Naval Affairs.--Organization of the Navy Department.--Two Classes
of Vessels.--Experiments for Floating Batteries and Rams.--The
Norfolk Navy-Yard.--Abandonment by the Enemy.--The Merrimac
Frigate made an Ironclad.--Officers.--Trial-Trip.--Fleet of the
Enemy.--Captain Buchanan.--Resolves to attack the Enemy.--Sinks
the Cumberland.--Burns the Congress.--Wounded.--Executive Officer
Jones takes Command.--Retires for the Night.--Appearance of the
Monitor.--The Virginia attacks her.--She retires to Shoal Water.--
Refuses to come out.--Cheers of English Man-of-war.--Importance of
the Navy-Yard.--Order of General Johnston to evacuate.--Stores
saved.--The Virginia burned.--Harbor Defenses at Wilmington.--
Harbor Defenses at Charleston.--Fights in the Harbor.--Defenses of
Savannah.--Mobile Harbor and Capture of its Defenses.--The System
of Torpedoes adopted.--Statement of the Enemy.--Sub-terra Shells
placed in James River.--How made.--Used in Charleston Harbor; in
Roanoke River; in Mobile Harbor.--The Tecumseh, how destroyed.
The organization of the Navy Department comprised under its general
supervision a bureau of orders and details, one of ordnance and
hydrography, one of provisions and clothing, and one of medicine and
surgery. The grades of officers consisted of admirals, captains,
commanders, surgeons, lieutenants, and midshipmen. Of the officers at
the close of the first year there were one admiral, twelve captains,
thirty commanders, and one hundred and twelve first and second
lieutenants. All of the principal officers had belonged to the United
States Navy. Owing to the limited number of vessels afloat, many of
these officers were employed on shore-duties.
The vessels of the navy may be reduced to two classes: those intended
for river and harbor defense, as ironclads, rams, floating batteries,
or river-steamboats transformed into gunboats; and sea-going steamers
of moderate size, some of them of great speed, but, not having been
designed for war purposes, were all unsuited for a powerful armament,
and could not be expected to contend successfully with ships of war.
Early in 1861 discussions and experiments were instituted by the Navy
Department to determine how floating batteries and naval rams could
be best constructed and protected by iron plates. Many persons had
submitted plans, according to which cotton-bales might be effectively
used as a shield against shot. Our deficiency in iron, and also in
rolling-mills to prepare it into plates, caused cotton to be
sometimes so employed; though the experiments had satisfied the Navy
Department that, instead of cotton being rendered impenetrable by
compression, it was really less so than in looser condition, and that
iron must needs be of great thickness to resist the direct impact of
heavy shot at short ranges. An officer of the navy, as skillful in
ordnance as he was in seamanship, and endowed with high capacity for
the investigation of new problems--Lieutenant Catesby Ap R. Jones--
had conducted many of these experiments, and, as will be seen
hereafter, made efficient use of his knowledge both in construction
and in battle.
After Virginia had seceded from the United States, but before she had
acceded to the Confederate States--viz., on the 19th of April,
1861--General Taliaferro, in command of Virginia forces, arrived at
Norfolk. Commodore McCauley, United States Navy, and commandant of
the navy-yard, held a conference with General Taliaferro, the result
of which was "that none of the vessels should be removed, nor a shot
fired except in self-defense." The excitement which had existed in
the town was quieted by the announcement of this arrangement; but it
was soon ascertained that the Germantown and Merrimac, frigates in
the port, had been scuttled, and the former otherwise injured. About
midnight, as elsewhere stated, a fire was started in the navy-yard,
which continued to increase, involving the destruction of the
ship-houses, a ship of the line, and the unfinished frame of another;
several frigates, in addition to those mentioned, had been scuttled
and sunk; and other property destroyed, to an amount estimated at
several million dollars. The Pawnee, which arrived on the 19th, had
been kept under steam, and, taking the Cumberland in tow, retired
down the harbor, freighted with a great portion of valuable munitions
and the commodore and other officers of the yard.[53] In the haste
and secrecy of the conflagration, a large amount of material remained
uninjured. The Merrimac, a beautiful frigate, in the yard for
repairs, was raised by the Virginians, and the work immediately
commenced, on a plan devised by Lieutenant Brooke, Confederate States
Navy, to convert her hull, with such means as were available, into an
iron-clad vessel. Two-inch plates were prepared, and she was covered
with a double-inclined roof of four inches thickness. This armor,
though not sufficiently thick to resist direct shot, sufficed to
protect against a glancing ball, and was as heavy as was consistent
with the handling of the ship. The shield was defective in not
covering the sides sufficiently below the water-line, and the prow
was unfortunately made of cast-iron; but, when all the difficulties
by which we were surrounded are remembered, and the service rendered
by this floating battery considered, the only wonder must be that so
much was so well done under the circumstances.
