DIFFICULTIES OF THE CONFEDERATES IN GETTING A NAVY. -- EXPLOIT OF
THE "FRENCH LADY." -- NAVAL SKIRMISHING ON THE POTOMAC. -- THE
CRUISE OF THE "SUMTER."
The disparity of maritime importance between the North and the South,
and the consequent difficulties to be overcome by the latter in
getting a navy, have been already alluded to. As it has been stated,
in river-steamers and ponderous rams the South was fairly well
supplied; but what was really needed were ocean-going ships, to break
the rigid blockade that was slowly starving the Confederacy into
submission,--swift cruisers to prey on the commerce of the enemy, and
powerful line-of-battle ships, which, by successfully coping with the
vessels of the United States on the high seas, should secure for the
Confederacy recognition, and possibly assistance, from the great
powers of Europe. But how to get these without shipyards,
shipbuilders, or seamen, was a task that baffled the ingenuity of the
best minds in the South. Immediately upon the organization of the
Confederate cabinet, an agent was sent to England to negotiate for
vessels and guns. But, though this agent was a man of wonderful
resources and great diplomacy, he found an almost insuperable obstacle
in the universally recognized law of nations, to the effect that no
neutral nation shall sell vessels or munitions of war to belligerents.
It is true that this agent, Capt. Bulloch, did succeed in securing
three ships,--the "Florida," the "Shenandoah," and the celebrated
"Alabama;" but to do so cost an immense amount of diplomacy and the
sacrificing of the strength of the vessels to the necessity which
existed for making them appear to be merchantmen. To build an
iron-clad in a foreign port, was out of the question; and consequently
ships so obtained were forced to fly from any well-equipped
war-vessel, and only venture to attack unarmed merchantmen.
[Illustration: The "French Lady."]
The United States vessels which were delivered into the hands of the
Confederates by their officers were mainly small revenue cutters, of
little use in naval warfare and soon given up or destroyed. Not a
single ship of this class made any record of distinguished service for
the Confederacy. Several merchant-vessels were captured by the
Confederates, who concocted the most ingenious plans to secure
success. One bright July morning the steamer "St. Nicholas" was lying
at her dock in Baltimore, with steam up, and all prepared for her
regular trip down the Chesapeake. Quite a large number of passengers
had bought tickets, and lounged about the decks, waiting for the
voyage to begin. Among the passengers were a number of mechanics, with
tools in their hands, going down the bay in search of work. Shortly
before the signal to cast off was given, a carriage was driven down
the wharf, and a lady, heavily veiled, alighted, assisted by two
gentlemen. The gentlemen stated that she was a French lady, and in
ill-health. Accordingly she was at once assigned a stateroom, to which
she retired. Soon after, the vessel cast off and headed down the bay.
When fairly out of the harbor, the stateroom door opened, and instead
of the frail, heavily veiled widow who went in, out strode a
black-whiskered man, armed to the teeth. He had no trouble now in
speaking English, and at once demanded the surrender of the ship. The
honest mechanics dropped their tools, and, drawing concealed weapons,
rallied around their leader. They had found the work they started out
to seek. The ship was captured, and a new privateer was ready to prey
on Northern merchant-ships. Once in the hands of the conspirators, the
vessel was run into a little port where the passengers were landed,
and a hundred and fifty more Confederates taken aboard. Under the
command of Capt. Thomas (the "French lady"), the vessel proceeded to
Fredericksburg, where she, and three brigs captured on the way, were
delivered to the Confederate leaders. This adventure so favorably
terminated, Thomas, with his officers, started back to Baltimore,
to lay plans for the capture of some other unsuspecting craft. But
fortune, which had thus far favored him, deserted him at last. On the
vessel upon which the conspirators took passage were two
police-officers of Baltimore. One of these officers recognized Thomas,
and quietly laid plans for his capture. In the harbor at Baltimore
stands Fort McHenry. Under its frowning casemates the ships of the
United States could lie without fear of attack from the thousands of
discontented men who made of Baltimore a secession city. The captain
of the "Mary Washington" was ordered by Lieut. Carmichael, the officer
of police, to bring the ship into the anchorage, under the guns of the
fort. This soon came to the ears of Thomas, who with his men rallied
on the deck, and, with revolvers drawn, seemed prepared to make a
desperate resistance. They were soon convinced that the officers had
ample power behind them, and therefore submitted. On arriving at the
fort, a company of soldiers was sent aboard the boat, and the
prisoners were marched ashore. But Thomas was not to be found. Search
was made in all parts of the boat, without avail; and the officers had
decided that he had jumped overboard, with the desperate intention of
swimming ashore. Just as they were about to give up the search, a
noise was heard that seemed to come from a bureau in the ladies'
cabin. Search was made, and there, coiled up in a narrow
bureau-drawer, lay the leader of the band. He had been there two
hours, and was helpless from cramp and exhaustion. He was placed in a
cell at Fort Lafayette; but later, having been given the privilege of
walking about the fort, managed to escape by making floats of empty
tomato-cans, and with their aid swimming almost two miles. He was
afterwards recaptured, and remained a prisoner until released by
reason of an exchange of prisoners between the North and South. Soon
after his capture, the Federal authorities at Baltimore learned that
plans had been made to capture other passenger steamers in the same
way; but the ringleader being locked up, there was no difficulty in
defeating the plans of the band.
