The organization of the Confederate Navy
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| 1863--building the “Indianola,” soon to be captured by Confederates. The “Indianola,” one of the most formidable ironclads on the Mississippi River, was captured by Confederate troops on February 24, 1863. Such was the paucity of shipyards at the South, and the scarcity of materials and skilled mechanics, that the capture of a Federal vessel of any kind was an event for great rejoicing in the Confederate navy. |
On looking over the history of the rise of the Confederacy, viewed even from the writings of the earlier and more or less partisan historians, a reader will not fail to be impressed with the wonderful resourcefulness that was displayed in meeting the unexpected exigencies of war. Viewed from an absolutely impartial standpoint, the South apparently accomplished the impossible. The young Confederacy succeeded against heavy odds in making something out of almost nothing. There was no naval warfare in the proper sense of the word during the four years conflict; there were no fleets that met in battle at sea, and only two or three actions that could be touched upon in strictly naval annals. But at the outset, in the making up of the Government of the new republic, there was formed a Navy Department whose accomplishments, struggling against the difficulties that confronted it, were little short of marvelous, considering the limited time, available for preparation, in a country almost barren of ship-yards and other means of providing and equipping sea-going vessels, not to mention warships.
In the closing days of 1860, the secession of South Carolina made the fact apparent to the people of the North and South that the breach was constantly widening between the two sections of the country. Very soon it was perceived that the ever-growing chasm could not be bridged by diplomatic means, and that to sustain the stand they had taken the seceding States would be forced by the urging voices of their leaders to make an appeal to arms.
The South was immeasurably handicapped in more ways than one, but principally by its utter lack of any war-ships, [73]
Confederate Navy.
The Confederacy was able to enter upon the seas early, with a naval force that had to be reckoned with, as a result of its enterprise in seizing the undefended Norfolk Navy-yard only nine days after Sumter was fired upon. As early as February 21, 1861, Jefferson Davis appointed Stephen Mallory as Secretary of the Confederate Navy. He resigned from the United States Senate, where he had represented his State, Florida, and before he joined the Confederate Cabinet the navy-yard in his home town, Pensacola, had been seized, January 10, 1861, by Florida and Alabama State troops. The Federal navy-yards in the South were neither so active nor so well equipped as those at the North. But Norfolk Navy-yard, one of the oldest and most extensive, was provided with everything for the building and finishing of vessels of the largest size. At the time of the secession of Virginia it contained at least 2,000 pieces of heavy cannon, including 300 new Dahlgren guns. The aggregate value of the property there was close to $10,000,000. Most of this fell into the hands of the Confederates. Owing to the possession of the yard equipment, it was here that the Southern naval constructors were first able to exemplify their ideas in ironclad construction by raising the hull of the sunken “Merrimac” and converting her into the armored “Virginia,” to strike terror at the heart of the North by her performances in Hampton Roads in 1862. Although the Federals regained possession of Norfolk soon afterward and compelled the destruction of the “Virginia,” her record stirred the Confederates to almost superhuman efforts. Secretary Mallory was most active in founding enterprises both at home and abroad for the construction of vessels.
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Jefferson Davis was made the President of the new republic, and the task he had to face might well have appalled a less resourceful brain. Without a treasury, without an army, and without a single gunboat, the new President appointed his cabinet, and assigned the post of Secretary of the Navy to Stephen R. Mallory, of Florida, who had served his State in the United States Senate, and for years had been chairman of the Naval Committee of the House of Representatives, an experience that stood him in good stead.
The problems that confronted the other ministers were perplexing, but that which faced the new Secretary of the Navy was the most monumental of them all. The South did not own a vessel capable of being fitted out as a ship of war. There were only two navy-yards in the South--one at Norfolk, Virginia, which State had not then cast her lot with the secessionists; the other navy-yard was at Pensacola, Florida, and was not fitted for construction work but intended only for repair and shelter. Even though it had been perfectly adapted to the construction of ships of war, the Federal Government held the fortifications that guarded the entrance to the harbor, and blockading squadrons could have stopped or destroyed any vessel that attempted to pass out to sea. There were a few small private shipyards scattered throughout the South, but not one with the plant necessary to build and equip a warship of even moderate tonnage.
