USA > Rhode Island > Memoirs of Rhode Island officers who were engaged in the service of their country during the great rebellion of the South. Illustrated with thirty-four portraits > Part 28
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one man was knocked overboard and drowned, and another died of his wounds. Several others were wounded or slightly scalded. On the whole, the Clifton's loss in killed was as great as that of any vessel in the fleet. My surprise is, that we did not lose more, for the water around us was in a complete bubble from the falling shot from the rebel batteries. Two other shot struck us beside the one that entered our boiler, but they did no harm.
" When the rebels saw the smoke issuing from us, they jumped upon their battery and cheered most lustily ; but we soon stopped their cheers. Just then, as we were swinging around in our helpless condition, our star- board quarter came to bear upon the battery, when the order was given to fire. In an instant, away flew shot, shell and grape, making great havoc among the rebels, for we could see the effect of our shot. Our master's mate, W. W. Weld, (who is from Providence,) fought his guns with great bravery. The explosion of the boiler had left him alone with his gun. This he loaded and fired with his own hands, in a manner deserving the highest praise."
A portion of Admiral Farragut's vessels were now ordered to the coast of Texas, among them the Clifton, then under the command of Lieutenant- Commander Law. Here she was constantly engaged with the rebel forces. The following extract from one of Lieutenant Rhodes's letters to his father, describes the operations of the fleet to which the Clifton was attached in Matagorda Bay :
" We started up the bay at three o'clock, October 24th. It was not long before we saw a sail ahead, and we both put chase after her. We were soon within gunshot of her. We fired at her twice. At the second shot, they set fire to the vessel and abandoned her. The crew took their small boat and rowed ashore. We fired several shot at them as we went dashing by them after the schooner. We soon came up to the schooner, and sent a party of men on board to extinguish the fire, which they did. The vessel proved to be a schooner-rigged yacht and a perfect beauty, worth about three thousand dollars. She was burnt only a very little.
" At nine, A. M., October 26th, the Westfield made signals to get under weigh, which we did at once, and proceeded to Indianola, where we arrived about noon. We sent a boat on shore and demanded the surrender of the place, which they complied with immediately as they had no guns to defend it. We staid there but a little while, and started for Matagorda. We arrived there that evening, and the next day, October 27th, we took a prize schooner with eighteen bales of cotton on board. We took the cotton on board of the steamer and destroyed the schooner. She was not worth anything.
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" Friday, October 31st, we got under weigh at high water, crossed over the bar, anchored, and sent a boat to sound and stake the channel out. The rebels the day before took up all of the old channel stakes, so that we could not find the way up. At twelve, meridian, got under weigh and pro- ceeded up to Lavaca, and anchored off the city. Captain Renshaw sent Captain Law on shore with a flag of truce to demand the surrender of the place. Captain Law told them that he would give them one hour and a half for them to surrender in, and if they did not at the end of the appointed time, we should attack the town and batteries. At half-past three o'clock, the time being up and receiving no answer, we both steamed up a little nearer to the city and opened fire upon it. We had been shelling the town and batteries for some time, and had not received a single shot from then. We could not see a single man about the batteries, but we could see a large secesh flag flying between the two batteries. As they did not open fire at us, we moved up within about half a mile of the town, when all of a sudden the batteries opened fire upon us, the shot and shell striking all around, but none of them happened to hit either of us; but to speak the truth they quite surprised us all. We soon backed out of their range, and kept up a heavy fire upon them until dark, when we ceased firing'and anchored for the night. After we had anchored, Captain Renshaw came on board and said the last time that they . fired their rifled gun, which is a one hundred-pound rifle, it burst, wounding three men and Acting Master Warren, but none of them were seriously injured. It was very fortunate that it did not kill everybody about the deck. I am sorry that we have lost the gun, as it was the only one hundred-pound rifled gun in Farragut's fleet. Just now we need all the guns that we can raise. We expended one hundred rounds of ammunition.
