USA > Virginia > City of Portsmouth > City of Portsmouth > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 2
USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 2
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United States vessels. The Island fell into the hands of the Fed- erals on the 8th, and Commodore Lynch's fleet, having fired away all of its ammunition, fell back to Elizabeth City for a new sup- ply, but did not succeed in obtaining any. On the 9th the Fed- eral fleet arrived before Elizabeth City, and the tugs Raleigh and Beaufort escaped though the Dismal Swamp Canal, but the Sea- bird and Fanny were too wide to get through the locks. The Seabird was sunk by a 9-inch Columbiad and her crew were cap- tured.
While a prisoner on board a Federal gunboat Mr. Weaver formed the acquaintance of a master's mate, with whose mess he obtained his meals, and the mate, finding out that he was from Portsmouth, told him about the attempt to blow up the dry dock at the Navy Yard. He said he had charge of a party of sailors. with orders to destroy it ; that he put the powder in, and he de- scribed to Mr. Weaver the arrangement of the planks to hold the train, just as Mr. Weaver had seen it on the morning of the 21st of April; that after the powder had been placed in the culvert and the train was laid to it, he sent the sailors to their boat. lighted the fuse, and then, instead of placing it where it would ignite the powder, threw it overboard. He gave as a reason for doing so, that he had a number of friends living in Portsmouth near the Navy Yard, who had been very kind to him; that the quantity of powder with which the dock was mined was sufficient to have blown some of the stone beyond the Navy Yard wall,
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and, in falling, it might have crushed in some of the houses and killed some of the women and children in the city, and he did not care to be the instrument to take their lives. He said he lighted the match so that he would be able to report that he had done so, and he had no apprehension that any of the officers or men would go back to the dock to see if it was burning.
His account tallies exactly with what Mr. Williams and Mr. Weaver saw when they went to the dock that morning, and as they were the first to go there, there is no reason to doubt its cor- rectness. He could not have so accurately described the situation unless he had seen it. One plank extended from the gate chain to the side of the dock, and from the middle of this plank another plank extended into the culvert, thus forming the letter T, and the train was laid along those two planks. It will be remembered that Messrs. Weaver and Williams searched carefully for the fuse, but did not succeed in finding it, nor was it subsequently found. Had it been lighted and gone ont of its own accord, the remains would have been found there. The failure to destroy the dock was due, therefore, to the humanity of the man who was ordered to do the work, and not to the sagacity of the Confeder- ate officials. At this writing, May 27th, 1892, Messrs. Williams and Weaver are both living in Portsmouth. Mr. Williams is in the employment of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad Company as section master, and Mr. Weaver is keeping a drug store on Sonth street.
But, to return to the Navy Yard and its destruction. The old frigate United States, around which chistered so many memories of brave deeds and gallant victories, was the only vessel which was spared in the general devastation, and that night of the 20th of April was a night of anxiety in Portsmouth The immense ship houses, with their millions of feet of timber, were seathing volcanos of flames, and the huge ship Pennsylvania was a pyra- mid of fire, while the burning Merrimac, Dolphin, Germantown, Plymouth, Raritan and Columbia and the large store houses added to the conflagration and lighted up the heavens with a Inrid glare that was seen for thirty miles. To add to the dangers of the night the dwelling houses on the north side of Lincoln street in Portsmouth caught fire, and the whole city was threatened with destruction, which was only averted by a change of the direction of the wind. Occasionally one of the guns of the Pennsylvania, which had been left loaded by her crew, would be discharged as it became hot enough from the fire to ignite the powder, but, for- tunately, no one was hurt by them, and amid all of this crackling of flames, booming of guns and deluge of falling sparks, the cry arose that the Pawnee was about to bombard the city.
A correspondence had taken place between General Taliaferro and Commodore McCauley in which the General proposed to the
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THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH.
