February 1861

9 USS Brooklyn, Captain Walker, arrived off Pensacola. Troops were not landed at Fort Pickens in compliance with the order of 29 January, based on an interim agreement with Florida officials in which the status quo would be maintained, (i.e., Forts Barrancas and McRee and Navy Yard remained in Confederate hands while the Union held Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island). Brooklyn, Sabine, Macedonia, and St Louis remained off the harbor, but reinforcements were not put ashore at Fort Pickens until April 17.

11 Commander Dahlgren urged Congress to approve the building of more gun sloops and an “iron-cased� ship.

14 Confederate Congress passed a resolution authorizing “the Committee on Naval Affairs to procure the attendance at Montgomery, of all such persons versed in naval affairs as they may deem it advisable to consult with.�

15 Raphael Semmes, later captain of CSS Sumter and Alabama, resigned his commission in the United States Navy.

18 In his inaugural address as President of the Provisional Government of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis said: “I . . . suggest that for the protection of our harbors and commerce on the high seas a Navy adapted to these objects will be required . . .�

20 Navy Department formally established by act of Confederate Congress.

21 Jefferson Davis appointed Stephen R. Mallory of Florida Secretary of the Confederate States Navy.

27 U.S. Congress authorized construction of seven steam sloops to augment existing naval strength. Gideon Welles, soon to be Secretary of the navy, noted, “for steam, as well as heavy ordnance, has become an indispensable element of the most efficient naval power.�

March 1861

2 U.S. Revenue Schooner Henry Dodge, First Lieutenant William F. Rogers, USRM, was seized at Galveston, as Texas joined the Confederacy.

4 Forty-two vessels were in commission in the United States Navy. Twelve of these ships were assigned duty with the Home Squadron, four of which were based on Northern ports. Beginning with the return of Powhatan to New York and Pocahontas to Hampton Roads on 12 March and Cumberland to Hampton Roads on 23 March, the Department moved to recall all but three ships from foreign sta¬tions, where they were badly needed, in order to meet the greater needs of the Nation in this hour of crisis.

7 Gideon Welles of Hartford, Connecticut, took office in Washington as Secretary of the Navy.

13 It was reported by Captain J. M. Brannon, USA, commanding Fort Taylor that "everything is quiet at Key West to this date"-a tribute to the firm policing of the area by Union naval vessels. Throughout the early months of 1861 the "showing of the flag" by the Fleet maintained a peaceful equilibrium in a situation fraught with tension. The much-feared attack, expected to accompany Florida's secession (10 January), did not materialize.

17 Confederate Navy Department sent Commander Lawrence RoUSSeau, Commander Ebenezer Farrand, and Lieutenant Robert T. Chapman to New Orleans to negotiate for the construction of gunboats.

18 Brigadier General Braxton Bragg, CSA, issued an order forbidding passage of supplies to Fort Pickens and the U.S. squadron off Pensacola.

20 U.S. sloop Isabella, carrying supplies for U.S. squadron at Pensacola, was seized at Mobile.

21 Gustavus V. Fox, ex-naval officer now a civilian, reconnoitered Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, as directed by President Lincoln, to determine the best means of relieving the Fort. Based on his observations, Fox recommended relieving Sumter by sea: "I propose to put the troops on board of a large, comfortable sea steamer and hire two powerful light draft New York tug boats, having the neces¬sary stores on board. These to be convoyed by the USS Pawnee . . . and the revenue cutter Harriet Lane . . . Arriving off the bar, I propose to examine by day the naval preparations and obstructions. If their vessels determine to oppose our entrance, and a feint or flag of truce would ascertain this, the armed ships must approach the bar and destroy or drive them on shore. Major Anderson would do the same upon any vessels within the range of his guns and would also prevent any naval succor being sent down from the city."

31 Secretary of the Navy Welles ordered 250 men transferred from New York to the Navy Yard at Nor¬folk, Virginia.

April 1861

2 President Lincoln visited the Washington Navy Yard. The President returned frequently to confer with Commander Dahlgren on the defense of the Capital and the far reaching strategy of sea power in general.

3 Confederate battery at Morris Island, Charleston, fired on American schooner Rhoda H. Shannon.
4 President Lincoln gave final approval to Gustavus Fox's plan to relieve Fort Sumter by sea.

5 USS Powhatan, Pawnee, Pocahontas, and Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane were ordered by Secretary of the Navy Welles to provision Fort Sumter; squadron commander was Captain Samuel Mercer in Powhatan.

6 Lieutenant David Dixon Porter, ordered to take command of USS Powhatan by President Lincoln and to reinforce Fort Pickens, Pensacola, instead of Fort Sumter, departed New York. The following day Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN, departed Washington, D.C., by rail with orders to Captain Henry A. Adams, commanding USS Sabine and senior officer present in the Pensacola area, to reinforce Fort Pickens.

8 Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane, Captain John Faunce, USRM, departed New York for relief of Fort Sumter.

9 Gustavus V. Fox sailed from New York in chartered steamer Baltic for the relief of Fort Sumter.

10 USS Pawnee, Commander Stephen C. Rowan, departed Hampton Roads for relief of Fort Sumter.

General P. G. T. Beauregard, CSA, commanding at Charleston, was instructed to demand evacuation of Fort Sumter and, if refused, to "proceed, in such manner as you may determine, to reduce it."

Secretary of the Navy Welles alerted Captain Charles S. McCauley, Commandant Norfolk Navy Yard, to condition USS Merrimack for a move to a Northern yard should it become necessary. At the same time Welles cautioned McCauley that, "There should be no steps taken to give needless alarm."

11 Commander James Alden was ordered to report to Captain McCauley to take command of Merrimack. The following day Chief Engineer Benjamin Isherwood was sent to Norfolk to put the ship's engines in work¬ing order as soon as possible.

General Beauregard's demand for evacuation of Fort Sumter refused by Major Anderson.

U.S. steamship Coatzacoalcos arrived in New York, returning Union troops from Texas.

12 Fort Sumter fired on by Confederate batteries-the conflict begins.

U.S. steamship Baltic, under Gustavus Fox, USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, and Harriet Lane, Captain Faunce, USRM, arrived off Charleston to reinforce Fort Sumter. But, as Fox observed, "war had com¬menced" and he was unable to carry out his mission.

