[Illustration: G.H. Perkins]
THE BAY STATE MONTHLY
_A MASSACHUSETTS MAGAZINE_.
VOL. I.
APRIL, 1884.
NO. IV.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by John N.
McClintock and Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington.
* * * * *
CAPTAIN GEORGE HAMILTON PERKINS, U.S.N.
By CAPTAIN GEORGE E. BELKNAP, U.S.N.
In passing up the Concord and Claremont Railroad from Concord, the
observant traveler has doubtless noticed the substantial and
comfortable-looking homestead with large and trim front yard, shaded by
thickly planted and generous topped maples, on the right-hand side of
the road after crossing the bridge that spans
"Contoocook's bright and brimming river,"
at the pleasant-looking village of Contoocookville in the northern part
of Hopkinton.
There, under that inviting roof, the subject of this sketch, GEORGE
HAMILTON PERKINS, the eldest son in a family of eight children, was
born, October 20, 1836.
His father, the Honorable Hamilton Eliot Perkins, inherited all the land
in that part of the town, and, in early life, in addition to
professional work as a counsellor-at-law and member of the Merrimack
County bar, built the mills at Contoocookville, and was, in fact, the
founder of the thriving settlement at that point.
His paternal grandfather, Roger Eliot Perkins, came to Hopkinton from
the vicinity of Salem, Massachusetts, when a young man, and by his
energy, enterprise, and public spirit, soon impressed his individuality
upon the community, and became one of the leading citizens of the town.
His mother was Miss Clara Bartlett George, daughter of the late John
George, Esquire, of Concord, whose ancestors were among the early
settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts. He is said to have been a man of
active temperament, prompt in business, stout in heart, bluff of speech,
honest in purpose, and never failing in any way those who had dealings
with him.
As "the child is father of the man," so the boyhood and youth of Captain
Perkins gave earnest of those qualities which in his young manhood the
rude tests of the sea and the grim crises of war developed to the full.
"No matter" was his first plainly spoken phrase, a hint of childish
obstinacy that foreshadowed the persistence of maturer years. Among
other feats of his boyish daring, it is told that when a mere child,
hardly into his first trousers, he went one day to catch a colt in one
of his father's fields bordering on the Contoocook. The colt declined to
be caught and after a sharp scamper took to the river and swam across.
Nothing daunted, the plucky little urchin threw off his jacket, plunged
into the swift current, and safely breasting it, was soon in hot pursuit
on the other side; and after a long chase and hard tussle made out to
catch the spirited animal and bring him home in triumph. Always
passionately fond of animals and prematurely expert in all out-door
sports, he thus early began to master that noblest of beasts, the horse.
When eight years old, his father removed with his family to Boston, and,
investing his means in shipping, engaged for a time in trade with the
west coast of Africa. The son was apt to run about the wharves with his
father, and the sight of the ships and contact with "Jack" doubtless
awoke the taste for the sea, that was to be gratified later on.
Returning to the old homestead on the Contoocook after the lapse of two
years or more, the old, quiet, yet for young boyhood, frolicsome
out-door life was resumed, and the lad grew apace amid the rural scenes
and ample belongings of that generous home; not over studious, perhaps,
and chafing, as boys will, at the restraint imposed by the study of
daily lessons and their recital to his mother.
At twelve years of age, he was sent to the Hopkinton Academy, and
afterwards to the academy at Gilmanton. While at Gilmanton, General
Charles H. Peaslee, then member of Congress from the Concord
congressional district, offered him the appointment of acting midshipman
to fill a vacancy at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, which,
after some hesitation, his parents permitted him to accept, and he was
withdrawn from Gilmanton and sent to Concord to prepare for entrance at
Annapolis, under a private tutor. He remained under such pupilage until
the age of fifteen, when the beginning of the academic year, October,
1851, saw him installed in "Middy's" uniform at that institution, and
the business of life for him had begun in earnest.
To a young and restless lad, used to being afield at all times and hours
with horse, dog, and gun, and fresh from a country home where the "pomp
and circumstance" of military life had had no other illustration than
occasional glimpses of the old "training and muster days" so dear to New
Hampshire boys forty years ago, the change to the restraint and
discipline; the inflexible routine and stern command; the bright
uniforms and novel ways; the sight of the ships and the use of a
vocabulary that ever smacks of the sea; the call by drum and trumpet to
every act of the day, from bed-rising, prayers, and breakfast, through
study, recitation, drill, and recreation hours, to tattoo and taps, when
every student is expected to be in bed,--was a transformation wonderful
indeed; but the flow of discipline and routine are so regular and
imperative that their currents are imperceptibly impressed upon the
youthful mind and soon become a part of his nature, as it were,
unawares. So we may conclude that our young aspirant for naval honors
proved no exception to the rule, and soon settled into these new grooves
of life as quietly as his ardent temperament would permit.
