 126, 141, 150. 
 Robertson, Beverly H., 293. 
 Robeson, Henry B., 176, 186. 
 Robeson, George M., 6. 
 Rockton, The, 352. 
 Rodgers, C. P. R., 166, 171. 
 Rodgers, George W., 183. 
 Rodgers, John (1798), 249. 
 Rodgers, John (1861), 4, 6, 11, 
 
 39, 61, 165, 167. 
 Rodgers, Raymond, 12. 
 
 Rodman Guns, 204, 205. 
 Rodman s Point Battery, 294, 
 
 295, 296. 
 
 Roe, Francis A., 61, 69. 
 Roebuck, John A., 133. 
 Ronando, Surgeon, 385. 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, 71. 
 Ropes, John C., 272. 
 Rous, John, 15, 16. 
 Rowan, Stephen C., 6, 12, 177, 
 
 186, 187, 191, 196, 197, 252. 
 Russell, Lord John, 130, 136, 
 
 137, 152, 153. 
 
 Russia, Emperor of, 152, 153. 
 Rutledge, John, 157. 
 Rutledge, Battery, 186. 
 
 Sabine, The, 78, 79, 82, 83. 
 Salisbury, Marquis of, 134. 
 Salem, 24. 
 Saltonstall, William G., 269, 
 
 274 et seq , 294, 300 et seq. 
 Samoa, 61, 68, 307. 
 Samoa, Americans, British and 
 
 Germans in, 338 et seq. 
 Samoans, The, 309 et seq. 
 Samoan Archipelago, 308. 
 Samoan Islands, U.S. in, 317, 
 
 318. 
 
 Sampson, William T., 11, 200. 
 Samurai, The, 63, 64. 
 San Bias, 252, 253. 
 Sandbags, 164, 173, 181, 182, 221. 
 San Francisco, 251. 
 Sanford, Henry S., 151. 
 Sangley Point Battery, 380, 382. 
 San Jose, 253. 
 San Juan de Ulloa, 57. 
 San Pedro, 251. 
 Saratoga, The, 56. 
 Savage, Thomas J., 239. 
 Savaii, 308, 312. 
 Schoonmaker, C. M., 68, 335, 
 
 336, 343, 344, 345. 
 Scott, Gustavus H., 201. 
 Scott, Winfield, 250. 
 Sebago, The, 224. 
 Self ridge, Thomas O., Jr , 101, 
 
 104, 116, 117, 121-124. 
 Selma, The, 215, 224, 234. 
 Seminole, The, 222. 
 Seneca, The, 199. 
 Seymour, Sir George F., 56. 
 Seymour, Sir Michael, 53, 56. 
 Seward, William H., 144, 154. 
 Shannon, The, 33, 37. 
 Shanghai, 61, 254. 
 
INDEX 
 
 397 
 
 Sheffield, Lord, 26. 
 
 Sherman, William T., 103. 
 
 Shimoda, 63. 
 
 Ship-builders, 8, 14. 
 
 Ships, Screw, 12. 
 
 Ships, Wooden, 7. 
 
 Shirley, The, 15. 
 
 Shubrick, William B , 11, 250, 
 
 252. 
 
 Shufeldt, Robert W., 62. 
 Sicard, Montgomery, 11 
 Simpson, Edward, 11, 186. 
 Sisson, Henry T., 298. 
 Skinner, Charles W., 46. 
 Slamm, Levi D., 55. 
 Slavery, 137, 138. 
 Slemmer, Adam J., 83, 86, 87, 
 
 90. 
 
 Slidell, John, 136, 138, 153. 
 Sloat, John D., 56, 251. 
 Smoking, 40. 
 
 Smith, Joseph, 5, 11, 109, 159. 
 Smith, Joseph B., 5. 
 Smith, John, (1812) 31. 
 Smyrna, 61. 
 Snuff-dipping, 290. 
 Soley, John C., 245. 
 Southfield, The, 293. 
 Spain, 130, 134, 136, 211, 371. 
 Spinola, Francis B., 298. 
 St. Lawrence, The, 126, 141, 150. 
 St. Louis, The, 78, 82, 99. 
 St. Mary, The, 56. 
 Stafford, Le Boy A., 344. 
 Stanton, Edwin M., 144, 145. 
 Stedman, Charles Ellery, 168. 
 Stellwagen, Henry S., 157. 
 Stevens, Thomas H., 186. 
 Stevens, Private, 242. 
 Stewart, Charles, 27, 28, 31. 
 Stockton, Richard I., 12, 56, 62, 
 
 67, 251, 252. 
 Stonewall, The, 204. 
 Storm Waves, 314, 315. 
 Strain, Isaac G., 11. 
 Stringham, Silas H., 11, 273. 
 Strong, George C., 175. 
 Strong, James H., 233. 
 Stuyvesant, Moses S., 116, 117, 
 
 124. 
 
 Subic Bay, 374, 375, 376. 
 Substitutes, 302, 303. 
 Sullivan s Island, 168, 184, 188, 
 
 200, 202. 
 Sumatra, 250. 
 Supply, The, 83, 86, 88, 91. 
 Susquehanna, The, 115. 
 
 Sutton, Francis E., 343, 344. 
 Swan, Leonard, 366. 
 Swanage, Battle of, 23. 
 Swinton, William, 14, 149. 
 
