USS Montgomery: A Civilian Ship Purchased by the U.S. Navy

From Atlantic Divers  "Max's Wreck -- Montgomery"

WRECK OF USS MONTGOMERY FOUND

This steamer was discovered by Atlantic Divers in 1989 on the dive boat  Down Deep.    The wreck was named after  Captain Bob Meimbresse's dog that was on board that day.  It has recently been identified as the USS Montgomery.

In 2008,  Gene Peterson and Harold Moyers on the dive boat Big Mac recovered a bilge pump which positively identified the site.

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

The USS Montgomery was a 797-iron (burden) wooden screw steamship, built in New York City in 1858.  She was chartered by the U.S. Navy in May 1861 and placed in commission as the USS Montgomery.  The Navy purchased her in August of that year.

During June-November 1861, she served in the Gulf of Mexico enforcing the blockade of western Florida.  Later that year, she was shifted to the  northern Gulf coast.  On 4 December 1861, in Mississippi Sound,  she engaged the Confederate steamers Florida (not the commerce raider) and Pamlico.

--Old B-Runner

USS Montgomery-- Part 3: Destroying and Capturing Blockade Runners

**  JANUARY 7, 1864

The USS Montgomery, Lieutenant Edward H. Faucon, and USS Aries, Lieutenant Edward F. Devens, chased blockade runner Dare.  The steamer, finding escape impossible, was beached at North Inlet, South Carolina, and was abandoned by her crew.

Boat crews from both the Montgomery and Aries boarded but, failing to refloat the prize, set her afire.

**  FEBRUARY 16, 1864

The USS Montgomery, Acting Lieutenant Faucon, seized blockade running British steamer Pet off Lockwood's Folly Inlet, North Carolina.

**OCTOBER 10, 1864

The USS Montgomery, Lieutenant Faucon, captured blockade running British steamer Bat near Wilmington with cargo of coal and machinery.

Getting Some Prize Money.  --Old B-Runner

USS Montgomery-- Part 2: Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean

**  OCTOBER 8, 1862

Steamer Blanche, anchored off Havana, was set afire to prevent seizure by the US Montgomery, Commander C. Hunter.  (This became somewhat of an international incident.)

**  OCTOBER 28, 1862

USS Montgomery, Commander C. Hunter, captured blockade running steamer Caroline near Pensacola.

**  NOVEMBER 20, 1862

USS Montgomery, Commander C. Hunter, captured sloop William E. Chester near Pensacola Bay.

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

**JANUARY 3, 1864

USS Fahkee, with Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee embarked, sighted steamer Bendigo aground at Lockwood's Folly Inlet, North Carolina.  Three boat crews were sent to investigate; after it was discovered that the blockade runner had been partially burned to prevent capture and that there was seven feet of water in the hold, Lee ordered the Bendigo destroyed by gunfire from the USS Fort Jackson, Iron Age, Montgomery, Daylight and Fahkee.

--Old B-Runner

 

USS Montgomery-- Part 1 Operations in the Gulf

From Civil War Naval Chronology.

DECEMBER 4, 1861

Confederate steamers Florida and Pamlico attacked USS Montgomery, Commander Thompson D. Shaw, off Horn Island Pass, Mississippi Sound. 

FEBRUARY 1, 1862

USS Montgomery. Lieutenant Jouett, captured schooner Isabel in the Gulf of Mexico.

**  APRIL 5, 1862

Launch from the USS Montgomery, Lieutenant Charles Hunter, captured and destroyed schooner Columbia near San Luis Pass, Texas, loaded with cotton.

**  JUNE 3, 1862

The USS Montgomery, Lieutenant C. Hunter, captured blockade running British schooner Will-O'-The-Wisp transferring powder and percussion caps to a lighter near the mouth of the Rio Grande River

--Old B-Runner

USS Montgomery Established Blockade at Apalachicola, Florida

From On This Day in Florida Civil War History by Nick Wynne and Joe Knetsch.

JUNE 11, 1861

Commander T.D. Shaw of the USS Montgomery announced the formal blockade of the port of Apalachicola, Florida.