The discipline at the Academy, in those days, was harsher and more
exacting, and the officers of the institution of a sterner and more
experienced sea-school, than now; and the three months' practice cruises
across the Atlantic, which the different classes made on alternate
summers, when the "young gentlemen" were trained to do all the work of
seamen, both alow and aloft, and lived on the old navy ration of salt
junk, pork and beans, and hardtack, with no extras, were anything but a
joke. The Academy, too, was in a transition state from the system in
vogue, up to 1850 inclusive, prior to which period the midshipmen went
to sea immediately after appointment, pretty much after the fashion of
Peter Simple and Jack Easy, and after a lapse of five years came to the
school for a year's cramming and coaching before graduating as passed
midshipmen. The last of such appointees was graduated in 1856, and the
sometime hinted contaminating influence of the "oldsters" upon the
"youngsters" was a thing to be known no more forever, albeit the hint of
contamination always seemed, to the writer, questionable, as, in his
experience, the habit and propensity of the youngsters for mischief
appeared to require neither promotion nor encouragement. Indeed, their
methods and ingenuity in evading rules and regulations and defying
discipline were as original as they were persevering, and could the
third-story room of the building occupied by the subject of this sketch
be given tongue, it would tell a tale of frolic and drollery that would
only find parallel in the inimitable pages of Marryatt. Convenient
apparatus for the stewing or roasting of oysters, poaching of eggs, or
the mixing of refreshing drinks, could be readily stowed away from the
inspecting officer, or a roast goose or turkey be smuggled by a trusty
darkey from some restaurant outside; and it was but the work of a moment
after taps to tack a blanket over the window, light the gas, and bring
out a dilapidated pack of cards for a game of California Jack or
draw-poker; or to convert the prim pine table into a billiard-table,
with marbles for balls, with which the ownership of many a collar,
neckerchief, shirt, and other articles of none too plentiful wardrobes,
were decided in a twinkling, while the air of the crowded room grew
thick and stifling from the smoke of the forbidden tobacco. One of the
company would keep a sharp lookout for the possible advent of the
sometimes rubber-shod passed midshipman doing police duty, and, if
necessary, danger signals would be made from the basement story, by
tapping on the steam-pipes, which signal would be repeated from room to
room, and from floor to floor, generally in ample time for the young
bacchanalians to disperse in safety. If, perchance, the revelers got
caught, they would stand up at the next evening's parade and hear the
offence and demerits accorded, read out in presence of the battalion,
with an easy _sang-froid_ that piqued the sea-worn experience of the
oldsters while they marveled. Let no one judge these lads too harshly,
for the day came, all too soon, when they were to stand up in face of
the enemy, and, with equally nonchalant but sterner courage, go into
battle in defence of the flag they were being trained to defend, many
winning undying honor and fame, some meeting untimely but heroic graves,
in "the war that kept the Union whole."
Our midshipmite soon became a favorite with all, from the gruff old
superintendent down to the littlest new-comer at the school. His
bright, cheery, and genial disposition, and frank, hearty ways, were
very winning, and if, in his studies, he did not take leading rank, nor
become enraptured over analytics, calculus, and binomials, he was
esteemed a spirited, heartsome lad of good stock and promise, bred to
honorable purpose and aspiration, with seemingly marked aptitude for the
noble profession, which, more than any other, calls for a heroism that
never hesitates, a courage that never falters; for, aside from its
special work of upholding and defending the flag, and all it symbolizes,
on the high seas to the uttermost parts of the globe, "they that go down
to sea in ships" come closer to the manifestations of the unspeakable
might and majesty of Almighty Power than any other. The seaman, with but
a plank separating him from eternity, never knows at what moment he may
be called upon to put forth all the skill and resource, the unflinching
effort and sacrifice, that his calling ever, in emergency, unstintedly
requires.
"Where'er the surge may sweep, the tempest's breath prevail,
He searches all its stormy deep, its dangers all unveil."
Of medium height, slight and trim of figure, clear complexion and
piercing gray eyes of peculiar brilliancy, softened by a merry twinkle
betokening latent mischief, young Perkins was a youth fair and
interesting to look upon. He walked with quick, elastic step, carried
his head a little on one side, and had a habit, when anything struck his
fancy pleasantly, of shrugging his shoulders and rubbing his hands
together in a vigorous way, that seemed to declare in unmistakable terms
that he was glad all over!
During one of the wonted summer cruises, he made himself somewhat famous
at great-gun practice, the details of which are given in one of his home
letters, as follows:--
"We had target practice one day, and it came my turn to shoot. There was
quite a swell on, which made it very difficult to get any kind of a
shot, but when I fired I hit the target, which was a barrel with a small
flag on it, set up about three quarters of a mile distant. Such a thing
as hitting a small target at sea, with the ship in motion, and a swell
on, is considered almost out of the question, so they all said it was
'luck.' But another target was put out, and I fired again and stove it
all to pieces. Then the crew all cheered, and made quite a hero of me.