Under secret orders from Secretary of the Navy Welles carried by Lieutenant Worden, Fort Pickens was reinforced by landing of troops under Captain Israel Vogdes, 1st U.S. Artillery, and Marines under First Lieutenant John C. Cash, from the squadron composed of USS Sabine, Captain H. A. Adams, Senior Officer Present, USS Brooklyn, Captain W. S. Walker, USS St. Louis, Commander Charles H. Poor, and USS Wyandotte, Lieutenant J. R. Madison Mullany.

13 Fort Sumter surrendered by Major Anderson. Troops were evacuated the next day by Fox's expedition. USS Sabine, Captain Adams, blockaded Pensacola Harbor.

Lieutenant Worden was seized near Montgomery, Alabama, and placed in prison, but his Pensacola mission had been accomplished.

14 Captain Du Pont wrote: "I hope those Southern gentlemen will declare war, for that will stop the shilly shallying, unite the North if it be not so already, and the line will have to be drawn by the strategic points involved, which for the defense of the Capital includes Maryland."

15 Seventeen vessels from Southern ports without U.S. clearances were seized at New York.

16 Secretary of the Navy Welles wrote Flag Officer Garrett J. Pendergrast, commanding USS Cumberland at Norfolk: "Until further orders the departure of the Cumberland to Vera Cruz will be deferred. In the meantime you will lend your assistance, and that of your command, towards putting the vessels now in the Yard in condition to be moved, placing the ordnance and ordnance stores on board for moving, and, in case of invasion, insurrection, or violence of any kind, to suppress it, repelling assault by force, if necessary."

17 USS Powhatan, Lieutenant D. D. Porter, arrived off Pensacola. Under her protecting guns, 600 troops on board steamer Atlantic were landed at Fort Pickens to complete its reinforcement. President Lincoln had stated "I want that fort saved at all hazards." The President's wish was fulfilled, and use of the best harbor on the Gulf was denied the Confederacy for the entire war, while serving the Union in¬dispensably in the blockade and the series of devastating assaults from the sea that divided and de¬stroyed the South.

Jefferson Davis' proclamation invited all interested in "service in private armed vessels on the high seas" to apply for Letters of Marque and Reprisal.

Confederates placed obstacles in the channel at Norfolk, attempting to prevent the sailing of U.S. naval vessels. The subsequent passage of the obstructions by Pawnee and Cumberland proved the effort ineffective.

18 USS Merrimack was reported ready for sea at Norfolk by Chief Engineer Isherwood.

Secretary of the Navy Welles wrote Captain Hiram Paulding: "You are directed to proceed forthwith to Norfolk and take command of all the naval forces there afloat On no account should the arms and munitions be permitted to fall into the hands of insurrectionists, or those who would wrest them from the custody of the government; and should it finally become necessary, you will, in order to pre¬vent that result, destroy the property."

U.S. schooner Buchanan (lighthouse tender), Master Thomas Cullen, was seized and taken to Richmond, Virginia.

19 President Lincoln issued proclamation declaring blockade of Southern ports from South Carolina to Texas Of the blockade Admiral David Dixon Porter was to later write: "So efficiently was the blockade maintained and so greatly was it strengthened from time to time, that foreign statesmen, who at the beginning of the war, did not hesitate to pronounce the blockade of nearly three thousand miles of coast a moral impossibility, twelve months after its establishment were forced to admit that the proofs of its efficiency were so comprehensive and conclusive that no objections to it could be made."

Washington having been cut off by rail from the North, Captain Du Pont and others embarked troops at Philadelphia and head of the Chesapeake Bay to proceed to the relief of the Capital. Steamer Boston departed Philadelphia with New York Seventh Regiment on board, and ferryboat Maryland em¬barked General Benjamin F. Butler's Massachusetts Eighth Regiment at Perryville for Annapolis.

U.S. steamer Star of the West was seized by Confederates at lndianola, Texas.

Captain David Glasgow Farragut, though born in the South and with a southern wife, chose to remain loyal to the Union and left his home in Norfolk, Virginia, to take up residence in New York City.

20 Norfolk Navy Yard partially destroyed to prevent Yard facilities from falling into Confederate hands and abandoned by Union forces. USS Pennsylvania, Germantown, Raritan. Columbia, and Dolphin were burned to water's edge. USS Delaware, Columbus, Plymouth, and Merrimack (later CSS Virginia) were burned and sunk. Old frigate USS United States was abandoned. USS Pawnee, Commodore Paulding, and tug Yankee. towing USS Cumberland, escaped; Pawnee returned to Washington to augment small defenses at the Capital. This major Yard was of prime importance to the South. The Confederacy had limited industrial capacity, and possession of the Norfolk Yard provided her with guns and other ordnance materiel, and, equally as important, gave her a drydock and an industrial plant in which to manufacture crucially needed items. In large measure, guns for the batteries and fortifications erected by the Confederates on the Atlantic coast and rivers during 1861 came from the Norfolk Yard.

USS Constitution, Lieutenant George Rodgers, moored in Severn River off Annapolis, was towed into Chesapeake Bay by steamer Maryland with General Butler's troops on board. This action, preceded by resolute measures by Naval Academy staff and midshipmen. prevented Confederates from seizing historic "Old Ironsides."

U.S. S. Anacostia, Lieutenant Thomas S. Fillebrown, was ordered to patrol off Kettle Bottom Shoals, Virginia, to prevent the obstruction 'of the channel at that point; the crew was augmented by 20 Marines from the Washington Navy Yard

Cornelius Vanderbilt offered the government the fast steamer Vanderbilt. Eventually the Navy acquired many private ships by charter or purchase to strengthen its blockade fleets.

U.S. coast survey schooner Twilight, Andrew C. Mitchell, was seized at Aransas, Texas.

21 Colonel Charles F. Smith. USA, reported to Secretary of the Navy Welles he had seized and placed under guard steamers Baltimore, Mount Vernon, Philadelphia. and Powhatan near Washington, D.C. Steamers plied between Aquia Creek and Washington; these were ordered to be outfitted at Washington Navy Yard for defense of the Capital. Aquia Creek, terminal point of railroad connection with Richmond, was the first location on the Potomac where Confederate naval officers erected batteries.

USS Saratoga, Commander Alfred Taylor, captured slave ship Nightingale with 961 slaves on board.

