Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 4: His Career to Retirement

Upon his return to the United States he was promoted to Rear Admiral and next became President of the Advisory Board, which position he gave up in 1885 for that of President of the Board of Inspection.

Simpson was regarded as an authority on all matters pertaining to ordnance and was the author of three books on the subject now used as teaxtbooks at the Naval Academy.

Throughout his career he acted  in an advisory capacity on issues relating to ordnance, and one of his last offices was that of member of advisory boards whch designed the cruisers Boston, Chicago and Atlanta.  

At the time of Simpsin's retirement,  he had served 46 years in the U.S. Navy.  In 1920, the Navy commissioned the destroyer USS Simpson in honor of his service to his country.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin': Edward Simpson-- Part 2: Service Before the Civil War

From Find-A-Grave.

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral.

His first service was as a midshipman in 1840 aboard the sloop of war USS Decatur which was on patrol off the coast of Brazil.  His next assignment was to the frigate USS Congress in the Mediterranean and Brazil squadrons.

After a year on station, he returned to Annapolis.  In 1846, he was promoted to the rank of midshipman and next served on the USS Vixen during the Mexican War where he was present on the attacks on the forts of Alvarado under Commodore Conner, and at two attacks on Tabasco under Commodore Perry and at the capture of Tampico.  He was also involved with the siege of Vera Cruz.

After them Mexican War, he returned to the Brazil Squadron and a short time later returned to the Naval Academy and was assigned as  an instructor in naval gunnery and infantry tactics.

Prior to the Civil war, he was promoted to  Master, then Lieutenant.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin': Edward Simpson, USN-- Part 3: The Civil War and Afterwards

In 1862, he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and in 1863, was in command of the monitor USS Pasaic in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  He took part in the attacks on Fort Wagner in July and August 1863 and Fort Sumter in August and September 1863.

He was promoted to Commander in 1865 and Captain in 1870.  The next two years were spent in Europe on special duty.  During 1877 he was detaled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as Captain, and in 1878, having been promoted to Commodore,  he was commanding officer of the New London Naval Station.

In 1881, Simpson took over as Commanding Officer of the League Island Navy Yard and in 1884 was appointed resident of the Gun Foundry Board.  He left the states again and traveled to Europe for several months for advisory purposes.

--Old B-Runner

Still RoadTrippin' Thru History: Admiral Edward Simpson

This all started with an article about a watch given to Alban Stimers by the U.S. president for his work on the USS Monitor and other monitors that is still in possession of his great-granddaughter.  Alban Stimers is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.  As part of RoadTrippin' I also take a look at others buried there.

Here is another one buried there and with a Civil War connection (even a monitor one).

EDWARD SIMPSON

BIRTH:  3 March 1824, New York City

DEATH:  1 December 1888  (aged 64),   Washington, D.C.

BURIAL:   Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City.

--Old B-Runner

The Last Christmas at Fort Fisher (1864)-- Part 3: The Christmas Assault

On the afternoon of December 24, 1864, the United States fleet opened fire on Fort Fisher.  The heavy cannonade continued for the next two days.  The booming of the cannons could distintively be heard in Wilmington, about twenty miles away.

Despite the terrific bombardment, Colonel Lamb noted that the greatest penetration into his sand defenses was not more than five feet perpendicularly.

The fleet was all floating in a stately line of battle in three main lines and five ironclads anchored in close to the fort.  There were frigates (some of whom carried as many guns as could be found in the whole fort) Very late in the day on the 26th, the firing ceased and the fleet moved further out to sea.

No serious damage had been done to the fort and the men were in high spirits over the enemy's retreat.  In the evening, they sang "Lorena" and other songs and their stringed instruments played lively airs.

Fisher Lives to Fight Another Day.  --Old B-Runner

The Last Christmas at Fort Fisher (1864)-- Part 2

All drills, inspections aqnd even guard mountings were suspended during the cold and icy weather, especially when the wind blew from the direction of the ocean.  A man hardly dared poke his nose out of the bunkers or tents, except to go for wood and water and to draw his rations.

Every style of camp architecture was to be found within the fort, including hut, hovel, shack and shed plus the underground bunkers inside the high earthworks around the fort itself.

Some of the men tried to bring some of the hilarity and cheerfulness into camp, and then again, some did not.  There were mixed emotions all morning with thoughts of family and home and the downfall of the war effort throughout the South.

--Old B-Runner

The Last Christmas at Fort Fisher (1864)--Part 1: Cheerless

From the December 2022 Federal Point Historic Preservation Society Newsletter.

From a 1973 Wilmington-Starc News article by Bill Reaves.

It was certainly a cheerless Christmas Eve, 133 years ago (now 158 years ago in 2022) inside the high earthen walls of Fort Fisher.  The weather was frightful and the Confederacy was on its knees.

Each Confederate soldier attempted to get some kind of dinner in honor of the holiday, and some were fortunate enough to receive some meager food boxes from Wilmington and surrounding areas.

Some were very unfortunate indeed whose homes were great distances away and they had nothing whatever delectable which would impart some memory of Christmas in the past.

Great genius was necessary to create a holiday dinner out of a pound of fat pork, six crackers and a quart of dried apples.  It was not impossible to see a bit of culinary art burst forth with apple dumplings, with which some sorghum molasses were not to be despised.

--Old B-Runner

U.S. Navy Medal of Honor Recipient Thomas Taylor: Buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery

Still RoadTrippin' Through History.

From Find-A-Grave.

THOMAS TAYLOR

BIRTH:  1834   Bangor, Maine  

DEATH:  19 January 1884, New York City

BURIAL:  Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, 

***************************

Medal of Honor recipient born in Bangor, Maine and entered Union Navy from Maine. and attained rank of coxswain.

His citation reads:  "Served on board the USS Metacomet during the action against rebel forst and gunboats and with the rebel ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay 5 August 1864.

"Despite damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as the enemy raked her decks, Taylor encouraged the men of the forward pivot gun when the officer in charge displayed cowardice,  doing honor to the occasion."

--Old B-Runner

U.S. Navy Medal of Honor Recipient John Gordon Morrison

Still RoadTrippin'.  These men were alswo buredin Cypress Ho;;s Cemetery along with Alban Stimers.

From Find-A-Grave.

BIRTH:  3 November 1842, Ireland

DEATH:  9 June 1897 (aged 54)  New York, New York

BURIAL:  Cypress Hills Cemetery, New York

Civil War Union Navy Medal of Honor recipient.

His citation reads:  "Served as a coxswain on board the USS  Caronolet,  Morrison was commended for  meritorious conduct in general and especially for his heroic conduct and his inspiring example to the crew in the engagemnt with the rebel ram Arkansas, Yazoo River, 15 July 1862.

"When the Carondolet was badly cut up, several of her crew killed, many wounded, and others almost suffocated from the effects of escapred steam, Morrison was leader when boarders were called on deck and the first to return to the guns and give the ram a broadside as she passed.

"His presence of mind in time of battle or trial is reported as always conspicuous and encouraging."

--Old B-Runner

Still RoadTrippin' Navy Medal of Honor Recipients: James Haines Horton

Still RoadTrippin' Through History.  I started with where Alban Stimers was buried, which is in the Cypress Hills Cemetery.  There are three U.S. Navy sailors from the war who won a Medal of Honor buried there.  This is one of them.

From Find-A-Grave.

JAMES HAINES HORTON

BIRTH:   1 July 1840,  England

DEATH:   15 April 1894  (aged 53)

BURIAL:   Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

His true name was Joseph Horton.

While serving in the Union Navy, he was awarded the Medal of Honor when his ship was off Port Royal, South Carolina.

His citation reads:  "Served as gunner's mate on board the USS Montauk, 21 September 1864.  During the night of 21 September 1864, when fire was discovered in the magazine lightroom of the vessel, causing a panic and demoralizing the crew, Horton rushed into the cabin, obtained magazine keys, sprang into the lightroom and began passing out combustables, including a box of signals in which the fire originated."

This ship did not particiate in the attacks on Fort Fisher, but did enter the Cape Fear River after the fort's fall and participated in the Wilmington Campaign.

--Old B-Runner

Cypress Hills Cemetery-- Part 3: Broke MLB's Color Barrier, Famed Actress and Last Surviving War of 1812 Veteran

Jackie Robinson (1919-1972):  Broke MLB's Color Barrier.  The first black player to play.

Mae West  (1893-1980)  Well-known actress.

Hiram Cronk  (1800-1905)   The last-known survivor of the War of 1812.   An estimated 925,000 people paid their respects at his death.

*******************************

Some good quotes from Mae:

**  When I'm good, I'm very good.  But when I'm bad I'm better.

**  You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

**  Well behaved women  do not make history.

--Cooter

RoadTrippin' Thru History, Cypress Hills Cemetery (Brooklyn, NY)-- Part 2

From Find-A-Grave.

There were seven Civil War Medal of Honor recipients, including three in the Navy.  I'll be writing about the Navy ones in later posts.

Also one Union general and one Union Navy officer who eventually became an admiral  (I'll write about him later.)

Others of interest:

Eubie Blake:  Wrote "Charleston Rag" and "I'm Just Wild About Harry."

James "Gentleman Jack" Corbett:  Heavyweight Boxer Champion from 1892-1897.  In 1892, he beat  John L. Sullivan for the title.

Robert "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson:  Major League Baseball player in the 19th century.  Considered the first switch hitter and got that nickname for his ability to catch fly balls in an era where players did not wear gloves.

Who was the other baseball player and famous actress?

Maybe in the next post.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin' Thru History: Cypress Hills Cemetery

I have been RoadTrippin' Thru History on Alban C. Stimers, a Chief Engineer in the Union Navy, especially in regards to the USS Monitor and many other monitors.  It all started with an article about his great-great granddaughter who had a watch given him by the president of the United States in thanks for his work on monitors.

Then, I wrote about him.  The other day I found that he was buried at Cypress Hill Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.  Whenever I find where a person is buried I go to that cemetery site and look to see if any other people of note or interest are buried there as well.  

This is all part of my RoadTrippin' Through History that I do in my blogs.  I start off with one story and keep looking to see where the story might take me.

In the next post I will write about some interesting people I found buried at Cypress Hill Cemetery.  Two of them was a well-known actress from the 1930s and a baseball player who broke the MLB Color Barrier.

--Old B-R'er

Alban Stimers' Grave

From Find-A-Grave.

BIRTH:  5 June 1827, Peterboro, New York   I also saw Smithfield, New York, as his birth place.

