MEDALS OF HONOR BESTOWED.

175

and set on fire. Then the Confederates fled, and Lynch, retiring to the interior of North Carolina, was not heard of again during the war until he reappeared at Smithville, when Fort Fisher was captured, early in 1865.

Shortly after the flight of the Confederates, Acting Master's-Mate J. H. Raymond planted the National flag on the shore battery, and thus proclaimed the first conquest achieved by the Nationals on the main of North Carolina. The battle had lasted only forty minutes, and Rowan's loss was only two killed and five or six wounded.' The number lost by the Confederates was

1 An extraordinary example of heroism was exhibited during this engagement by John Davis, a Finlander, who was a gunner's mate on board the Valley City. A shell entered that vessel, and, exploding in the magazine, set fire to some wood-work. Davis was there, and, seeing the imminent danger to the vessel and all on board, because of an open barrel of gunpowder from which he had been serving, he seated himself upon it. and so remained until the flames were extinguished. For this brave act the Secretary of the Navy rewarded him with the appointment of acting-gunner in the navy (March 11, 1862), by which his salary was raised from $300 to $1,000 a year. Admiring citizens of New York raised and presented to him $1,100. The Secretary of the Navy, by authority of an act of Congress, approved Dec. 21, 1861, presented him with a Medal of Honor, on which are inscribed the following words: "PERSONAL VALOR-JOHN DAVIS, GUNNER'S MATE, U. S. S. VALLEY CITY, Albemarle Sound, February 10th, 1862." Such medals were afterward presented to a considerable number of gallant men in subordinate stations, for acts of special bravery "before the enemy." Davis was the first recipient.

The act of Congress authorized the Secretary to cause two hundred of these Medals of Honor to be prepared, and to be bestowed by him upon "such petty officers, others of inferior rating, and marines, as should most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other commendable qualities during the present war." These were made of bronze, in the form of a star of five rays, with a device emblematic of Union crushing the monster Rebellion, around which is a circle of thirty-three smaller stars, representing the thirty-three States then (1861) composing the Union. The medal is suspended from the flukes of an anchor, which in turn is attached to a buckle and ribbon. The Secretary directed that the medal should be worn suspended from the left breast, by a ribbon all blue at top for half an inch downward, and thirteen vertical stripes, alternate red and white for eight-tenths of an inch. The name of the recipient to be engraved on the back, with his rating, the name of the vessel in which he was serving, and the place where, and the date when, his meritorious act was performed. The picture here given of the medal-an American "Legion of Honor "-is the exact size of the original. For fuller particulars concerning the MEDAL OF HONOR, see Regulations for the Government of the United States Navy, 1865, page 140.

The following is a list of the names (320 in number) of those to whom medals were awarded: James McCloud, Louis Richards, Thomas Flood, James Buck, Oscar E. Peck, Thomas Gehegan, Edward Farrel, Peter Williams, Benjamin Sevearer, John Davis, Charles Kenyon, Jeremiah Regan, Alexander Hood, John Kelley, Daniel Lakin, John Williams, John Breese, Alfred Patterson, Thomas C. Barton, Edwin Smith, Daniel Harrington, John Williams, J. B. Frisbee, Thomas Bourne, William McKnight, William Martin, John Greene, John McGowan, Amos Bradley, George Hollat, Charles Florence, William Young, William Parker, Edward Wright, Charles Bradley, Timothy Sullivan, James Byrnes, John McDonald, Charles Robinson, Pierre Leno, Peter Colton, Charles W. Morton, William Martin, Robert Williams, George Bell, William Thompson, John Williams, Matthew Arthur, John Mackie, Matthew McClelland, Joseph E. Vantine, John Rush, John Hickman, Robert Anderson, Peter Howard, Andrew Brinn, P. R. Vaughn, Samuel Woods, Henry Thielberg, Robert B. Wood, Robert Jordan, Thomas W. Hamilton, Frank Bois, Thomas Jenkins, Martin McHugh, Thomas E. Corcoran, Henry Dow, John Woon, Christ. Brennen, Edward Ringgold, James K. L. Dun

NAVAL MEDAL OF HONOR

176

CONTROL OF ALBEMARLE SOUND.

large, but was never ascertained. Only one of the Confederate vessels (the Ellis) was saved from destruction; and it was with difficulty that the town was preserved, for the insurgents, when they abandoned their vessels, set fire to it in several places. It was a most barbarous act, for only a few defenseless women and children remained in the town. These at once experienced the humanity of the Nationals, who showed them every kindness, when, on the following day," they took possession of the place.

a Feb. 11, 1862.

