The RUNNER
Newsletter of the Cape Fear Civil War
Round Table
Editor Tim
Winstead
***** October 2011 *****
Our next meeting will be Thursday, 13
October 2011 at St. Andrew’s On-the-Sound (101 Airlie Road). Social Hour at 6:30 p.m., meeting at 7:30.
We invite and welcome
all people with an interest in Civil War history to attend a meeting of the
Cape Fear Civil War Round Table. The speakers for our programs are diverse in
their views, interpretations, and presentations.
***** October Program *****
Fort Fisher 1865: The Photographs
of T.H. O’Sullivan
Timothy O’Sullivan 1840 –
1882 Dr. Chris Fonvielle
CFCWRT member, Dr. Chris Fonvielle, will present a program based upon his recently
published book about the photographic history of Fort Fisher made by T.H.
O’Sullivan during February 1865.
As reported in the New York Herald on February 8, 1865, Messrs. Gardner & Company,
as requested by Lt. Gen. Grant, dispatched an experienced Civil War
photographer to make a series of views of Fort Fisher for Grant’s report on the
Wilmington expedition. The thirty-nine photographs taken by O’Sullivan have
provided a detailed record of the fortifications that protected the many
blockade runners that made entrance into New Inlet during 1861 – 1865.
It has been said that a picture is worth a
thousand words. Chris has used O’Sullivan’s photographs to paint a picture of
the fort that had become known as the Gibraltar of the South.
Please join us on October 13th
for a program that will add to our knowledge of the local history of the Cape
Fear region during the Civil War. As is his style, Chris is sure to share
anecdotes that will add human interest stories to the largest naval bombardment
ever to have occurred on this continent.
Dr.
Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr. is a native of Wilmington with a lifelong interest in the
American Civil War, the Lower Cape Fear, and Southern history. He currently
teaches courses on the Civil War, Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear, and the
Old South and Antebellum America at the University of North Carolina
Wilmington. Among his many books and articles, The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope, is the
definitive examination of the Union effort to close the port of Wilmington.
Editor
*****
Raffle Winners *****
The American Civil War /
Keegan - Tom
Morgan
Witness to Appomattox / Wheeler - Martha Watson
Rising Thunder /
Wheeler - Richard Covell
Robert E. Lee: The Soldier/ Maurice - Palmer Royal
Classic Civil War Stories /
Purcell - Bill Jayne
Andersonville / Kantor - Mary Royal
<
>
Raffle Master: Ed Gibson
If you
have books, prints, or other items that you would like to donate to the CFCWRT
raffle, talk to Ed at our next meeting.
***** Trivia Questions
September 2011 *****
1 – Who
was John H. Foard? Why was he important to the Civil War history of the Cape
Fear region?
2 – At the southern
end of the Fort Fisher sea face, Battery Lamb (Mound Battery) towered some
forty-three feet above the beach. This important battery provided protection
for blockade runners entering or leaving the Cape Fear River through the New
Inlet. It also served as the signaling station to assist the blockade runners
trying to navigate into the river. During the bombardment on December 24, 1864,
Colonel Lamb ordered that a Confederate flag be raised on the Mound Battery in
defiance of the Union ships shelling the fort. Because the signaling flagpole
was not equipped with halyards to raise a flag, someone would be required to
climb the pole and manually attach the flag.
Who was the “volunteer”
who came forward to attach the fort’s standard to the Mound Battery flagpole?
3 – Mr. Wilkinson’s presentation began with a slide that
showed a seal with crossed naval guns overlaid by an anchor with the
inscription “C.S.N” and the phrase, “Aide toi et Dieu t’Aidera.” Know
where the phrase originated? Know what Confederate leader had this phrase
engraved on his sword?
4 – Among the officers who served in the Confederate
States Navy, Commander James D. Bulloch, a Georgia native, was sent to England
where he purchased, manned, and commanded the CSS Fingal in bringing a much needed cargo of military stores to
Savannah, Georgia during November 1861. Because of his unique managerial
talents, Bulloch was sent back to England where he achieved prominence for his
actions as Chief Purchasing Officer for the CSN in Great Britain. Bulloch’s
talents included establishment of contacts & methods that allowed the
Confederate Navy to clandestinely contract the construction and equipage of
warships in violation on Britain’s Neutrality Act.
Among the ships Bulloch
procured, the Laird #290 became the most effective commerce raider of the war.