DEATH:  3 June 1876,  Staten Island, New York

BURIAL:  Cypress Hills Cemetery,   Brooklyn, New York

***************************

Superintendent of the Ericsson's Btry. Project 10/4/1861, in which he oversaw the construction of the USS Monitor.

Served as a "technical passenger" during the ship's trial run from New York to Hampton Roads, Virginia,  3/6-8/1862.

Operated the turret during the battle with the CSS Virginia 3/9/1862 during which, he was thrown to the floor when a shell hit the turret while he was leaning his hand against it.

--Old B-Runner

Alban C. Stimers, USN-- Part 3: The Unfortunate Casco-Class Monitors

Layer in 1863, he was placed in charge of an ambitious  project to construct  twenty light-draft monitors for use in shallow inland waters.  Unfortunately, the displacement calculations made for these ships  were badly done.   The resulting Casco-class turned out to be useless for their intended role and had to be extensively modified.

Stimers had inadvertantly demonstrated the  inherent difficulty of successfully shepherding complex technological endeavors, something that had bedeviled "project managers" from his time to ours.

After the Casco-class debacle, Stimers returned to the seagoing Navy.  At the beginning of 1865, he was Chief Engineer  of the steam frigate USS Wabash.  (As such, he likely was at Fort Fisher.)

He resigned from the Navy in August 1865 and became a consultant.

He died of smallpox on June 3, 1876, survived by a wife and  five children.

--Old B-Runner

Alban C. Simers, USN-- Part 2: Action with the Monitor and Passaic-Class Monitors

Though not a formal member of the USS Monitor's crew Stimers took part in her difficult trip from New York  to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and served on board during her historic battle with the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia on 9 March 1862, known as the Battle of Hampton Roads.

Much of the success  that happened in these two events was due to his inspired work, and Chief Engineer Stimers continued an intimate associate with the Navy's ironclad building program for much of the rest of the Civil War.

In 1862-1863, Stimers again worked with John Ericsson during the building of the next class of monitor-type ironclads, the Passaic-class.  

He accompanied these ships during their early operations against the Confederacy, most notably the 7 April bombardment of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and helped repair them after the action.

--Old B-Runner

Alban C. Stimers, USN-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

ALBAN CROCKER STIMERS

(June 5, 1827-June 3, 1876)

Was a Chief Engineer with the U.S. Navy.  He assisted with the design of the Navy's first ironclad, the USS Monitor, and later with the design of the  Passaic-class monitors.   His later career was marred by the scandal that enveloped the Casco-class monitors after they were found to be unseaworthy.

Stimers was born in New York in 1827.  He entered the U.S. Navy as a Third Assistant Engineer in January 1849 and became a Chief Engineer in July 1858.  He served in the steam frigate USS Roanoke during the early months of the Civil War and later in 1861 was assigned to work with John Ericsson on the construction of the ironclad USS Monitor.

--Old B-Runner

81st Anniversary of Pearl Harbor: Herbert Jacobson-- Part 2

Continued from my RoadDog's RoadLog blog.

Herbert Jacobson's remains weren't identified until late 2019 after years of efforts by both the family and military DNA experts.  A burial originally scheduled for spring 2020 was delayed because of the pandemic.

In the meantime, more of Jacobson's remains were identified so the family will have more of him to bury.

"I just wish my mother and especially my grandmother could be around to see this," McDonald said.  "My grandmother would still be sad that she lost her oldest boy, but at least there would be a means of closure."

McDonald's late mother, Norma, was Jacobson's sister.  Their parents, George and Mabel Jacobson, met during World War I.  Like Herbert Jacobson, known to the family as "Bert," George Jacobson was a sailor in the U.S. Navy.  Mabel worked as a barmaid when they met.

The two were married on December 7, 1919, and Mabel named her firstborn son after her beloved brother, Herbert, who died at a young age.

Continued in my Saw the Elephant:  Civil War blog.

Alban Crocker Stimers, USN: Naval Career

In the last two posts I wrote about Alban C. Stimers' great-great-granddaughter having a watch given to him by the president of the United States.  Here is his ranks and date attained in the U.S. Navy.

Listed as ALLEN C. STIMERS

Third Assistant Engineer::  11 January 1849

Second Assistant Engineer:  26 February 1851

First Assistant Engineer:  21 May 1853

Chief Engineer:  21 July 1858

Resigned:  3 August 1865

--Old B-Runner

Her Great-Great-Grandfather was USS Monitor Chief Engineer Alban Stimers-- Part 2

Carol Miller, of New Jersey,  moved with her parents to Morada after retirement.

"I remember playing at my grandparents' home when I was a kid and there was a pocket watch under a glass dome," Miller said.  "I never though much about it.  What kid cares about a pocket watch?  Later,  I learned that it was a gift given to my great-great grandfather by the president -- Grant, I think, because he helped win the Civil War."

The pocket watch went to an uncle's family because he was the oldest sibling.

At the event, Carol Miller had a photo of Alban Stimers, a booklet about the USS Monitor with a picture of  his name in a stone at the  Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, and a model of the ship as well as a picture  of the battle between the Monitor and Virginia.

"He went in to the battle as 'an observer' " Miller said.  "But it got messy real quick and when a gunner was killed, he had to take over.  He knew every bolt  on that ship."

Hopefully she will donate the watch to the Mariners' Museum.

--Old B-Runner

Her Great-Great-Grandfather Was Chief Engineer on USS Monitor: Alban Stimers

From the November 29, 2022, Victoria  Advocate (Texas) "A walk down memory lane:  Morada residents showcase fascinating personal memorabilia" by Tamara Diaz.

Morada resident Carol Miller is shown in a photograph holding a pamphlet about the USS Monitor on which her great-great-grandfather, Alban Stimers, was chief engineer.

It was a "Cheesebox on a Raft" that helped the Union win the Civil War, claiming a Union victory when things were looking bleak.  (Well, it wasn't so much of a victory as a draw.)

The  USS Monitor was the first ironclad ship successfully deployed by the Union Navy and defeated the Confederate casemate ironclad CSS Virginia.  (Well, it was more of a draw, but the Monitor did stop the Virginia from destroying the rest of the Union fleet in Hampton Roads.)

Carol Miller shared her family's connection to the famous ship at a a meeting of Walk Down History program put on by the residents at the Morada Victoria East Independent Living Community. that showcased items from their family history.

--Old B-Runner

CAM's 60th Anniversary & First USCT Park-- Part 2: Naming the Battle

Said Chris Fonvielle after his research and excavating of the grounds of the Cameron Art Museum (CAM) in Wilmington, N.C., "It convinced me that a firefight had taken place there, but I found no documentary evidence to support the archaeological record."

He began focusing his studies on the battle, piecing together information and eventually giving it a new name.

"Scarce Confederate correspondence from the battleground was postmarked Cross-Roads and Forks Road, as an intersection of the Federal Point Road.  A byroad  that ran towards the Cape Fear River stood about where you enter the Cameron Art Museum's parking lot today," he explained.  "I thought the Battle of Forks Road had a nicer ring to it."

Fonvielle wrote about his discoveries in 2007's "Last Stand at Wilmington:  The Battle of Forks Road."

His research has caused CAM staff for years to embrace the story.  They have hosted living history days with reenactors, but this next step, starting a park devotedb to the United States Colored Troops (USCT) takes the story even further.

--Old B-Runner

CAM Celebrates 60th Anniversary and Opens Nation's First USCT Park to Honor Black Soldiers

From the November 12, 2022, Port City Daily, Wilmington, N.C., by She Carver.

Lights dot the area between tall pine trees near the 2,500 pound sculpture "Boundless" created by Durham artist Stephen Hayes which was installed on Federal Point Road last year.  The sculpture memorializes 11 men and a drummer boy on a place where 1,800 black USCT soldiers fought for their freedom more than 150 years ago during the closing days of the Civil War.

This historic site will be  christened as the nation's first USCT (United States Colored Troops) this weekend.  CAM (Cameron Art Museum)  is hosting a community day Sunday, welcoming locals to explore the park and all museum exhibits are free.

Roughly 250 feet from the museum's front door, the park is situated where the Battle of Forks  Road took place, which sealed the fate of Wilmington, North Carolina in the month after Fort Fisher fell.

Since 1980, local historian Chris Fonvielle has studied the grounds where CAM is located -- excavating  rathworks, bullets, cannonball fragments, military uniform  buttons and other relics.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 7: The Plan

Robert Smalls put his plan onto action on May 12, 1862.  That afternoon, the Planter had returned from two weeks of setting up artillery on James Island.   Smalls correctly predicted that the officers would be tired and leave the ship that evening.

As the officers went ashore from the ship's berth at the Southern Wharf, the crew banked the fires in the Planter's boiler and remained aboard.  Smalls' plan was to depart quietly in the pre-dawn hours and pick up the crew's families at the North Atlantic Wharf on the Cooper River.

Their departure  was tricky:  leaving the city just before dawn would put them near the forts at first light, but Smalls knew that of they were moving in the harbor in the darkness they would come under suspicion.  They had one piece of luck:  Smalls had learned that then guard boat, usually outside the harbor entrance, was under repaor and would not be on station that evening.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 6: Reasons to Make the Attempt

Sometime in early May 1862, Smalls  considered a bold plan to seize the Planter.  

First, any attempt to escape would have to include the families of the crew.    Smalls could not contemplate being separated from  Hannah and his children if he was captured and the other men were risking just as much as he was.

Second, although the Union Army was in Beaufort, just fifty miles away,  Union Navy warships were just off the coast and Smalls knew the harbor defense very well.  Third, the white officers of the Planter trusted the black crew to operate the boat and were in the habit of leaving them aboard  overnight in order to be with their families ashore.  (This was in direct violation of orders from the Confederate Army.)

Fourth, Smalls had learned the signals the ships used to  communicate with harbor sentries standing guard in the forts.  Lastly, the Planter frequently made trips to other ports, so her use of  the outgoing ship channel was not uncommon.

Smalls believed at night, with a little  bit of luck, he and the other black crewmen could make their escape.

--Old B-Runner

Project Oklahoma to Identify USS Oklahoma Unknowns-- Part 2

Continued from my Saw the Elephant: Civil War blog.

Bud Hannon's remains were unknown along with so many of his shipmates and were buried in graves marked Unknowns.  However, in 2015, it was decided that would have to be corrected.  Project Oklahoma began which was by and large reliant on DNA testing.

