Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_. Additional
notes will be found near the end of this eBook.
THE HISTORY OF OUR NAVY
[Illustration: FARRAGUT’S FLEET PASSING FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP.
_From a painting by Carlton T. Chapman._]
THE
HISTORY OF OUR NAVY
FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY
1775–1897
BY
JOHN R. SPEARS
AUTHOR OF “THE PORT OF MISSING SHIPS,” “THE GOLD DIGGINGS
OF CAPE HORN,” ETC.
WITH MORE THAN FOUR HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS AND DIAGRAMS
_IN FOUR VOLUMES_
_VOLUME IV._
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1897
COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
MANHATTAN PRESS
474 W. BROADWAY
NEW YORK
TO ALL WHO WOULD SEEK PEACE
AND PURSUE IT
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I. THE STATE OF THE NAVY IN 1859 1
A Brief Story of the Development of the Warship that was Propelled
by both Sails and Steam--The Remarkable Floating Battery of 1814--
Barron’s Idea of a Ram--The Stevens Floating Battery--Ericsson’s
Screw Propeller--Stockton and the First Screw Warship--Experiments
with Great Guns--Discoveries of Bomford and Rodman--Practical Work
by Dahlgren--A Comparison of Yankee Frigates with a Class of British
Ships “Avowedly Built to Cope” with them--The Condition of the
_Personnel_.
CHAPTER II. BLOCKADING THE SOUTHERN PORTS 28
Lincoln’s Proclamation--It was Something of a Task to Close 185
Inlets and Patrol 11,953 Miles of Sea-beaches, especially with the
Force of Ships in Hand--One Merchant’s Notion of the Efficiency
of Thirty Sailing Vessels--Gathering and Building Blockaders--
Incentives and Favoring Circumstances for Blockade-runners--When
Perjury Failed and Uncle Sam was Able to Strike without Waiting for
Act of Congress--When Blockade-runners Came to New York and Yankee
Smokeless Coal was in Demand.
CHAPTER III. LOSS OF THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD 66
Effective Work Done by Southern Naval Officers who Continued to Wear
the National Uniform that they might the more Readily Betray the
National Government--The Secretary of the Navy was Deceived and the
Commandant at Norfolk Demoralized--William Mahone’s Tricks Added
to the Demoralization at the Yard, and it was Abandoned at Last in
a Shameful Panic--Property that was Worth Millions of Dollars,
and Guns that Took Thousands of Lives, Fell into the Confederates’
Hands--The First Naval Battle of the War--Three Little Wooden
Vessels with Seven Small Guns Sent against a Well-built Fort Mounting
Thirteen Guns--The Hazardous Work of Patrolling the Potomac.
CHAPTER IV. A STORY OF CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS 84
They Did Plenty of Damage for a Time, but their Career was Brief--
Capture of the First of the Class, and Trial of her Crew on a Charge
of Piracy--Reasons why they could not be Held as Criminals--Luck of
the _Jefferson Davis_--A Negro who Recaptured a Confederate Prize to
Escape the Terrors of Slavery--A Skipper who Thought a Government
Frigate was a Merchantman--The “Nest” behind Cape Hatteras.
CHAPTER V. THE FORT OF HATTERAS INLET TAKEN 99
An Expedition Planned by the Navy Department that Resulted in the
First Federal Victory of the Civil War--An Awkward Landing Followed
by Ineffectual Fire from Ships under Way--One Fort Taken and
Abandoned--Anchored beyond Range of the Fort and Compelled Surrender
by Means of the Big Pivot Guns--A Wearisome Race from Chicamicomico
to Hatteras Lighthouse Won by the Federals--Capture of Roanoke
Island--Origin of the American Medal of Honor.
CHAPTER VI. ALONG SHORE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO 112
The Shameful Story of Pensacola and Fort Pickens--When Lieutenant
Russell Burned the _Judah_--A British Consul’s Actions when
Confederate Forts were Attacked at Galveston--Extraordinary Panic at
the Head of the Passes in the Mississippi when Four Great Warships,
Carrying Forty-five of the Best Guns Afloat, Fled from a Disabled
Tugboat that was Really Unarmed--Once more in Galveston--Lieutenant
Jouett’s Fierce Fight when he Destroyed the _Royal Yacht_.
CHAPTER VII. STORY OF THE TRENT AFFAIR 140
Capt. Charles Wilkes, of the American Navy, Took Four Confederate
Diplomatic Agents from a British Ship Bound on a Regular Voyage
between Neutral Parts, and without any Judicial Proceeding Cast
them into a Military Prison--A Case that Created Great Excitement
Throughout the Civilized World--A Swift Demand, with a Threat of
War Added, Made by the British--Comparing this Case with another
of Like Nature--The United States once Went to War to Establish
the Principle which Captain Wilkes Ignored--The British Officially
Acknowledge that the Americans were Justified in Declaring War
in 1812.
CHAPTER VIII. THE CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL 161
A Fleet of Seventeen Ships, Carrying 155 Guns, Sent to Take a
Harbor that would Make a Convenient Naval Station for the Atlantic
Blockaders--There were Two “Exceedingly Well-built Earthworks”
“Rather Heavily Armed” Defending the Channel, but one Part of the
Squadron Attacked them in Front, another Enfiladed them, and in
Less than Five Hours the Confederates Fled for Life--A Heavy Gale
Weathered with Small Loss--Interesting Incidents of the Battle.
CHAPTER IX. THE _MONITOR_ AND THE _MERRIMAC_ 184
Superior Activity of the Confederates in Preparing for Ironclad
Warfare Afloat--Story of the Building and Arming of the _Merrimac_--
She was a Formidable Ship in Spite of Defects in Detail, but her
Design was not the Best Conceivable--Origin and Description of the
Ship that Revolutionized the Navies of the World--A Wondrous Trial
Trip--For One Day the _Merrimac_ was Irresistibly Triumphant--Two
Fine Ships of the Old Style Destroyed while she Herself Suffered but
Little--The Magnificent Fight of the _Cumberland_--A Difference in
Opinions.
CHAPTER X. FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN IRONCLADS 214
A Comparison between the _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_ by the
English Standard of 1812--It Astonished the Spectators to See
the Tiny _Monitor’s_ Temerity--After Half a Day’s Firing it was
Plain that the Guns could not Penetrate the Armor--Attempts to
Ram that Failed--The _Merrimac_ A-leak--Captain Worden of the
_Monitor_ Disabled when the _Merrimac’s_ Fire was Concentrated on the
Pilot-house--Where the _Monitor’s_ Gunners Failed--Fair Statement
of the Result of the Battle--Worden’s Faithful Crew--The _Merrimac_
Defied the _Monitor_ in May, but when Norfolk was Evacuated she
had to be Abandoned and was Burned at Craney Island--Loss of the
_Monitor_.
