Page images
PDF
EPUB

558

CAPTURE OF THE PETREL.

in England, where it was assumed that Davis was at the head of an actual government, to whom the British authorities had officially awarded belligerent rights. With that assumption, and that opinion of the character of the Confederates, it was argued in the British Parliament that the captives were not pirates, but privateers, and ought to be treated as prisoners of war. The United States Government, on the contrary, denied that Jefferson Davis represented any government, and hence his commissions were null, and the so-called privateers were pirates, according to the accepted law of nations; but, governed by the dictates of expediency and a wisely directed humanity, it was concluded to treat them as prisoners of war, and they were afterward exchanged.

The Petrel was more suddenly checked in her piratical career than the Savannah. She was the United States revenue-cutter Aiken, which had been surrendered to the insurgents at Charleston, in December, 1860, by her disloyal commander.' She was now manned by a crew of thirty-six men, who were mostly Irishmen, picked up in Charleston while seeking employment. She evaded the blockading squadron off Charleston harbor, and went to sea on the 28th of July, when she was discovered by the National frigate St. Lawrence, that was lying behind one of the islands on that coast. The St. Lawrence was immediately made to assume the appearance of a large merchant vessel. Her heavy spars were hauled down, her ports were closed, and her people sent below. The Petrel regarded her as a rich prize, and bore down upon her, while the St. Lawrence appeared to be crowding sail so as to escape. As the Petrel approached, she sent a warning shot across the St. Lawrence, but the latter kept on her course, chased by the pirate. When the Petrel came within fair range, the St. Lawrence opened her ports, and gave her the contents of three heavy guns. One of them-a Paixhan-was loaded with an 8-inch shell, known as the "Thunderbolt," which exploded in the hold of the Petrel, while a 32-pound solid shot struck her amidships, below water-mark. These made her a total wreck in an instant, and she went to the bottom of the ocean, leaving the foaming waters over her grave thickly strewn with splinters and her struggling crew. Four of her men were drowned, and the remainder, when brought out of the water, were so amazed and confused that they scarcely knew what had happened. A flash of fire, a thunder-peal, the crash of timbers, and engulfment in the sea, had been the incidents of a moment of their experience. The rescued crew were sent to Philadelphia and placed in Moyamensing Prison, to answer the charge of piracy. They, like the crew of the Savannah, were finally admitted to the privileges of prisoners of war, and were exchanged.

B

THUNDERBOLT SHELL.

C

While the piratical vessels of the Confederates were making war upon

1 See page 138.

2 This shell was invented by William Wheeler Hubbell, counselor at law, of Philadelphia, in the year 1842, and for which he received letters patent in.1856. It was introduced into the service in 1847, under an agreement of secrecy, by Colonel Bomford, the inventor of the columbiad (see page 123), then the Chief of the Ordnance Department. This shell was the most efficient projectile in use when the war broke out. Its appearance is shown by the annexed illustration, of which A is the shell; B, the sabot, or shoe of wood, and C, the fuse. The peculiar construction of this shell will be hereafter mentioned, when noticing the various projectiles used in the

war.

INCREASE OF THE NATIONAL NAVY.

559

commerce, and the conspirators were encouraged by foreign powers, who had conceded to them belligerent rights, to increase their number, Secretary Welles was putting forth, in full measure, all the instrumentalities at his command for increasing the strength and efficiency of the National Navy. The blockade of ports along almost three thousand miles of coast, with its numerous harbors and inlets,' had been declared, and must be made as perfect as the law of nations, as they were then construed, required, to command respect. There was no time for the building of vessels for the purpose;

the Secretary purchased various kinds of craft, and converted them into warriors as speedily as possible.

We have seen how inefficient and scattered was the Navy at the accession of the new Administration, at the beginning of March;"

[graphic]

a 1861.

now, at the beginning of July, four nonths later, there were forty-three armed vessels engaged in the blockade service, and in defense of the coast on the eastern side of the continent. These

GIDEON WELLES.

were divided into two squadrons, known respectively as the Atlantic and the Gulf Squadron. The former, under the command of Flag-officer Silas H. Stringham, consisted of twenty-two vessels, and an aggregate of two hundred and ninety-six guns and three thousand three hundred men; the latter, under command of Flag-officer William Mer

[merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

tary purchased and put into commission no less than one hundred and thirtyseven vessels, and had contracted for the building of a large number of steamships of a substantial class, suitable for performing continuous duty off the coast in all weathers.