This success was followed up by other movements for securing the control of Albemarle Sound and the adjacent country, as well as the waters through which communication was held with Norfolk. To this end, Rowan

W. F. LYNCH.

6 Feb. 12,
1862.

sent Lieutenant A. Maury, with a part of his fleet, to take possession of Edenton, near the western end of the Sound. This was easily done on the day after the capture of Elizabeth City,' a body of flying artillery stationed there having left it precipitately without firing a shot. Maury destroyed a schooner on the stocks and eight cannon, and then passed on, capturing vessels on the Sound. On the following

• Feb. 18. day, Lieutenant Jeffers," with some of the fleet, proceeded to the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal, that traverses the Dismal Swamp on

its way from the Elizabeth River to the Pasquotank, for the purpose of

can, Hugh Melloy, William P. Johnson, Bartlett Laffey, Richard Seward, Christopher Nugent, James Brown, William Moore, William P. Brownell, William Talbot, Richard Stout, George W. Leland, Horatio N. Young, Michael Huskey, John Dorman, William Farley, J. Henry Denig, Michael Hudson, William M. Smith, Miles M. Oviatt, Barnett Kenna, William Halsted, Joseph Brown, Joseph Irlam, Edward Price, Alexander Mack, William Nichols, John Lawson, Martin Freeman, William Dinsmore, Adam Duncan, Charles Deakin, Cornelius Cronin, William Wells, Hendrick Sharp, Walter B. Smith, George Parks, Thomas Hayes, Lebbeus Simkins, Oloff Smith, Alexander H. Truett, Robert Brown, John H. James, Thomas' Cripps, John Brazell, James H. Morgan, John Sinith, James B. Chandler, William Jones, William Doolen, James Smith, Hugh Hamilton, James McIntosh, William M. Carr, Thomas Atkinson, David Sprowle, Andrew Miller, James Martin, William Phinney, John Smith, Samuel W. Kinnard, Patrick Dougherty, Michael Cassidy, George Taylor, Louis G. Chaput, James Ward, Daniel Whitfield, John M. Burns, John Edwards, Adam McCulloch, James Sheridan, John E. Jones, William Gardner, John Preston, William Newland, David Naylor, Charles B. Woram, Thomas Kendrick, James S. Roan, tree, Andrew Jones, James Seanor, William C. Connor, Martin Howard, James Tallentine, Robert Graham, Henry Brutsche, Patrick Colbert, James Haley, John F. Bickford, Charles A. Read, William Smith, William Bond, Charles Moore, George H. Harrison, Thomas Perry, John Hayes, George E. Read, Robert Strahan, James H. Lee, Joachim Pease (colored), William B. Poole, Michael Aheam, Mark G. Ham, John W. Loyd, Charles Baldwin. Alexander Crawford, John Laverty, Benjamin Loyd, David Warren, William Wright, John Sullivan, Robert T. Clifford, Thomas Harding, Perry Wilkes, John Hyland, Michael McCormick, Timothy O'Donohue, George Butts, Charles Asten, John Ortega, Maurice Wagg, R. H. King, Wilkes, Demming, Bernard Harley, William Smith, Richard Hamilton, Edward J. Houghton, Oliver O'Brien, Frank Lucas, William Garvin, Charles J. Bibber, John Neil, Robert Montgomery, James Roberts, Charles Hawkins, Dennis Conlan, James Sullivan, William Hinnegan, Charles Rice, John Cooper, Patrick Mullin, James Saunders, James Horton, James Rountry, John H. Ferrell, John Ditzenbach, Thomas Taylor, Patrick Mullin, Aaron Anderson or Sanderson (colored), Charles H. Smith, Hugh Logan, Lewis A. Пorton, George Moore, Luke M. Griswold, John Jones, George Pyne, Thomas Smith, Charles Reed, John S. Lann, George Schutt, John Mack, John H. Nibbe, Othniel Tripp, John Griffiths, Edward Swatton, John Swatson, Phillip Bazaar, George Province, Augustus Williams, Auzella Savage, John Jackson, Robert M. Blair, Anthony Williams, James W. Verney, Asa Bettram, John P. Ericson, Clement Dees,

