Mariner's Museum in Virginia Boring the USS Monitor's Guns

From the February 26, 2020, Daily  Press (Va,)  "Mariner's Museum bores gun of USS Monitor, takes major step  toward displaying ironclad's weapons" by Josh Reyes.

Eric Farrell didn't mind the  black water pouring on him as he peered down the bore of an eight-ton Dahlgren cannon as he kept the drill steady that was eating into the cannon.

The gun had set in a chemical bath at the museum for several years and for 140 years before that, it sat on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.  And, before that, it was in the rotating turret of the USS Monitor in its epic fight with the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia.

Tuesday was the first time he and the others in his group were able to use that one-of--kind drill to clear out silt, coal and other debris that had accumulated over the years.  Next week they plan to start on the second cannon.

Once the two cannons are bored out scientists will see how much salt still remains in each barrel and then chemically extract it.

Boring into these mammoth guns is no easy job.  Each weighs nearly eight tons and are 11 feet long with an opening 11 inches across.

At one point in the boring, something hard was encountered and there was a momentary thought it might be the ship's cat which according to one story was placed in the gun as the ship sank.  It turned out to be apiece of a crab.

Oh, Well, No Cat But Crab.  --Old B-Runner

Conservators Clean Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor's Guns

From the February 25, 2020, 13 News Now by Christopher Collette.

Crews are busily working on the ship's Dahlgren cannons at the Mariner's Museum.  These guns fired at the CSS Virginia in one of the most famous naval battles in history in 1862, then they went to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean when the ship sank later that year off North Carolina's Cape Hatteras, taking 16 men with them.

The Monitor's wreck was discovered in the 1970s and recovery of parts, including the famed turret in which the two cannons were located, started in the 1990s.

On Tuesday, they started to clean  the 11-foot bores in each of the massive guns.  A good video accompanies the article.  They need to use a special-made tool to do this  to remove the marine growth inside the guns.According to them, the Monitor's guns are the largest ever to be bored.

All told, the project is expected to take another ten years.

--Old B-Runner

Feb. 25, 1865: CSS Chickamauga Sunk As An Obstruction in Cape Fear River

FEBRUARY 25TH, 1865:  The CSS Chickamauga was burned and sunk by her own crew in the Cape Fear River just below Indian Wells, North Carolina.  The position selected by the Confederates was above Wilmington on the Northwest Fork of the river leading to Fayetteville.

The scuttling was intended to obstruct the river and prevent the Union from establishing water communication between Wilmington and General Sherman's army operating in the interior of the state.

The effort proved abortive as the current swept the hulk  around parallel to the bank and by 12 March the water link between Wilmington and Fayetteville had been opened.  Every river that could float a ship was an artery of strength from the sea for Sherman in his rapid march north.

--Old B-Runner

Feb. 24, 1865: More Navy Reductions and the Impact on Lee's Army

FEBRUARY 24TH, 1865:  Secretary Welles similarly directed Rear Admiral Dahlgren to send north vessels under his command that were no longer required, especially the least efficient.  "The Department is of the opinion that the fall of Fort Fisher and Charleston will enable us to reduce the expenses of the maintenance of the Navy."

Even as the Union Navy was being cut back, the effect of Northern sea power was felt more and more by General Lee's army.  With its last access to the sea, Wilmington, now controlled by the North, the shortage of essential supplies -- including shoes, artillery, blankets. lead, medicines and even food for men and horses -- became increasingly desperate.

By now, much of Lee's famed cavalry, for want of horses, had become infantry.

--Old B-Runner

February 24, 1865: Welles Orders Downsizing of Navy As War Nears End

FEBRUARY 24TH, 1865:  The intention of the Navy Department to reduce the size of the operating force as the end of hostilities neared was indicated  in Secretary Welles' instructions to Rear Admiral Thatcher, commanding the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, to send "North such purchased vessels as appear by surveys to require very extensive repairs ... and all those no longer required.

"These will probably be sold or laid up.  You also will send home any stores that are not required.  Further requisition must be carefully examined before  approval, and the commanders of squadrons are expected to use every possible exertion and care to reduce the expenses of their squadron."

