Captain William F. Bartlett to Lieutenant-Colonel Francis W. Palfrey, Sunday Morning, May 11, 1862

Baltimore, Sunday Morning, May 11.

I fear daily lest your kind disposition shall cause you to take too much trouble in my behalf. I know that it cannot be convenient for you to write me every day so faithfully; and much as I delight in your letters, I am distressed by the thought that you are putting yourself to too much trouble sometimes. I beg you won't feel obliged to write every day, only when it is perfectly convenient. . . .

At this point enter Dr. at “L. C.” Exeunt writing materials, etc., R. U. E., “with life.” (Patient looking very innocent.)

Dr. “Pulse a little fast this morning, probably from sitting up.”

Patient. “Yes sir, I suppose so.” (At this point enter second Dr., son of first, and the language becomes technical.). . . .

The scenes have been shifted (i. e., the bandages).

The Drs. have retired, everything is going on well. I am now at liberty to resume my writing, and make those pulse move a little faster again.

I wish I were with you this pleasant Sunday morning, or at least knew exactly where you were.

We hear of Franklin's and Sedgwick's Divisions being engaged, and are anxious for particulars, but can get none. The general report is, you were entirely victorious, with the odds against you. We shall hear soon.

I find my sword-arm is getting a little tired, and I shall have to let mother vibrate her smoothly swinging goose plume. (N. B. she writes with a quill.)

The weather is delightful and most favorable to me. I see much people, now, daily.

I wish you would ask one Hayward, in your regiment, if he intends to answer a letter that I wrote him some months since, when I was first brought here.

Give a great deal of love to the Colonel and all the fellows, and believe me as ever,

Yours most devotedly,

Frank.

News this morning that Norfolk, navy-yard and all, is taken. It may be true. All anxious to hear of your movements.    F.

P. S. Quite a long letter for the first attempt isn't it?

[Written by Harriett Plummer Bartlett, Captain Bartlett’s mother:]

P. S. Frank has left me little to say; to be truthful, his picture should be shaded a little; but he looks only on the bright side.

He is, I have no doubt, doing remarkably well; so the surgeon assures me every day. Still, he suffers intensely, at times, and this has been a very hard day for him. He has scarcely been free from pain a moment, and the worst is in the poor shattered foot and leg which is gone. He says, “Ask the Colonel if they gave my leg Christian burial, for my foot torments me as if it were ill at rest.”

I had nearly forgotten to say, that all your letters have been received, but not in the order in which they were written. The last bears date May 4, 8 P. M., and we are now anxiously looking for news from West Point, which is the last place where your Division is spoken of as being engaged.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 46-8

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 7, 1862

Mrs. Middleton was dolorous indeed. General Lee had warned the planters about Combahee, etc., that they must take care of themselves now; he could not do it. Confederate soldiers had committed some outrages on the plantations and officers had punished them promptly. She poured contempt upon Yancey's letter to Lord Russell.¹ It was the letter of a shopkeeper, not in the style of a statesman at all.

We called to see Mary McDuffie.² She asked Mary Preston what Doctor Boykin had said of her husband as we came along in the train. She heard it was something very complimentary. Mary P. tried to remember, and to repeat it all, to the joy of the other Mary, who liked to hear nice things about her husband.

Mary was amazed to hear of the list of applicants for promotion. One delicate-minded person accompanied his demand for advancement by a request for a written description of the Manassas battle; he had heard Colonel Chesnut give such a brilliant account of it in Governor Cobb's room.

The Merrimac³ business has come like a gleam of lightning illumining a dark scene. Our sky is black and lowering.

The Judge saw his little daughter at my window and he came up. He was very smooth and kind. It was really a delightful visit; not a disagreeable word was spoken. He abused no one whatever, for he never once spoke of any one but himself, and himself he praised without stint. He did not look at me once, though he spoke very kindly to me.

_______________

¹ Lord Russell was Foreign Secretary under the Palmerston administration of 1859 to 1865.

² Mary McDuffie was the second wife of Wade Hampton.

³ The Merrimac was formerly a 40-gun screw frigate of the United States Navy. In April, 1861, when the Norfolk Navy-yard was abandoned by the United States she was sunk. Her hull was afterward raised by the Confederates and she was reconstructed on new plans, and renamed the Virginia. On March 2, 1862, she destroyed the Congress, a sailing-ship of 50 guns, and the Cumberland, a sailing-ship of 30 guns, at Newport News. On March 7th she attacked the Minnesota, but was met by the Monitor and defeated in a memorable engagement. Many features of modern battle-ships have been derived from the Merrimac and Monitor.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 136-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Sunday, August 17, 1862

Called this morning on General Halleck, who had forgotten or was not aware there was a naval force in the James River cooperating with the army. He said the army was withdrawn and there was no necessity for the naval vessels to remain. I remarked that I took a different view of the question, and, had I been consulted, I should have advised that the naval and some army forces should hold on and menace Richmond, in order to compel the Rebels to retain part of their army there while our forces in front of Washington were getting in position. He began to rub his elbows, and, without thanking me or acknowledgment of any kind, said he wished the vessels could remain. Telegraphed Wilkes to that effect. Strange that this change of military operations should have been made without Cabinet consultation, and especially without communicating the fact to the Secretary of the Navy, who had established a naval flotilla on the James River by special request to cooperate with and assist the army. But Stanton is so absorbed in his scheme to get rid of McClellan that other and more important matters are neglected.

