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 32
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 32
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C. F. M. Spottswood, Geo. T. Sinclair, R. D. Thorborn,
LIEUTENANTS.
Chas. K. King, Wm. Sharp.
Patrick McCarrick,
Thos. L. Skinner,
Chas. B. Oliver, John Wilkinson.
A. M. DeBree.
Wm. H. Parker, Wm. H. Ward,
Henry Roberts, Wm. C. Whittle, Jr.,
Arthur Sinclair, Jr., W. L. Winder.
SURGEONS.
F. L. Galt. W. B. Sinclair,
Lewis D. Minor, Jno. DeBree, Jr. (asst.) R. J. Freeman, (asst.)
PAYMASTERS. Rich'd Taylor (asst.), L. B. Reardon (asst.)
John DeBree,
Richard Evans, John R. Gibbs, Lemuel Langley,
MASTERS. Jas. W. McCarrick, Wm. B. Whitehead, Wyndham R. Mayo, Henry Wilkinson, Lewis Parrish,
H. S. Cook, F. B. Dornin, C. K. Mallory, P. H. McCarrick,
Geo. T. Sinclair, W. H. Sinclair, Joshua C. Wright, W. W. Wilkinson,
Thos. A. Jackson,
H. A. Ramsey, Henry X. Wright.
313
Sam'l Barron, Jr., Otey Bradford,
Chas. Borum,
Thos. L. Dornin, J. Pembrook Jones,
Geo. Blacknall, Jas. Cornick, Richard Jeffry,
W. F. McClenahan,
MIDSHIPMEN. Virginius Newton, Jas. W. Pegram, L. M. Rootes, Palmer Saunders. W. B. Sinclair. CHIEF ENGINEERS. Wm. P. Williamson, Virginius Freeman, Engr .- in-Chief, 21
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NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS.
James F. Green. Chas. W. Jordan,
E. G. Hall, John R. Jordan,
J. M. Freeman, Jr.,
Wm. F. Harding, John C. Johnson,
W. J. Freeman,
M. P. Jordan, John T. Tucker.
GUNNERS.
Benj. A. Barrom,
B. F. Hughes, Stephen Schisano.
Crawford Gormley,
E. R. Johnson,
BOATSWAINS.
W. T. Smith,
Peter Taff.
MASTERS MATES.
A. G. Corran,
Arthur Freeman. Wmn. Mc Blair,
Robt. Freeman,
T. S. Gray,
W'm. H. Fitzgerald, Chas. R. McBlair, W. W. Skinner.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Marine Corps-First Lientenant T. P. Gwinn.
Acting Naval Constructor-Wm. A. Graves. Sailmaker-Samuel V. Turner.
Total-98. Killed and died-5.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL BARRON was. appointed Midshipman in the United States Navy by special act of Congress on the 1st of Jan- nary, 1812, at the age of four years, and made his first cruise to the Mediterranean at the age of eight years, the youngest naval officer afloat. He was commissioned a Captain on the 14th of September, 1855, and at the secession of Virginia resigned and was appointed in the Virginia navy. He was subsequently com- missioned in the Confederate navy, and had command of Fort Hatteras in Angust. 1861, when it was captured by the Federals. Subsequently he was sent abroad on duty for the Confederate Government.
CAPTAIN JOHN R. TUCKER made quite a name for himself as commander of the steamer Patrick Henry in the battles of the Sth and 9th of March, 1862, in Hampton Roads. He entered the United States navy on the 1st of June. 1826, was promoted Com- mander September 14th. 1855, and at that grade entered the Con- federate navy. He was promoted to Captain in the Confederate navy for gallant and meritorious services. History has not done credit to the officers and men on the wooden vessels in that fa- mous engagement in Hampton Roads. The novelty of the iron- clad Virginia has served to attract attention to her and away from her equally as gallant and much more exposed companions. Captain Tucker subsequently commanded the Charleston squad- ron and contributed materially towards keeping the Federal squad- ron out of that harbor.