In addition to this, there was but one manufacturer in the South who could construct an engine of sufficient power [75]
Confederate ships.
The “Atlanta” was bought in September, 1861, by Captain James D. Bulloch, secret-service agent of the Confederate States in Europe. She was a new Clyde-built ship, and had made but one or two trips to the north of Scotland, attaining a speed of thirteen knots. She was the first to run the blockade inward for the account of the Confederate Government. She reached Savannah safely on November 12th with a cargo of Enfield rifles, ball cartridges, percussion caps, and various sorts of arms and ammunition. “No single ship,” says Captain Bulloch, “ever took into the Confederacy a cargo so entirely composed of military and naval supplies.” The “Fingal,” as she was originally named, was bottled up by the blockade in Savannah. In January 1862, the Confederates began converting her into an ironclad of the “Merrimac” type. She was cut down to the main deck and widened amidships. A casemate was built upon her deck. Then she was heavily armored and fitted with a formidable ram and a spar torpedo. Or July 3d she steamed down the Savannah River on her trial trip, causing great apprehension among the Federals for the safety of the fleet about Port Royal. After her capture by the Federals on June 17, 1863, the Confederates attempted to build other ironclads at Savannah. The “Savannah” was completed, fully armed, and manned, and the “Milledgeville,” the same armored type, was nearly so when the city was evacuated in 1865.
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An additional obstacle in the path of the formation of a Confederate navy was the fact that the great powers of Europe issued proclamations of neutrality almost immediately after the first gun had been fired at Fort Sumter, and the lesser powers soon followed the lead of the greater ones. In substance, these proclamations allowed ships of either navy harbor for the purpose of making repairs or of securing supplies. No ship might reenforce her crew in any of these foreign ports or make any alterations other than repairs necessary to make their crafts seaworthy; they were to receive on board no ordnance supplies or any other “contraband” articles; they might not take on board more than enough coal to carry them to the nearest port in their own country, and they could not coal in the harbor of any one power more than once in three months, except by special permission.
This was the situation that faced the Secretary of the Navy of the Confederacy after the opening of hostilities. But even before the war-cloud had broken over the Nation, [77]
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| The “Teaser's” 32-Pounder: the guns of the saucy “Teaser,” one of the first Confederate gunboats Before the completion of the ironclad “Virginia,” ( “Merrimac,” )the Confederate navy had but five small steamers in the James River to oppose eight of the largest Federal vessels at Hampton Roads. The “Teaser” was a river-tug mounting but one gun at the time, yet in the engagement in which the “Virginia” first appeared the “Teaser,” under command of Lieutenant W. A. Webb, C. S. N., boldly used her one gun against the Federal shore battery of sixty. In the upper picture this gun appears, a 12-pounder rifle. Its exposed position is evidence of the courage that was necessary to man it. In the lower picture is seen the 32-pounder that was added to the “Teaser's” armament later. With only these two guns she encountered both the “Maratanza” and the “Monitor,” near Haxall's, on the James River, July 4, 1862, and replied valiantly to their fire. The third of the Federal shots, however, pierced her boiler, and her crew were forced to desert her. Many of the vessels procured by the Confederates to piece out its navy were no better built and some not so heavily armed as the “Teaser,” yet in river and harbor, in sound and at sea, with few guns they were fought as valiantly as vessels were ever fought against heavy odds. |
Secretary Mallory had started to build up his organization, undismayed by the conditions that he was forced to contend against. There were many Southerners in the Federal navy whose sympathies were with the new Government, and their resignations were daily being handed to the authorities at Washington, and their services tendered to the Confederate States.
Many of the men who left the Federal service were commanders of ships, and there were instances where they might easily have turned their vessels over to the Confederacy, but, without an exception, they returned the ships entrusted to them to the Federal Government before leaving the service, thus “retiring with clean hands.” There were also several officers on coast-line vessels that were in Southern ports after the firing of the first gun, who sailed back to the North with their ships before going south to join the Confederates.
