Confederate Navy

“ We may hark back to our own Civil War for an illustration of the crushing power of a superior navy not qualified by any serviceable weapon in the hands of the weaker power.
Historians have very generally failed to ascribe to the Federal blockade of Confederate ports its proportionate influence on the outcome of that war. The Confederates had no navy. Their few naval vessels were mere commerce destroyers, fleeing the ships of the United States navy and preying upon unarmed merchantmen. ”

“ The British government had full information that she was building for a Confederate cruiser under the supervision of Commander James D. Bullock of the Confederate navy, and, later, that Bullock was shipping men (British subjects) for her, promising petty offices to this and that capable man. The reader who wants to go into the details of this matter will find plenty of them in an Englishman’s work on the “Neutrality of Great Britain during the American Civil War,” by Mountague Bernard, of Oxford University. ”

“ Personnel strength totalled 8,900. Of 1,300 active officers, 322 resigned or were dismissed and entered the Confederate service. Annapolis graduates in active service numbered 287; sixty of them went South.
Navy enlisted men, like those in the Army, did not have the privilege of an honorable resignation. Only a handful of sailors deserted.
A Confederate Navy did not exist, except for those officers who had left the U. S. Navy. Ships were purchased and built as the war progressed. ”

“ Rightly considered, the abandonment of the Norfolk Navy Yard was as great a misfortune to the South as to the North, for it needlessly prolonged and intensified a conflict that could have but one end. No one can estimate the number of lives that these guns cost both sides—the fortifications that were erected and the battles that were fought in consequence of their falling into Confederate hands. But if it took the Confederates a whole year to get at the work of casting cannon, it is not unreasonable to suppose that one year of the war would have been saved had the government held its own. ”

“ In the beginning of the civil war he joined a Confederate battery, was engaged in the battles around Richmond in 1862, was wounded at Cedar Mountain, at the second battle of Bull Run, and again at Chancellorsville, and on 20 June, 1863, was appointed a midshipman in the Confederate navy. ”

“ The Union soldiers were gaining ground. The navy planned an expedition to carry Sumter by storm. Commander Thomas Holdup Stevens was placed in charge. In all, 400 men, sailors and marines, were put into small boats. But a lookout on the Confederate side was able to read the “wigwag” signals by which the orders were transmitted between the ships. So says Johnson. Of course the Confederates were ready when the force came. All who landed on the fort, including ten officers and 104 men, were taken prisoners, and three men were killed. These were the men who led. ”

“ Taking our present condition as the basis of the calculation, it may be stated in general terms that our land forces should be increased by the addition of, say, 300,000 men in the field and those for whom call has already been made; that the Navy should be increased by a number of vessels suited to river and harbor defense, say, fifty iron-clad propellers, and a fleet of, say, ten of the most formidable war vessels to protect our commerce upon the high seas, with the requisite armaments and crews. ”

“ We began this struggle without a single gun afloat, while the resources of our enemy enabled them to gather fleets which, according to their official list published in August last, consisted of 427 vessels, measuring 340,036 tons and carrying 3,268 guns. Yet we have captured, sunk, or destroyed a number of these vessels, including two large frigates and one steam sloop of war, while four of their captured steam gunboats are now in our possession, adding to the strength of our little Navy, which is rapidly gaining in numbers and efficiency. ”

“ The Union force did not lose a man. The Confederates lost two killed and thirteen wounded of which we are certain. It is asserted that the losses were greater.
Flag Officer Samuel Barron, of the Confederate navy, who had charge of a small fleet of armed boats on the sound; Major W. S. G.107 Andrews, commanding the forts, and 615 men and officers were captured. The two forts contained together twenty-five guns, every one of which came from the Norfolk Navy Yard, as did also 1,000 muskets and a quantity of ordnance stores found in the fort.
Eight-inch Mortar Captured at Hatteras. ”

