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

Fort Zachary Taylor-- Part 4: All Those Buried Cannons

Then, the former  marine and civil service engineer Howard England began to unearth  Civil War cannons  buried within the walls of Fort Taylor.  In 1899, when  Army engineers removed the top two levels of he fort in order to build the Osceola and Adair Batteries, they built the batteries over the casemates (gun emplacements).

Nearly 200 Rodman, Columbiad and Parrot cannons  were buried with in the battery walls.  Many were excavated and are on display today, but others are still buried, some of them are embedded and some are partially visible in the stone walls of the batteries.

Howard England is the man responsible for the preservation of Fort Zachary Taylor, for his continued work over a ten year period that uncovered the largest collection of Civil War armaments in the United States, including cannons, guns, a desalinization plat and thousands of cannonballs and projectiles.

This earned Fort Zachary Taylor the protection of the U.S. government as a National  Historic Landmark in 1973.

Thanks Mr. England.  --Old B-Runner

Confederate Shipbuilding in England

From the September 19, 2021, Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) ) "Confederate ships topic for BRCWRT" by George Morris.

Patrick Martin spoke  about Confederate ships made in England before the Baton Rouge Civil War Round Table on August 19.

Martin noted that at the beginning of the Civil War,  the Confederacy  did not have a Navy of facilities to construct and equip warships.  Confederate states did not have the industrial base of the North, so shipbuilding was undertaken on a much smaller scale.

Early in the war, Union General Winfield Scott drew up a strategy known as the Anaconda Plan to restrict  water access to Southern ports, which would  deny the Confederacy   of needed supplies.

This would be the blockade of the Southern coast.

Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory immediately embarked in a program that involved foreign shipyards to build ocean-going ships  to draw the Union Navy away from the South and disrupt international commerce going to the North.

Three commerce raiders were built for the Confederacy  in Liverpool, England.  The most famous of these was the CSS Alabama commanded by Captain, later Admiral, Raphael Semmes, which sank 64 Union vessels until it was sunk by the USS Kearsarge in the English Channel.

Semmes was rescued from the channel by a yacht and taken to England where he was received as a hero.

The other two ships were the CSS Florida and CSS Shenandoah.

After the war, England was made to pay damages by the ships built for the Confederacy.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Tallahassee-- Part 1: The Stats

From Wikipedia

Builder:  J&W Dudgeon, Cubitt Town, London, England.

First Occupation:  Blockade Runner

Commissioned:  July 20, 1864

Fate:  renamed CSS Olustee (raider)  and CSS Chameleon (blockade runner)

**********************

Displacement:  700 tons

Length:  220 feet

Beam:  24 feet

Propulsion:  two -- 100 h.p.  steam engines, two propellers, masts and sails

Speed:  15 knots

Complement:  120

Armament:

one rifled 32-pdr. forward
one rifled 100-pdr. amidships
one heavy Parrott aft

--Old B-Runner

Adriatic's Passenger List -- Part 2: Families

The Adriatic was captured and burned by the Confederate commerce raider CSS Tallahassee in August, 1864.  The Adriatic had made several trips across the Atlantic from England before that.  Here is a passenger list from 1862.

*************************

There were several families aboard the ship:

Charles and Louis Johnson  (both 24)

Dora Horschberg (37) with children Jacob (7), Minah (4), Rebecca (3), Esther (2) and Simon (6 Months).

Mary Barnard  (29)  Bertha Barnard (26) servant, Mark (12) and Julia (3)

Lazarus(31) and Bloomer  (22)  Ittleson and  son Abraham  (10 months)

John (28) and Margaret (31) Lenden and son George (7 months)

I am figuring that Dora Horschberg and Mary Barnard were traveling without their husbands to meet him in New York.  They might likely have gone on ahead to get themselves established.


Richard H. Moore had also brought over another group of 33 immigrants from London to New York City 21 November 1861.

--Old B-Runner

Adriatic's Passenger List for 1862 Arrival from London-- Part 1: Immigration from Europe

Captain or Master Richard H. Moore had brought a group of immigrants from London to New York City in the ship Adriatic, arriving  24 March 1862.

He had 40 passengers, mostly from Germany and England.  It is interesting to note that all women were listed as wife for occupation.  There were evidently two classes of transport, 1st and 2nd Cabin.

Five were 1st Cabin and the rest 2nd.  Age, male or female, occupation,  Country they were from, country they were going to shown.

