128

BATTLE OF PORT ROYAL FERRY.

opened a brisk fire into the woods in their front. The Seventy-ninth New York led. Very soon a concealed battery near the Ferry was encountered. It opened upon them with grape and canister, but was soon silenced by a close encounter, in which the Eighth Michigan bore the brunt. The Fiftieth Pennsylvania pressed forward to the support of these and the Highlanders, but very little fighting occurred after the first onset. The Confederates, seeing the gun-boats Seneca, Ellen, Pembina, and Ottawa coming forward, abandoned their works and fled, and the Pennsylvania "Round Heads" passed over the Ferry and occupied them. At four o'clock in the afternoon, General Stevens joined them. The works were demolished, and the houses in the vicinity were burned. General Stevens's loss was nine wounded, one of them (Major Watson, of the Eighth Michigan) mortally.

While the National forces were thus gaining absolute control of the South Carolina coast islands, and the blockading ships, continually multiplying on the Atlantic and on the Gulf, were watching every avenue of ingress or egress for

FT JOHNSON

LIGHT HOUSE

CHARLESTON
HARBOR

SUMTERD

MORRIS

SHIP

CHANNEL

MOULTRIE.

MAFFITT'S CHAN.
NORTH CHANNEL.
SWASH CHANNEL.

violators of the law, the Government, profiting by the hint given by the insurgents themselves, several months before, in sinking obstructions in the SULLIVANS channel leading up to Norfolk,' proceeded to close, in like manner, the main entrances to the harbors of Charleston and Savannah. For that purpose a number of condemned merchant vessels, chiefly whalers, were found in New England harbors, and purchased by order of the Secretary of the Navy. Twenty-five of them, each of three or four hundred tons burden, were stripped of their copper bottoms, and were as heavily laden as their strength would permit, with blocks of granite, for the purpose of closing up Charleston harbor. In their sides, below water-mark, holes were bored, in which movable plugs were inserted, so that when these vessels reached their destination these might be drawn, and the water allowed to pour in.

STONE
FLEET

TLANT

OCEAN

THE CHANNELS OF CHARLESTON HARBOR.

This "stone fleet," as it was called, reached the blockading squadron off Charleston at the middle of December, and on the 20th, sixteen of the vessels, from New Bedford and New London, were sunk on the bar at the entrance of the Main Ship channel, six miles in a direct southern line from Fort Sumter. This was done under the superintendence of Fleet-captain Charles H. Davis. They were placed at intervals, checkerwise, so as to form

1 See page 398, volume I.

2 One of these vessels was named Ceres. It had been an armed store-ship of the British navy, and as such was in Long Island Sound during the old war for Independence, when it was captured by the Americans.

3 There are four channels leading out from Charleston harbor. The Main Ship channel runs southward along Morris Island. Maffitt's channel, on the northern side of the entrance, is along the south side of Sullivan's Island. Between these are the North channel and the Swash channel, the former having eight, and the latter nine feet of water on the bar. The Main Ship channel had fifteen feet, and Maffitt's channel eleven.

FAILURE OF THE STONE FLEET.

1

129

disturbing currents that would perplex but not destroy the navigation. Indeed, the affair was intended by the Government, and expected by those acquainted with the nature of the coast, the currents, and the harbor, to be only a temporary interference with navigation, as a war measure, and these experts laughed at the folly of those who asserted, as did a writer who accompanied the fleet, that "Charleston Bar is paved with granite, and the harbor is a thing of the past." The idea that such was the case was fostered by the Confederates, in order to "fire the Southern heart;" and their newspapers teemed with denunciations of the "barbarous act," and frantic calls upon commercial nations to protest by cannon, if necessary, against this "violation of the rights of the civilized world." The British press and British statesmen sympathizing with the insurgents joined in the outery, and the British Minister at Washington (Lord Lyons) made it the subject of diplomatic remonstrance. He was assured that the obstructions would be temporary, and he was referred to the fact that, since they had been placed there, a British ship, in violation of the blockade, had run into Charleston harbor with safety, carrying supplies for the enemies of the Government.

The work of the "stone fleet" was a failure,' and the expected disaster to Charleston, from its operations, did not occur. But a fearful one did fall upon that city at the very time when this "stone fleet" was approaching. A conflagration commenced on the night of the 14th of December, and continued the following day, devouring churches and public buildings, with several hundred stores, dwellings, manufactories, and warehouses, valued, with their contents, at millions of dollars.