“ The people of the Confederate States, being principally engaged in agricultural pursuits, were unprovided at the commencement of hostilities with ships, shipyards, materials for shipbuilding, or skilled mechanics and seamen in sufficient numbers to make the prompt creation of a navy a practicable task, even if the required appropriations had been made for the purpose. ”

“ For purposes of defense, the Confederate States may, under ordinary circumstances, rely mainly upon the militia; but it is deemed advisable, in the present condition of affairs, that there should be a well-instructed and disciplined army, more numerous than would usually be required on a peace establishment. I also suggest that, for the protection of our harbors and commerce on the high seas, a navy adapted to those objects will be required. ”

“ Jefferson Davis.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States.
I herewith transmit a letter [5] of the Secretary of the Navy, of this date, covering the official report of the naval engagement between the James River squadron and the enemy's fleet, in Hampton Roads, on the 8th instant.
The officers and men of our Navy, engaged in this brilliant affair, deserve well of their country, and are commended to the consideration of the Congress.
The disparity of the forces engaged did not justify the anticipation of so great a victory ”

“ If further force should be needed, the wisdom and patriotism of Congress will be confidently appealed to for authority to call into the field additional numbers of our noble-spirited volunteers who are constantly tendering service far in excess of our wants.
The operations of the Navy Department have been necessarily restricted by the fact that sufficient time has not yet elapsed for the purchase or construction of more than a limited number of vessels adapted to the public service. ”

“ Eventually it became apparent that no dashing exploit could restore Confederate supremacy there, and their hope was dying, when two flatboat-builders living at Edward’s Ferry, on the Roanoke River, offered to build an ironclad, somewhat on the plan of the Merrimac, that should be able to navigate the shoal waters of the Sound and yet be invulnerable to the shot of the Union gunboats. Because the water at Hatteras Inlet was too shoal for any of the Union ironclads to pass, it was reasonable to suppose a well-built craft could clear the Union wooden gunboats from the waters of North Carolina. ”

“ The Confederate government161 showed a singular apathy with respect to any work of defense. The Confederate Congress had made large appropriations for the construction of gunboats on the Mississippi waters; there was the best navy-yard on the continent opposite Norfolk; there were valuable armories with their machinery at Richmond; and although the Confederate government was very far from competing with the naval resources of the enemy, yet there is no doubt, with the means and appliances at hand, it might have created a considerable fleet. ”

“ The want of such labor and of seamen seriously affects the operations of the Department.
The skill, courage, and activity of our cruisers at sea cannot be too highly commended. They have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy without suffering a single disaster, and have seriously damaged the shipping interests of the United States by compelling their foreign commerce to seek the protection of neutral flags.
Your attention is invited to the suggestions of the report on the subject of supplying seamen for the service, and of the provisions of the law in relation to the Volunteer Navy. ”

“ The power of the Confederate fleet was exaggerated at the time, as we now know, but the officers of Foote’s flotilla had no means of learning the real facts. Moreover, it would have been rank folly for them to underestimate the power of the enemy.
It is worth telling that Island No. 10 has disappeared under the action of the current, and the main channel lies where the Confederate batteries stood.
On April 6th Pope crossed over to Tiptonville under cover of Walke’s guns. On that day, also, Grant fought the Confederates at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee. ”

“ If the British were wrong in taking the American from a Dutch ship and treating him as a criminal in 1780, the Americans were wrong in taking the Confederate envoys from the British ship in 1861 and treating them as criminals. ”

“ However, in spite of the bluster and the determination of the envoys to go only when compelled to do so by force, the four were taken on board the American warship. The force used was not violence, of course. “Three officers laid their hands on an envoy, after which the envoy walked down a ladder to the boat.” It is conceded on all hands that Lieutenant Fairfax and his men acted in a manner entirely becoming to gentlemen of the navy.
Having taken the Confederate envoys, Captain Wilkes permitted the Trent to proceed on her voyage. ”

