Alban C. Stimers, USN-- Part 3: The Unfortunate Casco-Class Monitors

Layer in 1863, he was placed in charge of an ambitious  project to construct  twenty light-draft monitors for use in shallow inland waters.  Unfortunately, the displacement calculations made for these ships  were badly done.   The resulting Casco-class turned out to be useless for their intended role and had to be extensively modified.

Stimers had inadvertantly demonstrated the  inherent difficulty of successfully shepherding complex technological endeavors, something that had bedeviled "project managers" from his time to ours.

After the Casco-class debacle, Stimers returned to the seagoing Navy.  At the beginning of 1865, he was Chief Engineer  of the steam frigate USS Wabash.  (As such, he likely was at Fort Fisher.)

He resigned from the Navy in August 1865 and became a consultant.

He died of smallpox on June 3, 1876, survived by a wife and  five children.

--Old B-Runner

After Fort Fisher, the Prisoners-- Part 3: How Elmira Became 'Helmira'

Steamer DeMolay arrived in New York on January 27 with850 rebel prisoners from Fort Fisher.

The steam frigate USS Colorado also arrived in  New York.

According to  the book "Fort Fisher to Elmira" by Richard Triebe there were 1,121 Confederate soldiers sent to Elmira from Fort Fisher.  

Of those, 761, or 68% of the men were native North Carolinians.  There were 357 men from South Carolina and four were Confederate Marines.  Out of the 1,121, 518, or 48% would die within five months.

The major causes of death at Elmira were  pneumonia, diarrhea and  small pox.

--Old B-Runner