Marines in the Civil War Quiz-- Part 1

The McHenry (Illinois) County Civil War Round Table discussion group met earlier today and discussed the role played by both the U.S. and Confederate Marines during the Civil War.

TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT MARINES IN THE WAR  (Answers below)

1.  Of interest, the commandant of the CSMC (Confederate States Marine Corps) Lloyd J. Beall, was born in what state?

2.  Also of interest, how did he become an officer in the military?  

3.  Where were the headquarters and training grounds of the CSMC?

4.  What was the strength of the CSMC?

5.  How was the CSMC organized?

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ANSWERS

1.  Rhode Island

2.  Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  (He served in the U.S. Army untikl the Civil War.)

3.  At first at Gosport Navy Yard, Virginia.  After its fall, at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia (on the James River near Richmond.)

4.  45 officers and 1,026 enlisted.

5.  Into lettered companies.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Mississippi-- Part 4: Shipping the Iron Plate and the Propellers Shafts

Shipping the plate iron needed for the Mississippi over the already overtaxes Confederate railroad system was sporadic at best.  Delays were many.  Plates awaiting shipment were often found in Atlanta, days after they were supposed to go out.  The final armor arrived in New Orleans the day the CSS Mississippi was burned.

Engines and shafts added even more problems.  There were to be three shafts and places could be found in New Orleans to handle them, but the longer, central shaft could not be manufactured anywhere in the Confederacy.  Finally, a satisfactory shaft was found in a wrecked ship in October, but only Tredegar Ironworks or the Gosport Navy Yard in Virginia could handle the needed modifications.

When they were completed,  the shaft had to be transported over the rails.  It was shipped out March 26, 1862.    Although all three shafts were put into the hull, they were not hooked up to the engines, and the two outboard screw propellers were  still on the wharf when the end came.

--Old B-Runner

Happy Birthday CSMC!!!

From Wikipedia.

This little-known branch of the Confederate military was still a part of the original Continental Marines established 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia.

The Confederate States Marine Corps was  established by an act of the Confederate Congress on 16 March 1861.

Its original manpower was authorized at  45 officers and 944 enlisted men, but was increased on 24 September 1862 to 1,026 enlisted men.

The organization of the Corps began in Montgomery, Alabama, and was completed in Richmond, Virginia, when the capital moved to that city.

The CSMC headquarters and main training facilities in Richmond throughout the war at Camp Beall on Drewry's Bluff and at Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia until it was captured.

The last Confederate Marine group surrendered on April 9, 1865.

--Old B-Runner

Who'd Have Figured a Rebel Captured Last Slave Ship-- Part 6: John J. Guidry Gave His Life Trying to Save Crew of USS Huron.

 Returning to Gosport, John J. Guidry accepted a commission as a captain in the Confederate Navy and served until the end of the war.

But, his career was still not at end when the war ended and the Confederacy surrendered.  He was appointed  by President Grant to be general superintendent of the life-saving stations along the North Carolina and Virginia coasts in 1875.

For the next two years, he became a pioneer in  in building the life-saving  stations into one of the finest in the world.

Almost as if by destiny had a hand in it,  the USS Huron became stranded  off Kitty Hawk on November  25, 1877.  Fighting to save the lives of his former enemies, and before that, his former shipmates,  Captain John Julius Guidry drowned in the effort to save them.

No doubt history has a place for this swashbuckling young naval officer who was Matthew Fontaine Maury's assistant, historian of Brazil, a "rebel" naval officer who captured the last slave ship for the Union, and was a hero  in the fight to save the USS Huron.

--Old B-Runner

A Rebel Captured the Last Slave Ship for the Union-- Part 3: Service in the Far East and the Mexican War

Visiting Portsmouth and Gosport, Virginia, for the first time,  he was ordered to serve on the sloop of war John Adams.  He next served on the frigate USS Columbia on her voyage to China and after three years passed his his naval officer's examination.    Returning to Portsmouth, Guidry took some time in 1840 for a courtship and married a local girl from one of the city's prominent families, Louisa S. Spratley.  The couple settled in what is today Swimming Point.

After service in the Mexican War on blockade duty, Guthrie was sent in 1852 to the frigate USS Brandywine on the Brazil Station.  There he learned how to speak Spanish and translate a history of his host nation.  (Well, this should be Portuguese).  Unfortunately, that translation was lost at sea while in route to its publishers.