Sixteen captains, thirty-four commanders, and seventy-six lieutenants, together with one hundred and eleven regular and acting midshipmen, resigned from the United States Navy. To make provision for these officers, the Confederate service was increased by the Amendatory Act of April 21, 1862, and made to consist of:
Four admirals, 10 captains, 31 commanders, 100 first lieutenants, 25 second lieutenants, 20 masters, in line of promotion; 12 paymasters, 40 assistant paymasters, 22 surgeons, 15 passed assistant surgeons, 30 assistant surgeons, 1 engineer-in-chief, and 12 engineers.[79]That all the admirals, 4 of the captains, 5 of the commanders, 22 of the first lieutenants and 5 of the second lieutenants shall be appointed solely for gallant or meritorious conduct during the war. The appointments shall be made from the grade immediately below the one to be filled and without reference to the rank of the officer in such grade, and the service for which the appointment shall be conferred shall be specified in the commission. Provided, that all officers below the grade of second lieutenant may be promoted more than one grade for the same service. . . .
The “Maratanza”
As a consort of the “Virginia” ( “Merrimac” ), this little converted tug-boat was not afraid in the famous battle in Hampton Roads. Later, no longer under the protecting wing of her huge ironclad leader, she met the “Monitor” and the “Maratanza” near Haxall's, on the James River, July 4, 1862. The little vessel had run aground and was forced to engage her superior antagonists. She opened fire and put a shot into the wheel-house of the “Maratanza,” whose answering fire at the third shot exploded a shell in the boiler of the “Teaser.” Lieutenant Hunter Davidson and her crew escaped to shore. In the captured vessel were found despatches from which the Federals gleaned valuable information.
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One of the first Southern naval men to resign from the Federal Naval Department was Commander Raphael Semmes, who at once went South to enter the service of the new Government. He was sent to the North to secure what arms and ammunition he could, to contract for the delivery of more, and, if possible, to find ships that might serve as a nucleus for the navy of the Confederacy. A large amount of ordnance supplies was delivered or contracted for, but no vessels could be found that would be in the least adapted to service on the high seas, and with this portion of his mission unfulfilled, Semmes returned to Montgomery, twelve days before the firing on Fort Sumter.
Meanwhile, other agents of the Government had been attempting to find suitable ships in the Southern harbors that might be bought. All of these were reported as unsuitable for service as naval vessels, but Commander Semmes, after learning the qualifications of one of them, asked the Secretary of the Navy to secure her, have her altered, give him command, and then allow him to go to sea. The secretary acceded to this request, and the little boat was taken into New Orleans and operations were started to transform her into a gunboat which might fly the Confederate colors and, by harassing the commerce of the North, do her share in the work of warfare. The plans for the reconstruction of the vessel had scarcely been completed when the word was flashed around the world that Fort Sumter had been fired on and had fallen, and the ship, the first of a navy that was to contend against the third largest navy in the world, was christened after the first Fort to fall into the hands of the Confederacy, the Sumter.
The Navy Department of the South now redoubled its efforts to provide the ships necessary for the defense of its coast and inland rivers. Almost any craft that could be fitted to mount a gun was pressed into service, and as quickly as the means would allow, these boats were prepared for their work, and officers and crews assigned to them. [81]
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| Working on the stern of the “Indianola” After capturing the great ironclad, the Confederates towed their prize over to the east bank of the Mississippi, where she sank, near Jefferson Davis' plantation. Two days later, as they were trying to raise her, they were frightened off by Porter's famous dummy monitor, made of pork-barrels and an old coal-barge, and the next day, although the “harmless monitor” was hard and fast aground, they destroyed the “Indianola” and abandoned her. The “Indianola” had two propellers in addition to her side wheels, and she was worked by seven engines in all. She was heavily armored with 3-inch iron plates. Her clever capture by the Confederates in the darkness was one of the achievements of the Confederate navy; and had it been followed up by the raising of the vessel, the Federals would have had a most formidable antagonist on the Mississippi in the vicinity of Vicksburg, where on the water side they were having things their own way. |
As soon as war had been declared it became evident that Virginia would join the seceding States, and before the hasty and ill-advised evacuation of the great navy-yard at Norfolk, the Federals destroyed as much of the property as they could. Six of the seven ships that were then in the Gosport yard, on the 20th of April, when the destruction was commenced, were totally destroyed, but the seventh, the screw frigate Merrimac, after being burned almost to the water-line, was saved after the Federals had left, and the Confederate authorities, under the direction of John M. Brooke, late lieutenant, United States navy, immediately started the reconstruction of the wreck on plans that were new to naval warfare. On the 8th of March, in the following year, the armored Merrimac, rechristened the Virginia, raised the hopes of the Confederacy, and closed the day of the wooden battle-ship by the sinking of the Cumberland and the destruction of the Congress in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The hopes she had roused, however, were shattered on the day following by the advent of Ericsson's Monitor.