The Laird cruiser #290 slipped out of Liverpool as the unarmed Enrica and after a cat-and-mouse game
with the USS Tuscaloosa, the Enrica proceeded to the Azores where she
received guns and other equipment needed to complete a warship. Having
completed his task, Bulloch turned the Enrica
over to a new captain. Who was that captain who would take command and
commission the ship as a Confederate warship? Why was Bulloch not given command
of the #290?
5 – Lt. John Wilkinson commanded the CSS Robert E. Lee through the Union blockade
21 times. During these trips, Wilkinson delivered some 7,000 bales of cotton to
European markets and he returned through the same blockade with critical stores
for the Confederate government. What was the fate of the CSS Robert E. Lee?
6 – During
the Civil War, Imperial Russia was the only European nation that unequivocally
supported the Union and its cause. The leaders of the two nations recognized
the similarity between Czar Alexander II’s freeing of Russia’s serfs and
Lincoln’s freeing of America’s slaves. After the czar survived an assassination
attempt on April 16, 1866, the United States Congress, remembering Abraham
Lincoln’s assassination, enacted a resolution of sympathy to the Russian
people. Gustavus Fox was selected to personally take the message to Russia. On
what iron-clad did Fox make the nearly one year tour of ports from the
Mediterranean to the Baltic?
***** Member News
*****
If you
have member news that you think would be of interest to CFCWRT membership, let
me know about it.
1 – The CFCWRT
is pleased to welcome the following new members: Judy L. Ward, Art McGiverin (Associate member – Bartlesville, OK), Jim Spruill, and Dennis Wrynn.
2 – A memorial service for
Charles Watson will be held at Popular Grove Plantation at 3:00pm on October 1,
2011.
3 – At the September meeting, Gary Henderson addressed those present about the North Carolina
Power and Sail Heritage Foundation and its project to build a blockade runner
for display in Wilmington. The foundation had experienced difficulties in
moving forward with the project - Gary was seeking assistance from members who
had skills in ship building, fund raising, or related talents. For an overview
on the project see: http://www.blockaderunnerproject.com/
If you
have talents in this arena and are interested in supporting a most worthy
cause, contact tpwinstead@gmail.com and I will be sure Gary
gets the names of any interested individuals
.
***** October 1861 *****
October 1st: President Lincoln met with his
Cabinet and senior army figures such as McClellan to discuss a major operation
against the Confederates along the east coast. Ironically, Jefferson Davis was
doing the same in Richmond regarding an attack against Unionist positions in
Virginia as the public in the South were also expecting a major military
campaign against the enemy.
October
3rd: Governor Thomas More of Alabama banned the export of cotton to Europe. He
hoped that this would pressure the governments of France and Great Britain to
recognize the Confederate government. Soldiers fought at Greenbriar, western
Virginia, which resulted in over 100 Confederate dead while the Unionists lost
just eight killed but also captured a large number of horses and cattle.
October
4th: The Confederacy signed a number of treaties with Native American tribes
that brought these tribes into the war on the side of the Confederacy.
October
5th: The Cabinet in Washington DC signed a contract for a new type of warship –
the Ironclad. The first was called the ‘USS Monitor’
and had a pair of heavy guns in a revolving turret. Note: This
was one of the pivotal moments in the course of the Civil War for John
Ericsson’s “Cheesebox on a Raft” would have significant impact on Great
Britain’s decisions concerning recognition of the Confederacy. See ***** More Summer Reading ***** for more
information. A review of Howard J. Fuller’s Clad
in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power further
explained the impact of ironclads on naval policies in both the United States
and Great Britain. Editor
October
6th: The Confederacy started a campaign to find crossings over the Upper
Potomac that, if successful, would have allowed them to outflank the Unionist
force in the capital.
October
7th: Lincoln sent the Secretary of War to Missouri to investigate what exactly
was going on as more reports reached Washington DC about the incompetence of
General Frémont. What Secretary of War Simon Cameron found was that it had
taken Frémont seventeen days to organize troops in an effort to retake
Lexington. The news was not well received by President Lincoln.
October
8th: William T Sherman was appointed commander of the Union’s Army of the
Cumberland. Sherman replaced the ill General Robert Anderson.
October
10th: Jefferson Davis, while discussing the fact that the South has a smaller
population when compared to the North, ruled out using slaves in the
Confederate Army.