Her armament consisted of ten guns, four single-banded Brooke rifles,
and six nine-inch Dahlgren shell-guns. Two of the rifles, bow and
stern pivots, were seven inch; the other two were six and four tenths
inch, one on each broadside. The nine-inch gun on each side, nearest
the furnaces, was fitted for firing hot shot. The work of
construction was prosecuted with all haste, the armament and crew
were put on board, and the vessel started on her trial-trip as soon
as the workmen were discharged. She was our first ironclad; her model
was an experiment, and many doubted its success. Her commander,
Captain (afterward Admiral) Franklin Buchanan, with the wisdom of age
and the experience of sea-service from his boyhood, combined the
daring and enterprise of youth, and with him was Lieutenant Catesby
Ap R. Jones, who had been specially in charge of the battery, and
otherwise thoroughly acquainted with the ship. His high
qualifications as an ordnance officer were well known in the "old
navy," and he was soon to exhibit a like ability as a seaman in
battle.
Now the first Confederate ironclad was afloat, the Stars and Bars
were given to the breeze, and she was new-christened "the Virginia."
She was joined by the Patrick Henry, six guns, Commander John R.
Tucker; the Jamestown, two guns. Lieutenant-commanding John N.
Barney; the Beaufort, one gun, Lieutenant-commanding W. H. Parker;
the Raleigh, one gun, Lieutenant-commanding J. W. Alexander; the
Teaser, one gun, Lieutenant-commanding W. A. Webb.
The enemy's fleet in Hampton Roads consisted of the Cumberland,
twenty-four guns; Congress, fifty guns; St. Lawrence, fifty guns;
steam-frigates Minnesota and Roanoke, forty guns each. The relative
force was as twenty-one guns to two hundred and four, not counting
the small steamers of the enemy, though they had heavier armament
than the small vessels of our fleet, which have been enumerated. The
Cumberland and the Congress lay off Newport News; the other vessels
were anchored about nine miles eastward, near to Fortress Monroe.
Strong shore-batteries and several small steamers, armed with heavy
rifled guns, protected the frigates Cumberland and Congress.
Buchanan no doubt felt the inspiration of a sailor when his vessel
bears him from the land, and the excitement of a hero at the prospect
of battle, and thus we may understand why the trial-trip was at once
converted into a determined attack upon the enemy. After the plan of
the Virginia had been decided upon, the work of her construction was
pushed with all possible haste. Her armament was on board, and she
was taken out of the dock while the workmen were still employed upon
her--indeed, the last of them were put ashore after she was started
on her first experimental trip. Few men, conscious as Flag-officer
Buchanan was of the defects of his vessel, would have dared such
unequal conflict. Slowly--about five knots an hour--he steamed down
to the roads. The Cumberland and Congress, seeing the Virginia
approach, prepared for action, and, from the flag-ship Roanoke,
signals were given to the Minnesota and St. Lawrence to advance. The
Cumberland had swung so as to give her full broadside to the
Virginia, which silently and without any exhibition of her crew,
moved steadily forward. The shot from the Cumberland fell thick upon
her plated roof, but rebounded harmless as hailstones. At last the
prow of the Virginia struck the Cumberland just forward of her
starboard fore-chains. A dull, heavy thud was heard, but so little
force was given to the Virginia that the engineer hesitated about
backing her. It was soon seen, however, that a gaping breach had been
made in the Cumberland, and that the sea was rushing madly in. She
reeled, and, while the waves ingulfed her, her crew gallantly stood
to their guns and vainly continued their fire. She went down in nine
fathoms of water, and with at least one hundred of her gallant crew,
her pennant still flying from her mast-head.
