October 31, 1863: Establishment of the Confederate States Naval Academy-- Part 1

OCTOBER 31ST, 1863:  During October instruction began for 52 midshipmen at the Confederate States Naval Academy.  Lieutenant W.H. Parker, CSN, was Superintendent of the "floating academy" housed on board the CSS Patrick Henry at Drewry's Bluff on the James River.

The initial move to establish a naval academy was taken in December 1861 when the Confederate Congress passed a bill calling for "some form of education" for midshipmen.  Further legislation in the spring of 1862 provided for the appointment of 106 acting midshipmen to the Naval Academy.

In May 1862, the Patrick Henry was designated as the academy ship, and alterations were undertaken to ready her for this new role.

00Old B-Runner

USS Emma-- Part 2: Sold To U.S. Navy At N.Y. Prize Court

The Emma was a single screw steamer built in Glasgow, Scotland, for Thomas S. Begbie.  The Emma and her sister ship, the Gertrude were named for his two daughters.

The ship was captured on 24 July 1864 by the Army transport SS Arago off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina, on its third voyage.  It was purchased by the U.S. Navy at prize court in New York City on 30 September 1863 and fitted out at the New York Navy Yard and put to sea 4 November 1863 with Acting Master G.B. Livingston in command.

The Emma arrived at Newport News, Virginia 7 November 1863 and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as a picket and patrol vessel.

--Old B-Runner

USS Emma I: A Captured Blockade Runner

I was unable to find out anything about the blockade runner Emma captured by the USS Rosalie on 9 June 1864 but did come across another blockade runner of the same name that was captured, became a Union ship and participated in both attacks on Fort Fisher.  Well, you know me, anything with Fort Fisher and I am interested.

From Wikipedia.

The Emma was launched  24 November 1862 and captured 24 July 1863.  Acquired by U.S. Navy 30  September 1863 commissioned  4 November 1863.  Decommissioned  30 August 1865.  Sold 1 November 1865.

350 tons, 156 feet ling 21 foot beam, screw-propelled, 12 knots,  68 crew,  six 24-pdr howitzers and  two 12-pdr. rifles.

--Old B-Runner

USS Norfolk Packet-- Part 3: Two More Captures and Decommissioning

On 11 March 1864, the Norfolk Packet assisted the USS Beauregard in capturing the British schooner  Linda attempting to run into Mosquito Inlet and took the sloop Sarah Mary on 26 May.

After the war, the Norfolk Packet departed Port Royal on 23 June 1865 and was decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard  12 July.  It was sold at public auction 10 August.

--Old B-Runner

USS Norfolk Packet-- Part 2: Service in SABS

Next, the Norfolk Packet bombarded Vicksburg, Mississippi, 27 June to July 8, 1862.  It supported Farragut's run past the batteries to meet Flag Officer Davis' Western Flotilla.

Following this action, it sailed to Baltimore, Maryland for repairs.

After this it was assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and arrived at Port Royal, S.C., 7 November 1862.  For the rest of the war it served on that station blockading the coastal waters of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

She participated in the bombardment of Fort McAllister by Savannah, Georgia, on 3 March 1863; captured the  schooner Ocean Bird  off St. Augustine Inlet, Florida on October 23, 1863 (which I wrote about this past Tuesday and why I am researching this vessel further).

--Old B-Runner

USS Norfolk Packet-- Part 1: Bought By Navy and at Battle of New Orleans

From Wikipedia.

Was a large schooner purchased by the U.S. Navy 10 September 1861 and commissioned  7 February 1862.

It was 108 feet long,  gad a 28.2-foot beam, was a sailing ship, crew of 40 and mounted a 13-inch mortar, two 32-pdr. guns and two 12-pdr. guns.

It was bought from George Goodspeed of New York City and converted for naval use by J. Engles at the New York Navy Yard.   First commander was Lt. Watson Smith.

Assigned to the mortar squadron of  Cmdr. David Dixon Porter and participated in Farragut's attack on New Orleans.  The flotilla moved into position on 16 April and the mortar ships pounded Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans. Farragut's ship ran past the forts and New Orleans surrendered the next day.

--Old B-Runner

October 23, 1863: Blockade Runner Captured Off St. Augustine Inlet, Florida

OCTOBER 23RD, 1863:  The USS Norfolk Packet, Acting Ensign George W. Wood, captured the schooner Ocean Bird off St. Augustine Inlet, Florida.

