Knowledge of the Naval War

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Mark, I'm sure you know of this. Henry Walke is a favorite. He, very early on, demonstrates he is a free thinker, independent in feeling, and devoted to Country. Here he disobeys orders from two superior officers (can you "imaginate" that) resulting in a court-marshal, yet he is not dishonored.

(January 1861
Pensacola, Fl)

"..one loyal officer dared to disobey the order of his superior, and Fort Pickens, one of the three forts guarding the harbor, was saved to the Union. This officer was Commander Henry Walke, in command of the transport Supply, who was temporarily in Pensacola en route to Vera Cruz. Walke noted the utter demoralization at Pensacola and was keenly alive to the probable results of the vacillating and hesitat ing course being pursued by Armstrong. Consequently, when he received order on the 9th to assist Lieut. Adam J. Slemmer, U. S. A., in concentrating the little force of troops garrisoning Fort McRee, Fort Barrancas and Fort Pickens at the last named fort, he was eager to obey. But no sooner had he begun the work than his order was modified and he was instructed to mere ly deliver a supply of food to the men already in Pickens, leaving the soldiers distributed as they were in the several forts. This order he resolved to disobey to the extent of bringing about the concentration of the troops, a work which was accomplished on the 10th. When the yard was surrendered on the 12th, Walke also took the paroled officers and men, together with their fami lies, aboard his vessel and carried them to New York. In doing this act of humanity, he again violated instructions, as his orig- # inal order directed him to proceed to Vera Cruz. Though sub sequently court-martialed and censured for disobedience, the technical findings of the court carried with them no dishonor."
"The Union Army", Vol. VII, the navy, 1908
 
Yes well I claimed to be a Walke fan and had no clue about his violating orders to save those men until finding stories in era papers. Public opinion was wildly behind Walke, the Navy would have had a mess on their hands had he been disciplined ( am going by era papers- not exactly reliable sources but probably could test the pulses of the general public considering the press could make that pulse through exposure )

Only disappointment on Walke is he guided no ship over the Red River Dam. *sigh*, don't suppose that was his fault. Must not have gotten my memo that that I really, really wanted him there. :angel:
 
Mark, I'm sure you know of this. Henry Walke is a favorite. He, very early on, demonstrates he is a free thinker, independent in feeling, and devoted to Country. Here he disobeys orders from two superior officers (can you "imaginate" that) resulting in a court-marshal, yet he is not dishonored.

Yupper. I transcribed the court martial transcript from the Navy's JAG records; quite interesting. (One odd note: the 'prosecutor', paymaster Benjamin J. Cahoone, testified as a character witness on Walke's behalf.) One of the superior officers that Walke was accused of disobeying (Commodore Armstrong) also supported Walke's actions during the court-martial. I ascribe the entire affair as resulting from Secretary Isaac Toucey's desperate attempt to pretend that everything was business-as-usual.

As for Gideon Welles confirming the sentence of "admonishment," historian Myron J. Smith, Jr. noted that Welles had barely settled into his office when the paperwork crossed his desk, and it was overwhelmingly likely that he confirmed it as a matter of course without any actual knowledge of the circumstances. There's a later passage in Welles' diary that seems to allude to feeling something was owed Walke for the way he had been treated, but it's too oblique a reference to say that for certain; what does appear to have happened is that Welles directed that Walke be recommended for promotion to captain in mid-1862, even though he had not been on the list of promotions recommended by a review board.

Something I'm still scratching to understand is an apparent incident during the Mexican War, when then-Lt. Walke, while executive officer of the 'bomb brig' Vesuvius, had some sort of difficulty with his commander, George Magruder. Walke was transferred off the ship to Matthew C. Perry's flagship Mississippi for the remainder of his tour in the Gulf. I can find no official communication as to what the exact events were, and it looks very much to me like some sort of personality clash that was handled outside 'official' channels. It would have been trivial, except that it was cited as an example of Walke's "inefficiency" as an officer that came up during the Naval Efficiency Board proceedings in 1855, resulting in Walke's placement on the Reserved List for a couple of years until reinstated by a Court of Inquiry. (I can't find the transcript of the Court of Inquiry in Navy records, unfortunately.)
 