The Virginia then ran up stream a short distance, in order to turn
and have sufficient space to get headway, and come down on the
Congress. The enemy, supposing that she had retired at the sight of
the vessels approaching to attack her, cheered loudly, both ashore
and afloat. But, when she turned to descend upon the Congress, as she
had on the Cumberland, the Congress slipped her cables and ran
ashore, bows on. The Virginia took position as near as the depth of
water would permit, and opened upon her a raking fire. The Minnesota
was fast aground about one mile and a half below. The Roanoke and St.
Lawrence retired toward the fort. The shore-batteries kept up their
fire on the Virginia, as did also the Minnesota at long range, and
quite ineffectually. The Congress, being aground, could but feebly
reply. Several of our small vessels came up and joined the Virginia,
and the combined fire was fearfully destructive to the Congress. Her
commander was killed, and soon her colors were struck, and the white
flag appeared both at the main and spanker gaff. The Beaufort,
Lieutenant-commanding W. H. Parker, and the Raleigh,
Lieutenant-commanding J. W. Alexander, tugs which had accompanied the
Virginia, were ordered to the Congress to receive the surrender. The
flag of the ship and the sword of its then commander were delivered
to Lieutenant Parker, by whom they were subsequently sent to the Navy
Department at Richmond. Other officers delivered their swords in
token of surrender, and entreated that they might return to assist in
getting their wounded out of the ship. The permission was granted to
the officers, and they then took advantage of the clemency shown them
to make their escape. In the mean time the shore-batteries fired upon
the tugs, and compelled them to retire. By this fire five of their
own men, our prisoners, were wounded. Flag-officer Buchanan had
stopped the firing upon the Congress when she struck her flag, and
ran up the white flag, as heretofore described. Lieutenant Jones in
his official report, referring to the Congress, writes: "But she
fired upon us with the white flag flying, wounding Lieutenant Minor
and several of our men. We again opened fire upon her, and she is now
in flames." The crew of the Congress escaped, as did that of the
Cumberland, by boats, or by swimming, and generously our men
abstained from firing on them while so exposed. Flag-officer Buchanan
was wounded by a rifle-ball, and had to be carried below. His
intrepid conduct won the admiration of all. The executive and
ordnance officer, Lieutenant Catesby Ap R. Jones, succeeded to the
command. It was now so near night and the change of the tide that
nothing further could be attempted on that day. The Virginia, with
the smaller vessels attending her, withdrew and anchored off Sewell's
Point. She had sunk the Cumberland, left the Congress on fire, had
blown up a transport-steamer, sunk one schooner, and had captured
another. Casualties, reported by Lieutenant Jones, were two killed
and eight wounded. The prow of the Virginia was somewhat damaged, her
anchor and all her flag-staffs were shot away, and her smoke-stack
and steam-pipe were riddled; otherwise, the vessel was uninjured,
and, as will be seen, was ready for action on the next morning. The
prisoners and wounded were immediately sent up to the hospital at
Norfolk.
During the night the Monitor, an iron-clad turret-steamer, of an
entirely new model, came in, and anchored near the Minnesota. Like
our Virginia she was an invention, and her merits and demerits were
to be tested in the crucible of war. She was of light draught, and
very little save the revolving turret was visible above the water,
was readily handled, and had good speed; but, also, like the
Virginia, was not supposed by nautical men to be capable of braving
rough weather at sea.
