This Is the 5,025th Post of This Blog

Little did I believe that when I posted the very first item in this blog back on January 1, 2012, that it would still be an ongoing concern.  It is.

This grew our of my Saw the Elephant:  Civil War blog which grew out of my Cooter's History Thing blog.  I was writing so much about Fort Fisher and the Civil War Navy (both sides) that I decided to spin this one off.  

So, I broke the 5,000 mark last month.

Way Too Many Posts, But Sure Enjoy Them.  --Old B-Runner

MCCWRT Discussion Group Topic 'Confederate Commerce Raiders' Feb. 25

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) will be having their next discussion group this Saturday, February 25 at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois (US Highway 12 and Main Street).

The topic is Confederate Commerce Raiders.'

It will be from 10 am to 11:30 am.  

This will be an in person and Zoom event.

All are welcome and we usually manage to stay on topic a fair amount of time.  Member or not, come on down.

--Old B-Runner

Civil War Navy Books by William N. Still

From GoodReads site.

Iron Afloat:  The Story of  the Confederate Armorclads

Confederate Shipbuilding

The Confederate Navy:  The Ships, Men and Organization

Ironclad  Captains:  Commanding Officers of the USS Monitor

Raiders and Blockaders

Monitor Builders:  A Historical  Study of the Principal Firms and Individuals Involved inthe Construction of the USS Monitor.

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Books he coauthored:

Two Years on the Alabama

Admiral of the New Empire:    The Life and Career of George Dewey. (Dewey was a navalofficer during the war and at Fort Fisher.

Captain  James Carlin:  Anglo-American Blockade Runner

Quite a Lengthy List.  --Old B-Runner

William D. Hudgins, CSN, at Fort Fisher

From "Confederate Fort Fisher:  A Roster 1864-1865" by Richard H. Triebe.

WILLIAM D. HUDGINS     (I've seen his middle name most often as E..

1st Lieutenant

Confederate States Navy

Joined May 26, 1863, from Matthews County, Virginia.  Age unknown.

Duty on the CSS Savannah.

Wounded in mouth by a shell fragment while defending the Sea Face of Fort Fisher.

Captured.  Prison at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

Exchanged April 26, 1865.

--Old B-Runner

Was There a Hudgins Family Fighting for the Confederate Navy?

From Geneaology "Hudgins, family of naval officers from Va." by David M. Sullivan.

He was looking for information as to whether these men were all related and served in either the United States and/or Confederate navies.

Albert Gallatin Hudgins  (He definitely was in both the U.S. and Confederate navies.)

These next four men are all listed on the list of Confederate officers.

Lewis M(Minor?) Hudgins

Robert K. Hudgins

 Thomas Jefferson Hudgins

 William E. Hudgins

Well, according to my last post, Albert Galatin Hudgins did.

--Old B-Runner

Albert Gallatin Hudgins, CSN

From Texas History  "Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy, 1861-1865)

ALBERT GALLATIN HUDGINS

Born and appointed from Virginia.  Resigned as acting midshipman, U.S. Navy, March 11, 1861.  Acting master , September 24, 1861.  Lieutenant for the war, February 8, 1862,   Second lieutenant September 8, 1862. Second lieutenant, October 23, 181862, to rank from October 2, 1862.

First lieutenant Provisional Navy, June 2,  1864, to rank from January 6, 1864.

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Served on the CSS  Sumter, 1861, wounded and captured while in charge of prize brig  Cuba, July   8, 1861; exchanged  at Aiken's Landing, Virginia, August  5, 1862.

CSS Baltic, Mobile Squadron, 1862-1863.  Drewry's Bluff, Virginia, 1863.  Participated in the expedition for the capture of  U.S. steamers Satellite and Reliance,  August 23, 1863.  Johnsons Island  expedition, 1863.

C.S. steamers  Raleigh and Arctic, Wilmington Station,  1863-1864.

Special duty, 1864.  CSS Bombshell; captured in Albemarle Sound, May 5, 1864, ; paroled at Charleston, South Carolina, December  15, 1864.

C.S. steamers  Virginia (No. 2) and Richmond, James River squadron, 1865.

Semmes Naval Brigade 1865.  Paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina,  April 28, 1865.

