USA > New Mexico > Men of our day; or, biographical sketches of patriots, orators, statemen, generals, reformers, financiers and merchants, now on the stage of action > Part 11
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VICE-ADMIRAL DAVID D. PORTER.
was to the reduction of this, that the attention of Rear- Admiral Porter* was directed. The Navy Department, which had been instrumental in his transfer to the North Atlantic squadron, heartily seconded his efforts ; and an arrangement having been made with General Grant for the necessary land forces to co- operate with the squadron, a fleet of naval vessels, surpassing in numbers and equipments any that had been assembled during the war, was collected with dispatch in Hampton Roads. Vari- ous circumstances delayed the attack until the 24th of Decem- ber, 1864. What followed, is best related in the report of the Secretary of the Navy.
"On that day (December 24), Rear-Admiral Porter, with a bom- barding force of thirty-seven vessels, five of which were iron- clad, and a reserve force of nineteen vessels, attacked the forts at the mouth of Cape Fear river, and silenced them in one hour and a quarter; but there being no troops to make an assault or attempt to possess them, nothing beyond the injury inflicted on the works and the garrison was accomplished by the bombard- ment. A renewed attack was made the succeeding day, but with scarcely better results. The fleet shelled the forts during the day and silenced them, but no assault was made, or attempt- ed, by the troops which had been disembarked for that purpose. Major-General Butler, who commanded the co-operating force, after a reconnoissance, came to the conclusion that the place could not be carried by an assault. He therefore ordered a re- embarkation, and informing Rear-Admiral Porter of his intention, returned with his command to Hampton Roads. Immediate information of the failure of the expedition was forwarded to the department by Rear-Admiral Porter, who remained in the
* He was made full rear-admiral for his gallant services in the siege of Vicksburg, his commission dating from July 4th, 1863.
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vicinity with his entire fleet, awaiting the needful military aid. Aware of the necessity of reducing these works, and of the great importance which the Department attatched to closing the port of Wilmington, and confident that with adequate military co-operation the fort could be carried, he asked for such co- operation, and earnestly requested that the enterprise should not be abandoned. In this the department and the President fully concurred. On the suggestion of the President, Lieutenant- General Grant was advised of the confidence felt by Rear- Admi- ral Porter that he could obtain complete success, provided he should be sufficiently sustained. Such military aid was there- fore invited as would insure the fall of Fort Fisher.
A second military force was promptly detailed, composed of about 8,500 men, under the command of Major-General A. H. Terry, and sent forward. This officer arrived off Fort Fisher, on the 13th of January. Offensive operations were at once resumed by the naval force, and the troops were landed and intrenched themselves, while a portion of the fleet bombarded the works. These operations were continued throughout the 14th with an increased number of vessels. The 15th was the day decided upon for an assault. During the forenoon of that day, forty-four vessels poured an incessant fire into the rebel forts. There was, besides, a force of fourteen vessels in reserve. At 3 P. M., the signal for the assault was made. Desperate fight- ing ensued, traverse after traverse was taken, and by 10 P. M. the works were all carried, and the flag of the Union floated over them. Fourteen hundred sailors and marines were landed, and participated in the direct assault.
Seventy-five guns, many of them superb rifle pieces, and 1,900 prisoners, were the immediate fruits and trophies of the victory ; but the chief value and ultimate benefit of this grand achievement, consisted in closing the main gate through which
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the insurgents had received supplies from abroad, and sent their own products to foreign markets in exchange.
Light-draught steamers were immediately pushed over the bar, and into the river, the channel of which was speedily buoyed, and the removal of torpedoes forthwith commenced. The rebels witnessing the fall of Fort Fisher, at once evacuated and blew up Fort Caswell, destroyed Bald Head Fort and Fort Shaw, and abandoned Fort Campbell. Within twenty-four hours after the fall of Fort Fisher, the main defence of Cape Fear river, the entire chain of formidable works in the vicinity shared its fate, placing in our possession one hundred and sixty- eight guns of heavy calibre.