APPEALS TO THE NORTH CAROLINIANS.

177

disabling it. They found Confederates engaged in the same work, who fled on the approach of the Nationals. The latter sunk two schooners in the canal and departed. Finally, on the

19th, the combined fleet set out from Edenton on a reconnoissance, which extended up the Chowan River as far as Winton (which was partially destroyed), and the Roanoke to Plymouth. The Perry, bearing Colonel Hawkins and a company of his Zouaves, received a volley of musketry from the high bank near the latter place, when Rowan ordered the town to be shelled. It was nearly all destroyed excepting the church.

The power of the Government was so fully displayed in this region, while its justice and clemency were proclaimed by Burnside and Goldsborough conjointly, in an address to the people

HAWKINS ZOUAVE.

of North Carolina, issued on the 18th, that the great bulk of the inhabitants, naturally inclined to loyalty, were anxious to render full submission. The proclamation assured them that the expedition was not there for the purpose of invading any of their rights. On the contrary, it came to protect them under the rightful authority of the National Government, and to close the desolating war which their wicked leaders had commenced. They were admonished of the truth, that those leaders were imposing upon their credulity, deceiving them by fictions about the intentions of the Government, such as destroying their property, injuring their women, and liberating their slaves. "We are Christians as well as yourselves," they said, "and we profess to know well and to feel profoundly the sacred obligations of the character. No apprehensions need be entertained that the demands of humanity or justice will be disregarded." "We invite you, in the name of the Constitution, and in that of virtuous loyalty and civilization, to separate yourselves at once from these malign influences, to return to your allegiance,

George W. McWilliams, John Angling, William Dunn, Robert Summers, Joseph B. Hayden, Isaac N. Fry, Edward R. Bowman, William Shipman, William G. Taylor, George Prance, Thomas Jones, William Campbell, Charles Mills, Thomas Connor, David L. Bass, Franklin L. Wilcox, Thomas Harcourt, Gurdon II, Barter, John Rannahan, John Shivers, Henry Thompson, Henry S. Webster, A. J. Tomlin, Albert Burton, L. C. Shepard, Charles H. Foy, James Barnum, John Dempster, Edmund IIaffee, Nicholas Lear, Daniel S. Milliken, Richard Willis, Joseph White, Thomas English, Charles Robinson. John Martin, Thomas Jordan, Edward B. Young, Edward Martin, John G. Morrison, William B. Stacy, Henry Shutes, John Taylor, John Harris, Henry Baker, James Avery, John Donnelly, John Noble, John Brown, Richard Bates, Thomas Burke, Thomas Robinson, Nicholas Irwin, John Cooper, John Brown, John Irving, William Blagdeen, William Madden, James Machon, William H. Brown, James Mifflin, James E Sterling, Richard Dennis, Samuel W. Davis, Samuel Todd, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Charles Melville, William A. Stanley, William Pelham, John McFarland, James G. Garrison, Thomas O. Connell, Wilson Brown.

The following named persons, having had Medals of Honor awarded to them for distinguished service in battle, and having again performed acts which, if they had not received that distinction, would have entitled them to it, were authorized to wear a bar attached to the ribbon by which the medal is suspended: John Cooper, Patrick Mullen.

The following persons, whose names appear on the above list, forfeited their medals by bad conduct: Joseph Brown, John Brazell, Frank Lucas, John Jackson, Clement Dees, Charles Robinson, John Martin, Richard Bates.