Let us now turn from the sea-coast, and observe events at the National capital and in its vicinity, especially along the line of the Potomac River.

4

We left the Confederate army, after the Battle of Bull's Run, lying in comparative inactivity in the vicinity of its victory, with General Joseph E. Johnston as its chief commander, having his head-quarters at Centreville.3 We left the Army of the Potomac in a formative state, under General McClellan, whose head-quarters were in Washington City, on Pennsylvania. Avenue, opposite the southeast corner of President Square. He was busily engaged, not only in perfecting its physical organization, but in making a solid improvement in its moral character. He issued orders that com mended themselves to all good citizens, among the most notable of which was one which enjoined "more perfect respect for the Sabbath." He won "golden opinions" continually, and with the return of every morning he found himself more and more securely intrenched in the faith and affections of the people, who were lavish of both.

a

Sept. 6, 1861.

General McClellan's moral strength at this time was prodigious. The soldiers and the people believed in him with the most earnest faith. His short campaign in Western Virginia had been successful. He had promised, on taking command of the Army of the Potomac, that the war should be "short, sharp, and decisive;" and he said to some of his followers,' while the President and Secretary of War were standing by,

1 Special correspondence of the New York Tribune, Dec. 26th, 1861.

b Sept. 10.

2 A similar attempt had been made to close Ocracoke Inlet, in September, but with the same lack of success, the old hulks being either carried to sea by the strong currents, or so deeply imbedded in the sand as to be harmless.

130

RETIREMENT OF GENERAL SCOTT.

"Soldiers! We have had our last retreat. We have seen our last defeat. You stand by me, and I will stand by you, and henceforth victory will crown our efforts." These words found a ready response from the soldiers and the people, and they were pondered with hope, and repeated with praise. In them were promises of the exercise of that promptness and energy of action, in the use of the resources of the country, that would speedily bring peace. In the hearts of the people still rang the cry of "On to Richmond!" while their lips, taught circumspection by the recent disaster at Bull's Run, were modestly silent. The soldiers, eager to wipe out the disgrace of that disaster, were ready to obey with alacrity, at any moment, an order to march on Richmond. And it was evidently the determination of the commander, all through the earlier weeks of autumn, to strike the foe at Manassas, as quickly as possible, and march triumphantly on the Confederate capital.* But the retirement of Lieutenant-General Scott from the chief command of the National Army, and the appointment of McClellan to fill • Nov. 1. his place, imposed new duties and responsibilities upon the lat

a 3

ter, and his plan of campaign against the insurgents in Virginia was changed.

The new organization of the Army of the Potomac was perfected at the middle of October, when at least seventy-five thousand well-armed and fairly disciplined troops were in a condition to be placed in column for active. operations against the Confederates in front of Washington. At that time the National city was almost circumvallated by earth-works, there being no

1 This little speech was on the occasion when Governor Curtin, accompanied by the President and Secretary of War, presented a set of flags to the Pennsylvania Brigade of General McCall, on Arlington Heights.

2 Mr. Swinton, in his History of the Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac (note on page 69), says: "Though General McClellan used to keep his own counsel, yet General McDowell tells me he was wont, in their rides over the country south of the Potomac, to point toward the flank of Manassas, and say, We shall strike them there."

* General Scott was then in the 76th year of his age, having been born in June, 1786. He had been for some time suffering from physical and mental infirmities, and was incapable of performing, in any degree of efficiency, the duties of his office at that important time. His voluntary retirement from active military duty was a fortunate circumstance for the country and his own reputation, and he descended into the quiet of private life after a most distinguished military career of more than fifty years' duration, followed by the benedictions of a grateful people. It was on his recommendation that General McClellan, his junior by forty years, was made the Commander-in-chief of all the armies of the Republic.-See General Orders, No. 94, dated Washington, November 1st, 1861.*

General Scott left Washington city immediately after he retired from active command, accompanied by his staff, the Secretaries of War and the Treasury, and other distinguished officials. General McClellan bade him an affectionate farewell at the Washington railway-station, and the veteran was conveyed easily on a couch fitted up for his use. He was everywhere greeted by the people with the most earnest demonstrations of respect. In New York, a committee of the Chamber of Commerce and the Union Defense Committee made formal calls upon him, tendering him addresses, to which he replied in the most feeling manner. He expressed confidence in the ultimate success of the National cause, and spoke in highest terms of President Lincoln, to whom he was politically opposed. "I had no part nor lot in his election," he said. "I confess that he has agreeably disappointed Ine. He is a man of great ability, fidelity, and patriotism."

