Grant and Sherman

Samuel Phillips Lee is a Virginian by birth, and was appointed midshipman from that State in November, 1825, and hence had been thirty-five years in the national service when the war broke out. Though a Southerner by birth, he did not, like so many other officers, join the Confederacy; but remained true to the old flag.

When Farragut organized his expedition against New Orleans, Lee was given the command of the United States steamship Oneida, and was assigned to Bailey’s division, that led the fleet. After the latter found that he could not get the Colorado over the bar, he selected the Oneida as his flagship in the approaching struggle; but, finding that this arrangement was displeasing to Lee, who felt that whatever honor his vessel might win, he would get no share of it, he transferred his flag to the Cayuga. Lee carried his vessel gallantly into action, standing on the forecastle and directing all the movements of the ship from that exposed position, until the obstructions in the river were passed. He says:
The Oneida was steered in for the Fort St. Philip side, passed up quickly in the strong eddy, and close under the guns of that fort, (so that the sparks from its immense battery seemed to reach us,) fired rapidly bolts from two rifled guns, (we had no shell for them,) grape and canister from the forward 32’s, and shrapnel from the two 11-inch pivot guns, whilst passing this long line of works. (It was, perhaps, the burning of the sulphur in our 11-inch shrapnel, which occasioned the officers in Fort St. Philip to inquire, after the surrender, if our shells were not filled with Greek fire.)

The terrific fire from the heavy batteries of Fort St. Philip passed over us, their guns seeming to be too much elevated for our close position.

When just above the forts, we encountered the gunboats and transports of the enemy. The former, it seems from the subsequent reports of our prisoners, were tied to trees along the steep bank above Fort St. Philip; thence passing over to the Fort Jackson side, these gunboats came down to meet us. It was very thick from darkness and smoke. We had now got on the Fort Jackson side. A flash revealed the ram Manassas, gliding down our port-side below our guns, and passing too close and swiftly, aided by steam and the current, to enable us to bring our heavy guns to bear on her. Next came a gunboat quite near, and passing from the Fort Jackson to the Fort St. Philip side, across our bow. Ran into it with a full head of steam, and cut it down with a loud crash on its starboard quarter. Clear of our guns in a moment, it drifted down stream in the darkness. We now slowed down, and afterwards used the steam as necessary to get or keep position in fighting the gunboats, firing right and left into them as we could ascertain (from other indications than black smoke, on account of the Varuna), that we were not firing into one of our steamers; forebore to fire into those steamers that appeared to be river transports, and ceased firing into others when they made no return.

In this manner we fired into and passed several rebel boats on the right bank, leaving it for those who came after to pick up the prizes. A black gunboat, with two masts-a converted sea-steamer-ran ahead after a brief contest. At or near daybreak, we found the Cayuga on our port-side. After consultation with Captain Bailey, we concluded to wait for the fleet to come up and form in order. Captain Bailey afterwards hailed that the Varuna might be ahead. Looked for her, but could not make her out, and received reports from the first lieutenant and the officer on the forecastle, that she was not in sight. When we had steamed a mile or more ahead of the Cayuga, saw her general signal No. 80, but, as there was nothing in sight of us needing assistance, supposed the signal to refer to some vessel astern of the Cayuga. Moving ahead, reconnoitring, came up with what, in the gray of the morning, appeared to be a fort, but what, on nearer approach, proved to be a rebel camp on the right bank, with a large rebel flag flying over it. Fired into it, but no reply was made, no one was seen moving, and the camp seemed deserted. Passed on, leaving the, trophy flag flying, and soon received a report that the Varuna was ahead, and that the enemy was trying to board her. Went ahead with all speed to her assistance. Approaching rapidly, saw the Varuna ashore on the left bank of the river, where she had been driven by two rebel gunboats. At 5.30 A. M. fired on one of them-the black gunboat, our previous acquaintance with the forecastle rifle gun. He had hoisted his jib (his wheel-ropes being gone) and was trying to escape up river; but both rebel gunboats, finding they could not get away, ran on shore-the black one, which proved to be the Governor Moore, Commander Kennon, on the left bank, above the Varuna, and the _____, (name yet unknown,) on the right bank, opposite the Varuna, with her head up stream. After we had driven them ashore, their crews deserted, but not before setting fire to their vessels.