*****************************

1ST CABIN

1.  Georgianne Mine  24, female, wife, U.S., America
2.  William H. Hunt,  24, male, farmer, Great Britain, America
3.  Edwin N. Cragg,   41, male, silversmith,  --  , America
4.  John Versmier,  31, male, grocer, Germany, America
5.  Jemima E. Stra?burg, 31, female, none, U.S., America

There were 35 in 2nd Cabin

From Germany--  15
From England--  11
From United States--  7
From France--  2

More.  --Old B-Runner

Butler's Steamer Greyhound, the Belle, "Captain Henry" and the Admiral

The USS Connecticut's crew also recognized "Captain Henry"as being a former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, now lieutenant in the Confederate Navy, George Henry Bier.

The Connecticut sent the Greyhound to Boston with a prize crew under the command of Acting Ensign Samuel Harding, Jr., USN.  However, Lt. Biel was able to get Harding tohelp him escape from Boston to Canada.  For this, Harding was dismissed from the Navy in disgrace, but was later able to get to England where he married Belle Boyd.  (Makes you wonder about this arrangement.)

The Greyhound and its cargo was assessed at $484,000 in prize money which no doubt pleased the Connecticut's crew.  That was a lot of prize money.

Some sources believe that this was the ship that became General Butler's headquarters on the James River in late fall 1864.  On her, Butler visited Admiral Porter at Dutch Gap.  The Greyhound was faster than the admiral's USS Malvern at the time and they went to Fortress Monroe to consult with Assistant Secretary Gustavus V. Fox.

--Old B-Runner

CDR. Arthur Sinclair, CSN-- Part 1: His Father Was a U.S. Navy Officer 1798-1831

From Find-A-Grave.

Birth:  29 November 1810 in Norfolk, Virginia

Death:  14 January 1865 in Fylde Burrough Lancashire, England

Buried:  Fleetwood Cemetery, Wyre Burrough, Lancashire, England

********************************

His father was Arthur Sinclair,  Commodore, U.S. Navy.

Born:  28 February 1780,  Mecklenburg County, Virginia

Died:  7 February 1831, Norfolk, Virginia

Buried:  Cedar Grove Cenglemetery, Norfolk, Virginia.

Entered U,S, Navy service as a midshipman on November 15, 1798.  became captain on July 28, 1813.

Served in the Quasi War with France, the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.

--Old B-R'er

Blockade Runner Lelia-- Part 2: The Cargo May Be Well Preserved

The Daily Mail article was accompanied by several pictures

**  The first was a multi beam sonar image of the wreck as it is today.

**  A black and white illustration of the time showing the Lelia sinking and Liverpool Lifeboat No. 1.

**  Another picture of the wreck from a different angle.

**  Picture of a paddle wheel on the ship.

****************************

Wreckage still remaining:  one of the paddle wheels,  the engine and boiler rooms,  less well-preserved cargo areas,  and a steam winch.

The deck and all the structures on it hasn't survived and a lot of the hull remains buried in the seabed so there is the potential for a well-preserved cargo of British manufactured munitions and machinery destined for the Confederacy.

--Old B-Runner

USS Bermuda-- Part 2: As A Blockade Runner

The Bermuda was an iron-hulled steamer built in 1861 in England to make money on the huge profits that could be made running the blockade.  It was eventually sold to Messrs.  A.S. Henckle and George Alfred Trenholme of Charleston, S.C..

It was chartered to Frasier Trenholme & Co. in England, which served the Confederate government as uts financial and commercial agent there.

The Bermuda left England in August 1861.  It crossed the Atlantic under British colors and ran into Savannah, Georgia, with a million dollars worth of war material.  She loaded 2,000 bales of cotton on board when she left and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Liverpool, England.

--Old B-Runner

Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote-- Part 2: Abolitionist and 2nd Opium War

From 1849-1851 he commanded the USS Perry, patrolling the waters off the coast of Africa to stop the slave trade.  because of this he became an ardent abolitionist.

In 1856 he was promoted to commander and took command of the USS Portsmouth in the East India squadron.  While there, he got involved in the 2nd Opium War between England and China.

Foote commanded the Brooklyn Navy yard in 1858 and was there when the Civil War began.

--Old B-Runner

Bennett Green-- Part 2: A Photograph Taken in England, Autumn 1865

From ibiblio.org  Acting Master Irvine S. Bulloch, CSN (1861-1865)

Photo # NH 59499  Former Confederate Naval officers.  Taken Leamington Spa, England, Autumn 1865, following the return of the CSS Shenandoah.