CHAPTER XI. WITH THE MISSISSIPPI GUNBOATS 239
Creating a Fleet for the Opening of the Water Route across the
Confederacy--Ironclads that were not Shot-proof, but Fairly
Efficient nevertheless--Guns that Burst and Boilers that were
Searched by Shot from the Enemy--When Grant Retreated and was
Covered by a Gunboat--First View of Torpedoes--Capture of Fort
Henry--A Disastrous Attack on Fort Donelson--When Walke Braved the
Batteries at Island No. 10--The Confederate Defence Squadron at
Fort Pillow--The First Battle of Steam Rams--Frightful Effects of
Bursted Boilers--In the White River--Farragut Appears.
CHAPTER XII. FARRAGUT AT NEW ORLEANS 311
It was Hard Work Getting the Squadron into the Mississippi--
Preparing the Ships to Run by the Forts Guarding the River--Mortar
Schooners Hidden by Tree Branches--The Forts were Well Planned, but
Poorly Armed--A Barrier Chain that was no Barrier at the Last--The
Heterogeneous Confederate Squadron--The Fire-rafts--Work of the
Coast Survey--Bravery of Caldwell--Foreigners who Interfered--
Work of the Mortar Fleet--When the Squadron Drove past the Forts--
Scattering the Confederate Squadron--Nevertheless, at least Three
Good Captains were Found among them--Sinking the _Varuna_--Fate of
the Ram _Manassas_--Surrender of the Forts--End of the Ironclad
_Louisiana_--The Work of the Mississippi Squadron.
CHAPTER XIII. FARRAGUT AT MOBILE 377
The Forts and the Confederate Squadron the Union Forces were
Compelled to Face--The Confederate Ironclad just Missed being a most
Formidable Ship--Tedious Wait for Monitors--When the Southwest
Wind Favored--There was a Fierce Blast from the Forts at First, but
the Torpedo was Worse than Many Guns--Fate of the _Tecumseh_ and
Captain Craven--The Last Words of the Man for whom “there was no
Afterward”--Torpedoes that Failed beneath the Flagship--Captain
Stevens on the Deck of his Monitor--When Neilds Unfurled the Old
Flag in the midst of the Storm--How Farragut was Lashed to the
Mast--Jouett would not be Intimidated by a Leadsman--Mobbing the
_Tennessee_.
CHAPTER XIV. TALES OF THE CONFEDERATE CRUISERS 407
The most Instructive Chapter in the History of the United States--
Work Accomplished by an Energetic Seaman in a Ship his Brother
Officers Condemned--Brilliant Work of the _Florida_ under John
Newland Maffitt--Bad Marksmanship and a Worse Lookout off Mobile--A
Case of Violated Neutrality--Semmes and the _Alabama_--The Battle
with the _Kearsarge_--What Kind of a Man is it that Fights his Ship
till she Sinks under him?--American Commerce Destroyed--The British
without a Rival on the Sea, at Last, and at Very Small Cost.
CHAPTER XV. THE _ALBEMARLE_ AND CUSHING 452
A Formidable Warship was Built under Remarkable Conditions to Enable
the Confederates to Regain Control of the Inland Waters of North
Carolina--Very Successful at First, but she was Laid up to Await
the Building of another One, and then came Cushing with his Little
Torpedo Boat, and the Confederate Hopes were Destroyed with their
Ship.
CHAPTER XVI. THE NAVY AT CHARLESTON 465
It was a Well-guarded Harbor, and the Channel was Long and Crooked--
The “Stone Fleet” and the Attitude of Foreign Powers--Brief Career
of Two Confederate Ironclads--The Blockade was not Raised--A
Confederate Cruiser Burned--Utter Failure of the Ironclad Attacks on
the Forts--Capture of the Confederate Warship _Atlanta_--“Boarders
Away” at Fort Sumter--Magnificent Bravery of the Men who Manned the
Confederate Torpedo Boats.
CHAPTER XVII. CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER 503
It was One of the Best Works in the South, though not well Located--
Butler’s Powder-boat Scheme, and what he Expected to Accomplish by
it--Throwing 15,000 Shells at the Fort Disabled Eight Great Guns out
of a Total of Thirty-eight--Butler Thought the Fort still too Strong
and would not Try--He did not even Make Intrenchments According to
Orders--Gen. A. H. Terry, with 6,000 Soldiers and 2,000 from the
Ships, Easily Took the Fort Three Weeks Later--The Navy’s Last Fight
in the Civil War.
