A LITTLE CLOUD
The first aggressive act of the President of the Confederacy revealed
his alert and far-seeing mind. His keen eye was bent upon the sea, with
an instinctive appreciation of the tremendous import of the long
Southern coast line.
Without a ship afloat or a single navy yard, by a stroke of his pen he
created a fleet destined to sweep the commerce of the North from every
sea. His task was to create something out of nothing and how well he did
it events swiftly bore their testimony.
The United States Government was the only nation which had refused to
join the agreement to abandon the use of letters of marque and reprisal
for destroying the unarmed vessels of commerce in time of war. This
unfortunate piece of diplomacy gave Jefferson Davis the opportunity to
strike his first blow at the power and prestige of the North.
He immediately issued a proclamation offering to issue such letters to
any ship that would arm herself and enlist under the ensign of the
Confederate navy. The response was quick and the ultimate result the
lowering of the flag of the Union from practically every ship of
commerce that sailed the ocean.
Gideon Welles conferred with his Chief in Washington and Abraham Lincoln
issued a proclamation which at the time created scarcely a ripple of
excitement. And yet that order was the most important document which
came from the White House during the entire four years of the war.
When the test came sixteen captains, thirty-four commanders and one
hundred and eleven midshipmen resigned and cast their fortunes with the
South. Not one of them attempted to use his position to surrender a
ship.
Small as it was, the entire navy of the United States was practically
intact. It comprised ninety ships of war--forty-two of them ready for
active service. The majority of the vessels ready for war were
steam-propelled craft of the latest improved type.
The United States had been one of the first world powers to realize the
value of steam and rebuild its navy accordingly. In twenty years,
practically a new navy had been constructed, ranking in effective power
third only to England and France. Within the past five years, the
Government had built the steam frigates, _Merrimac_, _Niagara_,
_Colorado_, _Wabash_, _Minnesota_, and _Roanoke_. In addition to these
twelve powerful steam sloops of war had been commissioned--the
_Hartford_, _Brooklyn_, _Lancaster_, _Richmond_, _Narragansett_,
_Dakota_, _Iroquois_, _Wyoming_, and _Seminole_. They were of the
highest type of construction and compared favorably with the best ships
of the world.
These ships at the opening of the war were widely scattered, but their
homeward bound streamers were all fluttering in the sky.
President Lincoln in his proclamation ordered the most remarkable
blockade in the history of the world. This document declared three
thousand miles of Southern coast, from the Virginia Capes to the Rio
Grande, closed to the commerce of the world.
The little fleet boldly sailed on its tremendous mission. The smoke of
its funnels made but a tiny smudge on the wide, shining Southern skies.
But with swift and terrible swirl this cloud, no bigger than a man's
hand, grew into a storm whose black shadow shrouded the Southland in
gloom.