A difficulty has existed from the beginning in the military, and I may say general, management of the War. At a very early day, before even the firing on Sumter and the abandonment of Norfolk, I made repeated applications to General Scott for one or two regiments to be stationed there. Anticipating the trouble that subsequently took place, and confident that, with one regiment well commanded and a good engineer to construct batteries, with the cooperation of the frigate Cumberland and such small additional naval force as we could collect, the place might be held at least until the public property and ships could be removed, I urged the importance of such aid. The reply on each occasion was that he not only had no troops to spare from Washington or Fortress Monroe, both of which places he considered in great danger, but that if he had, he would not send a detachment in what he considered enemy's country, especially as there were no intrenchments. I deferred to his military character and position, but remonstrated against this view of the case, for I was assured, and, I believe, truly, that a majority of the people in the navy yard and in the vicinity of Norfolk were loyal, friends of the Union and opposed to Secession. He said that might be the political, but was not the military, aspect, and he must be governed by military considerations in disposing of his troops.

There was but one way of overcoming these objections and that was by peremptory orders, which I could not, and the President would not, give, in opposition to the opinions of General Scott. The consequence was the loss of the navy yard and of Norfolk, and the almost total extinguishment of the Union sentiment in that quarter. Our friends there became cool and were soon alienated by our abandonment. While I received no assistance from the military in that emergency, I was thwarted and embarrassed by the secret interference of the Secretary of State in my operations. General Scott was for a defensive policy, and the same causes which influenced him in that matter, and the line of policy which he marked out, have governed the educated officers of the army and to a great extent shaped the war measures of the Government. “We must erect our batteries on the eminences in the vicinity of Washington,” said General Mansfield to me, “and establish our military lines; frontiers between the belligerents, as between the countries of Continental Europe, are requisite.” They were necessary in order to adapt and reconcile the theory and instruction of West Point to the war that was being prosecuted. We should, however, by this process become rapidly two hostile nations. All beyond the frontiers must be considered and treated as enemies, although large sections, and in some instances whole States, have a Union majority, occasionally in some sections approximating unanimity.

Instead of halting on the borders, building intrenchments, and repelling indiscriminately and treating as Rebels — enemies — all, Union as well as disunion, men in the insurrectionary region, we should, I thought, penetrate their territory, nourish and protect the Union sentiment, and create and strengthen a national feeling counter to Secession. This we might have done in North Carolina, western Virginia, northern Alabama and Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, and in fact in large sections of nearly every seceding State. Instead of holding back, we should be aggressive and enter their territory. Our generals act on the defensive. It is not and has not been the policy of the country to be aggressive towards others, therefore defensive tactics, rather than offensive have been taught, and the effect upon our educated commanders in this civil war is perceptible. The best material for commanders in this civil strife may have never seen West Point. There is something in the remark that a good general is “born to command.” We have experienced that some of our best-educated officers have no faculty to govern, control, and direct an army in offensive warfare. We have many talented and capable engineers, good officers in some respects, but without audacity, desire for fierce encounter, and in that respect almost utterly deficient as commanders. Courage and learning are essential, but something more is wanted for a good general, — talent, intuition, magnetic power, which West Point cannot give. Men who would have made the best generals and who possess innately the best and highest qualities to command may not have been so fortunate as to be selected by a Member of Congress to be a cadet. Jackson and Taylor were excellent generals, but they were not educated engineers, nor were they what would be considered in these days accomplished and educated military men. They detailed and availed themselves of engineers, and searched out and found the needed qualities in others.

We were unused to war when these present difficulties commenced, and have often permitted men of the army to decide questions that were more political than military. There is still the same misfortune, — for I deem it such.

From the beginning there was a persistent determination to treat the Rebels as alien belligerents, — as a hostile and distinct people, — to blockade, instead of closing, their ports. The men “duly accredited by the Confederate States of America” held back-door intercourse with the Secretary of State, and lived and moved in ostentatious style in Washington for some weeks. Thus commencing, other governments had reason to claim that we had initiated them into the belief that the Federal Government and its opponents were two nations; and the Union people of the South were, by this policy of our Government and that of the army, driven, compelled against their wishes, to be our antagonists.

No man in the South could avow himself a friend of the Union without forfeiting his estate, his liberty, and perhaps his life under State laws of the Confederates. The Federal Government not only afforded him no protection, but under the military system of frontiers he was treated as a public enemy because he resided in his own home at the South.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 83-6

Senator James W. Grimes to Senator William P. Fessenden, November 13, 1861

Washington, November 13, 1861.

Your letter of the 10th inst. is at hand, and your imprudence in writing to me will now impose upon you the infliction of a long letter.

First, as to personal matters; I am domiciled with our good friend, who seems to love you as though you were her own son, Mrs. Chipman, at 470 Seventh Street. She fancies that she can satisfy you in the matter of a room or rooms, and unless you are exceedingly particular you will be pleased with the company.