With our boats, captured Commander Kennon, (formerly of our navy,) one first lieutenant of artillery, one chief engineer, and fourteen of the crew of the Governor Moore; also, a rebel signal-book and some official papers, showing that the rebel gunboats were ordered to ram our vessels, and to distinguish themselves by showing lights, which they must soon have found prudent to haul down. Seeing that the Varuna was sinking, sent our boats and went to her assistance. Brought on board Oneida the first lieutenant, two acting masters, two mates, and forty petty officers and seamen of the Varuna, and sent ten others, seven of whom were wounded, to the Pensacola.

The Varuna had been rammed and badly stove by both of these rebel gunboats, which had kept with or after her up river, and she was filling, with her magazine flooded, when the Oneida drove off her assailants, prevented her officers and crew from being captured, and was received by them with loud and hearty cheers.

The Cayuga (Captain Bailey’s flag) also cheered the Oneida heartily for opportunely coming to his support that morning.

In the subsequent passage of the batteries by Farragut, January 28th, he carried his ship steadily through the fire, receiving but four shots.

Lee having been promoted, was soon after transferred to the command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, taking the place of Goldsborough, who was relieved at his own request, and became Acting-Rear-Admiral. Here he continued "discharging his duties," said the Secretary of the Navy, "in a position of great responsibility, and in some respects of great embarrassment." * * * "The rivers of Virginia, and the sounds of North Carolina have been penetrated, watched, and guarded, as well as the entire coast, so that all intercourse with the rebels has been cut off, with the single exception of the port of Wilmington." Various expeditions were fitted out; rivers were explored; guerillas dispersed, and blockade runners captured in the limits of his jurisdiction; but no naval movements of a decisive character made. While here, he received a letter from Alexander Stephens, who wished to be allowed to proceed to Washington as commissioner from Jefferson Davis. After communicating with Washington, Admiral Lee informed him, that his request was inadmissible.

When Butler commenced his movement on Bermuda Hundreds, Lee cooperated with him, and afterwards with Grant. While his subordinates were active in maintaining the blockade along the coast, and our supremacy in the sounds of North Carolina, he personally superintended affairs in the James River and adjoining waters. His- correspondence with Grant, Butler, and the authorities at Washington, covers the whole field of operations, though the duties of the navy were quite subordinate to those of the army. Keeping communications open; clearing rivers of batteries; transporting troops, and covering their landing, and holding the enemy’s vessels in check, are quite as important as naval battles; yet, a detailed narrative of all the proceedings possesses but little interest to the general reader.

Lee was anxious to have the rebel fleet come down the James and attack him; but no such opportunity was given him to distinguish himself, and he was reluctantly compelled to submit to a comparatively inactive life personally-his time being chiefly occupied in giving orders to subordinates in the various portions of his wide command, and in receiving their reports.

As a fair illustration of the character of his duties in the James River, we give one of his dispatches:

HAMPTON ROADS, JULY 9, 1864.

Acting-Master Lee, commanding the Commodore Morris, reports to Captain Smith, that, while destroying a field of wheat near Turkey Bend, an escaped Union prisoner, John H. Bond, who had been sent from Richmond to aid in cutting the grain, claimed his protection, and stated that there were seven (7) other prisoners sent with him for the same purpose. Richard D. Lee, Justice of the Peace for Warwick County, Virginia, was taken prisoner at the same time, and turned over to General Butler. Captain Smith also reports that he is informed that the man Aiken, upon whose premises the grain was destroyed, had assisted a party of five (5) to escape to the rebel lines. This man gave a strict pledge of neutrality, when our forces first went up the river. This report also encloses the statement of three (3) deserters from the rebel iron-clad Virginia, who came off on the 5th; they furnish no new information.

There has been no change in the naval situation, and all was quiet at the last date.

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully,

S. P. LEE,

Acting Rear-Admiral, Commanding N. A. B. Squadron.

Hon. GIDEON WELLES,

Secretary of the Navy.

When the Department determined on the capture of Wilmington, Admiral Porter was put in Lee’s place and the latter given the former’s command on the Mississippi. The severe fighting had all been done here, but still it required a good deal of hard work to keep what we had got. The Tennessee River especially caused Lee much trouble.

In the fall of 1864, the steamer Undine was captured here, while three "tin-clads" had to be burned to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy.