"Saturday, November Ist, in the morning we opened fire upon them, and kept it up until half-past ten o'clock, A. M., when our ammunition was nearly all expended, and there were no signs of the rebels hanling down the flag. They did not return the fire in the morning. I suppose they were waiting for us to come up under their guns again; but we took care not to do it. Our shells did a great deal of damage to the town. We could see them strike the houses, bursting and throwing the boards, clapboards and shingles in every direction. At half-past ten o'clock, A. M., Captain Renshaw signalled to cease firing, which we did, we having expended in all one hundred and thirty rounds of ammunition."
In April, 1863, the Clifton, with other gun-boats and steamers, was employed in transporting a portion of General Banks's army, consisting of
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five thousand troops, with artillery, horses and munitions of war, from Ber- wick to Franklin, in Louisiana. A second division was next transported in an opposite direction for the purpose of flanking the enemy. In these expe- ditions the gunboats were constantly fired upon by the rebel batteries which lined the rivers. But, notwithstanding the batteries, the torpedoes, spiles, and other obstructions, they fought their way through without loss. The rebels were so hard pressed that they abandoned their baggage, tents, sick and wounded, and destroyed three gun-boats to prevent them falling into our hands.
On the 18th of April, the Clifton, Estrella, Calhoun and Arizona left Brashear City, each carrying a company of troops for an attack on Fort Butte La Rose, at the mouth of Atchafayala river, seventy miles from Brashear. The bayous and streams through which the fleet passed were so crooked and narrow that they had great difficulty in pushing their way through. The Clifton ran against a large, hollow cypress tree, a hundred feet in height, which fell its entire length upon her deck, which was filled with men. But, strange to say, not a man was seriously hurt. All the gun-boats were more or less injured, by running into the banks or losing their rudders.
At length, they discovered the smoke of the rebel gun-boats over the trees ; and, soon after, in rounding a point of land, found themselves within a quarter of a mile of the fort. The order was, for two of the gunboats to go abreast; but, owing to the narrowness of the river, this was found to be impracticable. The Clifton then took the lead, and, a few minutes after, fired her bow gun at the fort. The rebels replied immediately. Their first shot passed within two feet of Lieutenant Rhodes's head, and struck the walking- beam of the Clifton. Nevertheless she pressed forward and reached the fort. the shot from whose guns then passed over her. But now appeared the rebel gun-boats near the opposite bank of the river, from which came a rapid fire. The Clifton met with some casualties, but, with the other vessels, kept up a fire at the fort, which soon raised a white flag and surrendered. The atten- tion of our gun-boats was now directed to those of the rebels, which, however, from a better knowledge of the narrow river, managed to escape, closely followed, for a short distance, by our vessels, which kept up a fire upon them.
In a letter to his father describing this action, Lieutenant Rhodes says : "Our men stood at their guns and fought them with great bravery. It was a trying time to both officers and men when our guns became muzzle to muzzle with those of the rebels. But when they dashed up to the fort they
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sent up tremendous cheers." On the same day, the Arizona went up the Atchafayala, capturing a quantity of cotton and many prisoners. The injuries to the machinery of the Clifton rendered it necessary for her to proceed to Brashear City, where she could procure from New Orleans the necessary arti- cles required for repairs.
In the disaster at Galveston which took place a few months later, the Clifton was conspicuous and made a gallant defence. The following is from a letter from Lieutenant Rhodes to his father, and presents the fullest account we have seen of the event:
"New Year's night we discovered three rebel steamers approaching us. We immediately went to quarters and made signals to the fleet. The Har- riet Lane was about half a mile from us. The Owasco lay a mile below us, and the Westfield, Captain Renshaw, about two miles from us in Bolivar channel. At half past two o'clock, A. M., the Westfield signalized that she required immediate assistance, and at three, we were alongside, when we found she was aground. At half-past four o'clock, the rebels opened fire from the town upon our troops and gun-boats, with artillery and musketry. Captain Renshaw asked Captain Law, of the Clifton, if we could find our way up to the town again. We got up our anchor, and, after getting aground twice, succeeded in getting through. The rebels fired at us from a battery which we soon silenced. By this time it was nearly sunrise, when I discov- ered the Owasco fighting nobly off the town, while the Harriet Lane, the pride of our fleet, had a rebel boat on each side of her. The Owasco ran up to her assistance, but having used up her primers could not use her ninc-inch guns. Captain Wilson then gave orders to go ahead at full speed and run down the rebel boats. But just then, unfortunately, the Owasco ran ashore a short distance from the rebel boats. On each of these boats were two hundred and fifty men, armed with double-barrelled guns, revolvers, rifles and muskets. The rebels now turned the guns of the Harriet Lane on the Owasco, and the troops from the two other boats poured in a deadly fire upon her, and killed and wounded twenty of her crew. By this time the Harriet Lane had a white flag flying, and presently we saw a boat coming from her with a white flag. It contained a rebel officer and crew, who informed us that the Harriet Lane had surrendered, that Captain Wainwright was killed and Lieutenant Lee was mortally wounded, and nearly all her crew killed. The rebel officer demanded the immediate surrender of our fleet. Captain Law informed him that he was not the senior officer, but he would take the
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message to Captain Renshaw. The rebel officer gave three hours for us to decide in. Meanwhile the Harriet Lane had hoisted the secesh flag.
