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Some obvious typographical errors have been corrected. The use
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THE NARRATIVE OF A BLOCKADE-RUNNER.
by
J. WILKINSON,
Captain in the Late Confederate States Navy.
New York:
Sheldon & Company,
8 Murray Street.
1877
Copyright,
Sheldon & Company,
1877.
PREFACE.
In deference to the judgment of two or three literary friends, I have
entitled this, my first attempt at authorship, "The Narrative of a
Blockade-runner." They do not agree with Shakspeare that "a rose by any
other name would smell as sweet," to the reading public; nor that it is
always advisable to call a thing by its proper name. It will be seen,
however, by any reader who has the patience to peruse the work, that it
embraces a wider scope than its title would imply. I have endeavored to
give a full account of the passage by the U. S. fleet of the forts below
New Orleans; and to contribute some facts that will probably settle the
controversy, in the judgment of the reader, as to the real captors of
that city. "Honor to whom honor is due."
It will be seen that I have been favored with access to Commodore
Mitchell's official report of that conflict, a document never published.
The information derived from it, added to facts and circumstances
coming under my personal observation, furnishes the means of laying
before the public an account of that action from a new point of view.
In bearing testimony to the kind and humane treatment of the prisoners
of war at Fort Warren, I perform a most grateful duty. It was my good
fortune to be captured and held a prisoner, before the "retaliatory"
measures were adopted by the United States Government.
I have contributed some new, and, I hope, interesting facts about the
manner in which blockade running was conducted.
I cannot do better than furnish the following extract from a literary
friend's letter to me in reference to this effort of mine. "I am
particularly glad, believing as I do, that such a volume will help to
the production of that state of mind, North and South, which every good
man wishes to see grow. It is only necessary that we shall all fall into
the habit of talking and writing about war matters without feeling; that
we shall forget the bitterness of the conflict in our interest in its
history; and if you or I can amuse Northern readers, or entertain them
with our recollections, we shall certainly leave them in a pleasanter
and better state of mind than we found them in."
I should be happy to believe that I had contributed, in ever so small a
degree, to this consummation so devoutly to be wished for. But I would
make no sacrifice of principle nor of interest to achieve this end.
While accepting the situation consequent upon the unsuccessful appeal to
arms, the Southern people do not stultify themselves by professing to
renounce their conviction of their right and duty in having responded to
the call to defend their respective States from invasion.
But they believe that the war was conducted by the Confederate
Government in a spirit of humanity. Conceiving it to be the duty of
every southern man to submit any testimony in his possession relating to
this subject, and especially to the treatment of prisoners of war, I
have quoted some passages from a "Vindication of the Confederacy against
the charge of Cruelty to Prisoners." This work was recently published by
the Southern Historical Society, and was compiled by the Rev. J. Wm.
Jones, D.D., author of "Personal Reminiscences of Gen. R. E. Lee." The
candid and dispassionate student of History, in seeking after the
truth, should read this work before forming a judgment upon this point,
which has, perhaps, caused more bitter resentments among the Northern
people than all the other deplorable events of our civil strife
combined.
WOODSIDE, AMELIA CO., VA., Oct. 15th, 1876.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Secession of Virginia.--Service at Fort Powhatan.--Volunteers
at the Big Guns.--"Wide Awake" Clubs.--Want of preparation in
Virginia.--Fort Powhatan abandoned.--Service at Acquia
Creek.--The "Tigers."--Coal Mining on the Potomac. 15
CHAPTER II.
Ordered to New Orleans.--The Naval Fleet there.--The "River
Defence" Squadron.--The iron-clad "Louisiana."--Difficulty in
managing the Fleet.--Going down the River.--Want of
concert.--Admiral Farragut.--Our crew. 29
CHAPTER III.
The 24th April.--Passage of the United States Fleet.--After
the Storm.--The "River Defence" boats.--The Refuge in the
Bayou.--Surrender of the Forts.--Extracts from Commodore
Mitchell's official Report.--Council of War.--Destruction of
the "Louisiana."--Our Surrender.--General B. F.
Butler.--Transferred to the United States Frigate "Colorado." 44
CHAPTER IV.
Transferred to the "Rhode Island."--Meeting with an old
Friend.--Arrival at Fort Warren.--Treatment
there.--Correspondence, and its Result.--Prison
Life.--Exchanged.--The Crew at quarters.--Burial of the
"Unknown." 60
CHAPTER V.
