Headquarters District Of South Alabama,
Fort Gaines, Ala., April 4, 1865.
My Dear Wife:
As to Mobile, in my
judgment, it is going to be a long siege. The general impression was that there
would be a speedy evacuation, but the attack has been so long delayed, that the
enemy have had full opportunity to fortify and are making a most obstinate
resistance. They have filled all the approaches by land and water, with
torpedoes ingeniously contrived, and concealed in every channel and avenue; so
thickly strewn, that though we have picked up a large number, three fine
gunboats and many lives have already been lost by them. The torpedo is made of
wood, thickly coated on the outside with pitch and tar so as to be quite
waterproof, is somewhat in the shape of a cigar, and eighteen inches thick,
tapering at both ends, in which there is a vacuum, the middle portion being
filled with from fifty to one hundred pounds of gunpowder, which is ignited
through brass tubes with copper ends, by means of friction and percussion
powder. They are anchored just below the surface of the water, and sometimes
several are attached by strings or wire. A vessel in passing over them produces
the necessary friction, and the explosion, if immediately underneath the vessel
is generally sufficient to blow a hole through the bottom and sink her. These I
have described, are the water torpedoes; those used upon the land are generally
an eight-inch shell, that is, a cannon ball, hollow, eight inches in diameter,
filled with powder and the fuse so arranged that a pressure of ten pounds will
explode them. They are concealed in the sand just below the surface, and the
tread of a horse's foot, or the passage of a wheel, is sufficient to explode
them, or even the pressure of a man's foot if put down hard. A staff officer,
riding the other day, woke up from a state of insensibility to discover himself
fifteen feet from the roadway, and the mangled remains of his horse that had
been blown to atoms, he, by strange chance, escaping with the temporary loss of
his senses and the bruises of his fall. The immense number of these shells and
torpedoes scattered in every possible place on land or in water, renders the
approaches to Spanish Fort, that at present is the key to the position, most
difficult, and has made the navy timid and wary in the management of their
ships, while our troops on shore have found a secret foe hard to combat. Every
man feels that he is literally walking on the thin crust of a volcano. We have,
however, thoroughly invested the fort, the garrison of which now is supposed to
number some six or seven thousand men, and will soon be able to cut it off
entirely from Mobile. We shall then, I think, resort to sapping and mining, and
it will become a question of time as at Vicksburg. Meanwhile, our forces under
Wilson, will attack from the other side, and the result, in my mind, though far
off, is not doubtful. Still, we may have trouble from another quarter. As you
know, I am not one of those who have been sanguine as to the speedy termination
of the war, and have doubtless, by free expression of opinion in that regard,
sacrificed a reputation I might have had for a wiseacre. I think before long we
shall have something from Kirby Smith, and that when Richmond is evacuated, the
war will have to be begun anew. The obstinate resistance they are making at
Mobile, fortifies my preconceived opinions, that are of no great value, for all
is in the hands of God, who will bring these troubles to a close in His own
good time. Still, you must be patient, and not expect an early raising of the
siege.
I am comfortably
situated at this time. I have a great deal of responsibility and a highly
honorable position, if I have rank enough to hold it. All the time, or nearly
all the time I was a colonel, in fact, I may say all the time I was a
lieutenant-colonel, I exercised the rank of colonel; all the time, or nearly
all the time I was colonel, I exercised the rank, duties, and responsibilities
of a brigadier-general. And all the time I have been brigadier-general, the
duties of a major-general have been thrust upon me. I have recently, as you
perceive by the copies of orders I sent you, relieved Major-General Granger, and
the labor, expense, and responsibility devolved upon him, now rests with me,
with this difference — he had more staff and $1,200 per annum more pay. But I
shall never get any more rank because I am a volunteer officer. The brevet I
would not give a fig for; they are so common that they do not confer honor, and
they do not, under any circumstance, the old rule in that regard being changed,
give more pay.
Although in April,
the weather is not yet unpleasantly warm, except in the sun; indeed, I make it
a point to keep a little fire, that is a good guard against malaria. The birds,
among them my old friend the mocking-bird, have come and I send you blossoms
that will fade before they reach you, but will carry some fragrance from the
little island by the sea that is now my home.
I have just been
called from writing to receive a visit from Capt. J. R. Madison Mullany, an old
officer of the navy now commanding the U. S. S. Bienville, and
commanding the squadron here. He is a very gallant officer and lost an arm,
amputated close at the shoulder, in the capture of these forts. A
recommendation of him to you will be the fact of his being a sincere and devout
Catholic, and I was pleased to find him a courteous and finished gentleman, as
most officers of the old navy were.
SOURCE: Walter
George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 383-5