On the 9th of November, General Scott departed for Havre, in the steamship Arago, his heart cheered by intelligence, by way of Richmond, of the victory of Dupont at Port Royal, and the capture of Beaufort.

The following letter of the President was embodied in the order:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, "Washington, November 1st, 1861.

"On the 1st day of November, A. D. 1861, upon his own application to the President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General WINFIELD SCOTT is ordered to be placed, and hereby is placed upon the list of retired officers of the Army of the United States, withouf reduction in his current pay, subsistence, or allowance.

"The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General SCOTT has withdrawn from the active control of the army, while the President and a unanimous Cabinet express their own and the nation's sympathy in his personal affliction, and their profound sense of the important public services rendered by him to his country during his long and brilliant career, among which will ever be gratefully distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the Flag, when assailed by parricidal rebellion. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

FOREIGN PRINCES IN THE ARMY.

131 less than thirty-two forts completed and armed for its defense, and to these sixteen were added in the course of six weeks. Provisions, stores, ammunition, and clothing, were on hand in the greatest abundance, and the chief commander was furnished with numerous and efficient staff officers, among whom were two French Princes of the House of Orleans, who had just arrived at the capital, with their uncle, the Prince de Joinville, son of the late Louis Philippe, King of the French. These were the Count of Paris and the Duke of Chartres, sons of the late Duke of Orleans, who wished to acquire military experience in the operations of so large a force as was there in arms.

A prominent member of the then reigning family in France, whose head was considered a usurper by the Orleans family, had just left this country for his own. It was the Prince Jerome Bonaparte, a cousin of the Emperor Napoleon the Third, who, with his wife, had arrived in New York in the preceding July, in his private steam yacht. He went to Washington, where he was entertained by the President, and visited the Houses of Congress and the army on Arlington Heights and vicinity. He passed through the lines and visited the Confederate forces under Beauregard, at Manassas. Returning to New York, he started on a tour to Niagara, Canada, and the Western prairies, with the princess. At the middle of September, he went from New York to Boston and Halifax in his yacht, and so homeward.

It was only a few days before Prince Jerome's departure from New York that the Prince de Joinville arrived there, with members of his family. He came to place his son, the Duke of Penthievre (then sixteen years of age), in the Naval School at Newport. He brought with him his two nephews above named, who offered their services to the Government, with the stipulation on their part that they should receive no pay. Each was commissioned a captain, and assigned to the staff of General McClellan. They remained in the service until the close of the Peninsula campaign, in July, 1862, and acquitted themselves well.

1 See map and foot-note on page 24 of this volume. On the 7th of December, Chief Engineer Barnard reported that the defenses of Washington city consisted of about forty-eight works, mounting over 300 guns, some of which were of very large size, and added, “that the actual defensive perimeter occupied is about thirty-five miles, exceeding the length of the famous, and hitherto the most extensive-fortified by extemporized field-works -lines of Torres Vedras by several miles."

Concerning the creation and use of heavy ordnance at that time, Swinton says: "The task of forming an artillery establishment was facilitated by the fact that the country possessed, in the regular service, a body of accomplished and energetic artillery officers. As a basis of organization, it was decided to form field-batteries of six guns (never less than four guns, and the guns of each battery to be of uniform caliber), and these were assigned to divisions, not to brigades, in the proportion of four batteries to each division; one of which was to be a battery of regulars, and the captain of the regular battery was in each case appointed commandant of the artillery of the division. In addition, it was determined to create an artillery reserve of a hundred guns, and a siege-train of fifty pieces. This work was pushed forward with so much energy, that whereas, when General McClellan took command of the army, the entire artillery establishment consisted of nine imperfectly equipped batteries of thirty guns, before it took the field this service had reached the colossal proportions of ninety-two batteries of five hundred and twenty guns, served by twelve thousand five hundred men, and in full readiness for active field duty."-Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, page 65.

2 The following officers composed the staff of General McClellan soon after taking the command of the Army of the Potomac: Major S. Williams, Assistant Adjutant-General; Captain Albert V. Colburn, Assistant Adjutant-General; Colonel R. B. Marcy, Inspector-General; Colonel T. M. Key, Aid-de-Camp; Captain N. B. Sweitser, 1st Cavalry, Aid-de-Camp; Captain Edward McK. Hudson, 14th Infantry, Aid-de-Camp; Captain L A. Williams, 10th Infantry, Aid-de-Camp; Major A. J. Myer, Signal Officer; Major Stewart Van Vliet, Chief Quartermaster; Captain H. F. Clarke, Chief Commissary; Surgeon C. S. Tripler, Medical Director; Major J. G. Barnard, Chief Engineer; Major J. N. Macomb, Chief Topographical Engineer; Captain Charles P. Kingsbury, Chief of Ordnance; Brigadier-General George Stoneman, Volunteer Service, Chief of Cavalry; BrigadierGeneral W. F. Barry, Volunteer Service, Chief of Artillery."