Secretary of the Navy Welles instructed Captain Du Pont, Commandant Philadelphia Navy Yard, to procure five staunch steamers from ten to twelve feet draught, having particular reference to strength and speed and capable of carrying a nine-inch pivot gun or coast service." Similar orders were sent to Commandants of the Navy Yards in New York and Boston.

22 Captain Franklin Buchanan, Commandant Washington Navy Yard, submitted his resignation and was relieved by Commander John A. Dahlgren; Buchanan joined the Confederate Navy and was promoted to Admiral, CSN, on 26 August 1862. Dahlgren spurred the buildup of Union ordnance and operation of ships for the defense of Washington and Potomac River. Of the ships (primarily chartered commercial steamers) assigned to Dahlgren's command at the Navy Yard, Secretary of the Navy Welles reported: "For several months the navy, without aid, succeeded, more effectually than could have been expected. in keeping open for commercial purposes, and restricting. to a great extent, communica¬tion between the opposite shores [Potomac]."

Steamer Boston arrived at Annapolis with New York 7th Regiment on board, found Maryland aground after towing USS Constitution into Chesapeake Bay, and got her off, troops from both ships disem¬barking. This timely arrival by water transport, recommended by Captain Du Pont at Philadelphia, was instrumental in defending Washington against possible Confederate seizure, and significant in keep¬ing Maryland in the Union. In the following days Butler's troops repaired the railroad and opened communications with Washington, which had been severed since the 19 April Baltimore riots. Com¬mander James H. Ward of USS North Carolina proposed to Secretary of the Navy Welles the organi¬zation of a "flying flotilla" of ships for service in Chesapeake Bay and tributaries. The proposal was approved, ships purchased and fitted out in New York, and on 20 May 1861, USS Freeborn, with two small craft in tow, Commander Ward in command, arrived at Washington Navy Yard.

Secretary of the Navy Welles ordered Commander William W. Hunter to move Receiving Ship Allegheny at Baltimore to Fort McHenry because of strong secessionist activity in the city.

23 USS Pawnee reached Washington where Commodore Paulding reported to the Navy Department on the loss of the Norfolk Navy Yard. Pawnee's arrival strengthened the Capital's defenses at a critical juncture.

24 USS Cumberland, Flag Officer Pendergrast, captured Confederate tug Young America and schooner George M. Smith with cargo of arms and ammunition in Hampton Roads.

USS Constitution, Lieutenant G. W. Rodgers, departed with midshipmen on board for New York and Newport, Rhode Island, under tow of USS R. R. Cuyler with Harriet Lane in company. to transfer U.S. Naval Academy.

26 USS Commerce. Lieutenant Peirce Crosby, captured steamer Lancaster at Havre de Grace, Maryland. He also pursued a steam tug "in obedience to the written orders that I had received from you [Com¬mander Charles Steedman] to seize all tugs south of Havre de Grace," but could not catch her.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory reported: "I propose to adopt a class of vessels hitherto unknown to naval services. The perfection of a warship would doubtless be a combination of the greatest known ocean speed with the greatest known floating battery and power of resistance . . . agents of the department have thus far purchased but two [steam vessels], which combine the requi¬site qualities. These, the Sumter and MacRae, are being fitted as cruisers . . . Vessels of this character and capacity cannot be found in this country, and must be constructed or purchased abroad." Mallory discussed naval ordnance: "Rifled cannon having attained a range and accuracy beyond any other form of ordnance . . . I propose to introduce them into the Navy . . . Small propeller ships, with great speed, lightly armed with these guns. must soon become as the light artillery and rifles of the deep, a most destructive element of naval warfare."

27 President Lincoln extended the blockade to ports of Virginia and North Carolina.

Secretary of the Navy Welles issued order for Union ships to seize Confederate privateers upon the high seas.

Steamer Helmick, loaded with powder and munitions of war for the Confederacy, was seized at Cairo, Illinois.

29 USS United States ordered commisioned as the first ship in the Virginia navy by Major General Rob¬ert E. Lee, Commander in Chief Military Forces of Virginia.

30 Flag Officer Pendergrast issued notice of the blockade of Virginia and North Carolina.

May 1861

1 USS Commerce, Lieutenant Crosby, seized steam tug Lioness off mouth of Patapsco River, Maryland.

2 General Winfield Scott wrote to President Lincoln suggesting a cordon capable of enveloping the seceded states and noted that "the transportation of men and all supplies by water is about a fifth of the land cost. besides the immense saving of time." On the next day Scott elaborated further to General George McClellan: "We rely greatly on the sure operation of a complete blockade of the Atlantic and Gulf ports soon to commence. In connection with such blockade, we propose a power¬ful movement down the Mississippi to the ocean, with a cordon of posts at proper points . . . the object being to clear out and keep open this great line of communication in connection with the strict blockade of the seaboard, so as to envelop the insurgent States and bring them to terms with less bloodshed than by any other plan." The heart of the celebrated Anaconda Plan which would strangle the Confederacy on all sides was control of the sea and inland waterways by the Union Navy; the strategy of victory was (a) strengthen the blockade, (b) split the Confederacy along the line of the Mississippi River, and (c) support land operations by amphibious assault, gunfire. and transport.

3 President Lincoln called for "the enlistment, for not less than one nor more than three years, of 18,000 sea¬men, in addition to the resent force, for the naval service of the United States."

President Lincoln's blockade proclamation published in London newspapers.

Captain Du Pont wrote: "I am anxious for the blockade to get established-that will squeeze the South more than anything."

Commander Dahlgren, Commandant Washington Navy Yard, noted: "Besides the Yard, I have to hold the bridge next above, so some howitzers and a guard are there. It is from this direction that the rebels of the eastern shore may come. This Yard is of great importance, not only because of its furnishing the Navy so largely with various stores, but also as a position in the general defences of the city.''

4 USS Cumberland, Flag Officer Pendergrast, seized schooner Mary and Virginia with cargo of coal, and reported the capture of schooner Theresa C., running the blockade off Fort Monroe, Virginia, with cot¬ton on board.

Steamship Star of the West commissioned as Receiving Ship of Confederate Navy at New Orleans.

5 USS Valley City, Acting Master John A. J. Brooks, captured schooner J. O'Neil near Pamlico River, North Carolina, after schooner was run aground by her crew.