At nine, A. M., Captain Law returned from the Westfield, and gave orders to the Owasco, Sachem, and the little schooner, as soon as we hauled down our white flag to haul down their white flags, to get under weigh and proceed down the channel. As the Owasco was heaving up her anchor, the same rebel officer and a rebel colonel eame off with a flag of truce and demanded her surrender. Captain Wilson laughed at them, and informed them very politely that he had orders to take his ship outside, and outside she must go. The rebels soon after opened on him with their artillery and musketry, and although the shot fell thick around them, not a man was hit. * At ten, * A. M., we saw the Westfield had just blown up. I suppose Captain Renshaw blew her up to save her from falling into the hands of the rebels. Captain Renshaw, Lieutenant Zimmerman, Mr. Green, chief engineer, three gunners and twelve men were blown up with the steamer. I suppose the magazine took fire sooner than they intended it should."
On the 8th of September, an action took place between the United States fleet and the rebels, in which Lieutenant Rhodes was killed. The particulars were obtained from Mr. Barney, master-at-arms on the Clifton when she was captured.
The fleet, consisting of twenty-three gun-boats and transports, were steaming towards Sabine Pass, the Clifton in advance. General Weitzel was ordered to land five hundred men below the rebel fort, to make a land attack, while the Clifton was to run past the battery to enfilade its rear. She had reached a point within three hundred yards of the battery, when she ran on a sand key. Scarcely had the order been given to reverse the engine, when a thirty-two pound shot came crashing through the bulkhead and into the steam drum, thus cutting off all hopes of escape by retiring. Mr. Rhodes, who was at his post, was struck by this shot, which nearly carried away his hip and thigh. The shot continued to come thicker and faster, while the Clifton, being near bow on, could only reply with a single gun. As every shot from the rebels was dealing death and destruction, without a chance to escape, the order was given to haul down her flag.
Men lay about the deck dead and dying, and the surgeon was doing all in his power to make them comfortable. When he came to Mr. Rhodes, he told the surgeon not to stop with him as he could do him no good, but to help those to whom he could be of use. To Mr. Barney he said : "Tell my
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parents and friends that I fell at my post doing my duty." He died at nine, P. M., on the night of the 10th, and was perfectly reconciled and willing to die. He retained his faculties to the last, and was perfectly conscious of his approaching dissolution. His constant thoughts were of home and his parents and friends. He was buried with military honors, one company of rebels acting as escort, in the Beaumont Cemetery, on the Naches river.
Lieutenant Rhodes was one of the bravest and most energetic young officers in the active naval service, and was constantly employed in the most arduous dnties, from the time he entered it to the day of his death. When his first commanding officer of the Clifton, Lieutenant C. H. Baldwin gave up his command he gave Lieutenant Rhodes the following testimonial :
" UNITED STATES STEAMER CLIFTON, OFF NEW ORLEANS, July 29, 1862.
"SIR :- Being about to give up the command of this ship, I cannot leave without expressing to you the satisfaction your conduet has given me on all occasions while engaged in the discharge of the duties belonging to your station as executive officer. You have uniformly endeavored to merit my approval in all matters connected with the welfare and good discipline of the vessel; and I am happy to have it in my power to offer you this slight testimony of my approbation. My best wishes shall attend you always.