Still some said it must be luck, and another target was put out in
exactly the same manner. This one I did not quite hit, but the shot fell
so near, that all gave it up it was _not_ luck, and that I was a
first-rate shot with broadside guns."
After such demonstration, it is not strange that he was looked upon as
having a very correct eye for distances, and was ever afterward called
upon to fire whenever experiments were wanted. Naval gunnery, be it
remarked in passing, is quite a different matter from army practice: in
the former, with its platform never at rest, it is like shooting a bird
on the wing, when distance and motion must be accurately gauged and
allowed for; in the latter, from its gun on a fixed platform, it is but
a question of measurement from the object, by means of instruments if
need be, and of good pointing. The seaman stands immediately in rear of
the gun, with eye along the sight directing its train, now right, now
left, now well, and with taut lock-string in hand in readiness to pull
the moment the object is on, and on the alert to jump clear of the
recoil. The soldier handles his piece with greater deliberation, sights
it leisurely on its immovable platform, and, if mounted _en barbette_,
retires behind a traverse before firing.
Graduating in June, 1856, the now full-fledged Midshipman Perkins could
look back upon his five years' probationary experience with many
pleasant recollections, though doubtless thanking his stars that his
pupilage was over.
During his time there had been two superintendents at the academy. The
first was Captain C.K. Stribling, a fine seaman of the old school, of
rigid Presbyterian stock, stern, grim, and precise, with curt manners,
sharp and incisive voice that seemed to know no softening, and whose
methods of duty and conception of discipline smacked of the "true blue"
ideal of the Covenanters of old in their enforcement of obedience and
conservation of morals. The second was Captain L.M. Goldsborough, a man
of stalwart height and proportions and a presence that ennobled command;
learned and accomplished, yet gruff and overwhelming in speech and
brusque and impatient in manner, but possessing, withal, a kindly
nature, and a keen sense of humor that took in a joke enjoyably, however
practical; and a sympathetic discrimination that often led him to
condone moral offences at which some of the straight-laced professors
stood aghast. His responses at church-service resounded like the growl
of a bear, and when reprimanding the assembled midshipmen, drawn up in
battalion, for some grave breach of discipline, he would stride up and
down the line with the tread of an elephant, and expound the Articles of
War in stentorian tones that equaled the roar of a bull! But if,
perchance, in the awesome precincts of his office, he afterwards got
hold of a piece of doggerel some witty midshipman had written
descriptive of such a scene, none would enjoy it more than he!
After an enjoyment of a three months' leave of absence at home.
Midshipman Perkins was ordered to join the sloop-of-war Cyane, Captain
Robb. That ship was one of the home squadron, and in November, 1856,
sailed for Aspinwall, to give protection to our citizens, mails, and
freight, in the transit across the Isthmus of Panama to California, back
and forth. At that period safe and rapid transit in that region of riots
and revolution was much more important than now,--the Pacific Railroad
existing only in the brains of a few sagacious men,--and the maintenance
of the thoroughfare across the pestilential isthmus was a national
necessity. For years our naval force on either side had had frequent
occasion to land expeditions to protect the life and property of our
citizens, and a frightful massacre of passengers had but lately occurred
at the hands of a mongrel mob at Panama. The situation was critical, and
for a time it looked as though the United States would be obliged to
seize and hold that part of Colombian territory. But time wore on
without outbreak on the part of the fiery freemen of that so-called
republic, the continued presence of ships, both at Panama and Aspinwall,
doubtless convincing them of the folly of further attempts to molest the
hated Yankees.
Meanwhile the notorious Walker had been making a filibustering raid in
Central America, which ended in failure, and the Cyane went over to
Greytown to bring the sick and wounded of his deluded followers to
Aspinwall for passage to New York. Some hundred and twenty officers and
men found in the hands of the Costa Ricans were taken on board, most of
them in a deplorable condition. Some died before weighing anchor for
Aspinwall, and as midshipmen have no definable duties except to obey
orders, whatever they may be, Midshipman Perkins was sent in a boat one
day to take a chaplain's part in the burial of one of the victims. "When
we got out to sea," he wrote, "I read some prayers over him, and then he
was thrown over the side, the sailors saying 'God bless you!' as the
body sunk." This sad duty made him feel solemn and reflective, but more
than likely as not he was called upon immediately on arrival on board,
as "master's mate of the spirit-room," to attend the serving out of grog
to the ship's company! Extremes meet on board a man-of-war, and the
times for moralizing are short and scant.
So time sped, Midshipman Perkins performing his multifarious duties with
alacrity and approval, and having some perilous adventures by flood and
field in pursuit of wild game, until July, 1857, when the monotony of
the cruise was broken by a trip to the banks of Newfoundland for the
protection of our fishing interests, and including visits at Boston, St.
John's, and Halifax.
The people of the Provinces were very hospitable, and the contrast
between the dusky damsels of the isthmus and the ruddy-cheeked belles of
St. John's and Halifax was brightening in the extreme; and young
Perkins, ever gallant in his intercourse with the sex, and a good
dancer, found much favor with the Provincial beauties, and doubtless
made up for past deprivations, in the alluring contact with their
charms.