October
12th: Two commissioners from the Confederacy left the South for Europe. Their
task was to increase trade between the South and the UK and France. In Missouri
many people, opposed to Frémont’s harsh rule, took part in clashes against
Unionist forces.
October
14th: President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. Though he did so reluctantly,
Lincoln felt that such a move was necessary to the war effort.
October
16th: Lexington in Missouri was back in the hands of the Union after
Confederate forces withdrew from the town.
October
18th: Union gunboats started a move down the Mississippi River.
October
20th: McClellan believed that the Confederacy was planning a major move against
Washington DC.
October
21st: A Union force suffered heavy losses at Ball’s Bluff. The Union force,
commanded by Colonel Edward Baker, believed that it was attacking a small
Confederate force. In fact, they advanced into four Confederate regiments. In
the confusion that reigned in the Union ranks, many men tried to swim across
the river at Ball’s Bluff but were drowned. 223 Unionists were killed at Ball’s
Bluff, 226 wounded and 445 taken prisoner. The Confederates lost 36 men killed.
There was an outcry in the North but the Confederate leader at Ball’s Bluff,
Nathan Evans, was hailed as a hero by the Confederacy.
October
22nd: Lincoln’s Cabinet met to discuss the disaster at Ball’s Bluff.
October
24th: Lincoln decided to replace Frémont as Union commander in Missouri. He
appointed General David Hunter as his replacement “with immediate effect”.
October
29th: A major naval force sailed from Hampton Roads – 77 ships. The ships
carried 12,000 troops commanded by General T Sherman. Deliberate leaks make the
Confederates believe that the naval force will target Charleston or New
Orleans. In fact, it was heading for Port Royal, South Carolina.
October
31st: General Winfield Scott, head of the Union Army, retired at the age of 75.
He was replaced by General George McClellan.
Source: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/october-1861-civil-war.htm,
accessed September 10, 2011.
***** View from a
Blockader *****
At our September
meeting, Don Wilkinson provided a view from a Blockade Runner– tension,
exhilaration, and danger were ever present to the crew of a runner. It was easy
to picture John Wilkinson with his pistol threatening to shoot anyone who made
a sound that would give the ship’s presence to the enemy. What was the view
from an officer on a Blockader off New Inlet?
Paymaster William F. Keeler, U.S. Navy,
left a series of letters he wrote to his wife, Anna, while serving on the USS Florida from 1863 – 1865. These letters provided a view aboard a Union
Blockader.
Off Wilmington, April
23, 1863
Well we poked around in
the darkness for some time without hearing or seeing anything but the lights I
have already mentioned when we anchored & at 1 I turned in & slept till
the deafening report of the 9 in. gun directly over my head, followed in a
moment or two by the rush of a rocket, slightly
disturbed my quite slumbers & led me to suspect that something was in
the process of “turning up.”
A dense thick fog
enveloped us on every side rendering objects invisible but a few feet from the
vessel. Our sides were lined with anxious faces peering into the surrounding
darkness in search of the object of our alarm. This, as the officer of the deck
states, was a large steamer which stole noiselessly out of the fog & glided
by us as quickly & quietly as a shadow. Before he could train a gun on it,
it had disappeared in the fog.
Keeler related the heightened activity
when a runner was sighted, but he also wrote of the extreme boredom that
accompanied the “sameness” that constituted the daily activities of the crew of
a Blockader.
Source:
William F. Keeler, Aboard the USS
Florida: 1863-65, ed. Robert W. Daly (Annapolis, Maryland, United States
Naval Institute, 1968), 24-25.
***** More Summer Reading *****
Amanda Foreman’s book, A
World on Fire: An Epic History of Two Nations Divided, whetted my appetite for additional reading on the roles of Great Britain
and the United States during the Civil War. I plunged into another work that
added more to what I had learned. Howard J. Fuller wrote a technical analysis
of the evolution of ironclads as they developed in France, Great Britain, and
the United States. Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval
Power concentrated on the variety of ship designs and designers, naval ordinance advances, evolution of armor
plating, and strategies that were considered by each government.
The characters depicted in Fuller’s book
were familiar from previous readings; however, Fuller more fully presented the
contributions of men like John Ericsson, Gustavus Fox, and Gideon Welles to the
Union naval development. On the British side, Fuller presented the evolving
British reaction to the challenge of Ericsson’s Monitor. The leaders in both the Lincoln and Palmerston governments
played a delicate game to develop and maintain a naval power to counter that of
the other. Fortunately for the United States, Ericsson, Fox, and Welles created
a naval force that gave the British pause during the period in which the
British government considered actions against the United States.
