USA > Virginia > Virginia and Virginians; eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia, Vol. II > Part 4
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VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
hoped that the freshet and the ice blocks would carry out the obstruc- tions at Trent's Reach, so as to let the Confederate ironclads through. As soon as night fell a reconnoitering party was sent down to examine the obstructions. The report was that the passage was feasible. Lieu- tenant C. W. Read hastened with the intelligence to General Lee at l'etersburg, and was by him sent to Secretary Mallory at Richmond with it, and to ask for an order that the ironclads be sent down that night. At three o'clock on the morning of the 23d, such order was delivered by Lieutenant Read to Commander Mitchell.
The expedition moved as soon as night fell on the 23d, the ironclads Virginia, Richmond and Fredericksburg; the gunboat Drewry; the torpedo boat Torpedo; and three torpedo launches ander command of Lieutenant Read, the Wasp, Hornet and Scorpion, which were to be used against Federal boats. These all passed the upper Federal batter- ies undiscovered, and anchored just above the obstructions. Captain Mitchell then went on board the Scorpion and sounded through the obstructions, finding a spar lying across the opening, which was removed. While the sonnding was going on a Federal picket boat dis- covered the Confederates and a heavy fire was opened from both banks. Captain Mitchell returned to his fleet and went on board the Fredericks- burg, lightest draft of the ironclads, and himself took her through the obstructions. Returning on the Scorpion, he found both the Virginia and Richmond aground. The launches were pulling on them but could not move them. The Federal batteries had opened all along the line. This put an end to any possibility of surprising the Federal fleet. The Fredericksburg was ordered to return. The James River boats would have to fight for it to get back up the river.
Daybreak disclosed them lying directly under the guns of Fort Par- sons, which opened fire on them. The Drewry was destroyed by a shell; the Wasp by a solid shot; the other wooden boats went into shelter under a bank. At nine o'clock the Onondaga came up and began to fire on the Virginia and Richmond, still grounded. None of the guns of the Confederate ironclads could be effectually worked. With the rising tide the grounded ships got afloat, but not until the Vir- ginia had received a 15-inch solid shot knocking a hole through her armor and wood backing, killing six and wounding fourteen. After a council on board the Virginia, Captain Mitchell decided to resume hostilities after dark, and at nine in the evening again headed down stream. A blazing calcium light was thrown on his boats from a Fede- ral battery and firing resumed from all the ports. Reluctantly the expedition was abandoned and the fleet returned to Chapin's Bluff. The Federals strengthened the obstructions, and added two monitors to the guarding ilcet.
COMMODORE MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY.
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VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
The aggressive work of the James River squadron was now ended. On February 18, 1865, Rear Admiral Raphael Semes, of Alabama fame, was appointed its commander. Many of the officers and crew of the squadron had been detached to the naval brigade, which under command of Capt. J. R. Tucker, was manning Fort Drewry, and Batteries Brooke, Wood and Semmes. These were joined by three hundred officers and men from the vessels destroyed at Charleston and Wihnington, when those cities were abandoned, making a formidable force, specially well trained for accurate firing of heavy guns. The only work left for the fleet was yet a worthy one. Richmond was secure from approach by water while the three ironclads remained on guard at Drewry's Bluff.
On the afternoon of April 20 Admiral Semmes received official notice from Secretary Mallory that Richmond would be evacuated that night. He was further instructed to arm and equip his men for duty in the field, and report with his force to General Lee after destroying his vosschs. Between two and three o'clock on the morning of the 3d, the naval troops were on their way up the James in the wooden boats, and the ironclads of the James river squadron were on fire. The explosion of the Virginia, it was said, " shook the houses in Richmond, and waked the echoes of the night for forty miles around."
THE LAST GALLANT STAND OF VIRGINIA NAVAL FORCES.
At midnight of April 4th, Semmes reached Danville with his forces. Here he found President Davis and Secretary Mallory, to whom he reported. He was ordered to form his command as a brigade of artil- lery to serve in the defenses around Danville. Only four hundred men wore left him, but these were divided into the regiments which remained in the Danville trenches until the bitter end.
