[_From Commodore Pegram._]
PETERSBURG, VA., October 29, 1869.
I take pleasure in bearing testimony to the authenticity of
the accompanying record, as furnished by Captain F. W. Dawson,
whilst he was under my command on board of the C. S. Steamer
_Nashville_; and I do most earnestly recommend him to the
favorable consideration of the Committee on Applications, as one
eminently entitled, by his efficient services, to enjoy all the
advantages and honors of a Survivor.
Captain Dawson offered his services to the Confederate cause on
board the C. S. Steamer _Nashville_, at Southampton, England,
December, 1861, in any capacity I might designate. He was under
age at the time, being about 17 or 18 years old; for this reason
I declined to take him away from his home and friends to set him
adrift in a foreign land then engaged in a bloody war.
A few days before sailing from Southampton, duty called me to
London, and Dawson, taking advantage of my absence, assumed the
garb of a sailor boy, and was enlisted by the First Lieutenant on
board the _Nashville_. I did not know that he was on board until
we were at sea, and was so surprised at seeing him that I called
him to enquire how he had thus gotten the weather-gage of me? He
replied, he was determined to espouse the Confederate cause at
all hazards, even by smuggling himself on board, if indispensable
to attain his object.
During the voyage of the _Nashville_ homeward, the admirable
conduct of young Dawson attracted my attention, and that of all
the officers; and such favorable reports were made to me of his
zeal in the discharge of every duty required of him, that I
determined to give him an acting appointment of Master’s Mate in
the C. S. Navy, which appointment was promptly confirmed by the
Honorable Secretary of the Navy, upon my recommendation, when the
_Nashville_ arrived at Beaufort, N. C.
Mr. Dawson was attached to a vessel of the James River Squadron
at the time that General McClellan made his advance upon
Richmond, yet such was his anxiety to engage in the battle, that
he offered his services as a volunteer to the officer in command
of the Purcell Battery. He was taken from the field of battle
at Mechanicsville badly wounded, but remained fighting his gun
until the close of the action, when, from loss of blood, he was
completely prostrated. Mr. Dawson’s bravery on this occasion,
elicited the admiration of his Captain, who went with me to the
Hon. G. W. Randolph, then Secretary of War, to request that he
might be appointed a Lieutenant in the C. S. Army. The request
was readily granted as a reward of merit.
Though suffering from a painful wound, Mr. Dawson did not remain
idle. An invitation had been issued by the Secretary of War to
the junior officers of the army, to propose for admission into
the Ordnance Corps. An examination was ordered; and when the
Board of Examiners met, Mr. Dawson was examined and passed with
distinction, and was commissioned in the Corps of Ordnance. His
career of duty in that branch of the service is better known to
the officers of the army with whom he served than to myself:
though I have watched his course with great satisfaction, and
always felt a profound interest in his advancement and welfare,
having long since forgiven him for his tact in weathering an old
sailor.