Battle of Cedar Key (Florida) -- Part 1: Destruction of Railroad and Harbor

Continued from October 9, 2017.

The Battle of Cedar Key 7 January 1862.

The USS Hatteras landed sailors and Marines and attacked the railhead and Station No. 4.  At first they were repulsed by a company of Florida state cavalry and local civilian workers, but they succeeded in destroying tracks, engines and buildings before returning to their ship.

Then the Hatteras boarded and either sank or burned seven blockade runners in the harbor at Depot Key and landed a small force to burn the harbor facilities.  This was a small, but important event known as the Battle of Cedar Key.

--Old B-R'er

Depot Key-- Part 5: In the Civil War

During the Civil War, Confederate agents extinguished the light at Seahorse Key and removed the sperm oil supply.

The USS Hatteras raided Cedar Keys in June 1862 and burned several ships laden with cotton and turpentine and then destroyed the railroad's rolling stock and buildings in Way Key,  Most of the Confederate troops who had been guarding the area had left for Fernandina because of an anticipated Federal attack on that place.

Cedar Key became an important source of salt for the Confederacy.  In October 1862, (see previous post) Union ships raided and destroyed 60 kettles on Salt Key capable of producing 150 bushels of salt a day.

Union forces occupied Cedar Key in 1864 and remained until the end of the war.

--Old B-Runner

May 1, 1862: Capturing Blockade Runners

MAY 1ST, 1862:  The USS Hatteras, Commander Emmons, captured schooner Magnolia near Berwick Bay, Louisiana, with cargo of cotton.

**  The USS Jamestown, Commander Green, captured British blockade runner Intended off the coast of North Carolina with a cargo of salt, coffee and medicines.

**   The USS Huron, Lt. Downes, captured schooner Albert off Charleston.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago, January 16, 1862: Union Attack on Cedar Keys, Florida

JANUARY 16TH, 1862:  Gunfire and boat crews, including Marines, from the USS Hatteras, Commander Emmons, destroyed a Confederate battery, seven small vessels loaded with cotton and turpentine ready to run the blockade, a railroad depot and wharf, and the telegraph office at Cedar Keys, Florida.

A small detachment of Confederate troops were taken prisoner.

Such unceasing attacks from the sea at any point of her long coast and inland waterways cost the South sorely in losses, economic disruption and dispersion of strength in defense.

--Old B-Runner

The USS Hatteras in 3D

From the Jan. 21, 2013 Red Orbit "High -Resolution 3D Sonic Images Taken of US Navy Ship USS Hatteras" by Scott LeBloud.

The Hatteras was the only Union ship sunk in the Gulf of Mexico during the war after its unfortunate meeting with the CSS Alabama, the only warship that ship sank.  The new sonar images show a gaping hole in the hull.

The 210-foot, iron-hulled ship is located 20 miles off Galveston in 57 feet of water.  Hurricanes and storms over the last year have scoured sand off the wreck.

The ship is still property of the US Navy and listed on the NRHP.

I looked at the images and think I could make out the paddlewheels, but little more than that.

Finding and Looking at the Past.  --Old B-Runner

Naval Happenings This Date: January 9th to 11th, 1863-- Fall of Fort Hindman-- Alabama Sinks the Hatteras

JANUARY 9-11

Army-Navy expedition attacks and captures Confederate Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post.  There was a serious exchange of gunfire on the 10th and 11th in which every gun in the fort was dismounted, disabled or knocked to piece.  The fort surrendered.

Porter wrote Welles that the commander of the rebels said, "You can't expect men to stand up against the fire of those gunboats."

After the loss, Confederates abandoned other positions on the White and St. Charles rivers.


JANUARY 10TH

Under orders from Farragut to recapture Galveston, Texas, the port was bombarded, but eventually withdrew.


JANUARY 11TH

CSS Alabama, under Captain Raphael Semmes, sank the USS Hatteras about thirty miles off Galveston, Texas, in a 13-minute battle.  The Hatteras sank in nine and a half fathoms and its crew rescued by the Alabama.  Other Union blockaders gave chase, but to no avail.

Old B-Runner

Exploring the USS Hatteras

From the Sept. 12, 2012, Houston Chronicle "Sunken ship yields secrets to technology."

The USS Hatteras was a passenger ship converted into a warship to enforce the blockade.

That fateful day, as an unknown ship hove into view, Acting Master Henry O. Porter said, "That sir, I think, is the Alabama.  What shall we do?"  The ship's commander, Lt. Cmdr. Homer C. Blake, answered, "If that is the Alabama, we must fight her."  And that the Hatteras did and went right on down.

The Hatteras is listed on the NRHP and protected by the Sunken Military Craft Act as a war grave since two of the crew went down with the ship.

Reports say 80% of the ship in intact.  The $60,050 mission to sonar map the Hatteras was paid for by the Edward E. and Marie L.Matthews Foundation of Wilmington, Delaware and the OceanGate Foundation of Seattle.

Shifting sands revealed the ship and fifteen divers worked shifts to sweep the ship.  This effort "virtually" raises the Hatteras.

The Hatteras' bolted-on armor plate and fur 32-pdr. cannons were no match for the Alabama and its eight cannons, including her 110-pdr. rifles gun.  It went down in just 13 minutes.

Like I Said, Always Good to Explore a Civil War Ship.  --Old B-Runner

Taking a Look at the USS Hatteras-- Part 2

From the Houston Chronicle.

The USS Hatteras was a 210-foot long steamship that had previously fought the CSS Mobile.  It's captain was Homer C. Blake and a crew of 125 when it battled the Alabama.

From NBC News

Two days of scanning were spent September 10th and 11th.

The 1,126-ton Hatteras was built in 1861 in Wilmington, Delaware as a civilian steamship.  Purchased by the Navy to implement the blockade, it was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard after refitting.

Before the scanning began, a brief memorial service was held for the two crewmen who did not survive.: William Healy, 32, coal heaver and John Cleary, 24, a stoker.  Both were from Ireland and probably Catholic, so a priest officiated.

Always Enjoy Hearing These Kind of Stories.  --Old B-Runner

Taking a Look at the USS Hatteras-- Part 1

From the September 10, 2012 ENEWSPF "NOAA Partners To Document Civil War -Era Warship Sunk in Gulf of Mexico Battle."

Teams of archaeologists and technicians today began creating a 3-D sonar map to document the storm-exposed remains of the USS Hatteras, the only US warship sunk in combat in the Gulf of Mexico during the war.  (At least one was sunk in Mobile Bay.)

The iron-hulled steamship was converted into a gunboat and sunk by the CSS Alabama on January 11, 1863, about twenty miles off Galveston, Texas.

Today, the wreck is largely intact, about 57-feet down in sand and silt.  Recent hurricanes and storms have removed enough sediment to make the effort possible. Shifting sands, however, may rebury it so speed is of utmost importance.

It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a war grave as two of the crew went down with the Hatteras and their bodies never recovered.

The expedition would like to have the job finished by the 150th anniversary if the sinking.

Another Ship Documented.  --Old B-Runner