" And hoping that yon will meet with a speedy promotion,
" I remain, Sir, most truly yours, " C. H. BALDWIN, "Acting Lieutenant Commanding "
" ROBERT RHODES, Executive Officer United States Steamer Clifton."
Floratio Rogers fm.
HORATIO ROGERS. JR.
ORATIO ROGERS, JR., son of Horatio and Susan Curtis Rogers, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, May 18th, 1836. He graduated at Brown University in 1855, was admitted to the bar in 1858, and was in the practice of his profession in his native place when he entered the army.
In the summer of 1861, when the third regiment was raised, Mr. Rogers received the appointment of first lieutenant, his commission being dated August 27th. On the 9th of October following, he was promoted to a cap- taincy. On the 23d of the same month, the regiment, which had previously gone to Fortress Monroe, embarked in the steamer Catawba, to take part in the naval expedition, under General T. W. Sherman, against the forts at Port Royal, South Carolina. The bombardment and capture of these forts soon followed, affording the soldiery, crowding the decks of the transports, their first opportunity to witness a battle. The rebels having abandoned the forts, the third Rhode Island disembarked and occupied the principal one at Hilton Head. In January, 1862, Captain Rogers was stationed at Fort Seward, and shortly after was sent, with his company, to guard the cotton on the islands below Beaufort. In March, he was sent to Tybee Island, Georgia, to take part in the operations, then in progress, against Fort Pulaski, under General Gillmore. The forces consisted of four companies of the third Rhode Island heavy artillery, the seventh Connecticut and forty-sixth New York volun- teers, and two companies of Sewell's New York engineers. Two companies of the Rhode Island artillery manned batteries on Bird and James islands, above Fort Pulaski, to cut off communication with Savannah. The batteries to play upon the fort were on Tybee Island. This fort is a strong brick work,
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casemated, surrounded by a ditch, and, at the time of the siege, mounted forty- eight guns. This was to be attacked by sand batteries, the nearest of which was less than a mile distant. The reduction of such a fort at that distance was a stupendous undertaking. General Gillmore, in his official report, thus speaks of the enormous amount of work that was accomplished: "Tybee Island is mostly a mud marsh. Several ridges and hammocks of firm ground, however, exist upon it; and the shore of Tybee Roads, where the batteries were located, is partially skirted by low sand-banks, formed by the gradual and protracted action of the wind and tides. The distance along this shore, from the landing-place to the advanced batteries, is about two and a half miles. The last mile of this route, on which the seven most advanced bat- teries were placed, is low and marshy, and lies in full view of Fort Pulaski, and is in effective range of its guns. The construction of a cause-way, resting on faseines and brushwood, over this swampy portion of the line, the erection of the several batteries, with the magazines, gun-platforms, and splinter-proof shelters ; the transportation of the heaviest ordnance in our service, by the labor of men alone; the hauling of ordnance stores and engineer supplies, and the mounting of the guns and mortars on their carriages and beds, had to be done almost exclusively at night, alike regardless of the inclemency of the weather and of the miasma from the swamps. No one except an eye- witness can form any but a faint conception of the herculean labor by which mortars of eight and one-half tons weight, and columbiads but a trifle lighter, were moved in the dead of night, over a narrow causeway, bordered by swamps on either side, and liable at any moment to be overturned and buried beyond reach in the mud. The stratum of mud is about twelve feet deep; and on several occasions the heaviest pieces, particularly the mortars, became detached from the sling carts, and were with great difficulty, by the use of planks and skids, kept from sinking to the bottom. Two hundred and fifty men were barely sufficient to move a single piece on sling carts. The men were not allowed to speak above a whisper, and were guided by the notes of a whistle." At length the batteries were sufficiently advanced to receive the ordnance stores and implements, and Captain Rogers and his company were assigned to Battery MeClellan, one of the nearest of all the batteries to the fort. The "James guns" were usually spoken of by their old calibre, the elon- gated projectile of James being double the calibre of a round shot. In the language of General Gillmore's order: "This battery should breach the work in the pan coupe, between the south and southeast faces, and the embrasure next to it, in the southeast face."