Jas. Carlon, J. T. Doland,
315
IN THE NAVY-NORFOLK.
CAPTAIN WM. C. WHITTLE was born in 1805, and entered the United States navy May 10th, 1820. He was promoted to Com- mander August 4th, 1850, and held that rank at the beginning of the war. He entered the Virginia navy and was subsequently transferred to the Confederate navy. His first duty with the Con- federacy was in command of the defences of York river, where he superintended the erection of a battery at Gloucester Point. He relieved Captain Hollins in command of the naval station at New Orleans, and was filling that position in April, 1862, when the city fell into the hands of the enemy.
COMMANDER BENJAMIN P. LOYALL entered the United States navy March 5th, 1849, and was appointed Lieutenant on the 28th of January, 1856. Ilis last duty in the United States navy was on the sloop-of-war Constellation on the African station. He re- turned home, resigned and entered the Confederate service on the 26th of November, 1861, and was assigned to duty at Roanoke Island with the rank of Captain in the army. He was present and participated in the battle there, and was very favorably men- tioned by Colonel Shaw in his official report, and also in the offi- cial report of Major G. H. Hill, who commanded Fort Bartow. Lieutenant Loyall fell into the hands of the enemy upon the sur- render of the island, but was subsequently exchanged. He served the Confederacy in various capacities in the line of lis profes- sion, and was second in command of the boat expedition under Captain John Taylor Wood, which captured the United States steamer Underwriter at Newberne, N. C., at 2 o'clock a. m. on the 1st of February, 1864. The Underwriter was manned with one 6-inch rifle gun, one S-inch, one 12-pounder rifle, and one 12- pounder howitzer. Lieutenant Loyall commanded the second di- vision of boats and was the first to board the vessel. She was captured after a desperate defence on the part of her crew. Lieu- tenant Loyall was promoted to the grade of Commander for gal- lantry on this occasion and was assigned to the command of the iron-clad gunboat Neuse, on the upper waters of the Neuse river. It was in the attack upon the Underwriter that Midshipman Pal- mer Saunders of Norfolk was killed by a blow on the head from a cutlass. Midshipman H. S. Cook of Norfolk, also took part in this engagement and displayed marked courage. After the cap- ture of the vessel she was set on fire by the Confederates and de- stroyed.
COMMANDER CHARLES F. MCINTOSH was born on the 24th of October, 1813, entered the United States service November 1st, 1828, and was promoted to Commander March 2d, 1857. At the beginning of the war he was commanding the Naval Rendezvous at Norfolk, and immediately tendered his resignation and entered the Virginia navy. He was ordered to the Naval Hospital Point and superintended the erection of the batteries there. He re-
316
NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
mained there, as commander of the post, with the rank of Lieu- tenant-Colonel in the army, until April, 1862, when he was or- dered to New Orleans and assigned to the command of the unfin- ished iron-clad Louisiana. While at the Hospital battery Com- mander McIntosh was very popular with the officers and men of the garrison, his genial disposition, kind heart and thorough fa- miliarity with the working of heavy guns were qualifications which at once won their esteem, and they regretted his departure to another field of duty. The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Mal- lory, has been censured for the delay in the completion of the Louisiana, and also of the iron-clad Mississippi, but as a Congres- sional investigating committee exonerated him from blame, that report will be accepted by the general historians as conclusive, but there is no reason to question that, though Mr. Mallory displayed great energy, he also displayed a lack of judgment. This was fully illustrated in the testimony of Engineer-in-Chief William P. Williamson before the committee, page 235. He says the contract to make the main shaft of the Mississippi was made with the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, and it required two months for that establishment to make preparations to commence work, while at the Gosport Navy Yard there were ample facilities for it without any additional preparations. The shafts of the steamer Glen Cove were used for the purpose. Thus, in this particular, two months of valuable time was lost and the vessel was not ready when the Federal fleet made the attack. On the 24th of April, 1862, Admiral Farragut ran past Forts Jackson and St. Philip. The Louisiana, with her machinery