Returning southward in the fall, the ship cruised among the West Indies,
visiting, among other ports, Cape Haytien, the old capital of the island
of Hayti, to inquire into the imprisonment of an American merchant
captain. This place, before the French Revolution, had been a city of
great magnificence and beauty--the Paris of the Isles; and the old
French nobility, possessing enormous landed estates and large numbers of
slaves, lived in a state of almost fabled grandeur and luxury; but negro
rule, the removal of the seat of government to Port-au-Prince, and the
great earthquake of 1842, have destroyed all but a semblance of its
former glory and importance.
Among other sights visited by the officers was the old home of Count
Cristoff, a castle of great size and strength, built on one of the
highest hills, some twelve miles back of the town. It was told of the
old Count that he used every year to bury large sums of money from his
revenues, and then shoot the slave who did the work, that the secret of
the spot might be known only to himself.
In January, 1858, Midshipman Perkins was detached from the Cyane, and he
bade adieu forever to her dark, cramped-up, tallow-candle lighted
steerage, baggy hammock, and hard fare, where the occasional dessert to
a salt dinner had been dried apples, mixed with bread and flavored with
whiskey! There were no eleven-o'clock breakfasts for midshipmen in those
days, and canned meats, condensed milk, preserved fruits, and other
luxuries now common on shipboard, were almost unknown.
A few brief days at home and orders came to join the storeship Release,
which vessel after a three months' cruise in the Mediterranean returned
to New York to fill up with stores and provisions for the Paraguay
expedition. That expedition had for its object the chastisement of the
Dictator Lopez for certain dastardly acts committed against our flag on
the River Parana.
Owing to the paucity of officers, so many being absent on other foreign
service, Midshipman Perkins was appointed acting sailing-master, a very
responsible position for so young an officer, which, with the added
comforts of a stateroom and well-ordered table in the wardroom, was
almost royal in its contrast with the duty, the darksome steerage, and
hard fare on board the Cyane. It would be difficult to make a landsman
take in the scope of the change implied, but let him in imagination
start across the continent in an old-fashioned, cramped-up stage-coach,
full of passengers, with such coarse fare as could be picked up from day
to day, and return in a Pullman car with well-stocked larder and
restaurant attached, and he will get a glimmering as to the difference
between steerage and wardroom life on board a man-of-war.
The Release was somewhat of a tub, and what with light and contrary
winds and calms took sixty-two days to reach the rendezvous, Montevideo,
arriving there in January, 1858. She found the whole fleet at anchor
there, and officers and men soon forgot the weariness of the long
passage in the receipt of letters from home, and in the joyous meetings
with old friends. All admired the fine climate, and, as that part of
South America is the greatest country in the world for horses, the young
sailing-master rejoiced in the opportunity offered to indulge in his
favorite pastime of riding. He also showed his prowess as a devotee of
the chase in the fine sport afforded on the pampas that enabled him to
run down and shoot a South American tiger.
Meanwhile Commodore Shubrick, in command of the expedition, had
completed his preparations for ascending the Parana, and the fleet soon
moved up to a convenient point, the Commodore himself continuing on up
the river in a small vessel to Corrientes to meet Lopez and convey to
him the ultimatum of the United States. After some "backing and
filling," as an old salt would characterize diplomacy, Lopez concluded
"discretion to be the better part of valor," and making a satisfactory
_amende_, the Paraguayan war came to a bloodless end, and the hopes of
expectant heroes with visions of promotion dissolved like summer clouds.
Young Perkins was now, August, 1858, transferred to the frigate Sabine
for passage home to his examination for the grade of passed midshipman.
Passing that ordeal satisfactorily, aided by handsome commendatory
letters from his commanding officers, he spent three happy months at
home, and then received orders for duty on board the steamer Sumter, as
acting master, the destination of that vessel being the west coast of
Africa, where, in accordance with the provisions of Article 8 of the
Webster-Ashburton treaty (1842), the United States maintained a
squadron, carrying not less than eighty guns, in co-operation with the
British government, for the suppression of the slave trade. That article
continued in active observance nineteen years, when the United States,
having a little question of slavery to settle at home, gave the
stipulated preliminary notice and recalled the ships.
The Sumter arrived on the coast in October, 1859, making her first
anchorage in the lovely harbor on the west side of Prince's Island. That
island, in about 1° 30' north latitude, covered with all the luxuriance
of tropical growth and verdure, and broken into every conceivable shape
of pinnacle, castellated rock and chasm, and frowning precipice,
streaked with silvery threads of leaping streams in their dash to the
sea, is indeed one of the most enchanting spots the eye ever rested on.
The chief inhabitant of the lovely isle was Madame Ferrara, a woman of
French extraction, who lived alone in a big, rambling house, surrounded
by slaves, who cultivated her plantations and prepared the cocoa, palm
oil, yams, and cocoanuts, for the trade that sought her doors.