You ask me, who and what caused the removal of Fremont? I answer, the primary cause of the removal was his proclamation. I learn from a most authentic source, a member of the cabinet, that before the Administration would bestow the appointment of major-general upon him a promise was exacted from him that he would not be a candidate for the presidency. Under that pledge he was appointed, and everything went “merry as a marriage-bell” until the proclamation was issued. When it appeared, the embryo Presidents in the cabinet at once took the alarm, and required him to modify it. This he refused to do, but published the President's modification instead. Then the war began, and a regular conspiracy was entered into to destroy his influence in the country and with the army, and finally to depose him. Every other day the report was published that he was removed, gross charges were made against him that were wholly unfounded in fact; his subordinate generals were stimulated to disobedience, officers were sent out to act in confidential positions who were spies upon his every act, and the select committee of the House of Representatives appointed to investigate the frauds in this department, almost all of whom were original enemies of Fremont, were easily and speedily induced to let Cameron go, and begin on him. Yet with all their sifting of testimony, taking it from the mouths of disappointed rival contractors in an ex parte manner, and with no opportunity to rebut it, a member of the committee tells me that they have been unable to bring home the perpetration or the cognizance of a single one of the alleged frauds to General Fremont.

Now you well know that I was not and am not a partisan of Fremont. I told you and others in July that I doubted his capacity for so extensive a military command as was assigned to him. I would never have made him a major-general of the regular army; but, being one, I intend to insist most strenuously and persistently that he shall have complete justice done him, no matter what may be the effect upon me. General Fremont has doubtless done some very impolitic, unwise, and extravagant things; but I assert and can prove that he has himself done or caused to be done no impolitic or unwise or extravagant thing that has not been vastly exceeded in these qualities by the generals of the Army of the Potomac, under the nose and with the sanction of the Administration. The truth is, all the frauds perpetrated at St. Louis, according to the testimony before the committee, were perpetrated by and under General Justin [sic] McKinstry, an old officer of the regular army, belonging to the Quartermaster's Department, who was sent out to St. Louis by the Administration. I do not question that Fremont made some unfortunate selections of agents: so has the Secretary of War, Mr. Seward, Governor Chase, and it is shrewdly suspected that the “father of the faithful” has sinned in this way so much, and enough you will say, of the Fremont imbroglio.

The truth is, we are going to destruction as fast as imbecility, corruption, and the wheels of time, can carry us. The administration of the Treasury has thus far been a success, and Chase, though accused of having no heart, has certainly a good head. But, if he had in his person all of the elements of greatness, he would be utterly powerless before the flood of corruption that is sweeping over the land and perverting the moral sense of the people. The army is in most inextricable confusion, and is every day becoming worse and worse.

Now, my dear sir, it is no flattery to say that an awful responsibility must devolve upon you. If you determine to probe the sore spots to the bottom, and that right shall be done, we can inaugurate a new order of things, and the country can be saved. You have followers — you can control the Senate. The wicked fear you, and will flee before you. But, if you rest quietly in your seat, we shall go on from one enormity to another, the evil of to-day will be urged as an apology for greater evil to-morrow, and the devil will be sure to get us in the end, and that right speedily. As for myself and my household, I am determined to serve the Lord. I only regret that I have not the means to do the good for the country that is in your power.

I congratulate you upon the fact that we now have a preacher here with brains in his head, and a heart in his bosom, whom it is a delight to hear, Rev. William H. Channing. I shall expect you to be a constant attendant with me upon his ministrations.

We have been giving the old commodores an overhauling about the Gosport Navy-Yard. The result shows that they destroyed ten million dollars’ worth of property in a mere fright. We take up the Harper's Ferry Armory matter to-morrow, and I presume the same result will be reached.

Everybody here is jubilant over the victories at Beaufort and in Kentucky, both of the navy; for you must know that a navy lieutenant commanded in the battle at Pikeville, and that it was an impromptu army that he was at the head of; the Department only yesterday declining to furnish Nelson troops, at the instance of Maynard of Tennessee, who so told me.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 155-7

Senator James W. Grimes to Elizabeth S. Nealley Grimes, August 4, 1861

WaSHington, August 4, 1861.

I am happy to say that we shall adjourn in two days. I am on a select committee to investigate the causes of the loss of the Norfolk and Pensacola Navy-Yards, and Harper's Ferry Arsenal, which will sit in the recess, and that possibly may detain me a day or two, but I hope not. It will compel me, however, to leave home again in October. The city is now under the most rigid military discipline, and perfect order prevails everywhere. All have unbounded confidence in General McClellan. There are about eighty thousand troops in the vicinity.

John Grimes is getting well. He was blistered and dosed to his heart's content. His trouble was the shock of a large Minieball, which struck him in the chest, and knocked him over. The concussion, and going two entire days without food or sleep, and the last one in a drenching rain, caused a sort of haemorrhage of the lungs. His officers say he behaved very gallantly. He did not shrink from any part of his duty, was the last to come in, and brought with him, alone, the remnant of the battalion of marines.

I hope to see you soon, and I long to have the day come. This congressional life is poor business — taking one away from all he loves, and that can make him happy. I have a great many things to tell you about the battle.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 147

From Washington

WASHINGTON, May 13.

Capt. Boggs, bearer of dispatches from New Orleans, who lost his ship in the gallant fight there, has been assigned to the command of the Juniata, a comparatively new vessel of war, carrying 12 guns, now lying at Philadelphia.

The loss of the Norfolk yard by the rebels burning it, is much regretted.  It will immediately be rebuilt by the Government.