VOL. II.-50

178

SPIRIT OF THE LOYAL AND DISLOYAL.

and not compel us to resort further to the force under our control. The Government asks only that its authority may be recognized; and, we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, constitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages in any respect."

a Feb. 22,

1862.

This appeal alarmed the Confederate leaders in that State, and the Governor, Henry T. Clark, issued a counter-proclamation a few days afterward, in which he denounced the expedition as an attempt to deprive the inhabitants of liberty, property, and all they held "most dear as a self-governing and free people." He called upon them to supply the requisitions just made by Jefferson Davis for troops to repel the enemy. "We must resist him," he said, "at all hazards, and by every means in our power. He wages a war for our subjugation—a war forced upon us in wrong, and prosecuted without right, and in a spirit of vengeful wickedness, without a parallel in the history of warfare among civilized nations." He assured them that the Government was increasing its efforts "and straining every nerve" not to regain its rightful authority, but to overrun the country and subjugate the people to its domination, its "avarice and ambition." "I call upon the brave and patriotic men of our State to volunteer," he said, "from the mountains to the sea."

Such was the opposing spirit of the Government, and the conspirators against its life. The former was anxious for peace, the latter were zealous for war. The former, battling for right, justice, and the perpetuity of free institutions, and conscious of the righteousness of its cause, was firm but mild, patient, and persuasive; the latter, battling for wrong, injustice, and the perpetuation of slavery for the negro, and serfdom for the poor white man, with no warrant for their acts but selfishness, were bitter, vehement, and uncompromising; continually appealing to the passions of the people rather than to their reason and judgment, and by fraud and violence dragging them into the vortex of rebellion, in which their prosperity and happiness were sadly wrecked.

Here we will leave the National forces for a while in the waters of North Carolina, preparing for another important victory, which they achieved a month later, and observe the progress of military events westward of the Alleghanies during the later days of autumn, and the winter of 1861-62.

WESTERN MILITARY DIVISIONS.

179

CHAPTER VII.

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI, NEW MEXICO, AND EASTERN KENTUCKY-CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY.

OWARD the close of the autumn of 1861, the attitude of the contending parties, civil and military, in the great basin of the central Mississippi Valley was exceedingly interesting. We left the National army in Southern Missouri, at the middle of November, dispirited by the removal of their favorite leader, slowly making their way toward St. Louis under their temporary commander, General Hunter, while the energetic Confederate leader, General Price, was advancing, and reoccupying the region which the Nationals abandoned.' We left Southern Kentucky, from the mountains to the Mississippi River, in possession of the Confederates. Polk was holding the western portion, with his head-quarters at Columbus; General Buckner, with a strongly intrenched camp at Bowling Green, was holding the center; and Generals Zollicoffer and Marshall and others were keeping watch and ward on its mountain flanks. Back of these, and between them and the region where the rebellion had no serious opposition, was Tennessee, firmly held by the Confederates, excepting in its mountain region, where the most determined loyalty still prevailed.

a Nov., 1861.

On the 9th of November, 1861, General Henry Wager Halleck, who had been called from California by the President to take an active part in the war, was appointed to the command of the new Department of Missouri. He had arrived in Washington on the 5th," and on the 19th took the command, with Brigadier-General George W. Cullum, an eminent engineer officer, as his chief of staff, and Brigadier-General Schuyler Hamilton as assistant chief. Both officers had been on the staff of General Scott. The head-quarters were at St. Louis. General Hunter, whom Halleck superseded, was assigned to the command of the Department of Kansas. General Don Carlos Buell had superseded General Sherman, and was appointed commander of the Department of the Ohio; and the Department of Mexico, which included only the territory of New Mexico, was intrusted to Colonel E. R. S. Canby. Such was the arrangement of the military divisions of the territory westward of the Alleghanies late in 1861.

* It included Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas, and that portion of Kentucky lying west of the Cumberland River.

This included the State of Kansas, the Indian Territory, west of Arkansas, and the Territories of Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota.

4 This included the State of Ohio, and the portion of Kentucky lying eastward of the Cumberland River, which had formed a part of Sherman's Department of the Cumberland.