6 Confederate Congress passed act recognizing state of war with the United States and authorized the issuing of Letters of Marque to private vessels. President Davis issued instructions to private armed vessels, in which he defined operational limits, directed "strictest regard to the rights of neutral powers." ordered privateers to proceed "With all ... justice and humanity" toward Union vessels and crews, out-lined procedure for bringing in a prize, directed that all property on board neutral ships be exempt from seizure "unless it be contraband," and defined contraband.

7 Union blockading force captured Confederate steamers Dick Keyes and Lewis near Mobile.

USS Yankee, Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge, fired on by Confederate batteries at Gloucester Point, Virginia.

8 Secretary of the Navy Welles informed Gustavus Fox: "You are appointed Chief Clerk of the Navy Department, and I shall be glad to have you enter upon the duties as soon as you conveniently can."

9 USS Constitution Lieutenant G. W. Rodgers, and U.S. steamer Baltic Lieutenant C.R.P. Rodgers, arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, with officers and midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy. The Naval Academy remained there for the duration of the war.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory, ordered Commander James D. Bulloch, CSN, to England to purchase ships, guns, and ammunition. In his instructions he said: ". . . provide as one of the conditions of payment for the delivery of the vessels under the British flag at one of our Southern ports, and, secondly, that the bonds of the Confederacy be taken in whole or in part payment. The class of vessel desired for immediate use is that which offers the greatest chances of success against the enemy's commerce . . . as side-wheel steamers can not be made general cruisers, and as from the enemy's force before our forts, our ships must be enabled to keep the sea, and to make extended cruises, propellers fast under both steam and canvas suggest themselves to us with special favor. Large ships are unnecessary for this service; our policy demands that they shall be no larger than may be sufficient to combine the requisite speed and power, a battery of one or two heavy pivot guns and two or more broadside guns, being sufficient against commerce. By getting small ships we can afford a greater number, an important consideration. The character of the coasts and harbors indicate atten¬tion to the draft of water of our vessels. Speed in a propeller and the protection of her machinery can not be obtained upon a, very light draft, but they should draw as little water as may be compatible with their efficiency otherwise."

10 Blockade of Charleston initiated by USS Niagara, Captain William W. McKean.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory farsightedly wrote the Committee on Naval Affairs of Congress regarding proposals for new warships: "I regard the possession of an iron-armored ship as a mat¬ter of the first necessity. Such a vessel at this time could traverse the entire coast of the United States, prevent all blockades, and encounter, with a fair prospect of success, their entire Navy. If to cope with them upon the sea we follow their example and build wooden ships, we shall have to construct several at one time; for one or two ships would fall an easy prey to their comparatively numerous steam frigates. But inequality of numbers may be compensated by invulnerability; and thus not only does economy but naval success dictate the wisdom and expediency of fighting with iron against wood, without regard to first cost. Naval engagements between wooden frigates, as they are now built and armed, will prove to be the forlorn hopes of the sea, simply contests in which the question, not of victory, but of who shall go to the bottom first, is to be solved."

Secret Act of Confederate Congress, signed by President Davis, authorized "the Navy Department to send an agent abroad to purchase six steam propellers, in addition to those heretofore authorized, to¬gether with rifled cannon, small arms, and other ordnance stores and munitions of war," and appropriated a million dollars for the purpose.

11 USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, ordered by Commander Dahlgren to proceed from Washington Navy Yard to Alexandria, Virginia, to protect vessels in the vicinity from attack by Confederate forces.

12 USS Niagara, Captain McKean, captured blockade runner General Parkhill, en route Liverpool to Charleston.

13 Queen Victoria proclaimed British neutrality and forbade British subjects to endeavor to break a block¬ade "lawfully and effectually established."

14 USS Minnesota, Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham, captured schooners Mary Willis, Delaware Farmer, and Emily Ann at Hampton Roads laden with tobacco for Baltimore. Argo, bound for Bremen from Rich¬mond, captured on same date.

15 Secretary of the Navy Welles appointed Lieutenant Thomas M. Brasher to command USS Bainbridge and ordered him to proceed to Aspinwall, New Granada (Panama), to protect California steamers against "vessels sailing under pretended letters of marque issued by the insurrectionary States." California steamers transported large quantities of gold from Aspinwall to New York. Confederate ships were constantly on the alert for these vessels as the blockade tightened and the need for specie became in¬creasingly desperate.

16 Commander John Rodgers ordered to report to the War Department to establish naval forces on the western rivers under the command of General John C. Fremont. The importance of controlling the Mississippi and its tributaries which pierced the interior in every direction was recognized immediately by the U.S. Government. This control was not only militarily strategic but was a vital factor in keep¬ing the northwestern states in the Union. Under Rodgers, three river steamers were purchased at Cin¬cinnati. Rodgers, overcoming no little difficulty in obtaining and training crews, getting guns and other equipment, converted the steamers to gunboats Tyler, Lexington, and Conestoga. These three gun¬boats, as stated by Alfred Thayer Mahan, were of inestimable service in keeping alive the attachment to the Union where it existed."

Brutus de Villeroi sails his submarine down the Delaware and is captured by the Philadelphia Harbor Police. The vessel is 33’ long and 4’ wide. De Villeroi claimed he was delivering the boat to the U.S. Navy, which disavowed any knowledge of such an appointment.

17 USS Minnesota, Flag Officer Stringham, captured bark Star en route Richmond to Bremen.

18 Confederate schooner Savannah, Captain Thomas H. Baker, was commissioned by President Davis as "a private armed vessel in the service of the Confederate States on the high seas against the United States of America, their ships, vessels, goods, and effects, and those of their citizens during the pendency of the war now existing between the said Confederate States and the said United States."

Commander Dahlgren suggested a plan for the erection of batteries on commanding points along the Potomac, and "the placing of vessels of some force at two or three intervals from the kettle bottoms to the Yard [Washington] near suspected positions, with communications kept up by some fast and light steamers.

19 USS Monticello, Captain Henry Eagle, and USS Thomas Freeborn, Commander Ward, engaged Con¬federate battery at Sewell's Point, Virginia.

CSS Lady Davis. Lieutenant Thomas P. Pelot, captured American ship A. B. Thompson off Charleston.

20 USS Crusader, Lieutenant T. A. Craven. captured Neptune near Fort Taylor, Florida.

21 USS Constellation, the oldest United States' warship afloat, Captain John S. Nicholas, captured slave brig Triton at mouth of the Congo River, Africa.

USS Pocahontas, Commander John P. Gillis, seized steamboat James Guy off Machodoc Creek, Virginia.