The Virginia was the hull of a frigate, modified into an ironclad
vessel. She was only suited to smooth water, and it had not been
practicable to obtain for her such engines as would have given her
the requisite speed. Her draught, twenty-two feet, was too great for
the shoal water in the roads, and the apprehension which was excited
lest she should go up to Washington might have been allayed by a
knowledge of the deep water necessary to float her. Her great length,
depth, and want of power, caused difficulty in handling to be
anticipated. In many respects she was an experiment, and, had we
possessed the means to build a new vessel, no doubt a better model
could have been devised. Commander Brooke, who united much science to
great ingenuity, was not entirely free in the exercise of either. Our
means restricted us to making the best of that which chance had given
us.
In the morning the Virginia, with the Patrick Henry, the Jamestown,
and the three little tugs, jestingly called the "mosquito fleet,"
returned to the scene of the previous day's combat, and to the
completion of the work, the destruction of the Minnesota, which had,
the evening before, been interrupted by the change of tide and the
coming of night. The Monitor, which had come in during the previous
night, and had been seen by the light of the burning Congress, opened
fire on the Virginia when about the third of a mile distant. The
Virginia sought to close with her, but the greater speed of the
Monitor and the celerity with which she was handled made this
impracticable. The ships passed and repassed very near each other,
and frequently the Virginia delivered her broadside at close
quarters, but with no perceptible effect. The Monitor fired rapidly
from her revolving turret, but not with such aim as to strike
successively in the same place, and the armor of the Virginia,
therefore, remained unbroken. Lieutenant-commanding Catesby Jones, to
whom Buchanan had intrusted the ship when he was removed to the
hospital, soon discovered that the Monitor was invulnerable to his
shells. He had a few solid shot, which were intended only to be fired
from the nine-inch guns as hot shot, and therefore had necessarily so
much windage that they would be ineffective against the shield of the
Monitor. He, therefore, determined to run her down, and got all the
headway he could obtain for that purpose, but the speed was so small
that it merely pushed her out of her way. It was then decided to
board her, and all hands were piped for that object. Then the Monitor
slipped away on to shoal water where the Virginia could not approach
her, and Commander Jones, after waiting a due time, and giving the
usual signals of invitation to combat, without receiving any
manifestation on the part of the Monitor of an intention to return to
deep water, withdrew to the navy-yard.
In the two days of conflict our only casualties were from the
Cumberland as she went down valiantly fighting to the last, from the
men on shore when the tugs went to the Congress to receive her
surrender, or from the perfidious fire from the Congress while her
white flags were flying. None were killed or wounded in the fight
with the Monitor.
As this was the first combat between two iron-clad vessels, it
attracted great attention and provoked much speculation. Some assumed
that wooden ships were henceforth to be of no use, and much has been
done by the addition of armor to protect seagoing vessels; but
certainly neither of the two which provoked the speculation could be
regarded as seaworthy, or suited to other than harbor defense.
A new prow was put on the Virginia, she was furnished with bolts and
solid shot, and the slight repairs needed were promptly made. The
distinguished veteran. Commodore Josiah Tatnall, was assigned to the
command of the Virginia, vice Admiral Buchanan, temporarily disabled.
The Virginia, as far as possible, was prepared for battle and cruise
in the Roads, and, on the 11th of April, Commodore Tatnall moved down
to invite the Monitor to combat. But her officers kept the Monitor
close to the shore, with her steam up, and under the guns of Fortress
Monroe. To provoke her to come out, the little Jamestown was sent in
and pluckily captured many prizes, but the Monitor lay safe in the
shoal water under the guns of the formidable fortress. An English
man-of-war, which was lying in the channel, witnessed this effort to
draw the Monitor out into deep water in defense of her weaker
countrymen, and, as Barney on the Jamestown passed with his prizes,
cut out in full view of the enemy's fleet, the Englishmen, with their
national admiration of genuine "game," as a spectator described it,
"unable to restrain their generous impulses, from the captain to the
side-boy, cheered our gunboat to the very echo." I quote further from
the same witness: "Early in May, a magnificent Federal fleet, the
Virginia being concealed behind the land, had ventured across the
channel, and some of them, expressly fitted to destroy our ship, were
furiously bombarding our batteries at Sewell's Point. Dashing down
comes old Tatnall on the instant, as light stepping and blithe as a
boy. . . . But the Virginia no sooner draws into range than the whole
fleet, like a flushed covey of birds, flatters off into shoal water
and under the guns of the forts"--where they remained. After some
delay, and there being no prospect of active service, the Commodore
ordered the executive officer to fire a gun to windward and take the
ship back to her buoy. Here, ready for service, waiting for an enemy
to engage her, but never having the opportunity, she remained until
the 10th of the ensuing month.