Lee’s important command extended from the Ohio to the mouth of the Mississippi, embracing not only the tributaries of the latter, but the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. This was divided into several districts, with a separate commander over each. The eleventh district embraced the Tennessee River, and here the most valuable services were rendered by the Acting Rear Admiral, in cooperating with the army under Thomas, in the campaign against Hood. The former acknowledged those services, in a complimentary letter to Lee, in which he says: "Your official cooperation on the Tennessee, has contributed largely to the demoralization of Hood’s army," and further says: "In conclusion, it gives me great pleasure to tender to you, your officers and men, my hearty thanks for your cordial cooperation during the operations of the past thirty-five days."

At the close of the war, Lee received the surrender of the last of the rebel fleet on the western waters.

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CHAPTER XIX

The next year he was ordered to report to the Secretary of the Treasury as Secretary of the Light House Board, and from April to November was employed on special duty and secret service in Virginia, in connection with the rebellion. But the great exposure and labor connected with it, broke down his health, and he was, for a long time, laid up with the typhoid fever. On his recovery, he applied for active service, and was given the command of the Wachusett. When the rebels attacked McClellan at Harrison’s Landing, he drove them off; and afterwards did good service in the James River. Being promoted to captain, he was, in September, ordered to the Oneida, and joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. The next February he was detached from this vessel and ordered to report on board the Hartford at New Orleans as captain of the fleet, and Chief of Staff to Farragut.

He led the fleet in the passage of the batteries of Port Hudson in March. A few days after, he engaged the batteries of Grand Gulf, as well as those of Warrenton. In May, in the Monongahela—the temporary flagship—he attacked the batteries of Port Hudson, and remained before the place until called to Donaldsonville.

The next mouth he was ordered to Port Hudson, to assume command. In July, the Monongahela, with the tug Ida in company, silenced a battery of fifteen field pieces about twelve miles below Donaldsonville, which opened on the vessel at only two hundred yards distant. In the engagement, Commander Read was killed, and Jenkins, who was on board on his way up to take command of the Richmond, was wounded "by the same shot, breaking a cutlass which struck him on the thigh." He commanded the naval force at Port Hudson, when the place surrendered. From January, 1864, to 1865, he was in command of a division blockading Mobile, and took an active part in the engagement with the forts in the following August. He commanded the Richmond in that most fearful conflict of modern times, and no higher praise can be awarded him than that bestowed by Admiral Farragut, who said:

I feel I should not be doing my duty did I not call the attention of the Department to an officer who has performed all his various duties with so much zeal and fidelity.

CHAPTER XX

He made two cruises in the Pacific Ocean, the West Indies, and the Gulf of Mexico. He afterwards made three cruises in the Mediterranean, and one on the coast of Africa to suppress the slave-trade. He also, as lieutenant and captain, saw much duty on shore in our navy yards and recruiting stations.

After the breaking out of the rebellion he was engaged in active service, being promoted to commodore, in July, 1862.

In 1863, he commanded the Colorado, and under Commodore Bell, commanding for the time the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, he endeavored to destroy a blockade-runner, which had got aground directly under the guns of Fort Morgan, Mobile bay. It was on the 12th of October, a dark and rainy morning, when he saw her aground, and instantly dispatched his executive officer, Lieutenant Miller, in his tender—a boat of scarcely a hundred tons burden—to reconnoiter. The Kanawha, under Lieutenant Commander Mayo, observed the blockade-runner at the same time, and instantly steamed in and boldly attacked her. The fort opened a tremendous fire upon the Kanawha, and soon sent an eight-inch shell through her. She still, however, maintained her fire, while the little tender, disdaining to be outdone in boldness, though the shot and shells of the fort rained around her, kept up a vigorous fire with her howitzers, and retired only with the Kanawha. Though the attempt to destroy the blockade-runner failed, it was gallantly executed. The first important action in which Thatcher was engaged was the bombardment of Fort Fisher, under Porter. In this attack he carried his ship gallantly into action, and on the first day fired fifteen hundred and sixty-nine projectiles, his ship being hulled several times. The cool and deliberate manner in which he handled his ship and fought her to the close, received the warm commendations of his commander. In the second attack, the Colorado, in the second line, was directed to advance next to the leading ship, Minnesota, under Commodore Lanman. The latter, however, while moving up, got her propeller foul with a hawser, and Thatcher took the lead and led the line, and for an hour lay abreast of the formidable batteries, raining shot and shell in an incessant shower on the fortifications. Now, a hundred and fifty pound shot went crashing through his berth deck, soon another tore through his gun-deck, making an ugly opening. A third pierced the port side of his ship, above the water line; two more struck the sheet chain, cutting it through, while shells were incessantly exploding above and around him. But though under such an awful fire, and receiving such a terrible pounding, Thatcher fought on as coolly as though only testing the range of his guns. In the midst of the fire, he ordered Lieutenant M. L. Johnson to carry a hawser to the Ironsides, to warp round his vessel so as to bring all his guns from the port battery to bear. This gallant officer, with a crew of volunteers, rowed away, and for half an hour was the target of the guns of the enemy, who had observed his movements. It was a bold and hazardous act, and highly complimented by Thatcher.