During the first few weeks of the war, before active hostilities had
fairly commenced, events of this nature were of almost daily
occurrence. On the Potomac particularly, small cruisers were in
continual danger of being captured, and put into commission under the
Confederate flag. A trading schooner loaded with garden-produce,
dropping lazily down the river to the bay, would suddenly be boarded
by four or five armed men, her crew driven below, and the vessel run
into some convenient port on the Virginia shore, to re-appear in a day
or two with a small rifled cannon mounted on the forecastle, and a
crew thirsting to capture more vessels for the Confederacy. On one
occasion a party of congressmen from Washington started down the
Potomac for an excursion to Hampton Roads. Their vessel was a small
tug, which carried a bow-gun carefully screened from observation by
tarpaulin. A short distance down the river, a boat with a howitzer was
seen putting out into the stream, and shaping its course directly
across the bows of the tug. As the two boats drew nearer together, a
demand came from the smaller that the tug should be surrendered "to
the State of Virginia." Apparently yielding, the captain of the tug
slowed up his vessel, and waited for his assailants to come alongside,
which they did until suddenly confronted with the muzzle of a cannon,
trained directly on their boat, and a loud voice demanding that they
surrender at once, which they accordingly did, and were taken to
Washington by their triumphant captors. Many such trivial events are
chronicled by the newspapers of the time. The advantage gained by
either side was small, and the only effect was to keep the war
sentiment at fever-heat.
[Illustration: Blockading the Mouth of the Mississippi.]
The first regularly commissioned man-of-war of the Confederate States
was the "Sumter," an old passenger steamer remodelled so as to carry
five guns. This vessel, though only registering five hundred tons, and
smaller than many a steam-yacht of to-day, roamed over the high seas
at will for more than a year, burning and destroying the
merchant-vessels of the North, and avoiding easily any conflicts with
the Northern men-of-war. Her exploits made the owners of American
merchant-vessels tremble for their property; and the United States
authorities made the most desperate attempts to capture her, but in
vain. In his journal of Dec. 3, 1861, Capt. Semmes of the "Sumter"
writes with the greatest satisfaction: "The enemy has done us the
honor to send in pursuit of us the 'Powhattan,' the 'Niagara,' the
'Iroquois,' the 'Keystone State,' and the 'San Jacinto.'" Any one of
these vessels could have blown the 'Sumter' out of water with one
broadside, but the cunning and skill of her commander enabled her to
escape them all.
It was on the 1st of June, 1861, that the "Sumter" cast loose from the
levee at New Orleans, and started down the Mississippi on her way to
the open sea. For two months workmen had been busy fitting her for the
new part she was to play. The long rows of cabins on the upper deck
were torn down; and a heavy eight-inch shell-gun, mounted on a pivot
between the fore and mainmasts, and the grinning muzzles of four
twenty-four-pounder howitzers peeping from the ports, told of her
warlike character. The great levee of the Crescent City was crowded
with people that day. Now and again the roll of the drum, or the
stirring notes of "Dixie," would be heard, as some volunteer company
marched down to the river to witness the departure of the entire
Confederate navy. Slowly the vessel dropped down the river, and,
rounding the English turn, boomed out with her great gun a parting
salute to the city she was never more to see. Ten miles from the mouth
of the river she stopped; for anchored off the bar below lay the
powerful United States steamer "Brooklyn," with three other
men-of-war, each more than a match for the infant navy of the
Confederacy. Eleven days the "Sumter" lay tugging at her anchors in
the muddy current of the great river, but at last the time of action
arrived. The news came that the "Brooklyn" had started in chase of a
vessel, and the mouth of the river was clear. Quickly the "Sumter" got
under way, and with all steam up made for the channel over the bar.
