Another Union Navy Medal of Honor: Captain of the Forecastle Henry Schutes-- Part 1

From the Feb. 12, 2024 Aerotech News by Katie Lang.

Not much is known of Henry Schutes before his enlistment in the U.S. Navy other than he was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1804.

According to the Mount Moriah Cemetery, where he's buried,  he was an experienced sailor before the war began.  The earliest enlistment papers found for him was from 1858 which said he had 22 years of prior mariner experience.  That meant that Schutes joined the Navy  around age 54.

He initially served as a gunner's mate on the USS Don before transferring to the USS Wissahickon.  By April 1862, he had become the captain of the forecastle of that ship.  That was the forward upper deck where sailors slept.

That rank was similar to a current day petty officer.

--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

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

March Events in N.C. Capture of Three Blockade Runners and Sinking of USS Peterhoff

From North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial, Timeline.

MARCH 1--  Capture of British steamer Scotia 85 miles SSE of Cape Fear.

MARCH 1-2--  Naval expedition up the Chowan River to rescue Army steamer Bombshell.

MARCH 4--  Capture of British steamer Don, inbound for Wilmington, 5 days out of Nassau.  Ralph Chandler, who I wrote about last week, commanded this vessel as a U.S. Navy ship after the war.

MARCH 6--  Capture of blockade runner Mary Ann outbound from Wilmington, bound for Nassau.

MARCH 6--  USS Peterhoff sunk by  Confederate artillery (and a collision with the USS Monticello) off Smith's Island, Cape Fear.

--Old B-Runner

Ralph Chandler, USN-- Part 3: Civil War and Post-War Service

From 1855 to 1859, he was involved in coast survey and the survey of the Parana River and was serving on the sloop Vandalia when the Civil War began.  He was on her at the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861.  The next year he was assigned to the steam-sloop San Jacinto of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

Chandler was present at the engagement of the Sewell's Point batteries and the capture of Norfolk.  On 25 July 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant-commander and commanded the screw steamer USS Huntsville in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron.  Later he was transferred to command the USS Maumee in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and fought at Fort Fisher  and the capture of Wilmington.

For two years after the war, he commanded the steamer USS Don and was on ordnance duty at  the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1868.  The next year he commanded the USS Tallapoosa.  Promoted to captain in  1874 and commodore in 1884 and served as commandant of Brooklyn Navy Yard.

On 6 October 1886, he was commissioned as read admiral and ordered to relieve Rear Admiral John L. Davis (also at Fort Fisher) in command of the Asiatic Squadron.  He died of apoplexy in Hong Kong February 9, 1889, and is buried there.

--Old B-Runner

Patrick Mullen, USN-- Part 2: Two-Time Medal of Honor Winner

Patrick Mullen received his second Medal of Honor a month and a half later aboard the USS Don.

General order No. 62, June 29, 1865.

"Served as a boatswain's mate aboard the USS Don,  1 May 1865.  Engaged in picking up the crew of picket launch No. 6, which had swamped.  Mullen, seeing an officer who at the time was no longer able to keep up and was below the surface of the water, jumped overboard and brought the officer to the boat, thereby rescuing him from drowning which brave action, which brave action entitled him to wear a bar on the medal he had already received at Mattox Creek, 17 March 1865."

Two Medals of Honor!!  --Old B-Runner

USS Don Landing Party Skirmishes With Mosby's Men

MARCH 5, 1865:  A landing party from the USS Don destroyed a large boat in Passpatancy Creek, Maryland, after a brief skirmish with a group of Colonel Mosby's raiders.

Commander F.A. Parker, commanding the Potomac Flotilla, reported that the boat was " a remarkably fine one, painted lead color, and capable of holding fifty men.  It had been recently bought from Fredericksburg, and its rowlocks carefully muffled for night service.  Five boxes of tobacco were found near the boat, which I have distributed to the captors."

I wonder what Mosby was up to?

Have a Cigar.  --Old B-Runner

Virginia Expedition and New Pacific Squadron Commander

OCTOBER 25TH, 1864:  Expedition from the USS Don landed at Fleet's Point in the Great Wicomico River, Virginia, and burned houses, barns and outbuildings that had been used as shelter by the home guards of Northumberland County while firing on vessels of the Potomac Flotilla.

Four boats were also burned and five captured.

Rear Admiral George F. Pearson assumed command of the Pacific Squadron relieving Rear Admiral C,H. Bell.

--Old B-Runner