The blockade order stated:  "No American coasting vessels are to be allowed  to enter or depart from said port from the time of your arrival on the station.  All foreign or neutral vessels now in the port of Apalachicola  will be allowed  ten days from the 11th of June, instant,  for their departure."

--Old B-Runner

Richard Triebe's Book on Fort Fisher to Elmira-- Part 3: Two Readers Had Ancestors There

This is a big book with 455 pages and you can buy it from Amazon for $24.95 and free shipping with total order of $25 from Amazon.

I found much interest in two comments.

**  Randy Rogers wrote that his great great grandfather and two brothers had enlisted from Bladen County, N.C., and stationed at Fort Fisher together.  All three of them were captured and sent to Elmira.

One brother died there and is buried in the prison graveyard; the other brother was returned back to the James River, Virginia, where he was exchanged, probably from the poor health from the prison.

My gg-grandfather endured the atrocities of Elmira.  His records and those of his brothers are in the book.

**  Harold Singletary wrote that he liked the book because it involved his great great grandfather who was there when the battle ended and was taken to Elmira and survived that hell hole.  Lived to be 93 years young.

--Old B-Runner

Richard Triebe's Book 'From Fort Fisher to Elmira'-- Part 2: Why Did 46% of Fort Fisher Confederates Die Within Five Months

A Confederate prisoners touching letter to his wife caused historian Richard H. Triebe to launch an investigation as to what happened to the Confederates captured at Fort Fisher and sent north

His research  provided the answers he sought, but it also uncovered an even  greater mystery.  Of the 1,173 Fort Fisher Confederates sent to Elmira Prison Camp 46% would be dead from disease in five months.

Obviously something was wrong with figures like that.  But what was it?

Join the author as he explores that causes that led to such a high death rate.   Find out what was  responsible for creating such a dangerous prison environment.

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

The Confederates called Elmira Prison Camp "Hellmira" and for good reason.  Was all the suffering intentional?

--Old B-Runner

Richard Triebe's Book 'Fort Fisher to Elmira: The Fatal Journey of More Than Five Hundred Confederate Soldiers'-- Part 1

Review in Amazon.

Fort Fisher to Elmira contains a dramatic description of both battles of Fort Fisher.  The fort fell to Union forces in January of 1865 and closed the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, to blockade running.  The importance of this loss cannot be overstated.  General Robert E. Lee no longer had an open supply line to feed and equip the Army of Northern Virginia.

His prophetic words when he heard Fort Fisher was under attack were, "Wilmington must be held!  If it falls, the Army of Northern Virginia can no longer protect Richmond."

Barely three months later his words came true  and the Confederacy was forced to surrender.

--B-Runner

After Fort Fisher, the Prisoners-- Part 7: Interesting Facts and Figures on Fort Fisher Prisoners at Elmira

The average age of a Fort Fisher prisoner at Elmira was 19.

The youngest Fort Fisher soldier sent to Elmira was  17-year-old Private William H. Faulk of Co. E, 36h Regt., 2nd NC Artillery.  he was 15 years old when he enlisted in Columbus County, NC, on  26 February 1862.  He was exchanged on the James River in Virginia  on 2 March 1865.  Private Faulk is most likely buried in the Tabor City/Whiteville area of Columbus County, NC.

The oldest Fort Fisher Confederate sent to Elmira was  fifty-six-year-old  Private Samuel Hales of Co. D,  36th Regt.,  2nd NC Artillery.   He was born in 1808 and was fifty-four when he enlisted at Blockerville in Cumberland County, NC,  on 26 February 1862.  He was transferred to Point Lookout and exchanged on the James River 2 March 1865.  Prison records spell his last name Hale.

The deadliest month for Fort Fisher men was March 1865 when over 200 of them died at Elmira.

There are four Jewish artillerymen from Fort Fisher and 9 other Jewish Tar Heels who died at Elmira Prison and are buried in the Woodlawn National Cemetery  along with 12 other Jewish  Confederate soldiers.

