Monday, February 25, 2013

The Sneaky Capture of U.S. Norfolk Gosport Navy Yard

This was largely through the effort of Walter Gwynn (1802-1882)

West Point Class of 1822 and engineer (always where top graduates were placed).  From 1833 to the Civil War was involved in railroads and considered the founder of the southeast railroad network.

Retired from that in 1857 and moved to South Carolina.  Once the war came, he helped plan the attack on Fort Sumter and was charged with building various Confederate batteries around Sumter.

On April 10, 1861, he accepted command of the Virginia militia as a major general and directed to assume command of defenses around Norfolk and Portsmouth until mid-May.  He worked with William Mahone, president of the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad.

With Gwynn's authority, Mahone bluffed the federals out of Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth.  he ran a single passenger train into Norfolk with great noise and whistle blowing.  He'd then more quietly send it back, then returned loudly again. creating the illusion of lots of soldiers arriving to attack the navy yard.

The Union forces quickly abandoned the Navy Yard. leaving much of the destruction incomplete.  Later in 1861, Gwynn oversaw the construction of fortifications at Sewell's Point.

Quite an Imaginative Guy.  --Old B-Runner

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