The Norfolk Navy-Yard, notwithstanding the injury done to it by
conflagration, was yet the most available and equipped yard in the
Confederacy. A land-force under General Huger had been placed there
for its protection, and defensive works had also been constructed
with a view to hold it as well for naval construction and repair as
for its strategic importance in connection with the defense of the
capital, Richmond. On the opposite side of the lower James, on the
Peninsula between the James and York Rivers, we occupied an
intrenched position of much natural strength. The two positions,
Norfolk and the Peninsula, were necessary to each other, and the
command of the channel between them essential to both. As long as the
Virginia closed the entrance to the James River, and the intrenchment
on the Peninsula was held, it was deemed possible to keep possession
of Norfolk.
On the 1st of May General Johnston, commanding on the Peninsula,
having decided to retreat, sent an order to General Huger to evacuate
Norfolk. The Secretary of War, General Randolph, having arrived just
at that time in Norfolk, assumed the authority of postponing the
execution of the order "until he [General Huger] could remove such
stores, munitions, and arms as could be carried off." The Secretary
of the Navy, Mr. Mallory, was there also, and gave like instructions
to the commandant of the yard. To the system and energy with which
General Huger conducted the removal of heavy guns, machinery, stores,
and munitions, we were greatly indebted in our future operations,
both of construction and defense. A week was thus employed in the
removal of machinery, etc, and the enemy, occupied with the
retreating army on the Peninsula, did not cross the James River
above, either to interrupt the transportation or to obstruct the
retreat of the garrisons of the forts at Norfolk and its
surroundings. When our army had been withdrawn from the Peninsula,
and Norfolk had been evacuated, and the James River did not furnish
depth of channel which would suffice for the Virginia to ascend it
more than a few miles, her mission was ended. It is not surprising
that her brilliant career created a great desire to preserve her, and
that it was contemplated to lighten her and thus try to take her up
the river, but the pilots declared this to be impracticable, and the
court which subsequently investigated the matter sustained their
opinion that "the only alternative was then and there to abandon and
burn the ship." The statement of Commodore Tatnall shows that the
Virginia could not have been taken seaward, and that such was the
opinion of her first commander. He said: "I consulted Commodore
Buchanan on the character and power of the ship. He expressed the
distinct opinion that she was unseaworthy, that she was not
sufficiently buoyant, and that in a common sea she would founder."
She could not, it therefore appears, ascend the river, was
unseaworthy, and was uncovered by the retreat of the troops with whom
she had coöperated. So, on the 10th of May, the Virginia was taken to
Craney Island, one mile above, and there her crew were landed; they
fell in and formed on the beach, and, in the language of the
eye-witness heretofore quoted, "then and there, on the very field of
her fame, within sight of the Cumberland's top-gallant-masts, all
awash, within sight of that magnificent fleet still cowering on the
shoal, with her laurels all fresh and green, we hauled down her
drooping colors, and, with mingled pride and grief, we gave her to
the flames." [54]
At Wilmington, North Carolina, the Southwest bar was defended by Fort
Caswell, and New Inlet bar by Fort Fisher. The naval defenses
consisted of two ironclads, the North Carolina and the Raleigh. The
former could not cross any of the bars in consequence of her draught
of water. Her steam-power hardly gave propulsion. She sank during the
war off Smithville. The Raleigh's services were almost valueless in
consequence of her deep draught and her feeble steam-power. She made
one futile trip out of New Inlet, and after a few hours attempted to
return, but was wrecked upon the bar.