The military board of Kentucky, who, under the authority of the loyal legislature of that State, practically took all the military power out of the hands of Gov. Magoffin last summer, and saved Kentucky to the Union, have sent a deputation to Congress, to ask for moderate and conservative action on the part of Congress. They say that the emancipation act of this district, coupled with the general emancipation and confiscation bills still pending, are creating wide-spread uneasiness and dissatisfaction in Kentucky, and is weakening the hands of the Union men there.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 14, 1862, p. 1

Latest from Yorktown

I learn by steamer from Yorktown that Gen. McClellan has advanced 12 miles beyond Williamsburg, and has had several skirmishes with the enemy, routing them with heavy loss.  The embarkation of our troops for West Point was progressing rapidly.  A heavy battle had taken place on Wednesday, P. M. between the troops under Gen. Franklin and Sedgwick, and the rebels under Lee, who were endeavoring to make their way to Richmond.  It is said to have been the severest battle on the peninsula, and the rebels were totally defeated and flanked, being driven pack towards the forces under Gen. Johnston.  The whole number of federal killed and wounded is 300.

The enemy were driven back by our gunboats with great slaughter.  They had not less than 30,000 men, whilst our whole force was not over 20,000.  Had it not been for the gunboats, they would have been defeated.

Deserters from the enemy report there was great excitement at Norfolk this morning; that Gen. Burnside with a large force was within a few miles of Weldon, and the rebels are evacuating the city at all possible speed.  Sewall’s and Pig Point, they say, are already abandoned, and preparations are making to destroy the navy yard and other public property.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 10, 1862, p. 1

From Fortress Monroe

FORTRESS MONROE, March 13. – All is quiet here this morning.

The steamer Merrimac is at the Norfolk Navy Yard, and a large force of workmen is employed in repairing her.  Serious damage was done to one of her prongs and the forward part of the vessel was stove in.  These are now being strengthened.  The people of Norfolk are said to be in a state of mingled rejoicing and fear.

Lieut. Wm. Jeffers is now in command of the Monitor.

All the newspaper correspondents, at Fortress Monroe, except the Agent of the Associated Press have been ordered away by General Wool for having failed to comply with his instructions regarding news.  The Associated Press despatches will hereafter be sent under the sanction of General Wool.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 3

The Rebel Steamers Lately Engaged Near Fortress Monroe

(From the New York Tribune)

THE MERRIMAC.

The Merrimac was originally one of the five war steamers authorized to be constructed by congress during the session of 1844-5.  They were to be first steam sloops of war, and were built as follows.  The Merrimac at Charlestown; Wasbash, Com. Dupont’s flag ship, which did such good service at Port Royal, at Philadelphia; the Minnesota at Washington; the Roanoke at Norfolk, and the Niagara at Brooklyn. – The Minnesota and the Roanoke were lying in Hampton Roads.  These five vessels were equal to any steam war vessels in the world, except iron clad vessels.  The spar deck of the Merrimac was 281 feet long and 52 feet broad in her original condition and she drew 23 feet of water.  She rated about 4,000 tons burden.  Her frame was of [live] oak, filled in solid, and caulked 14 feet out from the kelson.  Forward the ship had 10 live oak breast hooks, fastened through and through with copper under the water and iron above; aft she had seven breast hooks.

The engine was of 800 horse power, with a 2 bladed propeller 14 feet in diameter, so fitted as to be raised to the deck and lowered to its beaming at pleasure, enabling the vessel to be used with our without steam power.  She rated as a 40 gun frigate, but could carry as much as a 90 gun ship of the old style. – She carried 24 9 inch shell guns, with 2 pivot guns of 8 tons, each throwing 100 pound shells, mounted fore and aft.

The Merrimac was the first of the five to be completed, being launched in 1856.  She was soon after put in commission, and continued in the service until April 1861, when she was lying at the Norfolk Navy Yard, in need of some slight repairs.  But for the imbecility of those in charge, she might have been removed before the rebellion actually broke out in Norfolk.  Under the management of Com. Macauley, however, she and the ship of the line Pennsylvania where scuttled and sunk, while at the same time the Navy Yard and its 2,500 cannon were abandoned to the rebels.

Since then the Merrimac has been raised, placed upon the dry dock, and covered with an entire slanting roof or railroad iron.  This additional weight nearly broke her down upon the dry dock, and they found almost as much difficulty in launching her as was found in launching the Great Eastern.  Owing to a mistake in calculation, on being launched she was found to sink four feet deeper than before, so as to take in water.  So she was again taken out, being hogged in the operation and otherwise so strained that the Southern newspapers pronounced her a failure, and it is more than probably that with no opposition she would never dare to go to sea.  She is probably a very good moveable floating battery.  Above the water’s edge she is said to present nothing but her roof of railroad iron, with a smoke stack rising a few feet above it.  From the accounts which we have of the fight, her rate of speed is very moderate.  She mounted 10 100-pound Armstrong guns, which are reported to have mashed through iron mail as thick as that of the Warrior and Black Prince, but which do not appear to have made any impression on the Monitor.