She was still six miles from the bar when the "Brooklyn" caught sight
of her, and abandoning her first chase strove desperately to head her
off. It was a time of intense excitement. Each vessel was about
equally distant from the bar for which each was steaming at the
highest possible speed. For the "Sumter," it was escape or die. It was
too late to fly up the river to the sheltering guns of Fort St.
Philip. Should the "Brooklyn" get within range, the "Sumter" was
doomed. The "Brooklyn" was the faster vessel of the two, but had the
wind in her teeth; while the "Sumter" had the advantage of wind and
current. At length the pass was reached, and the "Sumter" dashed over
the bar, and out on the smooth blue water of the Gulf of Mexico, well
ahead of her powerful foe. The "Brooklyn" quickly rounded to, and a
quick puff of smoke from amidships told the crew of the flying vessel
that the terrible pivot-gun of their enemy had sent a warning message
after them. But there was but a second of suspense, when a great jet
of water springing from the surface of the gulf told that the bolt had
fallen short. The "Brooklyn" then quickly crowded on all sail, and
started in hot pursuit, but after four hours abandoned the chase, put
up her helm, and started sullenly back for the river's mouth; while
the tars of the "Sumter" crowded shrouds and bulwarks, and cheered
heartily for the navy of the young Confederacy.
The "Sumter" was now fairly embarked on her career. The open sea was
her territory, and all ships floating the stars and stripes at the
masthead were to be her prey. She was not a strong vessel; and her
orders were to avoid any battles with the powerful ships of the
"Yankee" navy, but to seize and destroy all merchantmen that should
come in her way. Her first purpose was to capture these vessels, and
by selling them in neutral ports profit by the prize. But the neutral
nations soon refused to admit all rebel prizes to their ports; and, as
all the ports of the Confederacy were closed by the blockade, nothing
was left but to burn the vessels when captured. Many a floating
bonfire marked the way of the little "Sumter," and great was the
consternation among the ship-owners of the North.
When four days out, the "Sumter" captured her first prize. She was a
fine ship, the "Golden Rocket" of Maine, six hundred and ninety tons.
With the United States flag fluttering at the peak, she came sailing
proudly towards her unsuspected enemy, from whose peak the red flag of
England was displayed as a snare. When the two vessels came within a
mile of each other, the wondering crew of the merchantman saw the
English flag come tumbling down, while a ball of bunting rose quickly
to the peak of the mysterious stranger, and catching the breeze
floated out, showing a strange flag,--the stars and bars of the
Confederacy. At the same minute a puff of smoke from the "Long Tom"
amidships was followed by a solid shot ricochetting along the water
before the dismayed merchantman, and conveying a forcible, but not at
all polite, invitation to stop. The situation dawned on the astonished
skipper of the ship,--he was in the hands of "the Rebels;" and with a
sigh he brought his vessel up into the wind, and awaited the outcome
of the adventure. And bad enough the outcome was for him; for Capt.
Semmes, unwilling to spare a crew to man the prize, determined to set
her on fire. It was about sunset when the first boat put off from the
"Sumter" to visit the captured ship. The two vessels were lying a
hundred yards apart, rising and falling in unison on the slow rolling
swells of the tropic seas. The day was bright and warm, and in the
west the sun was slowly sinking to the meeting line of sky and ocean.
All was quiet and peaceful, as only a summer afternoon in Southern
seas can be. Yet in the midst of all that peace and quiet, a scene in
the great drama of war was being enacted. Nature was peaceful, man
violent.
For a time nothing was heard save the measured thump of the oars in
the rowlocks, as the boats plied to and fro between the two ships,
transporting the captured crew to the "Sumter." Finally the last trip
was made, and the boat hoisted to the davits. Then all eyes were
turned toward the "Golden Rocket." She lay almost motionless, a dark
mass on the black ocean. The sun had long since sunk beneath the
horizon; and the darkness of the night was only relieved by the
brilliancy of the stars, which in those latitudes shine with wondrous
brightness. Soon the watches on the "Sumter" caught a hasty breath. A
faint gleam was seen about the companionway of the "Rocket." Another
instant, and with a roar and crackle, a great mass of flame shot up
from the hatch, as from the crater of a volcano. Instantly the
well-tarred rigging caught, and the flame ran up the shrouds as a
ladder of fire, and the whole ship was a towering mass of flame. The
little band of men on the "Sumter" looked on the terrific scene with
bated breath. Though they fully believed in the justice of their
cause, they could not look on the destruction they had wrought without
feelings of sadness. It was their first act of war. One of the
officers of the "Sumter" writes: "Few, few on board can forget the
spectacle,--a ship set fire to at sea. It would seem that man was
almost warring with his Maker. Her helpless condition, the red flames
licking the rigging as they climbed aloft, the sparks and pieces of
burning rope taken off by the wind, and flying miles to leeward, the
ghastly glare thrown upon the dark sea as far as the eye could reach,
and then the deathlike stillness of the scene,--all these combined to
place the "Golden Rocket" on the tablet of our memories forever." But
it was not long before the crew of the "Sumter" could fire a vessel,
and sail away indifferently, with hardly a glance at their terrible
handiwork.