The brave and invincible defense of Fort Sumter gave to the city of
Charleston, South Carolina, additional luster. For four years that
fort, located in its harbor, defied the army and navy of the United
States. When the city was about to be abandoned to the army of
General Sherman, the forts defending the harbor were embraced in
General Hardee's plan of evacuation. The gallant commander of Fort
Sumter, Colonel Stephen Elliott, Jr., with unyielding fortitude,
refused to be relieved, after being under incessant bombardment day
and night for weeks. It was supposed he must be exhausted, and he was
invited to withdraw for rest, but, on receiving the general order of
retreat, he assembled his brave force on the rugged and shell-crushed
parade-ground, read his instructions, and, in a voice that trembled
with emotion, addressed his men in the glowing language of patriotism
and unswerving devotion to the Confederate cause. The cheers, which
responded to the utterances of their colonel, came from manly and
chivalric throats. Yielding to the inevitable, they claimed for the
Stars and Bars a salute of one hundred guns. As it was fired from
Sumter, it was reëchoed by all the Confederate batteries, and
startled the outside blockaders with the idea that a great victory
had been won by the Confederacy.
The naval force of the Confederacy in Charleston Harbor consisted of
three ironclads. Their steam-power was totally inadequate for the
effective use of the vessels. In fact, when the wind and tide were
moving in the same direction, it was impossible for the vessels to
advance against them, light though the wind might be. Under such
circumstances it was necessary to come to an anchor. On one occasion
the ironclads Palmetto State and Chicora ran out of Charleston Harbor
under favorable circumstances. The Palmetto State assaulted the
Mercideta, commanded by Captain Stellwagen, who unconditionally
surrendered. But the ironclad being under orders to follow her
consort in chase of the enemy, and having no boats to which to
transfer her prisoners, the parole of the officers and men was
accepted, with their promise to observe the same until its return.
The surrender was accepted, and an honest parole was the
consideration for not being sunk on the spot. Captain Stellwagen
abided but a short time, when, getting up steam, he broke his
plighted word, and ran off with the captured vessel. The deficiency
of speed on the part of the Confederate ironclads frustrated their
efforts to relieve the city of Charleston from continued blockade.
The harbor defenses of Savannah were intrusted to Commodore Tatnall,
who defended the approach to the city with a small steamer of one
gun, an inefficient floating battery and ironclad, which had been
constructed from a blockade-runner. Several attempts were made to
attack the enemy's vessels with the ironclad, but these were
frustrated by the delay in opening a passage through the obstructions
in the river when tide and opportunity were offered. Her draught was
too great for the depth of water, except at high tides, and these
were at long intervals. The ironclad was armed with a battery of four
guns, two seven-inch and two six-inch. Her force consisted of some
twenty-one officers and twenty-four men, when she was fully
furnished. Another vessel was under construction and nearly
completed, and Commodore Tatnall, notwithstanding his well-known
combative instincts, was understood to be unwilling to send the
Atlanta alone against the enemy's blockading vessels. Lieutenant
Webb, who had been lately placed in command of the Atlanta, took her
to Warsaw Sound to deliver battle singly to the two ironclads
Weehawken and Nahant, which awaited her approach. The Atlanta got
twice aground--the second time, inextricably so. In this situation
she was attacked, and, though hopelessly, was bravely defended, but
was finally forced to surrender.