132 THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

McClellan had organized every necessary department thoroughly, and had endeavored to place at the head of each the best men in the service.' These had been active co-workers with him, and their several departments were in the best possible condition for effective service. The main body of the army was now judiciously posted, for offense or defense, in the immediate vicinity of Washington City, with detachments on the left bank of the Potomac as far up as Williamsport, above Harper's Ferry, and as far down as Liverpool Point, in Maryland, nearly opposite Acquia Creek.

a Oct. 15, 1861.

2

At the close of September a grand review had been held, when seventy

1 The Engineers, as we have observed, were placed in charge of Major J. G. Barnard, and the Artillery under the chief command of Major William F. Barry. The Topographical Engineers were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John N. Macomb, and a Signal Corps, formed by Major Albert J. Myer, the inventor of a most efficient system of signalling, was placed in charge of that officer. This system was first practically tested during the organization of the Army of the Potomac, and, as we shall observe hereafter, it performed the most essential and important service on land and water, in reconnoitering and in directing the fire of artillery, where objects, such as hills or woods on land, or bluffs or wooded points on the shores of rivers, intervened between the belligerents. The value of that service during the war cannot be estimated. A full explanation of its operations, with illustrations, may be found in another part of this work.

The Telegraphic operations of the army were intrusted to Major Thomas J. Eckert. In this connection, T. S. C. Lowe, a distinguished aeronaut, was employed, and for some time balloons were used with great efficiency in reconnoitering, but later in the progress of the war they fell into disuse. Mr. Lowe made experiments with his balloon in connection with the telegraph so early as June, 1861, and by perfect success demonstrated the feasibility of the joint use of the balloon and telegraph in reconnoitering. At the height of full five hundred feet above Arlington Heights, Mr. Lowe telegraphed to the President, at Washington, as follows:

"SIR:-From this point of observation we command an extent of country nearly fifty miles in diameter. I have pleasure in sending you this first telegram ever dispatched from an aerial station, and acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the service of the country.

"I am your Excellency's humble servant,

"T. S. C. LOWE." War-balloons were first regularly used by Louis Napoleon in the Italian War, in 1859. Their success there commended their introduction into the National army, and the attention of the military authorities was early called to the subject. On receiving the above dispatch, Mr. Lincoln invited Mr. Lowe to the Executive mansion. He introduced him to General Scott, and he was soon afterward employed as an aeronaut in the military service. When in use, the balloon is kept under control by strong cords in the hands of men on the ground, who, when the reconnoissance is ended, draw it down to the place of depar

ture.

The Medical Department of the army was placed in charge of Surgeons Charles S. Tripler and Jonathan Letterman, who in turn performed the duties of Medical Director. The Quartermaster's Department was intrusted to Major S. Van Vliet. The Subsistence Department was placed in charge of Captain H. F. Clarke; and to the control of the Ordnance Department was assigned Captain C. P. Kingsbury. Colonel Andrew Porter was made Provost-Marshal General of the Army of the Potomac; and Colonel Thomas G. Garrett, of the General's staff, was made Judge Advocate.See General McClellan's Report on the Organization of the Army of the Potomac, and its Campaigns in Virginia and Maryland.

WAR BALLOON.

2 The different divisions were posted as follows: "Hooker at Budd's Ferry, Lower Potomac; Heintzelman at Fort Lyon and vicinity; Franklin near the Theological Seminary; Blenker near Hunter's Chapel; McDowell at Upton's Hill and Arlington; F. J. Porter at Hall's and Miner's Hills; Smith at Mackall's Hill; McCall at Langley; Buell at Tenallytown, Meridian Hill, Emory's Chapel, &c., on the left bank of the river; Casey at Washington; Stoneman's cavalry at Washington; Hunt's artillery at Washington; Banks at Darnestown, with detachments at Point of Rocks, Sandy Hook, Williamsport, &c.; Stone at Poolesville; and Dix at Baltimore, with detachments on the Eastern shore."