unfinished, was moored to the bank of the river above Fort St. Philip. She was covered with railroad iron and mounted sixteen guns. She was under com- mand of Commander McIntosh, and was also the flagship of Com- inodore Mitchell, commanding the squadron. Farragut ran past her also, and a large Federal vessel becoming temporarily unman- ageable on account of the disarrangement of a portion of her ma- chinery, was carried by the current alongside of the Louisiana. Captain McIntosh, apprehending an attack by boarders, rushed upon the upper deck, followed by a portion of his erew, to repel the anticipated attack, and it was while there that he received his death wound. He lingered until the 28th, when he died, and on that day, by order of Commodore Mitchell, the Louisiana was set on fire and abandoned. It looks now as if both of those vessels would have been finished and Farragut's fleet defeated had the efforts of the Navy Department been concentrated upon them in- stead of being distributed where they were not so necessary. Had this been done Captain McIntosh might have lived to have rendered additional service to the Southern cause. In the early part of the war Secretary Mallory's efforts were directed mainly towards having built in Europe one or more sea-going iron-clads
317
IN THE NAVY-NORFOLK.
to keep the Federals away from the Southern coast, but he found himself unable to do so, and in a report to Congress, dated No- vember 20th, 1861, he said he " has found it impracticable to pur- chase abroad auch vessels as we require, and the Department has commenced the construction of iron-clad vessels in our own coun- try, and has stimulated the supplies of coal and iron for this pur- pose." Here is where Mr. Mallory made his mistake. When he finally decided to build the iron-elads at home he found himself without engines for them and withont iron to eover them, and the Southern ports were bloekaded. Had he taken adviee which was given him early in the war to import armor iron and steam engines before the Southern ports were elosed, the results would have been very different, and many men whose lives were lost in endeavoring to defend untenable positions might not have been sacrificed.
COMMANDER ROBERT B. PEGRAM entered the United States navy February 2d, 1829, and was appointed a Lieutenant Sep- tember 8, 1841. His last service in the United States navy was at the Gosport Navy Yard. At the beginning of the war he re- signed and was ordered by Governor Leteher on the 18th of April, 1861, to take command of the naval station at Norfolk and organize a naval force. He was relieved on the 22d by Commo- dore Forrest and ordered to superintend the building of a battery at Pig Point, at the mouth of the Nansemond river, and was in command of that post on the 5th of June, when the Harriet Lane made an attack upon it. He was afterwards assigned to the eom- mand of the Nashville, with which he ran the blockade and crossed over to Europe. This vessel was originally intended to carry Messrs. Mason and Slidell to Europe, but it was subse- quently decided that they should take another route. He re- turned from Europe on the Nashville, and was a member of the naval court to investigate the charges against Commodore Tatnall of having destroyed the Virginia unnecessarily. In 1864 he was in command of the iron-clad Virginia, one of the vessels in the James river squadron at Richmond, armed with two 6 and two 8- ineh rifle guns and plated with six inches of armor on her sides and eight inches on her ends, but was never given an opportunity to engage the enemy.
COMMANDER W. A. WEBB resigned from the United States navy as a Lieutenant and entered the Confederate service. His first duties with the Confederacy were at Fernandina, Florida, where he superintended the erection of a number of batteries. He was subsequently assigned to the command of the gunboat Teazer, in James river, and commanded her in the naval engagement in Hampton Roads on the Sth and 9th of March, 1862. On the 19th of February, 1863, he was ordered by Secretary Mallory to take charge of a boat expedition to board the monitors off Charles-
318
NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
ton harbor and capture them or sink them by torpedoes, but nothing came of it, and later he was ordered to command the iron-clad ram Atlanta, at Savannah. On the 17th of June, 1863, he proceeded to Warsaw Sound to attack the monitors Weehaw- ken and Mohawk, but the Atlanta got immovably aground and was surrendered to the enemy. The Federals sent her to Phila- delphia, repaired damages, and the following February sent her to Fortress Monroe to operate against the Confederates in Vir- ginia.