CHAPTER XVIII. STORY OF THE NEW NAVY 523
The Folly of Allowing other Nations to Experiment for us--In Spite
of what we Learned from their Mistakes, we were Unable, when we First
Began for ourselves, to Build even a First-class Cruiser--The Result
of Ten Years of Earnest Work--Battle-ships whose Power is Conceded
by Foreign Writers--Cruisers that Awakened the Pride of the Nation--
Three “Newfangled Notions”--A Yankee Admiral at Rio Janeiro and a
Yankee Lieutenant on the Coast of Mexico--The One Important Fact
about the New Navy.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
FARRAGUT’S FLEET PASSING FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP. (From a
painting by Carlton T. Chapman), _Frontispiece_
A THIRTY-TWO-POUND CARRONADE FROM THE _CONSTITUTION_. 1
THE _MINNESOTA_ AS A RECEIVING SHIP. (From a photograph by
Rau), 3
A LOOP-PATTERN GUN OF 1836--A TYPE WHICH RUNS BACK OVER 100
YEARS, 4
A THIRTY-TWO-POUNDER FROM THE CAPTURED _MACEDONIAN_--NOW AT THE
BROOKLYN NAVY YARD. (From a photograph), 5
A THIRTY-TWO-POUNDER FROM THE CAPTURED _MACEDONIAN_. 7
OLD CAST-IRON THIRTY-TWO-POUNDER (BELIEVED TO BE SPANISH), 8
JOHN ERICSSON, 10
THE _GREAT WESTERN_--ONE OF THE FIRST STEAMSHIPS TO CROSS THE
ATLANTIC OCEAN. (After an old painting), 13
TWELVE-INCH WROUGHT-IRON GUN--THE MATE TO THE “PEACEMAKER,”
WHICH BURST ON THE _PRINCETON_. (From a photograph of the
original at the Brooklyn Navy Yard), 14
U. S. IRONCLAD STEAMSHIP _ROANOKE_. (From an old lithograph),
15
U. S. FRIGATE _PENSACOLA_ OFF ALEXANDRIA. (From a photograph
taken in 1865), 16
A TWELVE-POUND BRONZE HOWITZER--THE FIRST ONE MADE IN THE
UNITED STATES. (From a photograph of the original at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard), 18
A DAHLGREN GUN, 19
TWO BLAKELY GUNS AT THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD, 22
THE BLOCKADED COAST. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 29
MAP SHOWING POSITION OF UNITED STATES SHIPS OF WAR IN
COMMISSION MARCH 4, 1861, 33
GIDEON WELLES. (From a photograph), 34
GUSTAVUS V. FOX. (From an engraving), 36
GARRETT J. PENDERGRAST, 39
A FOUR-POUND CAST-IRON GUN CAPTURED FROM A BLOCKADE-RUNNER, 49
AN EIGHTEEN-POUND RIFLE CAPTURED FROM A BLOCKADE-RUNNER, 52
A SIX-POUND GUN CAPTURED FROM A BLOCKADE-RUNNER, 53
A NASSAU VIEW--ALONG THE SHORE EAST OF THE TOWN. (From a
photograph by Rau), 54
NASSAU SCHOONERS. (From a photograph by Rau), 55
THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER _TEASER_. (From a photograph made in 1864),
60
WASHINGTON, D. C., AND ITS VICINITY, 67
HIRAM PAULDING. (From an engraving by Hall), 71
A VIEW OF THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD. (From a photograph by Cook),
73
THE OLD _NEW HAMPSHIRE_ AT THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD. (From a
photograph by Cook), 77
BURNING OF THE VESSELS AT THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD, 79
THE CONFEDERATE STATES PRIVATEER _SAVANNAH_, LETTER OF MARQUE
NO. 1, CAPTURED OFF CHARLESTON BY THE U. S. BRIG _PERRY_,
LIEUTENANT PARROTT, 88
DESTRUCTION OF THE PRIVATEER _PETREL_ BY THE _ST. LAWRENCE_.
(From an engraving by Hinshelwood of the painting by
Manzoni), 95
S. H. STRINGHAM. (From an engraving by Buttre), 100
B. F. BUTLER. (From a photograph), 101
BOMBARDMENT AND CAPTURE OF THE FORTS AT HATTERAS INLET, N. C.
(From a lithograph published by Currier & Ives), 103
EIGHT-INCH MORTAR CAPTURED AT HATTERAS, 107
L. M. GOLDSBOROUGH. (From an engraving by Buttre), 108
STEPHEN C. ROWAN. (From a photograph), 109
ATTACK ON ROANOKE ISLAND--LANDING OF THE TROOPS. (From an
engraving of the painting by Chappel), 110
LANDING OF TROOPS ON ROANOKE ISLAND. (From an engraving by
Perine of a drawing by Momberger), 110
SURRENDER OF THE NAVY YARD AT PENSACOLA. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 113
HENRY WALKE. (From a photograph), 114
JOHN G. SPROSTON. (From a photograph at the Naval Academy,
Annapolis), 120
GALVESTON HARBOR. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 122
PASSES OF THE MISSISSIPPI. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”),
126
JAMES MURRAY MASON AND JOHN SLIDELL. (The two captured
commissioners), 141
CHARLES WILKES. (From an engraving by Dodson of the portrait by
Sully), 143
WILLIAM H. SEWARD. (From a photograph), 155
S. F. DUPONT. (From a photograph), 163
C. R. P. RODGERS. (From a photograph), 164
S. W. GODON. (From a painting at the Naval Academy, Annapolis),
165
JOSIAH TATTNALL. (From an engraving by Hall), 168
PLAN OF FORT WALKER ON HILTON HEAD. (From a drawing by R.
Sturgis, Jr., in 1861), 169
BOMBARDMENT OF PORT ROYAL, S. C. (From an engraving by Ridgeway
of a drawing by Parsons), 175
BOMBARDMENT AND CAPTURE OF FORTS WALKER AND BEAUREGARD,
NOVEMBER 7, 1861. (From an engraving by Perine), 179
FRANKLIN BUCHANAN, 189
THE _NEW IRONSIDES_ IN ACTION. (From a photograph, of a
drawing, owned by Mr. C. B. Hall), 190
THE GIANT AND THE DWARFS; OR, JOHN E. AND THE LITTLE MARINERS.
(From a Swedish caricature, February 10, 1867), 191
THE _MONITOR_, 192
HAMPTON ROADS. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 196
FORTRESS MONROE AND ITS VICINITY, 199
THE SINKING OF THE _CUMBERLAND_ BY THE IRONCLAD _MERRIMAC_.
(From a lithograph published by Currier & Ives), 202
THE _MERRIMAC_ RAMMING THE _CUMBERLAND_. (From a drawing by
M. J. Burns), 205
GEORGE U. MORRIS. (From a photograph owned by Mr. C. B. Hall),
207
J. L. WORDEN. (From a photograph), 216
DECK VIEW OF THE _MONITOR_ AND HER CREW. (From a photograph),
219
THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE _MERRIMAC_ AND THE _MONITOR_. (From a
lithograph published by Currier & Ives), 221
IN THE _MONITOR’S_ TURRET, 223
THE ACTION BETWEEN THE _MONITOR_ AND THE _MERRIMAC_. (From an
engraving of the picture by Chappel), 227
GROUP OF OFFICERS ON DECK OF THE _MONITOR_. (From a
photograph), 232
DESTRUCTION OF THE _MERRIMAC_ OFF CRANEY ISLAND. (From a
lithograph published by Currier & Ives), 237
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY--CAIRO TO MEMPHIS. (From “The Navy in the
Civil War”), 242–3
THE _CAIRO_. (From a photograph), 244
THE _PITTSBURG_. (After a photograph), 245
THE MISSISSIPPI FLEET OFF MOUND CITY, ILLINOIS. (From a
photograph owned by Mr. C. B. Hall), 247
A. H. FOOTE. (From a photograph), 250
THE BATTLE OF BELMONT: FIRST ATTACK BY THE _TAYLOR_ AND THE
_LEXINGTON_. (From a painting by Admiral Walke), 253
BATTLE OF BELMONT: U. S. GUNBOATS REPULSING THE ENEMY DURING
THE DEBARKATION. (From a painting by Admiral Walke), 257
INTERIOR OF THE _TAYLOR_ DURING THE BATTLE OF BELMONT. (From a
painting by Admiral Walke), 259
BATTLE OF FORT HENRY. (From a painting by Admiral Walke), 263
BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON. (From a painting by Admiral Walke),
269
EXPLOSION ON BOARD THE _CARONDELET_ AT THE BATTLE OF FORT
DONELSON. (From a painting by Admiral Walke), 273
U. S. FLOTILLA DESCENDING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (From a
painting by Admiral Walke), 277
BATTLE WITH FORT NO. 1 ABOVE ISLAND NO. 10. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 279
THE _CARONDELET_ RUNNING THE GAUNTLET AT ISLAND NO. 10. (From
a painting by Admiral Walke), 285
THE _CARONDELET_ ATTACKING THE FORTS BELOW ISLAND NO. 10.