The Confederate government guaranteed right of patent for any invention beneficial to the war effort, reserving for the government the right to use it, and provided that, in addition to bounties otherwise provided, the government "will pay to any private armed vessel commissioned under said act 20 per centum on the value of each and every vessel of war belonging to the enemy that may be sunk or destroyed."

John A. Stevenson of New Orleans discussed with Secretary of the Navy Mallory a "plan by which the enemy's blockading navy might be driven from our coasts," and wrote President Davis, "We have no time, place, or means, to build an effective navy. Our ports are, or soon will be, all blockaded. On land we do not fear Lincoln, but what shall we do to cripple him at sea? In this emergency, and seeing that he is arming many poorly adapted vessels, I have two months past been entirely engaged in perfecting plans by which I could so alter and adapt some of our heavy and powerful tow-boats on the Mississippi as to make them comparatively safe against the heaviest guns afloat, and by preparing their bow in a peculiar manner, as my plans and model will show, render them capable of sinking by collision the heaviest vessels ever built - .

23 USS Mississippi. Flag Officer William Mervine, was compelled to put back into Boston for repairs because of sabotage damage to her condensers.

24 Commander Rowan, commanding USS Pawnee, demanded surrender of Alexandria, Virginia; amphibious expedition departed Washington Navy Yard, after embarking secretly at night under Commander Dahlgren's supervision, and occupied Alexandria. Admiral D. D. Porter later noted of this event: "The first landing of Northern troops upon the Virginia shores was under cover of these improvised gunboats [USS Thomas Freeborn, Anacostia, and Resolute at Alexandria . . . Alexandria was evacuated by the Confederates upon demand of a naval officer-Commander S. C. Rowan . . . and . . the American flag was hoisted on the Custom House and other prominent places by the officer in charge of a landing party of sailors-Lieutenant R. B. Lowry. This . . . gave indication of the feelings of the Navy, and how ready was the service to put down secession on the first opportunity offered."

Confederate States Marshal at New Orleans seized all ships from Northern states which had arrived after 6 May 1861.

25 Commander Dahlgren, Commandant Washington Navy Yard, reported capture of streamer Thomas Col¬yer by USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, at Alexandria.

USS Minnesota, Flag Officer Stringham, seized bark Winfred near Hampton Roads.

26 USS Brooklyn, Commander Charles H. Poor, set blockade of New Orleans and mouth of Mississippi River.

USS Powhatan, Lieutenant D. D. Porter, set blockade at Mobile.

2 USS Union. Commander John R. Goldsborough, initiated blockade of Savannah.

29 Confederate privateer J. C. Calhoun captured American brig Panama, which she took to New Orleans with two earlier prizes. American schooners Mermaid and John Adams.

USS Powhatan, Lieutenant D. D. Porter, captured schooner Mary Clinton attempting to run the block¬ade near Southwest Pass, Mississippi River.

29-1 June Potomac Flotilla, consisting of USS Thomas Freeborn, Commander Ward. USS Anacostia, Lieu¬tenant Napoleon Collins, and USS Resolute, Acting Master William Budd, engaged Confederate bat¬teries at Aquia Creek, Virginia. Flotilla joined by USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, evening of 31 May.

30 USS Merrimack, scuttled and burned at Norfolk Navy Yard, raised by Confederates.

USS Quaker City, Acting Master S. W. Mather, seized schooner Lynchburg, on route Richmond with cargo of coffee.

Captain Samuel F. Du Pont, Commandant Philadelphia Navy Yard, orders an examination of de Villeroi’s submarine.

31 USS Perry, Lieutenant Enoch G. Parrott, captured Confederate blockade runner Hannah M. Johnson.

June 1861

1 USS Union, Commander J. R. Goldsborough. captured Confederate schooner F. W. Johnson with cargo of railroad iron off the coast of North Carolina.

Captain Du Pont wrote: "I do not like the tone of things in England Lord Derby and Granville, etc., talk of two thousand miles of coast to be blockaded! They seem to forget so far as their rights and international interests are concerned we have only to blockade the ports of entry- from the Chesapeake to Galveston- any venture into any other harbors or inlets of any kind is liable to capture as a smuggler. It is the intention of the Government, I presume, to connect the shore between blockaded ports by light draft cruisers to prevent the ingress of arms and contraband, and the egress of privateers- but that is our business as a war measure- an effective blockade means the covering of the ports of entry- and this will be easily done in my judgment.

3 Confederate privateer Savannah Captain Baker, captured American brig Joseph with cargo of sugar; Savannah was then captured by USS Perry, Lieutenant Parrott.

5 Revenue Cutter Harriett Lane, Captain Faunce, USRM, engaged Confederate battery at Pig Point, Hampton Roads.

USS. Niagara. Captain MeKean, captured schooner Aid at Mobile.

Flag Officer Pendergrast reported the capture of bark General Green by USS Quaker City, Commander Overton Carr, at the Capes of the Chesapeake.

8 USS Mississippi, Flag Officer Mervine, set blockade at Key West.

USS Resolute, Acting Master W. Budd, having captured schooner Somerset at Breton's Bay, towed her close to the Virginia shore and burned her.

9 USS Massachusetts, Commander Melancton Smith, captured British blockade runner Perthshire with cargo of cotton near Pensacola.

10 USS Union, Commander J.R. Goldsborough, captured brig Hallie Jackson off Savannah with cargo of molasses.

Lieutenant John Mercer Brooke, CSN. ordered to design ironclad CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack).

Columbia Herald (Tennessee) published article by Reverend Franklin Smith seeking assistance from Southern citizens to build submarines. Smith is credited with at least one of the submarines built in Mobile during the war.

13 USS Mississippi, Flag Officer Mervine, captured schooner Forest King, at Key West.

14 American schooner Christiana Ken, grounded and was burned by Confederates near Upper Machodoc Creek, Virginia.

Is Major General Robert F. Lee wrote Virginia Governor John Fletcher regarding preparations for the de¬fense of the state: "The frigate United States has been prepared for a school ship, provided with a deck battery of nineteen guns, 32-pounders and 9-inch Columbiads, for harbor defense. The frigate Merrimack has been raised and is in for the dry dock, and arrangements are made for raising the Germantown and Plymouth.'' Lee, showing his understanding of the serious threat posed by Union naval op¬erations on the rivers, reported that: "Six batteries have been erected on the Elizabeth River, to guard the approaches to Norfolk and the Navy Yard... prevent ascent of the Nansemond River and the occupation of the railroad from Norfolk to Richmond, three batteries have been constructed ... Sites for batteries on the Potomac have also been selected, and arrangements were in progress for their construction, but the entire command of that river being in the possession of the U.S. Government, a larger force is required for their security than could be devoted to that purpose. The batteries at Aquia Creek have only been prepared . . . On the Rappahannock River a four-gun battery ... has been erected."