--Old B-R'er

SS Republic (USS Tennessee)-- Part 5: The Sinking

By evening , her hull was leaking so badly that the fire in her boiler was extinguished, and she stalled in the heavy seas, now taking on more water  than her crew and passengers could bail out.

At 4 p.m., October 25, 1865, she sank.  The passengers and crew escaped on lifeboats but 40-foot seas because of the hurricane  made staying afloat very challenging.  They were not found until two days later, in much suffering, by the sailing ship  Horace Beals.

On October 29, the steamer General Hooker had been sent to look for the Republic, and rendezvoused with the Horace Beals and the passengers transferred to it and taken to Charleston, S.C..

Most of the passengers and crew survived, though a few were lost in the seas after the sinking.  The gold coins were lost.

Of course, with those gold coins out there somewhere, people began looking for them.

--Old B-Runner

USS Tennessee, Now SS Republic, Sinks

The SS Republic was lost on her fifth voyage after reverting to a civilian ship.

It left New York on  October 18, 1865, bound for New Orleans.  According to her captain, he was carrying passengers and  a cargo of $400,000 in coins, mostly in gold $10 and $29 pieces, intended for use as hard currency after the Civil War.

The city of New Orleans, captured by the Union early in the war, had become a thriving center of commerce, but  "hard money" as represented by these coins, was in short supply.

On the fifth day of the voyage, a hurricane off the coast of Georgia proved too strong for the Republic.

--Old B-Runner

USS Tennessee-- Part 3: USS Tennessee, USS Mobile, SS Republic

As a Union blockader, the USS Tennessee was fast enough to be effective and also powerful as it bombarded Fort Morgan during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

In September 1864, she was renamed USS Mobile so the ironclad  CSS Tennessee, captured at the Battle of Mobile Bay, could be the USS Tennessee.

In October 1864, he USS Mobile was damaged by a hurricane off the mouth of the Rio Grande and sent to New York for repairs..  There, after inspection, it was determined that it would be too expensive to repair and it was decommissioned in December 1864.

Sold at auction in March 1865 and renamed the SS Republic, repaired and placed in service again running between New York and New Orleans hauling passengers and cargo.

A Ship of Many Names.  --Old B-T'er

USS Rosalie-- Part 4: Further Duty and Decommissioning

On 9 June 1864, the Rosalie seized her only prize steamer, the Emma,  as it attempted to bring in coal.  Four months later, she took her last prize, a sponging vessel.

In December 1864, the Rosalie departed Charlotte Harbor for the last time and became a guard vessel at Boca Chica, Florida.  There she remained for the rest of the war.

At the end of May she was designated for disposal through sale at Key West.  Decommissioned in June, she was sold at public auction on the 28th to Mr. Benjamin Roberts.

Story of a Little-Known, But Active Ship.  --Old B-Runner

USS Rosalie-- Part 3: Capturing Runners and Army Operations

I started writing about this ship Monday and then got off subject, so here is the rest of the story.

By July 18, 1863, the Rosalie had added a sponging vessel and a small sloop to her lost of captures.  On 1 August she took the British schooner George after spotting her abandoned and without cargo hidden in the Caloosahatchee River.

On the 7th of August, the Rosalie took a small sailboat with three occupants and made them prisoners on suspicion of espionage.  On 30 December she captured another British schooner. and began patrolling Estero Bay as well.

Much of the rest of her career, the Rosalie supported Army operations along the west coast of Central Florida.Such missions primarily involved the transportation of scouts or the protection of refugees and seldom went far from Charlotte Harbor.

--Old B-Runner

USS Tennessee-- Part 2: 49ers, Walker, Captured Then ReCaptured

During the California Gold Rush, the Tennessee transported "49ers" to the eastern shore of Panama and Nicaragua  It delivered the last group of "immigrants" volunteering as mercenary soldiers for William Walker in Nicaragua and after his defeat, took hundreds of his men back home.

After that, the Tennessee regularly served the Vera Cruz, Mexico-New Orleans  route, transporting large numbers of immigrants and Mexican gold and silver.  She was tied up at New Orleans when the Civil War began.

She was seized and became the CSS Tennessee with intentions of being a blockade runner.  She never was able to fulfill that and was captured by Union forces when New Orleans fell on 1862, and was put into Union service as the USS Tennessee and temporarily served as  Farragut's flagship at the conclusion of the Mississippi River Campaign.

--Old B-Runner

USS Tennessee (SS. Tennessee)

From Wikipedia.

It is listed under its last name, SS Republic, in Wikipedia.