(From a painting by Admiral Walke), 287
U. S. GUNBOATS CAPTURING THE CONFEDERATE FORTS BELOW ISLAND NO.
10, APRIL 7TH. (From a painting by Admiral Walke), 291
BATTLE OF FORT PILLOW. (From a painting by Admiral Walke) 295
THE BATTLE OF FORT PILLOW. (From a painting by Admiral Walke),
299
THE BATTLE OF MEMPHIS--FIRST POSITION. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 303
AFTER THE BATTLE OF MEMPHIS. (From a painting by Admiral
Walke), 305
BATTLE OF MEMPHIS--THE CONFEDERATES RETREATING. (From a
painting by Admiral Walke), 309
DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT. (From a photograph), 312
THIRTEEN-INCH MORTAR FROM FARRAGUT’S FLEET. (From a photograph
made at the Brooklyn Navy Yard), 316
NEW ORLEANS, LA., AND ITS VICINITY, 319
MORTAR BOATS. (From an engraving), 322
BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 327
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 331
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. (From a painting by Admiral Walke),
335
CONFEDERATE IRONCLAD RAM _STONEWALL JACKSON_. (From a
photograph), 337
THE _ESSEX_ AFTER RUNNING THE BATTERIES AT VICKSBURG AND PORT
HUDSON. (After a photograph), 341
THE _CARONDELET_ AFTER PASSING VICKSBURG. (From a photograph),
342
BATTLE BETWEEN THE _CARONDELET_ AND THE _ARKANSAS_. (From a
painting by Admiral Walke), 346
BATTLE BETWEEN THE _ARKANSAS_ AND THE _CARONDELET_. (From a
painting by Admiral Walke), 347
DESTRUCTION OF THE _ARKANSAS_ NEAR BATON ROUGE, AUGUST 4,
1862. (From a lithograph published by Currier & Ives), 349
DAVID D. PORTER. (From a photograph), 350
ADMIRAL FARRAGUT PASSING PORT HUDSON. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 353
THE U. S. FLOTILLA PASSING THE VICKSBURG BATTERIES. (From a
painting by Admiral Walke), 355
BATTLE OF GRAND GULF--FIRST POSITION. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 359
BATTLE OF GRAND GULF--SECOND POSITION. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 363
BATTLE OF GRAND GULF--THIRD POSITION. (From a painting by
Admiral Walke), 365
ADMIRAL PORTER ON DECK OF FLAGSHIP AT GRAND ÉCORE, LA. (From a
photograph), 368
U. S. RAM _LAFAYETTE_. (From a photograph), 369
U. S. GUNBOAT _FORT HINDMAN_. (From a photograph), 370
JOSEPH BAILEY. (From a photograph), 371
RED RIVER DAM. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 373
THE FLEET PASSING THE DAM. (From an engraving), 375
ENTRANCE TO MOBILE BAY. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 378
FARRAGUT AND DRAYTON ON BOARD THE _HARTFORD_ AT MOBILE BAY.
(Drawn by I. W. Taber from a photograph), 387
BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”),
390–91
T. A. M. CRAVEN (From a photograph owned by Mr. C. B. Hall),
393
BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. (From a painting by Admiral Walke), 397
THE CONFEDERATE RAM _TENNESSEE_, CAPTURED AT MOBILE. (From a
photograph), 404
RAPHAEL SEMMES. (From a photograph owned by Mr. C. B. Hall),
408
THE _FLORIDA_ RUNNING THE BLOCKADE AT MOBILE. (After a painting
by R. S. Floyd), 421
“A PRIZE DISPOSED AND ONE PROPOSED.” (After a painting by R. S.
Floyd), 425
RAPHAEL SEMMES AND HIS _ALABAMA_ OFFICERS. (From a photograph
owned by Mr. C. B. Hall), 433
JOHN A. WINSLOW. (From a photograph), 436
ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE U. S. S. _KEARSARGE_ AND THE _ALABAMA_
OFF CHERBOURG, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 1864. (From a French
lithograph), 439
THE _KEARSARGE_ SINKING THE _ALABAMA_. (From an engraving), 443
ACTION BETWEEN THE _KEARSARGE_ AND THE _ALABAMA_. (From an
engraving of the painting by Chappel), 445
WHITWORTH RIFLE CAPTURED FROM THE _SHENANDOAH_, 448
THREE FAMOUS CONFEDERATE CRUISERS. (From a painting by M. J.
Burns), 449
WILLIAM B. CUSHING. (From a photograph), 457
CUSHING BLOWING UP THE _ALBEMARLE_, 462
CHARLESTON HARBOR. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 466
BATTERY BROWN: TWENTY-EIGHT-INCH PARROTT RIFLE. (From a
photograph by Haas & Peale), 468
IN THE CHARLESTON BATTERIES: 300-POUNDER PARROTT RIFLE AFTER
BURSTING OF NOZZLE. (From a photograph by Haas & Peale), 469
GENERAL MAP OF CHARLESTON HARBOR, SOUTH CAROLINA, SHOWING
CONFEDERATE DEFENCES AND OBSTRUCTIONS, 476–7
IRONCLADS AND MONITORS BOMBARDING THE DEFENCES AT CHARLESTON.