--Old B-R'er

After Fort Fisher, the Prisoners-- Part 6: Confederate Marines

Three Confederate Marines were captured at Fort Fisher and sent to Elmira.

Private  William Brown died of diarrhea and buried in grave #2562.

Private James Drew died of pneumonia and is buried in grave #2121.

Private Frank A. Dean, wounded,  concussion of brain, died of diarrhea  18 July 1865.  He would have died on the Elmira Union Army hospital and should have been buried at Woodland National Cemetery.  It is possible that he is one of the Confederate Unknown Soldiers buried in Woodlawn.

In depth research needs to be done to determine where these Marines are from.

--Old B-Runner

After Fort Fisher, the Prisoners-- Part 5: A High Death Rate for Confederates at Elmira

South Carolina had 482 men captured at Fort Fisher.  Of those, 357 were sent to Elmira and 134 of them died there and are buried in Woodlawn National Cemetery.  A number of sick South Carolinians captured at the fort were paroled and exchanged and would die either during transit to the James River or very soon after arriving in Confederate hospitals.

FORT FISHER PRISONERS BURIED AT WOODLAWN NATIONAL CEMETERY

A total of 319 North Carolinians and 134 South Carolinians.  This is a total of 453 Fort Fisher men.

There are 2,970 Confederate graves in the Woodlawn National Cemetery of men who died at the Elmira Prison.  A total of 1,228 are Tar Heels.  The 319 Tar Heels buried from Fort Fisher represent 25.9% of all Tar Heel deaths at Woodlawn.

134 South Carolina Fort Fisher men are buried at Woodlawn and represent 28% of South Carolina deaths at the cemetery and 4.5% of all deaths at Elmira.

A total of  457 Fort Fisher men including three Confederate Marines died at Elmira, representing 15.4% of all Elmira deaths.

--Old B-Runner

After Fort Fisher, the Prisoners-- Part 4: 518 of 1,121 Fort Fisher Prisoners Died at Elmira in Five Months

When the first shipment of men from Fort Fisher arrived in Elmira on Monday, 30 January 1865, the weather was bitterly cold and the snow was deep.  Private Thaddeus C. Davis, from  Morehead City, NC 3rd,  Co. G, 40th Regiment, 3rd N.C., recalled after the war, "We arrived  (at Elmira) about  eight o'clock in the evening, in four feet of snow,  and many prisoners had neither blankets nor coats."

The Union Army inspecting officer at the prison, Lt. James R. Reid, wrote in February 1865, "The Fort Fisher prisoners arrived in cold weather very depressed, poorly clad, and great numbers were soon taken sick with pneumonia and diarrhea, rapidly assuming a typhoid character."

In February 1865, there was a prisoner exchange and most of the sick at Elmira Prison were sent to the James River in Virginia for exchange. 

Of the 1,121 Fort Fisher men sent to Elmira, 518 would die in five months of which 372 were North Carolinians.  Of that number, 319 did at Elmira and were buried in the Confederate section of the Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira.

Fifty-three of the sick Tar Heel soldiers who were paroled either died in transit or died very soon  in various hospitals in Richmond, Virginia, Raleigh, Greensboro, Weldon and Charlotte, North Carolina.

--Old B-Runner

After Fort Fisher, the Prisoners-- Part 3: How Elmira Became 'Helmira'

Steamer DeMolay arrived in New York on January 27 with850 rebel prisoners from Fort Fisher.

The steam frigate USS Colorado also arrived in  New York.

According to  the book "Fort Fisher to Elmira" by Richard Triebe there were 1,121 Confederate soldiers sent to Elmira from Fort Fisher.  

Of those, 761, or 68% of the men were native North Carolinians.  There were 357 men from South Carolina and four were Confederate Marines.  Out of the 1,121, 518, or 48% would die within five months.

The major causes of death at Elmira were  pneumonia, diarrhea and  small pox.

--Old B-Runner

After Fort Fisher, Prisoners-- Part 2: To Elmira

All seriously wounded Confederates were sent to Union Army hospitals at Point Lookout in Maryland, Fort Monroe Prison in Virginia, and Fort Delaware in Delaware.