Said Carrie Legarde, a project lead for Project Oklahoma: "For a large project like this, where the remains are reallly commingled, we had to do a lot of DNA testing.  And so that's where we need family members involvement, because we need a DNA reference sample from the family that we can compare  to the remains."

The project takes time and involves labs across the country.  For this project, initial processing was done at  the defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency lab at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam Field, then, further analysis at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and DNA testing at the Armed Forces Laboratory at Dover, Delaware.

"And they provide us thatn information to help us kind of piece together the remains basically, it's kind of like a big puzzle that we have to put together and sort out," Legarde said.  "And, once we can figure out which remains go together,  we can figure out who they belong to."

In Honor of the USMC's Birthday Today: The Confederate States Marine Corps

The official birthday of the USMC on November 10, 1775.  On this day, the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Marines.  All across the world, Marines, current and retired, will be celebrating today.

There was also a little-known second Marine Corps and that was the CSMC, The Confederate States Marine Corps from 1861 to 1865.  It was set up the same way as the USMC.

I was preparing a list of Confederate States Navy and Marines captured at Fort Fisher from Richard Triebe's book "Confederate Fort Fisher: A Roster 1864-1865"and will list some of the Marines today.

**  Ranson J. Adcock, private, Co. B, CSMC.  Duty on CSS Tallahassee.

**  James Barrett, Co. E, CSMC.  Duty on CSS Savannah  (Sailors and Marines from the Savannah Station were transferred to Wilmington after that city fell to Sherman)

**  Michael Bow, private, Co. B, CSMC, Duty on CSS Richmond and CSS Tallahassee.  Wounded in breast and bowels.  Not sent to prison.  Died of wounds at Fort Fisher Jan. 17, 1865.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 5: Good Reasons to Escape

Smalls and his black friends aboard the Planter also knew that the army had established a new experiment there.  The black residents were  permitted to live together without white owners or overseers under the protection of the Union army and navy.  They grew and sold cotton and other crops and even built schools and acquired their own property.

News of the progress of this community reached Blacks in Charleston.

Around this time, in March 1862, Union Major General David Hunter, an abolitionist, took command of the Department of the South.  On May 9, he issued a miltary order freeing slaves in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  Although his order was quickly rescinded by President Abraham Lincoln as premature,  Hunter began to recruit former slaves into volunteer infantry companies.

Word of Hunter's actions reached the slave community still under Confederate control.  It seemed to Smalls that wherever the Union military went, freedom would be there as well.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 4: The Crew of the Planter and the Beginning of a Plan

Smalls was just one member, albeit very important, of the Planter's crew.  The ship was captained by  Charles J. Relyea.  The other white officers were first mate Samuel Hancock and engineer Samuel Pitcher.  None of the three were from the South, nor were the Confederate Navy officers.  They were merchant sailors hired on as  contractors and reported to Ferguson, the ship's owner.

Six other enslaved  black men, two engineers and four deckhands made up the rest of the Planter's crew.  Three of the six were owned by Ferguson, while the other three and Smalls were emplyed by their owners.

For defense, the Planter was armed with a 32-pounder pivot gun on the bow and a 24-pounder howitzer astern.  Smalls and the other black crewmembers would have been trained  to use those guns if needed.

As Smalls watched the Confederates closely, events would convince him to make a bold move.  

On November 7, 1861, the Union Navy captured Beaufort and the sea islands around the harbor of Port Royal.  Although the town was damaged and most of its white residents fled, Smalls was thankful to learn that his mother was safe among the now ownerless 10,000 former slaves.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 3: Supplying Charleston Defenses

Keeping the men scattered around the harbor fed and equipped was a constant requirement, so military commanders relied on boat traffic nearly continuously.  That year (1861) Smalls was hired on board the Planter, a new 147-foot long sidewheel steamship owned by John Ferguson, a wealthy Charleston shipowner and businessman.

Ferguson leased the Planter to the Confederates to use around the harbor.  By 1862, Robert Smalls had worked in and around Charleston Harbor for ten years and his skills were evident to the new white officers of the Planter and he was relied upon to move the ship safely around the harbor.

As the military fortifications grew, Smalls and the Planter ferried men, dispatches,  supplies and guns from the city to the forts and back again.  Smalls watched carefully at how the Confedrates maintained their network of harbor defenses.

He also took note of the increasing number of Union blockading vessels offshore.

--Old B-Runner

Groundbreaking Set for New Fort Fisher Visitor Center

From the November 3, 2022, Coastal Review "Groundbreaking set for new visitor center, lab at Fort Fisher."

A groundbreaking ceremony is set to take place at  Fort Fisher State Historic  Site at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, November 10 to mark the construction of a new visitor center and conservation lab for the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the  Office of State Archaeology. 

Located at 1610 Fort Fisher Boulevard South, Kure Beah, North Carolina. it is a part of the  Division of State Historic Sites in the North Carolina Department of Natural and  Cultural Resources.

Attendees at the groundbreaking are expected to include Secretary  D. Reid Wilson of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, members of the North Carolina General Assembly and members of the Friends of Fort Fisher (to which I belong).

Light refreshments will be served.

Construction is expected to be finished in April 2024.  The new facility is expected to cost about $25.5 million, most of whih has been appropriated by the General Assembly since 2016.

In planning since 2010, the new visitor center is to be about 22,000 square feet, three times the size of the existing facility which was built in 1965 (and I remember when this opened).

The new visitor center will have  nearly double the museum exhibit space, plus amenities such as a 100-seat orientation theater and a multipurpose room suitable for rental and eduactional activities such as wedding eceptions and classroom instruction.

I Can't Wait.  My Favorite Place Gettng Even Better!!  --Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls & the Planter-- Part 2: War Comes to Charleston

For a slave making a meager wage, the price to buy your freedom was expensive, and knowing what plantation life for a slave family was like,  Smalls began to think of other ways to obtain freedom for his wife and family.

Smalls' work led him to the wharves and piers of bustling Charleston where he eventually settled in and worked various jobs as a longshoreman, sailmaker and a rigger.  He grew to like the sea and as he worked on boats, he became intimately familiar with the tides, currents and sandbars of Charleston Harbor.

Harbor pilots were needed to safely guide the big, cotton-carrying ships to and from the piers.  At that time, Blacks could not be hired as pilots, but by all accounts, Smalls was well-qualified to be one.  His experience and navigational skills led him to be trusted by the white shipowners up and down the waterfront along Bay Street.

In April 1861, of course, Fort Sumter was fired upon and forced to surrender, starting the Civil War.  War came to Charleston which became increasingly more fortified.  Confederate defenders built a series of forts and batteries around the harbor.  Many of them were located on low-lying islands only acessible as by boat.

Pilots were in huge demand.  And, Robert Smalls was an emminent one.

--Old B-Runner

Robert Smalls and the Planter-- Part 1

 From the American Battlefield Trust.

Robert Smalls eased the vessel away from the pier and backed into the harbor.  The night air was still, and Smalls could smell the sea life as his ship churned up the brackish water and turned southeast.  As Smalls passed the Confederate batteries, he took note of the soldiers standing their watches as he had a hundred times before.

When the ship entered the main channel, Smalls looked around and was comforted to see his family and many of his friends on board with him.  Moving faster toward the open sea in the first light of dawn, Smalls must have felt the freedom and exhilaration that only the master of a ship at sea can truly feel.

Except that this was not Smalls' ship; and he was not quite a free man.

Robert Smalls was born into slavery in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina,.  As a boy, he worked with his mother in the relative comfort of their owner's home on the plantation.  His mother had worked hard in the fields, so she made sure that Robert witnessed the horrors that other slaves endured.

When Smalls turned 12, at his mother's request, the owner sent Robert to nearby Charleston to be hired as a worker.  Smalls worked at odd jobs around thecity as a lamplighter, a stevedore and in a hotel, where he met Hannah Jones  Robert and Hannah were married in 1856 and they had two children.

--Old B-Runner

While on the Subject of Shipwrecks-- Part 3

 5.  SHIPWRECKS ARE SOMETIMES DRAPED WITH  "GHOST NETS"

Shipwrecks can snag nets of passing fishing boats.  Many times, these "ghost nets" help to discover long lost wrecks.

In 1994, for example, the fishing boat Mistake threw down a trawling net on the Gulf of Mexico and it  became ensnared on the Spanish warship El  Cazador.  It sank in 1783 full of silver coins and its final resting place remained a mystery until then when the crew of the Mystery began pulling up shiny bits of metal and rocks in the nets.

The recovered treasure included a large topaz stone and  approximately 37,500 pounds of silver

6.  SHIPWRECKS CAN BE DANGEROUS EVEN DECADES AFTER THEY SINK

Shipwrecks are abandoned vessels, and therefore  are considered very a problematic type of marine debris.  Even decades after a ship sinks, new dangers can arise as tanks holding supplies and fuel degrade.

When the tank barge Argo sank in Lake Erie in 1937, it was carrying about 100,000 gallons of crude oil and 100,000 gallons of benzol.  When the ship was discovered in 2015, it turned into a large  and complicated remediation project.

All divers to wreck sites should familiarize themselves with state and federal laws pertaining to shipwrecks before approaching a site.

--Old B-Runner

While on the Subject of Shipwrecks-- Part 2

4.  A SHIPWRECK CAN LINGER FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY

The iconic Civil War ironclad USS Monitor was built to withstand intense naval battles when it was launched in 1862.  But its design -- advanced for its time--  was still not enough to help the vessel withstand the tracherous winter storms off the coast of North Carolina on New Year's Eve that same year.

The resulting shipwreck has been intensely researched since it was rediscovered in 1973.  In 2002, the Monitor's turret was recovered in a joint U.S. Navy and NOAA mission, it still held the skeletal remains of two of the 16 men who lost their lives on the vessel 140 years earlier.

--Old B-Runner

While On the Subject of Shipwrecks-- Part 1

From the October 28, 2022,  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) "Six surprising shipwreck facts."

Shipwrecks can have a big impact on ocean science.  Here are six ways:

1.  SHIPWRECKS CAN SERVE AS "UNDERWATER SKYSCRAPERS."

The area around them have much higher fish abundance.

2.  SHIPWRECKS OFTEN OCCUR IN LARGE LAKES

The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary on Lake Michigan protects 36 known shipwrecks and 59 suspected ones.  The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary on Lake Huron is home to 100 known shipwrecks.