I enjoyed this book; however, I needed to
be in the mood to study the technical developments, personality clashes,
and diplomatic dealing that contributed to the armored, steam-powered vessels
that forever changed naval warfare. The March 9, 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads
between the C.S.S Virginia and the
U.S.S Monitor was the impetus that
accelerated evolution of all ships that were to be “clad in iron.”
Source: Howard J. Fuller, Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2008), 268 – 285.
Editor
*****
September Meeting *****
The
Most Good for the Confederacy
Captain
John Wilkinson, CSN
Donald Wilkinson, great great-nephew of
Captain John Wilkinson, presented a fascinating program that shared revealing
information about John Wilkinson and others who served with the Confederate
States Navy.
Donald Wilkinson - John Wilkinson 1821 –
1891
Mr. Wilkinson began his presentation with a
discussion of the strategies developed by the Union and Confederate leaders to
“rule the seas.” While the Union
strategy evolved from Winfield Scott’s schema that became known as the Anaconda
Plan – the Union would build a powerful navy that would blockade and strangle
the rebellious and agricultural Southern states. The Confederate strategy evolved from the
mind of Stephen R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy – the Confederates would use
technology to overcome the numerical advantages of the Union navy, they would
employ commercial raiders to destroy Yankee commerce, and they would utilize
the competent naval officers who chose loyalty to the Southern cause. The
availability or lack of manufacturing capability would further shape the
strategies of each – The Union would produce the ships needed to accomplish
their task, the Confederates would build but few ships to challenge their
enemies and they would seek to purchase most of their arms and ships in Europe.
Thus began the naval war of 1861 – 1865.
The Confederate Navy had an abundance of
experienced and qualified officers. They had few ships available for these
competent men to serve upon; hence, a Confederate naval officer was offered the
opportunity for a broad variety of services untraditional to in the pre-war
United States Navy. Wilkinson discussed the variety of duties that many of
these men undertook; these duties included serving “aboard” either: Artillery Batteries, Gunboats, Commerce
Cruisers, Blockade Runners, Administrative positions, Ironclad Rams, Covert
Operations, Special Duty Abroad, or Torpedo Service. Among these officers were: Comdr. James
Bullock, Lt. Hunter Davidson, Comdr. Catesby Jones, Comdr. John N. Maffitt, Lt.
Charles M. Morris, Capt. Thomas J, Page, Capt. Raphael Semmes, Lt. Alex Warley,
Lt. John Wilkinson, and Lt. John Taylor Wood.
In
addition to the naval officers, Mr. Wilkinson provided information concerning
three men who shaped the strategy that the Confederacy would employ during the
war. As previously stated, Stephen R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy, was a
proponent of the South’s use of advanced technology that included iron-armored
ships, torpedoes, fast steam-powered commerce raiders – the inadequacy of
Southern manufacturing capability limited the successful adaptation of these
new technologies. Christopher Memminger, Secretary of Treasury, supported the
strategy to withhold cotton from the European textile industry in an effort to
force European intervention – this “Cotton is King” strategy failed miserably,
for at the time when the Union blockade was weak, the South could have shipped
much cotton to provide cash credits to purchase the manufactured items needed
for the war effort. George A. Trenholm became the banker of the Confederacy who
arranged the financial resources that James Bulloch and others would require in
Europe. Trenholm’s expertise made available international banking services for
the Confederate cause.
With the background of the Confederate
Navy established, Mr. Wilkinson began to share the story of his
great-great-uncle, Lt. John Wilkinson.
John
Wilkinson was born in Norfolk, Virginia on November 6, 1821. The son of
Commodore Jesse Wilkinson and Frances Coleman Wilkinson, John followed his
father’s path when he was appointed a Midshipman in 1837. During the Mexican
War, John served on the USS Saratoga which
was commanded by David Farragut. John
Wilkinson saw service with the Coastal Survey. By 1860, he was Chief of the
Hydrographic Party and commanded the USS Corwin.
John Wilkinson resigned his commission in the USN on April 6, 1861.
Wilkinson was first assigned to command of
a Confederate shore battery at Ft. Powhatan on the James River. As with most of
his deep water navy comrades, John longed for service abroad ship.