Filling up with water, the Sumter proceeded to the island of Fernando
Po, a Spanish possession close in to the mainland, in the Bight of
Biafra, where she met several English and French men-of-war, and
received orders for her future movements.
The first thing to do, in accordance with the custom of the squadron,
was the enlisting of fifteen or twenty negroes, known as Kroomen, whose
home is in the Kroo country in upper Guinea, just south of Liberia. They
did all the heavy boat-work of the ship, thus lightening the work of the
crew, and saving them as much as possible from exposure to the effects
of the deadly climate. Great, strapping, muscular fellows, many of them,
with forms that an Apollo might envy, they were trained from infancy to
be as much at home in the water as upon the land, and could swim a dozen
leagues at sea or pull at the oar all day long without seeming fatigue.
Wonderfully expert in their handling of boats, especially in the heavy
surf that rolls in upon the coast with ceaseless volume and resistless
power, its perilous line almost unbroken by a good harbor, from the Cape
of Good Hope to the Straits of Gibraltar, their services in
communicating with the shore were simply invaluable. The head Kroomen
exercised despotic power over their respective gangs, and the men were
given fanciful names, and so entered on the purser's books.
Bottle-o'-Beer, Jack Frying-Pan, Tom Bobstay, Upside Down, and the like,
were favorite names; and our fun-loving young sailing-master hints, in
his letters of the time, that the archives of the fourth auditor's
office at Washington may possibly embalm the names of certain Annapolis
belles that had been borne by some of these sable folk!
The cruising ground embraced the coasts of Upper and Lower Guinea, and
the coast of Biafra, with occasional visits of recruit and recreation to
Cape Town and St. Helena. The work was arduous, monotonous, and
exhausting, especially during the rainy season, when the decks were
continually deluged with water, and dry clothing was the exception, not
the rule. The weather was always hot, often damp and sultry, and the
atmosphere on shore so pestilential, that no one was permitted to remain
there after sundown. But that rule was no deprivation, as the dangers of
the passage through the relentless breakers, alive with sharks, were so
great, that few cared to visit the shore except when absolutely
necessary. The vessels cruised mostly in sight of the coast to watch the
movements of the merchantmen, all more or less under suspicion as
slavers, watching their chances to get off with a cargo. On one hand
was the rounded horizon dipping into the broad Atlantic; on the other,
the angry line of rollers with their thunderous roar, backed by white
beach and dense forest, with occasional glimpses of blue hills in the
distant interior. This and nothing more, from day to day, save when a
small village of thatched huts came into view, adding a scant feature to
the landscape; or a solitary canoe outside the line of breakers; or
strange sail to seaward; or school of porpoises, leaping and blowing,
windward bound; or hungry shark prowling round the ship, lent momentary
interest to the watery solitude. It was a privilege to fall in with
another cruiser, whether of our own or of the English flag. On such
occasions, down would go the boats for the exchange of visits, the
comparison of notes, and sometimes the discussion of a dinner. The
English officers had numerous captures and handsome sums of prize-money
to tell of, while our people, as a rule, could only talk of hopes and
possibilities. Our laws regulating captures were as inflexible as the
Westminster Catechism, and a captain could not detain a vessel without
great risk of civil damages, unless slaves were actually on board.
Suspected ships might have all the fittings and infamous equipage for
the slave traffic on board, but if their masters produced correct papers
the vessels could not be touched; and our officers not infrequently had
the mortification of learning that ships they had overhauled, and
believed to be slavers, but could not seize under their instructions,
got off the coast eventually with large cargoes of ebon humanity on
board.
Not so with the English commanders, whose instructions enabled them to
take and send to their prize-courts all vessels, except those under the
American flag, under the slightest showing of nefarious character; and
their hauls of prize-money were rich and frequent.
The intercourse with the English officers, notes Master Perkins, at
first cordial and agreeable, became, after a few months, cold and
indifferent. Her Majesty's officers no longer cared to show politeness
or friendly feeling. The first premonitions of the Rebellion in the John
Brown raid, the break-up of the democracy at Charleston, and the
violence of the Southern press concerning the probable results of the
pending presidential election, convincing them that the long-predicted
and wished-for day--the breaking up of the Republic--was nigh at hand,
and their real feelings as Englishmen cropped out but too plainly; but
of this, more anon.
