From the Civil War Almanac.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1861
Lt. John H. Russell fights the first pitched naval engagement at Pensacola, Florida, by sailing the USS Colorado past Confederate batteries at night and then leading 100 sailors and marines in a cutting-out expedition. (The Colorado was under the command of Captain Theodorus Bailey.)
Russell's men storm and capture the privateer Judah after hand-to-hand fighting, burn it to the waterline, and withdraw unimpeded.
Several enemy artillery pieces are also taken and spiked while ashore.
Russell subsequently receives personal thanks from Abraham Lincoln and is feted by the War Department.
Confederate General Braxton Bragg, however, begins a planned Retaliation.
--Old B-Runner
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