John was ordered to New Orleans where he
saw service as executive officer on the powerful, but uncompleted and immobile,
CSS Louisiana. Union commander, David
Farragut, ordered David D. Porter to use his mortar boats to reduce Ft. Jackson
and St. Phillip. When the bombardment and an expedition that cut a chain that blocked
the river were complete, Farragut steamed passed the forts and the tethered Louisiana on the night of April 24,
1862, and captured the city. The
forts surrendered and left the Louisiana to
its fate - destruction by its crew and capture of the crew by Union forces.
John was sent to Ft. Warren in Boston Harbor where he would remain until
exchanged on August 5, 1862.
On August 6, 1862, Wilkinson reported to
George W. Randolph, Confederate Secretary of War, for special duty in England.
Wilkinson carried cotton bonds from Secretary Memminger to Commissioner James
Mason and he was also charged to purchase a ship capable of running the Union
blockade. (NOTE: Wilkinson was accompanied by an interesting group that
included Major Benjamin Franklin Ficklin, Colonel William Finney, and Johnny
Tabb. Theirs was another story; however, be sure to check out Ben Ficklin).
Wilkinson purchased the fast packet ship Giraffe
from Alexander Collie & Co. Lt. Wilkinson and the renamed CSS Robert E. Lee thus began the adventure
as one of the most successful blockade runners. With John Wilkinson in command,
the CSS Robert E. Lee ( 900 tons, 283’ length, 20’ beam, and
13’ depth) made 21 trips through the Union blockade.
Mr. Wilkinson shared a unique example of
what it was like to have been on a blockade runner trying to sneak into either
the Old Inlet at Fort Caswell or the New Inlet at Fort Fisher. Imagine yourself
on board the Robert E. Lee where
there were no navigational instruments to guide you, there had been no dredging
of the inlets, there were no lights aboard your darkened ship – only stealth,
speed, and daring were your deliverer. It was easy to feel the tension on a
dark night where a cough, a stumble, or escape of steam from an engine boiler
could remove your shield of invisibility.
Mr. Wilkinson discussed the tactics used
by Lt. Wilkinson to avoid the Union blockaders as he made his way out of or
into the Cape Fear River.
-
Doing the unexpected (don’t wait for a
moonless night to run)
-
Innovation (run out during the day
– break the rhythm of the blockaders)
-
Misinformation (spread false rumors of
destination and schedule while in St. George or Nassau)
-
Imitation (Fly the Union flag and
act like you are a blockader, use colored rockets like the Union ship
commanders to miss-direct pursuit)
-
Smokescreen (Wilkinson used North
Carolina coal to create a means of escaping detection – North Carolina coal
attributed to the Ad-Vance captured;
hence, when and where it was used was mission critical)
-
Daring (steam between
blockading ships making it difficult for them to fire without risks to each
other, Use cotton soaked in turpentine to extract extra speed for the engines)
-
Seamanship
In October, 1863, Wilkinson was selected
to lead a group of 22 Confederate Naval officers in an attempt to free
prisoners held by the Union on Johnson’s Island on Lake Erie. The group made
their way to Halifax, Nova Scotia; hence, into Canada and to the Great Lakes
where an attempt to seize the USS Michigan
was to be made. While planning was underway and the attempt was to be made,
a Canadian volunteer revealed the plan to the Canadian government. With the
Union authorities alerted and the Canadian government anxious to see the
Confederates depart their country, Wilkinson cancelled the expedition. NOTE: A complete report on the
Johnson’s Island expedition can be found in the ORN Series I, Vol. 2, pages 822
– 830 in a letter from expedition member, Lt. Minor, to Admiral Buchanan.
John Wilkinson was to serve in numerous
positions during the war. At one point he was assigned to Wilmington to
establish a system of lights, maintain a record of water depth at the inlets,
and make efficient the export of cotton. Wilkinson would make several
additional runs through the blockade as commander of blockade runners and of a
commerce raider. Wilkinson considered the latter vessel, CSS Chickamauga, as being in conflict with
what he thought was prudent action against the Union. His last command was the
converted commerce raider, CSS Tallahassee,
renamed the CSS Chameleon. Wilkinson
took the Chameleon on a trip to
Bermuda for food stuffs for Lee’s army. When he returned to Wilmington and
found it taken by Union forces, Wilkinson took the Chameleon first to Nassau. Wilkinson (and John N. Maffitt)
consulted with the Confederate agent at Nassau and they decided the Chameleon should be taken to
Liverpool. After arriving on April 9,
1865, Wilkinson turned the ship over to Commander James D. Bulloch. The war was
over – Wilkinson later wrote, “… the cause for which so much blood had been
shed, so many miseries bravely endured, and so many sacrifices cheerfully made,
was about to perish at last.”
