"Beat the Heat" at Fort Fisher This Summer

From the Fort Fisher North Carolina Historic Site.

The annual summer "Beat the Heat" series of lectures will be given on Saturdays at 2 p.m. at the site in Kure Beach.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16

"THE FACES OF FORT FISHER" by Dr. Chris Fonvielle.  This will examine the lives of people in the fort as well as those in the blockading fleet.  Chris Fonvielle is without a doubt, THE foremost authority on any and everything dealing with Wilmington and Fort Fisher during the Civil War.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23

"THE WASP PROGRAM AND FORT FISHER"  by Assistant Site Manager John Mosely.  This is about the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, better known as the WASPs.

In July 1943, the first 25 women of this program arrived at Camp Davis Army Air Field to pull anti-aircraft targets at Fort Fisher.

--Old B-Runner

33-Star, 34-Star, 35-Star and 36-Star U.S. Flags During the Civil War

The U.S. Flag Organization says that Union forces used four different official flags during the war.  It depended upon when a new state entered the Union.  Seceded Confederate states were included in the flag as well.

The 35-star flag was used the most.

--Old B-Runner

June 11, 1863: Blockade Runner Calypso Captured

JUNE 11, 1863:  USS Florida, Commander Bankhead, captured blockade running steamer Calypso attempting to dash into Wilmington with cargo including drugs, provisions and plating for Confederate ironclads.

It later became a Union ship.

I mentioned the capture of this ship, in yesterday's post.  I have written quite a lot about the capture of this ship.  Just click on blockade runner Calypso in the labels to see the posts.

--Old B-R'er

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

Action in North Carolina, June 1863: Capture of Blockade Runner Calypso

From the North Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial and Research on Line.

JUNE 5-7  Reconnaissance through Gates County and down Chowan River.  Union force 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry.

JUNE  8--  Scout from Suffolk, Virginia, to South Mills, North Carolina.

JUNE 11-- Capture of blockade-runner Calypso.

Old B-Runner

Bennett W. Green, CSN-- Part 5: Confederate Service

Jackson Station, 1862

Naval Hospital, Richmond, Virginia

I have not been able to come up with anything about a Jackson Station in the Confederate Navy, but since other stations were named after cities, I will have to guess this station to be at Jackson, Mississippi.  I did come across other Confederate officers who were stationed at Jackson Station.

Richmond had many hospitals during the Civil War.

--Old B-Runner

Bennett W. Green-- Part 4: Confederate Service

ARMY SERVICE at Culpepper Court House, Virginia, 1861

CSS Pamlico, New Orleans Station

There was a training base and Army hospital at Culpepper Court House, va.

The CSS Pamlico was sidewheel steamer purchased in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 10 July 1862 and placed in commission 2 September, 1861, with Lt. W.G. Dozier in command.

It operated in and around New Orleans and fought Union ships on December 4 and 7, 1861, 25 March 1862 and 4 April 1862.

I was burned on Lake Pontchartran, Louisiana to prevent capture after New Orleans fell.

--Old B-Runner

The Union Attack on Bluffton, S.C.: Destruction

From Wikipedia.

After the Union victory at Port Royal on November 7, 1861, Confederate forces retreated to Bluffton, on the mainland, from Hilton Head Island.  From Bluffton, Confederates could easily keep watch on the Union activities.

In late May 1863, Union General David Hunter ordered the destruction of Bluffton.  This was carried out June 4, 1863.  Around two-thirds of Bluffton's approximately sixty structures were destroyed. Only the town's two churches and fifteen family dwellings remained after the attack.

--Old B-Runner

June 4, 1863: Action at Bluffton, S.C.

JUNE 4TH, 1863:  The USS Commodore McDonough, Lt.-Cmdr. Bacon, with steamer Island City, transport Cossack, and Army gunboat Mayflower in company, transported and supported an Army action at Bluffton, South Carolina.

The troops disembarked without incident under the protection of the gunboat, and proceeded to Bluffton where they met strong Confederate resistance.  With naval gunfire support, the town was destroyed and the troops were enabled to reembark with the mission successfully completed.

--Old B-Runner

Bennett W. Green, CSN-- Part 3: Confederate Service

From Register of Officers of Confederate Navy.

GREEN, BENNETT WOOD

Born in Virginia,  Appointed from Virginia.

Formerly assistant surgeon U.S. Navy

In Confederate service:  Assistant Surgeon May 23, 1861, Passed Assistant Surgeon October 25, 1862, Passed Assistant Surgeon, Provisional Navy, June 2, 1864.

--Old B-Runner

Bennett Green-- Part 2: A Photograph Taken in England, Autumn 1865

From ibiblio.org  Acting Master Irvine S. Bulloch, CSN (1861-1865)

Photo # NH 59499  Former Confederate Naval officers.  Taken Leamington Spa, England, Autumn 1865, following the return of the CSS Shenandoah.

Included:

Former Assistant Surgeon Edwin G. Booth
Former Acting Master Irvine S. Bulloch of the CSS Shenandoah
Former Passed Assistant Surgeon Bennett W. Green
Former 1st Lieutenant William H. Murdaugh
Former Passed Assistant Surgeon Charles H. Lining of the CSS Shenandoah

--Old B-R'er

Bennett Green, CSN-- Part 1: Surgeon

Over the last month I have written a lot about Newport News, Mulberry Island and Fort Crafford, Virginia, in my Saw the Elephant Civil War blog.  I mentioned this man in connection with Mulberry Island (on the James River).

His family lived in one of the homes on the island and he went on to become a surgeon in the Confederate Navy.  When the Union forces took over the area in 1862, most homes on the island were abandoned and ransacked by Union soldiers.

One of these men found and took as a souvenir, Green's Confederate commission as a ship's surgeon.  Years later, this was returned to Greens's family.

--Old B-Runner

Herbert E. Valentine-- Part 3

Other maps and drawings by Herbert E. Valentine in the Civil War Day By Day site:

HQ, ist Div. 18th Army Corps

Line of Works occupied by 1st Division  (Map)

Barracks of 24th Mass. (Now occupied by the 23rd Mass)  New Berne, N.C.

Birds Eye View of 23rd Mass. camp

General Ledlie's HQ St. Helena Island

Passing bridge on Trent River

--Old B-Runner

Herbert E. Valentine-- Part 2: Discharged from Army Oct. 16, 1864

Continued from May 28, 2018.

He did not reenlist at the expiration of his enlistment and was discharged from the Army 16 October 1864.

In civilian life, he married and had a son and a daughter.  The rest of his life was spent in West Somerfield, Massachusetts where he died 17 June 1917.

During that time he was active in veteran organizations and 1896 published "Story of Company F, 23rd Massachusetts Volunteers in the War for the Union 1861-1865."

--Old B-Runner

What's in a Newport News?

I often mention Newport News in this blog, especially in connection with the USS Monitor, CSS Virginia, USS Cumberland and USS Congress because of what took place off Newport News in 1862.

But, the name Newport News seems to be a strange one for a city or town.

I mean, I can get the Newport part of the name since it is on the water and a port.  But what about the News?

You can find out where the name comes from by going to my Saw the Blockade Civil War blog and clicking on it.  I wrote about it May 30 and May 32.

--Old B-Runner