The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal

 

From Wikipedia.

The capture and destruction of the mailboat Dawn took place on this canal.

The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal was built by a corporation between 1856 and 1860 to afford inland navigation between the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound.

It is really two canals located thirty miles apart.  One canal is eight and a half miles and connects the Elizabeth River and North Landing River in Virginia.    The other is five and a half miles long and connects Currituck Sound with the North River in North Carolina.

In earlier posts I wrote about the CSS Beaufort on which Charles K. Mallory, Jr. was stationed used the canal to participate in the Battle of Roanoke Island and then later the Battle of Hampton Roads.

--Old B-Runner

So, Who Was This Caleb Cushing the Revenue Cutter Was Named After?-- Part 1

I'd heard of the revenue cutter before, but not the man it was named after.  He also played a role in the Civil War as it turns out.

From Wikipedia.

CALEB CUSHING  (January 17, 1800 to January 2, 1879)

Was an American Democratic politician and diplomat who served in Congress from Massachusetts and was attorney general under President Franklin Pierce.  He was an eager proponent of American territorial and commercial expansion, especially regarding the acquisition of Texas, Oregon and Cuba.

He believed that enlarging the American sphere of influence would would fulfill  "the great destiny reserved for this exemplar American Republic."

He also secured a treaty with China in 1844, which opened  five ports to American trade..  After the Civil War, he secured a treaty with Colombia to give the United States a right-of-way  for a transoceanic across the isthmus of Panama. 

In addition, he also helped obtain a favorable  settlement of the Alabama Claims, and as the ambassador to Spain in the 1870s, helped defuse  the troublesome Virginius Affair.

An Important Man in U.S. History Even If I Didn't Know About Him.  --Old B-Runner

Bridge Jumping Confederates Capture Vessel

 From the HMdb site Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal Military Supply Route.

I have been writing about the capture of U.S. Representative George Washington Julian near Coinjack, N.C.,  and while researching found this item of interest.

On May 16, 1863,  thirty Confederate partisans  from Pasquotank County jumped from the nearby Coinjack Bridge onto the side-wheel steamer Arrow and captured the crew then steered the vessel alongside the steamer Emily as if nothing had happened.

The partisans took both ships, flying the Stars and Stripes, up Albemarle Sound, Chowan River, and the Blackwater River to Franklin, Virginia,

En route,  they picked up five African Americans who hailed  them not knowing the crews were Confederates.  Now, that was embarrassing.

The exploit made headlines in the North Carolina newspapers.

--Old B-Runner

N.C. Civil War Timeline for September 1864-- Part 1: Captures of Two Steamers and a U.S. Congressman

Taken from the North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial site.

SEPTEMBER 4--  Capture of steamer Elsie.  Hit the Elsie label to find out more about this blockade runner.  I have quite a few  entries about it.)

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 Captain J.N. Maffitt ordered pilot J.B. Hopkins to take a detail of twenty Confederate sailors to the Albemarle and Chesapeake  Canal and capture the small mail boat Fawn.  Julian was subsequently released in Elizabeth City.

SEPTEMBER  10--  Capture of steamer A.D. Vance.

--Old B-Runner

Action At South Mills, N.C.in 1863

In the last post, I wrote about a Union scouting expedition from Suffolk, Virginia, to South Mills, North Carolina, on June 8, 1863.

From Wikipedia.

South Mills, N.C. is an unincorporated area in the northeast corner of Camden County.  Camden County is along the Virginia border near the ocean.  Population of the town is 454.  The community takes its name from a watermill that operated near it.

The Great Dismal Swamp Canal goes through it.  This made it an area of importance to the Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War.  This led to this scouting expedition and to an earlier battle that took place at South Mills.

--Old B-Runner

The Union Canal on the James River

SEPTEMBER 26TH, 1864:  As Union forces continued to work on their canal at Dutch Gap in the James River to bypass obstructions at Trent's Reach, senior Confederate officers were becoming increasingly concerned.

Major General George Pickett wrote from Chesterfield: "If they wish to complete the canal, they will be compelled to occupy this bank of the river; any attempt to do this ought to be prevented by the gunboats."

Robert E. Lee, concurred, adding: "The navy can readily prevent the enemy from crossing the river at the point indicated by General Pickett, if an understanding be come to by which they shall move promptly to the spot upon being notified of the existence of danger."

Flag Officer Mitchell, commander of the Confederate James River Squadron of whom the generals were speaking, commented four days later:  "I have offered repeatedly to the commanding generals on both sides of the James River to cooperate with them, and shall always be happy to answer any call for this purpose, and feel thankful for any information which will enable the squadron to move promptly when its service can be useful."

Obviously, the Confederate generals do not think the Navy is doing its job.

--Old B-Runner