The naval brigade under Captain Tucker withdrew from Drewry's Bluff on April 2d, and joined Genera! Custis Lee's division of Ewell's corps, acting as Lee's rear guard in the retreat from Richmond. It was a dreary march for four days, without rest, without food, in falling rain and heavy mud, with the cavalry of the victorious army hovering about them on every hand. On April 6th a stand was made at Sailor's Creek, and the last heavy battle on Virginia ground was fought. Scharf, in his "Confederate States Navy," pays this eloquent tribute to the Virginia naval force:
" Ewell's depleted ranks were enveloped by the masses of Sheridan's infantry and cavalry, and came to a stand at the creek for their final resistance to the overwhelming thousands of the enemy. The naval brigade held the right of the line, where it repulsed two assaults of cavalry and one of infantry with its firm formation and rapid, steady
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VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS. 445
fire, the Federals splitting on its front and going to the right and left of it. In one of these dashes of cavalry General Ewell and his staff were captured, and he passed the order of surrender to his troops, whose line, except that held by the sailors, had been pierced by the Federal charges. Thenaval brigade and two hundred marines, under command of Major Simmons, were holding precisely the same position then which had been assigned them in the morning. Commander Tucker was informed that Ewell had ordered a surrender but refused to believe it. The brigade of infantry on either side of him had ceased firing. but with the remark ' I can't surrender,' he ordered his men to continue the engagement. General Wright, commander of the Federal Sixth Corps, had directed the fire of a dozen batteries upon him, and a mass of cavalry were making ready to ride him down, when he wasinformed forthe second time of the surrender, and followed the example of the infantry. He had continued fighting fifteen minutes after they had lowered their arms, and the naval colors were the last to be laid down. The bravery of the sailors was observed along the Federal lines, and when they did surrender the enemy cheered them long and vigorously. The saluta- tions of the foc to the men who 'didn't know when to surrender,' brought to a close the history of the Confederate States navy upon the waters of Virginia."
PRIVATEERING AND INDIVIDUAL EXPLOITS.
No annals of war awaken greater interest than those which deal with gallant feats of individuals and record desperate undertaking's against great odds. While results thus achieved may not be relatively great, there is something ever inspiriting in dwelling upon such records. The capture of the St. Nicholas, recorded upon a previous page, was such an enterprise, and the following are equally worthy of preservation.
On the night of July 25, 1862, a Confederate boat's crew stole in among the Federal transports and supply ships near Harrison's Land- ing, and boarded the schooner Louisa Rives, loaded with army stores. Making their way to the captain's cabin, they informed him he was under arrest by order of General Mcclellan, and conveyed him to their boat. Some of the party remained behind in the cabin long enough to set it on fire in several places. Then the boat pulled off, leaving a buru- ing ship behind them, surrounded by its just awakened consorts, any one of which could have blown the daring raiders and their boat out of the water.
A notable exploit was executed in Chesapeake bay by Lieut. John Taylor Wood with a boat's crew from the Patrick Henry, on the night of November 28, 1862. Just below the month of the Rappahannock they boarded the Alleghanian, a fine ship from Baltimore bound for
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VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
London, that had come to anchor on account of a heavy storm. The ship's officers were completely surprised, and offered no resistance. In the darkness one boat's crew escaped; the remainder and the officers were sent prisoners to Richmond. After a portion of the ship's stores had been transferred to the boats, she was set on fire and burned. The ship and cargo were valued at $200,000. The Federal gunboat Crusa- der was only a few miles away from the Alleghanian, but when the fire from the latter brought boats from the Crusader to the rescue, Lienten- ant Wood was gone with his prisoners and supplies, and the fire was beyond control.
