CHAP. II.

Cushing,

tive," ut sup.

the Roanoke into the broad Sound; the night was providentially still and calm; he steered by the stars till he reached the picket vessel Valley City; he had strength enough left to give a feeble hail, then fell with a splash into the water in the bottom of his boat. He had paddled, he says, "every minute for ten successive hours, and for four my body had been asleep,' with the exception of my two "Narra arms and brain." At first they took the skiff for a torpedo boat, and were more inclined to give him a volley of musketry than to pick him up; but he soon established his identity, refreshed himself, and went to report to the flagship, where he was received as one risen from the dead with salutes of rejoicing; the night air became gay with rockets, and all hands were called to cheer ship. Perhaps the most remarkable words in the simple narrative this heroic youth has left of his strange adventure are these, with which it closes: "In the morning I was again well in every way, with the exception of hands and feet, and had the pleasure of exchanging shots with the batteries that I had inspected on the day previous."

On the 30th of October, Commander Macomb, having ascertained that the direct channel was obstructed, passed into the Roanoke above Plymouth by Middle River, and thus took the place in reverse. A spirited engagement between the fleet and the forts began about eleven in the morning of the 31st; a fortunate shot from the Shamrock exploded the enemy's magazine, and the Confederates hastily evacuated their works; the victorious sailors, rowing ashore, captured the rear guard with twenty-two cannon and a large quantity of stores.

1864.

CHAPTER III

CHAP. III.

1864.

TH

FORT FISHER AND WILMINGTON

HE ports of Wilmington and Savannah, after the capture of New Orleans and the strict blockade of Charleston, and especially after the occupation of Mobile Bay, became the most important and valuable means of communication with the outside world which were left to the Confederacy. In spite of the utmost efforts of the National vessels, an extensive trade was carried on between these ports and those West Indian islands which had been taken as points of transshipment for the contraband goods exported from England to the Confederacy, and for the cotton which formed the only coin by which the South paid its debts to Europe. There was a peculiarity about the harbor of Wilmington which rendered it the favorite port of entry for blockade runners. The city stands on the Cape Fear River, about twenty-eight miles from the sea. There is a good entrance to the river at its mouth, and another by New Inlet, six miles in a straight line to the north; the space between them, merely sand and shallow water, is called Smith's Island, the southern extremity of which is the sharp headland of Cape Fear, beyond which stretch the Frying Pan Shoals for ten miles. The southern

entrance was protected by Fort Caswell; the north- CHAP. III. ern by Fort Fisher; between the two, on the mainland, was the village of Smithville, where the blockaders lay in wait, watching their chance to dart out to sea by one or the other sally-port. Those wishing to enter would wait outside till evening fell, and then dash in through the blockading fleet to the safe shelter of the guns of one or the other fort.

Legitimate trade had ceased immediately on the proclamation of the blockade by the President; but the necessities of the Confederacy and the hope of enormous profits by enterprising English adventurers formed together so powerful a stimulus to blockade running that, as a matter of course, it at once assumed a considerable development, and for a time actually increased in proportion to the means taken to suppress it. The Confederates had little use for their cotton, except as a medium of exchange; it therefore fell to a lower price than usual in the South; while the dearth of it in England and in the North caused an enormous increase in its value in those countries. The difference between eight cents a pound, at which it could be purchased in Wilmington, and two shillings, at which it could be sold in Liverpool, afforded a profit which would compensate for almost any possible risk. Three successful voyages would pay for a vessel; and the odds against a blockade runner were nothing like so great as that. A single ship, the R. E. Lee, ran the blockade twenty-one times between December, 1862, and November, 1863, carrying abroad six thousand bales of cotton. This was a case of extraordinary success, but it was

Soley,

"The Blockade and the Cruisers,"

p. 156.

CHAP. III. the opinion of our naval officers that two-thirds of the vessels attempting to enter Wilmington during the first half of 1864 were successful. It is true that sixty steamers running the blockade were captured or destroyed by the squadron before Wilmington; but in many cases these had more than paid for themselves before their fate overtook them.

Soley, "The

Blockade

and the

Cruisers," p. 94.

And yet the blockade was one of the most effective ever seen in war. Captures to the amount of many millions of dollars were made, and the shore was strewn with the wrecks of ships which were destroyed in the attempt to escape. In the latter part of 1864 the blockade was greatly increased in stringency. Three cordons of ships were drawn about the blockaded ports; the first as close as it could lie to the shore, and the third one hundred and thirty miles from land. Even through all these toils the long, narrow, and swift steel cruisers sometimes made their way. But the proportion of those which were captured grew so large that the industry languished. The most prudent had retired with their gains, and the business was no longer what it had been. The Government of the United States might have been satisfied with the results of the blockade but for its tremendous expense. To watch the port of Wilmington required a vast armada; and it was for this reason, fully as much as to put a stop to contraband trade, that the Navy Department and the President constantly urged upon the military authorities a joint expedition of the army and navy against Fort Fisher.

Mr. Welles had from time to time during the war tried to effect this purpose, but it was not until the autumn of 1864 that he could get the promise of a

military force to assist the naval attack. He at CHAP. III. once took measures to make ready as great a force

Farragut,

as possible and offered the command of it to Welles to Admiral Farragut. His health, which had been Sept. 5, 1864. seriously impaired by his incessant exertions and exposures in the Gulf, compelled that energetic officer to decline this appointment; it was then given to Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter, who had greatly distinguished himself by his zeal and ability in command of the Mississippi squadron. "A fleet of naval vessels," says Mr. Welles, "surpassing in numbers and equipments any which had assembled during the war, was collected with dispatch at Hampton Roads." General Grant promised an expeditionary force of over six thousand men.

It was the wish of the President and the War Department that General Gillmore should have command of these troops; but that brave and capable officer had fallen under General Grant's displeasure, and he had substituted General Godfrey Weitzel. Being informed of the plan proposed Weitzel went down to New Inlet in the last days of September, and with the assistance of Rear-Admiral S. P. Lee made a thorough reconnaissance of the place. He found Fort Fisher a most formidable work. The Confederates had made the best use of the long leisure afforded them, and had built an imposing fortress on the narrow sandspit which runs northward from New Inlet between Cape Fear River and the sea. A small outwork called Fort Buchanan was built on the shore of the Inlet. A half mile to the north Fort Fisher stretched all the way across the narrow peninsula, at that point only about five hundred yards wide.

Report Secretary of the Navy, 1865, p. iv.

1864.