THE YORKTOWN, OR THE PATRICK HENRY

The Yorktown, called by the rebels the Patrick Henry, is a steamer of 1,400 tons, which was built by Wm H. Webb for the line between New York and Richmond, in 1859.  She has two decks and is built of oak, with copper and iron fastenings.  She has two marine beam engines, of 350 horse power, and four water-tight compartments.  Her dimensions are, length 251 feet, breadth 34 feet, depth 18 feet.  She is described by a reporter who went up on the Express, under a flag of truce, on Thursday last, as mounting six rifled guns, one of which is an Armstrong gun, and is being much more formidable than her consort, the Jamestown.

THE JAMESTOWN

The Jamestown was formerly the consort of the Yorktown in the Richmond line.  She was built in 1852 by J. A. Westervelt, and her dimensions are slightly smaller than those of the Yorktown.  She draws but eight feet of water three feet less than the Yorktown.  She has a vertical beam engine, of 260 horse power.  The same reporter saw her also last Thursday, and says that she was worked with double engines, and had a sharp iron prow at her bow projecting some three feet at the water line, intended to run down wooden vessels, and that she carries 2 23 pound rifled cannon, Parrot style, fore and aft, the guns being furnished with telescopic sights.  The vessel looked trim, and the officers wore a profusion of gold lace, while the marines and sailors were smart and active in appearance.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 2

The Fight in Hampton Roads

In giving place to all the details which have yet reached us of the Naval combat in Hampton Roads on Saturday and the following night, which (though the Rebel assailants were ultimately driven back to their hiding places – the Merrimac, their best ship, apparently in a sinking condition) will inevitably be regarded by the impartial as a National defeat and disgrace, it seems our duty to recall some antecedent and not very creditable facts.

The Rebels opened fire on Fort Sumter on the 12th of April last – and the fact was known throughout the country forthwith.  It was intended and understood to be a challenge of the Nation by the Slave Power to mortal combat.  Norfolk, as by far the greatest Naval arsenal in the Slave States – perhaps in the country – was of course in imminent danger.  It was within less than a day’s passage of Washington and Baltimore, not two days from Philadelphia and New York.  On the 17th (five days after fire was opened on Sumter) the Virginia Convention pretended to take their State out of the Union, and, though the act was passed subject to ratification by a popular vote, Gov. Letcher immediately issued a Proclamation of adherence to the Southern Confederacy.  On the 19th, the Virginia traitors obstructed Elizabeth River below Norfolk, so as to prevent the passage of the National vessels from the Navy Yard down into Hampton Roads, and so out to sea.  On the 20th (eight days after the opening of fire on Sumter) the Navy Yard was hastily dismantled by our officers in charge of it, the Cumberland sloop-of-war, (sunk by the Rebels last Saturday) towed out, while the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Columbus, Merrimac, Raritan, Columbia, Germantown, Plymouth, Dolphin, and the United States – all ships of war of various sizes, from a three-decker down – were (it was reported) scuttled and set on fire to keep them from falling into the hands of the Rebels.  We do not learn that any attack was made by the Rebels (who were certainly in very moderate force,) nor that any effort was made to arm the workmen in and about the Navy Yard – who were naturally, instinctively loyal – nor to appeal to the loyalty of the vicinage.  It is popularly understood that Taliaferro, the Rebel chief, was drunk, so that he failed to attack, and let our Navy officers have things very much their own way.  That, with more power on hand than they knew how even to destroy, they might have blown every vessel to atoms in three hours, is at least a very strong presumption.  The Merrimac – Which inflicted so stinging a blow on us last Saturday – was one of those vessels.

Of course, we do not know that those Navy officers who have not yet openly affiliated with the traitors, did not here do their best.  We only know that somebody ought to have been put on trial for their shameful, disastrous miscarriage – by which the Nation lost and the Rebellion gained twenty-five hundred cannon and more military and naval material than could be bought for Ten Millions of Dollars.  We do not know that any one yet  has been, though nearly eleven months have elapsed since the disaster, and the then commandant at the Yard, still wears the uniform and pockets the pay of a U. S. officer.  That this is as it should not be is our very decided opinion.

The Merrimac, it was soon announced, was raised by the Rebels, and was being iron plated and otherwise fitted for the destruction of some of our vessels in the Roads.  She has been so fitting ever since, almost within sight of our fleet.  Several times she has been announced on the eve of coming out.  Once or twice it was given out by the Rebels that she was a failure; and, as a Western man has said, they “would rather lie on a twelve months’ note than tell the truth for cash,” this should have incited to greater vigilance.  If we had not the proper vessels on hand to resist her, they should have been hurried up at least six months ago.  Yet when she does at last see fit to put in an appearance, lo! One of our principal war steamships have been lying in the Roads disabled for four months and cannot get near her, while the only other ship fit to engage her gets aground – in water that her officers should know as thoroughly as their own cabins – and cannot be brought into action while two of our noble frigates are torn to pieces, one of them sunk, the other captured and burned, and some two or three hundred of our brave tars killed, drowned, or captured.

We do not attempt to fix the blame of these disasters.  Possibly, there is no one to blame; but the people will not believe it in advance of thorough scrutiny.  We respectfully call upon the commander-in-chief of the army and Navy to have this whole business sifted to the bottom. – {N. Y. Tribune.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 2

From Norfolk

(American’s Fort Monroe Correspondence.)

BALTIMORE, May 24 – It is estimated that there are now in Norfolk and Portsmouth not less than 1,000 deserters from the force with which Gen. Huger left Norfolk.  These who have come in and are still arriving in squads of tens and twenties did not succeed in escaping till after they reached Petersburg.  They are in a most deplorable condition.  A party who came in to-day say there must be nearly 1,000 scattered.  They all willingly take the oath of allegiance and appear most happy to have escaped from the rebel army.

