Acting Ensign Arnold Harris USN-- Part 2: The Attack on Confederate Fort Clifton in Virginia

From the United States Congressional Set:  Report of Secretary of Navy.

Report of Acting Volunteer Lt.  Amos P. Foster, commanding the USS Commodore Perry.

June 23, 1864

"...Acting Ensign Arnold H. Harris, in command of  army gunboat Chamberlain,  came on board this vessel at 6:30 a.m.  of the 16th instant, and said that General Butler requested me to open fire as soon as possible  on Fort Clifton."

He fired 47 percussion shells at the fort and he said they did damage.

Ens. Harris and Lt.  Bullard, of Brigadier General  Graham's staff came on board.  Lt. Bullard had been ordered to come on board and request he open fire again on Fort Clifton early on the morning of June 17.  He did just that, but on the second shot from his 100-pounder Parrott rifle, it blew up, killing and wounding many.

I'll write about the explosion of the Parrott rifle in the next post.

--Old B-Runner

So, Who Are We Honoring Today? National Vietnam War Veterans Day

From the March 23, 2022, Fox 10 News, Mobile, Alabama.

It honors:

U.S. Armed Forces personnel with active duty service between November 1, 1955, to May 15, 1975, regardless of  location of service which includes:

**  9 million Americans serving at the time

**  6.4 million Americans living today

**  58,000 whose names are memorialized on the wall in Washington, D.C.

**  304,000 who were wounded

**  1,253 MIA

**  2,500 POWs

Acting Ensign Arnold Harris, USN-- Part 1

I decided to see if I could find any more information on Acting Ensign Arnold Harris, especially in regards to Gen. Benjamin Butler.

From U.S. Navy Officers1798-1900.

ARNOLD HARRIS

Acting Ensign, 24 March 1863.  Assigned to North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as of 1865.

Resigned  21 February 1865

Must have been the commander of the U.S. Army transport Brewster.

****************************

From United States Service Magazine, Vol.  3, 1865.

January 13, 1865

Acting Ensign Arnold Harris, detached from special duty with the Army, and ordered to report to Rear-Admiral Porter.

--Old B-Runner

Beast Butler Has a Plan to Wreck Confederate Shipping in the Cape Fear River

From the American Civil War High Command January 7, 1864.

NORTH CAROLINA

Union Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler revealed a plan to send  the Army steamer Brewster, Ensign Arnold Harris,  into Wilmington Harbor disguised as a blockade runner.  There they would destroy  the shipping and blockade runners in the harbor.

The plan was abandoned when extent of Confederate defenses were discovered.

Union General Charles Kinnaird Graham reported to Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee that it might be possible to run past Forts Caswell and Fisher by the proposed ruse, but the chain across the Cape Fear River at Fort Lee would halt the ship.

All blockade runners were required to stop there until cleared for further progress upriver by authorities in Wilmington and it was expected that the plot would be detected.

A Thought, Anyway.  --Old B-Runner

CSS Albemarle-- Part 8: Cushing Does Her In

The Albemarle's mere presence kept it a threat throughout the rest of the summer and fall.  That is, until October 28, 1864, when Union Lieutenant William Cushing led a daring early morning raid that sank the Albemarle in eight feet of water using a spar torpedo on the front of a launch.

Three days later, without the threat of the Albemarle, Union forces recaptured Plymouth.

Elliott didn't witness his prize creation's demise, though.  He was back at Edward's Ferry constructing another ironclad (that wasn't completed before the war ended).

In 1867, the U.S. Navy refloated the Albemarle and towed it to the Norfolk (Virginia) Navy Yard.  It was deemed useless and sold for scrap, fetching a mere $2,500.

One of her 6.4-inch Brooke rifled cannons is on display at the Headquarters of the Commander U.S. Fleet Forces Command at Norfolk, Virginia, naval base.  Her smokestack is on display at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.    Her bell is on display at  the Port o' Plymouth Museum in Plymouth, North Carolina.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Albemarle-- Part 7: Capture of Plymouth, N.C.

Recalled Elliott, "Captain Cooke ran the ram close to the southern shore, and then, suddenly turning toward the middle of the stream, and going with the current... dashed the prow of the Albemarle into the Southfield, making an opening large enough to carry her to the bottom...."

Cooke then turned his attention to the USS Miami, whose point-blank fire proved ineffectual against the Albemarle's armor.  After an attempt to board the ironclad was beaten back, the Miami fled downriver.