Early in 1863 John Yates Beall was commissioned acting master in the Confederate States navy. He organized a privateering force which did not at any time number more than twenty men. Mathews county, Virginia, was their place of rendezvous. In July they cut the United States telegraph cable across the Chesapeake. In August they wrecked the light-house at Cape Charles. In September they captured the sloop Mary Anne, and two fishing vessels, and the schooners Alliance, Horse- man, Pearsall and Alexander. In November they captured a schooner on the Accomac shore of the Chesapeake. Meantime the noise of Beall's successes had reached the North, and the Federal government sent to Mathews county to capture him and his twenty men, one regiment of infantry, two of cavalry, one battalion of artillery and three gunboats. He was made prisoner on board his last prize with a number of his men. They were held in irons at Fort MeHleury six weeks, subjected to every indignity. Information of this reaching President Davis he promptly ordered an equal number of Federal naval prisoners to be put under the same treatment. As on previous like occasions, this retaliatory measure secured for Beall and his men proper treatment as prisoners of war. This was the last attempt of the Federal govern- mentto ignore the customary usage of war, and treat privateersmen as "pirates." Beall was sent to City Point on March 20, 1864, and exchanged in May following. The balance of those captured with him were exchanged in September, 1864.
On March 6, 1864, Lieutenant Wood scored another brilliant success in a dangerous undertaking. He crossed the Chesapeake bay from Mathews county with a small party of men in open boats to Cherry- stone Harbor, on the eastern shore. Running in at nightfall and cut- ting the telegraph wires they made prisoners the Federal cavalry piekets there, and during the night captured two United States dispatch boats from Fortress Monroe, touching there, the lolas and the Titan. They then fired the wharf warehouses, containing the commissary stores, valued at $50,000. Lieutenant Wood ordered the Iolas fired, also, but upon the representation of her captain that she represented all he
UNGA
447
VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
owned in the world he was permitted to bond her for $10,000 and depart on parole, with a part of his crew. The remainder of the 'prisoners were taken away on the Titan, which was run up the Piankatank river to Freeport, and there burned. The two steamers had just been put in service, newly built, and were valued at $40,000 each. In retaliation the Potomac flotilla entered the Rappahannock, and destroyed a large amount of naval material, including ship timber and boats.
Two dashing privateering; feats were executed in Chesapeake bay in 1865. Captain Thaddeus Fitzhugh, of the Fifth Virginia cavalry, who had accompanied Lieutenant Wood in his foray on Cherrystone Harbor, crossed into Maryland with a small force of men, and placed all but about a dozen of them in hiding on the Chesapeake shore near Patux. ent river. With the smaller number he then proceeded in disguise to Fair Haven, Maryland, where they took passage, April 4th, on the Harriet Deford for Baltimore. Out in the stream they threw off their disguise, appearing in Confederate uniform, took possession of the boat, brought their concealed companions on board, returned to Fair Haven and landed the passengers and part of the crew, then took the captured vessel across the bay, and the next day burned her. On April 6th, Lient. John C. Brain, Confederate States navy, captured the St. Mary, off the mouth of Patuxent, ran her to the Virginia shore and burned her.
These are illustrations of the successful work of privateers in Virginia waters during the war. Their most valuable service was not, however, in the injury they did the enemy, so much as in the aid they gave the Confederate government by running the Federal blockade, bringing in recruits, armament and much needed stores.
VIRGINIANS IN THE MARINE CORPS.
The following Virginia officers resigned from the U. S. marine corps at the beginning of the war: Major Henry B. Tyler; Brevet-Major George H. Terrett; Captains, Robert Tansill, Algernon S. Taylor, John D. Simms; First Lieutenants, George P. Turner, Israel Greene. About one hundred men left the same service, and constituted the nucleus of the C. S. marine corps, organization of which was begun at Mont- gomery, and continued at Richmond in May, 1861. Lloyd JJ. Beall, of Richmond, a former officer U. S. A., was appointed commander, with rank of colonel; Henry B. Tyler, lieutenant colonel; George HI. Ter- rett, major; Algernon S. Taylor in charge of quartermaster's and com- missary's departments, with rank of major; Israel Greene, adjutant, rank of major; John D. Simms, captain. The other officers at organi- zation were from other States. Richard Taylor AAllison, who was appointed paymaster with rank of major, the office and rank he had
448
VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
resigned in the U. S. navy, was a Kentuckian, and nephew of President Taylor.
