Soldiers on shipboard are proverbially fish out of water. We could not
be called by the good old nickname of "lobsters" by the crew. Our gray
jackets saved the _sobriquet_. But we floundered about the crowded
vessel like boiling victims in a pot. At last we found our places, and
laid ourselves about the decks to tan or bronze or burn scarlet,
according to complexion. There were plenty of cheeks of lobster-hue
before next evening on the "Boston."
A thousand young fellows turned loose on shipboard were sure to make
themselves merry. Let the reader imagine that! We were like any other
excursionists, except that the stacks of bright guns were always
present to remind us of our errand, and regular guard-mounting and drill
went on all the time. The young citizens growled or laughed at the minor
hardships of the hasty outfit, and toughened rapidly to business.
Sunday, the 21st, was a long and somewhat anxious day. While we were
bowling along in the sweet sunshine and sweeter moonlight of the halcyon
time, Uncle Sam might be dethroned by somebody in buckram, or Baltimore
burnt by the boys from Lynn or Marblehead, revenging the massacre of
their fellows. Everyone begins to comprehend the fiery eagerness of men
who live in historic times. "I wish I had control of chain-lightning for
a few minutes," says O., the droll fellow of our company. "I'd make it
come thick and heavy and knock spots out of Secession."
At early dawn of Monday, the 22d, after feeling along slowly all night,
we see the harbor of Annapolis. A frigate with sails unbent lies at
anchor. She flies the stars and stripes. Hurrah!
A large steamboat is aground farther in. As soon as we can see anything,
we catch the glitter of bayonets on board.
By and by boats come off, and we get news that the steamer is the
"Maryland," a ferry-boat of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad. The
Massachusetts Eighth Regiment had been just in time to seize her on the
north side of the Chesapeake. They learned that she was to be carried
off by the crew and leave them blockaded. So they shot their Zouaves
ahead as skirmishers. The fine fellows rattled on board, and before the
steamboat had time to take a turn or open a valve, she was held by
Massachusetts in trust for Uncle Sam. Hurrah for the most important
prize thus far in the war! It probably saved the "Constitution," "Old
Ironsides," from capture by the traitors. It probably saved Annapolis,
and kept Maryland open without bloodshed.
As soon as the Massachusetts Regiment had made prize of the ferry-boat,
a call was made for engineers to run her. Some twenty men at once
stepped to the front. We of the New York Seventh afterwards concluded
that whatever was needed in the way of skill or handicraft could be
found among those brother Yankees. They were the men to make armies of.
They could tailor for themselves, shoe themselves, do their own
blacksmithing, gun-smithing, and all other work that calls for sturdy
arms and nimble fingers. In fact, I have such profound confidence in the
universal accomplishment of the Massachusetts Eighth, that I have no
doubt, if the order were, "Poets to the front!" "Painters present arms!"
"Sculptors charge bayonets!" a baker's dozen out of every company would
respond.
Well, to go on with their story,--when they had taken their prize, they
drove her straight downstream to Annapolis, the nearest point to
Washington. There they found the Naval Academy in danger of attack, and
"Old Ironsides"--serving as a practice-ship for the future
midshipmen--also exposed. The call was now for seamen to man the old
craft and save her from a worse enemy than her prototype met in the
"Guerrière." Seamen? Of course! They were Marbleheaded men, Gloucester
men, Beverly men, seamen all, _par excellence!_ They clapped on the
frigate to aid the middies, and by and by started her out into the
stream. In doing this their own pilot took the chance to run them
purposely on a shoal in the intricate channel. A great error of judgment
on his part! as he perceived, when he found himself in irons and in
confinement. "The days of trifling with traitors are over!" think the
Eighth Regiment of Massachusetts.
But there they were, hard and fast on the shoal, when we came up.
Nothing to nibble on but knobs of anthracite. Nothing to sleep on softer
or cleaner than coal-dust. Nothing to drink but the brackish water under
their keel. "Rather rough!" so they afterward patiently told us.
Meantime the "Constitution" had got hold of a tug, and was making her
way to an anchorage where her guns commanded everything and everybody.
Good and true men chuckled greatly over this. The stars and stripes also
were still up at the fort at the Naval Academy.
Our dread, that, while we were off at sea, some great and perhaps fatal
harm had been suffered, was greatly lightened by these good omens. If
Annapolis was safe, why not Washington safe also? If treachery had got
head at the capital, would not treachery have reached out its hand and
snatched this doorway? These were our speculations as we began to
discern objects, before we heard news.
But news came presently. Boats pulled off to us. Our officers were put
into communication with the shore. The scanty facts of our position
became known from man to man. We privates have greatly the advantage in
battling with the doubt of such a time. We know that we have nothing to
do with rumors. Orders are what we go by. And orders are Facts.
We lay a long, lingering day, off Annapolis. The air was full of doubt,
and we were eager to be let loose. All this while the "Maryland" stuck
fast on the bar. We could see them, half a mile off, making every effort
to lighten her. The soldiers tramped forward and aft, danced on her
decks, shot overboard a heavy baggage-truck. We saw them start the truck
for the stern with a cheer. It crashed down. One end stuck in the mud.
The other fell back and rested on the boat. They went at it with axes,
and presently it was clear.
As the tide rose, we gave our grounded friends a lift with the hawser.
No go! The "Boston" tugged in vain. We got near enough to see the whites
of the Massachusetts eyes, and their unlucky faces and uniforms all
grimy with their lodgings in the coal-dust. They could not have been
blacker, if they had been breathing battle-smoke and dust all day. That
experience was clear gain to them.
By and by, greatly to the delight of the impatient Seventh, the "Boston"
was headed for shore. Never speak ill of the beast you bestraddle!
Therefore _requiescat_ "Boston"! may her ribs lie light on soft sand
when she goes to pieces! may her engines be cut up into bracelets for
the arms of the patriotic fair! good by to her, dear old, close, dirty,
slow coach! She served her country well in a moment of trial. Who knows
but she saved it? It was a race to see who should first get to
Washington,--and we and the Virginia mob, in alliance with the District
mob, were perhaps nip and tuck for the goal.