The eighteen Lientenants whom Norfolk contributed to the Confederate navy rendered efficient service.
LIEUTENANT THOMAS L. DORNIN was wounded in Battery Bu- chanan, near Fort Fisher, during the attack on that work, in Jan- uary, 1865. He was a Lieutenant on the Chicamauga, but volun- teered to defend the fort and worked like a private soldier, spong- ing one of the two 7-inch rifle Brooke guns until it burst. He then transferred his sponge to the other and served until that burst also. He was severely wounded by a piece of shell from the Federal fleet.
LIEUTENANT J. PEMBROOK JONES served early in the war at Sa- vannah in command of the armed tug Resolute, and was after- wards promoted to command the iron-clad Georgia. In May, 1864, he was captain of the iron-clad gunboat Raleigh, at. Wil- mington, and on the 6th of that month steamed outside the Cape Fear river and scattered the fleet of blockaders, but on returning unfortunately ran aground on the bar and the back of the vessel was broken. She proved a total loss.
LIEUTENANT CHARLES B. OLIVER served as a warrant officer on the Virginia, and was promoted for gallant and meritorions ser- vices on that and other occasions.
LIEUTENANT W. H. PARKER was promoted to Commander for gallant services. He was in the battle of Roanoke Island in com- mand of the gunboat Beaufort, and also in the fight in Hampton Roads, March 8th and 9th, 1862, in command of the same vessel. His services in the navy were varied and valuable, and in 1864 he commanded the iron-clad steamer Richmond, at Richmond. Since the war he published a book, "Recollections of a Naval Officer," which has been regarded as high authority upon the sub- jects of which it treats. It embraces his own personal observa- tions.
LIEUTENANT HENRY ROBERTS was a Lieutenant in Captain John J. Young's harbor guard, and was appointed a Lieutenant in the navy in 1864.
LIEUTENANT WM. SHARP was a Lieutenant in the United States navy and was stationed at the Gosport Navy Yard at the break- ing out of the war and entered the Virginia navy. He was on duty at the Naval Hospital batteries and also on Craney Island
319
IN THE NAVY-NORFOLK.
in April and May, 1861. In July, 1861, he was ordered to North Carolina as aid to Commodore Barron, and was severely wounded at the fall of Fort Hatteras, April 29th, and fell into the hands of the enemy. He was exchanged later in 1862, and ordered to the Patrick Henry. IIe was on her during the engagements of March Sth and 9th, 1862, in Hampton Roads, and was shortly after- wards assigned to the command of the gunboat Beaufort, and was also on her on the 11th of June, when the Virginia and other Confederate vessels made their second visit to Hampton Roads. In 1864 he was on duty in North Carolina supervising the building of the gunboat Neuse, and when the war closed had charge of the naval ordnance stores at Charleston.
LIEUTENANT JOHN WILKINSON was promoted to Commander for meritorions services. His first duty in the Confederate service was rendered in April, 1861, when he supervised the erection of a battery at Fort Powhatan, on James river. In May he was sent to Aquia Creek on similar duty. He commanded the steamer Jackson at New Orleans in 1862, and was Executive Officer of the Lonisiana when Captain McIntosh was killed, after which he commanded the vessel. He was captured upon the fall of New Orleans, and after being exchanged was sent to Europe to pur- chase a vessel. He commanded the expedition to release Confed- erate prisoners on Johnson's Island. He commanded several blockade runners, among them the R. E. Lee. He also com- manded the cruisers Chicamauga and Tennessee. With this last vessel he ran out of Wilmington on the 24th of December, 1864, while the Federal fleet was bombarding Fort Fisher, and was at sea when the war ended.
