The War is over: but not for the Navy

Confederate warship CSS Stonewall. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command.

It is May, 1865.

Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army the month before at Appomattox, and the Confederate western generals not long afterward. Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet were being arrested as they tried to flee the country. The Union Navy presence off the southern coastline continued, mainly to enforce the peace, help slaves now completely released from their servitude, assist with rebuilding, and other mundane duties. Adm. C.K. Stribling commands the East Gulf Blockading Squadron from his home base at Key West, Florida.

Sometime in early May, the Admiral receives a dispatch from the U.S. Consul General in Havana, Cuba, which incites a panic. The Confederate ocean-going ironclad ram CSS Stonewall has docked at Havana harbor. This warship was built by France, for the Confederate Navy, which eventually took possession of her through a tortuous process. This ship was the "next generation" in blue-water warships. She was powered both by steam and sail rig, heavily armored, and armed with some of the most technologically advanced naval gunnery of the day; a 300-pdr and two 70-pdr Armstrong guns. When she left Portugal in March of 1865, the USN warships Niagara and Sacramento made weak attempts to confront her, but the USN had nothing that could go up against this formidable Confederate warship. It is rumored that she may be headed for Texas, or even perhaps Florida, to where the Confederate cabinet were fleeing, to pick them up and evacuate them to safety.

Stribling no doubt struggled with what to do. Eventually, he dispatched the USS Powhatan, with his Flag Captain aboard, and the USS Aries, followed by the USS Mahaska and Tallapoosa, to blockade the harbor of Havana. The captains of these vessels had orders to engage the Stonewall, should she try to make a run out of the harbor, and fight her to their destruction or the destruction of the Stonewall. It was a suicide mission. Without consulting his superiors, Stribling also sent two dispatches to the U.S. Consul General in Havana. One was delivered to the commanding officer of the Stonewall; an earnest and heartfelt plea to consider that the Confederacy was dead, and to surrender his warship, under terms of parole identical to those granted to Lee and his army. The second dispatch was delivered to the Captain General of the Island of Cuba (the official government representative of the Spanish Crown, who ruled the island). This missive was not as nice; it informed the Capt. General that, because of the collapse of the Confederate government and state, the Stonewall was no longer considered a legitimate ship-of-war, which enjoyed certain protections under international law. She was considered a pirate, and for Cuba to be offering protection would be aiding and abetting piracy, authorizing the U.S. Navy to take whatever actions necessary against the ship and the Island of Cuba to abet this threat.

Stibling's message got through to somebody, somehow. On 19 May, the Stonewall was surrendered to Spanish Naval authorities, and turned over to the U.S. Navy shortly thereafter. The members of the Stonewall's crew were paid off the salary owed them in Spanish gold. For reasons I have still not found out, the USN eventually sold her to the Japanese Navy.

In the last few months of the Civil War (maybe even after it "officially" ended), it is interesting that the last military vestiges of the Confederacy were her Navy. The Stonewall surrendered a month after the essential collapse of the Confederate Army. Six months later, the last Confederate warship, the raider CSS Shenandoah, hauled down her flag in England in November, 1865 and surrendered to those authorities. Maybe this is the legacy of Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen R. Mallory, who built a Navy from scratch, and whose Navy persisted until the end of the War, and even beyond.

Grave marker of C.S. Navy Secretary Mallory, in Pensacola, Florida. Photo by Tiffany Trent.

Lieutenant Gift's Raid at Apalachicola 1864

Cotton warehouses at Apalachicola in the 1800s. Florida State Archives, Florida Memory Project

As I noted in an earlier post, the Confederate Navy never really had a presence in Florida throughout the Civil War. There was some CSN gunboat activity on the Apalachicola River in Florida, mainly in association with protecting the important industrial center of Columbus, Georgia, upstream on the Chattahoochee River. The main confederate warship operating on the river was the steam sloop CSS Chattahoochee, which was sunk by a boiler explosion in May 1863. Eventually, the CSN raised the Chattahoochee and returned her to Columbus for repair and refitting.

George W. Gift joined the U.S. Navy in 1847 as a Midshipman. He resigned his commission a few years later (1851) to go into business for himself in the California territory on the west coast of the growing United States. When the war broke out, he traveled back to the south to join the Confederate Navy. He was an energetic and ambitious officer who served in multiple theatres, including on the Mississippi River, in North Carolina, and in Florida. He even caught the attention of Adm. Franklin Buchanan, who regarded him highly. He served as an officer on the Chattahoochee in 1863 under Lt. John J. Guthrie, left to serve in North Carolina (where he was a participant in the CSN raid on the USS Underwriter), then returned to Florida where he was given command of the refitted Chattahoochee.