The journey of the Fort Fisher prisoners to Elmira began with boarding them on steamers bound for New York Harbor at the port of Jersey City, New Jersey, across from New York City.  Sadly for the Confederates, when they were captured, they were without their winter clothing and blankets due to the fact that they had not fought wearing those clothes and due to the fact that their barracks had been burned during the naval bombardment.  And, it did not get warmer as they went north.

After arriving at Jersey City, they were put on Erie Rail Road prison trains for a 273 mile trip to Elmira, New York.  There were two arrivals of Fort Fisher prisoners.  The first arrival came on January 30, 1865, 15 days after the fort fell and consisted of 501 men.

The second arrival was on February 1, 1865, and had 653 men.  A total of 1,154 Fort Fisher prisoners went to Elmira Prison.

--Old B-Runner

After Fort Fisher: Prisoners

From the North Carolina Civil War and Reconstruction History Center:  "From Fort Fisher to Elmira" byccwinslow394, submitted by Tom Fagart.

When Fort Fisher fell, the exact number of  Confederates captured is not known, but it is known that the majority of them, 1,154 men, were sent to Elmira Prison in New York.

Other Union prisons also received those captured at Fort Fisher:

639 to Point Lookout Prison, Maryland

97 to Fort Columbus Prison in New York Harbor  (Officers)

61 to Fort Delaware Prison in Delaware

22 to Fort Morgan Prison in Virginia  (I am unable to find this place.)

The Union Navy ships used to transport the prisoners north were the California, DeMolay, General Lyon and North Point.  (I could only find additional information on these ships on the tragedy of the General Lyon.)

--Old B-Runner

Captain James Brannon Saves Key West for the Union

From the January 13, 2022, Keys News "Today in Keys History."  

JANUARY 13, 1861

During the night, Captain James M. Brannon, commanding the Army Barracks Key West, marched his men to Fort Zachary Taylor and took command  of the fort.

This action ensured  that Key West would remain in Union hands during the Civil War and provided the Union Navy with a secure base to blockade southern ports.

This was essentially exactly what Major Robert Anderson did at Charleston Harbor after South Carolina seceded and he moved his small force from Fort Moultrie out to Fort Sumter in the harbor.

--Old B-R'er

Wintering at Fort Fisher: The 157th Anniversary Living History Program This Weekend, Jan. 15

From the Fort Fisher State Historic Site.

Step back in time and join us Saturday, January 15, for "Wintering at Fort Fisher:, a living history program commemorating the 2nd Battle of Fort Fisher.  It is free and open to the public and will feature Civil War  reenactors portraying the life of the soldier amid the harsh winter conditions of the Cape Fear area in the winter of 1865.

FEATURES:

**  Reenactor demonstrations

**  Demonstrations of period medical practices

**  Cannon firings

**  Civil War troops training

**  Special tours

Of course, the majority of the fort's garrison had an even worse winter after they were captured Jan. 15, 1865, and moved to Elmira Prison in New York.  They didn't call it "Hellmira" for no reason.

Due to the recent coronavirus outbreak some of the events might be cancelled.  Check the website and Face Book for further information.

--Old B-Runner

Private Anderson Saved Others By Risking His Life During the Battle of Fort Fisher

From the January 12, 2022, WRAL News (Raleigh, North Carolina) "Tar Heel Traveler."

What really made this story interesting was that the interview was taking place at about the spot where Private Anderson and the others rushed up to cut down the palisade fence.

One of the heroes of Fort Fisher was a black man named Bruce Anderson who saved lives by rising his own and for his actions received the Medal of Honor.  January 13th marks the 157th anniversary of the start of the Second battle of Fort Fisher.

Private Bruce Anderson was a member of the 142nd New York Infantry and one of the few Blacks to enlist in an all-white regiment.  Most were in all-black regiments like the 54th Massachusetts or one of the many U.S. Colored Troops regiments.