 Talbot, Cyrus, 25. 
 
 Tamasese, 311, 319. 
 
 Tampico, 253. 
 
 Tascaluca, 211. 
 
 Tatnall, Josiah, 66, 67, 146. 
 
 Taylor, William R., 12, 159. 
 
 Teaser, The, 149. 
 
 Tecumseh, The, 69, 221, 223, 224, 
 
 227, 228, 231. 
 
 Tennessee, The (U.S.), 221, 243. 
 Tennessee, The Ram, 122, 214 et 
 
 seq , 224, 227, 231, 232, 238. 
 Tennessee River, 303, 314. 
 Tennessee Troops, Confederate, 
 
 Infantry, 1st Regt., 242. 
 Terms, Naval, 44. 
 Thatcher, Henry K., 21. 
 Times, London, 28, 137, 152. 
 Tiensten, 8. 
 
 Tierney, Matthew C., 124. 
 " Tinclads," 303, 304. 
 Tobasco, 253. 
 Toombs, Robert, 78, 219, 228, 
 
 230. 
 Torpedoes, 190, 191, 192, 195, 
 
 212. 
 
 Torpedo Boats, 291. 
 Torpedo School, 12. 
 Totten, Benjamin J., 250. 
 Toucey, Isaac, 100. 
 Trafalgar, Battle of, 33. 
 Transports, Army, 273. 
 Trent, The, 136, 138, 153, 154. 
 Trenton, The, 316, 317, 320, 322, 
 
 324-337, 345. 
 Trescott, Peter, 183. 
 Tripoli, 62. 
 Trippe, John, 27. 
 Truxton, Thomas, 11, 26. 
 Tucker, John R., 157. 
 Turner, Thomas T., 162, 165, 
 
 170, 177. 
 Tuspan, 253. 
 Tutuila, 308. 
 Tyson, Herbert B., 242. 
 
 Unamna, Tne, 165. 
 
 Uniforms, Naval, 17, 18, 19, 43. 
 
 United States, The Frigate, 25, 
 
 33. 
 
 Upolu, 308. 
 Upoul, 308, 309 
 
INDEX 
 
 Vaisiquano River, 312, 313. 
 Valparaiso, 39, 61, 67. 
 Valparaiso Bay, Battle of, 33. 
 Van Brunt, J. G., 282. 
 Vandalia, The, 68, 313, 314, 317, 
 
 320, 321, 329, 330, 334, 343 et 
 
 seq. 
 
 Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 145. 
 Vanderbilt, The, 145, 283. 
 Vengeance, The, 26. 
 Vera Cruz, 55, 61, 79, 80, 81, 82, 
 
 253. 
 
 Vicksburg, 104. 
 Victoria, Queen, 152, 153. 
 Victory, The, 33. 
 Vigilant, The, 16. 
 Vincennes, The, 250. 
 Virginia, 111, 113. 
 Virginia, (Merrimack) The, 114, 
 
 141. 
 Virginia Troops, Infantry, 8th, 
 
 18th, 20th, 28th, 56th, 59th, 
 
 Regts., 293. 
 
 Visitation of Ships, 28, 153, 154. 
 Vogdes, Israel, 84, 94. 
 
 Wabash, The, 115, 117, 166 
 Walke, Henry, 86, 88, 90, 91. 
 Walker, Asa, 365, 380, 381. 
 Walker, William S., 84. 
 War with Barbary States, 27. 
 War with England (1812), 28-39. 
 War with France, 269. 
 War with Mexico, 54, 55. 
 War, Revolutionary, 23, 24. 
 War College, 12. 
 Warren, Admiral, 31. 
 Warrington, Lewis, 11. 
 Washington, George, 16. 
 Washington, N.C., Siege of, 289, 
 293 et seq. 
 
 Wasp, The, 33. 
 
 Watson, J. Crittenden, 241. 
 
 Weehawken, The, 4, 165-167, 
 
 175, 183, 184, 185, 187, 194. 
 Welles, Gideon, 144, 145, 147, 
 
 273, 274. 
 
 Westfall, John, 325. 
 Wharton, A. D., 228, 235, 336. 
 Wildes, Frank, 368, 369, 371, 
 
 375, 381. 
 
 Wiley, Henry A., 344. 
 Wilkes, Charles, 11, 250. 
 Wilmington, N.C., Attack on, 
 
 289 
 
 William IV., King, 50. 
 Williams, Oscar F., 372. 
 Williams, James M., 238, 239. 
 Wilson, John C., 343. 
 Winnebago, The, 221, 223, 226. 
 Winthrop, Theodore, 277. 
 Wisconsin Troops, Infantry, 
 
 20th Regt., 241. 
 Wissahickon, The, 165. 
 Women, Southern, 284. 
 Wood, John Taylor, 154. 
 Woodbury, Jesse P., 183. 
 Wool, John E., 143. 
 Worden, John L., 46, 94, 95, 165, 
 
 282. 
 Wyandotte, The, 78, 82, 83, 86, 
 
 87, 88, 91, 95. 
 Wyoming, The, 255. 
 
 Yalu, Battle of, 194. 
 Yankee, The (tug), 114. 
 Yazoo River, 104. 
 Yedo Bay, 6. 
 Yorktown, The, 115. 
 
 Zaflro, The, 311, 373. 
 Zettich, John J. P., 231. 
 
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