(From an engraving), 481
CONFEDERATE IRONCLAD _ATLANTA_, CAPTURED AT WASSAW SOUND, JUNE
17, 1863. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 487
THE _WEEHAWKEN_ AND THE _ATLANTA_. (From a wood-cut), 488
JOHN A. B. DAHLGREN. (From a photograph), 489
BOMB-PROOF OF FORT WAGNER. (From a photograph by Haas & Peale),
491
BATTERY HAYES: EIGHTEEN-INCH PARROTT RIFLE--DISMOUNTED
BREACHING BATTERY AGAINST SUMTER. (From a photograph by Haas
& Peale), 492
BATTERY KIRBY: TWENTY-EIGHT-INCH SEACOAST MORTARS AGAINST
SUMTER. (From a photograph by Haas & Peale), 493
ADMIRAL DAHLGREN AND STAFF ON THE _PAWNEE_ AT CHARLESTON. (From
a photograph), 496
SKETCH SHOWING TORPEDO BOATS AS CONSTRUCTED AT CHARLESTON,
S. C. (From “The Navy in the Civil War”), 498
THE ENTRANCE TO CAPE FEAR RIVER, SHOWING FORT FISHER. (From
“The Navy in the Civil War”), 504
PLAN AND SECTIONS OF FORT FISHER. (From “The Navy in the Civil
War”), 506
THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT FISHER. (From a lithograph), 517
T. O. SELFREDGE. (From a photograph owned by Mr. C. B. Hall),
519
SECOND ATTACK UPON FORT FISHER BY THE U. S. NAVY, UNDER
REAR-ADMIRAL D. D. PORTER, JANUARY 13, 14, 15, 1865, 521
THE OLD METHOD OF HANDLING A SHIP’S BOWSPRIT. (From an old
engraving), 524
HAULING A VESSEL INTO PORT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. (From an old
engraving), 525
THE WHITE SQUADRON IN MID-OCEAN. (From a drawing by R. F.
Zogbaum), 529
U. S. S. _CHARLESTON_, SAN DIEGO HARBOR. (From a photograph),
531
THE _COLUMBIA_ ON HER GOVERNMENT SPEED TRIAL. (From a
photograph by Rau), 534
PLAN OF THE _IOWA_, 536
PLAN OF THE _CONSTITUTION_, 537
THE _VESUVIUS_. (From a photograph by Rau), 541
LAUNCHING OF ONE OF THE HOLLAND BOATS, THE _HOLLAND_, AT
ELIZABETHPORT, N. J., 1897. (From a photograph belonging to
the John P. Holland Co.), 543
ANOTHER OF THE HOLLAND SUBMARINE BOATS: THE _PLUNGER_. (From
a photograph of a drawing belonging to the John P. Holland
Co.), 545
THE HARBOR OF RIO JANEIRO, SHOWING THE FRIGATE _SAVANNAH_
STRUCK BY A SQUALL, JULY 5, 1856. (From a lithograph), 549
THE STERN AND PROPELLER OF THE _NIPSIC_ AFTER THE SAMOAN
HURRICANE. (From a photograph), 551
THE HARBOR AFTER THE SAMOAN HURRICANE. (From a photograph), 553
[Illustration: A Thirty-two-pound Carronade from the _Constitution_.]
THE HISTORY OF OUR NAVY
CHAPTER I
THE STATE OF THE NAVY IN 1859
A BRIEF STORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WARSHIP THAT WAS
PROPELLED BY BOTH SAILS AND STEAM--THE REMARKABLE FLOATING
BATTERY OF 1814--BARRON’S IDEA OF A RAM--THE STEVENS FLOATING
BATTERY--ERICSSON’S SCREW PROPELLER--STOCKTON AND THE FIRST SCREW
WARSHIP--EXPERIMENTS WITH GREAT GUNS--DISCOVERIES OF BOMFORD AND
RODMAN--PRACTICAL WORK BY DAHLGREN--A COMPARISON OF YANKEE FRIGATES
WITH A CLASS OF BRITISH SHIPS “AVOWEDLY BUILT TO COPE” WITH
THEM--THE CONDITION OF THE _PERSONNEL_.
From the point of view of a naval seaman it was a far cry from the
first war in defence of the nation’s life to the last one--so far,
indeed, that all the progress made in the construction of ships of war
from the time when men first went afloat to fight, down to the war of
the Revolution, had not equalled that made in the eighty odd years
that elapsed between, say, the battle of Lake Champlain, which was the
most important battle afloat in the Revolution, and that of Hampton
Roads, which was first in the Civil War.
Consider the forces that Arnold mustered against the whelming odds
under the ambitious Carleton. Though two of the vessels were dignified
with the name of schooner and one was called a sloop, the flagship of
the squadron was a galley managed by means of oars, and the fleet as a
whole, including the _Royal Savage_, was inferior to an equal number of
the galleys with which the Romans, in the days of Carthage, held sway
over the Mediterranean.
And then consider the ships that in 1860 graced the register of the
American navy--ships that with the aid of steam could hold their own
against wind and tide, and that carried guns of so large a calibre
that any but the largest from Arnold’s fleet might have been shoved
down their throats after the trunnions were knocked off. Arnold in his
flagship, the galley _Congress_, had eight guns of which the bore was
about three and a half inches in diameter, and the shot weighed six
pounds. But when the Civil War came, the _Minnesota_ was armed with
forty-two guns of a nine-inch calibre and one of eleven inches, besides
four rifles that threw elongated projectiles weighing 100 pounds and
one rifle with a projectile weighing 150. Arnold’s _Congress_ could
throw at a broadside twenty-four pounds of metal over an effective
range of perhaps 300 yards; the _Minnesota_ could throw 1,861 pounds
over an effective range of 1,600 yards.
And a still more wondrous advance was in the minds of men; it was at
hand--an advance to a point where steel forts were to be sent afloat in
place of the ships that were in 1859 the pride of naval seamen.
[Illustration: The _Minnesota_ as a Receiving Ship.
_From a photograph by Rau._]
Remarkable as it seems to the present-day student of naval history,
the changes in naval ships that produced the _Minnesota_ before the
year 1859--even the changes that gave us the steel fort afloat--were
foreshadowed in 1813 when the immortal Fulton made plans for a ship
of war that should not only be propelled by steam, but should be as
impregnable to the guns of that day as were the ironclads of 1862 to
the guns of their day.
[Illustration: A Loop-pattern Gun of 1836--a Type which Runs back over
100 Years.]
Although this ship was designed in 1813, she was not sent afloat until
October 29, 1814, and even then, although swifter and more convenient
than Fulton had promised that she should be--although she was the
very craft that on a smooth-water day could meet and destroy the
insolent blockading squadron then off Sandy Hook--she was not put into
commission immediately, and the war came to an end before there was
opportunity to show what steam might do for the sea power of a nation.