Ensign Perry, after assisting in landing the troops, and though worn out with fatigue and drenched to the skin, took up his position, and in the language of Thatcher, "fought his guns splendidly through the action." Strange to say, that, although the vessel was hulled six times, and received several other shots, only three were killed or wounded. Of the force spared from his ship to compose the assaulting party, twenty-three were reported killed, wounded and missing. In his report of the action, Porter says: "First and foremost on the list of commodores is Commodore H. K. Thatcher. Full of honest zeal and patriotism, his vessel was always ready for action, and when he did go into it his ship was handled with admirable skill; no vessel in the squadron was so much cut up as the Colorado; for some reason the rebels selected her for a target. I believe Commodore Thatcher would have fought his ship until she went to the bottom, and went into the fight with a full determination to conquer or die. There is no reward too great for this gallant officer; he has shown the kind of ability naval leaders should possess, a love of fighting and an invincible courage." Fort Fisher having fallen, Thatcher was detached from Porter’s fleet and placed in command of the squadron in Mobile Bay, to cooperate with Canby and Granger, commanding the land forces, in the reduction of this last port that still acknowledged the authority of the Confederate Government. After landing the troops under General Canby at Danby’s Mills, and shelling the woods along the shore in the vicinity, to clear them of the enemy, he advanced upon the rebel forts commanding the inner bay of Mobile. Before sending his monitors over the shallow bar into the river, he had it thoroughly dragged for torpedoes, for it was well known that the enemy had lined the bottom with these hideous engines of destruction. Having dragged till no more could be found, the Milwaukee, Lieutenant commander E. H. Gibbs, was sent up the Blakely River, to shell a rebel transport supposed to be conveying supplies to the lower fort. Having caused the steamer to retreat up the river, he was slowly dropping down, stern first, to avoid accident—for in turning he would sweep over more ground. He had reached, as it was supposed, a place of safety, as the iron-clad Winnebago had turned there not ten minutes before, and the boats had dragged for torpedoes, when a sudden shock was felt, and the next moment the water came pouring through the bottom of the vessel. At first there was some confusion on board, for the hatches were down. But Gibbs promptly restored order, the hatches were pried open, when the men rushed on deck; and though but three minutes elapsed from the time the torpedo exploded, before the vessel went down, the entire crew was saved.

The very next day the iron-clad Osage, Lieutenant Wm. M. Gamble commanding, was also sunk inside of Blakely bar. The vessel was anchored alongside three other iron-clads in a heavy gale. Gamble, seeing that the Winnebago was dragging her anchor, drifting slowly against him, weighed anchor and moved off to a safe distance, and stopped in two fathoms water. He then ordered three bells, the signal to back, and the crew to stand ready to drop anchor, when suddenly a torpedo exploded under the bow, and in an instant the vessel began to settle in the water. Gamble immediately sent a portion of the crew to search for the killed and wounded, and ordered all the rest on the hurricane deck, except two to each boat to haul them alongside.

Two were killed and eight wounded. The latter were quickly lifted into the boats, but were scarcely safe aboard, before the vessel went down. As the spot had been thoroughly dragged, it was supposed that the torpedo was a floating one. Three days after this sad accident, the United States steamer Rodolph was also sunk. This vessel was on its way to help raise the Milwaukee, sunk a few days before, when a torpedo exploded under the bow, staving a hole ten feet in diameter, and killing and wounding twelve men. Sinking in only twelve feet of water, the most valuable part of her armament, &c., was saved.