The Secretary, in his Report, called attention to the important subject of

1 Report of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, July 4, 1861.

Report of the Secretary of the Navy, July 4, 1861. The commanders of the squadrons had been instructed to permit the vessels of foreigners to leave the blockaded ports within fifteen days after such blockade was established, and their vessels were not to be seized unless they attempted, after being once warned off, to enter an interdicted port.

560 THE NAVY SUPPLIED WITH MEN AND OFFICERS. iron-clad vessels, and recommended the appointment of a competent board to inquire into and report on the subject. Already there had been spent more than a million of dollars in the construction of an immense iron-clad floating battery, for harbor defense, by Messrs. Stevens, of Hoboken, New Jersey, most of it by the Government, and yet it was not completed. He recommended a special inquiry concerning that battery, before the large sum asked for its completion should be appropriated.'

The call for recruits for the Navy was promptly complied with, and for the want of them no vessel was ever detained more than two or three days. Since the 4th of March, two hundred and fifty-nine officers had resigned their commissions or had been dismissed from the service for disloyalty; and several vessels were sent to sea at first without a full complement of officers. The want was soon supplied. Many who had retired to civil pursuits now patriotically came forth promptly to aid their country in its struggle for life, and were re-commissioned; while many masters and masters' mates were appointed from the commercial marine. The Naval School and public property at Annapolis, in Maryland, had been removed to Newport, Rhode Island, because it was unsafe, in the state of public affairs in Maryland, to continue the school there. Fort Adams, near Newport, was tendered by the War Department for the temporary accommodation of the school.

[ocr errors]

Until just before the war, this structure had been shut in from the public eye. It was to be seven hundred feet long, covered with iron plates, so as to be proof against shot and shell of any kind. It was to be moved by steam-engines of sufficient power to give it a momentum that would cause it to cut in two any shipof-war then known, when it should strike it at the waist. It was intended to mount a battery of sixteen heavy rifled cannon, in bomb-proof casemates, and two heavy columbiads for throwing shells. The latter were to be on deck, fore and aft. The smoke-stack was to be constructed in sliding sections, like a telescope, for obvious purposes; and the vessel was to be so constructed that it might be sunk to the level of the water. Its burden was to be rated at six thousand tons. It is yet (1865) unfinished.

2 The following is the form of the naval commissions:- THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, To all who shall see these presents, Greeting: Know ye, that reposing special Trust and Confidence in the Patriotism, Valor, Fidelity, and Abilities of

[merged small][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][merged small]
[ocr errors]

-, I have

[graphic]

nominated, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
from the day of, 18, in the
He is therefore carefully and diligently
by doing and performing all Man-
And I do strictly charge and

do appoint him a
service of the United States.
to discharge the Duties of
ner of Things there to belonging.
require all Officers, Seamen, and Marines, under his command, to be
obedient to his Orders as

And he is to observe and follow
such Orders and Directions, from time to time, as he shall receive
from me, or the future President of the United States, or his Superior
Officer set over him, according to the Rules and Discipline of the
Navy. This Commission to continue in force during the pleasure of
the President of the United States for the time being. Given under
my hand at Washington, this day of, in the year of our
Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-one, and in the Eighty-
fifth year of the Independence of the United States.
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

"GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Nary."

These commissions are printed on parchment. At the top is seen a spread eagle on a rock in the ocean. on which is a mariner's compass, the fasces and olive-branch, with sailing vessels-of-war in the distance. At the bottom, Neptune and the Goddess of Liberty, in a shell drawn by horses and surrounded by Tritons; and below this the seal, surrounded by a wreath, and military and naval trophies.

[merged small][ocr errors]

STATE OF THE COUNTRY AT MIDSUMMER.

561

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE CALLED SESSION OF CONGRESS.-FOREIGN RELATIONS.-BENEVOLENT ORGANI

ZATIONS.-THE OPPOSING ARMIES.

[graphic]

• April 15, 1861.