A number of other Federal ships were seized after the opening of hostilities, among which were the revenue cutters Aiken, Cass, Washington, Pickens, Dodge, McClelland, and Bradford. All of these boats were fitted out for privateering as quickly as possible, and went to sea with varying fortunes. The Aiken was rechristened the Petrel, and her career was soon ended by the United States frigate St. Lawrence, from which she was attempting to escape.
The treasury of the Confederacy was soon supplied with enough currency to start operations, and with the share allotted to it the Navy Department commenced to make its small fleet as formidable as possible. All the shipyards that had been taken possession of or could be secured from private parties were equipped to handle the work of construction and refitting. Every ship that could be found that might answer any of the purposes of the navy was purchased, and before the close of the first year of the war thirty-five steamers and [83]
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| An early defender of the Mississippi the Confederate gunboat “General Bragg” Early in the war, at the suggestion of two Mississippi River steamboat captains, J. E. Montgomery and J. H. Townsend, fourteen river-steamers were seized by the Confederate Government. Their bows were plated with one-inch iron, and pine bulwarks and cottonbales were used to protect their machinery. They were organized into the river-defense fleet. The “General Bragg,” side-wheel steamer, with seven others of these vessels, was stationed below Fort Pillow, under command of J. E. Montgomery, while Flag-Officer Foote was annoying Fort Pillow with his mortar boats. Seizing their opportunity on the hazy morning of May 10, 1862, the Confederate vessels moved up the river, bent on breaking up Foote's mortar-boat parties. The “General Bragg,” under command of William H. H. Leonard, steaming far in advance of her consorts, surprised the “Cincinnati” before the rest of the Federal fleet could come to her assistance. In the attack the “General Bragg” received a full broadside from the “Cincinnati,” which disabled her and put her out of the action, but not until she had rammed the Federal gunboat, tearing a great hole in her side and flooding her shell-room. She was towed to the shore and sank in eleven feet of water. The career of this Confederate river-defense flotilla was brief, however, for on the 6th of June, when Charles Ellet's rams had been added to the fleet of the Federals in the engagement off Memphis, the Confederate fleet was put out of commission. This picture of the “General Bragg” was taken after she had been raised and refitted by the Federals and added to Porter's fleet on the Mississippi, where she served creditably till the war's close. |
Quite wonderful was the advance made in other departments than that of shipbuilding. The Navy Department had erected a powder-mill, engine-, boiler-, and machine-shops, and five ordnance workshops. There had been established a rope-walk capable of making all kinds of cordage from a rope-yarn to a 9-inch cable and able to turn out eight thousand yards per month. This was in addition to the eighteen shipbuilding yards already planned and in operation. The ladies of Georgia had presented to the Confederate States a floating battery that was partially finished at the end of the first year of the war. The State of Alabama had turned over an iron-clad ram as a gift to the Confederate service.
Most of the ships that had been completed at the close of the first year of the war were sent to sea as privateers to hamper the Northern merchant marine. Others were used to guard the mouths of the rivers of the Confederacy, while several of them moved on the offensive in the rivers. The George Page (renamed the Richmond), a small steamer, lightly equipped, soon became well known to the Federals for its continual menacing of the forts on the Occoquan River and Quantico Creek, often advancing close and firing shells into them.