Included:

Former Assistant Surgeon Edwin G. Booth
Former Acting Master Irvine S. Bulloch of the CSS Shenandoah
Former Passed Assistant Surgeon Bennett W. Green
Former 1st Lieutenant William H. Murdaugh
Former Passed Assistant Surgeon Charles H. Lining of the CSS Shenandoah

--Old B-R'er

August 8, 1862: Credit to Bulloch in England

AUGUST 8TH, 1862:  Confederate Secretary of Navy Mallory wrote Commander Bulloch in London:  "I am pleased to learn that the credit of my department stands well in England, and sensible of the great importance of maintaining it, I am endeavoring to place funds to your credit, which the scarcity and very high rate of exchange render difficult.

"We have just paid 200 and 210 per cent for $80, 072.2.9, which amount is now in the hands of John Fraser & Co. of Charleston, with orders to place the same to your credit in England."

The tightening blockade constantly constricted the Southern economy.

200 and 210 per cent?  Did anyone ever hear of usury laws?  How do I get in on this deal!  Wait, too late.

Of course, Bulloch was to use the money to buy commerce raiders.

--Old B-Runner

February 3, 1862: The CSS Nashville Leaves England

FEBRUARY 3RD, 1862:  The CSS Nashville, Lt. Robert B. Pegram, departed Southampton, England.  The HMS Shannon stood by to enforce the Admiralty ruling that the USS Tuscarora could not leave the port for twenty-four hours after the sailing of the Nashville.

--Old B-Runner

January 30, 1862: Tennessee River Operations Begin, Mason and Slidell Arrive

JANUARY 30, 1862:  Major General Halleck ordered the combined operation to move up the Tennessee River, warned General Grant that the roads were quagmires, and directed that the movement of troops, munitions and supplies be convoyed by gunboats.

**  The USS Kingfisher, Acting Lt. Joseph P. Couthouy, captured blockade runner Teresita, bound from Havana to Matamoras.

**  Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell arrived at Southampton, England.

--Old B-R'er

January 31, 1862: Europe Looks At the Union Blockade At This Stage-- Part 1

JANUARY 31ST, 1862:  A British memorandum reaching the Confederacy, regarding the effectiveness of the Union blockade and sinking of the "Stone Fleet" in Charleston harbor, presented the views of various European nations:  "About ten days ago the English foreign office submitted the two following questions to the maritime powers of Europe:

"First.  Is the sinking of the stone fleet ... an outrage on civilization?  second.  Is the blockade effective ...  Is it now binding?"

Their Answers Next.  --Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago, October 12, 1861:Mason and Slidell Run the Blockade

OCTOBER 12TH, 1861:  The Confederate ship Theodora ran the blockade at Charleston with Mason and Slidell, Commissioners to England and France respectively, on board.

**  Confederate privateer Sallie captured American brig Granada in the Atlantic Ocean

**  USS Dale, Commander Edward M. Yard, captured schooner Specie east of Jacksonville, bound for Havana with a large cargo of rice.

**  Warning was given that Confederates had lined the James River with powerful submarine batteries (mines).

--Old B-R'er

155 Years Ago: Confederates Buying Steamers in England

SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1861:  The U.S. consul in London reported the purchase by the Confederates of the steamers Bermuda, Adelaide and Victoria.

Wonder What They Were Going To Do With Them?  --Old B-R'er

155 Years Ago: Davis Appoints Slidell and Mason As Commissioners to Europe

AUGUST 24TH, 1861:  President Jefferson Davis appointed James M. Mason as Special Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and John Slidell, Special Commissioner to France.

And, we all know what happened on their way to Europe.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: Bulloch Looking for Warships in England

AUGUST 13TH, 1861:  Commander Bulloch, CSN, writing from London to Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory, said, "After careful examination of the shipping lists of England, and inspecting many vessels, I failed to find a single wooden steamer fit for war purposes, except one paddle steamer, too large and costly and drawing too much water for our coast.

"Wood as a material for ships has almost entirely gone out of use in the British merchant service, and their iron ships, though fast, well built, and staunch enough for voyages of traffic, are too thin in the plates and light in the deck frames and stanchions to carry guns of much weight.

"I therefore made arrangements to contract with two eminent builders for a gun vessel each..."

These, of course, would be Confederate commerce raiders.

**  USS Powhatan, Lt. David D. Porter, recaptured schooner Abby Bradford off the mouth of the Mississippi River.

--Old B-R'er