SS Republic was a sidewheel steamship, originally named the SS Tennessee, then the CSS Tennessee, then the USS Tennessee and the USS Mobile.  (Not to be confused with the ironclad CSS Tennessee which served in the Union navy after its capture as the USS Tennessee.)

It was lost as the SS Republic off the coast of Savannah, Georgia in a hurricane in October 1865.Built in Baltimore in 1853 for the Baltimore and Southern Steam Packet Company.  It sailed between Baltimore and Charleston, S.C.   It later made a trans-Atlantic trip and later had the first regular passenger service between New York City and Central America.

--Old B-R'er

October 16, 1863: USS Tennessee and the Blockade Runners

OCTOBER 16, 1863:  Commodore H.H. Bell reported that the USS Tennessee, Acting Lieutenant Wiggin, had seized blockade running British schooner Friendship off Rio Brazos, Texas, with a cargo of munitions from Havana, and caused the schooner Jane to be destroyed by her own crew to prevent her capture.

--Old B-Runner

USS Rosalie-- Part 2: Captures A Blockade Runner

Of course, the Rosalie's size and shallow draft was of great help in navigating the smaller inlets along Florida's west coast.

The sloop Rosalie was was captured on 16 March 1863 by the USS Octorara while attempting to run from Bermuda into the Confederate port of Charleston, S.C.. and sent to Key West for adjudication.  Purchased by the Navy on 6 May 1863 and fitted out as a tender, commissioned June 1863 with Acting Ensign Charles P. Clark in command.

She was assigned to the Florida west coast as tender to the blockading ship off Charlotte Harbor.  On June 6, she spotted the schooner Ann and  small sloop and pursued the ships three days up Peace Creek (River).  Though frequently grounding, on the 7th, the Rosalie was joined by two cutters from the USS Restless.

On the 8th, the Union ships captured the Confederate ships with large cargoes of cotton.

--Old B-Runner

USS Rosalie-- Part 1: Former Blockade Runner

This Union blockading sailing ship had  operations with the USS Gem of the Sea and Charlotte Harbor, Florida, which I have written about earlier.

From Wikipedia.

Was a captured blockade running sloop acquired by the U.S. Navy in prize court.

Captured  16 March 1863,  Acquired U.S. Navy 6 May 1863.  Commissioned June 1863.  Decommissioned June 1865.  Length 45 feet, 17 foot beam,   Armament:  one 12-pdr  smoothbore gun.

--Old B-R'er

USS Bermuda-- Part 9: Decommissioned, Sold and Sank in 1882

On the Bermuda's seventh cruise to the Gulf of Mexico, she encountered a sloop off the coast of Florida and fired a shot across its bow after a short chase  It proved to be the Forester which had  recently emerged from Indian River Inlet with a cargo of cotton and turpentine.  The Bermuda took the cargo aboard, took the prize in tow and resumed on his way to Port Royal.

However, the Forester began taking on water and sank.

The Bermuda continued shuttling between Philadelphia and the Gulf of mexico for  the rest of the war, bring needed supplies to the Union blockaders there.

On September 22, 1865, she arrived back at the Philadelphia Navy yard where she was decommissioned.  She was sold at public auction to Samuel C. Cook, and became a merchant ship named the General Meade until February 10, 1882, when she foundered in a storm while en route from Puerto Rico to New York City.

I have not been able to find out anything about the Meorge meade.

--Old B-Runner

James Duke Must Have Been Another John Yates Beall

Both had commissions as acting masters in the Confederate Navy and both were involved with secret missions.  I will have to do more research on this Duke fellow.

I have already written a lot about Beall in this blog and right now am writing a whole lot about him in my Saw the Elephant Civil War blog.

--Old B-Runner

USS Bermuda-- Part 8: Encounter with James Duke, CSN

On her next cruise out of Pensacola, Florida,, the Bermuda spotted three schooners and a large lugger (type of ship) together on November 19, 1863.  As it approached them, they separated and the Bermuda fired a shot across the bow of the closest one.  It stopped, but the others headed off quickly to seaward.

It proved to be the Venice of New Orleans which was heading to Pensacola under charter of the Union Army.  He explained that the other two schooners, the Norman and Mary Campbell, were also under contract and he too was confused as to why the others fled.

The Bermuda then gave a four-hour chase and fired seven shots before overtaking the Mary Campbell.  It was learned that earlier that day, a Confederate raiding party under Acting Master James Duke, CSN,  had captured the other two boats and probably intended to take the Venice until the Bermuda showed up on the scene.

