Edward Simpson's Career After the Civil War

In 1881, he took command of League Island Navy Yard and in 1884 was appointed President of the Gun Foundry Board.  After that, he left the States again and traveled to Europe for advisory services.

Upon his return, he was promoted to rear admiral and next became President of the Advisory Board, which position he gave up in 1885 for President of the Board of Inspection.  He was regarded as an authority on all matters of ordnance and was author of three books on the subject now used at the Naval Academy.

Throughout his long career he had acted in an advisory capacity on issues dealing with ordnance.  One of his last offices was that of advisory boards which designed the light cruisers USS Boston, Raleigh and Atlanta.  Two of these participated in the Spanish-American War and two of them were in World War I.

At the time of his retirement , he had served in the U.S. Navy for forty-six years.  In 1920, the Navy commissioned the USS Simpson (DD-221).

He died on December 1, 1888, in Washington, D.C., and is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Quite the Career.  --Old B-Runner

CSS Tallahassee-- Part 1: Ship of Many Names and Careers

From Wikipedia.

The CSS Tallahassee was a twin screw steamer (blockade runner) and cruiser used in the Confederate Navy.

It originally was the blockade runner Atalanta and then purchased by the Confederate Navy and renamed the CSS Tallahassee and became a cruiser preying on Northern shipping.

Late it became the CSS Olustee and went for a crusier under Lt. William Henry Ward and lastly, became a blockade runner again, this time named CSS Chameleon.

Chameleon was definitely a good name for the ship.

--Old B-Runner

Here's a Book I Could Get Into: "Life in Jefferson Davis' Navy"

From Amazon.

"Life in Jefferson Davis' Navy" by Barbara B. Tomblin.  Hardcover $29.50.

Far too many people only consider the Civil War's land actions as the only significant aspect of the war, but I am definitely more the anything Navy kind of guy.

This full-length study acknowledges the service and lives of the sailors and officers of the Confederate Navy.  Barbara Tomblin addresses every aspect f their lives, from combat risks to everyday life.  She draws upon the diaries, letters, newspaper accounts and published works to put together their  story.

She relates the stories of those serving on gunboats, ironclads and ships on the rivers and coast and Mobile Bay as well as on the high seas on the Confederate raiders.

She even covers their experiences on prison camps.

Something I would be interested in reading.

-Old B-Runner

August 20, 1864: Close, But No Tallahassee

AUGUST 20TH, 1864:  The USS Pontoosuc, Lieutenant Commander Stevens, entered Halifax.  Stevens learned that the Tallahassee had sailed late the night before and that he had failed to intercept her by only seven hours.

The Pontoosuc departed immediately in pursuit.  based on information reported by by Consul Jackson, Stevens steamed north into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while Wood (the Tallahassee's commander) feeling that he did not have sufficient fuel to actively pursue his raids, had set course for Wilmington.

This date, the Tallahassee captured the brig Roan and burned her.  She was the last prize taken on this brief but most effective cruise.

--Old B-Runner

August 13, 1864: CSS Tallahassee's Successful Cruise

AUGUST 13TH, 1864:  Reports of the CSS Tallhassee's destructive success created much alarm in northern seaports.

This date, John D. Jones, president of the Board of Underwriters (insurance), wired Secretary Welles from New York:  "Confederate steamer Tallahassee is reported cruising within sixty miles of this port.  She has already captured six vessels.  Will you please have the necessary measures taken, if not already done, to secure her capture?"

Half and hour after the receipt of this message, Welles replied:  "Three vessels left New York Navy Yard yesterday afternoon; more leave to-day.  Several vessels have leave Boston to-day and tomorrow.  Every vessel available has been ordered to search for pirate."

In addition this date, Captain C.K. Stribling, Commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, dispatched three ships "in pursuit of the pirate."

However, the Tallahassee's Commander Wood, continued her "depredations," burning the schooner Lammot Fu Pont, cargo of coal, and the bark Glenavon.