Scarcely ten days elapsed, before the gunboat Scioto, tug Ida, and a launch of the Cincinnati, shared the same fate, losing nearly twenty men. The Althea had also been previously sunk. It will be seen by these casualties occurring so rapidly, and that, too, after the water had been thoroughly dragged, and quantities of torpedoes taken up, what a difficult and dangerous service Thatcher was called upon to perform. Nothing could be more unpleasant to a naval commander. Officers and men had rather face any battery, however powerful, or meet any vessel, however superior in strength, than to be thus constantly dreading an unseen foe. To be in momentary expectation of feeling the vessel lifting beneath you, or with one great shudder sink to the bottom, is more trying to the nerves than the most desperate engagement. The very mystery that envelops these hidden messengers of death, renders them more terrible.

Thatcher, however, worked his way steadily forward against all opposition-thanks to the indefatigable exertion of Commander Pierce Crosby, who dragged Blakely River till he took out one hundred and fifty torpedoes—and at last got his iron-clads abreast of Spanish Fort, from whence he shelled Forts Huger and Tracy with such precision, from a rifled gun under Commander Low, that both were evacuated. Taking possession of these, he conveyed eight thousand men under Granger, to the west side of Mobile Bay to attack the city. The rebels retreated, and the two commanders sent in a formal demand for the surrender of the place. It was granted, and the stars and stripes were hoisted over the city.

The capture of Fort Alexis and the Spanish Fort, completed the conquest, and the rebel iron-clad Nashville and gunboat Morgan retreated up the Tombigbee River. The two powerful rams Huntsville and Tuscaloosa had been previously sunk in Spanish River.

Thatcher immediately went to work blowing up and removing the obstructions in the main channel.

On the 4th of May, the rebel naval commander, Farrand, surrendered all the vessels that remained, four in number, to Thatcher, who had followed him up the Tombigbee River, and was ready to open on him with his heavy guns.

Admiral Thatcher now proceeded to New Orleans. Here, on the 24th of April, he was aroused by the startling intelligence, that the rebel ram Webb, that had run the blockade of the Red River, was passing the city under a full head of steam, with the United States flag at half-mast. At first she was supposed to be an army transport; but as soon as her true character was discovered, he sent several vessels in hot pursuit.

The Webb kept dashing on at a high rate of speed with a torpedo suspended at her bow-making for the open gulf. But suddenly she came upon the Richmond, on her way up, when she turned for the shore and, running her bows into the left bank of the river, was set on fire by her commander. The crew of forty-five escaped to the shore with the exception of three, two of whom were captured, while the third perished with the vessel. Her cargo consisting of cotton, rosin and turpentine, she was soon a mass of flames shooting through thick clouds of black smoke, and in a few minutes blew up with a terrific explosion. Detachments from the navy and land force pursued the fugitives through the swamps into which they plunged for shelter, capturing two of the crew, and taking the commander and five other officers prisoners.

Thatcher, in the mean time, had dispatched several vessels, to convey a force of thirteen thousand men under General Steele, to Selma and Montgomery. A month later he received a dispatch from the fleet captain, E. Simpson, at Mobile, announcing that on the afternoon of the 25th of May, an awful explosion of ordnance stores took place at Marshall’s warehouse, setting the city on fire, and causing a great destruction of life. The conflagration, flamed by a fierce south wind, spread with great rapidity, carrying terror and desolation in its path.

Amid the exploding shells on every side and the blinding smoke and flames shooting heavenward, quarter-master John Cowper, belonging to the Brooklyn, seeing a wounded man lying where certain death awaited him, dashed fearlessly in, at the imminent risk of his life, and lifting him in his arms, bore him to a place of safety.

The surrender of the defenses of Sabine Pass followed, and the last stones of the Confederacy crumbled to the ground.

Admiral Thatcher now proceeded to Galveston, where Kirby Smith surrendered to our land forces, and the national flag was soon flying over all the forts of the harbor. Thatcher, not having a sufficient force to garrison them, laid his light-draught gunboats abreast of them, until troops could arrive. This being done, he directed Captain Sands to buoy out the harbor.

Since the war, he has been most of the time commanding the Gulf squadron.

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CHAPTER XXI