CHAP. LIX.] STONE BLOCKADES. 497 the former, however, in the course of an hour and a half, were compelled to withdraw. But the shore batteries, continuing their attack, silenced the guns of the garri son, and, in the course of the afternoon, compelled the surrender of the fort. In connection with this expedition some operations of minor importance occurred-an affair at South Mills; the obstructing of the entrance to the Dismal Swamp; an engagement near Pactolus. The chief result, however, was the closure of the ports and suppression of commerce. General Burnside's forces were eventually, for the most part, withdrawn. They were taken to Alexandria, and joined the army of General Pope. General result of ditions. Before the close of 1862 a large part of the Atlantic Southern coast had been recovered from the these coast expe- Confederacy. The navy was occupied in suppressing the batteries and fortified works which had been constructed on the interior water network. Many of these, as on Otter Island and up the Coosaw, were found to have been abandoned. This was, perhaps, in part due to the terror of gun-boats inspired by the attack on Port Royal, and in part to the fact that the force of the Confederacy was already declining. Among the methods resorted to for completing the blockade, and preventing the egress of priThe stone blockade. vateers seeking to commit depredations on commerce, was that of sinking in the channels of some of the ports vessels laden with stone. This was first done at Ocracoke Inlet, on the North Carolina coast. A number of old whale-ships which had become unseaworthy, having been laden with stone, were sunk, on the 21st of December (1861), at the principal entrance of Charleston Harbor. They were placed in checkered rows across the channel. It was expected that they would form a nucleus for the accumulation of sand, and thus af II.—I I 498 CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS. [SECT. XII. ford the required obstacle. The result, however, proved to be a failure. privateers. As the most important privateering operations of the The Confederate Confederacy have to be considered in the following volume, I shall not, at this point, devote much space to that subject. The incidents that have to be related, or, rather, referred to, were intrinsically of very little importance. They exerted no influence on the general issue, and were without any political result, except in so far as they raised the question of the treatment of privateersmen as pirates. On June 2d, 1861, the Savannah, a schooner of 50 tons, carrying an 18-pound swivel, eluded the blockading squadron off Charleston. Next day she fell in with a Maine brig, laden with sugar, bound to Philadelphia. Having decoyed her within reach by hoisting an American flag, the privateer captured her without difficulty. Soon after the Savannah fell in with another brig, and her captain expected to make as easy a prize of it. It was, however, the United States brig of war Perry. Discovering the mistake when it was too late, the Savannah was obliged to surrender. Her crew were sent to New York. It was intended to try them for piracy; but a threat from the Confederate government that it would retaliate, led to their exchange along with other prisoners of war. Capture of the Sinking of the Still worse fortune befell the Petrel, which likewise ran out through the blockade of Charleston. She was hardly at sea when she fell in with what seemed to be a large merchant vessel. She accordingly gave chase, and fired a shot across the stranger's bow to bring her to. The crew of the Petrel reported that they were at a loss to know what had next happen CHAP. LIX,] prizes. CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS. 499 ed to them. They were floating among splinters and wreck; their vessel had disappeared. They had been chasing the frigate St. Lawrence, which had opened her ports and instantly sent the Petrel to the bottom. Four men were drowned, and thirty-six rescued from the water. Several prizes were, however, made by other vessels The Confederate sailing under the Confederate flag. At the close of the year (1861) these prizes were fifty-eight in number. The Confederate government carried its point that its prisoners captured at sea should be treated as ordinary prisoners of war. Colonel Corcoran, of the New York 69th Regiment, who had been wounded and captured at the battle of Bull Run, was handcuffed, placed in a solitary cell, and attached to the floor by a chain in the Libby Prison at Richmond. This was done to compel the national government to recede from the position taken by the President in his proclamation of April 19th, that persons thus captured at sea "will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy," and the measure proved successful. Among other naval operations may be mentioned the Burning of the destruction, in the harbor of Pensacola, of the Judah, a privateer. She was boarded early on the morning of September 14th by a party from the flag-ship Colorado, who spiked a 10-inch gun with which she was armed, and set her on fire. Their loss was 15 in killed and wounded. The Confederates, however, shortly after retaliated. On the night of October 9th they sent a force from Pensacola to Santa Rosa Island, and surprised the camp of a Zouave regiment stationed near Fort Pickens. They were successful; the camp was destroyed, and the Zouaves lost about 60 killed and wounded. Government action respecting privateers. Judah. The Confederates rout a Zouave regiment. e.... The steamer Sumter, Captain Semmes, had evaded the 500 Successes of the CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS. [SECT. XII. blockade of the Mississippi about the beginning of July, and captured several merchantmen in the West India Seas. She then went to Nassau for supplies. Having made many captures in the Atlantic, she was blockaded in the harbor of Gibraltar by the national steamer Tuscarora. Here she was sold, her offi cers repairing to Liverpool, and being eventually transferred to the Alabama, which had been built for them at that port. Successes of the The Nashville, which had slipped out of Charleston, captured and burnt a valuable merchantNashville. man, the Harvey Birch, near the English coast, and then went into Southampton, where the Tuscarora happened to be. She, however, escaped from this national ship, as it was detained by the English government for twenty-four hours after the privateer had sailed. An attempt was made (October 11th) to drive the Attack on a block- blockading squadron from the mouths of ading squadron. the Mississippi. For this purpose, a ram, three fire-ships, and five small steamers came down the river. The ram struck the national flag-ship Richmond, and stove in her side. The other ships slipped their cables and ran down to the Southwest Pass. One of them, the Vincennes, got aground, her captain attempting, without success, to set her on fire. The alarm was, however, very quickly over, and the blockade remained unbroken. SECTION XIII. FOREIGN RELATIONS AND DOMESTIC POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC. CHAPTER LX. FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC. STATE OF EUROPEAN OPINION ON AMERICAN AFFAIRS. Public opinion in Europe respecting the American Civil War was, to a great extent, founded on the views of the English press. The middle classes in England were brought to coincide with the privileged classes in sentiments unfavorable to the American Union, partly by appeals to historical recollections, and partly by considerations connected with the revenue legislation of the American Congress. The Confederacy THE people of the Confederacy very confidently expected foreign aid, both moral and material, in expected foreign the establishment of their independence. It was affirmed that promises of that kind had been given before the first public movements of secession in Charleston were undertaken (vol. i., p. 512). aid, The national government also, not without reason, looked for the favorable opinion of that government for powerful influence in Europe which represents itself as dedicated to the support of and the national eign sympathy. law, order, and liberty. Both, however, were disappointed. If a French army appeared on the American continent, it was not in avowed support of the Confederacy, but for the carrying out of European purposes in Mexico. The intellectual power of England was engaged, as far as circumstances permitted, in promoting a partition of the republic. |