--Old B-Runner

William Beverly Sinclair, CSN-- Part 2: Service in Confederate Navy

From "Register of Officers in Confederate States Navy 1861-1865."

SINCLAIR, WILLIAM B.

Born in Virginia.  Appointed from Virginia.  Formerly surgeon U.S. Navy.

Surgeon, June 10, 1861.

Surgeon, October 23, 1862, to rank from March 26, 1861.

Died in Baltimore, September 27, 1895.

Served from the C.S.R.S.   United States, 1861.   (C.S.R.S. probably stands for Confederate States Receiving Ship.)

Naval rendezvous, Richmond, 1861-1864.  (A rendezvous is where men would enlist in the navy.)

Paroled at  Dover Mines, Virginia, May 3, 1865.

--Old B-Runner

James N. Thurston, CSMC

In the last post, I wrote that Nelson Tift had involvement with the construction of the CSS Atlanta and noticed that the Confederate officer above him on the list had been captured on that ship.

From Register of Officers of the Confederate Navy 1861-1865.

JAMES THURSTON

Born in South Carolina.  Appointed from South Carolina.  Second lieutenant Confederate  Marine Corps, September 20, 1861.  First lieutenant Marine Corps, July 4, 1862.

Served in C.S. Army, 1861.  Charleston Station, 1861.  Savannah Station, 1861-1863.

C.S.S. Atlanta; captured by  the U.S.S. Weehawken, June 17, 1863; escaped  August 19, 1863, from Fort Warren; recaptured; paroled  September 28, 1864; exchanged at Cox Wharf, Virginia, October 18, 1864.

Drewry's Bluff, Virginia,  1864.

--Old B-Runner

Nelson Tift of Georgia-- Part 3: Civil War Service

During the Civil War, Nelson Tift was a captain in the Confederate Navy's supply department.  he also built gunboats for it and supplied the Army with beef and hardtack produced by his factories at Albany and nearby Palmyra in Lee County. 

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From Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy 1861-1865.

TIFT,  NELSON

Born in Connecticut

Appointed from Georgia.  Assistant paymaster to rank from October1, 1864.

Engaged with  A.F. Tift, as agent  of the C.S. government, in the construction of the C.S. steamers Mississippi, Atlanta, and other construction work, 1861-1864.

Paroled at Albany, Georgia, May 7, 1865.

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The A.F. Tift above was his brother Asa.

--Old B-Runner

Nelson Tift of Georgia and the CSS Mississippi-- Part 1

I first came across this man's name when I started writing about the Confederate ironclad under construction at New Orleans when the city fell in April1862 and was destroyed.  Nelson Tift and his brother Asa were in charge of the ship's construction.  I wrote a lot about this ship at the end of last month and earlier this month.

Before that, I had never heard of him, but it turns out he was quite the important man. 

From Find-A-Grave.

NELSON TIFT

BORN: 23 July 1810, Groton, Connecticut

DIED:    21 November 1891 (aged 81), Albany, Georgia

BURIED:  Oakview Cemetery,  Albany, Georgia

U.S. Congressman.  Served in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War.  Elected to represent Georgia's 2nd District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1868 to 1869.

Also served as a Georgia state judge in 1840 and a member of the Georgia  House of Representatives in  1841.

And, he did a lot more than that.

--Old B-R'er

About the Confederate Navy

From the October 3, 2021, Advocate (Louisiana) "Mark  K. Vogl spoke about the Confederate Navy when the Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table met  Sept. 23."

At the beginning of the war, the South did not have a Navy.  In February 1861, the Confederacy had  only 14 ships that were seaworthy  while the North already had an organized Navy with 90 functional ships.

The overwhelming industrial capacity of the North made it clear that the South could not produce as many ships, so Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory relied on technological innovation and ship-building assistance from foreign countries to make the Confederacy competitive.

His strategy centered on commerce raiding with innovative ships like the CSS Alabama, which used both sail and steam; the use of powerful rifled  naval guns, which were devastating against wooden ships; development of ironclad  ships of war, like the CSS Virginia; and the use of innovative mines, torpedoes, submarines, like the H.L. Hunley.

Vogl said that against incredible odds, the commerce raiders damaged the Union economy and forced the North to reassign blockading ships to hunt down the elusive raiders.