James Duke was already notorious for doing things like this and fled toward land in the Norman and ten members of the luggers crew and ran the ship aground, set the ship on fire and escaped.  The Bermuda returned the Mary Campbell to her original master and allowed the ships to continue on their way to Pensacola.

Duke Is Foiled.  --Old B-Runner

USS Bermuda-- Part 7: Capturing Blockade Runners

On August 14, 1863, on her second voyage, while steaming from Brownsville, Texas, to Galveston, the Bermuda spotted a ship and overtook it.  It was the British schooner Artist with a cargo of medicines, liquors and wine and took her as a prize.

That evening, the Bermuda captured another blockade runner, the Carmita with a cargo of cotton.

On the next cruise, the Bermuda again had good luck in the prize money department when it captured the blockade runner Florrie with assorted cargo including medicine, wine and saddles on October 2, 1863.  Thus was the subject of my timeline on Oct. 2.  The captain acted like he did not know where he was.  Not falling for it, the Bermuda sent the ship to New Orleans for prize court.

--Old B-Runner

October 9, 1863: Nice Jobs, Get Charleston, But...

OCTOBER 9TH, 1863:  Secretary Welles commended Rear Admiral Dahlgren on the work of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston the preceding month and cited Brigadier General Gillmore's "brilliant operations" on Morris Island.

Noting that, though the first step in the capture of Charleston was taken, the remainder would be full of risk, he added:  "While there is intense feeling pervading the country in regard to the fate of Charleston ... the public impatience must not be permitted to hasten your own movements into immature and inconsiderate action against your own deliberate convictions nor impell you to hazards that may jeopardize the best interest of the country without adequate results...."

--Old B-R'er

USS Bermuda-- Part 6: Supplying the Blockading Fleets

The USS Bermuda made sixteen round trip voyages to the Gulf of Mexico, most of the time resupplying the ships of Farragut's West Gulf Blockading squadron  Besides supplies, she also carried passengers, usually officers and enlisted men going to and from blockade duty, sick men returning north to recuperate and prisoners captured afloat

On return trips, the Bermuda often had captured cotton.or ashore.

Other spots the Bermuda visited on her first voyage were Key West, Tampa Bay, St. Mark's and Pensacola.  After that, she provisioned the ships of the Mobile blockade, entered the Mississippi River and spent a week in quarantine and to New Orleans.

Then, it was on to Farragut's fleet off Galveston.  It then returned home, stopping at many of the same places.

--Old B-Runner

USS Bermuda-- Part 5: Not Condemned for a Year and Union Service

The Bermuda arrived in Philadelphia on May 3, 1862,  and was arraigned before the U.S. District Court.  Proceedings began August 12.  Final arguments were heard four days later, but the steamer was not condemned until <arch 5, 1863, almost a year after her capture.

The Bermuda was then purchased by the U.S. Navy and fitted out in the Philadelphia Navy Yard for service as a supply vessel.  It was commissioned on May 13, 1863, with Acting Master J.W. Smith in command.  Later that day it steamed down the Delaware River with supplies for both of the Gulf Coast Blockading Squadrons.

Eight days later it arrived at the mouth of Indian River, Florida, and  issued supplies to the bark USS Gem of the Sea.  That began two years of service bringing provisions and supplies to blockading fleets.

--Old B-R'er

USS Bermuda-- Part 4: Cannons and Paper

The USS Mercidita's boarding party found discrepancies in the cargo manifest, but also a thousand tons of contraband cargo including:  "a battery of seven field pieces (rifled), with carriages and everything complete, a number of heavier cannon, 42,720 pounds of powder in barrels, and  one-half and one-fourth barrels. 70 barrels of cartridges, over 600 cases of shells. etc....."

The ship's log revealed she had run the blockade before and her commander admitted the cargo was destined for the rebel states.  As a result, Commander Henry S. Stellwagen of the Mercidita seized the ship and sent her to Philadelphia under Lt. Trevett Abbott and a 30-man prize crew.

Part of the cargo seized was a shipment of blank paper sheets that were intended for printing Confederate currency.  This was by far the most important part of the Bermuda's cargo.

--Old B-Runner

USS Bermuda-- Part 3: Captured

Because of improvements in the Union blockade in which faster steamers and with shallower drafts had the better chances of success.  The Bermudas 17-foot draft and comparatively slow 11 knots worried its owners.

Simply, it would be too dangerous to make another run into a Confederate port.  They decided to turn their ship into one that would take larger cargoes to Bermuda, unload and let swifter ships make the final run to the Confederacy.

In February 1862, the Bermuda left England with a large load of ordnance supplies and arrived in Bermuda in March, but was not allowed to unload, so went to Nassau.

