Browsing named entities in Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. You can also browse the collection for D. D. Porter or search for D. D. Porter in all documents.

Your search returned 23 results in 11 document sections:

1 2
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 16: (search)
sition, and kept up a bombardment of shells that fell within the works. Some four hundred of the formidable missiles of the ironclad boats were also thrown into the fort. The officers and men inside were not slow to respond, and as many as Map: battlefield of Fort Donelson fifty-nine of their shots were counted as striking the gunboats. On the ironclad Essex a cannon ball ranged her whole length; another shot, passing through the boiler, caused an explosion that scalded her commander, Porter, and many of the seamen and soldiers on board. Five minutes after the fight began, the twenty-four pounder rifled gun, one of the most formidable in the fort, burst, disabling every man at the piece. Then a shell exploded at the muzzle of one of the thirty-two pounders, ruining the gun, and killing or wounding all the men who served it. About the same moment a premature discharge occurred at one of the forty-two pounder guns, killing three men and seriously injuring others. The ten-inch
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 23: (search)
s communications with the White House, whence his supplies were drawn by railroad. He would then have to attempt the capture of Richmond by assault, or be forced to open new communications by the James River, and move at once in that direction. There he would receive the support of the enemy's navy. The latter movement had, it appears, been thought of previously, and transports had been sent to the James River. During the night, after the close of the contest last mentioned, the whole of Porter's baggage was sent over to the right bank of the river, and united with the train that set out on the evening of the 27th for the James River. It would almost seem as if the government of the United States anticipated, at this period, the failure of McClellan's expedition. On June 27th President Lincoln issued an order creating the Army of Virginia, to consist of the forces of Fremont, in their Mountain Department; of Banks, in their Shenandoah Department; and of McDowell, at Fredericksb
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 27: (search)
s probably more effective than any other means of naval defense. The destructiveness of these little weapons had long been known, but no successful modes for their application of the destruction of the most powerful vessels of war and ironclads had been devised. It remained for the skill and ingenuity of our officers to bring the use of this terrible instrument to perfection. The success of their efforts is very frankly stated by one of the most distinguished of the enemy's commanders—Admiral Porter. See Torpedo Warfare, North American Review, September-October, 1878. He says: Most of the Southern seaports fell into our possession with comparative facility; and the difficulty of capturing Charleston, Savannah, Wilmington, and Mobile was in a measure owing to the fact that the approaches to these places were filled with various kinds of torpedoes, laid in groups, and fired by electricity. The introduction of this means of defense on the side of the Confederates was for a time
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 28: (search)
eneral Duncan and Colonel Higgins to defend the forts against the fleet still below, as well as against that which had passed and was now above. On the 26th Commodore Porter, commanding the mortar fleet below, sent a flagof-truce boat to demand the surrender of the forts, saying that the city of New Orleans had surrendered. To t Philip. The officers of that fort concurred in the propriety of the surrender, though none of their men had openly revolted. A flag of truce was sent to Commodore Porter to notify him of a willingness to negotiate for the surrender of the forts. The gallantry with which the defense had been conducted was recognized by the enonly formidable vessel he had, rather than allow her to fall into the hands of the enemy. The crew was accordingly withdrawn, and the vessel set on fire. Commodore Porter, commanding the fleet below, came up under a flag of truce to Fort Jackson, and while negotiations were progressing for the surrender, the Louisiana, in flam
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 34: (search)
ward of twenty thousand stands of small arms, numerous colors, and a large amount of stores, besides those taken by General Jackson at Manassas Junction, were captured. Major General Pope in his report says: The whole force that I had at Centreville, as reported to me by the corps commanders, on the morning of the 1st of September was as follows: McDowell's corps, 10,000 men; Sigel's corps, about 7,000; Heintzelman's corps, about 6,000; Reno's, 6,000; Banks's, 5,000; Sumner's, 11,000; Porter's, 10,000; Franklin's, 8,000—in all, 63,000 men. . . . The small fraction of 20,500 men was all of the 91,000 veteran troops from Harrison's Landing which ever drew trigger under my command. Our losses in the engagement at Manassas Plains were considerable. The number killed was 1,090; wounded, 6,154—total, 7,244. The loss of the enemy in killed, wounded, and missing was estimated between 15,000 and 20,000. The strength of our army in July and September is stated on a preceding pa