Soon after the commencement of the war, the Confederate privateers became such a menace that President Lincoln issued a proclamation that all the privateers would be regarded as pirates, and that their crews and officers would be subjected to punishment as such. Six months after the issuing of this order the crew of the captured privateer Savannah was tried [85]
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| The “General Price” --a Confederate war-boat that changed hands This was one of the fourteen river-steamers condemned and seized for the Confederate Government by General Lovell at New Orleans, January 15, 1862. Converted into a war-boat, she took a bold part in the engagement near Fort Pillow, which resulted in the sinking of the “Cincinnati.” She arrived on the scene just as the “General Bragg” was disabled and boldly rammed the Federal gunboat for the second time, when a shot from the “Carondelet” disabled her. In the engagement with the Ellet rams off Memphis, she met the same fate as the “General Bragg” and the other vessels. She and the “General Beauregard,” while making a dash from opposite sides upon the “Monarch,” both missed that speedy vessel and collided with each other. The “General Price” was so badly injured that her captain ran her upon the Arkansas shore, to be added to the prizes won by the Ellet rams. The action put an end to the river-defense flotilla of the Confederates. Like the Federal river fleet at first, this organization was not under control of the Confederate navy, which, on the Mississippi, was commanded by Flag-Officer George N. Hollins, C. S. N. General Polk and the whole Mississippi delegation had urged upon the Confederate Congress the fitting out of this independent flotilla, which cost more than the million and a half dollars appropriated for it. The Confederate General Lovell at New Orleans had no faith in its efficiency because of his belief that the fleet was not properly officered. He stated emphatically that “fourteen Mississippi captains and pilots would never agree about anything after they once got under way.” |
Now took place, on the part of the Confederate Navy Department, a most important move which opened a new chapter in naval history. On the 9th of May, 1861, Secretary Mallory, convinced that the resources of the Confederacy were not sufficient to complete a navy that would be adequate to maintain the defenses of the waterways of the South, commissioned James D. Bulloch to go to England and attempt to have some suitable ships constructed there, informing him at the same time that the necessary funds would be secured and placed at his disposal by the representatives of the Confederacy in England. The matter of building war-vessels in England presented many difficulties, for, under the British policy of neutrality, any ship of either of the warring powers that took on any armament or other equipment that was classed as contraband, was guilty of a breach of the neutrality agreement, and might be taken possession of by the British Government.
Captain Bulloch, a graduate of Annapolis, was well suited to the task, and he at once entered into negotiations for the building of two ships, which were to be delivered to him personally as his property. While built on the general lines of ships that would be suitable for privateering, they were not to be armed or in any way equipped as battle-ships by their makers. In spite, however, of all the precautions taken, the ships were not more than half completed before the suspicions of the Federal agents were aroused. But, though they were [87]
Remarkable photographs of Confederate rams.
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| The “Albemarle” |
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| The Confederate ram “lady Davis” |
These pictures are remarkable as being among the scant remaining photographic evidence of the efforts made by the Confederacy to put a navy into actual existence. The “Albemarle” was built at the suggestion of two men whose experience had been limited to the construction of flat-boats. Under the supervision of Commander James W. Cooke, C. S. N., the vessel was completed; and on April 18, 1864, she started down the river, with the forges and workmen still aboard of her, completing her armor. Next day she sank the “Southfield.” In the picture she is in Federal hands, having been raised after Cushing's famous exploit had put her hors du combat. The “Lady Davis,” formerly a tug, was purchased in Baltimore and was the first war-vessel to be put afloat by the State of South Carolina, March 13, 1861. She made several captures of Federal vessels around Charleston and was in Tattnall's little fleet on the sounds. In the picture she is in sharp and significant contrast with the huge sailing frigate whose wooden sides and many guns already belong to a past era. The efforts that brought such vessels as the “Albemarle” and the “Lady Davis” into the war marked the beginning of a new American navy. In these pictures both of these formidable vessels have been stripped.
During the time in which he was superintending the gathering of this foreign-built force, Secretary Mallory was also organizing his department for efficient work in providing for the needs of all naval forces. He organized a bureau of orders and details, a bureau of ordnance and hydrography, a bureau of provisions and clothing, which also had charge of the paying of the naval forces, and a bureau of medicine and surgery. These bureaus were headed by competent men, and the detailed work of the department was soon being carried on in a thorough, business-like manner.