Commodore that if he put a stop to the work of destruction the Pawnee and Cumberland would be permitted to leave the Navy Yard and the port in safety. He had no means to prevent them from leaving, and in fact was very anxions to have them go, but Commodore McCauley was not aware of that and accepted the proposal. Accordingly, about midnight the Pawnee left the yard with the Cumberland in tow. Captain Paulding returned an answer to General Taliaferro threatening severe retaliation in case they were molested. This was construed to mean the bombard- ment of the two cities, and probably gave rise to the rumor which was prevalent in Portsmouth.
During "the reign of terror" which existed in the city on the 20th, an order was received from the Governor calling out the military companies of Portsmouth and Norfolk county. They assembled about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of that day, and were in continual service from then until the surrender of General Lee's army at Appomattox Court House on the 9th of April, 1865. Those companies composed the Third Virginia Volunteers, and were as follows:
Portsmouth Rifle Company, Captain John C. Owens ;
Old Dominion Guard, Captain Edward Kearns;
The National Grays, Captain John E. Deans;
The Marion Rifles, Captain Johannis Watson ;
The Dismal Swamp Rangers, Captain James C. Choat of Deep Creek, Norfolk county ; and,
The Portsmouth Light . Artillery, Captain Cary. F. Grimes, four guns.
The Union Guard, a company composed exclusively of our Irish-American citizens, was formerly in the Third Regiment, but was disbanded about a year before the war broke out from lack of interest among its members.
The Regiment was under command of the following field and staff officers :
Colonel, James G. Hodges; Lieutenant Colonel, David J. God- win ; Major, William C. Wingfield; Adjutant, John W. H. Wrenn; Commissary, C. W. Murdangh ; Quartermaster, John Hobday; Surgeon, H. F. Butt; Assistant Surgeon, V. B. Bilisoly.
On the night of the 20th the men slept on their arms in the Court House and City Hall, and at day break on the 21st one-half were sent to the Navy Yard and the other to the Naval Hospital point to assist in building an earthwork. After the Military en- tered the yard Lieutenant C. F. M. Spotwood of the Virginia Navy went in, and, hoisting a State flag upon the flag staff, took formal possession in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Captain Robert B. Pegram assumed command. He was re- lieved on the 22d by Commodore French Forrest, who arrived under orders from Governor Letcher. Captain Pegram was sub-
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sequently ordered to the command of the post at Pig Point, at the mouth of the Nansemond river, and had command of the battery there on the 5th of June, when the United States steamer Harriett Lane was driven off by the Portsmouth Rifle Company.
Later in the day of the 21st the military, with the exception of the National Grays, were marched from the Navy Yard to the Naval Hospital Point, and the Regiment became re-united. A very strong earthwork was thrown up there and manned with guns from the Navy Yard. Obstructions were placed in the harbor so as to narrow the channel, and guns were mounted at Fort Norfolk, so that it would have been difficult if not impos- sible for the Pawnee and Cumberland to have returned, had they desired to do so. On the 21st the Norfolk County Rifle Patriots took possession of the Government ordnance depot at St. Helena, opposite the Navy Yard. The officers of the Third Regiment had hardly gotten warmed in their quarters when Governor Leteher, in pursuance of the policy of placing in command of the volunteer troops, field officers with whom they had not been fa- miliarly associated before they were mustered into service, re- moved Colonel Hodges, Lieutenant Colonel Godwin and Major Wingfield from their commands and appointed in their stead Colonel Roger A. Pryor, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Mayo, Jr., and Major Joseph V. Seott, whereupon the staff officers of the Regiment tendered their resignations and entered the service in other positions.
Colonel Hodges and Lieutenant Colonel Godwin were assigned to the Fourteenth Virginia Regiment, Major Wingfield became Major and Commissary of Mahone's Brigade and afterwards of the Division, Doctors Butt and Bilisoly were appointed Surgeons, and Messrs. Murdaugh and Hobday were elected Lieutenants in the Bilisoly Blues, afterwards Company I, Sixty-first Virginia, a company which was shortly afterwards organized. Adjutant Wrenn was elected Captain of the Virginia Rifles of Portsmouth.