The Minnesota will proceed to Norfolk to-morrow morning and the whole fleet will have abandoned Old Point and taken up a new position at the old naval station.  The walls of the Navy Yard building are in a solid condition and can soon be put in order again.  The machinery was taken out of the buildings before they were fired and packed up with the intention of being removed but the rapid action of General Wool prevented the removal.

Numerous wrecks, sunk in the harbor and river by the rebels are to be removed forthwith, including the wrecked Merrimac.  A large number of fuses and shells were obtained from the latter yesterday.

Deserters from Petersburg say fully one half of the army would desert if they had the opportunity but the rebels intend making a desperate resistance.

As soon as a disposition is shown by the people of Norfolk to return to their allegiance the port will be opened.  No such disposition is yet manifested.

Should Richmond be captured hundreds in Norfolk would openly declare for the union.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 31, 1862, p. 4

Southern News

FORT MONROE, March 7.

A flag of truce from Norfolk brought down the commandant of the French steamer.  He represents that there was great excitement at Norfolk.  The hotels were swarming with officers from the Gulf States.  The Virginia troops have been sent away.  The people dread the destruction of the city in case of an attack.

A strong force is concentrating at Suffolk to check Gen. Burnside, who was reported to have reached Winton in force, and was moving on Suffolk.

The reason given by the rebels for not returning Col. Corcoran is, that maps and drawings have been found concealed on his person.  No farther communication has been received as to the release of prisoners at Richmond.

Richmond papers of Friday contain no military news, except the arrest of a number of Union men, principally Germans.  A detective officer broke into the room of the German Turners, and found two American flags, and a painting on the wall of the goddess of liberty holding the Union colors and a shield, with the words underneath “hats off!”

The House of Representatives have passed a resolution, by a vote of 71 to 11, recommending and directing the military commanders to destroy all the cotton and tobacco in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy.  A resolution was also adopted asking the President to inform the House of what foreign vessels of war are doing in Hampton Roads.

The Richmond Dispatch says that a vessel drawing sixteen feet of water recently passed out of Charleston harbor.

Chas. Palmet, arrested for disloyalty a few days since at Richmond, had been discharged.

Specie is quoted at Richmond at 40 a 50 per cent. prem.

A dispatch from Atlanta, Ga., says that the Federal troops have possession of Murfreesboro, and the Gen. Sidney Johnston has retreated to Decatur, Ala.

The steamer Merrimac was lying near the navy yard yesterday morning, with flag flying and a crew on board.  She draws 23 feet of water, and was described to me as looking like the roof of a sunken house, with a smokestack protruding from the water.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, March 10, 1862, p. 1

The Capture Of Norfolk

Our dispatches bring the gratifying intelligence of the capture of Norfolk, Portsmouth and the Gosport Navy Yard, by the forces under General Wool, which had advanced to attack the place, when it was surrendered.  The capture of this place ends the Confederate hopes of creating a navy. – Here they had a first class Navy Yard, which had been in their possession over a year. – Their famed armored frigate Virginia terminated her existence the very reverse of heroically, by suicide, when there was an abundant opportunity to do it in battle in the Bay. – Their fleet of gunboats at New Orleans is annihilated, and soon the Confederates, who have been calling on their King Cotton to compel England and France to open their ports, will find them all opened under their legitimate Government, and will be reduced to an internal insurrection, relying on Southern climate and miasma, instead of “Southern steel” and “Southern powder” which Jeff. Davis promised.

This prompt movement and important result are worthy the reputation of the veteran General Wool, and it was fit that an operation which he has urged upon the War Department for the last eight months should be carried into effect by him.  The immediate order for the expedition seems to have been the result of the visit of the President and Secretary of war to Fortress Monroe.  The occupation of this important place for a year in the face of our great naval power, and in the neighborhood of our immense army, has been a standing disgrace to our military management, and lattlery [sic] the Merrimac has been standing terror to Chesapeake Bay, and has barred the co-operation of our navy with the army on the Peninsula. – The palpable remedy was to take the place, which is now done.  The Confederacy is deprived of one of its greatest seizures, and the fearful iron monster which demolished two of our frigates, is no more. – {Cincinnati Gazette.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 2

The Capture Of Norfolk And Portsmouth And The Destruction Of The Merrimac

We have already given an account of the taking of the two important cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth the recovery of the Gosport Navy Yard and the destruction of the much dreaded iron clad nondescript, the Merrimac, all done by an insignificant force of 5,000 men under the command of the president himself.  This could all have been done better, and easily, at any time during the last six our eight months.  Had it been done in October or November last what a destruction of life and property would have been saved?  The humiliation of the destruction of two of our vessels of war – of the scare at Washington, New York and all along the shore, would have been spared us.  But no, General McClellan would not co-operate with the Navy and strenuously set his face against anything and everything  looking like business.  He would not aid in raising the blockade nor in anything else and nothing but the most positive and peremptory orders to move, drove him from Washington.  That all the water courses about Fortress Monroe are now cleared of rebel gunboats and “rams” that Gosport Navy hard, the best and most extensive in the Union is again in possession of the Government, we are indebted to the personal interposition of the President of the United States.  The “great strategy” business is played out.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 1

Evacuation of Yorktown

FURTHER PARTICULARS

PHILADELPHIA, May 5. – the Enquirer has a special dispatch from Fortress Monroe giving the following particulars in regard to the evacuation of Yorktown.

