War on the Periphery-Confederate California Dreamin

Several hundred miles from the main front was the young state of California. While there was no strategic significance to California's land in determining the outcome of war, the state's gold was an invaluable source of income for both Union businessmen and the Federal Government. Throughout the war, many Confederate men dreamed of raiding these gold shipments.

One of these men was Asbury Harpending. A member of the San Francisco chapter of the infamous "Knights of the Golden Circle," Harpending tried since the beginning of the war to create a pro-Confederate breakaway section of California.  In 1863, he came up with a more workable plan, though just as daring. He knew that several shipments of California gold left San Francisco en route for the American east coast via mail steamer.



Asbury Harpending-gun runner, member of
the California Knights of the Golden Circle,
 and Confederate privateer.

He believed that a small, fast schooner manned by several dozen armed men would be enough to overpower and seize these steamers. Harpending travelled from San Fransisco to Richmond.  He even received a personal audience with Confederate President Jefferson Davis. After listening to Harpending's plan to raid the gold shipments, Davis signed and gave him a letter of marque to conduct raids on behalf of the Confederacy.

With the legal document in hand, a fellow Golden Circle member, Ridgely Greathouse, assembled $250,000 in capital from other rich Golden Circle members to purchase, outfit, and arm a schooner called Chapman (note: many references to this event use the name J.M. Chapman, but Harpending himself wrote that it was called simply Chapman). The schooner was fast, as she had just arrived in San Francisco from New York via Cape Horn in a record time of 114 days.

Harpending and Greathouse outfitted the schooner with the greatest of secrecy.  They used special coded letters and falsely labeled boxes. When challenged, the men replied they were simply outfitting a ship to support the "Liberal Party" in Mexico. Equipped with two 12-pounders, several dozen muskets, and twenty Southern men, Harpending was ready to put to sea. That is when things began to unravel.

Commissioned in 1837, The sloop-of-war
USS Cyane had been assigned to the Pacific
Squadron in 1858.  The fear of privateers
like Harpending forced the Navy to keep
a few ships stationed in California.

Harpending's hired pilot did not show up for work the night the schooner was set to deploy. At the time, Harpending did not think much of it and went to bed. A few hours later, the watch woke him up in a panic. Harpending came out on deck to find the guns of the sail sloop-of-war USS Cyane trained on his ship and several dozen armed Revenue Cutter sailors and local police close by. He and his crew surrendered without a fight.  The police took him to Fort Alcatraz to await trial. Someone, possibly the pilot, tipped off local authorities, who in turn asked the Navy for help.

A U.S. Attorney charged both Harpending and Greathouse with thirteen different criminal counts, including treason and aiding and abetting the enemy. Found guilty on all counts, the court handed down punishments of twenty years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Fortunately for both men, President Abraham Lincoln issued a general pardon for people like Harpending and Greatbridge. After declaring their loyalty to the United States, they walked away free men without paying a fine.  Nonetheless, the Navy's swift actions against Champman put a chill on any future attempts by California's sizable pro-Confederate faction to put out anymore privateers.

Harpending would get his riches two years later through more honest means.  He bought up several parcels of undeveloped land of what is now called Havilah, California. After selling the development and mineral rights to prospectors, he put $800,000 in a San Fransisco bank.  He also wrote an autobiography called the Great Diamond Hoax and Other Stirring Incidents (which includes the Chapman affair). 

The Privateering Begins !!

On 17 April 1861 (two days prior to Lincoln’s declaration of a blockade), CSA President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation authorizing privateering against Union commercial shipping by southern vessel owners (see post by Gordon on 14 April 2011). This authorization was subsequently ratified by the Confederate Congress. Privateering was often the strategy used by an inferior navy against a superior one; and this was in fact the strategy used by the US Navy against the British in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The Confederate privateers were thus the first naval blow of the Civil War struck against the Union.


Just over a week after Davis’ proclamation, a sidewheel steam towboat emerged from the mouth of the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico as the CS Privateer Calhoun. Commanded by Capt. John Wilson, possessing a Letter of Marque and Reprisal from the CSA government, over the next two weeks this ship captured six Union merchant vessels; three cargo vessels (the bark Ocean Eagle, the freighter Milan, and the schooner Ella) and three whalers (the schooners John Adams and Mermaid and the brig Panama). The Calhoun’s exploits were ended by the arrival of the steam sloop USS Brooklyn off the Mississippi in late May (post by yours truly on 12 June 2011). The prizes captured by the Calhoun were adjudicated in the CS District Court for Louisiana, in New Orleans, for a total of $26,650, which was distributed to the owners, officers and crew of the privateer. As the war progressed, this type of profit became less expected, due to the difficulty of getting prizes back through the blockade, the eventual financial poverty of the Confederacy, and the refusal of European powers to allow prizes to be adjudicated in their courts. The Calhoun was eventually captured by the US Navy blockade in January 1862 and converted into a US gunboat under the same name.

Over on the Atlantic Coast, an active area of privateering developed off the North Carolina coast in the Hatteras Inlet area during July-August 1861. Ships of the NC Navy (the NCS Winslow, Raleigh, and Beaufort) and the “true” privateer CS Gordon would hide in the shallow bays and sounds behind the barrier islands and strike out of the inlet, capturing a number of Union merchant ships. This appears to be one of the factors driving the Union raid against the Inlet in August of 1861 (more to come on that in a couple weeks).