Guthrie next received orders to report to  Captain Matthew  Fontaine Maury, who was establishing the  U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C..

Guthrie's second tour to China was aboard the USS  Levant, proved very eventful.  He arrived in time for the Anglo-French War in the Far East as the two European powers fought for control over the tea and spice in the Orient.  This is also called the Second Opium War.

--Old B-R'er

A Rebel Captured Last Slave Ship for Union, John J. Guthrie-- Part 1: Quite a Story

From the June 7, 1996, Virginian-Pilot (Va.) by Alan Flanders.

The exceptional  events surround John Julius Guthrie's life should place him high on the list of national heroes.

One of the strangest ironies of his life  started out on routine patrol duty on the USS Saratoga off the west coast of Africa on April 21, 1861.  (Remember, Confederates fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, effectively starting the shooting part of the Civil War.  Of course, there was no way the Saratoga's crew could have known about it back then.)

The U.S. Navy had been active in the suppression of slavery for the past twenty years.  While political debate over the legality of slavery heated up back home, Commander Alfred Taylor, commanding officer of the Saratoga, and his executive officer, John Julius Guthrie, of Portsmouth, Virginia,  were on the lookout for merchantmen engaged in the slave trade.

Guthrie was no doubt justifiably proud of his ship as she had refitted at Gosport (Navy Yard, Norfolk by Portsmouth, Va.) before departing for Africa from Philadelphia and carried  a number of local men as part of her crew.

Just at the mouth of the Congo River, a report reached the Saratoga that a large ship loaded with slaves was hidden up the river.  It was soon learned that the ship was none other than the Nightingale.  Despite her name, she was the most notorious slaver of them all.

As second in command, Guthrie was chosen to handpick a boarding party and  sail inland and capture the slaver.

--Old B-Runner

The Five Sorties of the CSS Virginia

From Civil War Talk "C.S.S. Virginia"

Of course, her two most famous sorties were against the Union fleet on March 8 and the next day, March 9, 1862, which resulted in the battle with the USS Monitor.

But, altogether, she made five sorties against the enemy:

MARCH 8, 1862

Maiden voyage.  Engagement with USS Cumberland and USS Congress.

MARCH 9, 1862

Engagement with USS Monitor in Hampton Roads.

APRIL 11, 1862

The Virginia enters Hampton Roads.  Federal transports flee the harbor to the protection of Fort Monroe.  The USS Monitor stays in the channel, but does not accept the Virginia's challenge.

MAY 8, 1862

The CSS Virginia steams down the Elizabeth River from Gosport Navy Yard to  contest the Union advance and stays out of Hampton Roads hoping to engage the USS Monitor.

MAY 11, 1862

Attempting to escape up the James River, after Gosport is captured by the Union Army,  the Virginia can't be made light enough to travel  as far as planned up the shallow part of the river.  Trapped with no escape, the ship is scuttled, and fired, causing a great explosion, destroying the ship.

So, From Maiden Voyage to Destruction, Her Career Was Just Over Two Months.  --Old B-Runner

Talking About the CSS Richmond

From the December 27, 2019, Augusta Free Press "CSS Richmond steams into Pamplin Park."

Pamplin Historical  Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier will welcome speakers Bill Walldrop and Mike Nusbaum Thursday, January 2 at 7 p.m..  They will be speaking before the Petersburg Civil War Round Table about the Confederate ironclad CSS Richmond.

They are divers and underwater archaeologists who have explored the remains of shipwrecks from the American Revolution and Civil War.  Both faced risks while exploring the wreck of the CSS Richmond in the James River by Richmond.

Ironclads revolutionized naval warfare and the CSS Richmond followed the famous CSS Virginia as a Confederate warship.    It was designed by naval architect John L. Porter and was launched May 6, 1862, and immediately had to leave Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia, for its namesake city, Richmond before Federal forces occupied that navy yard.

It was completed at Richmond and joined the Confederate Navy's James River Squadron where it saw action in 1864 and 1865.  The Union breakthrough at Petersburg on April 2, 1865, caused the evacuation of that city and Richmond.  The fate of the Richmond was sealed the next day when she and the other Confederate ships were burned and sunk to prevent capture.

The two speakers have an hour-long video on the internet about their efforts with the CSS Richmond.

I would sure like to be at this meeting.

Well Worth Watching.  --Old B-Runner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quite an Imaginative Guy.  --Old B-Runner