3.  THERE MAY BE AS MANY AS 10,000 SHIPWRECKS IN NORTH AMERICA

The NOAA's Office of Coast Survey (OCS) uses high-tech surveying methods to reveal shipwrecks.  There are now approximately 10,000 wrecked vessels  within our nation's waterways.

--Old B-Runner

Was the Wreck of Robert Small's Planter Found at Cape Romain?-- Part 3: Capturing the Planter

Robert Smalls was born a slave in the Beaufort area, but far from being a field hand, he became a  river pilot in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1850s.  He was later conscripted by the Confederates  to serve as the pilot on the Planter.

He took the Planter early on the morning of May 13, 1862, after the Confederate officers on the ship left the ship for a night on the town.  

He steamed upriver to pick up family and friends, then turned around and slipped past five Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor to reach the Union blockading ships.

Taking Quite the Chance.

Old B-Runner

Was the Wreck of Robert Small's Planter Found at Cape Romain?-- Part 2

Bruce Terrell, a maritime archaeologist and historian,  said scientists used old maps and newspaper accounts to identify the general area where the Planter was thought to have been wrecked by a storm in 1876, eleven years after the war ended.

Using a magnetometer, an instrument that can detect metal beneath the ground, they found a number of objects seeming to correspond to the wreck.  The report said more studies  will be needed before the wreck is positively identified.

The Planter, built in 1860, wrecked when the storm came up as it was trying to tow a grounded schooner  to sea at Cape Romain.  In the following days, many items on board were salvaged.

"We're not sure how much was left of the Planter because contemporary accounts indicate it was pretty well stripped down -- all the way to cushions and blankets and doors," Terrell said.  "It looks like the engines and paddlewheels were taken out."

The items buried in the sand could be boilers  because they would have corroded by the salt water and not much good after the Planter sank, Terrell added.

--Old B-Runner

Was Wreck of Robert Smalls' Planter Found Near Cape Romain?-- Part 1

From the November 28, 2015, Fox News "Wreck of Civil War ship commandeered by slave believed found off SC coast" AP.

Researchers say they think they have found  the wreck of the iconic Civil War vessel Planter.  This was the Confederate ammunition ship commandeered by the slave Robert Smalls, who steamed it out of Charleston Harbor and turned it over to the Union Navy.

Archaeologists woyj the National Marine Sanctuary Program said Tuesday that they have found what is believed to be the wreck of thye sidewheel steamer buried under 15 feet of sand just offshore of Cape Romain, northeast of Charleston.

They released a report of their findings on the anniversary of the day in 1862 (May 13) when Smalls took the vessel.

Smalls would return to Charleston a year later to pilot a Union ironclad in an attack on Fort Sumter.  After the war, he served in the South Carolina General Assembly, the U.S. Congress and as a federal customs inspector.

--Old B-Runner

Back to Cape Romain, SC: The Lighthouses

Continued from October 5.  From the Lighthouse Friends site.

The USS George Mangham was ordered to patrol off this point between Charleston and Georgetown, South Carolina.

There are two lighthouses standing guard at Capr Romain.

Funds for the first Cape Romain Lighthouse were made available through a $10,000  appropriationm passed on March 3, 1823.  The first site selected didn't pan out and another was picked.  However, work did not begin until 1826 and with the cost of $17,000 more.

It was constructed on Raccoon Key (also known as Lighthouse Island)  and is a traditional brick conical tower with a height of 65 feet.  It was finished in 1827 and its main function was to warn mariners of some treacherous shoals nine miles southeast of the lighthouse.

However, a weak signal made the light a failure, so a new one was constructed and put into service in 1858.  This one stood  150 feet tall with a first order Frensl lens

Three years after the new tower opened, Fort Sumter was fired upon just a few miles south.  Confederate forces extinguished the light and even destroyed the lens and lantern room to prevent Union forces from using it.

Following the war, it we reequipped and put back into service.

--Old B-Runner

USS Dawn: Operations in Georgia

From Civil War Shipwrecks.

An unknown Confederate schooner was set afire below  the Coffee Bluff Confederate battery in the Little Ogeechee River on November 7, 1862, as the USS Wissahickon and USS Dawn approached.

From Civil War Naval Chronology.

NOVEMBER 19, 1862

The USS Wissahicon, Lieutenant Commander John L. Davis, and USS Dawn, Acting Lieutenant John S. Barnes, engaged Fort McAllister, Georgia, on the Ogeechee River.  The Wissahickon was hit and temporarily  disabled in the exchange of fire.

Persistent and vigilant actions of this nature by the Union navy, pinned down Confederate  manpower that could have been used in land actions elsewhere.

The Wissahickon and Dawn at the time had the mission  of blockading the CSS Nashville in Ossabow Sound, Georgia, and preventing her from becoming another commerce raider like the CSS Alabama.

--Old B-Runner

USS Dawn-- Part 3: Operations of the James River and the Battle of Wilson's Wharf

The Dawn was out of commission at New York from 9 July to 2 December 1863 for repairs. She departed on 10 December to her new duties with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and cruised the James River from 14 December to 25 March 1865.  There, she performed picket duties and kept Confederate batteries from operating along the river.

On 24 May 1864 she played a major role in defending Wilson's Wharf, Virginia, near Charles City.  The garrison there  consisted of 1,100 United States Colored Troops (USCT) under the command of Bigadier General Edward A. Wild.  They were attacked by a 2,500 man force of Confederates under the command of Major Genral Fitzhugh Lee (nephew of Robert E. Lee).

The stout resistance of the USCT soldiers and the Dawn turned the tide and the Confederates were driven back.  Wilson's Wharf and the soon to be completed Fort Pochahontas remained in Union hands for the duration of the war.

The Dawn was placed out of commission on 17 June 1865 at Portsmouth Navy Yard and later taken to Boston Navy yard and sold 1 November.

--Old B-Runner

USS Dawn-- Part 2: Potomac Flotilla and South Atlantic Blockading Squadron

The Dawn was assigned to duty with the Potomac Flotilla and sailed from New York May 11 and  took station at the mouth of the York River until September 24.  During that time, she captured three ships with contraband goods and passengers.  After repairs at the Washington Navy Yard,  she was sent to the Rappahannock River.

From  7 February to 27 April 1862 she had a new boiler installed at New York City, then stood out for Port Royal, South Carolina, for service in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  

Arriving on station  14 May, she patrolled  the coastal and inland waters of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, frequently exchanging fire with enemy shore batteries and joining in  the attacks on Fort McAllister of 27 January- 1 February 1863.

She also  assisted in the capture of several blockade runners, inclusing the Confederate privateer Nashville with a valuable cargo of cotton.

--Old B-Runner

USS Dawn

From Wikipedia.

This is David Franklin's ship whom I have been writing about earlier this month.

It was a steam operated  vessel acquired by the Union Navy.  It was built in 1857 by Samuel Sneden of New York City; chartered on 26 April 1861 and purchased 12 October 1861.  Outfitted in  New York Navy Yard and commissioned on 9 May 1861.  Commander W. Chandler was in command.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Length:   154 feet

Beam:  28 feet

Draft:  12 feet

Speed:  8 knots

Complement:  60

Armament:  two 32-pounder guns

--Old B-Runner

Fort Fisher Hosting a World War II Living History Event Saturday, Oct. 15

Fort Fisher, of course, a major Civil War battlefield, also played an important role some 80 years later during World War II when it was used as an anti-aircraft gun training camp.  The use of planes to tow the targets resulted in the destruction of several mounds along the land face (behind the current visitors center).

For more information on the event, go to my October 13 Tattooed on Your Soul: World War II blog.  Just click on the spot in the My Blogs section to the right of this to take you there.

--Old Anti-Aircraft Guy

Black Navy Veteran David Franklin Gets Gravestone 100 Years Later-- Part 4

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was the nation's firts veteran's organization.  It was dissolved after the last member died in the 1950s.  Loran Bures belongs to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), the successor of the GAR.

Bures worked with Oakwood Hills owner  Corey Gaffney to confirm that Franklin was buried there and missing his tombstone.

The SUVCW  is considered by the Veterans Administration as being Franklin's legal next of kin and therefore, Bures was able to apply for a government headstone.  This is at no cost to the SUVCW or Bures.

Marking David Franklin's grave is also personal to Bures because his great-great grandfather, another Civil War veteran, is buried  just steps from Franklin's grave.     Both men were members of the Custer Post of the GAR in tacoma.

Thank You Mr. Bures and Mr. Gaffney.  --Old B-Runner

Black Navy Veteran David Franklin Finally Gets His Gravestone-- Part 3

Of interest, records show that David Franklin enlisted in the hospital corps of the 2nd Regiment of the Washington National Guard Infantry in 1906.  (Quite an elderly age to be doing that.)

According to census records, Franklin died March 16, 1920, at age 79 at home on South 4th Street.

His death certificate shows that he was a widower, but no other records have been found that he had a wife or children.  They are still looking for family descendants.

The discovery of  Franklin came about when Bures was trying to identify every single Union veteran buried in Pierce County.  He was aided by a 1939  survey conducted by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era New Deal agency aimed at employing people for government projects.

WPA workers created  biographical cards for all war veterans of Pierce County.  The original cards are stored in the Tacoma  Public Library.  About 75% of the 2,000 cards are of Civil War veterans.

--Old B-Runner

Black Navy Veteran Finally Gets Tombstone, David Franklin-- Part 2: Service on the USS Dawn

Not much is known about David Frankin's early life except that he was born free in New York in 1840.  He enlisted in the Union Navy on Nocvember 13, 1863 at age 23.

The young  sailor was assigned to the USS Dawn as an officers' steward and cook.  The steamer Dawn  was 154-feet long and  had a crew of 63 with 3 officers.  Seventeen percent of the crew were Blacks.  It was a part of te North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and spent most of its time on the James River.

On May 24, 1864, about 2,500 Confederates attacked the Union supply depot at Wilson's Wharf, Virginia.  They were repulsed by two black regiments totalling 1,100 men, with the help of the USS Dawn's guns.  The Confederates lost 200 men and Union just 40.

Franklin was discharged from Union service on March 31, 1865.

What happened to him after the war is lost to hostory until he appears on the roster as a member of a Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) camp in Tacoma, Washington.  An 1899 Tacoma city directory lists him as a  broiler at Donnelly Cafe, which was attched to the Hotel Donnelly.

--Old B-Runner

Black Civil War Naval Veteran Finally Gets Headstone in Tacoma, Washington-- Part 1: David Franklin

From the October 6, 2022, Stars and Stripes  by Craig Sailor, The News Tribune.

