Head Quarters
Department of Virginia
Seventh Army Corps
Fort Monroe, Va. Mch.
7th 1863
Sir:
I am extremely unwilling to trouble you amid your
multifarious and responsible duties with a matter, which ought to have been
settled elsewhere. But having failed in every effort to arrange it, I feel it
my duty to the public service to appeal to you. Soon after Admiral Lee took
command of the blockading squadron on this part of the coast, he placed a
Gun-boat between Fort Monroe and Fort Wool, a short distance to the East, and
required all vessels bound to this post, even when laden with Army stores, to
come to anchor or heave to, until a permit to come to the dock could be
procured from me. —
No such requirement has been enforced before, since the
commencement of the war. It is not only a new but a useless vexation: and has
led in some instances to the most serious inconvenience and loss. —
The only pretext, under which it can be made, is to enforce
the blockade; and as against this Fort it is an absurdity. A blockade is an
investment of an enemy's port. — Admiral Lee is blockading one of our Forts by
one of our gun-boats – a novelty in war which is without precedent.
I protested against this proceeding at the outset as an
indignity to the Army and to the Commander of this Military Department whose
Head Quarters are here; and I would have resisted it but for an unwillingness
to present to the public the scandal of a quarrel between the Army and the
Navy, when the cordial co-operation of both is needed to maintain the national
interests and honor.
If the object of the blockade of the enemy's territory were
promoted by the measure, I would silently acquiesce in it, objectionable as it
is. But no such object is gained. There is no enemy's territory to blockade
within fifteen miles of Fort Monroe, and the blockading squadron at Newport
News and Norfolk shuts out all ingress.
It does not profess to be a precaution against smuggling,
and it would be useless if it did. There is a revenue vessel at Fort Monroe,
commanded by a very faithful and vigilant officer. There is also a Captain of
the Port with a competent force. — These two officers examine all vessels that
come to Fort Monroe, not only as to the sufficiency of their papers, but as to
their cargoes, opening and scrutinizing every cask and package.
The practical objections to the measure are these
1st It compels every vessel to come to, and to send to the
Fort for a permit, often at great inconvenience. —
2nd It occasions delays, always vexatious in time of war,
when the prompt delivery of supplies is necessary, and sometimes exceedingly
annoying. — The last time I visited Washington, a Commissary's vessel laden
with potatoes of which we were greatly in need, was kept lying alongside of the
guard-boat twenty four hours because I was not here to give a permit. On the
same day some boats laden with insurgents came out of the Rappahannock and
burned the Ship Alleghanian laden with guano. If the gun-boat had been employed
in protecting our commerce there, instead of blockading the Army at Fort
Monroe, and keeping us out of our supplies, it would have deprived the enemy of
a success and spared us an annoyance. —
3rd It is the source not only of annoyance but of disaster
and private injury. On the night of the 21st ulto. in the midst of a violent
easterly gale and snow storm a schooner laden with forage for the Quartermaster
in attempting to enter the harbor for shelter, was ordered off by the
guard-boat, as the Captain states because she had not a permit from me, and ran
aground on the beach. She was unladen with great inconvenience, and we had
three Steamers employed for portions of two days to get her afloat. The actual
loss to the Government cannot be less than $1.000.—
The Officer of the Gun-boat, as I learn, has authority to
pass vessels driven into the harbor by violent storms; but misapprehensions
sometimes arise and serious accidents occur in consequence. If the gun-boat
were removed there would be no danger of misunderstanding and loss. —
These are briefly some of the inconveniences and the evils
of this measure. — I object to it 1st as useless; 2nd as inconvenient and
vexatious; 3rd as producing public annoyance and injury; 4th as a source of
private wrong and loss; and 5th as an indignity to the Army; and on these
grounds I ask your interposition to terminate it. I enclose a map showing the
position of the gun-boat at "A", and I request that she may be
required to be removed and placed as far west as "B", and that this
Fort be left open to the access of vessels as it was under Admirals
Goldsborough and Wilkes, not only to such as have Army supplies, but such as
come here for shelter, subject to the usual revenue and military inspection
which is never omitted. —
There is an immense contraband traffic carried on between
the York and Rappahannock Rivers, and the Steamer which is blockading us, might
render a valuable service in that quarter instead of creating annoyance to the
Army here. —
I have the honor to
be,
Very respectfully,
Your ob'd't Servant
John A. Dix
Maj. Genl.
[ Endorsed on
Envelope by Lincoln:]
Submitted to Mars & Neptune.
SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers
at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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