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

John Julius Guthrie, Jr.-- Part 2: Service in Western Waters, Capture and Exchanged

Ordered to the New Orleans naval station, he was promoted to the rank of acting master  on October 21 and sent aboard the General Polk.

In March, he transferred to the floating battery New Orleans, under the command of his father at Island No. 10.  (So John J. Guthrie commanded the ship and had his two sons with him as well.)

After the fall of Island No. 10 on April 8,  Guthrie was captured and sent to the Union POW camp at Johnson's Island in Lake Erie.

Exchanged in October, he served at the Richmond and Wilmington naval stations and finished the war at Montgomery, Alabama.

After the war, he returned to Norfolk County, Virginia, and farmed.

--Old B-Runner

Lt. Clarence L. Stanton, CSN: CSS Chickamauga and Wilmington Station

I was looking up information about the Confederacy's CSS New Orleans, a ironclad floating battery in the Mississippi River that both John Julius Guidry and John Julius Guidry served on in 1862.  While doing that, I came across this information  on the CSNavy site.

Of course, when I saw this man had been at the Wilmington Station, that meant Fort Fisher and environs, so my attention and interest was naturally piqued.

LT. CLARENCE L. STANTON

Buried at the huge Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.  This is where Union Generals Joseph Hooker and Godfrey Weitzel are buried.  Weitzel was at The First Battle of Fort Fisher.

Garden Lane,  Section 45, Lot1, Grave 33.

Born 12 June, 1841, Mayesville, Kentucky.  Died  6 January 1917.

Appointed from Kentucky.

 Acting Master:  April 28, 1863

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

Served on the CSS Chicora, Charleston, South Carolina, 1863-1864.

CSS Chicamauga, 1864.

Wilmington Station, 1864.

Captured  April 6, 1865, Sailors Creek, Virginia.

Released on Oath, May 15, 1865,  Johnsons Island.

--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

William Henry Ward, CSN-- Part 3: A Prisoner Three Times

Ward's vessel, the CSS Chickamauga was destroyed after the capture of Fort Fisher as an obstruction in the Cape Fear River.

After that, he returned to the Richmond Station once more and took command of the guns below Drewry's Bluff.

He was captured during the Confederate retreat at the Battle of Saylor's Creek, Virginia, on April 6, 1865 and sent to Johnson's Island, Ohio, and released after taking the Oath of Allegiance.

But. His Service Wasn't Over.  --Old B-Runner

September 19, 1864-- Part 1: John Yates Beall, CSN, Captures Two Steamers on Lake Erie

SEPTEMBER 19, 1864:  Confederates under Acting Master John Yates Beall captured and burned steamers Philo Parsons and Island Queen on Lake Erie.  Captain Charles H. Cole, CSA, a Confederate secret agent in the Lake Erie region, conceived the plan and received assistance from Jacob Thompson, Southern agent in Canada and the daring Beall.

The plan was for Cole to aid in the capture of the iron side wheeler USS Michigan, which was then guarding the Confederate prisoners (officers) on Johnson's Island, near Sandusky, Ohio, by befriending her officers and attempting to bribe them.

Beall was to approach on a captured steamer from the mouth of Sandusky Bay and board the Michigan, after which the prisoners would be released  and the whole force would then embark on a guerrilla expedition along the lake.

--Old B-R'er

Confederate Plans to Liberate Johnson's Island Prisoners

APRIL 27TH, 1864: President Davis appointed Jacob Thompson representative of the Confederate States in Canada. It was from Canada that Thompson planned to liberate prisoners held on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie.

In addition, he had plans to burn steamboats on the inland waters, coordinate the return of escaped Confederate prisoners through Canada via Halifax to Bermuda, and sought to maintain liason with the organization known as "Sons of Liberty" in the North which was opposed to the continuance of the war.

Busy Man, That Jacob Thompson. --Old B-R'er

The Union Navy's First Iron Ship Wasn't the Monitor-- Part 2

Confederate Operations in te Great Lakes.

There was a large prison camp for Confederate officers on Johnson's Island in Sanduskey Bay on Ohio's western Lake Erie coast. Confederate officials developed a conspiracy to break them out and form a Confederate Army and attack Ohio's North Coast.

One plan caled for the sieizure of the passenger steamers Philo Parsons and Island Queen to take over the camp. The other, more difficult one, was to seize the USS Michigan, which would, in effect, give the Confederacy control of the whole of the Great Lakes.

From mounting a single 18-pdr. cannon before the war, the Michigan's armament had been increased to one 30-pdr. Parrott rifle, five 20-pdr Parrott rifles, six 24-pdr. smoothbores and two 12-pdr. boat howitzers.

One of the USS Michigan's major jobs during the war was to protect that prison camp.

The plans, however, were discovered in advance and foiled.

During the course of the war, some 10,000 Confederate prisoners were held at Johnson's Island and relatively few escaped. After the war, the buildings and supplies either were salvaged or sold off and the island reverted to private ownership.

Around the turn of last century, there was an attempt to turn the island into a pleasure resort to compete with pre-amusement park Cedar Point, but that failed. The only evidence of the camp are several historical signs and a well-maintained Confederate cemetery where 200 are buried.

The rest of the island is in private hands, but you can access the cemetery via a causeway for $2.

That Would Have Been Interesting Had the Confederates Succeeded in Seizing the Michigan. --Old B-R'er