N Thursday, the 4th of July, 1861, which was the eightyfourth anniversary of the Declaration of the Independence of the United States, the Thirty-seventh Congress assembled in the Capitol at Washington City, in extraordinary session, in compliance with the call of the President. No Congress since the First-by which the policy of the new government in its domestic and foreign relations had to be determined, the practical foundations of the Nation established, and the machinery of law put in motion-had been burdened with such momentous duties and such grave responsibilities as this. The delicate and difficult task of preserving, by the strong arm of absolute power, the life of the Nation, imperiled by internal foes, without usurping the constitutional prerogatives of the people, was imposed upon it. Its members were elected when the country seemed to be in a state of profound peace and great prosperity; they now came together, a few months later, to legislate, when the country was rent by violence and its industrial energies were paralyzed-when the fires of civil war were madly blazing over an area of more than three-quarters of a million of square miles of the Republic, and were, in a special manner, menacing the seat of government and the national archives with utter desolation. Large. armies, destined for the overthrow of the Government, were within the sound of cannon of the Capital; and secret assassins, it is believed, intrusted with errands of deadliest mischief by conspirators, were prowling about the halls of Congress and the house of the Chief Magistrate. At such a time, the representatives of the people went up to the National Capital, charged with the duty of preserving the Republic from harm; and, as we shall observe, the great majority of them wisely, patriotically, and efficiently performed that duty.

In the Senate, twenty-three States, and in the House of Representatives, twenty-two States and one Territory were represented. There were forty senators and one hundred and fifty-four representatives present on the first day of the session. Ten States, in which the politicians had adopted ordinances of secession, were not represented.' In both houses, there was a large majority of Unionists.

1 These were Virginia (the eastern portion, controlled by the conspirators at Richmond), North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. Four Slave-labor States, namely, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky. and Missouri, were represented. Tennessee had not then hell its

VOL. I.-36

562

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

The proceedings of the Senate, over which Hannibal Hamlin, the VicePresident of the United States, presided, were opened by prayer by the Rev. Byron Sunderland, D. D., and those of the House of Representatives by the Rev. T. H. Stockton, chaplain of

[graphic]

HANNIBAL HAMLIN.

the last House.' This was the first session of this Congress, and the House of Repre sentatives was organized by the election of Galusha A. Grow, of Pennsylvania, to be speaker or presiding officer.

July 5,
1861.

On the second day of the session, President Lincoln sent into Congress, by the hands of his private secretary, J. G. Nicolay, a message, devoted almost exclusively to the consideration of the important subject which occasioned the assembling of that body in extraordinary session. He recited the many and grave offenses of the conspirators, such as the seizure and appropriation of public property, the preparations for war, and the seeking of recognition by foreign powers, as an independent nation; and then he gave an outline history of events connected with Fort Sumter, already recorded in this volume. Speaking of the assault on that work, he said that it was in "no sense a matter of self-defense upon the part of the assailants," for they "knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit aggression upon them." By the affair at Fort Sumter, he said, "the assailants of the Government began the conflict of arms, without a gun in sight or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the few in the fort, sent to that harbor years before for their own protection, and still ready to give that protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, they have forced upon the country the distinct issue, 'immediate dissolution or blood.' And this issue embraces more than these United States. It presents to the whole family of man the question, whether a constitutional republic or democracy-a government of the people by the same people can or can not maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes. It presents the question, whether discontented individuals, too few in number to control administration according to organic law, in any case, can always, upon the pretenses made in this case, or on any other pretenses, or arbi

elections for members of Congress. When they were held, five weeks later, only three districts in East Tennessee chose representatives. One of these, Thomas A. R. Nelson, while on his way to Washington City, was arrested by the insurgents and taken to Richmond, where he secured his personal liberty by an open profes sion of allegiance to the "Southern Confederacy" of conspirators. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, appeared and took his seat in the Senate.

1 See page 65.

2 The excuse of the conspirators for their revolutionary act alluded to by the President, like all others, was only a pretext, and so transparent that no well-informed person was deceived by it. Such was, evidently, the Peace Convention (see page 285) at Washington, planned by the Virginia conspirators. Such, also, was the mission of Forsyth and Crawford (see page 800), who were sent by Jefferson Davis to Washington to say that they were "intrusted with power, in the spirit of humanity, the civilization of the age." et cætera, to offer to the National Government the olive-branch of peace (see page 308), when it is known that while they were in the Capital, these "peace ambassadors " made large contracts with Northern manufacturers (to the shame of these contractors be it recorded!), for arms and ammunition, in preparation for war.

« PreviousContinue »