During his first term of service on the Chattahoochee, he proposed to Lt. Guthrie a plan to take a CSN raiding party downriver into Apalachicola Bay to attempt to capture the Union gunboat USS Port Royal. He never got the chance to do this, but now back in Florida, and still flush with the success of the raid on the Underwriter, he determined to implement his earlier plan. On 3 May 1864 he set out from Georgia in the steamer Swan with a force of Confederate sailors and some soldiers. The force assembled at the Town of Apalachicola on 12 May. That night, they set out in boats to try to capture the USS Adela; a fast, sidewheel steamer that was itself a captured confederate blockade runner. Unfortunately, on this night Lt. Gift’s luck ran out. As the CSN raiding party set out from the docks, they were spotted by ship’s boats from the USS Somerset under the command of Acting Volunteer Lt. W. Budd. Most of the CSN raiding party returned to land and escaped through town. Gift and the men remaining with him were able to outrun the USN boats in their launch and escape back upriver. Thus ended one of the rare C.S. Navy military activities in Florida during the war.

CSS Florida. The CSS Chattahoochee looked similar to this. Naval History and Heritage Command.

CSS Hampton Flag Finds a Home

“In the museum business, if you are lucky, you occasionally have an opportunity to experience what we call ‘wow’ moments.” – Elizabeth A. Poulliot, HRNM Director

Timing is everything.  At least in light of recent events, it is.  If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of two Federal Army officers, we might not have the Civil War Navy’s most recent and prized artifact, the flag of the CSS Hampton.

Richmond, Virginia: 1865

Virginia stood wounded and defeated in the last two years of war.  After suffering heavy casualties throughout Grant’s Overland Campaign, Virginia’s army braced their backs to the south of Richmond at Petersburg in June 1864.  To the west, Virginia’s lush and vibrant Shenandoah Valley burned, denying much needed food and supplies to the starving at Petersburg.  By March 1865, the Petersburg campaign was over.  One month later, approaching Federal armies captured the Confederate capitol.  Richmond remained a burned-out husk of its former self.  The Confederate military was gone and much of its population deserted.  It seems that the war would be over.  Yet victory did not come without its spoils. 

 

CSS Nansemond, one of Hampton's sister ships.

In the midst of the desolation and destruction, Lieutenant William J. Ladd of the 13^th New Hampshire Regiment stood alone in the deserted city Capitol.  According to the History of the regiment, Ladd rode towards Rocketts landing and found a Union cavalryman.  The two rowed out onto the James, where they pulled down two flags off of the CSS Hampton, one of two Maury that saw action during the American Civil War.  Little did they know, the Confederates rigged the ship to explode.  Minutes after they rowed back ashore, the ship went up in a fiery blaze; symbolic of the Navy’s demise and that of its most prized city. 

Dayton, VA: 2011

Ladd kept the flag after the war at his home in Milton.  In the 1960s, the flag made its way to Dayton, VA and into the hands of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society (HRHS).  The flag that once flew defiantly against the government of the United States lay in a collections box.  Nancy Hess, Vice President of the society, came across the discovery in 2011.  Included with the flag was a handwritten inscription sewn onto the flag:

 

"That of Confed gun boat Hampton burnt in James River at the taking of Richmond.  The flag was taken from the burning ship by Liet. Ladd (13th N. Hampshire), Ge. Devens Staff."

The flag was a terrific find.  Yet it remained in extreme disrepair.  The board at the HRHS decided to look for a new home for the flag, eventually reaching Captain H.J. Hendrix, Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command.  Captain Hendrix offered to see to the flag’s conversation and care. 

Dayton, VA: 2013

In front of a crowd of nearly fifty people, Captain H. J. Hendrix, NHHC Director, accepted the flag of the Hampton on behalf of the U.S. Navy.  After a long journey, the flag will be preserved and displayed at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum (HRNM) in Norfolk, VA.  Elizabeth Poulliot, HRNM  Director, will gladly work with Washington, D.C. to see the flag make it to Norfolk.  What better place to preserve the history of the gunboat than near the place where it was built across the Elizabeth River? 

 

NHHC Director Captain H.J. Hendrix inspects the flag of CSS Hampton

The flag is an important piece that helps us understand the importance of the Confederate Navy in Hampton Roads.  Poulliot plans to  “to prominently display it in our Civil War gallery.”  She added that visitors will “want to learn more about the Civil War, and how the Confederacy build Maury gunboats.  The acceptance of this ensign from CSS Hampton is an honor for our institution.”

For information on the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, please visit the website HERE or go to their BLOG. 