Despite the perils of the surf, the dangers of the inhospitable climate,
and the unfriendly character of some of the savage tribes to be met
with, the adventurous spirit and dauntless courage of Master Perkins was
not to be balked. Volunteering for every duty, no matter how dangerous,
hardly a boat ever left the ship that he was not in it. The life of the
mess through his unfailing good humor and exuberant flow of spirits, he
was the soul of every expedition, whether of service or pleasure; and
before the cruise of some twenty-two months was up, he came to know
almost every prominent tribe, chief, and king on the coast. Now dining
with a king off the strangest of viands; now holding "palaver" with
another; now spending a day with a chief and his numerous wives; now
visiting a French barracoon, where, under a fiction of law, the victims
were collected to be shipped as unwilling apprentices, not slaves, to be
returned to their native wilds, _if they lived long enough_; now
ascending a river dangerous for boats, where, if the boat had capsized,
himself and crew would but have served a morning's meal to the hungry
sharks held as fetich by the natives along the stream, who yearly
sacrifice young girls reared for the purpose to their propitiation; now
scouring the bush in pursuit of the gorilla or shooting hippopotami by
the half-dozen, and other adventures and exploits wherein duty,
excitement, and gratified curiosity were intermingled with danger and
hairbreadth escape that few would care to tempt.
On one occasion, he volunteered to go with a boat's crew and find the
mouth of the Settee River, not dreaming of landing through the unusually
heavy surf. "But," said he, "in pulling along about half a mile from
shore, a roller struck the boat and capsized it. Of course we were
obliged to swim for shore; in fact, we had little to do with it, for the
moment the boat was upset we were driven into the surf, and not one of
us thought we should ever reach the shore, for if we were not lost in
the surf, the sharks would eat us up. As I rose on the top of a wave I
could look ahead and see the stretch of wild, tossing surf, which it
seemed impossible for any one to live in; but when I looked back I could
count all my men striking out, which was very encouraging, as I feared
one or two might be under the boat. I thought for a moment of you all at
home, and wondered if mother would not feel a little frightened if she
knew how strong the chances were against her son's receiving any more
letters from home. Just then a roller struck me and carried me down so
deep I was caught by the undertow and carried toward the sea, instead of
the land. When I came to the surface I tried to look out for the next
roller, but it was no use; the first one half-drowned me, and the next
kept me down so long that when I rose I was in the wildest of the surf,
which tumbled and rolled me about in a way I did not like at all. My
eyes, nose, and mouth were full of sand, and, in fact, I thought my time
had come. Just then I looked on shore, and saw two of my men dragging
some one from the water, and at that sight I struck out with one
despairing kick, and managed to get near enough for two of the men to
reach me; but that was all I knew of the affair until a little after
sunset, when I became conscious of the fact that I was being well
shaken, and I heard one of the men say, 'Cheer up, Mr. Perkins! Your
boat and all the men are on shore.' This was such good news that I did
not much mind the uncomfortable position in which I found myself. I was
covered with sand and stretched across a log about two feet high, my
head on one side and my feet on the other. The men had worked a long
while to bring me to. Three of the men were half-drowned and one
injured. We managed to get the boat in the river, but suffered awfully
from thirst. The next morning we lost our way, and, after pulling around
till mid-afternoon, we stumbled on some natives fishing. We followed
them home, but found them such a miserable, bad-looking lot of negroes
that we expected trouble. Knowing that the native villages in the
daytime are left in charge of the old men and women, and not knowing
what might happen when the men came back, we killed some chickens, and,
with some sweet potatoes, made quite a meal. The strongest of us, myself
and three others, got ready for a fight, while the rest manned the boat
ready for our retreat. Shortly after this the chief came back, and about
a hundred men with him. I told the chief I had come to pay him a visit,
and we had a great palaver; but he would not give us anything to eat,
and we made up our minds that it was a dangerous neighborhood; so we
moved down on a sand-spit in sight of the ship, and there we stayed
three days and nights. We built a tent and fortification, traded off
most of our clothes for something to eat, and slept unpleasantly near
several hundred yelling savages. All this while the ship could render no
assistance; but on the third day the Kroomen came on shore with some
oars, and, after trying all one day, we managed, just at night, to get
through the surf and back to the ship. It was a happy time for us, and I
may say for all on board, as they had been very anxious about us. Not
far north of this, if you happen to get cast ashore, they kill and eat
you at once, for cannibalism is by no means extinct among the negroes."
The sequel of this perilous experience was that all of them were
stricken down with the dread African fever which, if it does not at all
times kill, but too often shatters the constitution beyond remedy; and
the fact that five officers, including one commanding officer, and a
proportionate number of men, had been invalided home, and another
commanding officer had died, all due to climatic causes, attests the
general unhealthfulness of the coast. Other interesting incidents and
narrow escapes, in which Master Perkins had part, might be told, did not
lack of space forbid; but enough has been shown to impress the fact that
African cruising, even in a well-found man-of-war, is not altogether the
work and pleasure of a holiday; yet, in looking over young Perkins's
letters, we cannot forbear this description of the expertness of the
Kroomen in landing through the surf.