The heavier naval vessels, being no longer needed in that quarter, were dispatched in different directions-some to James river and northern ports, others to the Gulf or the South Atlan- tic squadron. An ample force was retained, however, to sup- port the small but brave army which had carried the traverses of Fort Fisher, and enable it, when reinforcements should arrive, to continue the movement on Wilmington.
Great caution was necessary in removing the torpedoes, always formidable in harbors and internal waters, and which have been more destructive to our naval vessels than all other means combined.
About the middle of February, offensive operations were resumed in the direction of Wilmington, the vessels and the . troops moving up the river in concert. Fort Anderson, an important work, was evacuated during the night of the 18th of February, General Schofield advancing upon this fort with 8,000 men, while the gunboats attacked it by water.
On the 21st, the rebels were driven from Fort Strong, which left the way to Wilmington unobstructed, and on the 22d of February, that city was evacuated. Two hundred and twelve
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guns were taken in the works from the entrance to Old river, including those near the city, and thus this great and brilliant achievement was completed."
The failure of General Butler to make the attack when ex- pected, though it would seem to have been justified by the dictates of prudence, and to have been in no respect due to any want of personal courage or daring on the part of the general, was very annoying to Rear-Admiral Porter, and led to an acri- monious correspondence between the two parties, neither of whom were at all chary in their abuse of each other.
The termination of the war soon after the capture of Wil- mington, left little more active service for the North Atlantic squadron, and its reduction and consolidation with the South Atlantic squadron followed in June, 1865. Before this, how- ever, on the 28th of April, Rear-Admiral Porter had been re- lieved, at his own request, of the command of the squadron, and Acting Rear-Admiral Radford succeeded him. In the few months' leave of absence granted him, he visited Europe.
In September, 1865, when the Naval Academy was brought back to Annapolis, and partially re-organized, Rear-Admiral Porter was appointed its superintendent, and has remained in that position since that time. He has infused new energy and character into the instruction there, and the Academy is now a worthy counterpart of the Military Academy at West Point. On the 25th of July, 1866, Vice-Admiral Farragut being pro- moted to the new rank of Admiral, Rear-Admiral Porter was advanced to the Vice-admiralty.
Vice-Admiral Porter is a man of fine, commanding personal appearance; of medium height, handsome features, a wiry, mus- cular frame, and of great physical power, and capacity for endurance. He is an accomplished scholar, speaks several languages fluently, and plays the harp, guitar, and other musical
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instruments well. He is of imperious and exacting temper, and tolerates nothing short of the most rigid obedience to his orders ; yet he has always had the ability to rouse the highest enthu- siasm in the men under his command. To this, undoubtedly, his superb personal courage largely contributed. No man in his squadron ever doubted that the admiral was ready to incur any risk which he asked others to incur. Indeed, he often ex- posed himself unwarrantably to the fire of the enemy. Take him all in all, he is well worthy to hand down to posterity the reputation of the gallant old commodore of the early days of the republic.
MAJOR-GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN.
INCE General Sheridan became famous, the honor of being his birth-place has been claimed by almost as many places as contended for the same honor in the case of Homer. Enthusiastic Irishmen have insisted that he first saw the light in county Cavan, Ireland ; the army regis- ter for years credited Massachusetts with being the State in which he was born; the newspaper correspondents, knowing men that they are, have traced him to Albany, New York, where, they say, he was born while his parents were en route for Ohio; while the general himself, who being a party to the transaction should know something about it, and what is still more to the purpose, his parents, testify that he was born in Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, on the 6th of March, 1831. His parents were then recent emigrants from county Cavan, Ireland, but were not of the Scotch-Irish stock so largely predominent in that county, but belonged to one of the original Celtic and Roman Catholic families of the county.
Vain has been the attempt to find any of those incidents which foreshadow greatness, in the boyhood of the future cavalry general. He was a wild, roguish, fun-loving Irish boy, probably fond of horses, though the Rev. P. C. Headley's story about his riding a half broken vicious horse when only five years old is pronounced by the general himself an entire fabrication. He
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went to school to an Irish schoolmaster for a time when about ten or twelve years old, one of Goldsmith's sort :-
" A man severe he was, and stern to view ; I knew him well, and every truant knew ; Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face."
