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Gunsmoke over the Atlantic: First Naval Actions of the Civil War - Hardcover

Coombe, Jack D.

 
9780553801620: Gunsmoke over the Atlantic: First Naval Actions of the Civil War
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0553801627 ISBN 13: 9780553801620
Verlag: Bantam Dell Pub Group, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

The acclaimed historian and author of Thunder Along the Mississippi furnishes a definitive account of the early naval history of the Civil War that chronicles the dramatic confrontations between the Union Navy and blockade runners aided by Confederate warships.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jack D. Coombe is the author of Gunfire Around the Gulf and Thunder Along the Mississippi, which was nominated for the Fletcher Pratt Award. He and his wife, Peg, live in Northbrook, Illinois.

Aus dem Klappentext

On April 12, 1861, the Civil War began when shots were fired on an unfinished fort in Charleston Harbor. From that thunderous opening salvo, the naval battles to control the Atlantic coast that followed daring, savage, and often deadly were not only crucial in determining the outcome of the war and the fate of a nation, but would change the face of naval warfare forever.

GUNSMOKE OVER THE ATLANTIC

Historian Jack D Coombe, author of the critically acclaimed Thunder Along the Mississippi and Gunfire Around the Gulf, combines brilliant research with a novelist s flair for re-creation to put us directly into the action of the Civil War on river, on shore, and at sea. In this vivid account, we experience the soul-gnawing terror of a bombardment, the claustrophobic confines of a still-unproven submarine, and the smoke-choked chaos of a harbor in the grips of a full-bore naval engagement between two desperate enemies. Coombe focuses on the Civil War as it was fought along the Atlantic coast, a fierce contest of blockaders and blockade-runners, ironclads, wood-hulled battleships, land cannon, submarines, and the first underwater antiship weapons.

For the North, the challenge was to implement a blockade over 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline, from Virginia to Texas. To do so, they would have to modernize an ineffective and outdated U.S. Navy fallen into incompetence and disrepair. For the South, the challenge was to create a fledgling navy from whatever meager resources were at hand. The Confederacy patched together a navy of river runners and converted battleships, turned cornfields into shipyards, and put the first ironclad battleship into action. And it was the South that introduced the new concept of underwater weaponry, sending spar torpedoes, mines, submarines and a few incredibly brave men willing to deploy them into battle against the North.

Gunsmoke over the Atlantic chronicles the key engagements, from the Monitor and the Virginia dueling at Hampton Roads to the ill-fated campaign against Fort Fisher. Along the way, we meet a remarkable cast of naval strategists and warriors on both sides of the battle, witness the crucial, often deadly role played by the weather and the sea itself, and get a vivid view of such important events as the first amphibious landing in history, at Cape Hatteras in 1861.

An important work for students of the Civil War and of naval history, this book fills in missing pieces of America s most tragic war and shows why, when the guns finally fell silent, a new era had begun. Four years after the fall of Fort Sumter, a once divided country had the beginnings of the most powerful navy in the world.

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Chapter One

FORT SUMTER AND THE U.S. NAVY

A strong southeast wind whipped the water into deep troughs off the bar at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, while low, angry clouds scudded across the sky. The transport steamer Baltic rocked in the troughs, holding its position at the edge of the swash channel.

It was April 12, 1861, and aboard the transport, Captain Gustavus Vasa Fox no doubt glanced around and frowned. In the distance he could have made out the gray outline of the two-masted side-wheel sloop Harriet Lane, her paddlewheels slapping at the encroaching waves. Behind her was the dim shape of the bark-rigged sloop Pawnee, also rocking slowly in the surf. Alarmingly, the Powhatan and the Pocahontas were missing. This must have disturbed him, because their striking power was vital to the mission.

Fox knew that those present were the only ships of an eight-vessel fleet sent by navy secretary Gideon Welles to provide a relief mission for beleaguered Fort Sumter, located at the mouth of the harbor. No doubt Fox, who was in charge of the expedition, must have deeply pondered the absence of the 3,765-ton, 11-gun side-wheel frigate Powhatan, which had been ordered to join the fleet. Her absence would be crucial, because her heavy guns could have provided the fleet with protection from the glowering Confederate batteries on Cummings Point and Sullivan’s Island, on each side of the harbor’s mouth, and also from any encroaching armed vessels the Confederates would muster against him.

Welles’ order emphasized that the primary mission of the fleet was to provision Fort Sumter and that the War Department would furnish the necessary transports for the force.1 But it was clear that those transports with 200 troops, plus three steam tugs, Uncle Ben, Freeborn, and Yankee, were also missing with no clue as to their whereabouts.

Gustavus Fox was fully qualified for the mission. A native of Massachusetts, he had been appointed midshipman in the navy in 1845 after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy on January 12, 1838.