A Brief Stay at Home.--Report to the War Department.--Instructions
to go abroad.--The Blockade-runner "Kate."--Voyage to
Nassau.--Yellow Fever.--The Undertaker.--Our Skipper "Captain
Dick."--The Major sick.--A Story for the Marines.--Arrival at
Cardenas.--The Coolies.--Arrival at Havana.--The American Consul
and I.--The Pirate Marti.--The Spanish Steamer.--Pretty
Harbors.--Captain Fry. 83
CHAPTER VI.
San Domingo.--The Island of Hayti and its Inhabitants.--St.
Thomas.--General Santa Anna.--The Mail Steamer Atrato.--Arrival
at Southampton.--English Scenery.--The Major Fails.--The
Giraffe purchased.--A Claim against the Confederate
Government.--The Hon J. M. Mason.--Credit of the Confederate
Government abroad.--An Improper Agent.--Captain Bullock.--The
Giraffe ready for Sea.--Glasgow.--Our Last Dinner.--Our Scotch
Landlady and Head Waiter.--We part with the Major.--Hot
Punch and Scotch Babies.--A Reminiscence. 100
CHAPTER VII.
Voyage to Madeira.--A Capital Sea-boat.--The Island
Ponies.--Mr. B. and his daughters.--Voyage to St. John's,
Porto Rico.--Run across the Bahama Banks.--Nassau during the
War.--High Wages and Low Characters.--Crew re-shipped.--Failure
to enter Charleston.--The "Lump."--A Narrow Escape.--The
Scotch Lithographers and their work.--Crossing the
Bar.--Transfer of the Giraffe to the Confederate
Government.--She becomes the "R. E. Lee."--The Major fulfills
his promise, but fails in his object. 117
CHAPTER VIII.
Dyer and the Sailing Captain.--First Voyage to Nassau.--Major
Ficklen and the Two Young Lieutenants.--Our Old Skipper
"Captain Dick."--Bermuda.--The Races there and
elsewhere.--Description of Bermuda.--Moore, the Poet, and his
Rival Mr. Tucker.--Tame Fish.--The Naval Station.--Col. B.'s
Accident. 136
CHAPTER IX.
We sail for Wilmington.--Thick Weather on the Coast.--Anchored
among the Blockading Fleet.--The "Mound."--Running the Blockade
by Moonlight.--A Device to mislead the Enemy.--The man Hester. 149
CHAPTER X.
The Confederate States Steamer "Florida."--Short Supply of
Coal.--The "Florida's" Decks.--Tea and Costly China.--Narrow
Escape from Capture.--Miss Lucy G.--Arrival at Bermuda.--Our
uneventful Trip inward.--The Johnson's Island Expedition.--Another
Narrow Escape.--"Pretty Shooting."--Arrival at Halifax, N.S. 159
CHAPTER XI.
The Lee Captured at Last.--Sandy Keith alias Thomassen.--Recruiting
in the British Provinces for the United States Army.--Failure
of the Expedition.--Return to Bermuda. 173
CHAPTER XII.
Take Command of the "Whisper."--High Rates of
Freight.--Confederate Money and Sterling Exchange.--An
Investment in Cotton.--The Ill-fated Ironclad.--The Point
Lookout Expedition and its Failure.--A Faithful Servant and a
Narrow Escape.--Futile Projects.--Wilmington during the
War.--Light Houses reëstablished.--Gloomy Prospects of
the South. 189
CHAPTER XIII.
Cruise of the Chickamauga.--Mr. Mallory's inefficiency.--Troubles
in Bermuda.--The Three Wrecks.--End of the cruise. 209
CHAPTER XIV.
Last Summons to Richmond.--Demoralization.--The
Chameleon.--More trouble in Bermuda.--Another Narrow
Escape.--Fall of Fort Fisher.--Maffitt's Escape, and Captain
S.'s Capture.--Another Hard Chase.--Failure to enter
Charleston.--Return to Nassau. 225
CHAPTER XV.
Sad News via New York.--Consternation among Speculators in
Nassau.--Departure from Nassau via Bermuda.--Arrival at
Liverpool.--The End. 244
NARRATIVE
OF A
BLOCKADE-RUNNER.
CHAPTER I.
Secession of Virginia.--Service at Fort Powhatan.--Volunteers at
the Big Guns.--"Wide Awake" Clubs.--Want of preparation in
Virginia.--Fort Powhatan abandoned.--Service at Acquia Creek.--The
"Tigers."--Coal Mining on the Potomac.