[Illustration: A Thirty-two-pounder from the Captured _Macedonian_--now
at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
_From a photograph._]
But because this was the first steam warship the world ever saw, and
because, when sent on trial trips, she more than fulfilled every
promise of her designer, it is worth while giving a full description
of her. Her length was 150 feet; breadth, 56 feet; depth, 20 feet;
water-wheel, 16 feet diameter; length of bucket, 14 feet; dip, 4 feet;
engine, 48-inch cylinder, 5-feet stroke; boiler, length, 22 feet;
breadth, 12 feet; and depth, 8 feet; tonnage, 2,475. She was the
largest steamer by many hundreds of tons that had been built at the
date of her launch. The commissioners appointed to examine her, in
their report say:
“She is a structure resting upon two boats, keels separated from end
to end by a canal fifteen feet wide and sixty-six feet long. One boat
contains the caldrons of copper to prepare her steam. The vast cylinder
of iron, with its piston, levers, and wheels, occupies a part of its
fellow; the great water-wheel revolves in the space between them; the
main or gun-deck supporting her armament is protected by a bulwark
four feet ten inches thick, of solid timber. This is pierced by thirty
portholes, to enable as many 32-pounders to fire red-hot balls; her
upper or spar deck, upon which several thousand men might parade, is
encompassed by a bulwark which affords safe quarters. She is rigged
with two short masts, each of which supports a large lateen yard and
sails. She has two bowsprits and jibs and four rudders, two at each
extremity of the boat; so that she can be steered with either end
foremost. Her machinery is calculated for the addition of an engine
which will discharge an immense column of water, which it is intended
to throw upon the decks and all through the ports of an enemy. If, in
addition to all this, we suppose her to be furnished, according to Mr.
Fulton’s intention, with 100-pounder columbiads, two suspended from
each bow, so as to discharge a ball of that size into an enemy’s ship
ten or twelve feet below the water-line, it must be allowed that she
has the appearance at least of being the most formidable engine of
warfare that human ingenuity has contrived.”
[Illustration: A Thirty-two-pounder from the Captured _Macedonian_.]
Formidable she certainly was, but no war came to demonstrate her
powers, and she lay in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a receiving-ship until
the 4th of June, 1829, when her magazine was fired, presumably by a
drunken member of the crew, and she was blown to pieces.
[Illustration: Old Cast-iron Thirty-two-pounder (Believed to be
Spanish).]
Robert L. Stevens, of Hoboken, in 1832, conceived the idea of
an ironclad ship that was to be 250 feet long and twenty-eight
wide--something lean and eager in pursuit and yet shot-proof. It was an
idea that cost him and his family nearly $2,000,000 before he was done
with it; but nothing came of it, save as it kept the restless inventors
of the world thinking on the subject of swift, impregnable ships of
war. Mr. Clinton Roosevelt, of New York, proposed to build a steamer
that should be sharp at both ends, “plating them with polished iron
armor, with high bulwarks, and a sharp roof plated in like manner, with
the design of glancing the balls. The means of offense are a torpedo,
made to lower on nearing an enemy, and driven by a mortar into the
enemy’s side under water, where, by a fusee, it will explode.” The idea
of polishing the armor to make it slippery seems amusing now; but the
fact is that even as late as 1862 the armor of vessels in the Civil
War was greased to make the projectiles glance off. Of course, the
grease was of no use.
It is worth noting that it was in 1836 that John Ericsson patented
in England his screw propeller. A model boat forty-five feet long,
which he named, for the American consul at Liverpool, the _Francis
B. Ogden_, attained in 1837 a speed of ten miles an hour. The Lords
of the Admiralty took a trip in this boat, and the opinion of Sir
William Symonds, who spoke for the others, is worth giving as showing
how thick-skulled prejudice operates to retard naval progress. He
said: “Even if the propeller had the power of propelling a vessel, it
would be found altogether useless in practice, because the power being
applied in the stern, it would be absolutely impossible to make the
vessel steer.”
[Illustration: John Ericsson.]
However, Capt. Robert F. Stockton made a trip on the _Ogden_, and
fortunately Stockton was at once a man of wealth and of common sense.
Being convinced of the value of the invention, he induced Ericsson to
leave England for the United States in the year 1839, and that was,
in a way, one of the most interesting events in the history of the
American republic.
Meantime, however, a steamer to replace the old _Demologos_, Fulton’s
first war steamer, had been launched in 1837. Practically the _Fulton
2d_, as she was called, was a sloop-of-war--a ship of one deck of guns,
propelled by paddle-wheels. She was broad and shallow in model, being
180 feet long by thirty-five wide and thirteen deep. She had horizontal
engines lying on her upper deck. Her paddle-wheels were twenty-two
feet in diameter, towering high above the deck, and her boilers were
made of copper. However, she carried eight long forty-twos and a long
twenty-four--a right powerful set of guns for that day, and she behaved
so well that Capt. Mathew C. Perry, who was assigned to her, expressed
the opinion that a time would come when sails, as a means of propelling
a man-of-war, would become obsolete. However, it must be said that this
remark made almost every one who heard of it, and especially the other
officers of the navy, think that Perry was a “visionary.”
It was in 1839 that Perry risked his reputation by an expression of
opinion--about the time that Ericsson reached the United States.
Backed by Stockton, Ericsson planned a man-of-war that should be driven
through the water by a submerged screw at the stern. The idea of a ship
being driven by machinery that was placed wholly below the water-line,
and so out of danger from an enemy’s shot, was of a kind to appeal even
to a backwoods congressman, and an appropriation was obtained. In 1843
the ship was launched under the name of _Princeton_, and she was in a
variety of ways vastly superior to anything built before her. She was
164 feet long by thirty wide and twenty-one deep, and with 200 tons of
coal and all supplies on board, she had a draft of nearly twenty feet.
Among other features, it appears that she was the first warship fitted
to burn anthracite coal, thus avoiding the dense volumes of black smoke
which revealed all foreign war-steamers. She was the first to carry
telescopic funnels that could be lowered to the level of the rail out
of the way of sails, and the first to use blowers to force the draft in
the furnaces. She was also the first to couple the screw directly to
the engine instead having cog-wheels intervene.