"When the boat shoves off from the ship, the Kroomen, entirely naked
with exception of breech-clout, strike up a song, and pulling grandly to
its rhythmic time, soon reach the edge of the surf, and lie on their
oars. All eyes are now cast seaward, looking for a big roller, on the
top of which we shall be carried on shore, and there is a general
feeling of excitement. In a short time, the looked-for roller comes; the
Kroomen spring to their oars with a shout, the natives on shore yell
with all their might, the boat shoots forward on top of the wave at
incredible speed, the surf thunders like the roar of a battery, and
altogether it seems as if the world had come to an end and all those
fellows in the infernal regions were let loose. Now we must trust to
luck wholly; there is no retreat and no help, for the boat is beyond the
power of any human management, and go on shore you must, either in the
boat or under it. The moment the boat strikes the beach, the Kroomen
jump overboard, and you spring on the back of one of them, and he runs
with you up on the beach out of the way of the next roller, which
immediately follows, breaking over the boat, often upsetting it and
always wetting everything inside. If you have escaped without a good
soaking, you may consider yourself a lucky fellow."
In the midst of this work came the startling news of the portentous
events at home. The infrequent mails began to bring the angry
mutterings, the fateful tidings, that preluded the Rebellion. Every
fresh arrival but added to the excitement and increased the bewilderment
that had so unexpectedly come upon the squadron; for, far removed from
the scene, and not daily witnesses of the overt acts of the maddened
South, they had mostly believed that the threatened conflict would be
tided over, and the government be enabled to continue on in its wonted
peaceful course. Now a wall, as of fire, rose up between the officers;
every mess in every ship was divided against itself; brothers-in-arms of
yesterday were enemies of to-day; and no one spoke of the outlook at
home except in bated breath and measured speech, from fear that the
bitter cup would overflow then and there, and water turn to blood. Many
Southern officers sent in their resignations at once, and all, both from
North and South, were anxious to get home to do their part on one side
or the other.
"For some time past," wrote Master Perkins, "the foreigners here have
shown us but little respect, and seem to regard us as a broken power;
and this has been very provoking, for in my opinion it will be a long
time before any power can afford to despise the United States." And he
notes the fact that no more money could be had,--that the credit of the
government was gone! Ah! how happy the day to loyal but wearied hearts
on that inhospitable shore, when the news came of the President's call
for seventy-five thousand men, giving assurance that we still had a
government, and meant to preserve it through the valor, the blood, the
treasure of the nation, if need be!
After unaccountable and vexatious delay, the Sumter received orders,
July, 1861, to proceed to New York; meanwhile she had captured the slave
brig Falmouth, a welcome finale to the cruise, and what with the
officers transferred to her and the resignations that had taken place,
Mr. Perkins now became executive officer, a fine position at that day
for one of his years.
Making the homeward run in thirty-six days, the officers and men
dispersed to their homes for a brief respite before entering upon the
stern duties that awaited them, and Mr. Perkins had the satisfaction of
receiving his commission as master.
Recruiting his shattered health for a short time at his welcoming home,
he was ordered as executive officer of the Cayuga, one of the so-called
ninety-day gunboats, carrying a battery of one eleven-inch Dahlgren gun,
a twenty pounder Parrott rifle, and two twenty-four pounder howitzers,
and commanded by Lieutenant-Commanding N.B. Harrison, a loyal Virginian,
who had wavered never a moment as to his duty when his State threw down
the gauntlet of rebellion.
The exigencies of the war had soon exhausted the lists of regular
officers and the few thousand seamen that had been trained in the
service, and large drafts of officers and men were made upon the
merchant marine as well as big hauls of green landsmen who had never
dreamt of salt water; and First Lieutenant Perkins, as the only regular
officer on board except the captain, soon found himself an exceeding
busy man in organizing, disciplining, drilling, and shaping into place
and routine, some ninety officers and men, all equally new to man-of-war
life and methods, and requiring the necessary time and instruction to
fit them for their new duties. A fair soldier may be made in three
months--a good seaman not in three years.
The vessel was ordered to join Farragut's fleet in the Gulf, but, with
the usual delays incident to new ships, did not get off from New York
until the first week in March, arriving at Ship Island on the
thirty-first, by way of Key West, and having made a prize on the way. As
the young executive had been promoted to a lieutenancy on the eve of
departure from New York his visions of prize-money were doubtless
proportionately enhanced by the capture!
[Illustration: THE CAYUGA.]
The next day she sailed for the mouth of the Mississippi, where, and at
the head of the passes, the rest of the fleet was assembled, and
Flag-Officer Farragut busily engaged in completing the preparations for
the attack on New Orleans.
The fleet consisted of four heavy sloops-of-war of the Hartford class;
three corvettes of the Iroquois class; nine gunboats of the Cayuga
class, and the large side-wheel steamer Mississippi, carrying in the
aggregate one hundred and fifty-four guns, principally of nine-inch and
eleven-inch calibre; but as the large ships carried their batteries
mostly in broadside, the actual number that could be brought to bear,
under the most favorable conditions, on every given point, would be cut
down to the neighborhood of ninety guns.
Supporting this force as auxiliary to it, for the bombardment of Forts
Jackson and St. Philip, was Porter's mortar fleet of twenty schooners,
each mounting a thirteen-inch mortar, and a flotilla of five side-wheel
steamers, and the gunboat Owasco, carrying, in all, thirty guns.