When the State of Virginia seceded from the Union, on the 17th day of
April, 1861, most of her citizens, belonging to the United States Navy,
resigned their commissions, and offered their services to the State of
their birth. Many of them had meddled so little with politics as never
even to have cast a vote; but having been educated in the belief that
their allegiance was due to their State, they did not hesitate to act as
honor and patriotism seemed to demand. They were compelled to choose
whether they would aid in subjugating their State, or in defending it
against invasion; for it was already evident that coercion would be used
by the General Government, and that war was inevitable. In reply to the
accusation of perjury in breaking their oath of allegiance, since
brought against the officers of the Army and Navy who resigned their
commissions to render aid to the South, it need only be stated that, in
their belief, the resignation of their commissions absolved them from
any special obligation. They then occupied the same position towards the
Government as other classes of citizens. But this charge was never
brought against them till the war was ended. The resignation of their
commissions was accepted when their purpose was well known. As to the
charge of ingratitude, they reply, their respective States had
contributed their full share towards the expenses of the General
Government, acting as their disbursing agent; and when these States
withdrew from the Union, their citizens belonging to the two branches of
the public service did not, and do not, consider themselves amenable to
this charge for abandoning their official positions to cast their lot
with their kindred and friends. But yielding as they did to necessity,
it was nevertheless a painful act to separate themselves from
companions with whom they had been long and intimately associated, and
from the flag under which they had been proud to serve.
During the brief interval which elapsed between the act of secession and
the admission of the State into the Confederacy, the Virginia Army and
Navy were organized; and all of the naval officers who had tendered
their services received commissions in the Virginia, and afterward in
the Confederate Navy; but as there were very few vessels in commission,
the greater portion of these officers were ordered to shore batteries.
My first experience was at Fort Powhatan, an earthwork situated on James
River a short distance below City Point, and carrying six or eight guns
mounted on ships' carriages, which had been transported from the Norfolk
Navy-yard. "Grim visaged war" had not shown his "wrinkled front" in
those fair portions of the land; and our time was chiefly spent in
drilling the volunteers at the big guns, and visiting the hospitable
families in the neighborhood; but all of us were soon to be transferred
to more active scenes. The young gentlemen-privates of the gallant
volunteer company, who so daintily handled the side and train-tackles
of the 42-pounders in the battery, considered themselves fortunate, not
long afterwards, if they obtained full rations of lean beef, or "Nassau"
pork, and "hard tack;" and bore the brunt of many a severely contested
battle as part of Stonewall Jackson's "foot cavalry." But at this period
there were only a few so called croakers who at all realized the
magnitude of the struggle about to ensue. The camps resounded with song
and merriment; and many of the young warriors were attended, like the
knights-errant of old, by a faithful squire, who polished the boots,
cleaned the musket, and performed other menial service for his "young
master." My own "fidus Achates," was old "Uncle Billy," whose occupation
was gone by the stoppage of a tobacco factory in Richmond, where he had
been used to take a prominent part in the peculiar songs of the
"profession." He would sometimes give us a specimen of his vocal powers,
and would nearly bring the house down, literally and metaphorically,
while executing the mysteries of a "Virginny breakdown" in thick soled
brogans sixteen inches long.
But to return from this digression, it was believed by many persons that
a large party at the North would oppose the prosecution of a war of
invasion. It will be remembered by those at all conversant with the
history of events at that time, how strong had been the party opposed to
secession in the Convention then in session at Richmond, (at least
two-thirds of its members having been elected as Union men,) and what
strenuous efforts towards peace and compromise had been made by the
Border States Commissioners. The call upon Virginia, by President
Lincoln, for her quota of troops to aid in subjugating the South, had
settled the question, however, in the Convention; and in a few hours
after Governor Letcher's reply to that call, Virginia had virtually cast
her lot with the Gulf States, although two weeks elapsed before she
became a member of the Confederacy. I had visited, some months previous
to the secession of the State, many of the little villages in New
England, where I saw that the population were in terrible earnest. "Wide
awake," and other secret societies were organized; and inflammatory
harangues aroused the populace. The favorite theme of the orators was
the "martyrdom" of John Brown; the piratical and murderous raid of that
fanatic into the State of Virginia being exalted into a praiseworthy act
of heroism. When I returned to Virginia and contrasted the apparent
apathy and want of preparation there with the state of affairs at the
North, I trembled for the result. But when the State severed her
relations with the Union, the Governor acted with great vigor and
ability, and the most was made of the limited resources at his command.
