FEBRUARY 2, 1864:
Early in the morning, a Confederate boat expedition planned and boldly led by Commander John Taylor Wood, CSN, captured and destroyed the 4-gun sidewheel steamer USS Underwriter, Acting Master Jacob Westervelt, anchored in the Neuse River near New Bern, North Carolina.
The boats used by the Confederates had been shipped by rail from Petersburg, Va., to Kinston, NC, and from there started down the Neuse. Wood, grandson of President Taylor and nephew of Jefferson Davis, silently approached the Underwriter about 2:30 a.m. and was within 100 yards of the gunboat before being spotted.
Underwriter's guns could not be brought to bear on Wood and his men quickly boarded and took her in hand-to-handcombat, during which, Westervelt was killed.
Definitely a Cushing Thing.
More to Come. --Old B-Runner
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