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.
On our voyage to Halifax, we passed many vessels, and exciting no
suspicion, for at that period many of the captured blockade-runners were
afloat in the United States service. We showed American colors to those
which passed near us and once, in thick weather off New York, we passed
within hailing distance of a man of war bound South. We arrived at
Halifax the 16th of October. The cargo of cotton was consigned to the
firm of B. Wier & Co. with instructions to purchase shoes, etc., with a
part of the proceeds, and to hold the balance to my credit. There was
then no agent of the Confederate Government in Halifax, but I had taken
letters of introduction from a mercantile house in London to this firm
to be used in case of touching there on the way back from Glasgow the
year before. When I received my instructions from the Secretary of the
Navy before leaving Richmond, I wished to ascertain to whom the cargo
was to be consigned on our arrival at Halifax; and then learned from the
Secretary of State, to whom I was referred, that there was no accredited
agent of the government there. In this dilemma I sought counsel of my
good friend Mr. Seddon, Secretary of War, who advised me to act
according to my own judgment. I therefore directed the bills of lading,
invoices, etc., to be made out with B. Wier & Co. as consignees. In no
case, I believe, did the Confederate Government appear as the shipper or
consignor. Every cargo was supposed to be owned by private individuals;
and the blockade-runners were regularly entered and cleared at the
Confederate Custom House. Upon this occasion the Lee's papers were
closely scrutinized by the collector of the customs at Halifax, who did
me the honor of personal attention; but he could find no flaw in them,
and the vessel was regularly entered, with little more than the
customary delay.
The Lee had made her last voyage under the Confederate flag. Sailing for
Wilmington with a full cargo, she was captured off the coast of North
Carolina. The land had been made the night before under quite favorable
circumstances, but neither the captain, nor the pilot, being willing to
assume the responsibility of taking charge of the vessel, the Lee was
put to sea again, and by further culpable mismanagement, she fell an
easy prey next morning to one of the United States cruisers. She had run
the blockade twenty-one times while under my command, and had carried
abroad between six thousand and seven thousand bales of cotton, worth at
that time about two millions of dollars in gold, and had carried into
the Confederacy equally valuable cargoes. My staunch old helmsman, who
had been released in New York by claiming British protection, and who
started at once in search of me, met me in Halifax on our return from
the Johnson's Island expedition. He actually shed tears as he narrated
the train of circumstances which led to the capture. "She would have
gone in by herself," he said, "if they had only let her alone;" for
indeed it was evident to all on board the morning of her capture, that
she had been close in to the shore within a few miles of the New Inlet
Bar. She had not reached the bar, however, so that the pilot's course in
refusing to take charge was justifiable; but the fatal error was
committed by not making a good offing before daylight. At the time of
her capture, she was not more than twenty miles from the land, and in
the deep bay formed by the coast between Masonborough Inlet and the Cape
Lookout Shoals.
The arrival of so large a party of Confederates in Halifax attracted
attention, and it was essential to the successful execution of the
project, that all suspicion should be allayed. The party, therefore, was
divided into groups of three or four individuals, who were directed to
report, in person, at Montreal, each one being strictly enjoined to
secrecy and discretion; for although the precise object of the
expedition was only known to three of its members, Lieutenants R. Minor,
Ben. Loyall and myself, every one belonging to it was quite well aware
that it was hostile to the United States Government. They were a set of
gallant young fellows, with a single exception. Who he was and where he
came from, none of us knew; but he had been ordered by the Secretary of
the Navy to report to me for duty. We believed him to be a traitor and a
spy; and succeeded in ridding ourselves of him the day after our arrival
at Halifax, by advancing him a month's wages. No member of the
expedition ever saw him again.