The corps served in and around Richmond in the summer of 1862. Its service in the battle of Drewry's Bluff has been already noted. Soon after, the corps was broken up into detachments, some of which guarded land defenses, others served on board ship. Their discipline as veteran marines rendered their service of great value when they were thus scattered among troops and seamen of less training, but for the reason they were thus kept in service through the war no records of the corps were or could have been separately made. A detachment was engaged in the land and water battles at Mobile; another served in the defense of Fort Fisher; others on the cruisers Sumter and Alabama; others on the Atlanta, Tennessee, Gaines and other steamers, The final stand of that part of the corps left in Virginia was under Captain Tucker at Sailors Creek.
THE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVAL ACADEMY.
An act providing for a Confederate States Naval Academy was passed by the Confederate Congress early in 1862. but it was not until March, 1863, that Secretary Mallory began to carry out its provisions. The steamer Patrick Henry was selected as the schoolship of the academy. Capt. John M. Brooke had charge of the establishment of the school ; Capt. Sidney Smith Lee was appointed on the board of examiners; Lieut. Wm. H. Parker was appointed commandant of the school. In the fall of 1863 it went into operation. The cadets found more fighting than schooling was before them. The Patrick Henry was most of the time stationed at Drewry's Bluff, and in the engagements in that vicinity in 1864 the cadets were oftentimes called on to lay down their books and take up their arms. There was less of inculcation of theory than of actual experience of war. Early in 1865 the protection of the bridge over the James at Wilmot was entrusted to the Patrick Henry, the school then consisting of sixty cadets and ton officers. On the oven- ing of April 20 they left Richmond for Danville, guarding the train on which was being transported the archives of the Confederate govern- ment, and the contents of its treasury. From the 3d to the 9th they remained in Danville, then went by rail to Greensboro, North Carolina. For nearly a month longer they moved about, by rail and by wagon train, to various points in North and South Carolina and in Georgia, still guarding their charge, and seeking for some one authorized to receive it. At the close of April they reached Abbeville, South Carolina, a second time, and there Lieutenant Parker found President Davis and Secretary Mallory. By their orders he turned over the treasure to the acting secretary of the Confederate States treasury. The cadet corps was then disbanded, at Abbeville, on May 2, 1865.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
OF THE .
BATTLES OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.
COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL RECORDS.
1861-ENGAGEMENTS AND BATTLES, 156. 1851.
Fort Sumter (South Carolina) April 12 and 13
Harpers Ferry (Virginia). April 18
Streets of Baltimore (Maryland) April 19
Camp Jackson (Missouri). .May 10
St. Louis (Missouri) May 10
Fairfax C. H. (Virginia) Junc 1
Philippi (West Virginia)
Junc 4
Great Bethel (Virginia) June 10
Romney (West Virginia) June 11
Vienna (Virginia) June 17
Booneville (Missonvi). June 17
Edwards Ferry ( Virginia) June 17
Independence (Missouri) .. June 17
June 17
Camp Cole (Missouri) .
June 18
l'atterson Creek, or Kellys Island (Virginia).
June 26
Mathias Point ( Virginia).
June 27
Falling Waters (Maryland)
July 2
Carthage (Missouri)
July 5
Newport News (Virginia)
July 5
Middle Creek Fork ( West Virginia)
July 6
Great Falls (Virginia)
July 7
Laurel Hill, or Bealington (West Virginia)
July 8
Monroe Station (Missouri).
July 10
Rich Mountam (West Virginia) July 11
Barboursville, or Red House ( West Virginia) July 12
Beverly (West Virginia). July 12
Carrick's Ford (West Virginia) July 14
Millsville, or Wentzville (Missouri) July 16
Fulton (Missouri). July 17
Scarytown (West Virginia). July 17
Martinsburg (Missouri) July 1?
New Creek (West Virginia)
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VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
Bunker Hill (Virginia).