Mobile Harbor was thought to be adequately provided for, as torpedoes
obstructed the approach, and Forts Morgan and Gaines commanded the
entrance, aided by the improvised fleet of Admiral Buchanan, which
consisted of the wooden gunboats Morgan and Gaines, each carrying six
guns, and Selma four guns, with the ram Tennessee of six guns--in
all, twenty-two guns and four hundred and seventy men. On August 4,
1864, Fort Gaines was assaulted by the United States force from the
sea-side of the beach. The resistance made was feeble, and the fort
soon surrendered. On the next day Admiral Farragut stood into the bay
with a force consisting of four monitors, or ironclads, and fourteen
steamers, carrying one hundred and ninety-nine guns and twenty-seven
hundred men. One ironclad was sunk by a torpedo. Admiral Buchanan
advanced to meet this force, and sought to run into the larger
vessels with the Tennessee, but they avoided him by their superior
speed. Meanwhile the gunboats became closely engaged with the enemy,
but were soon dispersed by his overwhelming force. The Tennessee
again stood for the enemy and renewed the attack with the hope of
sinking some of them with her prow, but she was again foiled by their
superior speed in avoiding her. The engagement with the whole fleet
soon became general, and lasted an hour. Frequently the Tennessee was
surrounded by the enemy, and all her guns were in action almost at
the same moment. Four of their heaviest vessels ran into her under
full steam with the view of sinking her. While surrounded by six of
these heavy vessels which were suffering fearfully from her heavy
battery, the steering-gear of the Tennessee was shot away, and her
ability to manoeuvre was completely destroyed, leaving the formidable
Confederate entirely at the disposal of the enemy. This misfortune,
it was believed, saved the greater part of Farragut's fleet. Further
resistance becoming unavailable, the wounded Admiral was under the
painful necessity of ordering a surrender. His little fleet became a
prey to the enemy, except the Morgan, which made good her escape to
Mobile.
This unequal contest was decidedly creditable to the Confederacy. The
entire loss of the enemy, most of which is ascribed to the Tennessee,
amounted to quite three hundred in killed and wounded, exclusive of
one hundred lost on the sunken ironclad, making a number almost as
large as the entire Confederate force. On August 22d, Fort Morgan was
bombarded from the land, also by ironclads at sea, and by the fleet
inside. Thus Forts Powel, Morgan, and Gaines shared the fate of the
Confederate fleet, and the enemy became masters of the bay. On this
as on other occasions, the want of engines of sufficient power
constituted a main obstacle to the success which the gallantry and
skill of the seamen so richly deserved.
The system of torpedoes adopted by us was probably more effective
than any other means of naval defense. The destructiveness of these
little weapons had long been known, but no successful modes for their
application to the destruction of the most powerful vessels of war
and ironclads had been devised. It remained for the skill and
ingenuity of our officers to bring the use of this terrible
instrument to perfection. The success of their efforts is very
frankly stated by one of the most distinguished of the enemy's
commanders--Admiral Porter.[55] He says:
"Most of the Southern seaports fell into our possession with
comparative facility; and the difficulty of capturing Charleston,
Savannah, Wilmington, and Mobile was in a measure owing to the fact
that the approaches to these places were filled with various kinds of
torpedoes, laid in groups, and fired by electricity. The introduction
of this means of defense on the side of the Confederates was for a
time a severe check to our naval forces, for the commanders of
squadrons felt it their duty to be careful when dealing with an
element of warfare of which they knew so little, and the character
and disposition of which it was so difficult to discover. In this
system of defense, therefore, the enemy found their greatest
security; and, notwithstanding all the efforts of Du Pont and
Dahlgren, Charleston, Wilmington, and Savannah remained closed to our
forces until near the close of the war."
In 1862, while General McClellan was in command of the enemy's forces
below Richmond, it was observed that they had more than a hundred
vessels in the James River, as if they were about to make an advance
by that way upon the city. This led to an order placing General G. J.
Rains in charge of the submarine defenses; and, on the James River
opposite Drewry's Bluff, the first submarine torpedo was made. The
secret of all his future success consisted in the sensitive primer,
which is unrivaled by any other means to explode torpedoes or
sub-terra shells.
The torpedoes were made of the most ordinary material generally, as,
beer-barrels fixed with conical heads, coated within and without with
rosin dissolved in coal-tar; some were made of cast-iron, copper, or
tin; and glass demijohns were used. There were three essentials to
success, viz., the sensitive fuse-primer, a charge of sixty pounds of
gunpowder, and actual contact between the torpedo and the bottom of
the vessel.