Her armament was also peculiar, for she was fitted with two long
wrought-iron guns that threw balls about a foot in diameter, weighing
225 pounds--guns that, when fired at a target at a range of 560 yards,
pierced fifty-seven inches of solid oak timber.
[Illustration: The _Great Western_--One of the First Steamships to
Cross the Atlantic Ocean.
_After an old painting._]
And there was one other peculiarity to which Stockton, who commanded
her, called attention with pride: “To economise room, and that the ship
may be better ventilated, curtains of _American manufactured_ linen are
substituted for the usual wooden bulkheads.”
[Illustration: Twelve-inch Wrought-iron Gun--the Mate to the
“Peacemaker,” which Burst on the _Princeton_.
(The carriage is a mortar carriage from Porter’s mortar fleet at New
Orleans.)
_From a photograph of the original at the Brooklyn Navy Yard._]
As a steamship the _Princeton_ was a very great success, but the art of
forging was not then sufficiently advanced to warrant the manufacture
of any but cast-iron guns. On a trial trip made from Washington in
1844, one of the great forged guns burst, killing and wounding a number
of gentlemen, including the Secretary of State and the Secretary of
the Navy, with several ladies who had been invited to go on the trip.
Stockton had boasted that “the numerical force of other navies, so
long boasted, may be set at naught, and the rights of the smallest
as well as the greatest nations may once more be respected.” And the
boast would have been almost justified but for the failure of the
wrought-iron gun.
[Illustration: U. S. Ironclad Steamship _Roanoke_.
(The first turreted frigate in the United States, 1863.)
_From an old lithograph._]
However, the success of the _Princeton_ as a ship was so pronounced
that money was appropriated from time to time for others designed much
as she was until the navy had six screw frigates--the _Niagara_, the
_Roanoke_, the _Colorado_, the _Merrimac_, the _Minnesota_, and the
_Wabash_; six screw sloops of the first class--the _San Jacinto_, the
_Lancaster_, the _Brooklyn_, the _Hartford_, the _Richmond_, and the
_Pensacola_, besides eight screw sloops of the second class, of which
the _Iroquois_ was a type, and five of the third class, of which the
_Mohawk_ was a type. There was also a screw frigate on the stocks at
the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, dock-yard. The guns that these ships
carried, when compared with those of the war of the Revolution, were
quite as interesting as the ships themselves.
[Illustration: U. S. Frigate _Pensacola_ off Alexandria.
_From a photograph taken in 1865._]
The prejudices in the way of improving great guns were not only strong,
but they were founded on experiences that were seemingly convincing
beyond peradventure. For instance, under Charles V a cannon was cast
at Genoa that was fifty-eight calibres long; that is, it was of about
six inches diameter of bore and twenty-nine feet long. When fired,
its ball of thirty-six pounds weight had less range than an ordinary
twelve-pounder. So they cut off four feet of the gun and found that its
range increased. Cutting off three feet more still further increased
the range, as did another cut of six inches--“which shows,” says
Simpson’s text-book on gunnery, printed in 1862, “that there is for
each piece a maximum length which should not be exceeded.” So that
dictum stood in the way of arriving at the design of a gun like the
modern rifle, that would really give the greatest possible range to
a projectile. Then, the distribution of the metal in the cannon with
which Arnold fought on Lake Champlain seems now ridiculous. One must
needs see a picture of the old gun beside one of the guns as developed
just previous to the Civil War to realize the difference; but it
may be said that, with the bell-shaped muzzle and the “rings” and
“reinforces,” the old gun in outline had as many ups and downs as some
step-ladders, while the cast-iron weapon of 1860 was as smooth and
symmetrical as the hull of a Yankee clipper.
[Illustration: A Twelve-pound Bronze Howitzer--the First One Made in
the United States.
_From a photograph of the original at the Brooklyn Navy Yard._]
A curious series of experiments, made by Colonel Bomford of the United
States Ordnance Department, told for the first time where the greatest
strain was exerted on the bore of a gun, and gave some idea of the
relative strain elsewhere along the bore. Taking an old cannon, he
drilled a hole from the side near the muzzle directly into the bore and
inserted a pistol-barrel. Then he put a bullet into the pistol-barrel,
and after loading the cannon in the ordinary way, he fired it. Of
course, as the cannon-ball was driven from the big gun the powder gas
behind it drove the pistol-ball from the pistol-barrel. The colonel
measured the velocity of the pistol-ball and made a note of it. Then he
drilled another hole in the cannon some inches farther from the muzzle,
and repeated the experiment. The force exerted on the pistol-ball
was slightly greater there. By drilling other holes he learned
approximately the pressure all along the bore. It appeared that the
greatest pressure was directly over the shot when it was rammed home
against the powder. From there the pressure decreased rapidly, being
only about half as much when the ball had travelled four times its own
diameter from its original resting place.
[Illustration: A Dahlgren Gun.]
Captain Rodman of the Ordnance Department, put a piston in place of
Bomford’s pistol-barrel and let the piston punch into a piece of
copper, and then determined the pressure on the piston by forcing the
same kind of a piston into the same kind of a piece of copper by a
known weight. “Although not an accurate process,” it was good enough,
and with the figures obtained by it before him, Lieut. John Dahlgren,
of the United States navy, designed the gun of smooth outline that by
its splendid success in the hands of both forces, during the Civil
War, made him famous. The greatest thickness of metal was placed around
the greatest strain, and a proper thickness at every inch of length of
the bore.
It was not alone, however, in putting the metal where it would prove
most serviceable that Dahlgren made his gun efficient. He was a
metallurgist, and was careful to improve the quality of iron used.
Meantime Captain Rodman had proposed to cast cannon hollow and cool
them from the interior, instead of casting a solid log of iron and
boring it out on the old plan. Although the first experiments did not
show any especial improvement in the strength of a gun so cast, the
method was eventually found to be the best.
With Dahlgren’s model a gun of eleven inches of diameter of bore was
cast in 1852. It was fired 500 times with shells and 655 times with
solid shot that weighed 170 pounds, the service charge of powder being
fifteen pounds. The gun was not seriously injured or worn even by the
work. That settled the status of the Dahlgren guns, and from that
time on they were furnished with reasonable rapidity to the new steam
warships of the navy.