17 USS Massachusetts, Commander M. Smith, captured schooner Achilles near Ship Island, Mississippi.

18 USS Union, Commander J. R. Goldsborough, captured Confederate blockade runner Amelia at Charles¬ton with cargo of contraband from Liverpool.

Major General Robert E. Lee wrote Lieutenant Robert Randolph Carter, CSN, commander of CSS Teaser: 'It is desired that the C.S. steam tender Teaser shall unite with the batteries at Jamestown Is¬land in defense of James River, and be employed in obtaining intelligence of the movements of hostile vessels and the landing of troops either side of the river. It is suggested that you establish a system of signals as a means of communication with the troops, and take every precaution not to jeopardize the safety of your boat by proceeding too far beyond the protection of the guns of the batteries.

19 USS Massachusetts, Commander M. Smith, captured blockade running brig Nahum Stetson off Pass a l'Outre, Louisiana.

23 Confederate Navy began reconstruction of ex- USS Merrimack as ironclad CSS Virginia at Norfolk.

USS Massachusetts, Commander M. Smith, captured Mexican schooner Brilliant, with cargo of flour, and Confederate schooners Trois Freres, Olive Branch, Fanny, and Basile in the Gulf of Mexico.

24 USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, and USS Thomas Freeborn, Commander Ward, shelled Confederate batteries at Mathias Point, Virginia.

25 Secretary of the Navy Welles received a report that "the rebels in New Orleans are constructing an in¬fernal submarine vessel to destroy the Brooklyn, or any vessel blockading the mouth of the Missis¬sippi... a projectile with a sharp iron or steel pointed prow to perforate the bottom of the vessel and then explode." It was also reported that "a formidable floating battery [is] being built at Mobile, to be mounted with large guns of immense size and range to drive away or capture the ships, by en¬gaging them at long range.

U.S. Navy receives reports of New Orleans submarine—possibly built by the same team that later designed CSS Manassas. Sub supposedly had a three-man crew, was 19’6� long and 6’ high. The vessel was scuttled, probably around the time of the city’s capture by Admiral Farragut on 25 April 1863.

26 USS Minnesota, Flag Officer Stringham, captured bark Sally Magee off Hampton Roads.

27 Blockade Strategy Board met under the chairmanship of Captain Du Pont and included as members Commander Charles H. Davis, USN. Major John G. Barnard, USA Corps of Engineers, and Professor Alexander D. Bache, Superintendent U.S. Coast Survey, to consider and report on the major problems of the blockade and to plan amphibious operations to seize vital bases on the Southern coast. Recom¬mendations made by the Blockade Strategy Board, an early example of a "Joint Staff," had a profound effect on the course of the conflict and pointed the way to the successful naval actions at Hatteras Inlet, Port Royal, and New Orleans. The broad policies the Board early set forth were essentially fol¬lowed to their culmination at Appomattox.

USS Resolute, Acting Master W. Budd, burned a Confederate supply depot on Virginia shore of the Potomac River.

USS Thomas Freeborn, Commander Ward, USS Reliance. Acting Lieutenant Jared P. K. Mygatt, with two boats under Lieutenant James C. Chaplin, from USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, attacked Confederate forces at Mathias Point, Virginia. Commander Ward was killed in the action. Naval actions at Mathias Point, Aquia Creek, and elsewhere caused Admiral D.D. Porter to observe of these early operations on the Potomac and Chesapeake: "... the country was too busy watching the black clouds gathering in the South and West to note the ordinary events that were taking place on the Potomac, yet they formed the small links in the chain, which in the end, shackled the arms of the great rebellion.''

28 Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis, formerly slaver Echo, Captain Louis M. Coxetter, sailed from Charleston, later made numerous captures of Union ships along the coast, and caused much consterna¬tion on the Eastern seaboard.

Captain Du Pont, Chairman of the Blockade Strategy Board, wrote: "The order we received . . . set forth . . . the selection of two ports, one in South Carolina, another in the confines of Georgia and Florida, for coal depots . . . it seems impossible to supply the blockading fleet with coal without these depots."

28-29 Side-wheel steamer St. Nicholas, making scheduled run between Baltimore and Georgetown, D.C., was captured by Confederates who had boarded her posing as passengers at the steamer's various stop¬ping points on the Potomac River. Confederates were led by Captain George N. Hollins, CSN, who took command of St. Nicholas, and Colonel Richard Thomas, CSA, who boarded disguised as a woman. St. Nicholas then began search for USS Pawnee, but, not finding her, put out into the Chesapeake Bay, where she seized schooners Margaret and Mary Pierce and brig Monticello the following day, 29 June.

30 CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, ran the blockade at the mouth of Mississippi River and escaped to sea through Pass a I'Outre, eluding USS Brooklyn, whereupon the crew "gave three hearty cheers for the flag of the Confederate States, thus ... thrown to the breeze on the high seas by a ship of war, launching Semmes' famous career as a commerce raider.

USS Reliance, Lieutenant Mygatt, seized and destroyed sloop Passenger in the Potomac River.

July 1861

1 USS Minnesota, Flag Officer Stringham. captured schooner Sally Mears at Hampton Roads.

Confederate privateer Petrel evaded blockaders and put to sea from Charleston.

2 USS South Carolina, Commander James Alden, initiated blockade of Galveston.

3 CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured and burned American ship Golden Rocket near Isle of Pines, off the coast of Cuba.

4 USS South Carolina. Commander Alden, captured blockade running schooners Shark, Venus, Ann Ryan, McCanfield, Louisa. and Dart off Galveston.

5 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured blockade running schooners Falcon and Coralia off Galveston.

USS Dana, Acting Master's Mate Robert B. Ely, captured sloop Teaser in Nanjemoy Creek, Maryland.

6 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured blockade running schooner George G. Baker, off Galveston.

Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis captured American brig John Welsh and schooner Enchantress east of Cape Hatteras.

CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, arrived at Cienfuegos, Cuba, with seven U.S. vessels taken as prizes Cuba, Machias, Ben Dunning, Albert Adams, Naiad, West Wind, Lewis Kilham. Semmes appointed a Cuban agent for custody of the prizes, expressing to the Governor there that he had entered that port "with the expectation that Spain will extend to cruisers of the Confederate States the same friendly reception that in similar circumstances she would extend to the cruisers of the enemy.

7 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured schooner Sam Houston off Galveston.

Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis captured American schooner S. J. Waring about 150 miles off Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

USS Pocahontas, Commander Benjamin M. Dove, fired on and damaged CSS George Page in Aquia Creek, Virginia.

Two floating torpedoes (mines) in the Potomac River were picked up by U. S. S. Resolute, Acting Master W. Budd the earliest known use of torpedoes by the Confederates. During the course of the war a variety of ingenious torpedoes destroyed or damaged some 40 Union ships, forecasting the vast growth to come in this aspect of underwater naval warfare.

Du Pont’s report on de Villeroi’s submarine is favorable, and the vessel is recommended to the Navy.

9 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, seized and destroyed schooner Tom Hicks with cargo of lum¬ber off Galveston.

Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis captured American brig Mary E. Thompson of Bangor en route Antigua, and schooner Mary Goodell of New York en route Buenos Aires.

10 USS Minnesota, Flag Officer Stringham, captured Confederate brig Amy Warwick in Hampton Roads.

12 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured Confederate schooner General T. J. Chambers off Galveston with cargo of lumber.

13 USS Massachusetts, Commander M. Smith, seized schooner Hiland near Ship Island, Mississippi.

14 USS Daylight, Commander Samuel Lockwood, initiated blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina.

15 Captain Du Pont wrote: "The Department are [sic] worried about the privateers increasing so. Lieutenant Semmes has sent . . . [vessels] into Cuba, but the Captain General ordered them to be imme¬diately restored to their commanders." Du Pont also noted that the privateer Jefferson Davis, "which has ventured so far north," was also causing concern. Confederate privateers struck out boldly against Northern commerce and generated distress among shipping interests. However, as the naval blockade tightened and ports and coastal havens were seized by amphibious assault and other naval actions, opera¬tions of Confederate raiders became increasingly difficult and restricted.

16 Blockade Strategy Board reported to Secretary of the Navy Welles on the necessity of halting Confederate commerce: ". . . it is an important object in the present war that this trade, home and foreign, should be interrupted . . . The most obvious method of accomplishing this object is by putting down material obstructions; and the most convenient form of obstruction, for transportation and use, is that of old vessels laden with ballast . . . sunk in the appropriate places." This was the first sug¬gestion for the "stone fleet". Elimination of water-borne trade by the Union Navy blockade (more ef¬fective than the "stone fleet" obstructions at harbor entrances), meant the economic ruination of the Confederacy.

USS St Lawrence, Captain Hugh Y. Purviance, captured British blockade runner Herald, bound from Beaufort, North Carolina, to Liverpool.

William Tilghman, a Negro, overwhelmed Confederate prize crew on board schooner S.J. Waring and took possession of the vessel, carrying her into New York on 22 July.

18 Confederate schooner Favorite was captured by USS Yankee, Commander T. T. Craven, on Yeocomico River; Favorite was sunk later at Piney Point on the Potomac River.

Commander Ridgely, U.S. Receiving Ship Allegheny, reported his ship had received a battery of guns from the Washington Navy Yard and was standing by in the harbor for the protection of Annapolis.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory reported: "The frigate Merrimack [later CSS Virginia] has been raised and docked at an expense of $6,000, and the necessary repairs to hull and machinery to place her in her former condition is estimated by experts at $450,000. The vessel would then be in the river, and by the blockade of the enemy's fleets and batteries rendered comparatively useless. It has therefore been determined to shield her completely with 3 inch iron [4-inch armor was used], placed at such angles as to render her ball-proof, to complete her at the earliest moment, to arm her with the heaviest ordnance, and to send her at once against the enemy's fleet. It is believed that thus prepared she will be able to contend successfully against the heaviest of the enemy's ships and to drive them from Hampton Roads and the ports of Virginia. The cost of this work is estimated by the con¬structor and engineer in charge at $172,523, and as time is of the first consequence in this enterprise I have not hesitated to commence the work and to ask Congress for the necessary appropriation."

19 Captain General of Cuba released all vessels brought into Cuban ports as prizes by CSS Sumter.

20 USS Mount Vernon, Commander Oliver S. Glisson, seized sloop Wild Pigeon on the Rappahannock River.

USS Albatross, Commander George A. Prentiss, recaptured Enchantress off Hatteras Inlet.

21 USS Albatross, Commander Prentiss, engaged CSS Beaufort, Lieutenant R. C. Duvall, in Oregon In¬let, North Carolina. Albatross, heavier gunned, forced Beaufort to withdraw.

Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis captured American bark Alvarado in Atlantic (25o 04' N, 50o 00' W).

U.S. Marines commanded by Major Reynolds took part in the First Battle of Bull Run: 9 Marines killed, 19 wounded, 16 missing in action. Commander Dahlgren wrote of the loss of two naval howitzers in the battle. The Confederates also had a naval battery at Manassas.

24 Congress approved bill authorizing the appointment of an Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

Act "to provide for the temporary increase of the Navy" passed by Congress; gave President authority to take vessels into the Navy and appoint officers for them, to any extent deemed necessary; this con¬firmed action that had been taken by President Lincoln since April.

25 John LaMountain began balloon reconnaissance ascensions at Fort Monroe, Virginia.

CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured schooner Abby Bradford in the Caribbean Sea and, denied the right to enter Venezuela with Confederate prizes, dispatched her to a Southern port.

Confederate privateer Mariner, Captain W. B. Berry, captured American schooner Nathaniel Chase off Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina.

Confederate privateer Gordon captured American brig William McGlivery off Cape Hatteras with cargo of molasses.

Confederate privateer Dixie captured American schooner Mary Alice off the cast coast of Florida.

USS Resolute, Acting Master W. Budd, brought two schooners and one sloop as prizes into Washing¬ton, D.C.