“ Every shot reached home in the parapet, and some passed clear through to lodge in and fire the barracks of the Confederates. The Confederates fought back stubbornly. “The fort seemed a blaze of fire.” Their shells drove the officers of the boats down into the casemates, but when the casemates were struck the projectiles bounded clear, doing little or no harm until the battle had raged for nearly fifty minutes. Then the gunner in charge of the Confederate rifle got the range of the Essex and drove his sixty-pound shell right through her bow armor just above a port. ”

“ Inland navy an imperative necessity to reach the heart of the Confederacy, iv. 241. Inman, Lieutenant William, chases and captures a pirate schooner, iii. 335. Insurgent, French frigate, Captain Barreaut, captures the American ship Retaliation, i. 316; battle with the Constellation, 320–322; surrenders, 321; lost at sea, 330. International law, a question of violation of, iv. 160. Intrepid, formerly the Mastico, used as a fire-ship at the attack on Tripoli, i. 371; explodes, 378. Investigator, Federal merchant-ship, captured by Confederate cruiser Sumter, iv. ”

“ Louis got fairly into the fight. Flag Officer Montgomery said he retreated because the government boats all went into water too shoal for his rams, while their guns were far heavier as well as much more numerous than his. As to the guns, he had only thirty-two-pounders, but it is certain that neither the Benton, the Carondelet, or the St. Louis went into shoal water. In fact, the Benton drew more water than any of the Confederate “River Defence Squadron,” as it was called, and the other two government boats quite as much as any. ”

“ The second mate was on deck, but about half-asleep, while one of the Waring’s original crew was at the wheel, and two of the prize seamen were on duty near the bow. Taking the hatchet which he used in splitting wood for the galley stove, the negro killed the prize captain and the two mates, when the Confederate seamen surrendered and agreed to help work the ship back to New York. There was no one on board who understood navigation, but the negro knew enough to lay a course that would bring “the broadside of America in sight,” and after that he followed the coast until he reached New York. ”

“ AND THE ATTITUDE OF FOREIGN POWERS—BRIEF CAREER OF TWO CONFEDERATE IRONCLADS—THE BLOCKADE WAS NOT RAISED—A CONFEDERATE CRUISER BURNED—UTTER FAILURE OF THE IRONCLAD ATTACKS ON THE FORTS—CAPTURE OF THE CONFEDERATE WARSHIP ATLANTA—“BOARDERS AWAY” AT FORT SUMTER—MAGNIFICENT BRAVERY OF THE MEN WHO MANNED THE CONFEDERATE TORPEDO BOATS.
When the student of American history turns from the stories of the battles of New Orleans and Mobile to that of the naval efforts to reduce Charleston, he is driven to a conclusion that may be expressed by saying there was only one Farragut in the Civil War. ”

“ And then came the Confederate squadron from behind the fort to take a position above393 the line of torpedoes to help repel the fleet. As the Tennessee opened fire the monitor Tecumseh, at the head of the Union line, had her turret turned with portholes from the fort while the guns were loaded. Captain Craven, intent on reaching the Tennessee as quickly as possible, saw that if he had to pass between the red buoy and the fort, his route would be a crooked one, and turning to the pilot at his side in the pilot-house, he said:
“It is impossible that the Admiral means us to go inside the buoy ”

“ Armor-plated ships, first use of, iv. 9, 10. Armstrong, Commodore James, surrenders Pensacola Navy Yard to Confederates, iv. 112; suspended for five years, 113. Arnold, Benedict, invades Canada, i. 84; builds a fleet, 89; fight on Lake Champlain, 92–94; character of, as a fighter, 105. Arsenals established in New York State, ii. 264. Asp, American ship, ii. 352. Atalanta, British brig, surrenders to the Alliance, i. 298. 558Atalanta, British ship, captured by the Wasp, iii. 100. Atalanta, British frigate, ii. 16. Atlanta, formerly the Fingal, Confederate ironclad, iv. ”