This pedagogue gave the mischievous urchin his full share of the birch, incited thereto, as one of Sheridan's schoolmates affirms, by the recollection of an occurrence in which Phil got the better of him. The story is substantially this : when Sheri- dan was about eleven or twelve years old, on a cold winter's morning, two of his schoolmates came early to the schoolhouse, and finding the teacher, MeNanly, not yet arrived, prepared a somewhat unpleasant surprise for him, in the shape of a pailful of icy water suspended over the schoolhouse door, in such a way that its contents would descend upon the head of the one who should first open the door. This arranged they withdrew to a neighboring haymow, and waited to see the fun. McNanly soon came, unlocked the door and received the ducking, which naturally aroused his not very placable temper. He sat down to watch, resolved to give the first boy who should come, a terri- ble thrashing. A little fellow who happened to be first was caught by the neck and shaken fiercely, but being convinced that he knew nothing of it, the teacher dropped him and waited for another. Each boy in turn was throttled and shaken, the two real offenders among the rest, but as all denied it, McNanly still waited for his victims. At length Phil. Sheridan came, somewhat late, as usual, and convinced that he had now the real culprit, McNanly made a dive for him; the boy dodged and ran, and the teacher after him, bare headed and brandishing his stick. Phil did his best, but his legs were short, and when he reached his father's yard McNanly was almost upon him, and
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he bolted through the gate, the teacher following at full speed, when a new ally suddenly came to Phil's relief. This was no other than a large Newfoundland dog, the boy's playmate and pet, who seeing his young master in trouble, sprang upon the teacher, who, frightened sadly, climbed the nearest tree with great agility. "Take away your divilish dog," he cried, "or I'll bate the life out of ye." "Like to see you," said the boy, as he very coolly brought a bit of old carpet, threw it under the tree and ordered Rover to " watch him." The dog obeyed and Phil mounted the fence and looked, somewhat impudently, we fear, at his teacher, the whole school meantime being gathered close by to see the end. McNanly's clothing was none of the warmest, and his cold bath and violent exercise had thrown him into a violent perspiration, and he was now shivering with the cold. " What d'ye want to lick me for ?" queried Phil. " What did ye throw the wather on me for?" asked the teacher; "I didn't throw any wather on you," said the boy. "What did ye run so for, thin ?" "Cause I saw ye was going to lick me," said Phil. " Well, call off the dog." " Not till ye promise ye won't lick me. Watch him, Rover." This last order was given as the teacher was trying to get down, and the dog in response seized him by the leg. Mr. Sheridan now came out, and McNanly appealed to him, declaring that he must lick Phil, for the sake of the discipline of the school, for the boys were all laughing at him now. Mr. Sheridan called to the dog, but he would not move, and doubting perhaps whether Phil deserved a thrashing, he returned into the house. "You'd better prom- ise," said Phil, "for the dog won't mind anybody but me, and I can stay here all day." At length, nearly perished with the cold, MeNanly promised that he wouldn't lick him that time, and the boy, calling to Rover, allowed the master to descend. The
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subsequent whippings, Phil used to say, had interest added to them, on account of this.
Sheridan was fond of mathematics, and managed to pick up a fair knowledge of figures in school. At the age of about fifteen he was taken as a clerk by Mr. Talbot, a hardware dealer of the village, who, finding him active, intelligent, and faithful, gave him further instruction in mathematics and guided him in his reading. After a time, as a better position offered, he helped him to get it, and he became a clerk for Mr. Henry Detton. Not long after General Thomas Ritchey was the Congressman from the district, and had in his gift an appointment to a vacancy at West Point. For this place there was a strong competition. Sons of wealthy parents came, or sent to him their applications with a long list of influential names. At length one letter came without recommendations or references. It merely asked that the place might be given to the writer and was signed, " Phil Sheridan." General Ritchey, who had known the boy for a long time and had marked his faithfulness and love of study, gave him the appointment at once.