However, on April 27, she was spotted by the USS Mercidita which gave chase and caught her.

--Old B-Runner

USS Bermuda-- Part 2: As A Blockade Runner

The Bermuda was an iron-hulled steamer built in 1861 in England to make money on the huge profits that could be made running the blockade.  It was eventually sold to Messrs.  A.S. Henckle and George Alfred Trenholme of Charleston, S.C..

It was chartered to Frasier Trenholme & Co. in England, which served the Confederate government as uts financial and commercial agent there.

The Bermuda left England in August 1861.  It crossed the Atlantic under British colors and ran into Savannah, Georgia, with a million dollars worth of war material.  She loaded 2,000 bales of cotton on board when she left and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Liverpool, England.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Fisher Is Open Again

From the September 25, 2018, Friends of Fort Fisher.

According to Friends of Fort Fisher executive director Christine Divoky, after being closed for two weeks in the wake of Hurricane Florence, Fort Fisher is now open again.

Always Good News.  --Old B-R'er

USS Bermuda-- Part 1: Former Blockade-Runner

I had never heard of the USS Bermuda before I wrote yesterday's blog entry.  It had quite an interesting naval career.\\From Wikipedia.

Formerly a blockade runner captured by the Union Navy and then bought in prize court for U.S. service and used primarily as a cargo and transport ship primarily along the Florida coast and in the Gulf of Mexico.

Was launched in 1861 and captured by the United States on April 27, 1862, and bought around March 5, 1863.211 feet long, 21.7 foot beam,  16.8 foot draft, 11 knots, 122 crew, armament one nine-inch smoothbore gun and two 30-pdr. Parrott rifle cannons.

Its speed and depth had a lot to do with its role a s a blockade runner as well as its use as a blockader.

--Old B-Runner

October 2, 1863: USS Bermuda Captures A Blockade Runner

OCTOBER 2ND, 1862:

The The USS Bermuda, Acting Master J.W. Smith, seized blockade running British schooner Florrie near Matagorda, Texas, with cargo including medicine, wine and saddles.

--Old B-Runner

Florida in the Civil War

From the Punta Gordo Historical Center Blog "Gem of the Sea and the Charlotte Harbor Blockade During the Civil War."

Florida became a part of the Confederacy early in the secession movement, being the third state of the original seven to withdraw from the Union.

Florida had a very small population at the time and nearly half of them were slaves.

It only sent 15,000 troops to the Confederate Army.

Its chief importance was in food supply and blockade running because of its long coast full of inlets which were hard to patrol.

--Old B-R'er

USS Gem of the Sea and Charlotte Harbor-- Part 2: The Nemesis of Charlotte Harbor

On June 11, 1864, the USS Gem of the Sea shared in the capture of the steamer Emma by her tender Rosalie, for violation of the blockade near Charlotte Harbor.

The Gem of the Sea remained at Charlotte Harbor until February 1865 when the Civil War came to an end.  It then went to the Philadelphia Navy Yard where it was decommissioned and later sold for $6500.

--Old B-Runner

The USS Gem of the Sea and the Blockade of Charlotte Harbor

Starting in 1863, the Union Navy began attempting to suppress the shipment of cattle and hogs from central Florida organized a blockade of Charlotte Harbor.    One of the ships assembled to do this was the USS Gem of the Sea, a wooden bark sailing ship commissioned October 5, 1861,  at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

From December  24 to 30, 1863,  small boats from the Gem of the Sea encountered signal fires and sporadic gunfire from local Southern sympathizers.  The USS Rosalie, sloop, arrived to provide  cover at a shelling position 200 yards from the Myakka's east shore.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Casey (Florida)-- Part 4: No Remains Still There

There are no remains of Fort Casey today.

Location on east central side of Cayo Costa Island at Charlotte Harbor, Lee County, Florida.

There is also a state park there.

During the Civil War, the Charlotte Harbor pier was used to ship cattle to the Confederate Army.

--Old B-R'er

Thomas Childs, Father of Lt. Col. Frederick L. Childs, CSA, Also At Fort Casey

After proofreading the last post, it dawned on me that Brig. Gen. Thomas Childs, who closed Fort Casey, was the father of Confederate Lt.Col. Frederick L. Childs who commanded the Fayetteville Arsenal in North Carolina during the war.

I have written a lot about him in my Saw the Elephant Civil War blog.  Go to the site and click on Frederick Childs to find out more about him.

Small World,  Isn't It?  --Old B-Runner