July 17
Harrisonville and Parkersville (Missouri) July 18 and 19
Blackburns Ford (Virginia)
July 13
Bull Run, or Manassas (Virginia). July 31
Forsyth (Missouri)
July 22
Atna (Missouri). July 22
$ Blue Mills (Missouri). July 21 9
July 26
Harrisonville ( Missouri).
July 26
Fort Fillmore (Now Mexico)
July 27
Dug Springs (Missouri)
August 2
Mesilla (New Mexico)
August 3
Athens (Missouri)
August, 5
Point of Rocks (Maryland)
.August
6
Hampton (Virginia).
August
Lovettsville (Virginia).
August
&
Wilsons Creek, or Springfield and Oak Hills (Missouri)
August 19
Potosi (Missouri)
August 10
Grafton (West Virginia)
August 13
Brunswick (Missouri)
August 17
Charlestown. or Birds Point (Missouri)
.August 12
Hawks Nest (West Virginia)
August 20
Lookout Station (Missouri)
August 20
Jonesboro (Missouri)
August 21
Cross Lanes ( West Virginia)
August 26
Ball's Cross Roads (Virginia)
August 2:
Wayne C. H. (West Virginia).
August 27
Fort Hatteras (North Carolina) August 23 0
August 29
Munsons Hill (Virginia)
.August 31
Bennetts Mills (Missouri)
e September 1
Boone C. H. (West Virginia)
September 1
Dallas (Missouri). September 2
September 2
Dry Wood, or Fort Scott (Missouri)
September
Behers Mills ( Virginia) September
Shelbina (Missouri) September
Petersburg (West Virginia) .September
varnifax Ferry (West Virginia) September 10
Lewinsville (Virginia)
September 11
Elk River (West Virginia). September 11
Black River (Missouri) September 1?
Cheat Mountain (West Virginia).
September 12 and 13 Lexington (Missouri) September 12 to 20
Booneville (Missouri) .September 13
Near Pensacola (Florida)
„September 14
Pritchards Mills, or Damestown (Virginia) September 15
Morristown (Missouri) September 17
Blue Mills Landing (Missouri) September 17 Barboursville (West Virginia)
.September 18 and 20 Lexington (Tennessee) September 18
Papinsville, or Osceola ( Missouri) September 21 and 22
Elliotts Mills, or Camp Crittenden (Missouri) .September 22
Romney, or Hanging Rock (West Virginia). .September 23
Chapmansville ( West Virginia) September 25
e
C
€
0
0
·
0
·
E
e
O
Lexington (Missouri)
Worthington, Marion county (West Virginia).
5
1861.
Lanes Prairie (Missouri)
e
VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS. 45]
1861
Lucas Bend (Kentucky). September 20
Shanghai (Missouri). September 2?
Munsons Hill (Virginia)
September 29
Greenbrier (West Virginia)
October 3 Alimosa (New Mexico).
October 4
Buffalo Hill (Kentucky)
October 4
Chicamicomico (North Carolina)
October 5
Hillsboro (Kentucky).
October 8
Santa Rosa Island, or Fort Pickens (Florida)
October
8
Cameron (Missouri). October 12 lipton Mili (Kentucky) October 12 Bayles Cross Roads (Louisiana) October 12
Beck withs Farm (twelve miles from Birds Point, Missouri) October 18 West Glaze, or Shanghai, Henrytown, and Mondays Hollow (Mo.) .. October 13 Big River Bridge (near Potosi, Missouri) October 15
Linn Creek (Missouri)
October 16
Warsaw (Missouri) .. October 16
Fredericktown (Missouri)_ October 17 to 21
Big Hurricane Creek (Missouri)
October 19
Balls Bluff, Edwards Ferry, Harrisons Landing, Leesburg (Va.)
October 21
Wild Cat (Kentucky) October 31
Buffalo Mills (Missouri). October 22
West Liberty (Kentucky) October 23
Hodgeville (Kentucky) October 23
Springfield (Missouri). October 25
Romney, or Mill Creek Mills (West Virginia) October 26
Saratoga (Kentucky) October 26
Plattsburg (Clinton county, Missouri). October 27
Spring Hill (Missouri). October 27
Woodbury and Morgantown (Kentucky)
October 29
Renick (Randolph county, Missouri)
November 1
Little Sante Fe (Missouri)
November 6
Belmont (Missouri)
November 7
Hilton Head, Forts Walker and Beauregard (South Carolina).