The most officiously zealous friend and partisan whom we all
encountered in Halifax was Mr. "Sandy" Keith, who was facetiously called
the Confederate Consul. By dint of a brazen assurance, a most obliging
manner, and the lavish expenditure of money, "profusus sui alieni
appetens"--he ingratiated himself with nearly every southerner who
visited Halifax although he was a coarse, ill-bred vulgarian, of no
social standing in the community. It is true that a worthy member of the
same family had risen from obscurity to high honors, but Sandy was a
black sheep of the flock. He was employed at first by many of our people
to purchase for them on commission, and afterwards by the Confederate
Government. He profited by so good an opportunity for swindling,
eventually forging invoices of articles, and drawing bills of exchange
upon the Confederate Government, which were duly honored. This villainy
was perpetrated towards the end of the war, and at its close, Sandy
Keith absconded with his ill-gotten gains, a considerable proportion
consisting of money in his hands, belonging to private individuals.
Among his victims was Colonel S. of Baltimore, who determined to make an
effort to recover his money. His first step was a visit to Halifax. His
endeavors there to find Keith's whereabouts were for some time
fruitless. But at last a clue was found. A girl, who had accompanied
Keith in his flight, had written a letter to a relative in Halifax, and
Colonel S. by some means obtained a sight of the envelope. The
post-mark, plainly legible, indicated that the letter had been written
at an obscure little village in Missouri. S. hastened back to Baltimore,
and secured the coöperation of a detective, not for the purpose of
arresting Keith, because he doubted whether he could recover possession
of his property by the slippery and uncertain process of law, but for
the sake of the detective's strong arm and presence of mind in the event
of resistance. The reward to the detective being made contingent upon
the recovery of the money, the pair left Baltimore, and in due time
reached the village in the backwoods, where they learned that two
persons, as man and wife, were boarding at the house of a widow, a mile
or two distant. They waited until night, and then, arming themselves
with revolvers, started for the house of the widow. Knocking at the
door, it was opened to them, and as they passed in, Keith's voice was
heard, inquiring who had entered. Guided by the sound, they rushed to
the room occupied by him. He had retired for the night. His loaded
pistol was lying on a table near his bedside; but he had neglected to
lock the door of his chamber, and S. and the detective had secured his
arms and held him a prisoner before he was fairly awake. There was
little parleying between them, the detective merely assuring him that if
he did not come to terms speedily, his trunk would be broken open and
all of its contents seized. The whole affair was amicably settled in ten
minutes, by a check upon the bank in which Keith had deposited some of
his money, for the amount due to S., and the detective's reward. Keith
demurred a little to the latter demand, but finally yielded to moral
suasion; and next day S. presented the check, which was paid. Sandy
Keith was supposed by those who had known him, to have been lost among
the common herd of low swindlers and rogues, for none of them would have
given him credit for enterprise or sagacity. He emerged, however, from
obscurity, to perpetrate the most horrible and devilishly ingenious
crime of the century; for it was he who under the name of Thomassen blew
up the "City of Bremen" with his infernal machine. Those who have read
the account of that dreadful tragedy will remember that the explosion
was precipitated by the fall of the box containing dynamite from a cart,
or wheelbarrow, conveying it to the steamer. The hammer was set, by
clockwork apparatus, to explode the dynamite after the departure of the
steamer from England and when near mid-ocean, and Keith, confiding in
the efficacy of the arrangement, was actually about to take passage in
the steamer from Bremerhaven as far as England. Many persons believe
that the "City of Boston" was destroyed some years ago by this incarnate
fiend, and by the same means. That calamity carried mourning into many
households in Keith's native city, for a large number of its most
respectable citizens were on board. It will be remembered that she was
supposed at the time to have foundered at sea in a gale of wind.