The naval huge bombardment had opened some holes in the wooden palisade fence in front of the fort, but not all of it.  The Union troops would be impeded in their attack by that pert that remained.  So Bruce Anderson and fifteen other men volunteered to put their rifles down, grab axes and rush up to the fence to chop the rest of it down.  All this of course would be under heavy fire from the fort's Confederate defenders.

And, Bruce Anderson was but a teenager when he did this.

Years later, he received the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor.  There were not many black Medal of Honor recipients during the war.

He lived to be 77 and died in 1922.  He was buried in New York.

Quite the Hero.  --Old Secesh

Spanish Ironclad Arapiles-- Part 2: A Side Incident of the Virginius Affair

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:  280 feet

BEAM:   52 feet 2 inches

DRAFT:    17 feet

COMPLEMENT:    537

ARMAMENT:

Two 9-inch rifled muzzle-loaders

Five 8-inch rifled muzzle-loaders

Ten 68-pounder smoothbore guns

This was a powerful ship which most likely could have taken on most any U.S. ship at the time.

During the Virginius Affair, a lighter was sunk that blocked the drydock gates, just in case.  Of course, by the time of the Spanish-American War, this was not the case.  The American Navy was way better than the Spanish one.

This Was a Wakeup Call for the Government and the U.S. Navy.  --Old B-Runner

The Spanish Ironclad Arapiles-- Part 1: Imagine, the Spanish Ship That Captured New York City

From Wikipedia.

In my last post. I mentioned that at the time of the Virginius Affair in 1873 that the Spanish Navy was actually stronger than the U.S. Navy.   And, that was after all the ships in the Union Navy during the Civil War.  Kind of hard to believe.  This was only eight years after the war ended.

This realization caused the government to start building our Navy up.

What really struck home was that there was a Spanish ironclad frigate in New York Harbor being repaired that the general belief was could have taken any of our naval ships there.

The Spanish  ironclad Arapiles was a wooden-hulled, armored steam frigate bought from England during the 1860s for the Spanish Navy.  Begun as an unarmored steam frigate,  she was converted into an ironclad while under construction.  

Damaged when she ran aground in early 1873,  she was under repair in the United States during the Virginius Affair later that year as tensions arose between the United States and Spain over the incident.

The ship was hulked in 1879 and in such bad condition her reconstruction was cancelled in 1882.  The ship was scrapped a year or two later.

She most closely resembled the USS Ironsides.

--Old B-Runner

Caleb Cushing and the Virginius Affair

From Wikipedia.

The Virginius  Affair was a diplomatic dispute which took place from October 1873 to February 1875 between the United States, United Kingdom and Spain (then in control of Cuba) during the Ten Years' War.

The Virginius was a fast American ship hired by Cuban insurrectionists seeking to break away from Spanish control with the intention of landing men and supplies in Ciba.  It was captured by the Spanish who wanted to try the men on board (many of whom were Americans) as pirates and execute them.

And, that is what they did and 53 met their deaths before the British intervened and stopped the executions.

Throughout the situation, there was talk of the United States declaring war on Spain.  Finally the U.S. consul to Spain, Caleb Cushing  (January 6, 1874 to April 9, 1877), defused the tensions by negotiating  $80,000 in reparations to be paid to the executed Americans' families.

The incident prevented a possible war between the two countries and started a resurgence in the U.S. Navy whose fleet was actually inferior to that of Spain at the time.

--Old B-Runner

Caleb Cushing the 'Doughface'

From the Masonry Today "Today in History" and Wikipedia for "Doughface"

The Masonry Today article on Caleb Cushing referred to him as a "Doughface."  New term to me.

From Wikipedia.

This term came to be used disparagingly.  In Webster's 1847 dictionary the definition of doughfacism was defined as "the willingness to be led by one  of stronger mind and will."

In the years leading up to the Civil War, "Doughface" was used to describe Northerners who favored the Southern position in political disputes.  Typically, it described a Northern Democrat who was more often  allied with Southern Democrats than with he majority of Northern Democrats.

From Masonry Today  "Today in Masonic History."

Caleb Cushing was born January 17, 1800.

In 1853, Caleb Cushing was   Attorney General of the United States.  During the leadup to the Civil War, Cushing was what was called a "Doughface."