However, their successes were short-lived because of the North's ability to out-produce similar ships.   Vogl said the small, but innovative Confederate Navy was a valuable resource for the South.  It helped protect Confederate harbors and keep them open as well as interrupting seagoing Northern commerce.  Those ports they helped keep open provided much-needed supplies coming in from abroad.

--Old B-Runner

John Julius Guthrie Obituary-- Part 1

From the Newspapers.com site.

Clipped from the December 1, 1877, Raleigh News.

CAPT. J.J. GUTHRIE

The Norfolk  Landmark says  of Capt. J.J. Guthrie who was lost on the wreck of the Huron:

He was a native of North Carolina, having been born at Raleigh; and had a sword of honor voted him by that State in recognition of an act of conspicuous  gallantry performed in the China Seas.  He had served with  credit and distinction in the navies of the Union and of the Confederacy, and recently had entered  on the discharge of his duties in connection with the Life Saving Service with generous enthusiasm.

The Landmark is mistaken as to the nativity of Capt. Guthrie.  John Julius Guthrie  was the son of Dr. John  Guthrie, of Washington, N.C.,  where he was born about the year 1814,  and was therefore in his 63rd year at the time of his death.

His father died when he was quite a boy,  and he came to this city  with his widowed mother, who is buried here in the old cemetery.  He was placed under the care of  Rev. Dr.  William McPheeters, and went to school to this distinguished preacher and educator  at the Raleigh Academy.

--Old B-Runner

Lt. John Julius Guthrie, C.S. Navy and His Military Background-- Part 2

Upon return to the United States with the captured slaver Nightingale, John Guthrie resigned his commission and joined the Confederate Navy where he served as a captain for the duration of the war.

When asked about his role in the liberation of nearly 1000 slaves before the war, he replied in essence that "it was the right thing to do."

His military prowess was honed from his early childhood in Washington, North Carolina.  His great grandfather and two great uncles served in the American Revolution.  His grandfather, Dr. John Wilburn Guthrie, was a surgeon during the War of 1812.

His father, Dr. J.W. Guthrie, was a respected U.S. Army surgeon who talked young John into attending West Point.  However, after just a year, John transferred to the U.S. Navy and he entered it as a midshipman in 1834 and continued his career as a naval officer.

After the war, President U.S. Grant appointed him as superintendent of life-saving stations along the North Carolina-Virginia coasts.  He died on November 25, 1877.

--Old B-Runner

Confederate Navy Officers: Joseph W. Alexander

Born in North Carolina, Appointed from North Carolina

Formerly lieutenant U.S. Navy.

First lieutenant , October 23, 1862, to rank from October 2, 1862.

First lieutenant Provisional Navy, June 2, 1864, to date from January 6, 1864.

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SERVED ON:

CSS Virginia, 1861

Commanding CSS Raleigh in Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8-9, 1862.

CSS Atlanta, 1862.  Captured by the USS Weehawken, June 17, 1863.

CSS Virginia (No. 2); detached December 19.  Ordered to command CSS Beaufort.

--Old B-Runner

Confederate Naval Officers: Joseph M. Gardner

From Naval War records:  Confederate States Naval Officers.

Born in Virginia.  Appointed from Virginia.

Resigned as acting midshipman, U.S. Navy, April 23, 1861.

Acting midshipman, July 8, 1861.

Second lieutenant , January 7, 1864, to rank from September 22, 1863.

"Promoted for gallant  and meritorious service conduct in the capture of  U.S. gunboats Satellite and Reliance in Rappahannock River, August 23, 1863."

First lieutenant Provisional Navy, June 2, 1864, to rank from January  6, 1864.

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Served on CSS Raleigh March 4, 1862.  CSS Gaines , 1862-1863.

Participated in Johnson's Island expedition, 1863.

Special Service 1863-1864.

CSS Tallahassee, 1864

CSS Fredericksburg, 1864

Commanding CSS Beaufort, 1864

--Old B-Runner

Two U.S. Navy Ships Were Named After Confederate Admirals

From Civil War Talk.

There was discussion about a photograph of Captain Franklin Buchanan, CSN, and Captain Josiah Tattnall CSN sitting together.