CSS Chameleon
Because he was classified as a pirate by
the Unites States government, Wilkinson did not return to the states
immediately after the war. He and fellow Confederate naval officer, John Taylor
Wood, operated a marine mercantile business in Halifax, Nova Scotia for some
number of years. When a pardon was granted in 1871, Wilkinson with his wife and
daughters returned to the U.S. where upon a recommendation from Union Admiral
and friend, David Dixon Porter, he established a school in Annapolis, Maryland
to tutor aspiring Naval Academy students. John Wilkinson died in Annapolis in
1891.
Lt. John Wilkinson was involved in every duty
except that of the torpedo service. The title of Mr. Wilkinson’s presentation
came from a lecture given by General Perry M. DeLeon at Annapolis in 1900 and
it reflected the full measure of service that John Wilkinson gave to the
Confederacy:
“Raphael Semmes did the most injury to the
enemy,
But John Wilkinson did the most good for the Confederacy.”
NOTE: For additional information about John Wilkinson read his book, The Narrative of a Blockade Runner. This book is available online at: http://books.google.com/books?id=304DSBXn020C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
***** Comments and
Suggestions *****
Comments
and suggestions to make the Cape Fear Civil War Round Table and “The Runner”
more relevant to your Civil War experience are welcomed. Send them to me at tpwinstead@gmail.com. Please include “CFCWRT News” in your Subject
line.
***** Trivia Question
Answers September 2011 *****
1 - Who was John H. Foard? Why was he important to the Civil War history of the Cape Fear region? John H. Foard was a Wilmington native whose interest in Wilmington during the Civil War led him to collect and display his collection at the Blockade Runners of the Confederacy Museum. The privately owned and staffed museum operated in Carolina Beach from 1967 until 1983. Mr. Foard’s efforts preserved and brought focus on the significance of Wilmington to the Confederate war effort. After Mr. Foard’s death, the collection was purchased by New Hanover County and is now part of the Cape Fear Museum located in Wilmington.
Dr. Chris Fonvielle served as the last curator of the Blockade Runners of the Confederacy Museum from 1979 to 1983.
Source: Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr., Fort
Fisher 1865: The Photographs of T.H. O’Sullivan (Carolina Beach, North
Carolina, SlapDash Publishing, LLC, 2011), 2.
2 – At the southern
end of the Fort Fisher sea face, Battery Lamb (Mound Battery) towered some
forty-three feet above the beach. This important battery provided protection
for blockade runners entering or leaving the Cape Fear River through the New
Inlet. It also served as the signaling station to assist the blockade runners
trying to navigate into the river. During the bombardment on December 24, 1864,
Colonel Lamb ordered that a Confederate flag be raised on the Mound Battery in
defiance of the Union ships shelling the fort. Because the signaling flagpole
was not equipped with halyards to raise a flag, someone would be required to
climb the pole and manually attach the flag.
Who was the “volunteer”
who came forward to attach the fort’s standard to the Mound Battery
flagpole?
As recounted in Fonvielle’s The Wilmington Campaign and Fort Fisher 1865, Lamb sent word to Captain Daniel Munn at Mound Battery to raise the flag. Munn ordered Corporal Noah B. Bennett of Company K, 36th Regiment of North Carolina Troops, to brave the fire of the Union fleet and attach the colors. The 196 pound Bennett was probably a brave man, but his size made him an unlikely climber. Private Christopher C. “Kit” Bland volunteered to shinny up the flagpole. Not only did Kit brave the fire and attach the flag, he re-climbed the flagpole and reaffixed the flag when it was partially detached. This time the volunteer received hoorays from Confederate defenders and Federal gunners.
Source: Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr., The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope (Campbell, California, Savas Publishing Company, 1997), 134-136.
3 - Mr. Wilkinson’s presentation began with a slide that
showed a seal with crossed naval guns overlaid by an anchor with the
inscription “C.S.N” and the phrase, “Aide toi et Dieu t’Aidera.” Know
where the phrase originated? Know what Confederate leader had this phrase
engraved on his sword?