Volunteers responded with alacrity to the call to defend the State from
invasion; and none responded more readily, or served more bravely, than
those who had opposed secession in the Convention. It seems invidious to
cite particular examples; but the "noblest Trojan of them all" will
point a moral, and serve as an exemplar for generations to come. Wise in
council, eloquent in debate, bravest and coolest among the brave in
battle, and faithful to his convictions in adversity, he still lives to
denounce falsehood and wrong. Truly the old hero, in all he says and
does, "gives the world assurance of a man."--I allude to Gen. J. A.
Early.
When Fort Powhatan was abandoned, I was ordered to the command of a
battery at Acquia Creek on the Potomac. Although situated upon the
frontier, few incidents occurred there to vary the monotony of our
lives. Occasionally some of the gunboats guarding the river would steam
in, and exchange a few shots with us; and we witnessed frequent
skirmishes between them and Walker's afterwards famous battery of flying
artillery; but ammunition being extremely scarce at that period in the
Confederacy, the orders to us were peremptory to be very sparing in the
use of it.[1]
The battery at Acquia Creek was constructed at the terminus of the
railroad from Fredericksburg, and was manned by an infantry company
acting as artillerists. Besides this force, permanently stationed at the
battery, and quartered near it, a company of infantry from military
headquarters was sent every evening to guard against a night attack. A
company called the "Tigers," took their turn at this service, and we
would gladly have dispensed with their "protection." Utterly
undisciplined, they were more dangerous to friends than to foes.
Mutinous and insubordinate, they were engaged in constant collisions
with each other and with the companies so unfortunate as to be quartered
near them; and their camp was a pandemonium. In addition to other
sources of quarrel and contention, several women (_vivandiéres_, they
called themselves) followed the company. The patience of Gen. M.[2] who
commanded the division, was finally exhausted. He summoned the Captain
of the "Tigers" into his presence; and after severely reprimanding him
for the misconduct of his men, insisted that the "_vivandiéres_" should
be sent away. The captain urged many reasons for keeping them; the chief
one being the good _moral effect_ of their presence! but the General was
inflexible. Even gallantry to the sex must be sacrificed to the truth;
and a proper regard for the latter demands the statement that a
reformation commenced with the departure of the women; and our friends
the "Tigers" eventually became well-behaved soldiers.
We passed many months of inglorious inactivity here until the spring of
1862, when the line of the Potomac was abandoned. While the Federal
forces had remained comparatively quiet in this part of the Confederacy,
they had achieved many important successes elsewhere. Fort Donelson, on
the Cumberland River, and Roanoke Island in North Carolina had been
captured, with large garrisons; and New Orleans and Savannah were
threatened. General Joseph E. Johnston, who at the time commanded the
Army of Northern Virginia, determined to fall back to the line of the
Rappahannock; and all the batteries on the Potomac were abandoned
between the 8th and 10th of March, 1862; the guns being removed to other
quarters.
The monotonous service at the batteries had tried the patience of all
who were attached to them; and we rejoiced at the prospect of more
active duty. The reverses sustained by the Confederate arms were not to
be disguised, nor were our convictions of great danger to the country to
be removed by the politic proclamation issued by the Confederate
Government, to the effect that a contraction of the lines could exercise
no material influence upon the issue of the war. But as it was deemed
necessary by the military authorities to abandon the situation, we were
not at all sorry to depart; for although we had seen no active service,
insatiate war had claimed many victims, who had perished ingloriously by
the malarial fevers of that marshy district. The naval officers were
especially elated at the change. Their duties and their authority being
alike undefined, there resulted a deplorable want of harmony between
them and the military. This was, indeed, the inevitable consequence of
the anomalous position held by the former; and this want of concert of
action subsequently contributed, in some measure at least, to the
disastrous issue of the conflict below New Orleans.