After remaining at the Hospital Point abont a week or ten days the Portsmouth Rifle Company was detached from the Third Regiment and ordered to Pig Point and the Old Dominion Guard was detached and ordered to Pinner's Point to take charge of fortifications, and in June were organized with the Ninth Virginia Regiment as Companies G and K, respectively.
After the State seceded from the Union and hostilities had actually commenced the military fever ran high in the city and county, notwithstanding their strong Union sentiments. Their love for Virginia was stronger than their love for the Union. They believed in the opinions which were held by the men who founded the American Government, the fathers of the Revolu- tion, that their allegiance was due, first to their State and after- wards to the General Government, and that it was due to the
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THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH.
General Government only so long as the State was a part of it. New companies were organized rapidly. In the city these were : The Virginia Defenders, Captain Edward Blamire, afterwards Co. (, 16th Va. Regiment, infantry.
The Virginia Artillery, Captain James H. Richardson, after- wards Co. D. 9th Va. Infantry.
Captain John II. Myers' Company, attached as Co. E to the 6th Va. Regiment.
The Bilisoly Blues, afterwards changed to the Rebel Grays, Captain Charles R. MeAlpine, Co. I, 61st Va. Infantry.
The Jackson Artillery, Captain V. O. Cassell, which was at- tached to the 61st Va. Infantry as Co. D.
The Bilisoly Blnes contained a number of men from the Bow- ers' Hill section of Norfolk county.
Thus there were mustered into the Confederate service from the city of Portsmouth one company of light artillery and nine companies of infantry, distributed as follows :
Two in the 3d Regiment, three in the 9th Regiment, one in the 16th Regiment, one in the 6th Regiment, two in the 61st Regi- ment.
The Virginia Rangers, Company HI, 61st Regiment, was re- crnited partly from Portsmouth, though credited here to Norfolk county. All of its officers in active service were from the city.
All of those companies were large, and five of them, viz., the Portsmouth Rifle Company, Old Dominion Guard, National Grays, Jackson Artillery and Portsmouth Light Artillery, num- bered over one hundred men each.
In addition to those companies there were two or three hundred Portsmouth men scattered among other commands. One com- manded a North Carolina Brigade, four were field officers in North Carolina Regiments, one commanded an Alabama Regi -. ment, ten were Surgeons in the Army, between forty and fifty were officers in the Navy, they were in full numbers in the Nor- folk Light Artillery Blues, the Signal Corps and in the Navy, and every man who entered the service from this city was a vol- unteer. The city was evacuated by the Confederates before the conscript law was put into operation, and after it fell into the hands of the Federals, boys arriving at a sufficient age to do mili- tary duty made their escape through the Federal lines and joined their fathers and older brothers in the Confederate Army.
At the beginning of the war there were only two organized volunteer infantry companies in Norfolk county, one of which, the Dismal Swamp Rangers, Captain James C. Choat command- ing, was raised in the vicinity of Deep Creek and was attached to the Third Regiment, and the Norfolk County Rifle Patriots, Captain William H. Etheredge, was raised in the Great Bridge section, it afterwards became Company F, Forty-first Regiment.
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In the shifting of the companies composing the Third Regiment the Dismal Swamp Rangers became Company A. Like the men of Portsmouth, those of Norfolk connty were none the less Vir- ginians, though they had opposed the secession of the State, and when the tocsin of war was sounded, and the Governor called for volunteers to fight the battles of the Commonwealth, there was a general rush to arms, and young men and old ones responded to the call. The following companies were speedily organized and mustered into service and assigned to regiments in due course of time :
The Craney Island Artillery, Captain John T. Kilby, Co. I. 9th Va. Reg.
The St. Bride's Artillery, Captain George A. Martin, Co. I. 38th Va. Reg.