This phrase
has been attributed to Joan of Arc during her quest to free France from English
control. Most translations revealed this to mean, “Aid yourself and God will aid you.”
On April
9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee wore a presentation sword to his meeting with
General U.S. Grant at Appomattox. The sword, a gift from a Maryland admirer,
was engraved with this phrase. This sword was never offered to Grant as has
been rumored. Today, this sword is part of the collection at the Museum of the
Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.
Source: http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_robert_e_lee.asp
, accessed September 12, 2011.
4 - Among the officers who served in the Confederate
States Navy, Commander James D. Bulloch, a Georgia native, was sent to England
where he purchased, manned, and commanded the CSS Fingal in bringing a much needed cargo of military stores to
Savannah, Georgia during November 1861. Because of his unique managerial
talents, Bulloch was sent back to England where he achieved prominence for his
actions as Chief Purchasing Officer for the CSN in Great Britain. Bulloch’s
talents included establishment of contacts & methods that allowed the
Confederate Navy to clandestinely contract the construction and equipage of
warships in violation on Britain’s Neutrality Act.
Among the ships Bulloch procured, the Laird
#290 became the most effective commerce raider of the war. The Laird cruiser
#290 slipped out of Liverpool as the unarmed Enrica and after a cat-and-mouse game with the USS Tuscaloosa, the Enrica proceeded to the Azores where she received guns and other
equipment needed to complete a warship. Having completed his task, Bulloch
turned the Enrica over to a new
captain. Who was that captain who would take command and commission the ship as
a Confederate warship? Why was Bulloch not given command of the #290?
The captain was Raphael Semmes
and the Enrica became the famous or
infamous commerce raider, CSS Alabama.
Bulloch was too critical to the
Confederate naval efforts to give him command of a single ship. After returning
to Liverpool, Bulloch would “work his game” again and again as the Union agents
tried with increasing effectiveness to stop his efforts. Bulloch remained in England
after the war. In 1883, Bulloch published the record of his exploits, The Secret Service of the Confederate States
in Europe.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/journey/american_connection/alabama/building_02.shtml
, accessed September 10, 2011.
NOTE: James Dunwoody Bulloch
and his exploits were of great interest to his nephew. Bulloch’s sister, Martha
Bulloch, had married a New Yorker in 1853. Bulloch’s nephew was born on October
27, 1858. This nephew became the 26th President of the United States
in 1901 – Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
5 – Lt. John
Wilkinson commanded the CSS Robert
E. Lee through the Union blockade 21 times. During these trips, Wilkinson
delivered some 7,000 bales of cotton to European markets and he returned
through the same blockade with critical stores for the Confederate government.
What was the fate of the CSS Robert E.
Lee?
Wilkinson was reassigned from the Robert E. Lee to lead a Confederate
expedition to free 2,000 prisoners at Johnson’s Island at Sandusky, Ohio.
Wilkinson and a group of Confederate Naval officers were on the Robert E. Lee on October 7, 1863 as it
steamed to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Lt. Richard H. Gayle was in command of
the Robert E. Lee when on November 9th
the USS James Adger intercepted Gayle
on the return trip from Bermuda to Wilmington. The CSS Robert E. Lee was converted from blockade runner to the blockader,
USS Fort Donelson.
Source: http://cavernofcarnage.wordpress.com/acw-naval/confederate-navy/confederate-blockade-runners/css-robert-e-lee/
, accessed September 12, 2011.
6
– During the Civil War, Imperial Russia was the
only European nation that unequivocally supported the Union and its cause. The
leaders of the two nations recognized the similarity between Czar Alexander
II’s freeing of Russia’s serfs and Lincoln’s freeing of America’s slaves. After
the czar survived an assassination attempt on April 16, 1866, the United States
Congress, remembering Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, enacted a resolution of
sympathy to the Russian people. Gustavus Fox was selected to personally take
the message to Russia. On what iron-clad did Fox make the nearly one year tour
of ports from the Mediterranean to the Baltic?
In an expression of sympathy to Czar Alexander II (and an expression of American naval power), Fox boarded the USS Miantonamoh for an extended voyage to Europe. The visit of the twin-turreted ship warship caused considerable controversy among the naval planners in Great Britain.
Source: Howard J. Fuller, Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2008), 268 – 285.