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August 19th (search for this): chapter 47
ions. In the Sumter they beheld an engine-of-war that could do much harm, and, although she was not a large vessel, yet they saw nothing opposed to her to repress her ill-doings. Had there been a fair-sized United States vessel-of-war at either of the ports the Sumter entered, the latter would have probably been refused a supply of coal. The Sumter, owing to strong head-winds and currents, soon expended the greater portion of her coal, and had then to resort to her sails; but on the 19th of August she made the harbor of Paramaribo and obtained a supply of coal and provisions, fraternizing with the officials of the town and with some French and Dutch officers, who seemed to recognize in the Sumter the germ of a Navy that was to supplant that of the United States. All this now seems like the merest mockery, and we can hardly realize how the representatives of old-established Governments could lend themselves to the schemes of the Confederates before they had the slightest evidence
1861 AD (search for this): chapter 47
n the commerce of the United States. Lieutenant Semmes took the ground that all such cruisers should be treated as pirates, since they had no ports into which they could take captured vessels, but must destroy them on the high seas. The events of 1861-65 changed Semmes' opinions, and the convictions he so strongly maintained up to the year 1861 vanished when he was offered a vessel by which he could inflict damage on United States commerce. with the prospect of high reward in the future for hi1861 vanished when he was offered a vessel by which he could inflict damage on United States commerce. with the prospect of high reward in the future for his services in burning and sinking. We wish, in our narrative, to be just to all parties, but we cannot justify Semmes' course, even although he may have had a shadow of international law to plead in his defence. He might have joined the Southern Army or Navy, as many others did, and fought to the utmost of his ability, and nothing would now be laid against him; but for a man born under the Stars and Stripes, and who had spent the greater part of his life to middle age in holding himself read
July 26th, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 47
y to anarchy. No one seemed to notice the Sumter after she anchored. Semmes carefully scanned the features of the castle, its three or four guns, worthless for any purpose beyond firing a salute, and compared it with his trim battery of shell-guns. He was satisfied with the comparison and immediately wrote the Governor of the town a letter, which he sent ashore by one of his officers. This missive was to the following effect: Confederate States Steamer Sumter, Puerto Cabello, July 26, 1861. His Excellency the Governor: I have the honor to inform your Excellency of my arrival at this place, in this ship under my command, with the prize schooner Abby Bradford in company, captured by me about seventy miles to the northward and eastward. The Abby Bradford is the property of citizens of the United States, with which States, as your Excellency is aware, the Confederate States, which I have the honor to represent, are at war, and the cargo would appear to belong also to citiz
1865 AD (search for this): chapter 47
wrote an interesting book, giving an insight into the character of the Mexican people. At the time of his writing this book, the Mexican Government was discussing the project of issuing letters of marque to vessels, authorizing them to prey upon the commerce of the United States. Lieutenant Semmes took the ground that all such cruisers should be treated as pirates, since they had no ports into which they could take captured vessels, but must destroy them on the high seas. The events of 1861-65 changed Semmes' opinions, and the convictions he so strongly maintained up to the year 1861 vanished when he was offered a vessel by which he could inflict damage on United States commerce. with the prospect of high reward in the future for his services in burning and sinking. We wish, in our narrative, to be just to all parties, but we cannot justify Semmes' course, even although he may have had a shadow of international law to plead in his defence. He might have joined the Southern Army
August 25th (search for this): chapter 47
onfederates. All Semmes cared for was to obtain a stock of coal and provisions, and these not being considered contraband of war were freely furnished. Semmes met with some opposition from the authorities, but he bore his trials with meekness, for he knew that the heavy guns commanding the harbor could soon be manned, and were too formidable to trifle with. Nor could he tell how soon a British man-of-war might come into port with orders for the Governor to detain the Sumter. On the 25th of August the Sumter sailed from Trinidad bound for Maranham. So far, nothing had been heard of a United States vessel-of-war. The slow old frigate Powhatan was following on the track of the marauder, never missing a port at which the Sumter had stopped. But for defective boilers the Powhatan would have overtaken the Sumter at Maranham. It must have given the inhabitants of the places Semmes visited a poor idea of the power of the Federal Government, to see the Sumter roving at will, with no o
February 15th, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 47
of Southern birth who remained loyal to the Union. Semmes has published what he doubtless considered a masterly argument in defence of his cause; but, although he speaks of Webster and Story with great contempt, he was hardly equal to either of them as a constitutional lawyer, and the secession fallacy has been so thoroughly exposed that we have no fears of another civil war based on State Rights theories. Commander Semmes resigned his commission in the United States Navy on the 15th of February, 1861, and made the best of his way to the capitol of the Southern Confederacy, temporarily fixed at Montgomery, Alabama. On his arrival he put himself in communication with Mr. Conrad, Chairman of the Confederate States Naval Committee, and when President Davis reached the city, a few days afterwards, offered his services to the Confederate Government. They were at once accepted, and Semmes proceeded to Washington. after a visit to Richmond and Harper's Ferry, to ascertain the characte
June 3rd, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 47
he opportunity of replenishing my military chest from the enemy. How readily he adopted that word enemy, when scarcely three months from the service of the Government that had fostered him for thirty-six years! We may be too sentimental on this point, but, no doubt, our feelings will be shared by many of our readers. There was no end to Semmes' trials and disappointments in his task of fitting out the Sumter, and the patience and energy he exhibited were worthy of a better cause. On June 3d, 1861, the ship was put in commission, and her commander gazed proudly on the Stars and Bars floating from her peak. Having received his sailing orders, Semmes dropped down to the forts preparatory to getting to sea past the blockading vessels at the mouths of the Mississippi — the Powhatan. Lieutenant D. D. Porter, at Southwest Pass, and the Brooklyn, Commander Charles H. Poor, at Pass à l'outre. Semmes' sailing orders were brief and to the purpose. He was to burn, sink and destroy. withi
July 27th, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 47
again, and with his crew standing at their quarters steamed out of the harbor, without opposition from his Excellency, who was only too happy to be rid of him. As Semmes' conscience would not permit him to destroy neutral property, he sent the Maxwell with a prize-crew to Cienfuegos to join his other prizes, still clinging to the hope that Spain would dare to be just, in the face of the truckling of England and of France. Semmes had been in the Caribbean Sea from the 3rd to the 27th of July, 1861, had captured ten prizes, and not a Federal gunboat had been heard of, although the United States Consul-General at Havana had been promptly informed of all his transactions at Cienfuegos. Five of the fast steamers purchased for the purpose of carrying stores to the several squadrons, well armed and manned, would have caught the Sumter ten days after her escape from Pass à l'outre, saving many thousand dollars worth of property and terminating Semmes' career. Although the Federal Nav
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