The St. Bride's Cavalry, Captain John Doyle, Co. F, 15th Va. Cavalry.
The Jackson Grays, Captain William H. Stewart, Co. A, 61st Va. Reg.
The Wilson Guard, Captain John W. M. Hopkins, Co. B, 61st Va. Reg.
The Blanchard Grays, Captain John G. Wallace, Co. C, 61st Va. Reg.
The Border Rifles, Captain Jetson Jett, Co. E, 61st Va. Reg.
The Virginia Rangers, Captain James C. Choat, Co. H, 61st Va. Reg.
Captain Max Herbert, Co. K, 61st Va. Reg.
Quite a number of Norfolk county men living near the Princess Anne county line joined the Princess Anne cavalry, Captain Bur- roughs, Co. I, 15th Va. Cavalry, while many in the Western Branch section joined the Nansemond cavalry, which was attached to the 13th Regiment. The Tanner's Creek section contributed a large number of men to the various companies which were raised in Norfolk city. Thus it will be seen that" Norfolk county con- tributed fully eleven companies to the Confederate Army. Co. H, 61st Regiment, was recruited partly in Portsmouth, and Co. B, 9th Va., was recruited partly in Norfolk county, in the vicinity of Craney Island. The eleven companies accredited to the county were thus distributed :
. One in the 3d Regiment Infantry, one in the 9th Regiment Infantry, one in the 38th Regiment Infantry, one in the 41st Regiment Infantry, six in the 61st Regiment Infantry, one in the 15th Regiment Cavalry.
On the 23d of May, 1861, a very unfortunate occurrence took place at the Naval Hospital battery, owing to the hasty and in- considerate action of Colonel Roger A. Pryor. The State Con- vention passed the Ordinance of Secession on the 17th of April and directed that it be submitted to a vote of the people on the
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THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH.
23d of May for ratification or rejection. The people were the final conrt to decide the question, and if a majority of them cast their votes in favor of the ratification of the ordinance the State would secede from the Union, but if the majority of votes should be the other way it would remain in the Union. The question for the people to decide was, therefore, whether or not the State should secede.
As has already been said, the Union sentiment was very strong in Portsmouth. It permeated all classes of her citizens, and when the vote was taken most of the members of the Marion Rifle Company voted against the ratification of the ordinance. Colonel Pryor, who was an ultra Secessionist, became so enraged at them for exercising a privilege which they had a perfect right to exer- cise, that he assembled the regiment, ordered the Marion Rifles to advance to the front and ground arms. He then made a bitter and offensive speech to them and disbanded the company, charg- ing the men with disloyalty to Virginia. This action on his part was very uncalled for. Those men had acknowledged their alle- giance to Virginia as superior to their allegiance to the United States, and had responded to the call of Governor Letcher for troops, even while the State was still in the Union, but when called upon at the election to declare whether they were in favor of the State going out of the Union or remaining in it, they voted as they thought best for themselves and the Commonwealth. The company reorganized under the name of Virginia Riflemen and was continued in the 3d Regiment as Co. B, and the men made good records for themselves as soldiers. It was a member of this company, Sergeant Robert A. Hutchings of Portsmouth, who planted the colors of the 3rd Regiment on the stone wall at Get- tysburg when Pickett's Division made its famous and historic charge there. The company remained at the Hospital battery until June 7th, when they went to Burwell's Bay with the 3rd Regiment, but Colonel Pryor's ill advised and hasty action lost to the State the services of some of the old members, who would doubtless have made good soldiers, for the best soldiers were not necessarily those who had shouted loudest for Secession.
Immediately upon the evacuation of the Navy Yard the Con- federates began pouring troops into this section. Several compa- nies from Petersburg and the Richmond Grays were the first to arrive, and reached Norfolk on the 21st. Four companies from Georgia arrived in Portsmouth on the 22d. These were the Co- lumbns Light Guard, of Columbus, the Macon Volunteers and Floyd Rifles, of Macon, and the Spaulding Grays, of Griffin, and in a very short time there were gathered for the defence of the harbor the following organizations :
The 3d, 6th, 9th, 12th, 41st and 61st Virginia Regiments.