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 35: (search)
Jones ordered Toombs to charge the flank, while Archer, supported by Branch and Gregg, moved on the front of the enemy's line. After a brief resistance, he broke and retreated in confusion toward the Antietam, pursued by the troops of Hill and Jones, until he reached the protection of the batteries on the opposite side of the river. It was now nearly dark, and McClellan had massed a number of batteries to sweep the approach to the Antietam, on the opposite side of which the corps of General Porter, which had not been engaged, now appeared to dispute our advance. Our troops were much exhausted, and greatly reduced in numbers by fatigue and the casualties of battle. Under these circumstances it was deemed injudicious to push our advantage further in the face of these fresh troops added to an army previously much exceeding the number of our own. Ours were accordingly recalled, and formed on the line originally held by General Jones. The repulse on the right ended the engagement, a
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 39: (search)
field pieces, so harassed and beset them that they were driven back utterly discomfited. Admiral Porter had, with his fleet, gone some distance up Deer Creek, and, but for the land forces sent to ribed as follows: Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Vol. I, pp. 310, 311. I soon found Admiral Porter, who was on the deck of one of his ironclads, with a shield made of the section of a smoke-s, two of them completely disabled. On April 16th a fleet of ironclads with barges in tow, Admiral Porter commanding, under cover of the night ran the Vicksburg batteries. One of the vessels was derepulsed and heavy loss inflicted; our loss was small. At the same time the mortar fleet of Admiral Porter from the west side of the peninsula kept up a bombardment of the city. Vicksburg is builtes beyond the town, approaching the river only on the right and left flanks, so that the fire of Porter's mortar fleet was mainly effective upon the private dwellings, and the women, the children, and
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 47: (search)
my from Vicksburg, and accompanied by a fleet of gunboats under Admiral Porter. With these the force under General Steele, in Arkansas, was t the remainder of a regiment was on the Teche. On March 12th Admiral Porter, with nineteen gunboats and ten thousand men of Sherman's army, to De Russy and took possession of it. On the 15th the advance of Porter reached Alexandria, and on the 19th General Franklin left the lowerthe Committee on the Conduct of the War, page 239, a report of Admiral Porter, dated Grand Ecore, April 14, 1864, says: The army here hasken by General E. K. Smith to follow General Steele. On April 28th Porter's fleet was lying above the falls, then impassable, and Bank's army Atchafalaya, and the campaign closed at the place where it began. Porter was able to extricate his eight ironclads and two wooden gunboats bd that the army obtained ten thousand bales of cotton, to which Admiral Porter added five thousand more as collected by the navy. This was th
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 52: (search)
d troops and fifty vessels of war of various sizes and classes, several ironclads, and the ship charged with two hundred thirty-five tons of powder. Some of the troops landed, but after a reconnaissance of the fort, which then had a garrison of about six thousand five hundred men, the troops were reembarked, and thus the expedition ended. On January 15, 1865, the attempt was renewed with a larger number of troops, amounting, after the arrival of General Schofield, to twentyodd thousand. Porter's fleet also received additional vessels, making the whole number fifty-eight engaged in the attack. The garrison of Fort Fisher had been increased to about double the number of men there on December 24th. The ironclad vessels of the enemy approached nearer the fort than on a former occasion, and the fire of the fleet was more concentrated and vastly more effective. Many of the guns in the fort were dismounted, and the parapets seriously injured, by the fire. The garrison stood bravely t
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 54: (search)
ch he says: Mr. Lincoln distinctly authorized me to assure Governor Vance and the people of North Carolina that, as soon as the rebel armies laid down their arms, and resumed their civil pursuits, they would at once be guaranteed all their rights as citizens of a common country; and that, to avoid anarchy, the State governments then in existence, with their civil functionaries, would be recognized by him as the government de facto till Congress could provide others. In a letter of D. D. Porter, vice-admiral, written in 1866, giving his recollections of that interview, in the same volume, Ibid., p. 330. is found the following paragraph: The conversation between the President and General Sherman, about the terms of surrender to be allowed Joe Johnston, continued. Sherman energetically insisted that he could command his own terms, and that Johnston would have to yield to his demands; but the President was very decided about the matter, and insisted that the surrender of John
1 2