For the past century, a row of military graves in Tacoma's (Washington) Oakwood Hill Cemetery has had a conspicuous gap.  Only a patch of grass marked the final resting place of  David Franklin, Tacoma's only black naval veteran from the Civil War.

That changes this Saturday when a years-long effort speared by a Civil War historian will finally bring Franklin the white marble tombstone that was forgotten in 1920.

Historian Loran Bures' quest for that tombstone began in 2017 when he was researching Pierce County's Civil War veterans and found documents listing David Franklin and his burial at Oakwood Hill.  But when he visited the cemetery, he was unable to find his grave.

Using cemetery records, he founjd that the gap in that neat row of military graves was indeed Franklin's last resting place.

"As any veteran of the United States they should receive their proper burial honors," said Bures.  "That's what we're trying to rectify after 102 years."

So Proud of Mr. Bures for His Accomplishment.  --Old B-Runner

Cape Romain, South Carolina

The USS George Mangham was ordered to patril off Cape Romain.

Cape Romain, South Carolina, is located about half way between Charleston and Georgetown.  It is now part of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, extending 22 miles along the state's coast.  The headquarters  and visitor center is located about 30 minutes by car from Charleston on US-17.

It is the site of two surviving lighthouses, the oldest one was the one John Collins was ordered to inspect.  Bulls Island is a part of it.

As they say, it hosts a plethora of wildlife.

Plethora?  --Old B-Runner

Some More on John Collins: Blockading Cape Romain, S.C.

From Official Records Navy (ORN).

On August 1, 1862, the mortar ships were at Hampton Roads and John Collins was listed as in command of the USS George Mangham.  So, evidently, he was back.

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On April 2, 1864, the USS George Mangham, now part of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, was ordered to proceed to Cape Romain, S.C., and blockade the main channel which ran by the lighthouse.

In addition, the ship was to anchor as near to the lighthouse as possible and to reconnoiter the island if the opportunity offered.

The commander of the Mangham at the time was none other than John Collins Jr.

--Old B-Runner

John Collins, Acting Master, USN-- Part 3: Enter John M. Richard(son)

I came across an article in the 2014  Quarterly Bulletin of the Boulder Genealogical Society about the naval service of John Marshall Richard(son), who also served on the USS George Mangham for part of the war.

He was appointed Acting Master's Mate and ordered to David D. Porter's mortar flotolla for the attacks on Forts Jackson and St. Philip.

On December 31, 1861, he was ordered to join the crew of the USS George Mangham.

This was while the ship was under the command of John Collins, Jr., but, on April 8, 1862, Lt. Commander Walter W. Queen of the schooner USS T. A. Ward and told that he was relieved of command of the Mangham and was to turn over all papers relating therefor to the executive officer of the ship, John M. Richards.

In the last post I said it was my belief that Collins had remained in command of the USS George Mangham for the whole war.

Shows what I know and don't.

--Olf Clueless

John Collins, Acting Master, USN-- Part 2

From "The Capture of New Orleans" by Chester G. Hearn.

On April 18, the USS George Mangham, under Acting Master John Collins, Jr., received a shot in her port bow that passed through the galley and lodged in the mortar bed.  But, the ship continued to operate its mortar.

**************************

From the ORN: South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  Operation at Bull's Bay February 19, 1865.

The George Mangham took part at at one point the field artillery of the landed forces was under command of John Collins.

**************************

From the U.S. Navy Officers 1798-1900.

JOHN COLLINS

Acting Master  21 December 1861.  Honorably discharged 19 September 1865.  Evidently he commanded the George Mangham for the duration of the war.

**************************

Evidently, John Collins commanded the USS George Mangham his whole Civil War naval career.

--Old B-Runner

John Collins, Jr., Acting Master, USN

John Collins commanded the USS George Mangham when it was commissioned.  

From the Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers for 1863.

I found a list of USN officers and for the Mangham, it had him in command and Acting Master's Mates Erick Gabrielson and James McDonald.

From the Official Records Navy, John Collins reported to Rear Admiral Dahlgren on December 30, 1863, that at 4 am that morning, they had picked up a boat with 13 contrabands on it at Murrill's Inlet (his spelling), S.C..  They gave important information  about the local area and saltworks.

They also said that there was a schooner in the inlet loaded with turpentine waiting to run out.  And, there are four companes of soldiers, principally cavalry, engaged  in protecting the saltworks and patrolling the beach.

--Old B-Runner

There Is a Book "Defending South Carolina's Coast' by Rick Simmons

I came across a book written about the Fort Randall, Fort Ward area by Rick Simmons titled "Defending  South Carolina's Coast:  The Civil War from Georgetown to Little River."  It is an Arcadia book and Simmons, an area native, relates the often overlooked stories of the Upper South Carolina Coast during the war.  (Obviously a whole lot has been written about the Charleston area.)

As a base of operations for  more than three thousand  troops early in the war and the site of more than a dozen forts, almost every inch of  the coast was effected by  and hotly contested during the Civil War.

From the skirmishes at Fort Randall in Little River to repeated Union naval bombardments of Murrells Inlet to the unrealized  potential of the massive  fortifications at Battery White and the sinking of the USS Harvest Moon in Winyah Bay, the region's colorful Civil War history is unfolded here at last.

This book would also contain information about John Collins,the USS George Mangham and USS Fernanandina which I have been writing about a lot lately.

I Just Might Have to Get Me a Copy.  --Old B-Runner

USS George Mangham-- Part 4: Looking for Raiders, Potomas Flotilla and SABS

The George Mangham was then assigned to the Potomac Flotilla 22 December; and until  10 July 1863, she suppressed blockade runners, capturing four prizes in the  lower Potomac River.  She was then taken to the Washington Navy Yard and fitted out for cruising in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Authorities in Washington, D.C., were  greatly concerned about attacks of Confederate raiders and the George Mangham was assigned to protect American merchant ships and fishing craft.  Leaving Washington  5 August, she cruised off the Magdalen Islands and Prince Edward Island; without detecting any Confederate ships.

She departed  Georgetown, Prince Edward Island, 5 November for New York Navy Yard.  After repairs, she  sailed 5 December to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron for blockade duty off  Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina.

While engaged in this work, on 7 January 1864, she moved close to shore and destroyed the beached blockade runner Dare which had been driven ashore by larger Union blockaders.

She then sailed to Charleston, S.C.,  and continued blockade service  of the South Carolina coast in the area of  Cape Romain, St. Helena Sound, and Bull's Bay for the remainder of the year.

Returning to  Port Royal, South Carolina,  5 January 1865, the Mangham was assigned temporarily to Key West, Florida, in March.

She returned to New York Navy Yard  9 August; decommissioned  9 September; and was sold at public office to D. T. Trendy 27 September 1865.

--Old B-Runner

USS George Mangham-- Part 3: At Vicksburg and Back East

The USS George Mangham departed from the Mississippi River on 27 April 1862 and spent the next month cruising off Pensacola, Florida.  Commander David Porter again assembled his mortar fleet at Pensacola and sailed 3 June to support the Union movement up the Mississippi River, arriving off Vicksburg, Mississippi,  20 June.

She assisted in the passage of the batteries there.  Supported strongly by the mortar bombardment, Farragut  steamed past the formidable  Confederate works  28 June to join with Commodore Chales H. Davis further up the river.

The Mangham then returned downriver, engaging Confederate artillery on the riverbanks from time to time.  After passing Grand Gulf, Mississippi, she arrived at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 12 July.

From there, she proceeded to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she moored 30 July.  Remaining at Hampton Roads until 29 August, the George Mangham first proceeded to to Baltimore, Maryland, then served as a guard ship on the Potomac River at Piney Point, Maryland.

--Old B-Runner

USS George Mangham-- Part 2: Battle of New Orleans

The USS George Mangham was with the Mortar Fleet's Second Division anchored in the east bank of the Mississippi River.  As the swift current slackened on 24 April, 1862,  Farragut's fleet steamed boldly through a break in the obstructions and engaged and passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip.  They then engaged and captured the Confederate squadron resisting their advance up the river.

Meanwhile, the mortar boats continued their bombardment of the forts.  The Mangham received a shot through her hull in the engagement.

Having passed the forts, there was no defense against Farragut for the Confederates.  He went upriver to New Orleans and easily captured it 25 April.

This opened the way for the Union fleet to sweep northward up the river.  The Mangham and the mortar boats stayed below the forts, which surrendered  28 August.

Old B-Runner

The Chicago Tribune's Non-Coverage of 9/11

I was unable to make any posts yesterday. so will be doing my annual 9/11 Commemoration today.  I do this on seven of my eight blogs.

I went through all the news in yesterday's Chicago Tribune and was really surprised that they didn't have anything about 9/11.

I was really surprised and disappointed.

*****************************

Well, actually I misspoke.  There was an article about a man who was at the Pentagon when the plane crashed there in one of the sections, but not in the three main news ones.

USS George Mangham: Took Part in the Attacks on Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip Guarding New Orleans

On August 5 I started to write about this ship which was involved in the destruction of the blockade runner Dan.  I figured I should finish up on it a month later.

From Wikipedia.

The USS George Mangham was commissioned  at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 11 January 1862, Acting Master John Collins, Jr. in command.  It departed two days later, headed for the Mortar Flotilla of Commander David Dixon Porter as part of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron.

She arrived in Key West 13 February and from there sailed with the rest of the ships  to the mouth of the Mississippi River to prepare for the assault on Forts Jackson and St. Philip which guarded the approach to New Orleans.

The Mangham crossed the  bar into the river on 18 March.

After Farragut's meticulous preparations were complete, the Mortar Flotilla, including the Mangham began the bombardment of Fort Jackson 18 April.  The fort came under a sustained fierce cannonade for five days.

Better Late Than Never.  --Old B-Runner

USS Fernandina-- Part 2: Action with NABS and SABS

Upon commissioning, the ship was orederd to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hampton Roads, Virginia, which she did on 2 December 1861 and then south to Wilmington, North Carolina,  to blockade that port.

On 13 December 1861, she  scattered an encampment of Confederates at Little River Inlet, South Carolina.  Twelve days later, she captured the prize William N. Northrup, running the blockade with a cargo of  drugs and coffee.

Next, the Fernandina discovered the  schooner Kate out of Nassau, Bahama, aground on 2 April 1862.  After taking her papers, the Kate was burned as they were under fire of Confederates ashore

The Fernandina was transferred  to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron on 11 June and joined it off Charleston, South Carolina,   Aside from the summer of 1863, when she sailed north for repairs, she was  at St. Simons, Georgia and at St. Catherine's, Georgia, and in the Ossabow Sound.