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Battery Scott was commanded by Captain Pardon Mason, with company F, of the third Rhode Island, and battery Lincoln, by Captain L. E. Tourtelotte, with a part of company B, same regiment, the remainder of company B serving battery Lyon, under Captain Pelouze, of the fifteenth infantry.
On the 10th of April, 1862, about eight o'clock in the morning, the signal gun pealed forth, and the batteries successively opened fire. Battery McClellan, as were most of the other batteries, was masked to prevent attraet- ing the attention of the enemy, and when it became necessary to clear away the cover, one man who was ordered to that duty, refused on the plea of danger. Pistol in hand, threatening disobedience with death, Captain Rogers jumped into the embrasure and on to the parapet, and commenced the work himself, and the timid soldier, ashamed of his fears, followed the example so promptly set amid the cheers of his comrades. All day the batteries maintain- ed a steady fire, McClellan firing each gun once in from three to six minutes. The night was spent in great part in replenishing ammunition, while the engineers were busy in revetting the embrasures anew, the old revetment being burned and blown out. April 11th, just after sunrise, the firing again commenced, and continued without intermission until two, P. M., when the fort surrendered, the walls having been effectively breached. We have given many details of this siege, as Rhode Island batteries had a very prominent part in it. General Gillmore on first entering the fort after its surrender and seeing James projectiles everywhere, they largely outnumbering all the other missiles, exclaimed : "Tell Captain Rogers the forty-two-pounders did it." But one man was killed, private James Campbell, of the third Rhode Island. Two others were slightly wounded by the bursting of a rebel shell directly over the entrance of the magazine, destroying it and burying them up with Captain Rogers, who suffered no other damage than a few slight bruises, though the escape appeared almost miraculous. These were the only casual- ties on the Federal side.
Company H, third Rhode Island, with a company of engineers, were detailed to guard the prisoners of the captured fort to Hilton Ilead. Colonel Olmstead, the rebel commander there, told Captain Rogers, on learning that he had commanded the "wheel-hub battery," as he termed it, from the peculiar shape of the projectile, that he concentrated all the guns he could bring to bear on that battery, and wished to know if there had not been a number killed there, as four guns and two mortars were playing upon it continually, adding, that if he could have silenced it, he could have held the fort against
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all the others. One of the last "wheel-hubs" fired, he said, went through the breach and a curtain of heavy beams, lodging in the wall of the magazine on the opposite side of the fort, digging an ugly hole.
Lieutenant Horace Porter, the ordnance officer on General Gillmore's staff, in his official report thus speaks of the James guns: "The two eighty- four-pounder and two sixty-four-pounder James rifled guns were used entirely in breaching, and gave the most satisfactory results with the exception of one sixty-four pounder, many of the projectiles from which turned end over end. An examination of the walls, proved conclusively that the projectiles entered point foremost, and many solid shot were found buried in the masonry in this position. The shells exploded after penetrating about eighteen inches, and played an important part in reducing the work."
On the 16th of June, a determined assault on the rebel works at Seces- sionville was made, but was repulsed with severe loss. Five companies of the third Rhode Island participated. Major Metcalf commanding the battalion, was ordered to charge a rebel battery supported by infantry that was galling our troops. This was a difficult task, as the battery was posted in a dense thicket, and was sweeping with canister the open fields affording the only access to it. The position, however, was gallantly carried after severe fight- ing and heavy loss. In a communication to the adjutant-general of Rhode Island, Major Metcalf makes honorable mention of Captain Rogers's conduct in that action, and a correspondent of the Providence Evening Press writing from Hilton Head, South Carolina, thus speaks of him : "But no officer or private receives more praise for his undaunted courage, than Captain Horatio Rogers. For his valorous conduct, commendations come up from all engaged in that terrible charge. When his company left here to join our army near Charleston, he was sick and urged by his friends to remain behind, but he would not consent, though it was well understood that hard fighting was to be done there, and he was carried down to the wharf in an ambulance, being totally unable to march with his company; and when the fierce charge was made upon the rebels, this gallant officer having somewhat revived, was at the head of his men heroically urging them forward." On the 18th of August, 1862, Captain Rogers was promoted to be major, as a reward for his hard fighting.
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