The 3d, 4th and 22d Georgia Regiments and the 2d Georgia Battalion,
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The 1st Louisiana Regiment and 3d Louisiana Battalion.
The 3d Alabama Regiment.
The 2d North Carolina Battalion, afterwards the 32d Regiment.
The Portsmouth Light Artillery ; the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues, the United Artillery, the Atlantic Artillery and the Huger Battery, of Norfolk, the Salem Artillery, and the Louisiana Guard Artillery.
Burroughs' and Cooper's Calvary Companies 15th Virginia Cav- alry, and two companies of cavalry from Nansemond county and one from Southampton county, in the 13th Virginia Cavalry Regiment.
There was also a North Carolina battalion stationed near Suf- folk. Captain Martin's Company, of Norfolk county, and Cap- tain Young's, of Norfolk city, were also on duty near here.
General Taliaferro was superseded in command by General W. Gwynn on the 23d of April, and he was relieved by General HInger on the 24th of May, with headquarters in Norfolk. Gen- eral Blanchard commanded the troops on the Portsmonth side of the river. The Navy Yard was under the command of Commo- dore French Forrest, who had under him Captain and Exeentive Officer S. S. Lee ; Captain A. B. Fairfax, ordnance officer ; Naval Constructor John L. Porter ; and Chief Engineer William P. Williamson, all of whom had resigned from the United States Navy.
Two days after the Navy Yard was burned by the United States forces Mr. William II. Peters, of Portsmouth, was ap- pointed by Governor Letcher Paymaster in the Virginia Navy and assigned to duty there. Mr. Peters took an inventory of the stock and material left in the yard, which he reported to the Governor, who transmitted it to the State Convention then in session. Mr. Peters' report states that there were in the yard when it fell into the hands of the Confederates 1,085 heavy can- non of six, eight, nine and ten-inch bore. These were ready for service, with carriages, breeching, blocks and tackle complete, and their possession enabled the Confederates to prepare for defence against the attacks of their enemies.
There were also on hand in the yard, as per said report, 250,- 000 pounds of powder, a large number of shells, stands of grape shot, and various other ordnance equipment stores, valued at $341,000. Also bread, beef, pork, flour, and other provisions, valued at $38,763. Also clothing, flannel, shirting, round jackets, &c., valued at $56,269. Also general naval supplies, such as timber, anchors, chains, copper, &c., valned at $1,448,223.
In a paper read before Stonewall Camp, Confederate Veterans, of Portsmouth, by Mr. Peters the latter part of 1891, he gave the localities to which cannon were shipped from the Navy Yard from April 21st to July 1st, 1861, the date Virginia formally turned
THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR IN PORTSMOUTH. 23
the Navy Yard over to the Confederate States Government. These were as follows. The six-inch guns were 32-pounders, and the seven-inch were 42s :
To battery at Naval Hospital, 13 six-inch and 2 eight-inch guns. .. " Craney Island. 12 six-inch, 10 eight-inch, 7 nine- inch and 1 ten-inch.
To battery at Fort Norfolk, S nine-inch guns.
.. .. Bonush's Bluff, 5 six-inch guns.
.. .. " Pinner's Point. 7 ..
.. " Pig Point. 12 six-inch and 2 eight-inch guns.
Richmond, 90 six-inch. 12 seven-inch, 10 eight inch and 24 nine-inch.
To Charleston, 43 six-inch, 12 seven-inch and 3 old English cannon.
To Fredericksburg, 4 six-inch.
" Fort Powhatan. 6 six-inch.
" Kempsville, 1 twelve-pounder and 2 nine-pounder brass guns. Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad Co., 1 twenty-seven pounder.