She captured the sloop Annie Thompson 16 January 1864 after it had run aground.

Detached from the squadron 3 April 1865 and sent north, she was decommissioned  at Philadelphia 29 April 1865 and sold 2 June 1865.

--Old B-Runner

USS Fernandina-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

In the last post, I wrote about the USS Fernandina and its encounter with Confederates onshore at Little River Inlet in South Carolina.

The USS Fernandina was a sailing bark obtained by the Union Navy during the war purchased 29 July 1861 in New York City as the Florida and renamed Fernandina with Acting Volunteer Lieutenant G. W. Browne in command.

It was commissioned 16 November 1861.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Displacement:  297 tons

Length: 115 feet

Beam:  29 feet

Draught:  10 feet

Complement:  86

Armament:  six 32-pounder cannons

--Old B-Runner

 

Fort Randall at Little River Neck-- Part 3: Naval Action There

The fort was named after Thomas Randall on whose property it was built.

On December 14, 1861, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant George W. Browne, commanding the bark USS Fernandina reported off Wilmington that on the previous night (13th) off Little River Inlet, that he had spotted a lot of fires on the beach.  Forty of them were concentrated in one area and the others spread 1 to 2 miles apart farther along the coast.

Closing on the shore, he saw groups of men which caused him to believe this to be a Confederate encampment.  He burned a prepartory signal but received no reply and opened fire on the beach with his starboard battery.

At this time he was just 700 yards off the beach in four fathoms of water.  After firing three rounds from the starboard, he tacked and turned around and fired one round of shot and one of shell from the port battery.

By this time, the fires had been mostly extinguished, so he left the area.  He now believed that the fires were signals for some vessel running the blockade.

Much confusion existed among Union forces as to whether Little River was in North or South Carolina.  The North Carolina border is just a short way from the mouth of the Little River Inlet.  Browne reported the site as being in North Carolina.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Randall at Little River Neck-- Part 2: Built by Thomas Daggett

When the war broke out, Thomas Daggett joined Confederate forces and was put in charge of the coastal defenses from Winyah Bay to Little River Inlet.

Like Battery White, which was located on Belle Isle on Winyah Bay just outside Georgetown, Fort Randall was an earthen work.  Records indicate  that the battery consisted of an approximately 10 foot broad and five foot deep ditch with a parapet and a blockhouse pierced so that defenders could fire without being exposed top enemy fire.

The fort was armed with two 6-pounder cannons.  He also inquired as to getting two 12-pounder cannons which were in the mill yard at Laurel Hill Plantation.

In addition to the blockhouse, he also built a magazine to store  ammunition and arms.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Randall at Little River Neck-- Part 1

From Coastal Carolina "Fort Randall, Little River Neck, Horry County, South Carolina" by Ben  Burroughs.

The fort is located on the eastern end of Little River Neck on property currently known as Tilgham Point and it is the remains of a  Confederate battery/fort built to protet the Little River Inlet from Union forces during the war.  The Union's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron was very active in this area.

Fort Randall was built for a dual purpose of protecting the village of Little River and the surrounding countryside and to provide safe haven for blockade runners.  As the Union blockade of the major two ports in the area, Wilmington and Charleston, tightened, blockade runners ran into this place.

Fort Randall was in existence by March 1861 when Captain Thomas West  Daggett, commanding the Waccamaw Light Artillery, tried to lodge his men in Fort Randall and Fort Ward.

Captain Daggett was a native of  Massachusetts who was an engineer who had moved to South Carolina  where he used his skills to build and operate rice mills on the Waccamaw Neck.

--Old B-Runner

Thomas Randall Plantation-- Part 2

Again, Fort Randall was built on his land at Little River Inlet, S.C. and the fort was named after him.

**  Number of acres:  In 1937, it consisted of  about 3,000.

**  Primary crops:  cotton,   Indian corn, cattle, swine

**  Number of slaves:

1850:  78

1860:  85

--Old B-Runner

Fort Randall, S.C.

From North American Forts:  South Carolina.

FORT RANDALL  (1861-1865)

Near Little River.

A CSA four-gun earthwork battery and blockhouse at Tilghman's Point on Little River Neck.  Union forces briefly captured the battery in January 1863.  No remains of the battery and only a slight mound and depression marks the site of the blockhouse, located on private property.

--Old B-Runner

Some More Information on Thomas Randall and Little River Before and After the War

From the Little River Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center.

Until recently, a burned out hulk of a house towered over a grassy slope near the harbor in Little River.  It was the Randall-Vereen House, one of the oldest in Horry County.

The house was one of three built by Captain Thomas Randall of New England, who came to Little River after the War of 1812.  For a time, Little River was called "Yankee Town" by the rest of the county, because a few people from New England had come to live there.

The village became a prosperous port in the 1850s, shipping  fine lumber and naval stores to Northern markets.  It had a saw mill, waterhouse, stores, school and bank.   Several churches were organized and b people built nice homes.

The Civil War, however, wiped out this progress.  A large salt works produced much needed salt for the Confederate Army until it was burned by Union forces.  Shipping and fishing was at a standstill with the coastal blockade.

--Old B-Runner

Thomas Randall's Plantation (Site of Fort Randall)

Fort Randall was built on his property and named after him.

From South Carolina Plantations  "Thomas Randall's Plantation -- Little River --  Horry County."

**  Location:  Little River,  All Saint's Parish, Horry County

Located east of US 17 in the vicinity of Little River Neck

**  Origin of the name:  Named for the owner

**  Other names:  Tilghman Point; Little River in modern times

**  Current status:  privately owned

TIME LINE

1860s:  A Confederate battery was constructed on the property on a  bluff overlooking Little River Inlet.  It was known as Fort Randall.

An outline of it can be seen today.

1920s:  Horace Tilghman , Sr. purchased the property (hence Tilghman's Point name.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Randall Historical Marker

From The Historical Marker database.

Near North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the Home of Carolina Beach Music.  Get your history and do a little dancing too at Fat Harold's and HOTO's.

INSCRIPTION:

Locaterd  about 5 miles east of here, this Confederate fort included a blockhouse pierced for muskets and earthworks surrounded by a ditch about 10 foot broad and five feet deep.

The fort was captured Jan 1863 by U.S. Navy  Lt. Wm. B. Casuhing and twenty-five men while looking for blockade-runner pilots.  Cushing held the fort briefly until his supply of ammunition was  exhausted.

Erected 1976 by the Horry County Historic Preservation Commission.  (Marker  Number 26-4)

--Old B-Runner

Fort Randall-- Part 4: The USS Maratanza

The Confederates returned to Fort Randall after William Cushing and his men left.

About a month after Cushing's attack on Fort Randall, it was mentioned again in a report filed by  James Gibney and George Smith, both  acting ensigns aboard the USS Maratanza.

The two men led a reconnaissance up the Little River to see if there were any blockade runners there.

They encountered a boat with five men in it and ordered them to stop and be searched.  Instead,  the men in the boat beached it and higtailed it into the woods.

In the boat, they found  weapons and supplies meant for Fort Randall.

All that remains of Fort Randall today is a clearly defined footprint of the fortification.  It commands  a spectaular view.

Old B-Runner

Fort Randall and Cushing-- Part 3: Action at the Fort

"At 8 o'clock at night I crossed the bar with three cutters and  25 men and proceeded up the river.  My object was to look for pilots, and also to find some schooners supposed to be inside," reported William Cushing.

After meeting light resistance, Cushing beached his boats and formed his men about 200 yards from Fort Randall.

"Knowing that the enemy was ignorant of our numbers, I charged with bayonet and captured their works, going over one side as they escaped over the other," he wrote.

In the abandoned camp, Cushing found a blockhouse pierced for muskets, but no cannons.  Apparently they had been taken to more strategic forts.

"The enemy left in such haste that their stores, clothing, ammunition and a portion of their arms were captured.  I destroyed all that I could not bring away," wrote Cushing.  "I went a short distance up the river; had another skirmish; did not see the schooners; got out of ammunition and returned with the loss of but one man shot in the leg."

--Old B-Runner

Fort Randall and Cushing-- Part 2: A Daring Raid...of Course

At the onset of the war,  recognizing the importance of defending the inlet and the village of Little River, Confederates  ordered the construction of an earthen fort on Thomas Randall's land overlooking the inlet.

The fort, actually more of a battery, consisted of  a moat aprroximately ten feet wide and five feet deep.  It had a parapet and a blockhouse from which defenders could fire with protection.

Captain Thomas Dagget, commander of the Waccamaw  Light Artillery onstalled two  six-inch cannons at Fort Randall.  (He also commanded Fort  Ward, believed to have been at nearby Murrells Inlet.

According to Union naval records, there was considerable blockade running done at  the Little River Inlet.  The blockade runners brought in valuable war supplies and left with locally-produced cargo such as resin, turpentine, cotton and lumber.

In January, 1863,  Union naval officer Lt. William Barker Cushing made a daring raid on Fort Randall.

Well, that answers that question.

William Barker Cushing it was.  Of course, in 1864, he achieved even bigger acclaim for sinking the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle.

--Old B-Runner

Blockade Runners at Little River Inlet-- Part 1: Was It or Was It Not Will?

From the August 3, 2022, My Horry News (South Carolina) "Blockade runners sought  refuge in Little River Inlet" by Steve Robertson.

The Little River flows into the Atlantic Ocean at the North Carolina-South Carolina border.

With Wilmington to the north and Charleston to the south coming under increasing Union blockade throughout the war, blockade runners increasingly turned to remote and isolated points like Horry County, South Carolina, to deliver their cargoes.

To protect them, Confederates set up small forts in Little River and Murrell's Inlet.  The remnants of one of them, Fort Randall, can be seen by alert boaters traversing the Intercoastal Waterway near Little River.

The Vol.  36, No. 4 edition on the Independent Republic Quarterly, reveal that a surprise attack on this fort ended with a Confederate rout by a small party of Union sailors.  (And, when I see a sneak attack in the area around Wilmington, North carolina, the name William Cushing immediately comes to mind.)

The fort was named for  Captain Thomas Randall, a large landowner who lived on the eastern end of  Little River Neck.

Was This a William Barker Cushing Production?  --Old B-Runner

William Edward Hudgins, CSN

From Find-A-Grave.