One comment was from a person saying he was stationed on the USS Tattnall (DDG-19) while in the Navy.  He also said his ship's sister ship was the USS Semmes (DDG-18).  Both were guided missile destroyers.

The Tattnall was commissioned in 1963 and decommissioned in 1991.

The Semmes was commissioned in 1962 and decommissioned in 1991.

Actually, if these two ships were still commissioned in the U.S. Navy today, there now would be a good chance their names would be changed.

Looking at the pictures of these two ships, I have to say that back then, they still looked like destroyers, whereas the new destroyers, or littoral combat ships, look quite a bit like  Confederate ironclads.

--Old B-Runner

Raphael Semmes Statue in Mobile-- Part 1: Dedicated in June 1900

From June 17, 2020, AL.com  "Mobile mayor, Confederate descendants battle over monument's fate" by John Sharp.

Electra Semmes Colston unveiled the statue of her late father during a 5 p.m. ceremony 120 years ago this June 27 and then the Excelsior band launched into the song "Dixie" and an artillery squad stationed at the foot of Government Street began firing an admiral's salute.

Moments later, then-Mayor J.C. Bush stepped onto the platform and accepted the statue of Confederate Navy Admiral Raphael Semmes on behalf of the city.

This was on the front page of the Mobile Daily Register

That acceptance of the statue has played out in recent days as ownership of that statue has come into question.

--Old B-Runner

Arthur Sinclair, CSN-- Part 2: Former Officer in U.S. Navy

Arthur Sinclair, CSN, lost his life when the blockade runner Lelia sank off Liverpool on her maiden voyage to Nassau and before running the blockade into Wilmington, North Carolina.  I have been writing about the unfortunate sinking of this ship in this blog.

From Find a Grave.

Arthur Sinclair was an officer in the U.S. Navy before resigning to join the Confederate Navy.  He joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 13 on 4 March 1823 as a midshipman.  His commission as a lieutenant came on  3 March 1835 and commander on 14 September 1855.

He was involved in the expedition of Japan (under Commodore Matthew Perry) which tried to open the country;s ports to American commerce.  He commanded the USS Supply which carried gifts to the Japanese in friendship and to show what American industry could produce.

--Old B-Runner

Here's a Book I Could Get Into: "Life in Jefferson Davis' Navy"

From Amazon.

"Life in Jefferson Davis' Navy" by Barbara B. Tomblin.  Hardcover $29.50.

Far too many people only consider the Civil War's land actions as the only significant aspect of the war, but I am definitely more the anything Navy kind of guy.

This full-length study acknowledges the service and lives of the sailors and officers of the Confederate Navy.  Barbara Tomblin addresses every aspect f their lives, from combat risks to everyday life.  She draws upon the diaries, letters, newspaper accounts and published works to put together their  story.

She relates the stories of those serving on gunboats, ironclads and ships on the rivers and coast and Mobile Bay as well as on the high seas on the Confederate raiders.

She even covers their experiences on prison camps.

Something I would be interested in reading.

-Old B-Runner

This Date September 8, 1864, A U.S. Congressman Captured By Confederates-- George Washington Julian-- Part 1

Two days ago I posted part of this month's North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial timeline  for 1864 and one of the items was the capture of this man.  I had never heard of him, but a quick look at his story in Wikipedia shows that he was quite a prominent figure in the Civil War.  I'll have to write about him in my Saw the Elephant blog.

However, I also did not know about the capture and have been doing research on it and can't find out much about it.

In Civil War Talk, I found a person had posted a forum entry "Coinjack, NC. had a Civil War Moment, Yea!" by 5fish on Feb. 15, 2010.

He wrote essentially what the timeline had said, which was as follows:

HEY! Hey!  My mom's hometown of Coinjack, NC. had a big moment during the Civil War on September 8, 1864.

September 8 --  The only capture of a United States Congressman  during the Civil War -- at Coinjack in Currituck County.  George Washington Julian was taken prisoner when  Capt. J.N. Maffitt ordered pilot  J.B. Hopkins to take a detail of twenty Confederate sailors yo the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal and capture the mailboat Fawn.  Julian was subsequently released in Elizabeth City.

--Old B-Runner