AUGUST 18TH
Sec. of Navy Welles wrote Commodore Wilkes of the James River Squadron that since Army movements in the area had ceased that future orders will "be controlled by developments elsewhere."
Welles also instructed squadron and cruiser commanders to restate their duties as far as stopping and searching suspicious ships upon the seas as a result of "some recent occurrences." They were to "manifest to the world that it is the intention of our Government, while asserting and maintaining our own rights, to respect and scrupulously regard the right of others...You are specifically informed that the fact that a suspicious vessel has been indicated to you...does not in any way authorize you to depart from the practice of the rules of visitation, search and capture prescribed by the law of nations."
I'm not sure what the occurrences were, perhaps some commanders were overstepping the law of nations in regards to a blockade.
AUGUST 21ST
Admiral Farragut must have been responding to newspaper fears of foreign intervention in the conflict and wrote, "...if it does come, you will find the United States not so easy of a nut to crack...We have no dread of 'rams' or 'he-goats'..." I'm not really sure what a "he-goat" is?
USS Bienville captured British blockade-runner Eliza, bound from Nassau off Shallotte Inlet, NC.
Go Get 'Em, David!! --Old B-R'er
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