WILLIAM EDWARD HUDGINS

BIRTH:  14 March 1838, Matthews County, Virginia

DEATH:  27 July  1920 (aged 82)  Norfolk City, Virginia

 BURIAL:  Elmwood Cemetery,  Norfolk City, Virginia

Gravestone lists him as Lieut.  C.S. Navy.

Parents:  Robert King Hudgins (1812-1903) and Sarah James White Hudgins  (1816-1891)

--Old B-Runner

William D. Hudgins, CSN, at Fort Fisher

From "Confederate Fort Fisher:  A Roster 1864-1865" by Richard H. Triebe.

WILLIAM D. HUDGINS     (I've seen his middle name most often as E..

1st Lieutenant

Confederate States Navy

Joined May 26, 1863, from Matthews County, Virginia.  Age unknown.

Duty on the CSS Savannah.

Wounded in mouth by a shell fragment while defending the Sea Face of Fort Fisher.

Captured.  Prison at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

Exchanged April 26, 1865.

--Old B-Runner

Just Too Cute: Three Baby Otter Pups at Fort Fisher

Unfortunately, I am unable to figure out how to add pictures to this or any of my other seven blogs.  I lost the ability and haven't been able to figure out how to do it.

But, if you really want to see something cute, just search otter pups at Fort Fisher and you will see what I mean.

They are at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, which is on the grounds of the former Confederate fort.

The folks there are looking to have people vote on names for them.  Though my three ideas for names aren't on their list, I'm backing Lamb, Whiting and Maffitt, three names connected to the fort during the Civil War.

After all, they must be Confederate otters.

Just Too Cute.  I Want One.  --Old B-Otter

William E. Hudgins, CSN

Same source as Albert Gallatin Hudgins.

Here is one of the men the person from the previous post was asking questions about.  Was he related to Albert Hudgins?  I don't know.  Both were from Virginia, though.

WILLIAM E. HUDGINS

Born and apointed from Virginia.  Formerly U.S. Revenue Service.  Captain in Virginia  revenue service.

Original entry into Confederate Navy  May 26, 1863.  Lieutenant for the war January 7, 1864, to rank from May 26, 1863.  First lieutenant  Provisional Navy, June 2,  1864, to rank from January 6, 1864.

**********************

Served on Yorktown  Naval Battery, 1861.

CSS Savannah, Savannah Squadron 1863-1864.

Wounded, captured January 15, 1865, Fort Fisher; paroled April 26, 1865.

And, He Was At Fort Fisher. And That Really Piques My Interest.  --Old B-Runner

Was There a Hudgins Family Fighting for the Confederate Navy?

From Geneaology "Hudgins, family of naval officers from Va." by David M. Sullivan.

He was looking for information as to whether these men were all related and served in either the United States and/or Confederate navies.

Albert Gallatin Hudgins  (He definitely was in both the U.S. and Confederate navies.)

These next four men are all listed on the list of Confederate officers.

Lewis M(Minor?) Hudgins

Robert K. Hudgins

 Thomas Jefferson Hudgins

 William E. Hudgins

Well, according to my last post, Albert Galatin Hudgins did.

--Old B-Runner

Albert Gallatin Hudgins, CSN

From Texas History  "Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy, 1861-1865)

ALBERT GALLATIN HUDGINS

Born and appointed from Virginia.  Resigned as acting midshipman, U.S. Navy, March 11, 1861.  Acting master , September 24, 1861.  Lieutenant for the war, February 8, 1862,   Second lieutenant September 8, 1862. Second lieutenant, October 23, 181862, to rank from October 2, 1862.

First lieutenant Provisional Navy, June 2,  1864, to rank from January 6, 1864.

*************************

Served on the CSS  Sumter, 1861, wounded and captured while in charge of prize brig  Cuba, July   8, 1861; exchanged  at Aiken's Landing, Virginia, August  5, 1862.

CSS Baltic, Mobile Squadron, 1862-1863.  Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, 1863.  Participated in the expedition for the capture of  U.S. steamers Satellite and Reliance,  August 23, 1863.  Johnsons Island  expedition, 1863.

C.S. steamers  Raleigh and Arctic, Wilmington Station,  1863-1864.

Special duty, 1864.  CSS Bombshell; captured in Albemarle Sound, May 5, 1864, ; paroled at Charleston, South Carolina, December  15, 1864.

C.S. steamers  Virginia (No. 2) and Richmond, James River squadron, 1865.

Semmes Naval Brigade 1865.  Paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina,  April 28, 1865.

--Old B-Runner

USS Merrimack

Today, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table will be hearing a presentation from Dave Noe on the USS Merrimack, the ship that became the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia.

Here are some facts about the USS Merrimack:

From Wikipedia.

The USS Merrimack is also sometimes called the USS Merramac and was a steam frigate (powered by a screw propreller).  One of six ordered in 1854.  The others were the  Wabash, Roanoke,  Niagara,  Minnesota and Colorado. (The Minnesota, Colorado and Wabash were at Fort Fisher.)   The Roanoke became an ironclad herself featuring three turrets.  The Niagara spent most of the Civil War in Europe.

The Merrimack was named after a river that starts in New Hampshire and flows to Merrimac, Massachusetts, on the Atlantic Ocean which causes the confusion in spelling.

It was launched by the Boston Navy Yard 15 June 1855. Commander was Captain  Garrett J. Pendergrast.

--Old B-Runner

20th Anniversary of Monitor's Turret Recovery-- Part 3

The recovery, preservation and display of the USS Monitor turret has been a tremendous success.  Howard H. Hoege III, President and CEO of  the Mariner's Museum, told Bay  Bulletin, "About two thirds of our visitors report that that the USS Monitor exhibit was the best part of their visit to the museum.  Last week, we had a French film crew here to document our conservation of the USS Monitor."

Preservation of the turret is ongoing.  According to Hoege,  "No one has ever conducted a restoration of this scale before, so we don't know exactly how long it will take.  The next step will be to turn  the turret over (it is upside down now), remove the top, and continue treatment of the two separate parts."

Originally, the thought was to raise the entire ship, but its hull was too far gone for any attempt to be made.

In addition, there is a full scale model of the Monitor on the Mariners' Museum grounds.

--Old B-Runner

20th Anniversary of Recovery of USS Monitor's Turret-- Part 2

From the August 2, 2022, Chesapeake Bay Magazine"Anniversary celebration: Ironclad Civil War  ship's turret pulled from the ocean" by Kendall Osborne.

It was 20 years ago this week that the turret of the famous USS Monitor was pulled off the ocea floor of North Carolina.

The ship of course, had that famous battle with the ironclad CSS Vorginia at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on March 9, 1862, and then  sank the last day of 1862 before being found in August 1973.  Exploration and recovery  began with smaller pars of the ship being brought up like the propeller.  The largest piece broke  the surface of the Atlantic Ocean on August 5, 2002, the turret and was taken to the Mariners' Museum for preservation.

The recovery of the turret was no small feat.  It took 41 days and 160 divers, mostly from the U.S. Navy, to get the turret to the surface, and it has since most of the last twenty years in an Electrolyte Reduction (ER) System in a 90,000 gallon tank to keep it protected.

--Old B-Runner

20th Anniversary Celebration Today at Mariners' Museum for Recovery of the Monitor's Turret

From the Chesapeake Bay Magazine.

The Mariners' Museum in Virginia, which is also the home and offices of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary (MNMS), will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Moniior' turret recovery today, August 6.

There will be a scavenger hunt and visitors of all ages can dig through concretion (the goop that surrounds artifacts on the sea floor) to find additional artifacts. (That sounds really neat to me.)

Representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will guide visitors through a virtual dive to the wreck of the Monitor through virtual reality headsets.  There will be additional personnel throughout the museum to give visitors additional and interesting  information about specific exhibits.

At 11 am, Dr. John Broadwater, the former superintendent of the MNMS, will describe how the national marine sanctuary, NOAA, the Navy, The Mariners' Museum and other agencies recovered the Monitor's turret and other artifacts.

After lunch, Will Hoffman, director of conservation and chief conservator, will discuss efforts to preserve the turret over the last twenty years.  He will also discuss the 220 tons of other recovered artifacts from the site.

Sure Wish I Could Be There.  --Old B-Runner

USS George Mangham: A Mortar Boat

The last two posts mentioned a Union ship I'd never heard of before, so you know what that means.  Wikipedia, here I come.

From Wikipedia.

USS GEORGE MANGHAM

The George Mangham was a wooden schooner built in 1854 and acquired by the Union Navy at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 21 September 1861 and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard 11 January 1862.  Acting Master  John Collins, Jr., was commander.  It was a mortar boat.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

110 feet length

28  foot beamSpeed:  10 knots

Armament:  

One 13-inch mortar

two 32-pounder guns

Continued September 10.

--Old B-Runner

Maybe This Is the Blockade Runner Dan?-- Part 2

In the afternoon of January 7, 1864,  both the Aries and Montgomery left for their blockade stations and the rebel steamer was boarded by the Mangham's  executive officer, who reported that some of the ship's cargo was still aboard.

Collins did not deem it advisable to stay around any longer as night was approaching and did not make any effort to get any of the cargo.  The Union ship then set sail to get farther outside and just after they sailed a short distance, the rebel steamer  exploded with a great crash.  He believed that the fires set by  Union forces the day before had reached her powder.

During the day, groups of rebel cavalry were seen at various points along the beach but no resistance made by them.

So, Was This the Blockade Runner Dan?  --Old B-Runner

Maybe This Is the Blockade Runner Dan?-- Part 1

Again, finding out about this blockade runner is not easy.  However, I came across this entry in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the parameters seem to fit the hapless steamer Dan.

Page 224

Report of Acting Master John Collins, Jr., U.S. Navy, commanding  U.S.  schooner  George Mangham, regarding  the destruction of a blockade runner at Lockwood's Folly Inlet, January 7, 1864.

On the afternoon of the 7th, a sail was spotted and the George Mangham got underway and discovered it was a blockade runner being closely pursued by the  U.S. steamers Aries and Montgomery and that it had run ashore.  The U.S. ships sent  boats  in after her.  These boats lost a number of men, including one boat from the Montgomery.

The next moring, the George Mangham was requested to cover a second landing at the blockade runner with the purpose of bringing her off the beach.  The Mangham anchored close in and shelled the beach and rebel steamer at intervals during the morning.

--Old B-Runner

Some More on Blockade Runner Dan

I was able to find a little more on the steamer Dan.  