The Confederate Navy at Port Royal

Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall and his mosquito fleet saw their share of action during the Battle for Port Royal. Tattnall had a reputation for aggressiveness, and he certainly displayed it at this engagement. On 4 November 1861 Flag Officer DuPont of the Union fleet sent the survey vessel Vixen in to chart the configuration of the bars and channel into Port Royal, accompanied by the gunboats Ottawa, Seneca, Pembina and Penguin. Tattnall, on his flagship, the steamer CSS Savannah, and with three armed tugs (Lady Davis, Resolute, and Sampson), bravely headed in towards the USN vessels. Gunfire from Ottawa, Seneca, and Pembina drove him back to his anchorage in Skull Creek. The next day, USN gunboats led by Ottawa went in to probe the defensive capabilities of the Confederate shore batteries and the CSN fleet attacked again. This time the Confederate flotilla was under the command of John Newland Maffitt, who, as Robert Browning notes, “went at them” when he saw the enemy vessels steaming into the harbor. A shot from the Seneca’s forward 11 inch pivot gun struck the Savannah and again the Union gunfire forced the Confederate ships to withdraw. Tattnall was furious with Maffitt, claiming that he did not authorize an attack, and of course Maffitt believed otherwise. Tattnall relieved Maffitt of command, but the two officers later settled their dispute. The day the Union offensive began (7 November), the mosquito fleet, back under Tattnall’s command, again stood out to take on the USN attacking fleet. A flanking column of Union gunboats (Bienville, Seneca, Penguin, Augusta, and Curlew) was assigned to keep watch on the mosquito fleet and fend off any attacks, which they did. Tattnall, as he reluctantly withdrew, dipped his blue ensign three times as a salute to his old friend DuPont. Later that day, Seneca went after the Confederate vessels and drove them back to Skull Creek. After the capitulation of the forts, the CSN vessels helped evacuate the Confederate garrison.

Image of the "90-day" or Unadilla class gunboats. Ottawa, Pembina, and Seneca are all shown. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command

Confederate Ironclads on the Mississippi

Just as their Northern counterparts, Confederate naval authorities looked first to the sea. Fortifying essential ports, and converting merchantmen were the primary problems for Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory. But by June 1861, Tennessee had passed a resolution calling on Richmond to fund a large-scale building program in the west, and Kentuckians could look across the Ohio River and see the Union’s Timberclads steaming unmolested, with more warships being constructed. The states of the upper south already knew what the U.S. Army and Navy had in store for the Mississippi.

In August 1861, Memphis shipbuilder John T. Shirley offered Secretary Mallory an opportunity to construct the Confederacy’s first ironclads on western waters. Already aware of demand for a naval presence, Mallory consulted with officers and naval architects in order to understand his options and resolved to fully back an ironclad building program. On 23 August, Confederate Tennessee Congressman David M. Currin submitted legislation to allocate funds for the creation of an inland navy, including $160,000 for the construction of two ironclads. The bill appropriated more funds for the naval defense of New Orleans, and Mallory would use these additional allocations to finance the construction of the additional ironclads Mississippi and Louisiana. On 24 August, the bill was passed and Jefferson Davis signed the act into law. The Confederate naval buildup in the west would now unfold.

The Mosquito Fleets

As the war progressed, the Confederate Navy along the S. Atlantic coast began to take shape using a variety of converted merchant steamers, tugs, schooners and sloops. Often the ships were taken in “as is” condition and one or two pieces of field artillery were mounted on the deck. Bales of cotton stacked on the decks may have been used to provide some protection from small arms fire (hence the name “cottonclad”). These small, makeshift flotillas were dubbed “Mosquito Fleets”, which made up in courage and gumption what they lacked in size and firepower. In October 1861, Capt. William Lynch of the CS Navy, in command of 5 small gunboats, captured a Union tug and landed a small force of Confederate soldiers in an attempt to drive Union forces off Roanoke Island, NC. Lynch later led a force of 8 gunboats against a larger Union expedition in the area in February 1862 (interesting note: one of those CSN gunboats was commanded by Lt. Charles Simms, whom Sarah mentioned in her post “Where were they then?”). In November 1861, a mosquito fleet under the command of Commodore Josiah Tattnall contested DuPont’s assault against Port Royal, SC. Tattnall also led small groups of gunboats in actions against the US Navy along the Georgia Coast, particularly the Savannah River. Note “Tattnall’s Fleet” in the right center background of the illustration. Drop me an email if you would like references/sources for this post.

The Confederate Cruiser That Got Lost in the Mail

During the Civil War, there were two naval vessels called the CSS Georgia. But did you know there was almost a third?