I had been furnished, before leaving Richmond, with letters to parties
in Canada, who, it was believed, could give valuable aid to the
expedition. To expedite matters, a trustworthy agent, a canny Scotchman,
who had long served under my command, was dispatched to Montreal, via
Portland, to notify these parties that we were on our way there. Our
emissary, taking passage in a steamer bound to Portland, passed safely
through United States territory, while the rest of us commenced our long
and devious route through the British Provinces. Wherever we travelled,
even through the remotest settlements, recruiting agents for the United
States army were at work, scarcely affecting to disguise their
occupation; and the walls of the obscurest country taverns bristled with
advertisements like the following: "Wanted for a tannery in Maine one
thousand tanners to whom a large bonus will be paid, etc." Many could
not resist such allurements, but it was from this class and similar
ones, no doubt, that the "bounty jumpers" sprang. It has been asserted,
by those who were in a position to form a correct estimate, that the
British Provinces, alone, contributed one hundred thousand men to the
Federal army. It is scarcely an exaggeration to add, that the population
of the civilized world was subsidized.
We were seven days in making the journey to Montreal, where my faithful
agent met me by appointment, and carried me to the residence of Captain
M., a zealous and self-sacrificing friend to the cause, and to whom I
had been accredited. He looked steadily at me for a moment after our
introduction, and then said "I have met you once before." He recalled
to my memory the fact, that while I commanded the battery at Acquia
Creek in the early part of the war, he had brought a schooner loaded
with arms, etc., up the Potomac, and succeeded in placing her under the
protection of our batteries; having profited by a cold, dark, and
inclement night, to evade the vigilance of the gunboats. Subsequently he
and his family were compelled to leave Baltimore, and were now refugees
in Canada. Colonel K., also a refugee and an inmate of Captain M.'s
house, and to whom, likewise, I carried letters, enlisted
enthusiastically in the expedition, and devoted his whole time and
energies to its success. We might, indeed, have obtained a large number
of recruits from among refugees and escaped prisoners in Canada, but it
was not considered prudent to increase the size of the party to any
extent, our number being quite sufficient, under the plan as devised.
But we picked up two or three escaped prisoners from Johnson's Island;
among them an individual who was well known to Colonel Finney (a member
of the expedition); having been in the Colonel's employment on the
plains previous to the war. The Colonel was the right hand of Major
Ficklin in organizing and putting into operation the "pony express,"
which used to traverse the continent from St. Louis to San Francisco,
and our recruit, Thompson, was one of his trusted subordinates. This man
had led a very adventurous life. He informed us that after making his
escape from Johnson's Island on the ice one dark winter night, he walked
into Sandusky, and there laid in wait at the entrance of a dark alley
for a victim with whom to exchange clothing. His patience being rewarded
after a while, he laid violent hands upon his prize, and directed him to
divest himself of his suit. The stranger replied, that he would not only
supply him with clothing, but with money to make his way into Canada;
adding that he had a son in the Confederate army. He gave Thompson the
contents of his purse, and requesting him to wait till he could go home,
soon returned with a full suit of clothes.
We had reliable information to the effect that the garrison at Johnson's
Island was small, and that the United States sloop of war Michigan was
anchored off the island as an additional guard. If the sloop of war
could be carried by boarding, and her guns turned upon the garrison, the
rest would be easy of accomplishment; and there appeared to be no
obstacle to the seizure of as many vessels in Sandusky harbor, as might
be required for purposes of transportation. They were to be towed over
to the Canada shore, about twenty-five miles distant. There were several
difficulties to be overcome; the chief one being how to notify the
prisoners of the attempt about to be made. This was accomplished after
several visits to Baltimore and Washington, by the brave and devoted
Mrs. M. and her daughter; and finally the wife of General ---- obtained
permission from the authorities at Washington, to visit her husband,
then a prisoner on Johnson's Island. Although the interview between them
was brief, and in the presence of witnesses, she contrived to place in
his hand a slip of paper, which informed him that our progress would
appear in the New York Herald's "Personals" over certain initials, and
so disguised as to be intelligible only to those who were initiated.
Next, it was important to know the exact condition of affairs in
Sandusky, up to the time of our departure from Canada; and this was
effected through the agency of a gallant gentleman, a retired British
army officer, who went over to Sandusky upon the pretext of duck
shooting, and who by a pre-arranged vocabulary, conveyed daily
intelligence to us up to the time of our departure from Montreal.
