Very respy. your obdt. servt,
(Signed) H. B. SMITH,
Lieut. 5th N. Y. II. A.
Lieutenant Andrews and George G. Nellis, "tied up" to Quinn and Lewis,
the blockade-runners, had been, respectively, Provost and Assistant
Provost Marshals at Fort McHenry, prior to the assignment of Captain
Holmes and myself to those offices.
It pleases me to note how vivid my memory is, after forty-seven years,
of the incidents connected with this expedition. Our party of eight,
after landing in Accomac, split up, and straggled over the country about
ten miles, through fields and timber, in snow and slush nearly ankle
deep, avoiding the highways and stopping only at negro huts to inquire
our way. We arrived at T. W. Jacobs' house quite late and began our
search; right here I want to say our search was orderly, endeavoring not
to unnecessarily annoy.
About midnight a great commotion was raised outside the house by the
tramping of horses, rattling of sabres, and loud voices. We were
surrounded by a troop of cavalry (our cavalry). They were very excited,
and they threatened us with everything, until I took the Commandant
aside and made him aware of who we were; even then he soundly upbraided
me for giving him such a scare. He finally departed.
The next day we went over to the Chesapeake Bay side of the peninsula.
When we arrived there we divided into two parties, in order to approach
the harbor from two directions. When we arrived on the bluff (about
twenty feet above water) my party of four was first to discover that
there were a number of sailing vessels at anchor in the little bay.
What to do was the question. I determined that we four must capture the
whole fleet. Which we did in this way: As quietly as possible we
possessed ourselves of one vessel and from it, under the persuasive
influence of our revolvers, we compelled the men on all the other
vessels to go below deck. Then we searched the vessels in detail,
detaining only the "Frances E. Burgess."
This harbor was an ideal place for such "traders," i. e.,
blockade-runners. It was perfectly land-locked, could not be seen from
the bay, and was very hard to get in or out of; it was impassable for
gunboats, and so it was well chosen for the business.
The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are indented almost continuously
with smaller estuaries, which make excellent hiding places. Beautiful
places for residence, and likely spots for romance.
While laying at Point Lookout on our way home a severe March storm came
up, dreadful to a land lubber like me. The point is where the Potomac
empties into the Chesapeake. Storms are felt there nearly as greatly as
at Old Point. It blew so hard I feared it would blow us over onto the
wharf. The water was up to the wharf's surface, and there was no sleep
for us that night. Next morning, when we started for Baltimore (ninety
miles away), as we were rounding the Point a big boiling sea took the
yawl of the "Burgess," davits and all, throwing it high in the air. But
to turn back spelled death. Our pilot was Captain Cannon, an old bay
pilot. He did not conceal that he was frightened. He said he never had
seen such weather. We breasted that storm for about twelve hours. The
only encouragement from Captain Cannon was that if our boat could live
until we got under the influence of North Point we would be all right;
we lived.
The heavens were never more unkind in appearance. I did not spend much
time in gazing that way, for the awful waves occupied me. Captain Cannon
kept the vessel as near head on as possible, first on top of the wave
and then in a trough of the sea. Half the time our screw was revolving
in the air. Everything loose on deck washed away. I never had a better
chance to contemplate my past and future than in that twelve hours. I
remember my great regret was that if we should go down, no one could
know what became of us, for I had not reported at Point Lookout and we
were unknown on the peninsula. The severity of this storm became a
matter of history. Seagoing steamers remained tied to their wharves. The
shores of the Chesapeake Bay were strewn with wrecks. The "Adriatic"
(our vessel) was iron bottomed and drew six feet of water. The
Chesapeake can kick up a sea, give it a northeaster, that would gratify
the most hungry tar.
When we were opposite the mouth of the Severn river we saw the steamer
"Nellie Pentz" headed out, her bow tossing up and down in the air like a
cork. She did not dare come out, to certain wreck, dared not turn
around, so she backed up the river again. When we got under the lee of
North Point I became courageous and generous; off towards the west was
in view a schooner, on the rocks. Her crew of four men were in the
rigging. I proposed to Captain Cannon to rescue them. He said it was
impossible, as our boat drew more water than theirs and would be wrecked
before we could reach them. However, we notified the revenue cutter and
they were rescued. When we arrived at Baltimore (nine o'clock P.M.) the
wharves were afloat. The big Bay Line steamers, sea-going vessels, had
not left the wharf. They had not dared to venture out in the storm our
little eighty-foot craft had passed through.
[Illustration: MAJOR GENERAL M. W. LEW WALLACE]