November 7
Galveston Harbor (Texas)
November 7
Piketown, or Ivy Mountain (Kentucky).
November 9
Taylors Ford (Tennessee)
November 10
Guyandotte (West Virginia)
November 10
Ganley Bridge (West Virginia)
November 10
Little Blue (Missouri)_
November 11
Occoquan Creek (Virginia)
November 12
Cypress Bridge (Kentucky)
November 17
Palinyra (Missouri) November 18
Wirt C. H. (West Virginia)
November 19
Pensacola, Fort Pickens (Florida)
November 23
Lancaster, (Missouri)
November 24
Johnstown (Missouri) November 24
Independence (Little Blue, Missouri) November 26
Drainesville (Virginia).
November 26
Hunters Mills (Virginia). November 26
Black Walnut Creek (near Sedalia, Missouri). November 29
Morristown (Tennessee) December 1
Salem (Dent county, Missouri) December S
Vienna (Virginia)
December 3
Bolivar Heights (Virginia)
October 16
r
452
VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIANS.
1861.
Anandal (Virginia). December 1
Dunksburg, (Missouri).
December 5
Capture of Beaufort (South Carolina) December
Bushy Creek (Arkansas)
December 9
Dam. No. 4 (Potomac, Virginia).
December 11
Bertrand (Missouri).
December 11
Bagdad (Shelby county, Kentucky)
December 12
Camp Alleghany, or Buffalo Mountain (West Virginia). December 13
Rowletts Station, or Mumfordsville, and Woodsonville (Kentucky) December 17 Milford, also Shawnee or Black Water Mound ( Missouri). December 18
Drainesville (Virginia) Decomber 20
Hudson (Missouri) December 21
Now Market Bridge (near Newport News, Virginia) December 22
Wadesburg ( Missouri) December 24
Sacramento (Kentucky) December 28
Mount Zion (Missouri)
December 28
1862-ENGAGEMENTS AND BATTLES, 564.
1862.
Port Royal (Coosa River, South Carolina). January 1
Hunnewell (Missouri) January 3
Huntersville (Virginia). January 4
Bath (Virginia) January
4
Calhoun (Green county, Missouri) Janvary
4
Blue Gap (near Romney, Virginia) January
Jennies Creek, or Paintsville (Kentucky) January
Charlestown (Missouri). January
8
Dry Forks (Cheat River, West Virginia) January
8
Gaines Mills (Virginia) January
January
8
Columbus (Missouri). January 9
Middle Creek, and Prestonburg (Kentucky) January 10
Mill Springs, Logan's Cross Roads, or Fishing Creek (Kentucky) January 19
January 22
Occoquan Bridge (Virginia)
January 29
Bowling Green (Kentucky)
February -
Morgan county (Tennessee)
February 2
Fort Henry (Tennessee)
February 6
Lian Creek (Logan county, Virginia)
February
8
Roanoke Island (North Carolina)
February 8
Elizabeth City, or Cobbs Point (North Carolina).
February 10
Blooming Gap (Virginia) . February 13
Flat Licks Ford, Cumberland River (Kentucky) February 14
Marshfield (Missouri). February 14
Fort Donelson (Tennessee). February 14, 15 and 16
February 15
Sugar Creek, or Pea Ridge (Missouri) .February 17
Independence (Missouri) February 18
Valverdi or Fort Craig (New Mexico)
February 21
Masons Neck (Occoquan, Virginia).
February 24
Sykestown (Missouri)
March
1
Pittsburg Landing (Tennessee)
March 2
New Madrid (Missouri).
March 3
Occoquan (Virginia)
March 5
&
Silver Creek (Randolph county, Missouri)
Knob Noster (Missouri).
Bowling Green (Kentucky)
Keytesville (Barry county, Missouri). February 26
&
GRANITE PYRAMIDAL MONUMENT
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