It's a Reduction in Force.  --Old B-R'er

February 22, 1865: The Confederacy's About Over By Now

FEBRUARY 22ND, 1865:  Not only was Rebel War Clerk J.B. Jones getting down in the dumps about his Confederacy's chances, but many across the South as well.

Material suffering  and the unwavering pressure of Union armies ashore and Federal ships afloat destroyed Southern hopes.  In the Union's strength at sea the Confederacy faced a double disadvantage.

Not only did the fleet provide the North with massed artillery, great mobility. easy concentration and surprise in attack, but also provided a safe fortress to which soldiers ashore could retreat -- as had been most recently  shown during General Butler's amphibious failure at Fort Fisher as 1864 ended.

And, the Navy certainly provided support as Union troops advanced up the banks of the Cape Fear River in their quest to capture Wilmington.

I always have to wonder that had I been a Confederate soldier at this time, whether I would have just given up and gone home.

--Old B-Runner

Wilmington's Famous "Dram Tree"-- Part 1: Pour One Out for the Old Dram Tree

From the February 23, 2020, Wilmington (NC) Star-News  "Pour One Out for the old Dram Tree" by Hunter Ingram.

The ancient bald cypress tree called the "Dram Tree" was once a much beloved landmark  of the Cape Fear River.  And, that was for centuries.

The 28-miles from the mouth of the Cape Fear River to Wilmington was always tricky and dangerous until modern dredging and efforts made it better.  But before that, you almost had to hold your breath.  And, of course, that would include those sleek blockade runners during the Civil War as well as the Union warships involved in the capture of the city after the fall of Fort Fisher.

Running aground on treacherous shoals was a definite possibility.

But in days of yore, the sight of the Old Dram Tree gave mariners a sign of relief for those coming up the river.  They had made it.

--Old B-Runner

Wilmington's Famous "Dram Tree"-- Part 2: "Like a Grim Sentinel"

The famed old tree stuck out of the west bank  of the Cape Fear River about two miles south of Wilmington.

The crooked, ancient bald cypress tree. covered with Spanish moss looked as though it had been the victim of nature's wrath over hundreds of years.  The top of it had no leaves.   It looked like something you might see in a horror movie.

But, to those old mariners, it was something you wanted to see.  It meant home and safety.  When they saw it, this meant that Wilmington was real close by.

Famed local historian James Sprunt once described it as:  "Like a grim sentinel, it stands to warn the outgoing mariner that his voyage had begun and to welcome the in-coming storm-tossed sailor into the quiet harbor beyond."

But, why is it called "The Dram Tree?"

Next.  --Old B-Runner

Feb. 23, 1865: Bleak Gets Even Bleaker in Richmond As Confederate Fortunes Wane-- Part 1

FEBRUARY 22, 1865:  In Richmond, Confederate  War Department clerk J.B. Jones wrote in his diary:  "To-day is the anniversary of the birth of Washington, and of the inauguration of Davis; but I hear of no holiday.  Not much is doing, however, in the departments; simply a waiting for calamities, which come with stunning rapidity.

"The next news, I suppose, will be the evacuation of Wilmington!  Then Raleigh may tremble.  Unless there is a speedy turn in the tide of affairs, confusion will reign  supreme and universally."

And this was way before this year's vote on Confederate statue removal in Virginia.  Things are pretty bleak on that front as well.

--Old B-Runner

Feb. 21-22, 1865: The Fall of Wilmington, "The Anaconda Has, At Last, Wound His Fatal Folds Around Us"

FEBRUARY 21ST-22ND, 1865:  The gunboat fleet of Rear Admiral Porter closed in on Fort Strong and opened rapid fire "all along the enemy's line" to support the Army attack ashore as it had throughout the soldiers' steady march up both banks of the Cape Fear River.

The next day, 22 February, the defenders evacuated the fort and Porter's ships steamed up to Wilmington, which earlier in the day had been occupied by general terry's men after General Bragg had ordered the evacuation  of the now defenseless city.

That same day, the admiral wrote Secretary Welles:  "I have then honor to inform you that Wilmington has been evacuated and is in possession of our troops ....  I had the pleasure of placing the flag on Fort Strong, and at 12 o'clock noon today shall fire a salute of thirty-five guns this being the anniversary of Washington's birthday."