LIEUTENANT W. H. WARD was a Lieutenant in the United States navy. He entered the service February 17th, 1849, and was appointed Lieutenant September 9th, 1856. His services in the Confederate navy were valnable to the Government. He commanded the boat expedition which removed the troops from Morris' Island, Charleston harbor, in 1864, was second in com- mand of the cruiser Tallahassee when, under Captain John Tay- lor Wood, she made her successful cruise against the Federal com- merce, and afterwards was in command of the same vessel under the name of the Olustee, made a successful cruise on her and re- turned safely to Wilmington. He afterwards commanded the Chicamanga at Wilmington and took part in the defence of Fort Fisher, in January, 1865. From there he was ordered to Rich- mond, was with the naval brigade on the retreat from Richmond, and took part in the battle of Saylor's Creek. He was second in command of a boat expedition which left Drury's Bluff February 10th, 1865, to destroy, with torpedoes, the Federal iron-clads at City Point, and which failed on account of the treachery of one of the officers of the expedition. The circumstances of this affair
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NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
are somewhat peculiar, and are detailed in an article by Master W. F. Shippey, of the C. S. Navy, in Vol. XII, page 416, of the Sonthern Historical Society Papers. It seems that after the fail- ure of Commodore Mitchell's squadron at Richmond to engage and destroy the Federal iron-elads at City Point a boat expedition left Drury's Bluff to accomplish that object by means of torpe- does. The expedition numbered one hundred and one officers and men, and was under command of Lieutenant C. W. Read of the navy, with Lieutenant W. H. Ward second in command. The expedition had several boats, mounted on wheels and drawn by mules. It was also supplied with long booms with arrangements at the ends for fastening torpedoes. The plan was to move at a distance around the left of Grant's army, then in front of Peters- burg, and reach James river in Surry county or Prince George and remain concealed on the shore until an opportunity might present itself of capturing one or more tugs passing up or down the river, then to fit the torpedo booms on them, ascend the river to City Point and sink the Federal iron-clads anchored there. The expedition left Drury's Bluff on the 10th of February, 1865, and Lieutenant Lewis was sent ahead as a scont to reconnoiter. He was to rejoin the party at a ford of the Blackwater river and pilot them from there to the James river. Lewis is said to have been a Northern man, and was at Norfolk at the beginning of the war. He enlisted in the Confederate army and served faith- fully with his company until June 29th, 1864, when he was ap- pointed a Lieutenant in the volunteer navy and enjoyed the con- fidenee of his brother officers. Everything went well with the expedition for the first three days. Grant's army was successfully turned without discovery, and on the afternoon of the third day, when near the ford of the Blackwater the party sought temporary shelter from a severe storm of rain and sleet. While engaged in drying their elothing a young Confederate soldier made his ap- pearance and informed them that he had just escaped from the Federal lines, where he had been as a prisoner of war, that Lewis had deserted to the enemy and betrayed the expedition, and was then at the Blackwater ford with a regiment of infantry, lying in ambush, waiting for their approach, and that just before he suc- eeeded in making his escape he overheard Lewis and the Federal commander talking the matter over. Lientenant Read halted his command where it was and went forward alone to examine the river and rejoined his men the next day, having ascertained the correctness of the report of the young soldier. The party sue- ceeded in getting back to Drury's Bluff with whole skins but dis- appointed hopes. Several bodies of Federal cavalry were seour- ing the country in search of them, but Lieutenant Read suc- ceeded in elnding them.
LIEUTENANT WM. C. WHITTLE, JR., was an officer in the U. S.
321
IN THE NAVY-NORFOLK.
Navy and entered the Confederate Navy as Lieutenant, June 11th, 1861. He was one of the Lieutenants on the iron-clad Louisiana under: Captain MeIntosh, at New Orleans, was 2d Lieutenant on . the cruiser Nashville, when she sailed for Wilmington under Cap- tain R. B. Pegram, and was 1st Lieutenant of the crniser Shenan- doah, under Captain Waddell, which destroyed an amount of Federal commerce second only to that destroyed by the Ala- bama.