Mark, since you are familiar with the JAG records for the CW era, did you ever come across any courts of enquiry for the Head of Passes, Mississippi debacle, or one for the 1863 loss of the USS Preble by fire at Pensacola?
 
I have studied the Civil War all my life, but 6 to 8 years ago I began to focus intently on the Naval aspect of the war, from the Union side. My favorite aspect is the "Brown Water Navy" in the Western Theatre. Western River operations are fascinating to study. I became a "Cairo" fanatic the first time I seen her at Vicksburg. I am also a Union Navy artifacts collector, and have been able to acquire some rare Naval objects...
 
I have studied the Civil War all my life, but 6 to 8 years ago I began to focus intently on the Naval aspect of the war, from the Union side. My favorite aspect is the "Brown Water Navy" in the Western Theatre. Western River operations are fascinating to study. I became a "Cairo" fanatic the first time I seen her at Vicksburg. I am also a Union Navy artifacts collector, and have been able to acquire some rare Naval objects...
Would you be happy to post a couple of pictures of your Naval objects? I would be interested to see them.:thumbsup:
 
For anyone interested, I have posted a transcription of William B. Avery's 1884 memoir Gunboat Service on the James River as #11 of my Civil War Miscellany.

"With us on board ship (USS Dawn) the casualties were very light, and though it was in the middle of the day and very warm, none of us seemed to suffer seriously from the heat, except perhaps our captain, who had a sort of habit of going below when it began to get warm on deck, but that may have been only because he was used to fighting in an iron-clad, and preferred cover. But one thing he could do, and that was write good reports, and as a result we all got favorable mention for our conduct during the day, and some of us were recommended for promotion."

jno
 
From DANFS:

USS Dawn (Screw Steamer: tonnage 399; length 154'; beam 28'; draft 12'; speed 8 knots; complement 60; armament two 32-pdr. smoothbores)

. . . Out of commission at New York from 9 July to 2 December 1863 for repairs, Dawn departed 10 December to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and cruised in the James River from 14 December 1863 to 25 March 1865, performing picket duty and assisting in keeping the river banks free from enemy batteries. Dawn was placed out of commission 17 June 1865 at Portsmouth Navy Yard and later taken to Boston Navy Yard and sold 1 November 1865.

I see from ORN that her commander at this time was Acting Volunteer Lieutenant J. W. Simmons.
 
Would you be happy to post a couple of pictures of your Naval objects? I would be interested to see them.:thumbsup:
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Happy to!! Above is a CW period enlisted sailor's cap, with the original white linen "summer cover" still present. This example shows the use of tartan lining. This came formally from the Paul DeHann collection which was auctioned last year at Cowan's in Cincinnati. This cap is illustrated on page 238 of "Bluejackets: Uniforms of the United States Navy in the Civil War period, 1852-1865" by Ron Field.
 
This is an 1864 pattern Naval officer's double breasted frock coat, complete with a model 1852 sword belt. The shoulder board rank insignia is that of a Naval Constructor of less than 12 years of service. The coat has faded to almost a charcoal grey appearance, my best guess being that this coat was improperly displayed somewhere for many years in direct sunlight.
VERY RARE.
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Michael W

Many thanks for sharing your pictures. I'm impressed that the sailors cap still has its summer cover, the lining within the cap also looks like its in good condition. Most of the pictures that I have seen of period headwear normally have the lining missing or they are quite tattered. The Frock coat is impressive, I was looking at a drawing of that coat in Jack Coggins book. I'm not sure how many men served in the union navy but I suspect that their uniforms are extremely difficult to find.
I think that there will be a lot of people on this forum who will appreciate seeing your pictures.:thumbsup:

Regards
Waterloo
 
Michael W

Many thanks for sharing your pictures. I'm impressed that the sailors cap still has its summer cover, the lining within the cap also looks like its in good condition. Most of the pictures that I have seen of period headwear normally have the lining missing or they are quite tattered. The Frock coat is impressive, I was looking at a drawing of that coat in Jack Coggins book. I'm not sure how many men served in the union navy but I suspect that their uniforms are extremely difficult to find.
I think that there will be a lot of people on this forum who will appreciate seeing your pictures.:thumbsup:

Regards
Waterloo
You are quite welcome! I will share a few other items as time permits. You are quite right in the extreme scarcity of Naval artifacts. My recollection is that there were some 40,000 (someone correct me if you know) that served in the Union Navy during the course of the War, as compared to over a million in the infantry, artillery and cavalry. A typical navy artifact can be a hundred times more rare than infantry items, but because of such little interest in the Navy, that item can sell much for the same or even much cheaper than its Army counterpart. Union Naval officer's uniforms are scarce in the EXTREME, and an enlisted uniform such as the wool pants and Navy jumper shirt are impossible to find. The only reason why I have been able to acquire many items of my collection is the fact that they came from someone else's collection, individuals who have spent 40 or 50 years in search of these rare items, and have either passed away or auctioned their collection off for retirement. The cap with the white summer cover, is an example. Sailor's caps are almost impossible to find by themselves, but the summer cover is almost non-existent. One CW dealer I talked with estimated that there are probably less than 10 known in existence. I have no idea, but the ONLY way I obtained this one was from a lifelong collector who auctioned everything off.
 
I have just put online three brief naval reminiscences of Frank B. Butts (“late Paymaster’s Clerk, USN”). These were originally printed as pamphlets by the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society.

Frank Butts had recently been discharged from a hitch in a Rhode Island artillery regiment when he enlisted in the Navy early in September, 1862, for a term of one year.

In My First Cruise at Sea: the loss of the Monitor, (1878), Butts tells of his service aboard the famous ironclad. He joined the crew at the end of October, 1862. “At first I thought myself quite fortunate to secure such a vessel, but I soon changed my mind and joined in the opinion of the rest of the crew, that a Monitor was the worst craft for a man to live aboard that ever floated upon water.” His time there would be brief, however, for Monitor sank while under in hard weather on New Years night. Butts gives a detailed and harrowing account of the ship’s final hours. He was one of the last two men off, following the Captain.

Gunboat Service on the Nansemond, (1884) tells of Butts’ eight months aboard the “ferry gunboat” Stepping Stones, mostly on the Nansemond River of Southeastern Virginia, and largely in connection with the Confederate siege of Suffolk. Butts saw a great deal of combat, both afloat and ashore during that period, and his memoir shows just how hazardous gunboat duty could be.

After discharge early in September from his one-year enlistment, Butts decided to enlist once more (his third), and reported on board the “full barque-rigged screw steamer” Flag, in Boston on December 4. In Cruise along the Blockade (1881), Butts relates his experiences during the final months of the war in and about Charleston Harbor. He again describes a great deal of action both in shore parties and on picket duty in small boats. “I have been accused of attacking Fort Sumter with seven men, but the truth of the affair was this: We attempted to get a brick or some relic from this immortal structure, and while we were feeling our way in the shoal water near the fort, we were hailed from Sumter, and before we could get a start the sentry sent a bullet whistling over our heads. In less than a minute the whole heavens was ablaze with bursting shell from Fort Wagner, and a heavy cannonading was kept up between the two forts for nearly an hour, and no one except those in my boat knew what caused the rumpus.” It was a boat party from USS Flag that made first contact with the advance scouts of Sherman's army, and Butts himself carried the news overland to Wassaw Sound, thence to be sent North. "This, my friends, is the means by which the first news from General Sherman, after he left Chattanooga, reached your ears."

Butts’ three memoirs give a whole new meaning to his position of “Paymaster’s Clerk,” in which occupation he seems to have spent very little time indeed.