One mile beyond Yorktown,

Sunday 10 o’clock A. M.

All day yesterday the rebels kept up a fire on Gen. Porter’s division.  No one was hurt.  Our Parrott guns at Farnhal Court House occasionally answered them.  All last evening and up to midnight lively firing – was kept up, about that time the fire slackened considerably, at 2 o’clock stopped altogether.  We fired one or two more batteries at them by got no answer.  About 3 o’clock this morning a building at Yorktown was fired and Prof. Lowe and Gen. Heintzelman went up in a balloon and found it was their store house at Yorktown wharf at daylight they reported the forts empty, at 7 o’clock we occupied Yorktown without being again fired at.

Of the guns of the enemy nearly all remaining were spiked and dismounted.  By the side of the river batteries were large piles of ammunition, powder, balls and shells.  Eighty guns were in Yorktown which is surrounded by a semicircle, the earthworks were all constructed to cover one another in every position but they must have eventually yielded could we have got around them.

The gun we dismounted the other day killed and wounded four rebels.

The fort had been occupied by the First battalion New Orleans Artillery, the 8^th and 30^th Alabama regiments, the 10^th and 14^th Louisiana and 13^th & 45^th Georgia regiments.  These troops were ordered to report at Howard’s Grove four miles from Richmond and left the fort at midnight.  A rear guard was left who waited for appearances and then retired in the greatest haste.

Two deserters who left their regiment in Williamsburgh at daylight, says the whole rebel army was in a panic.

Prof. Lowe’s balloon reconnaissance discovered their rearguard at 9 A. M. to be four miles out.  Gen. McClellan immediately ordered out the artillery and cavalry and is pushing after them at full speed.

All our gunboats came up at 9 o’clock and landed some marines at Gloucester who raised the U. S. flag amid cheering that could be heard across the river.  The boats all then left and are now running up the York river shelling the banks on both sides.

A number of mines had been prepared for our troops by placing Prussian shells under ground on the roadways and entrances to the forts.  No whites were to be found and only a few negro women and babies.  The town was squalid and dirty.  A few days of rain would have been a specific.  A large quantity of meat, salt and fish was left.  All the tents were left but no horses or wagons.

Reports concur that the rebels consist of a mob of about 100,000 men ill fed, dirty and disheartened.  The road from Yorktown to Hampton on which they were encamped was guarded by Fort Magruder mounting a large number of guns part of which are taken away and part spiked and some of their works were well laid out, others were wretched contrivances.  The work upon them was finished on Friday night and the slaves sent to the rear under guard.  The rebels have nothing behind on which they can make a stand.  Last night their camp fires all along were the same as usual – the dense wood along the peninsula enabled them to leave without being seen by the balloon.

The large guns of the rebels are mostly columbiads taken from the Norfolk Navy Yard – Some of them have been recently mounted – The _____ although of the roughest character were very formidable being surrounded by deep gorges almost impassable.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 4

From Fort Monroe

FORT MONROE, April 23.

Small boats arrived to-day from Norfolk, containing several refugees. They report the Merrimac at Gosport Navy Yard having iron shields placed over her portholes. She was expected out again in a few days. She was aground the last day she was out, as was generally supposed.

Nothing is said in Norfolk about the bursting of a gun, and is doubtless incorrect.

Capt. Buchanan was thought to be alive. He was wounded by a rifle shot in the thigh.

The steamers Jamestown and Beaufort went up James river Friday and Yorktown Sunday to obtain coal, and took in tow a number of schooners loaded with iron, to be rolled into plates at Tredegar works. Four gunboats had been launched at Norfolk, and 4 more were being constructed, some of them to be plated.

The previously reported engagement between Burnside’s troops and a Georgia regiment, took place Saturday. The Union troops numbered 500; the rebels were the 3d Ga. regiment, Col. Wright. The fight was on the canal above Elizabeth City. – Rebel loss 15 killed, 35 wounded. It is said they ran on being attacked; were poorly equipped; lacked arms and ammunition.

A refugee who visited Richmond last week, states that there are but few troops there or at Norfolk; mostly gone to Yorktown.

One of the refugees was a sailor on the steamer Fingal. He left Savannah March 1st. He reports great consternation there. The Fingal and other vessels are in the harbor.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, April 25, 1862, p. 2

From Washington

WASHINGTON, April 18.

Tribune’s Special.

It is said on the authority of intercepted letters from Richmond, that several editors of rebel newspapers have been hung for publishing intelligence which was contraband of war.

A general order from the Adj. General’s office directs paymasters to recognize agents which may be appointed by States under certain circumstances to receive soldier’s pay.

A rumor, which the War Department has not had an opportunity to disprove or rectify, asserts that Gen. Blenker has been seriously injured by a fall from his horse. It is not true that his command has been assigned to Gen. Rosencrans [sic].

The condition of the Treasury now enables the Secretary to direct the payment in cash of all claims, of dates prior to Nov. 1st 1861, including claims settled by the St. Louis commission, and it is expected that those of November will also be paid in full within a few days. All other claims, without regard to date, will be paid on presentation, if desired as heretofore, 80 percent in cash.