The "Sumter" continued on her cruise, with varying fortunes. Sometimes
weeks would pass with no prizes to relieve the tedium of the long
voyage. Occasionally she would run into a neutral port for coal or
water, but most of the time was spent on the open sea. The crew were
kept actively employed with drills and exercises; while the officers,
yawning over their books or games, longed for the welcome cry from the
masthead, "Sail ho!" In September the "Sumter" captured a brig, the
"Joseph Park;" and the boarding officer, on examining the log-book,
found an entry made by her captain on the day of leaving Pernambuco:
"We have a tight, fast vessel, and we don't care for Jeff Davis." The
unlucky captain had holloaed long before he was out of the wood.
The "Joseph Park" was the last prize the tars of the "Sumter" had the
pleasure of "looting" for many days. Up and down the tropic seas the
cruiser travelled, loitering about the paths of ocean commerce to no
avail. Often enough the long-drawn hail of the lookout in the
cross-trees, "Sail ho-o-o-o!" would bring the jackies tumbling up from
the forecastle, and set the officers peering anxiously through their
telescopes. But the sails so sighted proved to be English, French,
Spanish, any thing but American; and life aboard the "Sumter" became
as dull as a fisher's where fish are not to be found. In September
Capt. Semmes ran his vessel into a Martinique harbor, to make some
needed repairs, and give the sailors a run ashore. Here they were
blockaded for some time by the United States frigate "Iroquois," but
finally escaped through the cunning of Semmes. Lying in the harbor
near the "Sumter" were two Yankee schooners, whose captains arranged
with the commander of the "Iroquois" to signal him if the "Sumter"
should leave the harbor. If on passing the bar she headed south, a
single red light should gleam at the masthead of the schooner; should
her course lie northward, two lights would be displayed. Semmes, lying
at anchor in the bay, and chafing over his captivity, determined to
break away. He had noticed the frequent communications between the
schooners and the man-of-war, and suspected that his course would be
spied out. Nevertheless, he determined to dare all, and one black
night slipped his cables, and with all lights out, and running-gear
muffled, glided swiftly out of the harbor. In the distance he could
see the lights of the "Iroquois," as she steamed slowly up and down in
the offing, like a sentry on guard. Up in the cross-trees of the
"Sumter" sat a sharp-eyed old quarter-master, with orders not to mind
the "Iroquois," but to keep a close watch on the suspected schooners.
Soon a light gleamed from the maintop of each. Semmes's suspicions
grew. "They have signalled our course," said he: "we'll double." The
ship's head was quickly brought about, and headed south; then all
turned to watch the movements of the "Iroquois." She had headed
northward, and was exerting every power to catch the flying vessel
supposed to be just ahead. Satisfied with having so successfully
humbugged the enemy, the "Sumter" proceeded leisurely on her course to
the southward, leaving the "Iroquois" steaming furiously in the
opposite direction. "I do think, however," writes Capt Semmes in his
log-book, "that a tough old quarter-master, and a grizzled boatswain's
mate, who had clean shaven their heads in preparation for a desperate
fight, were mightily disgusted."
The subsequent career of the "Sumter" was uneventful. She captured but
few more vessels; and in January of the next year ran into the harbor
at Gibraltar, where she was blockaded by a powerful United States
frigate, and finally sold as being worn out. She had been in
commission a little over a year, and in that time had captured
eighteen vessels, burned seven, and released two on a heavy ransom to
be paid to the Confederate Government at the end of the war. It is
needless to say these ransoms were never paid. Capt. Semmes, with his
crew, proceeded to England, and took command of a mysterious ship,
"No. 290," just built at Liverpool, which soon appeared on the high
seas as the dreaded "Alabama."