RoadTrippin' with Theo Timby-- Part 5: Stanton, Wilkes, a Confederate General and Spy

And, these are just a few of the notable burials in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C..

**  Joseph Bryant Smith (1826-1862)--  USN.  Acting commander of USS Congress and decapitated in the fight with the CSS Virginia.

**  Also, his father Josph Smith (1790-1877)   Rear Admiral.  In 1862 appointed  Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks.  And his brother Albert Nathaniel Smith (1822-1866), Commander USN  Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting.

**  Edwin McMasters Stanton  (1814-1869)--  Lincoln's Secretary of War.

**  Abel Parker Upshur  ((1790-1844)--  Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of State under President Tyler.  Killed by explosion of cannon on the USS Princeton.  This ship used some of John Ericsson's inventions including the cannon that blew up.

**  Bettie Duval Webb  (1845-1891)--  Confederate spy.

**  Cadmus Wilcox  (1824-1890)--  Confederate general.

**  Charles Wilkes  (1798-1877)--  Union naval officer.  As commander of the USS San Jacinto, he stopped the British ship Trent and removed Confederate commissioners  Mason and Slidell.  Reburied at Arlington National Cemetery.

--Old B-Runner

Ralph Chandler, USN-- Part 3: Civil War and Post-War Service

From 1855 to 1859, he was involved in coast survey and the survey of the Parana River and was serving on the sloop Vandalia when the Civil War began.  He was on her at the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861.  The next year he was assigned to the steam-sloop San Jacinto of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

Chandler was present at the engagement of the Sewell's Point batteries and the capture of Norfolk.  On 25 July 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant-commander and commanded the screw steamer USS Huntsville in the East Gulf Blockading Squadron.  Later he was transferred to command the USS Maumee in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and fought at Fort Fisher  and the capture of Wilmington.

For two years after the war, he commanded the steamer USS Don and was on ordnance duty at  the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1868.  The next year he commanded the USS Tallapoosa.  Promoted to captain in  1874 and commodore in 1884 and served as commandant of Brooklyn Navy Yard.

On 6 October 1886, he was commissioned as read admiral and ordered to relieve Rear Admiral John L. Davis (also at Fort Fisher) in command of the Asiatic Squadron.  He died of apoplexy in Hong Kong February 9, 1889, and is buried there.

--Old B-Runner

USS Two Sisters-- Part 3: Was Tender to USS San Jacinto

On 13 January 1864 while stationed off the mouth of the Suwanee River, the Two Sisters sent a boat crew and captured the schooner William with a cargo of salt, bagging and rope.    In May, she served as tender for the steam frigate USS San Jacinto.  Afterwards, the Two Sisters resumed its blockade duties.

On 3 December 1864, the Two Sisters participated in an early amphibious-type operation.   Her boats and men joined  others from the USS Nita, USS Stars and Stripes and USS Hendrick Hudson.  The expedition was commanded by Acting Lt. Robert B. Smith.  The objective was Tampa Bay where they destroyed a large Confederate salt work at Rocky Point.

She remained on blockade duty until the end of the war and was sold  at public auction to J. Jones on 28 June 1865.

A Very Busy Little Ship.  --Old B-Runner

Follow-Up On the Last Post, CSS Florida Destroys the Commonwealth

In the last post, I wrote about the CSS Florida, under Lt. Maffitt, capturing and destroying the ship Commonwealth off Brazil.

From Wikipedia.

The CSS Florida had run out of Mobile Bay on January 16, 1863.  It then coaled in Nassau then spent six months off the coasts of North and South America making calls at neutral ports, making captures and eluding a large Federal squadron pursuing her.  It was during this period when she captured the Commonwealth.

From Ahoy  Mac's Log.

The Florida was chased by four Union ships:  USS Wachusett, Santiago de Cuba, San Jacinto and Sonoma.  they were under the overall command of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes.  Charles Wilkes had commanded the USS San Jacinto in the famed Trent Affair.

The Commonwealth was a 1,300 ton clipper ship of New York.  She was put to the torch.  Its cargo had been insured for $370,000.

--Old B-R'er

155 Years Ago, November 15, 1861: Slidell and Mason Disembark

NOVEMBER 15TH, 1861:  Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell disembarked from the USS San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, at Fort Monroe.

**  The USS Dale, Commander Yard, captured British schooner Mabel, east of Jacksonville.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago, November 8, 1861: The Trent Affair

NOVEMBER 8TH, 1861:  The USS San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, stopped the British mail steamer Trent in Old Bahama Channel and removed Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell.

The action sparked a serious international incident.

--Old B-R'er

Loss of the USS San Jacinto

JANUARY 1ST, 1865:  The USS San Jacinto, Captain Richard W. Meade, ran on a reef at Green Turtle Cay, Abaco, in the Bahamas.  She was found to be seriously bilged and was abandoned without loss of life.

Meade was able to salvage the armament, ammunition, rigging, cables and much of the ship's copper.

At an earlier period of the war, the USS San Jacinto had gained fame when her commanding officer, Captain Charles Wilkes, stopped the British ship Trent and removed Confederate commissioners James Mason and John Slidell.

--Old B-R'er

150 Years Ago-- March 11th, 1864: Good Day for the USS Beauregard

MARCH 11TH, 1864: Earlier in the day, boats from the USS Beauregard and Norfolk Packet seized the British schooner Linda at Mosquito Inlet, Florida, with cargo of salt, liquor and coffee. Later, the Beauregard captured blockade-running British sloop Hannah off Mosquito Inlet with cargo of cotton cloth. Oh Boy!! Prize Money!! //// USS Aroostock captured British schooner Mary P. Burton in the Gulf of Mexico off Velasco, Texas. //// USS San Jacinto captured schooner Lealtad which had run the bklockade at Mobile with cargo of cotton and turpentine. //// The schooner Julia Baker was boarded by Confederates near Newport News, Virginia. After taking $2,500 in cash and capturing the master and five men, the boarders burned the schooner. //// Lots Going On. --Old B-Runner