Meantime rifled cannon made of cast iron reinforced over the breech by
a wrought-iron jacket that was shrunk on had been introduced into the
American navy. They varied from thirty-pounders up to 100-pounders,
and, except for the smaller calibres, were in many cases more dangerous
for their crews than for the enemy. It must be told also that a
cast-iron rifle known as the Brooke, because designed by Commander John
M. Brooke, of the Confederate navy, was produced in Richmond that was
better than the Parrott. It was strengthened in its early service days
by a series of wrought-iron bands two inches thick and six wide, that
were shrunk on over the breech. Later a second series of bands was
shrunk on over the first, breaking joints with them, of course, and so
a very good 150-pounder was produced.
Meantime one Dahlgren smooth-bore, with a bore fifteen inches in
diameter, had been successfully made, and the shells for all the
Dahlgren guns were provided with fuzes that could be set to explode
just about where and when the gunner wished to have them do so. But
whether the damage to be done by a fifteen-inch round shot smashing
its way through a ship’s side would be greater or less than that of a
rifle projectile boring its way through was a question that had not
been decided. It was granted that the rifle had the longer range--with
a reasonable elevation a rifle would carry three miles, maybe four,
and do some damage when the projectile arrived, while the effective
range of the smooth-bore was, say, 1,500 or 1,600 yards, though gunners
made efforts, when the time came, to run in to a range of 600 yards or
less instead. But, on the whole, it was the belief among American naval
officers before the Civil War that the big Dahlgren smooth-bore was the
best gun afloat.
[Illustration: Two Blakely Guns at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.]
So it came to pass that the newest and best ships of the navy were
armed with the Dahlgren gun. The _Merrimac_, which was not the best of
the frigates, carried twenty-four nine-inch guns on her gun deck, with
fourteen eight-inch and two ten-inch pivots on her spar deck. She could
throw 864 pounds of metal from her gun-deck broadside, 360 pounds from
her broadside of eight-inch guns, and 200 from her ten-inch, both of
which could be fired over either rail.
Mr. Hans Busk, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, was moved to write
on page 104, in his “Navies of the World,” that “the navy of the
United States has a tolerably imposing appearance upon paper,” but he
concludes that a British frigate of the _Diadem_ class, “avowedly built
to cope with those of the description of the _Merrimac_, etc., would
speedily capture her great ungainly enemy.” To fully appreciate this
remarkable statement it must be known that the _Diadem_ could fire at
a broadside ten ten-inch shells, weighing in the aggregate 820 pounds,
five thirty-two-pound solid shot, and two sixty-eight-pound solid
shot--in all 1,116 pounds of shot to 1,424 pounds that the _Merrimac’s_
broadside weighed.
The frigate _Minnesota_ carried, soon after the Civil War broke out,
no less than forty-two nine-inch Dahlgrens, one of eleven inches, four
100-pounder rifles, and one 150-pounder rifle. She could throw 1,861
pounds of metal at a broadside. Moreover, it was not a mere matter of
weight of metal. The diameter of the American projectiles was a matter
for serious consideration by the enemy, and so was the ability of the
gun to stand service. The best English gun could stand a charge of
twelve pounds of powder, and the best American fifteen. There was a
vast difference in the smashing effect of an eleven-inch shell driven
by fifteen pounds of powder and a ten-inch shell driven by twelve.
All this seems worth telling only because it shows that the ideas of
armament which prevailed among the English and the Americans before
the War of 1812 were still held by the two nations in 1859. Indeed,
the disproportion between the _Minnesota’s_ armament and that of the
_Diadem_ was very much greater than that between the _United States_
and the _Macedonian_.
In short, all things considered, the American people had just the fleet
they needed for that day to resist foreign aggression.
But while the patriot holds up his head in pride at the thought of the
ships of 1859, he hesitates and stammers when he comes to tell of the
men--of the _personnel_ of the navy. It was a far cry from the sailing
ships of the old days to the steam frigates of the later, but it was
a farther one, and a cry over the shoulder at that, from the men who
swept the seas under the once-despised gridiron flag to those who
carried the American naval commissions in 1859. It was not that courage
and enterprise were dead, or knowledge and skill were lacking. There
were, of course, men a-plenty who were brave and tactful and energetic
and learned--plenty who were to become during the war men of the widest
fame. But “long years of peace, the unbroken course of seniority
promotion, and the absence of any provision for retirement,” had served
the officers as lying in ordinary served white oak ships. Nearly all
of the captains were more than sixty years old. The commanders at the
head of the list were between fifty-eight and sixty years of age. There
were lieutenants more than fifty years old, and only a few of the
lieutenants had known the responsibility of a separate command.
And then, “as a matter of fact,” as Professor J. R. Soley says in his
work on “The Blockade and the Cruisers,” “it was no uncommon thing, in
1861, to find officers in command of steamers who had never served in
steamers before, and _who were far more anxious about their boilers_
than about their enemy.”
But that was not all nor the worst that can be said of the _personnel_
of that day, for a sentiment--a faith--had developed and spread to
a degree that now seems almost incredible, under which men who had
made oath that they would always defend the Constitution of the United
States came to believe that they were under obligations to draw their
swords against the flag they had sworn to defend--the flag which some
of them had defended with magnificent courage.
That the politicians should have been secessionists is not at all a
matter of wonder. It was entirely natural. But how a Tatnall, the story
of whose bravery at Vera Cruz still thrills the heart; how an Ingraham,
whose quick defence of the rights of a half-fledged American in the
Mediterranean is still an example to all naval officers--how these men
could have placed the call of friends and neighbors and a State above
the obligation of their oath to support the Constitution, is something
that is now incomprehensible.
It must be granted that they were of good conscience. There was not
a sordid thought in their minds--not one. Indeed, most of them felt
that they were making the greatest of sacrifices for the sake of
principle. But, if the writer may express his thoughts without offence,
no patriot can now read of the glorious achievements of the men who in
other days fought afloat for the honor of the nation, without feeling
inexpressibly shocked at the thought that any man of the navy should
have been found willing under any circumstances to strike at the
gridiron flag.
There is not a little interest in considering the actual numbers of the
men who left the navy to take part with the Southern States. Before
South Carolina passed her ordinance of secession there were 1,563
officers, commissioned and warrant, on the naval register. Of these,
677 were from Southern States; but 350 of these Southern-born men
remained true to the flag, while 321 resigned to enter the Confederate
navy. Of thirty-eight Southern captains, sixteen resigned; of
sixty-four Southern commanders, thirty-four resigned; of 151 Southern
lieutenants, seventy-six resigned; of 128 Southern acting midshipmen,
106 resigned.
And that is to say that so demoralized had the navy become under the
influence of quarrelling politicians that more than one-fifth of all
the officers were ready to forsake their allegiance.