But, when dawn broke the next day, there was no sign of Hoke.  Elliott and a team of volunteers soon found the Confederates bivouacked along a creek near the river's mouth, about 12 miles away, and with the general, devised a battle plan in which the Albemarle would shell the Union defenses while Hoke launched an infantry attack on them.

By 10 a.m., the attack was over and Plymouth was in Confederate hands.

The fearsome ram would enjoy one more moment of glory.  On the afternoon of May 5, 1864, Cooke's vessel sortied into Albemarle Sound and engaged the entire Union flotilla.  All attempts to sink the Albemarle failed, and at nightfall both sides retired.

--Old B-Runner

Gilbert Elliott's CSS Albemarle-- Part 6: The Battle of Plymouth Is Joined

So, Robert Hoke's force is at Plymouth and his expected help from the Albemarle isn't.  A series on infantry attacks on April 18, 1864, had limited success, but Union naval gunfire from the river inflicted heavy losses on the Confederates.  The battle continued well into the night before Hoke called a halt.

The Albemarle reached Plymouth the following day after being delayed by both mechanical problems and sunken Union boats.  During a longboat reconnaissance conducted on the 18th, with the help of volunteers, Elliott took measurements and found that his ship could make its way over the Union hulls safely.

On its approach to Plymouth, the Albemarle's iron plating easily withstood the artillery fire from the Union forts.  "[T] those on board," Elliott wrote, "the noise made by the shot and shell as they struck the boat sounded no louder than pebbles thrown against an empty barrel."

As the Albemarle came abreast of Plymouth, the USS Miami and USS Southfield were spotted steaming up from the sound.  In an effort to trap the Confederate ship between them, the two ships were linked  by an iron chain.

--Old B-Runner

Gilbert Elliott's CSS Albemarle-- Part 5: Cooperating with Gen. Hoke in Attack on Plymouth

In the spring of 1864, Confederate General Robert E. Lee began looking for ways to regain initiative in the war in the Confederate heartland as well as reduce the building pressure from the Army of the Potomac against Petersburg and Richmond.  He detached North Carolina native Robert F. Hoke to launch an offensive against Plymouth, North Carolina.

The Union garrison there was well-protected by forts, defensive positions and a formidable flotilla of ships.  An important aspect of this venture would be the assistance of the CSS Albemarle.

Hoke met with Captain James Wallace Cooke, CSN, and found that the ram was still being fitted out.  The ram wasn't on the prow yet, the shop lacked a capable crew and it had not even had its "shakedown" cruise yet.

Not to be stopped, Hoke promised mechanics to work on the ship and sailors from his infantry.  Cooke agreed to join the planned attack by April 17,1864.

With a force of roughly 10,000 men, Hoke showed up at Plymouth on time.  But, the Albemarle was not there.

--Old B-Runner

Gilbert Elliott's CSS Albemarle-- Part 4: When Completed

The finished Albemarle was 152 feet long and with a 45-foot beam.  "The depth from gun-deck to keel was 9 feet," Elliott noted, "and when launched she drew 6 and one half feet of water, but after being ironed and completed her draught was about 8 feet."

The ram's iron plates were seven inches wide and two inches thick and its 18-foot wooden oak prow was covered with two inches of iron plating as well (all the better for ramming).

The armament  consisted of two  6.4-inch rifled Brooke guns mounted on pivot carriages, each gun able to work three gunports.  Propelled by two 200-hp steam engines, its top speed would be four knots.

--Old B-Ram

Gilbert Elliott's CSS Albemarle-- Part 3: Problems with William Lynch

The project to build the Albemarle was also beset by administrative issues.  Questions over contract terms cropped up, especially  after William F. Lynch, North Carolina's ranking naval officer got involved.  In October 1863, he assumed overall supervision of construction, and, fearing that Edwards Ferry was too vulnerable to Union cavalry raids, ordered the unfinished ironclad towed upstream to Halifax.

"For many reasons it was thought judicious to remove the boat to ...Halifax," Elliott later wrote, "and there the work of completion, putting in her machinery, armament, etc., was done...."

While dragging the hull from the cornfield on a bluff to the river below, the hull was bent,  "but to our great gratification did not...spring a leak."  Once the hull was straightened out, it was hauled 22 miles up the Roanoke River to Halifax where it awaited its iron plates.