As Raphael  later wrote:  "...we had lost our last blockade-running port.  Our ports are now all hermetically sealed.  The anaconda has, at last, wound his fatal folds around us."

So Long Wilmington.  --Old B-Runner

Feb. 19-20, 1865: The "Old Bogey" Goes Back Into Action

FEBRUARY 19TH-20TH, 1865:  One of Porter's officers wrote that "Old Bogey", the make-shift monitor fashioned by the admiral to deceive Fort Anderson's defenders (since he only had one monitor, the USS Montauk)  (See Feb. 16-17), had taken part in the action against Fort Strong:  "Johnny Reb let off his torpedoes without effect on it, and the old thing sailed across the river and grounded in the flank and rear of the enemy's lines on the eastern bank, whereupon they fell back in the night.

"She now occupies the most advanced position of the line, and Battery Lee has been banging away at her, and probably wondering why she does not answer.  Last night after a half day's fighting, the rebs sent down about 50 torpedoes; but although 'Old Bogey' took no notice of them, they kept the rest of us pretty lively as long as the ebb tide ran."

That Old Bogey.  --Old B-Runner

February 19-20, 1865: Fort Strong Engaged and Confederates Release the Torpedoes in the Cape Fear River, NC

FEBRUARY 19TH TO 20TH, 1865:  Following the evacuation of Fort Anderson, Rear Admiral Porter's gunboats steamed seven miles up the Cape Fear River to the Big Island shallows and the piling obstructions and engaged Fort Strong's five guns.  Ship's boats swept the river for torpedoes (mines) ahead of the fleet's advance.

On the night of the 20th, the Confederates released 200 floating torpedoes, which were avoided with great difficulty and kept the boat crews engaged in sweeping throughout the hours of darkness.

Although many of the gunboats safely swept with their nets, the USS Osceola, Commander J.M.B. Clitz, received hull damage and lost a paddle wheel box by an explosion.

Another torpedo destroyed a boat from the USS Shawmut, inflicting four casualties.

--Old B-Runner

Feb. 18, 1865: Fort Anderson Falls and Sugar Loaf Evacuated in North Carolina

FEBRUARY 18TH, 1865:  The big guns of Rear Admiral Porter's fleet in the Cape Fear River silenced the Confederate batteries at Fort Anderson.  Under a relentless hail, of fire from the ships and with Union troops investing the fort from two sides, the Southerners evacuated their defensive positions and fell back to Town Creek.

Simultaneously, the Confederates dug in at Sugar Loaf Hill, on the east bank of the Cape Fear River, adjacent to Fort Anderson, withdrew to Fort Strong, a complex of fortifications comprising several batteries some three miles south of Wilmington.

The combined Army-Navy movement was now pushing irresistibly toward Wilmington, North Carolina.

--Old B-Runner

Feb. 18, 1865: Charleston Sailors Find Way to Wilmington a Hard Road to Hoe

FEBRUARY 18TH, 1865:  Upon orders to evacuate Charleston, Commodore John R. Tucker scuttled the ironclads Palmetto State, Charleston and Chicora, took charge of the remaining sailors in the area, and set out by train for Wilmington to join the naval detachment that had previously proceeded there under Lieutenant Rochelle.

Tucker's detachment got as far as  Whiteville, about 50 miles west of Wilmington, where he learned that Union troops had cut the rail line between the two cities and that the evacuation of Wilmington was imminent.

After unsuccessfully trying to obtain rail transportation for his detachment, which he pointed out was "unused to marching,"  Tucker set out across country on a 125 mile march to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

--Old B-R'er

Feb. 16-17-- Part 2: "Old Bogey" Scares Confederates at Fort Anderson

Unable to acquire other monitors for the reduction of Fort Anderson, Porter resorted to subterfuge as he had on the Mississippi River in February 1863.  He improvised a bogus monitor from a scow, timber and canvas.

The "Old Bogey", as she was quickly nicknamed by the sailors, had been towed to the head of the Fort Anderson bombardment line, where she succeeded in drawing heavy fire from the defending Southerners.

--Old B-Runner