The prospect of the passage of the Pacific RR. Bill during the present session is not promising.

The Herald’s Fort Monroe correspondent under the date of the 17th state: From our army before Yorktown, I hear the most cheering news. By information just received from soldiers, I learn that last evening a Colonel and Lieut. Colonel from the rebel army came over to our lines, and surrendered themselves as prisoners of war. These two officers also report that an entire Irish brigade mutinied, and by order of Jeff. Davis, were deprived of their arms and sent to the rear.

The act authorizing the Postmaster General to establish branch postoffices in the cities prescribes the charge of one cent in addition to the regular postage, for ever letter deposited in any branch postoffice to be forwarded by mail from the principal office, and which shall be prepaid by stamp; and once cent for every letter delivered as such branch office, to be paid on delivery.

The naval appropriation bill contains an item of nearly $800,000 to pay for and finish Steven’s battery, the money Not to be expended unless the Secretary of the Navy is of the opinion that the same will secure an efficient steam battery. The section appropriated $13,000,000 merely says to enable the secretary to contract for iron-clad steam vessels of war.

The select committee of the Senate through Mr. Hale, made their report under the resolution adopted in July last, instructing them to inquire into the circumstances attending the surrender of the navy yard at Pensacola, and the destruction of the property of the United States at the Norfolk navy yard and the armory at Harper’s Ferry, and the abandonment of the same by the Federal forces; and also whether there was default on the part of our officers. The committee relate at length the facts of the case. The amount of property at the Norfolk navy hard was valued at $9,760,000. The vessels were worth nearly $2,000,000. There were in the yard at least 2,000 heavy guns, of which 300 were of the Dahlgren pattern. The committee making this report was composed of senators Hale, Johnson, of Tenn., and Grimes.


WASHINGTON, April 19.

Col. Morrow, late of the 2d Ohio regiment, now attached to Gen. Hunter’s staff, has arrived, bringing dispatches to the War Department, but which up to 10 o’clock had not been delivered. He states that among the prisoners taken is Capt. Simms, editor of the Savannah Republican. The sword belonging to the latter he has presented to Representative Gurney, of Ohio.

Ex-Mayor Britt has declined the appointment tendered him by the President as one of the commissioners under the bill for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.

The post-office appropriation bill provides $1,000,000 for the service of the California Central route, and repeals the acts requiring the Postmaster General in causing the transportation of the mails by steamship between our own and foreign ports, and between any of our own ports touching at foreign ports, to give preference to American over foreign steamships when departing from the same port for the same port within three days of each other. The Postmaster General is authorized to establish a coast mail, not less than semi-monthly, between San Francisco and Crescent City, Cal., including service at intermediate points; provided the sum to be paid for such service does not exceed $20,000 per annum. The President has approved and signed the above named bills.

The act reorganizing and increasing the efficiency of the medical department of the army, adds to the present corps ten surgeons and ten assistant surgeons, twenty military cadets and as many hospital stewards as the Surgeon General may consider necessary. The Surgeon General to be appointed under this act is to have the rank and pay and emoluments of a Brigadier General. There is to be one Assistant Surgeon General, one Inspector General, and ten of hospitals. The latter is to have the supervision of all that relates to the sanitary condition of the army. There are to be beside eight medical inspectors, charged with the duty of inspecting the sanitary condition of the transports, quarters and camps of the field hospitals. The appointments are to be made by the President, either from the regular or volunteer surgeons, with sole regard to qualifications.


WASHINGTON, April 19.

The following was received at the Navy Department to-day:

FLAG SHIP WABASH, PORT ROYAL HARBOR, S. C.,
April 13, 1862.

SIR: The dispatches from the commanding General of this department to the Hon. Secretary of War will convey the gratifying intelligence of the fall of Ft. Pulaski. It was a purely military operation – the result of laborious and scientific preparations and of consummate skill and bravery in execution. It would not have pertained to me to address you in reference to this brilliant and successful achievement, had not Maj. Gen. Hunter, with a generous spirit long to be remembered, permitted the navy to be represented on this interesting occasion, by allowing a detachment of seamen and officers from this ship to serve one of the breaching batteries. I have thanked General personally, and desire to express my acknowledgments to Brig. Gen. Benham, and acting Brig. Gen. Gilmore, for acts of consideration shown to my officers and men. Respectfully,

S. F. DUPONT,
Flagg Officer Commanding.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, April 21, 1862, p. 1

Report of the Senate Committee

WASHINGTON, April 18 – The Select Committee of the Senate, through Mr. Hale, made their report under the resolution adopted in July last, instructing them to inquire into the circumstances attending the surrender of the Navy Yard at Pensacola and the destruction of the property of the United States at the Norfolk Navy Yard and the amount at Harper’s Ferry and the abandonment of the same by the Federal forces, and also whether there was default on the part of our officers. The Committee relate at length the facts of the case. The amount of property at the Norfolk Navy Yard was valued at $9,760,000; the vessels were worth nearly $2,000,000. There were in the Yard at least 2,000 heavy guns, of which 300 were of the dahlgreen pattern. The committee making the report was composed of Senators Hale, Johnson of Tenn., and Grimes of Iowa.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 26, 1862, p. 4