--Old B-Runner

Gilbert Elliott's CSS Albemarle-- Part 2: It Was a Hard Build Indeed

Elliott believed it would be necessary to build his ironclad away from the Union fleet, so it was built on Peter Smith's Edwards Ferry plantation.  It was built on the Roanoke River on dry land.  Elliott wrote "The river rises and falls and it was necessary to locate the yard on ground sufficiently free from overflow, to admit the uninterrupted work for at least twelve months." 

John L. Porter, the man responsible for converting the USS Merrimac into the CSS Virginia in 1861, prepared the vessel's plans and specifications and joined Elliott at Edwards Ferry to supervise construction.  They were soon joined by Captain James Wallace Cooke, the ironclad's designated commander.

Everything in the cornfield shipyard was makeshift, but plantation owner Smith became a willing partner in the enterprise and had three portable lumber mills constructed to cut the sturdy yellow pine timber for the ship's hull.  Construction by a team of white carpenters and slaves from nearby plantations continued night and day in spite of the stifling heat and humidity you get in North Carolina summers.

For many months there was a fear that the 376-ton ship would never launch since the iron needed for its plating was so scarce in the South.  Elliott finally obtained 700 tons of iron from abandoned railroad tracks in February 1864.

--Old B-Runner

Gilbert Elliott's Infernal Machine, the CSS Albemarle (the Cornfield Ironclad)-- Part 1

From the January 2020 America's Civil War magazine  "Infernal Machine" by Gordon Berg.

The rumors had begun drifting in to the North Carolina river port of Plymouth that something was going on up the Roanoke River from them and it did not bode well.  It was something dangerous, especially to a sizeable Union fleet and some 3,000 soldiers guarding the place.

What it was, was something out of the mind if a young engineer-inventor named Gilbert Elliott.  His "infernal machine" was taking place and would be named the CSS Albemarle.  And, he had created a makeshift shipyard in the middle of a cornfield on Peter Smith's Edwards Ferry plantation.

His maternal grandfather, Charles Grice, owned a shipyard in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, but growing up, Gilbert had leaned toward a law career, but when the war broke out he enlisted in the 17th N.C. regiment and was captured at Cape Hatteras Inlet in December 1861.  After exchange, he was assigned to the James River Drewry's Bluff battery near Richmond.

To pass the time, he began sketching designs for warships and on a whim sent them to the Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory.  Mallory had three warship construction contracts to give and Elliott got one.

--Old B-Runner

George B. Livingston-- Part 2

"USS Despatch," special service, 1878-9;  "USS Enterprise," European Station, 1879-81; Torpedo  Instructor, 1881.

The USS Despatch was involved in the Virginius Affair.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Commander, October, 1881;  "USS Adams," Pacific Squadron, 1882-3:  R.S. "USS Colorado," 1883-4; store-ship "USS  Monongahela, 1883-4; commanding store-ship "USS Monongahela," 1885-6; Navy Yard, New York, 1889; Navy Yard, Norfolk, 1889-90.

--Old b-Runner

George B. Livingston, the Emma's First Commander

George B. Livingston was the first commander of the USS Emma when the former blockade runner entered U.S. service.

From "The Records of Living Officers of the U.S. Navy & Marine Corps, 1878,"

LIEUTENANT GEORGE B. LIVINGSTON

Born in New York.  Entered Navy as  volunteer officer during the Rebellion; transferred to regular service, 1868; Narragansett (third rate),  N.A. Station 1869.

Commissioned as  Lieutenant, March 21, 1870; Pacific Fleet, 1869-1872; USS Colorado, N.A. Station, 1874; USS Plymouth (second rate), N.A. Station, 1875; USS Alert (third rate), N.A. Station, 1875-7; R.S. USS Franklin, 1878.

--Old B-Runner

It's All About the USS Monitor in Andover, Mass.-- Part 2

Scheduled presentations:

**  Battle of the Ironclads/Raising the Monitor Q&A by John Quarstein  USS Monitor Center Director Emeritus.

**  USS Monitor--  Technical Aspects by James Worden of North Andover.

**  History of the Steam Frigate USS Merrimack 1855-1861 by Brian Howard NAHS Executive Director.

**  Displays of ship models and portrait of Rear Admiral John L. Worden, USN, provided by the Worden family.

**  Short film of the USS Monitor's 2002 recovery and ongoing restoration efforts.

Wish I was There.  --Old B-R'er