We having been trained in the strict discipline of a man of war, wanted
"savoir faire" in dealing with the fastidious young captains, and the
equally sensitive "high privates"; while they no doubt looked upon us as
a domineering, tyrannical set of exclusives and wished that we were on
board the Federal gunboats in the river, or farther. My personal
intercourse, however, was always very pleasant with them. Capt. Brown,
commanding the company of North Carolinians at the battery, had
graduated at the U. S. Naval School a year or two previous to the war,
and was a strict disciplinarian. Two years after our separation, I fell
in with him accidentally; and he then gave me a sad account of the
changes wrought by death and disease in his fine company. He had risen
to the rank of Colonel, and was then on his return to duty in the army
of Northern Virginia after recovery from wounds received in battle. The
graphic account given by him of the manner in which he was wounded and
his narrow escape from death, may interest others as much as it did me.
His regiment formed part of Gen. Ed. Johnson's division, which held the
salient angle in Gen. Lee's line at Spottsylvania C. H. when it was
forced by the Federal troops. The attack was made at early dawn and in
the additional obscurity of a Scotch mist; and so complete was the
surprise according to B.'s account, that he was only made aware of the
close proximity of the enemy by dimly discerning, a few paces distant, a
Federal soldier with his musket levelled at him. The soldier fired, and
B. fell insensible, shot through one of the lungs. Upon recovering
consciousness, he found himself on a litter borne by Federal soldiers.
An officer leaned over him, and offered him some liquor from his
canteen, which revived him so far that he was able to speak. His humane
captor then volunteered to transmit any message to B.'s friends and
relatives. While B. was rallying his failing senses to deliver what he
believed to be his dying messages to the loved ones at home, a rattling
fire of musketry opened upon them, the litter bearers and the officer
were shot down; the latter falling across Brown, who relapsed into
insensibility. When he again recovered consciousness, he found himself
borne in the same litter, now carried by Confederate soldiers. The
position had been retaken. His good friend had been shot dead.
Our mess at Acquia Creek was abundantly supplied with food from land and
water. Every member of it, no doubt, frequently longed afterwards for
the "flesh pots of Egypt." We discovered, by chance, a large bulk of
coal, which had been stored on the long wharf where the Acquia Creek
steam-boats used to make their landings. When the Point was shelled
about the commencement of the war by the gunboats, the wharf was
destroyed, the coal falling uninjured ten or twelve feet to the bottom
of the river. We fished up our supplies with oyster tongs as they were
needed, and our snug quarters were kept warm during the winter. Towards
the end of the season, one of the mess servants lately arrived from the
rural districts, was sent in the boat for a supply from the _coal mine_.
He had made many a fire of soft coal in the drawing room at home; but
although an accomplished servant, his education had been so far
neglected that he was ignorant of all the "'ologies." He was very much
astonished at our process of coal mining, and asked me with great
gravity, on his return with the load, "if coal grew like that all over
the Potomac." Of course I replied in the affirmative. It was anthracite
hard coal, a specimen of which he had never seen; so he was further
informed that it was hard or soft according to the season when it was
fished up, being soft in the summer and hard in the winter. He was much
pleased to have acquired all this information, and probably took the
earliest opportunity, on his return home, to enlighten his circle of
friends and acquaintances upon the subject of coal mining on the
Potomac.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The belief still prevails, probably, at the North, that extensive
preparations had been made by the South for the war. But General Joseph
E. Johnston who was assigned to the service of organizing and
instructing the Virginia volunteers called out by Governor Letcher
states the contrary. He asserts that all the arms to be depended upon at
that time, were those found in the Southern arsenals, U. S. muskets, and
rifles of discarded patterns to the number of about 75,000; 40,000 flint
muskets belonging to the State of Virginia, and 20,000 procured for the
State of Georgia by Governor Brown.
It was charged that Mr. Floyd of Virginia while Secretary of War under
President Buchanan had caused the removal of public arms to the Southern
arsenals; but a Committee of the House of Representatives, in 1861,
exonerated Mr. Floyd from the charge, and the chairman of that Committee
was the Hon. Mr. Stanton, a prominent and zealous member of the
Republican party.
General Johnston, who was in a position to know the facts, states in his
"Narrative, etc.," that the "Confederate States began the war with one
hundred and twenty thousand arms of obsolete models, and seven hundred
of the recently adopted weapons rifled-muskets, and the United States
with about four hundred and fifty thousand of the old, and all of the
modern arms that had been made since the adoption of the new models."
When in August, 1861, it was in contemplation to send the Army of
Northern Virginia into Maryland, want of ammunition, according to the
distinguished authority just quoted, was one of the chief obstacles to
the project.
[2] The allusion is made to Genl. Mears, who commanded at Acquia Creek
and to the Baltimore "Tigers", at the time commanded by Captain Thomas.