Everything progressed favorably, until we began to make final
preparations for departure. Colonel K., who knew personally the manager
of an English line of steamers upon the lakes, and confided in the
integrity of the man, recommended him as most competent to give valuable
information; and to him, under the seal of confidence, I applied. The
only interview between us, (and in the presence of Colonel K.) was
brief, and the object of the expedition was not divulged to him; nor was
it intimated to him that any hostile act was contemplated; but he
probably drew the inference. His replies to my questions were so
unsatisfactory that I never saw him again, having recourse to other
sources of information.
It was arranged that our party should take passage on board one of the
American lake steamers at a little port on the Welland Canal. We were
disguised as immigrants to the west; our arms being shipped as mining
tools; and when clear of the canal, we were to rise upon the crew, and
make our way to Sandusky. As the Michigan was anchored close to the main
channel of the harbor, and we had provided ourselves with grapnels, it
was believed that she could be carried by surprise. We had sent off our
last "Personal" to the New York Herald, informing our friends at
Johnson's Island "that the carriage would be at the door on or about the
tenth;" our party had collected at the little port on the canal waiting
for the steamer then nearly due, when a proclamation was issued by the
Governor General, which fell among us like a thunderbolt. It was
announced in this proclamation, that it had come to the knowledge of the
Government that a hostile expedition was about to embark from the Canada
shores, and the infliction of divers pains and penalties was threatened
against all concerned in the violation of the neutrality laws. What was
even more fatal to our hopes, we learned that His Excellency had
notified the United States Government of our contemplated expedition.
Our good friend sojourning at Sandusky abandoned his duck shooting in
haste, (for the news sped across the frontier,) bringing intelligence
that the garrison at Johnson's Island had been increased, and such other
measures adopted as to render our success impossible. I called a council
of the senior officers, who unanimously recommended that the attempt be
abandoned; and so ended all our hopes. We learned, from what was
believed by some to be a reliable source, that the informant against us
was the manager, alluded to above, who betrayed us at the last moment.
There was a possibility of a successful issue to this enterprise, but
not a probability. The American Consul at Halifax possessed intelligence
and zeal; and he could easily have traced our course, by means of a
detective, up to the very point of our departure on the Welland Canal.
It is quite probable, indeed, that we were closely watched through the
whole route, for immediately after the proclamation was issued, two or
three detectives, no longer affecting disguise, dogged my footsteps for
several days, with the intention I suspected of carrying me "vi et
armis" across the frontier. But they were, in turn, subjected to as
close an espionage by several members of the expedition, who were
prepared for any emergency. "The engineer would have been hoisted with
his own petard" probably, if they had attempted the arrest. That
dare-devil Thompson, in fact, proposed one night that I should take a
walk alone along the canal, and see what would come of it, but I
declined the invitation.
One plan of releasing the Johnson's Island prisoners was to purchase a
steamer in England, through the agency of Captain Bullock, load her
with a cargo, and clear from the Custom House "for a market" on the
lakes.--The chief obstacle to this plan would have been the passage,
unsuspected, through the Welland Canal, but it was believed that, by
proper discretion and management, this might have been accomplished, and
the rest would have been easy; for all that was expected of any
expedition was to carry the Michigan by surprise; the prisoners upon the
island coöperating by attacking and overpowering the garrison.
As there was no farther necessity for keeping our movements secret, the
whole party started together on the return to Halifax. We followed the
route from "Riviere du Loup" overland by stage, or rather in sleighs,
for the ground was already covered with snow, and the steamers had
stopped running for the season, upon the beautiful picturesque St.
John's River; and our way lay through a cheerless and sparsely populated
country for nearly the whole distance. We were able too, without
indiscretion, to accept the hospitalities of our friends in Halifax,
during our brief stay there. But duty called us back to the Confederacy,
and passage was engaged for the whole party by the first steamer (the
Alpha,) to sail for Bermuda.