" Savannah, 10 six-inch guns.
" Pensacola, "
" Captain Thomas, at Baltimore, 20 twenty-four pounders and 20 six-inch guns.
To Memphis, 5 six-inch guns.
" New Orleans. 13 six-inch. S eight-inch and 2 nine-inch guns.
" Tennessee. 32 six-inch guns.
" Lieutenant George T. Sinclair, for army South, 16 six-inch. 9 seven-inch. S eight-inch and 1 nine-inch.
To Norfolk city, 3 six-inch.
.. battery at Seawell's Point, S six-inch and 6 nine-inch guns.
Lambert's Point. 6
.. Burwell's Bay. 5
" Pagan Creek. 1
6. ". Powell's Point. 1 6.
" City Point. 6
General Gwynn and taken to North Carolina, 197 six-inch. 1 seven-inch. 11 eight-inch. and + twenty-four pounders.
All of those guns which were sent to General Gwynn shortly afterward were captured by the enemy, owing to the want of wis- dom which prevailed in the management of affairs in Eastern North Carolina by the Confederate Government, coupled with the inefficiency and inexperience of some of the officers in imme- diate command.
The Federal forces had scarcely evacuated the Navy Yard be- fore the active Virginia troops began erecting batteries at every available point in the harbor which would command the ap- proaches by river to the city. Guns were sent over to Fort Nor- folk from the Navy Yard and mounted there, and three heavy
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guns were placed in position at the Hospital Point on the morn- ing of the 21st behind a temporary breastwork of cotton bales to keep the Pawnee and Cumberland back while a substantial breastwork was being built. This was so far completed by the end of the week as to have twelve heavy guns in position, and the experience of the naval officers was brought into requisition in drilling the men at the guns.
While the battery at the Naval Hospital was being constructed formidable works were going up at Pinner's Point under the su- pervision of Major F. W. Jett, of the engineers, Fort Norfolk, Boush's Bluff, Lambert's Point, Craney Island and Seawell's Point, so that, in less than ten days, the Confederates were able to bring about seventy-five or eighty guns to bear upon a vessel attempting to enter the harbor, and a fleet of wooden vessels could scarcely have run the gauntlet. These batteries were sub- sequently strengthened by the addition of rifled cannon, the heaviest fortifications being on Craney Island and Seawell's Point. The fortifications at Pinner's Point contained 12 six and eight- inch guns and four six-inch rifle guns, banded at the breech. One of the batteries was also roofed over and supposed to be bomb proof.
Pig Point, at the mouth of the Nansemond river, was also for- tified. The battery there was manned by the Portsmouth Rifle Company, Captain Jolm C. Owens, and the post was under com- mand of Captain R. B. Pegram of the Navy. This battery had a small engagement with the United States cutter Harriett Lane on the 5th of June, which hauled off after an exchange of shots for about twenty minutes. No one was hurt in the battery, nor was the earthwork injured, though one of its guns, a 48-pounder, was disabled by a shot from the Lane. The batteries at Pinner's Point were under command of Captain George Harrison of the Navy, and the men at Craney Island were drilled at the guns by several Naval officers, chief of whom was Lieutenant Sharpe of Norfolk.
Captain A. B. Fairfax of the Navy was ordered to the Navy Yard in charge of the Ordnance Department, and was a man of practical ideas. Under his orders, with the approbation of Com- modore Forrest, an experiment was made of rifling one of the 32-pounder Dahlgren guns which was left by the Federals when they made their hasty exit. An experienced mechanic was di- rected to supervise the work, and in order to strengthen the gun strong wrought iron bands were shrunk around it at the breech. The work was finished that summer and the gun was mounted on a small steam tug called the Harmony belonging to Captain James Brown of Portsmouth, and used for carrying freight between Portsmouth and Norfolk. Captain Fairfax took command of this little vessel of one gun, and, taking on board twenty-five
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