The recollections of Frank B. Butts can be found as Documents Nos. 12, 13, and 14, of my Civil War Miscellany.
 
I have just put online three brief naval reminiscences of Frank B. Butts (“late Paymaster’s Clerk, USN”). These were originally printed as pamphlets by the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society.

Frank Butts had recently been discharged from a hitch in a Rhode Island artillery regiment when he enlisted in the Navy early in September, 1862, for a term of one year.

In My First Cruise at Sea: the loss of the Monitor, (1878), Butts tells of his service aboard the famous ironclad. He joined the crew at the end of October, 1862. “At first I thought myself quite fortunate to secure such a vessel, but I soon changed my mind and joined in the opinion of the rest of the crew, that a Monitor was the worst craft for a man to live aboard that ever floated upon water.” His time there would be brief, however, for Monitor sank while under in hard weather on New Years night. Butts gives a detailed and harrowing account of the ship’s final hours. He was one of the last two men off, following the Captain.

Gunboat Service on the Nansemond, (1884) tells of Butts’ eight months aboard the “ferry gunboat” Stepping Stones, mostly on the Nansemond River of Southeastern Virginia, and largely in connection with the Confederate siege of Suffolk. Butts saw a great deal of combat, both afloat and ashore during that period, and his memoir shows just how hazardous gunboat duty could be.

After discharge early in September from his one-year enlistment, Butts decided to enlist once more (his third), and reported on board the “full barque-rigged screw steamer” Flag, in Boston on December 4. In Cruise along the Blockade (1881), Butts relates his experiences during the final months of the war in and about Charleston Harbor. He again describes a great deal of action both in shore parties and on picket duty in small boats. “I have been accused of attacking Fort Sumter with seven men, but the truth of the affair was this: We attempted to get a brick or some relic from this immortal structure, and while we were feeling our way in the shoal water near the fort, we were hailed from Sumter, and before we could get a start the sentry sent a bullet whistling over our heads. In less than a minute the whole heavens was ablaze with bursting shell from Fort Wagner, and a heavy cannonading was kept up between the two forts for nearly an hour, and no one except those in my boat knew what caused the rumpus.” It was a boat party from USS Flag that made first contact with the advance scouts of Sherman's army, and Butts himself carried the news overland to Wassaw Sound, thence to be sent North. "This, my friends, is the means by which the first news from General Sherman, after he left Chattanooga, reached your ears."

Butts’ three memoirs give a whole new meaning to his position of “Paymaster’s Clerk,” in which occupation he seems to have spent very little time indeed.

The recollections of Frank B. Butts can be found as Documents Nos. 12, 13, and 14, of my Civil War Miscellany.

That Frank B Butts was quite a character, souvenir hunting at Fort Sumter, he must have had a death wish. :D
 
Some of Butts' recollections have been challenged. Most recently, when the Monitor's guns were recovered, there was considerable interest to see if this tidbit could be supported archaeologically:

We had a black cat on board, which then sat on the breech of one of the guns, howling one of those hoarse and solemn tunes which no one can appreciate, unless filled with the superstitions which I had been taught by the sailors who were afraid to kill a cat. I would almost as soon have touched a ghost, but I caught her and placing her in another gun, replaced the wad and tompion, but could still hear that distressing yeowl.
But (perhaps to cat-lovers' relief), no evidence of said cat was found. (It did, however, provide the Twitter name of one of the project leaders: MonitorKitty.)
 
I have studied the Civil War all my life, but 6 to 8 years ago I began to focus intently on the Naval aspect of the war, from the Union side. My favorite aspect is the "Brown Water Navy" in the Western Theatre. Western River operations are fascinating to study. I became a "Cairo" fanatic the first time I seen her at Vicksburg. I am also a Union Navy artifacts collector, and have been able to acquire some rare Naval objects...
I have permission from Edwin Bearss to post a video of the actual raising of the USS Cairo in the very early 60's. If anyone has not seen it, they should. If one person requests it, I'll embed it here.
 
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