[Illustration: Map of the Mississippi River Showing Forts Jackson and
St. Philip
From the U.S. Coast Survey. Surveyed in 1870 by John N. McClintock.]
The forts in question, forming the principal defences of New Orleans,
were heavy casemated works with traverses on top for barbette guns, some
ninety miles below the city at a point where the river makes a sharp
bend to the southeast. Fort St. Philip, on the left bank, mounted
forty-two guns, and Fort Jackson, including its water battery, had
sixty-seven guns in position, all of calibre from the long twenty-four
pounder to the heavy ten-inch Columbiad, and including several six-inch
and seven-inch rifles.
Stretching across the river from bank to bank to bar the channel, nearly
opposite Fort Jackson and exposed to the perpendicular fire of St.
Philip, were heavy ship's chains, supported and buoyed by hulks, rafts,
and logs, and half a dozen large schooners. The rebels had also
established some works on the banks of the river about four miles from
town, known as the McGehee and Chalmette batteries, the latter being
located at the point ever memorable in American history as the scene of
General Jackson's overwhelming defeat of the British in 1815.
Their reliance afloat was in the Louisiana, an ironclad, carrying nine
rifles and seven smooth bores of heavy calibre; the ram Manassas, one
gun; the McRae, seven guns; the Moore and Quitman with two guns each;
six river steamers with their stems shod with iron to act as rams, and
several iron-protected tugs.
Assembling the fleet at the head of the passes, after much difficulty in
getting the heavy ships over the bar, Farragut ordered the ships to
strip like athletes for battle. Down came mast and spar till nothing was
left standing but lower masts,--and even those were taken out of some of
the gunboats,--and soon everything best out of reach of shot was landed,
leaving clear decks, and no top hamper to be cut away by the enemy's
projectiles, and come tumbling down about the heads of guns' crews.
About this time the English and French men-of-war that had lain before
New Orleans, giving aid and comfort to the enemy and making merry in
singing rebel songs on board, especially on board the English vessels,
left the river, their officers declaring it an impossibility for the
fleet to pass the forts and obstructions.
In this connection, it may be mentioned that the cruisers of John Bull
prowled along the coast during the entire war, with sometimes permission
to enter the blockaded ports, conveying information and lending
encouragement to the enemy, and rejoicing at every disaster that befell
the Union arms, which, together with the tacit connivance of the British
government in letting out the Alabama, and other hostile acts, ought to
be treasured against Great Britain so long as the Republic endures.
On the sixteenth of April, Farragut moved up to a point just below the
forts, and on the eighteenth, having established the vessels of the
mortar fleet at distances ranging from twenty-nine hundred and fifty
yards to four thousand yards, from Jackson, and partially hidden by
trees on one side the river, and disguised with bushes on the other,
opened the bombardment, which was kept up with little interruption for
six days and nights; the corvettes and gunboats taking part by turns in
running up, delivering their fire, and dropping down with the current
out of range again. The forts replied vigorously, and every night the
enemy sent down fire-rafts, but to little purpose.
Meanwhile, under cover of the night and the fire of the fleet,
Fleet-Captain Bell, and Lieutenants-Commanding Crosby and Caldwell of
the gunboats Pinola and Itasca, had succeeded in forcing a channel
through the obstructions, a piece of duty that had required the most
robust and dauntless courage, and in which Caldwell--a son of
Massachusetts--shone pre-eminent by the coolness of his methods and
thoroughness of his work. And now, on the night of the twenty-third,
after a last examination by Caldwell in a twelve-oared boat, all was
pronounced clear, and the fleet was to weigh at two o'clock in the
morning.
The fleet was formed in three divisions, the first comprising the
Hartford, flagship, the Brooklyn, and Richmond; the second composed of
eight vessels with the divisional flag of Captain Bailey on board the
Cayuga; and the third of six vessels, with Fleet-Captain Bell's flag
flying from the Sciota; but was ordered to pass through the obstructions
in one column or single line ahead, the Cayuga leading. Farragut had
intended to lead himself, but at Bailey's urgent request yielded that
honor to him.
The letters of Lieutenant Perkins, ever glowing with ardor for the good
cause, were, at this time, full of patriotic fervor and aspiration, and
when he said: "I hope the Cayuga will go down before she ever gives up,
and 'I guess' she will," he certainly meant it! And the supreme moment
had now come for him to inform this hope by valorous deeds, and all
unfalteringly did he walk in the blazing light of heroism that none but
the brave may dare to tread.
The signal to weigh was promptly made at two o'clock, A.M., but work at
night is always behind, and it was half-past three o'clock before the
little Cayuga, leading the line, pressed gallantly through the
obstructions at full speed, eager for the fray, closely followed by the
heavy Pensacola, and ship after ship in the order assigned; but lack of
space forbids a general description of the battle, and we propose to do
hardly more than to follow the fortunes of the Cayuga.