LIEUTENANT PATRICK MCCARRICK was captain of the steamer Northampton, plying between Norfolk and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, when the war began, and brought to Norfolk the first information that the Pawnee was coming up the harbor to rein- force the Navy Yard. He volunteered in the navy of the State of North Carolina, and was appointed 1st Lieutenant and after- wards commander of the steamboat J. E. Coffee, which was con- verted into a gunboat, and named the Winslow. While in com- mand of this vessel he made frequent trips outside of Hatteras In- let, and captured a number of prizes, among them several West India schooners loaded with molassas and fruit. He lost his ves- sel by running on a sunken wreek in Ocracoke Inlet, November 4th, 1861, just after gallantly rescuing the officers and crew of the French corvette Prony, which was ashore on the beach near that place. This was a brave rescue, and was successfully made after the United States fleet had left the Frenchmen to their fate. Captain McCarriek was the recipient of a very cordial letter of thanks from the French Vice-Consul at Norfolk. In June, 1861, he was transferred to the Confederate Navy as master, and on the 18th of March, 1862, was promoted to Lieutenant. After the loss of the Winslow he was assigned to the command of the gunboat Seabird, Commodore Lynch's flag-ship, in the North Carolina sounds. He was in the naval engagements at Roanoke Island, and Elizabeth City, and fought his vessel until she went to the bottom. He was captured at Elizabeth City, but was exchanged, and went out with Captain John Wilkinson from Wilmington as first officer of a blockade runner, and was also with him in the expedition to release the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Is- land, which failed to accomplish anything through the thought -. lessness of one of the Confederate agents, by whose inadvertence the affair became known.
SURGEON GEORGE BLACKNALL resigned from the United States Navy at the beginning of the war, and was assigned to the charge of the Naval Hospital at Portsmouth, where he died on the 21st of January, 1862.
MASTER JAMES W. MCCARRICK was appointed a Master's Mate in the Navy, subsequently promoted to Master, and was recom- mended for promotion to a Lieutenancy, but the close of the war prevented it. He was on the gunboat Seabird in the battles of
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NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
Roanoke Island and Elizabeth City in February, 1862, and was captured at the latter place. A few days subsequently he was re- leased on parole and returned to Norfolk. Quite an amusing in- cident occurred in connection with his exchange. Most of the officers captured at Elizabeth City had been exchanged, but Mr. McCarrick still remained on parole, for the reason that the Con- federates had not captured an officer of his grade, Master's Mate, to exchange for him, and when the Virginia (Merrimac) went down to Hampton Roads on the Sth of March to fight the Fed- eral fleet, she was accompanied by the gunboats Raleigh and Bean- fort. Attached to the Beaufort was Midshipman Chas. K. Mal- lory, of Norfolk, and as she was about to move off Mr. McCarrick called to him : "Charley, bring a Yankee Master's Mate back with you so that I can be exchanged for him." When the Con- gress struck her colors, Midshipman Mallory was one of the first to jump on board of her, and seeing a man with the uniform of a Master's Mate on, took him prisoner and transferred him to the Beaufort. The next day, upon their return to the Navy Yard, Mr. McCarrick was on one of the lower wharves in Norfolk to see them pass by, and being noticed by Midshipman Mallory, and being within hailing distance, that young tar called to him and informed him that he had brought back a Master's Mate for hin, and it so happened that Mr. MeCarrick was exchanged for that very man. He afterwards served on the Tuscaloosa, and was Master on the Tennessee, Admiral Buchanan's flag-ship, at Mo- bile.
MASTER WYNDAM R. MAYO entered the Confederate service as a Midshipman, on the 8th of July, 1861. He was at the Naval Academy at Annapolis at the beginning of the war, having en- tered there on the 21st of September, 1860. He was promoted to Master and took part in the defence of Battery Buchanan in Jan- uary, 1865, as one of the crew of the Chicamauga.
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