In 1864, the Confederate Navy commissioned the building of a warship in France. However, by the time it was finished it was embargoed by the French government and wound up as a Peruvian warship called America. The America wound up washed ashore in 1868 thanks to a nasty tidal wave.

Stephen Mallory - Secretary, Confederate States Navy

On March 4, 1861, Stephen R. Mallory was appointed Secretary of the Navy of the Confederate States of America. To me, he is one of the more interesting persons of the Civil War navies, Union or Confederate. Born circa 1813 in Trinidad, he was raised mostly in Key West, Florida. He began his professional career in the early 1800’s practicing maritime law in the Florida Keys (at the time a hot bed of “wrecking” – the recovery of cargo from ships wrecked on the reefs of the Keys). Eventually he went into politics, representing Florida in the U.S. Senate. There, he was appointed to the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, which he eventually chaired. During his tenure, he was an advocate for the reinstatement of flogging as a means of discipline of sailors. He failed to prevail on this issue, but he was successful in passing legislation overhauling the means of promotion and retention of officers in the Navy, establishing a Board of Review, which evaluated naval officers based on accomplishments and abandoned the ancient system of advancement based on seniority alone. The other major issue Mallory promoted in his senate position was for the U.S. Navy to adopt emerging technologies, such as construction of ironclad warships.

When Florida seceded, Mallory joined the fledgling Confederacy. President Jefferson Davis appointed him Secretary of the C.S. Navy in March 1861. Mallory was well aware that the south could not match the north in the ability to build and modify ships, and that he would never be able to go “ship-to-ship” against the U.S. Navy; so he adopted a naval strategy based on three things (not in order of priority):

(1) Deploy sea-going commerce raiders to disrupt Union merchant shipping and divert Union warships from the blockade to chase the raiders.
(2) Run the Union blockade using a combination of private shipping and specially-constructed blockade-running ships operated by the C.S. Navy.
(3) Adopt and deploy the broad range of emerging naval technologies (ironclads, submersibles, and torpedoes) to attempt to keep southern harbors open and maintain the flow of supplies through the blockade.

One could say that he both succeeded and failed in all three. Originally, the Confederate States of America tried to implement commerce raiding by the old device of issuing “Letters of Marque” to allow private parties to act as raiders on behalf of the Confederate government. Due to international treaty, the Confederate Navy eventually decided to assume the responsibility for purchasing and constructing sea-going ships to prey on Union commerce shipping. These would be regular, commissioned war ships. While some of these had great success (notably the CSS Alabama and Shenandoah), they failed to even partially disable Union maritime commerce, although they did contribute to the eventual demise of the U.S. merchant marine industry. They were unsuccessful at diverting Union Navy ships off the blockade to try to hunt them down and capture them.

Blockade running was also initially entrusted to private parties, but the private runners ultimately failed to deliver the war material needed by the Confederacy to prosecute the war. The demand for luxury goods (and the willingness of the Confederate aristocracy to pay whatever price was commanded) made it more lucrative for private runners to carry cargo to meet this demand, despite government requirements that they carry a certain percentage of military cargo. Eventually, the Confederate Navy chose to construct and crew its own blockade runners in order to supply arms and equipment to the armies of the Confederacy (e.g. see CWS Blog Post by Gordon Calhoun on 24 July 2010).

Mallory’s willingness to use new technology was perhaps his greatest contribution to the war effort, but again, he was unable to capitalize on this. He embraced the use of ironclad ships as a means of going up against the overwhelming firepower of the big frigates and sloops of the Union Navy, but he did not exercise the necessary degree of authority in prioritizing the construction of the C.S. Navy ironclads. The various private groups contracted to build the ironclads had to compete with one another in the procurement of critically needed iron plates, machinery, skilled personnel, and the other limited resources that the Confederacy had to constantly deal with. This resulted in the construction of mostly ineffective ironclad vessels that failed to live up to their potential. If Mallory had used his authority (and strategic vision) to prioritize which ships needed to be finished first, and divert all resources to those, the confederate ironclads may have been more effective. The use of submersible vessels (the “Davids” and the CSS Hunley) did not achieve widespread success, and the use of torpedoes, while extremely effective in the latter stages of the war (in terms of both real results and their psychological impact) were deployed too late to accomplish anything substantive.

Following the conclusion of the war, Mallory was arrested by the U.S. government and imprisoned for “treason.” No trial of any kind was conducted and in March 1866, President Andrew Johnson granted Mallory a parole, which released him from jail. Eventually, he was allowed to return to Florida, where he settled in Pensacola. Per the terms of his parole, he was barred from holding public office, but he made a decent living by resuming his law practice. His health gradually began to fail and he died in November 1873. He is buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.

 Photo courtesy of the Florida Dept. of State on-line photo archive.