Sheridan was at this time (1848), seventeen years old. Among his classmates were James B. McPherson, Schofield, Sill, Tyler, and the rebel General Hood. His scholarship at West Point was above mediocrity, but his animal spirits were so constantly running over, and his pugnacity was so much in the ascendancy, that he was always receiving demerit marks in the conduct column. One of the cadets insulted him, and he proceeded to redress his own grievances, by giving the offender a severe thrashing. This conduct, some of the officers of the academy believed justifiable, but it was unmilitary, and, as a result, Sheridan was suspended and thrown into the class below, so that he did not graduate till 1853, when he stood thirty-fourth in a class of fifty-two. He was ordered to duty as brevet second
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lieutenant of infantry, but at first without being assigned to any particular regiment, and after serving in garrison at Newport barracks, Kentucky, for a few months, was sent in the begin- ning of 1854, to the Texas frontier, where for nearly two years, he served at Fort Duncan, La Peña, and Turkey creek, Texas. He received his commission as full second lieutenant, while in Texas, November 22d, 1854. Returning east, after a short period of garrison duty at Fort Columbus, New York, he was ordered to escort duty from Sacramento, California, to Colum- bia river, Oregon, and then on a series of expeditions among the Indians, for a year. He was next assigned to the military posts at Forts Haskins and Yamhill, where he endeavored to make peace with the Indians, learned their dialects, and won their regard to such an extent that he could accomplish what lie pleased with them. On the 1st of March, 1861, he was pro- moted to a first lieutenancy in the fourth infantry, and ten weeks later, May 14th, a commission was sent him as captain in the thirteenth infantry, and with it, news of the impending war. He was ready for it, and wrote to a friend in the State : " If they will fight us, let them know we accept the challenge. Who knows ? Perhaps I may have a chance to raise a major's commission." A modest ambition, certainly for the man who within four years was to demonstrate his title to be regarded as the ablest living cavalry general. He was ordered to report at Jefferson barracks, Missouri. He arrived in the midst of the confusion that followed the removal of Fremont from command. Nothing could be a more droll illustration of the frequent governmental faculty for getting the wrong men in the right places than the assignment that awaited the young Indian fighter. He was made president of a board to audit claims under the Frémont administration. He did the work satisfac- torily, however; and presently the Government, fully satisfied
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now, that here was a good man for routine and clerical duties, made him quartermaster and commissary for Curtis, at the outset of the Pea Ridge campaign.
All this seemed rapid promotion to Captain Sheridan, and he went to work heartily and earnestly to make a quartermas- ter of himself. He was sixty-fourth captain on the list-so one of the staff officers tells of his reasoning in those days-and with the chances of war in his favor, it needn't be a very great while before he might hope to be a major! With such modest aspirations he worked away at the wagon-trains; cut down regimental transportation, gave fewer wagons for camp furni- ture and more for hard bread and fixed ammunition, established secondary depots for supplies, and with all his labor found that he had not fully estimated the wants of the army. Some orders from General Curtis about this time seemed to him inconsistent with the West Point system of managing quarter- masters' matters, and he said so, officially, with considerable freedom of utterance. The matter was passed over for a few days, but as soon as Pea Ridge was fought, General Curtis found time to attend to smaller affairs. The first was to dispense with the further services of his quartermaster, and send him back to St. Louis in arrest.
But, just then, educated officers were too rare in Missouri to be kept long out of service on punctilios. Presently the affair with Curtis was adjusted, and then the Government had some fresh work for this young man of routine and business. It sent him over into Wisconsin to buy horses! The weeping philosopher himself might have been embarrassed to refrain from laughter! Mcclellan was at the head of the army ; Halleck had chief command in the west; men like McClernand and Banks, Crittenden and McCook, were commanding divisions or corps; and for Cavalry Sheridan the best work the Govern-
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ment could find was-buying horses in Wisconsin! Then came Pittsburg Landing, and Halleck's hurried departure for the field. Wishing a body of instructed regular officers about him, he thought, among others, of Curtis's old quarter- master, and ordered him up to the army before Corinth. Then followed a little staff service, and at last, in May, 1862, the future head of the cavalry got started on his proper career. Watching wagon-trains, disputing with the lawyers about doubt- ful contractor's claims, or with the jockeys about the worth of horses-all this seems now very unworthy of Sheridan, but it was a part of his education for the place he was to fill; and we shall see that the familiarity thus acquired with the details of supplying an army were to prove of service to one whose business was to be to command armies, and to tax the energies of those who supplied them to the utmost.
