Southern Historical Society papers.
Vol. I. Richmond, Va., may, 1876. no. 5.
Reminiscences of the Confederate States Navy.
By Captain C. W. Read.
[The following is one of what we hope to make a series of sketches of the Confederate States navy. We are anxious that no branch of our service shall be neglected, and that those who made the history shall record it.]When I received intelligence that my native State, Mississippi, had by the sovereign will of her people, severed her connection with the American Union, I was serving as a midshipman on board the United States steam frigate “Powhatan,” then stationed at Vera Cruz, Mexico. I immediately tendered my resignation, which was duly forwarded by the Commodore to the Secretary of the Navy at Washington. By the steamer from New Orleans, which arrived at Vera Cruz about the last of February, 1861, I received private advices that my resignation had been accepted, but no official information to that effect reached me. The day after the arrival of the mail steamer the United States sloop-of-war “MacEDONIANdonian” joined the squadron, and brought orders for the Powhatan to proceed to the United States. On the 13th of March we arrived and anchored off the Battery, in the harbor of New York. The following day I started for the South, and was soon in Montgomery, the capital of the Confederate States. I called on Mr. Mallory, the Secretary of the Navy, who received me kindly, and informed me that no doubt my services would soon be needed by the Government. I also called on Mr. Davis, with whom I was acquainted. He asked me many questions about the Naval Academy, and the naval service, and seemed anxious to know how the officers of the navy from the South regarded the secession of the States. He said he hoped there would be no war, but if coercion was attempted, that the army of the South would be the place for a young man with a military education.
I met several naval officers in Montgomery who, like myself, had