The matter of securing recruits was easily handled; there was no time when the number of men enlisted was not more than was necessary to man all the ships in the service. The men enlisted in the navy who could not be sent to sea were usually assigned to garrison the forts on the coast and along the rivers, while at times they were called upon to serve in the field with the regular army.
Most of the ships that were built for the Confederacy abroad were manned largely by recruits gathered on foreign shores, some of them being natives of the Confederate States, and others men who sympathized with the cause sufficiently to fight under its colors. The danger in running these boats through the blockading squadrons that lined the Confederate shores and the impossibility of getting men out of the ports on other ships, made it necessary to take what men could be secured. These vessels, however, were always officered by Confederates bearing Government commissions. [89]
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| April, 1865--all that was left of the ironclad ram “Virginia no. 2” The Confederates had built the “Virginia no. 2” for the defense of the James River. She was commanded by Commodore R. B. Pegram, C. S. N., and was the flagship of Commodore John K. Mitchell, C. S. N., who with two other gunboats opposed the Federal fleet that was attempting to work its way up to Richmond. The pierced and battered smokestack of the “Virginia” shows how bravely she stood up to the fire of the Federal monitors and the Howlett's house batteries. The “Virginia” and her consorts were active in shelling General Butler's Dutch Gap canal. On October 22, 1864, the “Virginia” discovered a new Federal masked battery nearly two miles below Chaffin's Bluff. With her consorts she stood up for two hours against the fire of the 100-pounder Parrott rifles on the shore, at a range of 500 yards. On the night of January 23, 1865, Commodore Mitchell of the “Virginia” and his fleet attempted to pass below the Federal obstructions in the river, but both the “Virginia” and the “Richmond” grounded and were exposed all the next day to a ruinous fire from the Federal batteries and gunboats. One 15-inch solid shot tore a terrific hole in the “Virginia,” killing six and wounding fourteen of her crew. The tide at last floated her and the “Richmond.” Nothing daunted, she again led the fleet down the river in a night expedition. The squadron reached Point of Rocks and was discovered by the Federals who, training a calcium light upon the channel, poured a terrific fire from their batteries. The “Virginia's” pilot was driven from the wheel-house. The Confederate gunboats retired. As the Federal lines were drawn more closely around Petersburg and Richmond, the “Virginia” at last was sunk with other vessels in the channel of the James as an obstruction to navigation. |
The pay of the officers of the Confederate navy was based on a sliding scale, regulated by the length of service and the occupation of the officer, as was the law in the Federal service. The pay, however, was larger. An admiral received $6000 a year; a captain's pay, when commanding a squadron, $5000; on any other duty at sea, $4200; on other duty, $3600, and on leave or awaiting orders, $3000. The pay of other officers was to be regulated by length of service, but as the first increase in pay was to come after five years service, none of the officers benefitted by it. The pay of a commander on duty at sea was $2825 a year for the first five years after the date of commission, and on other duty, $2662. Commanders on leave or awaiting orders received $2250. Lieutenants commanding at sea received $2550; first lieutenants on duty at sea received $1500 a year, and the same when on other duty. When on leave or awaiting orders they received $1200 a year. Second lieutenants when on duty at sea received $1200 a year, and when on leave or on other duty received $1000. Surgeons on duty at sea received $2200 and when on other duty $2000 a year.
At Richmond, very early in the struggle, a naval school was established by Secretary Mallory and placed under the command of Lieutenant William H. Parker, a former officer of the United States navy, who, at the outbreak of the war, had already seen twenty years of service.
In July, 1863, the steamship Patrick Henry, then at Richmond, was converted into a school-ship. She was ordered to remain at anchor off Drewry's Bluff in the James River to lend assistance, if necessary, to the defense of the capital. In the fall of the year the Confederate States Naval Academy was formally opened with an efficient corps of professors.
Throughout the exciting times of 1864-65 the exercises of the school were regularly continued, and many of the students gave a good account of themselves before the war was over.