There was need of a good cavalry force, and chiefly of good cavalry officers, men who understood their duties and could train a cavalry force to act with precision as well as dash, and not to fire once and run away. Our young Indian fighter was thought of; he had done good service in Oregon, and indeed everywhere else, and it was possible that he might know how to handle cavalry. So, at a venture, on the 27th, of May, he was commissioned colonel of the second regiment of Michigan volunteer cavalry, and sent immediately on the expedition to cut the railroad south of Corinth. This accomplished, on his return he was immediately sent in pursuit of the rebels, who were retreating from Corinth, and captured and brought off the guns of Powell's rebel battery. On the 6th of June, leading a cavalry reconnoissance below Boonesville, he met and signally defeated a body of rebel cavalry commanded by General For- rest; and on the 8th, started in pursuit of the enemy, drove them through Baldwin and to Guntown, where, though their
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force was much larger than his own, he defeated them, but under orders from headquarters fell back to Boonesville and thence to Corinth.
On the 11th, of June he was put in command of a cavalry brigade, and on the 26th, ordered to take his position at Boone- ville, twenty miles in advance of the main army, whose front he was to cover while at the same time he watched the operations of the rebels. His brigade numbered less than two thousand men.
On the 1st of July 1862, he was attacked at Booneville by a rebel force of nine regiments (about six thousand men), under command of General Chalmers. Sheridan slowly retreated toward his camp, which was situated on the edge of a swamp, in an advantageous position, where he could not be flanked, and here he kept up the unequal fight, but finding that Chalmers, with his greatly superior numbers, would in the end surround and overpower him, he had recourse to strategy. Selecting ninety of his best men, armed with revolving carbines and sabres, he sent them around to the rear of the enemy by a delour of about four miles, with orders to attack promptly and vigorously at a certain time, while he would make a simultane- ous charge in front. The plan proved a complete success. The ninety men appeared suddenly in the enemy's rear, not having been seen till they were near enough to fire their carbines, and, having emptied these, they rushed with drawn sabres upon the enemy, who, supposing them to be the advance guard of a large force, were thrown into disorder; and, before they had time to recover, Sheridan charged them in front with such fury that they fled from the field in complete disorder, utterly routed. Sheridan pursued, and they continued their flight, utterly panic- stricken, to Knight's mills, twenty miles south from Boone-
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ville, throwing away their arms, knapsacks, coats, and every thing which could impede their flight.
General Grant reported this brilliant affair to the War De- partment, with a recommendation that Colonel Sheridan should be promoted. This recommendation was granted, and his com- mission of brigadier-general bore date July 1, 1862.
At this time, the rebels in his front had but one stream (Twenty Mile creek) from which to water their live-stock, and from his post at Booneville, General Sheridan frequently made sudden dashes in that direction, and captured large quantities of their stock, often two or three hundred at a time. In August, 1862, he was attacked by a rebel cavalry force, under Colonel Faulkner, near Rienzi, Mississippi, but after a sharp engage- ment the rebels were defeated, and retreated in haste, Sheridan pursuing them to near Ripley, and, charging upon them before they could reach their main column, dispersed the whole force, and captured a large number of prisoners. Early in Septem- ber, 1862, General Grant having ascertained that the rebel Gen- eral Bragg was moving towards Kentucky, detached a portion of his own forces to reinforce the Army of the Ohio, then under command of General Buell. Among these were General Sheri- dan, and his old command, the second Michigan cavalry. As General Grant expected, General Buell gave Sheridan a larger command, assigning him to the charge of the third division of the Army of the Ohio. He assumed command of this division on the 20th of September, 1862. At this time, General Bragg was approaching Louisville, which was not in a good condition for defence, and General Sheridan was charged with the duty of defending it. In a single night, with the division under his command, he constructed a strong line of rifle-pits from the rail- road depot to the vicinity of Portland, and thus secured the city against the danger of surprise. On the 25th of September,
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