The Tallahassee Having a Great Cruise.  --Old B-Runner

August 6, 1864, a Good Day for the Confederate Navy (Especially After August 5)

August 6, 1864 turned  out to be a very good day for the Confederate Navy what with the CSS Tallahassee slipping out of Wilmington, N.C. and starting a two cruise off the Union's coast and destroying much shipping.

Also, the long-awaited appearance of the ram CSS Albemarle took place at the mouth of the the Roanoke River in North Carolina which threw Union forces into fear.

This, of course, taking place one day after the Confederate loss at the Battle of Mobile Bay and the loss of the ironclad CSS Tennessee and the other ships of the fleet.

From Bad to Good.   --Old B-Runner

CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge-- Part 6: Captured 67 Union Merchant Ships

From June 28, 2019.

The spectacular career of the Confederate raider Alabama was over.  Before her last battle Semmes  reminded his men:  "You have destroyed, and driven for protection under neutral flags, one-half of the enemy's commerce, which at the beginning of the war, covered every sea."

The Alabama had captured and burned at sea 55 Union merchantmen valued at over four and one half million dollars, and had bonded ten others to the value of 562 thousand dollars.

Another prize, the Conrad, was commissioned the CSS Tuscaloosa and herself struck at Northern shipping.

Flag Officer Barron lamented:  "It is true that we have lost our ship; the ubiquitous gallant Alabama is no more, but we have lost no honor."

--Old B-Runner

CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge-- Part 5: The End of the Alabama

The Alabama settled stern first and her bow raised high in the air as the waters of the English Channel closed over her.  Boats from the Kearsarge and French boats rescued the survivors.

The English yacht Deerhound, owned by Mr. John Lancaster, picked up Captain Semmes with 13 of his officers and 27 crew members and carried them to Southhampton.

The spectacular career of the Confederacy's most famous raider was closed.

--Old B-Runner

June 11, 1864: CSS Alabama Arrives in Cherbourg, France Prior To Her Battle With USS Kearsarge-- Part 1

JUNE 11TH, 1864:  CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, badly in need of repairs, arrived at Cherbourg, France.  Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair, CSN, an officer on board the Confederate raider, later recorded his impressions upon entering this, her last port:

"We have cruised from the day of commission, August 24, 1862, to June 11, 1864, and during this time have visited two-thirds of the globe, experiencing all vicissitudes of climate and hardships attending constant cruising.

"We have had from the first to last two hundred and thirteen officers and men on the payroll, and have lost not one by disease, and but one by accidental death."

Of interest, besides the CSS Alabama-USS Kearsarge battle, Cherbourg was also a port visited by the RMS Titanic and was important in D-Day and the Normandy Campaign which I have been writing about in all my blogs to commemorate the 75th anniversary of it.

--Old B-Runner

April 23, 1864: The Alabama Captures and Destroys the Rockingham Off Cape Verde Islands

APRIL 23RD, 1864:   The CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured and destroyed the ship Rockingham with cargo of guano at sea west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Semmes said of the capture:  "It was an old spectacle of the panting, breathless fawn, and the inexorable stag-hound.  A gun brought his colors to the peak, and his main-yard to the mast ...,  We transferred to the Alabama such stores and provisions as we could make room for, and the weather being fine, we made a target of the prize, firing some shot and shell into her with good effect and at five p.m. we burned her and filled away on our course."

Ominously, during his gunnery practice, many of the Alabama's shells failed to explode.

--Old B-Runner

March 20, 1864: CSS Alabama Not Being Chased Now: "Chasing the Alabama" Doesn't Pay Off

MARCH 20TH, 1864:  Arriving off Capetown, South Africa, Captain Semmes, CSS Alabama, noted that there were no Union cruisers in the vicinity, though he was well aware that many had been dispatched from Northern ports to capture him.

He recalled later:  "That huge old coal-box, the Vanderbilt, having thought it was useless to pursue us farther, had turned back, and was now probably  doing a more profitable business, by picking up blockade-runners on the American coast.  This operation paid -- the Captain might grow rich upon it.  Chasing the Alabama did not."