It was run aground near Waccamaw Neck, near Charleston, South Carolina, not near Wilmington as it seemed according to my first source.  This threw off my search.

The Dan must have been trying to run into Wilmington, but couldn't.  Waccamaw Neck isn't too far from Wilmington and is part of the Myrtle Beach S.C., Grand Strand.  The town of Pawley's Island is on it.

In 2004, a large Parrott shell was found at a construction site at Murrell's Inlet.  Its origin is not known, but thought to have been fired at a Confederate fort  at Murrell's Inlet.  Also, on June 1, 1863, there was a skirmish between the Confederate blockade runner Rose and two Union warships.  The Rose ran aground, but the Confederates managed to drive off the Union ships.

Also, another skirmish took place on January 7, 1864, at Debordieu Beach when the Confederate blockade runner Dan ran aground and was set on fire to prevent capture.  Today, the beach is a private resort area.

--Old B-Runner

Blockade Runner Dan

Kind of interesting that I was just writing about a blockade runner named Don and now we have one named Dan.  Brothers?

From American Civil War High Command  North Carolina.

January 7, 1864, Thursday.

NORTH CAROLINA

The steamer Dan failed to run the blockade into Wilmington and was beached to avoid capture.

The crew was captured other than three men who drowned.

I am unable to find out any more about this ship.

--Old B-Runner

A Plea to Lord Lyon from Captain Cory

Evidently Captain Cory was not released to return to Nassau.  He wrote a letter as a prisoner at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor to Lord Lyons.

FORT WARREN, BOSTON HARBOR

March 14, 1864

MY LORD:  I am an Englishman, and was born  in Homsen, East Riding, Yorkshire, on the 21st of December 1832.  My father was  the Rev. Charles Cort, vicar of Skipsin and Broome, East   Riding, Yorkshire.

I was captured in the British steamer Don, by the United States steamer Pequot, on the 4th  instant, about fifty miles frm Wilmington, North Carolina.  I joined my ship in London, England, as chief officer, July 20, 1863, and on the 20th of February, 1864,  became her commander.

All my officers, and nearly the whole of my crew, are British subjects.  I have never been in the service of either of the belligerants, and have no interest whatsoever in any way.

My lord, as a subject of her Britannic Majesty, I claim your lordship's protection for myself, officers, and crew, and beg leave to ask your lordship, on receiptof this, what course to pursue to obtain  the much cherished and esteemed boon to all Englishmen, "liberty."

FRED. CORY

*************************

So, his first name must have been Frederick?  It would have made sense that he would have been held than immediately released.

--Old B-Runner

The Capture of the Blockade Runner Don-- Part 2

Throughout the night, the Fedeal ships kept up their pursuit.

The next morning, as dawn broke, Cory discovered that one of the newer Union ships, the USS Pequot,  was barely three miles away and steaming fast towards them.  Cory turned to flee, but the chase was soon over.

The Pequot was a much faster vessel than the Don and soon overhauled the hapless blockade runner.

The Pequot's comander, Lieutenant  Stephen P. Quackenbush, now aware of the earlier incident where the Don was able to escape,  went on board the Don to shake hands with Cory and complimented him on his skill and courage.

The Don was confiscated as a prize.  Cory and his crew were questioned and set free to return to Nassau.

Oh Well.  --Old B-Runner

The Capture of the Blockade Runner Don-- Part 1: Quite an Initial Escape

From "British Blockade Running in the American Civil War."

This is the story of the capture of the Don.

Late on the afternoon of her third day out of Nassau, she was waiting off the coast of Wilmington.  The day was hazy.  Painted gray, the Don was all but invisible beyond a couple hundred yards.  Then the sun burnt throught the haze, and almost at once the lookout spotted a Federal cruiser, under steam and sail,  bearing down n them.

Cory quickly summed up the situation.  There was insufficient time for the Don to get up enough steam to escape.  He ordered up steam, then turned his vessel into the wind.  She sat there waiting, making no attempt to flee.

The Union vessel  was a large, full-rigged corvette, and was running along before a strong breeze.  In order for her to be brought under control,  the sail would have to be furled.  Cory watched as, up the rigging, the sail was gathered in.  She was barely fifty yards away when Cory ordered full speed ahead.

Off the Don shot, past the Union vessel which was unable to bring her guns to bear.  The Federal ship continued on for a quarter mile before she could make her turn.

In the meantime, the Don  was speedily putting distance between herself and the enemy ship.  Eventually turning, the other ship opened fire with her bow guns but to little effect.  The Don was up and away.  As darkness descended, she lost her pursuer.

A Close One...But.   That Sly Captain Cory.  --Old B-Runner

Who Was 'Captain Cory?'

From "British Blockade Runners in the American Civil War" by Joseph McKenna.

Evidently, the Don was originally commanded by Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden, and had run into Wilmington.  When he returned to  England, command of the Don passed to his chief officer:   Captain Cory."

Who he was is up for speculation.  There is no one on the Navy List who quite fits the time period.  Most likely he was another Royal Navy officer like Hobart-Hampden, who was enjoying the adventure and money to be made running the blockade.

Cory twice successfully ran the blockade into Wilmington.  But on his third attempt, on 4 March 1864, the Don was captured by the USS Pequot.  At the time, the Don had a cargo of Army uniforms from Peter Tait & Company of Limerick, blankets and shoes valued at $200,000.

--Old B-Runner

USS Don-- Part 2: A Short History

From the Naval History and Heritage Command.

DON

(Screw steamer:  390 tons, 162 feet long, 23 foot beam,  12 foot 3 inches depth,  d. 6', complement 43, 10-14 knots)

She was an iron, twin-screw,  two-stacked running mate of  Hansa as a blockade runner.  Operated and partly owned by the State of North Carolina and are generally  considered to have been public vessels for all practical purposes.

A man named Captain  Cory commanded the Don when, as a still new , $115,000 ship carrying  a $200,000 cargo of Army uniforms, blankets and shoes in from Nassau, she fell prey  to the USS Pequot, 4 March 1864, on her third attempt that voyage  to run into Wilmington, North Carolina.

She was  purchased from the Boston prize court the next month and commissioned as the USS Don and assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  She was sold to commercial interests 28 August 1868 after being stricken from the Navy Register.

--Old B-Runner

Fates of Some Blockade Runners

From "Civil War Navies 1855-1883" by Paul H. Silverstone.

CERES

Run aground off Old Inlet, N.C., on 6 December 1863.  Set on fire, but captured by USS Violet.

DEE

Ran blockade seven times.  Chased ashore by the USS Cambridge and destroyed near Masonboro Inlet, 5 February 1864.

 FLORA

Ran blockade 11 times.  Sold to the Confederate government, October 1863.  renamed the Virginia and then the Cape Fear.    Used as a transport on the Cape Fear River.  Scuttled off Smithville (Southport) 16 January 1865.

HEBE

Ran blockade 3 times.  Chased ashore by the USS Shokokan at New Inlet, N.C., and destroyed, 18 August 1863.

VESTA

Run around and destroyed while trying to enter Little River Inlet, N.C., on first voyage, 11 January 1863.

--Old B-Runner

USS Don

Patrick Mullen was on the USS Don when he received his second Medal of Honor.

From Civil War Navies 1855-1883" by Paul H. Silverstone.

Blockade runner Don was built by J&W Dudgeon in London, England in 1863.  Other ships listed built by J&W Dudgeon were the  blockade runners Flora (1862), Hebe (1863) and Vesta (1862).

Tonnage of these ships put at between 353 to 449 GRT.  

Dimensions:175' by 22'6"

Depth: 12'3"

Don owned by State of North Carolina.

Don was captured by USS Pequot off Wilmington, N.C., 4 March 1864.  Commissioned into U.S. Navy as the USS Don.

--Old B-Runner

Patrick Mullen's Two Medals of Honor-- Part 3: Rescued an Officer from Drowning

During the rescue, Patrick Mullen noticed an officer struggling in the water.  As the man sank below the surface, Mullen jumped overboard and brought the officer back to the boat and saved him from drowning.

For his bravery, the young sailor was awarded a bar to wear on his Medal of Honor, signifying it was his second one.

Few details can be found online about the rest of Patrick Mullen's life.  He had a wife named Emma and two sons, Edward and William, who were born after 1881.  National Archives records show that he applied for  a pension in the 1890s after filing a disability claim., but it was denied after he failed to show up for a medical exam.

Mullen died  on February 14, 1897, in his adopted hometown of Baltimore.  He was buried in the city's  New Cathedral Cemetery.

Mullen's Medal of Honor (with the bar) is housed at the American Numismatic Society in New York.

--Old B-Runner

Patrick Mullen's Two Medals of Honor-- Part 2 on the USS Don

Patrick Mullen was part of a  cutter crew  during a boat expedition when it came under heavy attack by a few hundred Confederates.  According to his citation,  he helped his commanding officer by taking charge of the boat's only howitzer.  

Lying on his back, Mullen loaded the weapon and expertly fired it at the enemy, killing and wounding several of them.   The blast  led to a Confederate retreat, which saved the lives of his comrades.

Mullen earned his second Medal of Honor just six weeks later.  However, he earned it after the war was over, which officially ended April 9, 1865.  (It actually did not end on April 9th which was the surrender of Lee's army.  Confederate armies were still in the field at the time.)

This time. Mullen was on the USS Don, a captured British blockade runner that was now patrolling the Potomac River.  On May 1, 1865, the Don attempted to pick up the crew of a smaller vessel, Picket Launch No. 6, which had begun to fill with water.

And, then....

--Old B-Runner

Sailor Received the Medal of Honor Not Once, But Twice: Patrick Mullen

From the June 2022 U.S. Department of Defense Medal of Honor Monday.

Navy Boatswain's Mate  Patrick Mullen is one of only 19 Medal of Honor recipients who earned the highest military honor not once, but twice.  While his actions that led to the awards occurred within six weeks of each other, he only received one during the actual war.  The other one came afterwards.

Mullen was born in Ireland on May  6, 1844;  however, his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was a young boy, and they settled in Baltimore.  His last name was originally spelled Mullin, but he changed it to Mullen when he joined the Navy.

By the end of the war he was a  boatswain's mate on the USS Wyandank, a steamer used by the Navy as a storeship and barracks  for the Potomac Squadron.

He earned his first Medal of Honor on March 17, 1865, --  St. Patrick's Day -- while the ship was in the area of  Mattox Creek, Virginia.

--Old B-Runner