June Updates

Marine Guard Pawnee

NEW PARTICIPATORY ORGANIZATION: MARINE GUARD PAWNEE
The U.S. Marine Guard Steam Sloop of War USS Pawnee works closely with the USS Fort Henry (our very own CWN 150 blogger Rob Mattson is a member of) and the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus doing reenactments and living history.  According to Steve Fetherman, former Marine Corps Office and member of the United States Marine Corps Historical Company, they have 15 members and are growing.  There information will be included on the "Organizations" tab on the top menu bar on this blog.  Semper Fi and welcome!

FIRST OFFICIAL  CWN 150 PROGRAM DEBUT AT CUMBERLAND/NOAA DAY

The Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial commemoration's HQ at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum is proud to debut a new program next Saturday (25 June) at the 2011 Cumberland Expedition and NOAA Day at Nauticus/HRNM in Norfolk, VA.  Titled, "The Anaconda Plan," this program (along with a demonstration and activity involving Underwater Archaeology) will be open for the public from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm next Saturday.  This is the first of five new Civil War Navy educational programs and activities created for the Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial (one per year). 

Yes, that is right.  HRNM/NHHC and NOAA staff members will be going out to the wreck site of the USS Cumberland this summer.  We are also working closely with a production studio on the creation of a new Civil War Navy Youtube video.  Exciting! Will be back with more information as it comes!

Full Speed Ahead!
Matthew T. Eng
Coordinator, CWN 150

Keeping the Nation's Captial Open

USS Pawnee and Freeborn engage Confederate batteries at Aquia Creek, June 1, 1861.

In his history of the U.S. Navy in the Civil War, Admiral David Dixon Porter commented that in May 1861 "the country was too busy watching the black clouds gathering in the South and West to note the ordinary events that were taking place on the Potomac Before the Lincoln Administration could execute on any grand strategy of war, there was the very serious issue of Washington, D.C.'s geographic isolation."

Riots and political uncertainty in Maryland temporarily cut of land routes, leaving the Potomac River as the only alterative. Using guns seized at Gosport, Confederate engineers and gunners established fortified outposts along the Virginia side of the river to challenge any ship flying the U.S. flag.  To answer this issue,the U.S. Navy established the Potomac Flotilla. Never large in size or stature, the squadron and Confederate shore batteries fought in several small engagements (often at Aquia Creek) from May through July 1861.  The Flotilla kept the river open, but Confederate gunners often found a way to harass Union shipping.

In a sign of events to come, the U.S. Army initially refused to provide the necessary ground  troops to secure the Confederate forts on a permanent bias.  It was not until the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 that the Potomac was finally secured.

After the war, Porter did not forget the Flotilla’s work. He wrote that "[the public] never stopped to consider the importance of such tedious work as occurred on the great highway from Washington to the sea, nor did they ever seem to reflect that if the river was once closed, the very life of the Union would be imperiled."

From the Charleston Mercury, 9 April 1861

"Our authorities yesterday evening received notice from Lincoln’s Government, through a special messenger from Washington, that an effort will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions and that if this were permitted, no attempt would be made to reinforce it with men! This message comes simultaneously with a fleet, which we understand is now off our bar, waiting for daylight and tide to make the effort threatened.

We have patiently submitted to the insolent military domination of a handful of men in our bay for over three months after the declaration of our independence of the United States. The object of that self humiliation has been to avoid the effusion of blood, while such preparation was made as to render it causeless and useless.

It seems we have been unable, by discretion, forbearance, and preparation, to effect the desired object, and that now the issue of battle is to be forced upon us. The gage is thrown down, and we accept the challenge. We will meet the invader, and the God of Battles must decide the issue between the hostile hirelings of Abolition hate and Northern tyranny, and the people of South Carolina defending their freedom and their homes. We hope such a blow will be struck in behalf of the South, that Sumter and Charleston harbor will be remembered at the North as long as they exist as a people.”

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At this time, the sloop of war USS Pawnee was dispatched from Hampton Roads to relieve Maj. Robert Anderson's garrison at Fort Sumter.  Leaving Hampton Roads, the ship would get caught in a storm, arriving too late to help the fledgling fort.  Time was running out, or had already run out for the Navy's assistance of the garrison. 

Reproduction of the Charleston Mercury article courtesy of the Daily Observations of the Civil War, a great site detailing the daily events during the sesquicentennial.  The link may be found at:  http://dotcw.com/events-diary-%E2%80%93-april-9-1861/