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Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 1. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), Address before the Mecklenburg (N. C.) Historical Society. (search)
he town after defeat, saved East Tennessee to the Union and gave a death-blow to the Confederacy. Andy Johnson refused to give up Nashville, as Buell directed, when Bragg advanced into Kentucky. The abandonment of Nashville then would have given the whole State over to the Confederacy. These two men — Thomas and Johnson — dug the grave of the Confederacy. Farragut, of Tennessee, rose to the highest rank in the Federal navy, for his triumphs over his native land. The naval forces at Hatteras were under command of Goldsborough, of Maryland. It is a singular fact that the Southern men in the Federal service were remarkably successful, while the Northern men in our service, though brave and true, brought disaster to our arms. Lovel lost us New Orleans, Pemberton lost us Vicksburg, and Gardner lost us Port Hudson. Through the failure of these three officers the command of the Mississippi was lost, the Confederacy was cut in twain, and the conquest of the South became only a ques
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., chapter 14.53 (search)
of defending the possession of the sounds. The steamer Winslow, a small side-wheel steamboat, was fitted out by the governor of the State, and on the outside of Hatteras began to annoy and destroy the commerce of the United States, under Thomas M. Crossan, formerly of the United States Navy. The Winslow captured and brought into armed with one gun each, was turned over to the Confederate States. The defense of the entrances to these sounds was undertaken by the erection of batteries at Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlet, and at Beaufort; on the interior waters New Berne, Roanoke Island, and the mouth of the Neuse River were defended under the State by small bahe 9th N. Y. Flag-Officer Silas H. Stringham in command of the fleet and Major-General B. F. Butler of the land forces. The same afternoon the fleet arrived off Hatteras, and at 10 o'clock on the morning of the 28th began the bombardment of Forts Clark and Hatteras (the latter mounting twenty-five guns), which was continued throu
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., chapter 14.54 (search)
h we were afterward overtaken. At that time we had no weather signal reports; but, in any event, the sailing would not have been delayed, because the orders to proceed to our work were imperative. It was, of course, learned by all, after reaching the sea, that the destination of the fleet was Hatteras Inlet. Just before midnight the Picket weighed anchor, and we were soon at sea, and it was not long before the little vessel was called upon to test her seagoing ability. On rounding Cape Hatteras we met a very strong breeze, and the little vessel got into the trough of the sea. It seemed for a time as if she would surely be swamped; but by skillful management the captain brought her head-to, after which she behaved better. We passed a most uncomfortable night. Everything on the deck that was not lashed was swept overboard; and the men, furniture, and crockery below decks were thrown about in a most promiscuous manner. The breeze died away toward morning, soon after which a hea
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., chapter 14.55 (search)
naval and military action. In the above extracts we can note the inception of the Port Royal expedition, so ably executed and so important in its results, as well as the creation of a systematic plan of blockade, practically extending from Cape Hatteras to the Rio Grande. It seems just to the memory of the late Rear-Admiral Du Pont and his associates in the conference, all of whom have passed away, to present these important facts in a substantial and reliable form. The early attempts atsabled, and the signal was made to take her in tow. Our rate of speed was quite slow, due to a head-wind, and to the varied character of the vessels composing the fleet, which was larger than was ever before commanded by an American officer. Cape Hatteras, little more than a hundred miles from Cape Henry, was not reached until 1 o'clock on the morning of the 31st, when two of the heavier transports struck slightly on the shoals, which caused all of us to make for the south-east; and soon after
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., In the monitor turret. (search)
she was commissioned and turned over to the Government, and nine days later left New York for Hampton Roads, where, on the 9th of March, occurred the memorable contest with the Merrimac. On her next venture on the open sea she foundered off Cape Hatteras in a gale of wind (December 29th). During her career of less than a year she had no fewer than five different commanders; but it was the fortune of the writer to serve as her only executive officer, standing upon her deck when she was launche returned to Hampton Roads in November, and sailed thence (December 29th) in tow of the steamer Rhode Island, bound for Beaufort, N. C. Between 11 P. M. and midnight on the following night the Monitor went down in a gale, a few miles south of Cape Hatteras. Four officers and twelve men were drowned, forty-nine people being saved by the boats of the steamer. It was impossible to keep the vessel free of water, and we presumed that the upper and lower hulls thumped themselves apart. No ship i
Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., chapter 15.64 (search)
he next day at noon, when the wind shifted to the south-south-west and increased to a gale. At 12 o'clock it was my trick at the lee wheel, and being a good hand I was kept there. At dark we were about seventy miles at sea, and directly off Cape Hatteras. The sea rolled high and pitched together in the peculiar manner only seen at Hatteras. The Rhode Island steamed slowly and steadily ahead. The sea rolled over us as if our vessel were a rock in the ocean only a few inches above the water,e to try and find it again, they were forced to the conclusion that the Monitor had gone to the bottom with all that remained on board. The position of the Rhode Island at this time was about eight or ten miles off the coast directly east of Cape Hatteras.--H. R. Smith. It was half-past 12, the night of the 31st of December, 1862, when 1 stood on the forecastle of the Rhode Island, watching the red and white lights that hung from the pennant-staff above the turret, and which now and then w
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The First iron-clad Monitor. (search)
to the Government of three times the original cost of the Monitor. I mention these facts, not to detract from the merit of Cornelius Vanderbilt's patriotic gift, but to exemplify the greater value of the little Monitor of John Ericsson for naval purposes, and the reason why the Navy Department declined to purchase the Vanderbilt, Illinois, and other immense steamers that were pressed, by influential persons, by the press, and by interested parties, upon the Navy Department and the Government. The War Department, taking a different view, bought the Illinois for four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000). The Illinois, by the way, has never had a day's sea-service since the War Department purchased her, and will never pass Sandy Hook. The Monitor, which rendered such gallant service to the country, and was the progenitor of a class of vessels that is to be found in the navy of almost every maritime nation, was foundered on the 30th of December, 1862, in a storm off Cape Hatteras.
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The First attack on Fort Fisher (search)
aved an adieu with fluttering white handkerchiefs. The Ben Deford bore Generals Butler, Weitzel and Graham, and their respective staff officers, and Colonel Comstock of General Grant's staff, as his representative. The atmosphere was cloudless and serene; and all the afternoon the white beach and a continuous fringe of an almost unbroken pine forest along the North Carolina coast was visible. The transports dotted the sea at wide intervals; and when, at past midnight, we passed Stormy Cape Hatteras, in the light of the waning moon, the heaving bosom of the ocean was as unruffled as a lake on a calm summer's day. On the evening of the 15th, we reached the appointed rendezvous, twenty-five miles at sea east of Fort Fisher, and out of reach of discovery by the Confederates on the shore. The rest of the transports soon gathered around us, and constituted a social community in the watery waste. There we waited three days for the arrival of the vessels of war, which had gone to sea the
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Recollections of Grant. (search)
h and every chosen position. At Fayetteville a tugboat met us in answer to a message sent by one of Sherman's scouts to Wilmington. The general seized the opportunity to report his progress to the Secretary of War, at Washington, and to General Grant, then with his army before Richmond. At the breakfast-table that Sunday morning he announced his intentions, and I was to be the lucky one to go. That night a few of us ran down the Cape Fear river to the sea, and a ship bore me around Cape Hatteras, across to Fortress Monroe, and up the James to Grant. I found him in a little board cabin of two rooms. He stood talking with a delegation of Northern citizens, who had come down ostensibly to encourage the army, but in reality to interfere with the plans of its commander by insisting on giving some pet advice. In those days everybody thought himself fit to command an army, and the newspapers seemed to be all edited by major generals, so full were they of warning instructions, We tol
Judith White McGuire, Diary of a southern refugee during the war, by a lady of Virginia, 1863. (search)
orced, and our army was obliged to fall back. A friend remarked that the Bragg victories never seem to do us much good. The truth is, the Western Yankees fight much better than the Eastern, and outnumber us fearfully. They claim the victory, but acknowledge the loss of 30.000 men. It must have been a most severe conflict. At Vicksburg they have made another attack, and been repulsed; and yet another misfortune for them was the sinking of their brag gun-boat Monitor. It went down off Cape Hatteras. In Philadelphia the negroes and Abolitionists celebrated the 1st of January with mad demonstrations of delight, as the day on which Lincoln's proclamation to abolish slavery would take effect. In Norfolk the negroes were deluded by the Abolitionists into great excitement. Speeches were made, encouraging them to take up arms against their masters! Hale has offered a resolution in the Northern Congress to raise two hundred regiments of negroes! The valiant knight, I hope, will be gen
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