--Old B-Runner

April 17, 1863: CSS Florida Captured and Destroyed Commonwealth

APRIL 17TH, 1863:  The CSS Florida, Lieutenant Maffitt, captured and destroyed the ship Commonwealth off the coast of Brazil, bound from New York to San Francisco.

--Old B-Runner

April 4, 1863: CSS Alabama Captures the Louisa Hatch

APRIL 4TH, 1863:  The CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured the Louisa Hatch off the coast of Brazil with large cargo of coal.  Semmes took the prize with him so he would still have a means of obtaining a supply of coal is he failed to rendezvous as planned with the bark Agrippina at Fernando de Noronha Island.

Semmes' foresight again paid off, for the bark did not arrive at the island.  After coaling and provisioning from the Louisa Hatch, Semmes burned her on 17 April.

--Old B-R'er

February 27, 1863: CSS Alabama Takes a Prize

FEBRUARY 27, 1863:  The CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured and released on bond the ship Washington in the mid-Atlantic.  Semmes noted:  "She was obstinate, and compelled me to wet the people on her poop, by the spray of a shot, before she would acknowledge that she was beaten."

--Old B-Runner

George Henry Preble-- Part 4: In Defense of the CSS Florida Escape

However, Preble had his supporters in the incident.
Even the commander of the CSS Florida, John Newland Maffitt, testified that it was his ship's superior speed that enabled him to run into Mobile Bay.

Other Oneida officers testified that Preble had done no wrong.

The CSS Florida appeared around 5 p.m. on September 4, 1862, flying the ensign of an English warship to confuse the blockaders.  Preble was in command of the Mobile blockade at the time in  his USS Oneida along with the the USS Winona because the other blockading ships were away for repairs.  So instead of the usual six ships, there were just two.

--Old B-Runner

George Henry Preble-- Part 3: Confederate Cruiser Florida Eludes Him

George Preble commanded the steam gunboat USS Katahdin with Farragut on the Mississippi River.  Promoted to commander July 16, 1862, he was given command of the steam sloop Oneida blockading Mobile Bay, Alabama.

As a result, Preble was dismissed from the Union Navy

He received a lot of support for overturning the dismissal and he was reinstated.

--Old B-R'er

November 2, 1862: CSS Alabama Captures a Whaling Ship

NOVEMBER 2ND, 1862: The CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured and burned the whaling ship Levi Starbuck, near Bermuda.

One of Many.  --Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: CSS Sumter Captures Another Prize

JULY 27TH, 1861:  CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured American bark Joseph Maxwell off Venezuela.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: May Mallory Wants Commerce Raiders

MAY 10TH, 1861:  Confederate Secretary of Navy Mallory farsightedly wrote the Committee on Naval Affairs of Congress regarding proposals for new warships:  "I regard the possession of an iron-armored ship as a matter of the first necessity.  Such a vessel at this time could traverse the entire coast of the United States, prevent all blockades, and encounter, with a fair prospect of success, their entire Navy.

"If to cope with them upon the sea we follow their example and build wooden ships, we shall have to construct several at one time; for one or two ships would fall an easy prey to their comparatively numerous steam frigates.

"But inequality of numbers may be compensated by invulnerability; and thus not only does economy but naval success dictate the wisdom and expediency of fighting with iron against wood, without regard to first cost.  Naval engagements between wooden frigates, as they are now built and armed will prove to be the forlorn hopes of the sea, simply contests in which the question, not of victory, but of who shall go to the bottom first, is to be solved."

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: Buying Those Raiders

MAY 10TH, 1861:  Blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, initiated by USS Niagara.

**   Secret Act of Confederate Congress, signed by President Davis, authorized "the Navy Department to send an agent abroad to purchase six steam propellers, in addition to those heretofore authorized, together with rifled cannon, small arms, and other ordnance stores and munitions of war," and appropriated a million dollars for the purpose.

--Old Blockade Runner