The USS Passaic-- Part 2: In Same Storm That Sank the USS Monitor

This is continuing with my RoadTrippin' Thru History with Edward Simpson who commanded the ship during the fighting at Charleston, S.C., in 1863.

Boiler problems along the way from New York caused a stop at the Washington Navy Yard for repairs.  While there, President Lincoln and his cabinet inspected the ship on December 6, 1862.  On December 29, she sailed from Hampton Roads in the company of the original USS Monitor.

They encountered rough weather off Cape Hatteras and the USS Monitor sank.  The Passaic survived the storm and reached Beaufort, S.C., safely on January 1, 1863.

Her first assignement was to patrol off  Wassau Sound, Georgia, where she captured the schooner Glide, a blockade runner loaded with cotton.

By now, the other Passaic-class monitors had been completed and joined the Passaic at Wassau Sound.  Admiral DuPont decided to test the ability of the monitors agains enemy fortifications and ordered an attack on Fort McAllister, Georgia.

--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

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

Union Occupation of Beaufort, S.C.

 From the Know It All Org.:  Federal Occupation of Beaufort.

Federal forces under General Isaac I. Stevens march triumphantly into Beaufort on December 5, 1861.  "Harper's Weekly" reported to its readers:

"The beautiful rural town of Beaufort came into possession of the Union authorities as a result of the Battle of Port Royal.  The place had been abandoned  by all the white inhabitants  save one man who sat in the post office when the Union troops appeared  on the scene.

"To him was delivered the message announcing that the life and liberty of the people will be respected."

--Old B-Runner

160 Years Ago: Union Occupation of Beaufort, S.C.-- Part 3:

The John Mark Verdier House on Bay Street in Beaufort, now a museum, served as the Union Army's headquarters during the occupation. Many Beaufort mansions standing today were used as  hospitals or offices.

About 15 to 20 re-enactors from New York will be coming to Beaufort this weekend to present live demonstrations of Civil War camp life, drills and marching.  It will be like 160 years ago.

There will be bagpipes, discussions and live demonstrations of the importance of music and bugle calls during the war, the use of weapons, including cannons, how medical  support was deployed on the field, the role of women, and camp dining and cooking.

The 79th New York Volunteer Infantry was originally organized in New York City in 1858.  It was comprised primarily  of emigrant Scots and Scots-Americans.

In December 1861, the Highlanders were sent to the city of Beaufort  to help occupy the town.  At one point, they set up camp near what is presently the National Cemetery on Boundary Street.

The 48th New York Infantry Regiment occupied Port Royal, Hilton Head Island and Bluffton after the Battle of Port Royal Sound.

--Old B-Runner

160 Years Ago, the Occupation of Beaufort, S.C.-- Part 2: Fort Beauregard

Beaufort was captured by the Union Army as a part of a larger strategy of blockading Southern ports to prevent  commerce with Europe.

At the time of the Battle of Port Royal Sound, the Beaufort  volunteer infantry was  stationed at Bay Point Island, where residents used to hunt, fish  and camp.  Right now, conservationists are battling them proposed construction of a 4,000 square-foot villa on the island which is one of the last undeveloped barrier islands in South Carolina.

When I typed in Bay Point Island, the search showed a Fort Beauregard with the island.  This is one of the two Confederate forts defending Hilton Head Sound.

The Confederate fortification on the island was named Fort Beauregard  and was named Fort Seward after the Union capture of it in November 1861.

When Union forces arrived, officers of the Beaufort volunteers were having lunch and they quickly departed.  The Federal soldiers found  those lunches still on the table, uneaten.

--Old B-Runner

160 Years Ago, Union Forces Occupied Beaufort, S.C. That History Will Be Relived Saturday.

From the November 30, 2021, Island Packet by Karl Puckett.

The 160th anniversary of Beaufort's capture by Union forces -- which changed the outcome of the Civil War-- will be relived this weekend, and you can watch.

Live re-enactments of troops with the   79th New York Highlander Regiment and the 48th New York Infantry, Company F, will be conducted at the Arsenal Courtyard, 713 Craven Street from 10 am to 4:30 pm Saturday, December 4.

Admission is free, although donations will gladly be accepted.

In early December 1861, the two Army units being re-enacted were part of the Union occupation  of Beaufort after  the Union Navy success at the Battle of  Port Royal on November  7.  Port Royal Sound is the deepest natural harbor south of New York City and it became one of  the several  ports in the deep South to serve as bases for the Union blockading fleets.

Without these ports, the blockade would have been very difficult to enforce.  Plus, at the time, the Union was having very little success in its efforts to bring the Confederate states back into the Union.

--Old B-Runner

New York Times Reports Intelligence from Port Royal, S.C., Part 2

"Formal possession of Beaufort will be taken on Thursday, and the Charleston papers intimate that Gen. SHERMAN would have some difficulty in doing so.  They state that Gen. LEE was making extensive preparations to defend it, though the nature of the preparations is not made very clear.

"A battery had been erected at Port Royal Ferry, upon which were mounted guns taken out of the privateers Lady Davis and Huntress, and here, it is stated, a stand will be made.  The Charleston Mercury is disposed to condemn the preparations which have been made, as inadequate to the emergency."

The General Sherman referred to was Thomas West Sherman, not the W.T. Sherman who became so famous.  The General Lee was the famous Robert E. Lee who had not yet assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago, November 9, 1861: Beaufort, S.C., Occupied

NOVEMBER 9TH, 1861:  Gunboats of Flag Officer Du Pont's fleet took possession of Beaufort, South Carolina, and by blocking the mouth of the Broad River, cut off this communication link between Charleston and Savannah.

--Old B-Runner

Union Sea Power Again

JANUARY 3RD, 1865:  The USS Harvest Moon transported the first group of Sherman's men from Savannah, Georgia, to Beaufort, South Carolina, below Charleston.  Sherman had marched across Georgia from Atlanta to the sea where he knew the Navy would be able to supply and support his troops.

JANUARY 5TH, 1865:  A boat expedition from the USS Winnebago seized copper kettles used for distilling turpentine, 1300 pounds of copper pipes, and four sloop-rigged boats at Bon Secours Bay, Alabama.

--Old B-Runner