Finally, off the South Carolina coast, a fast sailing brig was converted into the privateer CS Jefferson Davis. Under the command of Capt. Louis M. Coxetter (a former US Navy officer), she terrorized Union shipping. Armed with five ancient English guns, and a crew of 75 well armed with small arms and cutlasses, she captured prize after prize, sending them back to Charleston for adjudication. The “Jeff Davis” ended her career wrecked off St. Augustine after a gale; recent underwater archaeological work in the area appears to have found her remains, and they are currently being explored and recovered. Coxetter earned a reputation for treating the officers and crews of the captured vessels in an exceptionally decent manner, and went on to earn greater glory in the CW as a captain of blockade runners.

NOTE ON SOURCES – I have found that a good source for information on the Confederate Navy is the series of books written by R. Thomas Campbell. Some of these are edited works presenting accounts by CS Navy personalities, others are original compilations discussing the privateers, the Confederate fleets, the commerce raiders, the ironclads, etc. You can find his books at his web site: http://www.confederatenavalhistory.com/.

SOURCES

Campbell, R. Thomas. Fire & Thunder. Exploits of the Confederate States Navy. Shippensburg: Burd Street Press, 1997.

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/index.html

Fowler, William M., Jr. Under Two Flags. The American Navy in the Civil War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990.

Simson, Jay W. Naval Strategies of the Civil War. Nashville: Cumberland House, 2001.

July 28, 1861-An Elephant Squashing a Gnat-USS St. Lawrence v. Privateer Petrel

On July 28, 1861, the two-gun privateer Petrel (ex-USRS William Aiken) deployed out of Charleston, South Carolina on its maiden voyage. Backed by a group of Charleston businessmen, the ship had been purchased from the South Carolina government in a disposal auction.

A few hours into the deployment, Petrel's company spotted what it thought was its first catch. It was a large ship, according to the watches, specifically it looked like a large East Indiaman-type merchant ship. As the two ships closed range, watches on Petrel realized they had made a horrible mistake. The ship was not a merchant, but rather a U.S. Navy frigate.

Petrel's captain turned the ship about and attempted to escape. The company then made a second mistake, they fired at the frigate and put a shot through one of the frigate's sails.  This only succeeded making the frigate angry.  The frigate returned fire several times with her forecastle gun, an 8-inch shell gun. 

The warship was the sail frigate USS St. Lawrence. Displacing 1,726 tons and carrying over fifty guns (vs. Petrel's 86-tons and two guns), the engagement is one of the greatest mismatches in world naval history (possibly only matched by the battleship HMS Dreadnought ramming the submarine U-29 in 1915). At least one shell from St. Lawrence struck Petrel and exploded.  Small boats from St. Lawrence were deployed and rescued thirty-six of the thirty-eight man company (two drowned). 

The victory was over-hyped in Northern press as an example of how easy the war at sea was going to be for Federal forces. The New York Times, for example, ran the headline "The Perils of Privateering." Petrel's company was taken to Philadelphia for adjudication on board USS Flag.

Confederate Privateering Begins

Confederate privateer document (Image courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy)

With the hostilities officially underway, both sides began a series  legal maneuvers that expanded the conflict beyond the shores of Fort Sumter.  President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to enlist in Federal army units.  Taking this as a declaration of war against a sovereign state, Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued a counter-proclamation calling for patriotic Southerns to organize privateering outfits and take to the high seas against Yankee commerce.  On April 17, 1861, he proclaimed that

"Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue this, my proclamation, inviting all those who may desire, by service in private armed vessels on the high seas, to aid this government in restating so wanton and wicked an aggression, to make application for commissions or letters of marque and reprisal, to be issued under the seal of these Confederate States; and I do further notify all persons applying for letters of marque to make a statement in writing, giving the name and suitable description of the character, tonnage, and force of the vessel, name of the place of residence of each owner concerned therein and the intended number of crew."

However, John Paul Jones wannabees would have to wait.  Either through his own discovery or advice of others, Davis realized that he issued his proclamation in haste as there were many details to be worked out. Among the issues were how captured prizes were to be adjudicated and which ships and cargoes were lawful targets.

He turned to the newly formed Confederate Congress to work out the details on April 29.  After a week of debate, the Confederate Congress pass two laws authorizing privateers, setting up prize courts, outlying who could be seized and who had to be let go, and penalties against privateers violating Confederate laws.

Most importantly, the privateering laws placed restrictions on who could be a privateer. The restrictions were mainly financial in nature.  Specifically, ship captains wanting a letter of "marque and reprisal" (the legal document authorizing someone to be a privateer) had to post a $5,000 to 10,000 bond (depending on ship size).  The captains also had to find two people not associated with the ship willing to guarantee the bond.  In other words, two guys with a rowboat and a shotgun could not declare themselves a privateer and take ships in the name of the Confederacy.

By mid-May, several privateering outfits in North and South Carolina assembled the necessary money, ships, men, and documents and set off for glory and money.