There were one hundred and twenty-three of these torpedoes placed in
Charleston Harbor and Stono River. It was blockaded by thirteen large
ships and ironclads, with six or seven storeships, and some twenty
other vessels. The position of each one was known, and they could be
approached within a half-mile, which made it easy to attack, destroy,
or disperse them at night by floating torpedoes, connected together
by twos by a rope one hundred and thirty yards long, buoyed up and
stretched across the current by two boats, which were to be dropped
in ebbing tide, to float down among the vessels. This plan, says
General Rains, was opposed by General Gilmer, of the engineer corps,
on the ground that "they might float back and destroy our own boat."
One was sent down to go in the midst of the fleet, and made its mark.
An act of devoted daring was here performed by Commander W. T.
Glassell, Confederate States Navy, which claims more than a passing
notice. While the enemy was slowly contracting his lines around
Charleston, his numerous ships of war kept watch-and-ward outside of
the harbor. Our few vessels, almost helpless by their defective
engines, could effect little against their powerful opponents. The
New Ironsides, the pride of their fleet, lay off Morris's Island.
This Glassell resolved to attack with a steam-launch carrying a
torpedo spar at the bow. With an engineer, pilot, and fireman, he
steered for the Ironsides under cover of a hazy night. As he
approached, he was hailed by the lookout, and the next moment struck
the Ironsides, exploding the torpedo about fifteen feet from the
keel. An immense volume of water was thrown up, covering the little
boat, and, pieces of timber falling in the engine, it was rendered
entirely unmanageable, so as to deprive Commander Glassell of the
means of escape on which he had relied. A rapid fire was concentrated
upon him from the deck of the ship, and there remained no chance
except to attempt an escape by swimming ashore. To secure liberty to
his country, he risked and lost his own, and found, for the indignity
to which he was subjected, compensation, inasmuch as the famous New
Ironsides was long rendered useless to the enemy.
One hundred and one torpedoes were planted in Roanoke River, North
Carolina, after a flotilla of twelve vessels had started up to
capture Fort Branch. The torpedoes destroyed six of the vessels and
frustrated the attack.
Every avenue to the outworks or to the city of Mobile was guarded by
submarine torpedoes, so that it was impossible for any vessel drawing
three feet of water to get within effective cannon-range of the
defenses. Two ironclads attempted to get near enough to Spanish Fort
to take part in the bombardment. They both struck torpedoes, and went
to the bottom on Apalachie bar; thenceforward the fleet made no
further attempt to encounter the almost certain destruction which
they saw awaited any vessel which might attempt to enter the
torpedo-guarded waters. But many were sunk when least expecting it.
Some went down long after the Confederate forces had evacuated
Mobile. The Tecumseh was probably sunk, says Major-General D. H.
Maury,[56] on her own torpedo. While steaming in lead of Farragut's
fleet she carried a torpedo affixed to a spar, which projected some
twenty feet from her bows; she proposed to use this torpedo against
the Tennessee, our only formidable ship; but, while passing Fort
Morgan, a shot from that fort cut away the stays by which the torpedo
was secured; it then doubled under her, and, exploding fairly under
the bottom of the ill-fated ship, she careened and sank instantly in
ten fathoms of water. Only six or eight of her crew of a hundred or
more were saved. The total number of vessels sunk by torpedoes in
Mobile Bay was twelve, viz., three ironclads, two tinclads, and seven
transports. Fifty-eight vessels were destroyed in Southern waters by
torpedoes during the war; these included ironclads and others of no
mean celebrity.
[Footnote 53: See "Annual Cyclopaedia," 1861, p. 536.]
[Footnote 54: "The Story of the Confederate Ship Virginia," by William
Norris, Colonel Signal Corps, Confederate Army.]
[Footnote 55: See "Torpedo Warfare," "North American Review,"
September-October, 1878.]
[Footnote 56: Southern Historical Society Papers, January, 1877.]