As an example, he supported the Dredd Scott Decision so aggressively that Chief Justice  Roger B. Taney who wrote the decision wrote Cushing a letter thanking him for his support.

Despite his "Doughface" ideas, Cushing did support  the Union during the war.

--Old B-RunnerFace

The Alabama Claims

From Wikipedia.

The Alabama Claims were a series of  demands for damages sought by the government of the United States from the United Kingdom in 1869, for attacks on its merchant shops by commerce raiders of the Confederate Navy built in British shipyards during the war.

The claims were against all such Confederate ships, but took the name Alabama after the most famous of those vessels.  At one time the Confederates had essentially driven U.S. shopping from the world seas.

Caleb Cushing was involved with these.  The U.S. Revenue Cutter Caleb Cushing was named after him.  This is the ship that Charles W. Read captured in Portland Harbor, Maine, which I have been writing about.

An international arbitration endorsed the American position in 1872.    Britain settled the matter by paying the United States $15.5 million and ending the dispute.

--Old B-Runner

Notable Wilmington Anniversaries This Year-- Part 2

WILMINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Land for this stately cemetery at 20th and Market streets was acquired acquired in 1867.

The Wilmington National Cemetery, which is closed to future internments, was initially populated by remains recovered from the old Wilmington City Cemetery, Fort Fisher (including soldiers who died  there in the 1865 battle) and elsewhere.

Many are former Union soldiers who died  during the Civil War.

Among the approximately  6,000 people buried there are  557 U.S. Colored Troops (more than 500 of their identities are unknown), whose grave markers have the inscriptions "U.S.C.T." and "U.S. Col. Inf."

Also buried at the Wilmington National Cemetery  are 28 Puerto Ricans who died during the 1918  influenza pandemic.  They were bound to help with the construction of the Fort Bragg base near Fayetteville and were among the 300 Puerto Ricans who fell ill on the journey to North Carolina aboard the ship City of Savannah, which landed at the  port of Wilmington.  The headstones of those who died from the flu read "Employee USA."

--Old Secesh

Notable Wilmington Anniversaries This Year: 1862 Yellow Fever Epidemic

From the December31, 2021, Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News  "The year ahead:  11 Wilmington anniversaries we'll be marking in 2022" by John Staton.

YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC : 160 YEARS

Back in 1862,  hundreds of Wilmington residents died and thousands more, about half the  Port City's population, fled the city when there was an outbreak of yellow fever spread by mosquitoes. 

Kind of reminds you of our present-day troubles with COVID-19.

There is a marker in Wilmington's Oakdale Cemetery showing where some 400 of those deaths are buried in a communal grave.

It reads:

1862 Burial Site of Yellow Fever Victims.

Communal burial site of approximately  400 people who died of yellow fever during Wilmington's epidemic between September and the frosts of November 1862.  Few yellow fever  victims' burials are marked with headstones.

In 1862, Wilmington's population, black and white, was approximately 10,000.  About half the population fled the city to avoid the epidemic.

Of the reported 1,505 cases , 654 (43%) died of yellow fever.

--Old B-Runner

Caleb Cushing in the Civil War and the 'Alabama Claims'-- Part 2

I will keep the information about him as mostly pertaining to his involvement with the Civil War.  From Wikipedia.

In 1860, he presided over the  Democratic National Convention, which first met in Charleston and then later in Baltimore.  He joined those who seceded from the convention who nominated John C. Breckinridge for the Presidency.

Also in 1860, President James Buchanan sent Cushing to Charleston, S.C. as Confidential Commissioner to the Secessionists of South Carolina.

Despite having supported states rights and opposing the abolition of slavery, he supported the Union during the war.

After the war, he took a part in the Alabama Claims in 1869.  The Alabama Claims  were damages sought by the U.S. government against  the United Kingdom  for damages done to American shipping caused by commerce raiders built in British shipyards.

Since the CSS Alabama was the most famous of the raiders and had sunk the most shipping, the case was called the Alabama Claims.

--Old B-Runner