Fox served aboard the U.S.S. Preble, on which he gained experience about command at sea and the intricacies of transport duty during the Mexican War. He later resigned his lieutenant’s commission and settled down as a merchant in his native state. But President Lincoln had personally contacted him to head the Fort Sumter relief mission. Fox arrived at Charleston, on March 21, to confer with Anderson about the state of affairs at the fort. After his visit, Fox became convinced that a relief mission was possible, in spite of growing tensions around the fort in Charleston and the batteries surrounding it.

Following the rapid secession of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, it became clear that war was in the offing. President Lincoln put Fox on notice to proceed with all possible speed to Charleston Harbor, with a relief mission for Anderson and the garrison at Sumter.

The task force left New York Harbor, with the Powhatan and the 750-ton, six-gun sloop Pocahontas departing on April 6, and the rest of the flotilla leaving at various times. Fox’s Uncle Ben left on the seventh, with the rest following. Soon after reaching Sandy Hook, the force found itself in an Atlantic gale, with heavy winds that dogged the vessels all the way to Charleston.

Fox’s orders stated that the flotilla was to stand off the harbor and await the arrival of the missing warships, which were believed to have been delayed by the storm. This was puzzling, considering that the warships had left one day before Fox’s departure.

By April 12 it was clear that the absence of the vessels would seriously crimp the mission. The tugs, with their fast speed and low draft, would have been ideal for slipping past the enemy’s gun positions, as would a small fleet of launches on board the Powhatan. These vessels would have carried not only provisions but a detachment of relief troops in case an opportunity allowed them to be placed in the fort under the protection of the powerful warship. None of the present ships had boats that would serve the purpose, and now there was also a shortage of personnel. Fox began to experience a feeling of frustration as the hours dragged on.

One bright spot in the picture for Fox, however, was the capture of a small ice schooner by the Pawnee. For a time it appeared that this fast vessel would be ideal for slipping past the batteries at night, but the idea was soon abandoned when the rumble of gunfire was heard within the harbor. As the angry clouds lifted, Fox and the crews of the vessels could witness black smoke drifting over the harbor, indicating a conflict.2

Their worst fears were realized: Fort Sumter was under attack! It is not difficult to comprehend the frustration and utter helplessness felt in the relief flotilla as they watched a torrent of shells reaching high and arcing down upon the hapless fort and its outgunned and outmanned occupants. For a time a heavy pall of smoke obstructed their vision, but as the wind whipped it away, the horror of it all was driven home. Meanwhile, the Pocahontas hove into view, delayed by the storm; alarmingly, the warship was alone, without the much-awaited Powhatan.

In the fort, Major Robert Anderson shared Fox’s perplexity. On December 26, 1860, he had written to Col. S. Cooper, adjutant general, that he had just removed his garrison from Fort Moultrie to Sumter, except for four noncommissioned officers and seven men. He revealed that there was a year’s supply of hospital stores and four months’ supply of provisions. He presented the rationale for the abandonment of Moultrie and a secret move under cover of darkness.

After his move from Moultrie, Anderson must have looked around the unfinished fort and wondered what was in store for the men and himself, to say nothing of his beloved country, the United States of America. But the move was necessary because of what preceded it.

The tight-lipped Anderson was well equipped for commanding Fort Moultrie. Born in Kentucky on June 4, 1805, Anderson, who was early on a very religious man, graduated 15th in his class from West Point in 1825. His combat record included the Blackhawk and Seminole Indian Wars, and he served in Mexico under General Winfield Scott, during which he was wounded. After these events, he found himself translating French military texts into English at the War Department. In 1845 he married Elizabeth L. Clinch, daughter of Brigadier General Duncan Clinch. He settled down to what he thought would be a quiet, peaceful life of service.

In November 1860 John B. Floyd, U.S. secretary of war, ordered him to command the garrison at Moultrie. Although Anderson was sympathetic toward slavery because of his southern origins, he remained loyal to the Union, and his devotion to duty was admirable.4

Without question, he accepted the command. He and Elizabeth packed their bags, moved to South Carolina, and took up residence in Moultrie, which by this time had gained the reputation of being a socially agreeable place, especially because of the people of Charleston. It had become less of a military establishment and more a social club of sorts, which the upper-class residents of Charleston frequented.

The only other fortifications in Charleston Harbor were the incomplete Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney, the latter a brick edifice on a small island a mile north off Charleston. It had a capacity of 100 men and an armament of 22 guns, but in 1860, 10 men under an ordnance sergeant occupied it. Anderson was aware that South Carolina forces, in the event of hostilities, would quickly take the Castle Pinckney site. He therefore reasoned that any hope of resistance lay in Fort Sumter, even though it was...

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Verlag
Bantam Dell Pub Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2002
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0553801627
ISBN 13 
9780553801620
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
268
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