27 CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured American bark Joseph Maxwell off Venezuela.

28 USS Union, Commander J. R. Goldsborough, destroyed former American brig B. T. Martin north of Cape Hatteras, where she had been run aground by Confederates. B. T Martin had been captured previously by Confederate privateer York.

Confederate privateer Gordon captured American schooner Protector off Cape Hatteras.

USS St Lawrence, Captain Purviance, sank Confederate privateer Petrel off Charleston.

29 USS Yankee, Commander T. T. Craven, and USS Reliance, Lieutenant Mygatt, engaged Confederate battery at Marlborough Point, Virginia.

Four U.S. steamers engaged Confederate battery at Aquia Creek, Virginia, for three hours.

31 Confederate privateer Dixie captured American bark Glenn and took her to Beaufort, North Carolina.

August 1861

1 President Lincoln appointed Gustavus V. Fox Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Fox, the energetic naval officer who had led the unsuccessful Fort Sumter expedition in April, became Secretary Welles’ right hand man in the Department. His large acquaintance among naval officers and forthright, “unofficial� style made him a useful troubleshooter. By the informal correspondence which he elicited from the chief naval commanders, the Navy Department was able to keep in intimate touch with problems in the several squadrons.

3 John LaMountain made first ascent in a balloon from Union ship Fanny at Hampton Roads to observe Confederate batteries on Sewell’s Point, Virginia—a small beginning for the potent aircraft carrier in the tri-dimensional Navy of the twentieth century.
Congress authorized Secretary of the navy Welles to “appoint a board of three skillful naval officers to investigate the plans and specifications that may be submitted for the construction or completing of iron or steel-clad steamships or steam batteries . . . there is hereby appointed . . . the sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars.� Commodore Joseph Smith, Captain Hiram Paulding, Commander Charles H. Davis appointed to the Ironclad Board on 8 August.

USS Wabash, Captain Mercer, recaptured American schooner Mary Alice, which had been taken by Confederate ship Dixie, and captured brig Sarah Starr, a blockade runner, off Charleston.
USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, engaged Confederate batteries at Galveston.

4 Cutter from USS Thomas Freeborn, Lieutenant Eastman, captured schooner Pocahontas, loaded with wood, and sloop Mary Frey in Pohick Creek, Virginia.

5 USS Jamestown, Commander Charles Green, burned Confederate prize bark Alvarado near Fernandina, Florida.
Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis capture large American brig Santa Clara off Puerto Rico.

7 War Department contracted with J.B. Eads of St. Louis for construction of seven shallow-draft ironclad river gunboats. The Eads gunboats—Cairo, Carondolet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg, and St. Louis—were the core of the Union force on the western waters. Built with the aid of Naval Constructor Samuel M. Pooks, USN, they were the key to Grant’s great series of campaigns that, beginning in February 1862, ultimately split the South and had a decisive influence on the war.

USS Massachusetts, Commander M. Smith, captured blockade running sloop Charles Henry near Ship Island, Mississippi.

8 USS Santee, Captain Eagle, captured schooner C.P. Knapp in the Gulf of Mexico.

9 Confederate privateer York captured schooner George G. Baker. USS Union, Commander J.R. Goldsborough, recaptured George G. Baker. York was set afire off Cape Hatteras by her crew to prevent capture by Union.

11 Blockade runner Louisa, pursued by USS Penguin, Commander John L. Livingston, struck shoal near Cape Fear, North Carolina, and sank.

12 Gunboats USS Tyler, Lexington, and Conestoga, procured and fitted out by Commander J. Rodgers, arrived at Cairo, Illinois, to protect the strategic position at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and to scout the rivers for Confederate batteries and troop movements.

13Commander Bulloch, CSN, writing from London to Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory, said: “After careful examination of the shipping lists of England, and inspecting many vessels, I failed to find a single wooden steamer fit for war purposes, except one paddle steamer, too large and costly for our coast. Wood as a material for ships has almost entirely gone out of use in the British merchant service, an their iron ships, though fast, well built, and staunch enough for voyages of traffic, are too thin in the plates and light in the deck frames and stanchions to carry guns of much weight. I therefore made arrangements to contract with two eminent builders for a gun vessel each . . .�

USS Powhatan, Lieutenant D.D. Porter, recaptured schooner Abby Bradford off the mouth of the Mississippi River.

15 USS Tyler and Conestoga, Lieutenant S.L. Phelps, scouted the Mississippi for Confederate fortifications and movements as far south as New Madrid, Missouri, while USS Lexington, Lieutenant Roger N. Stembel, operating with the Army, made a similar reconnaissance of the river north to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

USS Resolute, Acting master W. Budd, while on a reconnaissance mission, engaged Confederate troops at Mathias Point, Virginia.

16 President Lincoln declared the inhabitants of the Confederate States to be in a state of insurrection and forbade all commercial intercourse with them.

17 Lieutenant Reigart B. Lowry wrote Assistant Secretary of the navy Fox regarding the progress for sinking a stone fleet to block the inlets to the North Carolina sounds: “We have nineteen schooners properly loaded with stone, and all our preparations are complete to divide them in two divisions and place them in tow of this steamer [Adelaide] and of the Governor Peabody. I think all arrangements are complete, as far as being prepared to ‘sink and obstruct’ . . . the obstructing party could place their vessels in position, secure them as we propose, by binding chains, spars on end in the sand to settle by action of the tide, anchors down, and finally sink them in such a way as to block the channel so effectually that there could be no navigation through them for several months to come, at least till by the aid of our new gunboats the outside blockade could be effectual.�

18 Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis, Captain Coxetter, wrecked on the bar trying to enter St. Augustine, Florida, ending a most successful cruise. Charleston Mercury (26 August 1861) said: “The name of the privateer Jefferson Davis has become a word of terror to the Yankees. The number of her prizes and the amount of merchandise which she captured have no parallel since the days of the Saucy Jack [1812 privateer].�

19-21 Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox ordered 200 Marines to report to Commander Dahlgren at the Washington Navy Yard for duty on board ships of the Potomac Flotilla for the purpose of scouting the Maryland countryside—especially Port Tobacco—for locations suspected of being Confederate depots for provisions and arms to be used for invading Maryland.

21 USS Vandalia, Commander Samuel Phelps Lee, captured Confederate blockade runner Henry Middleton off Charleston with a cargo of spirits, turpentine, and rosin.

22 Commander J. Rodgers reported that six hundred Confederate troops occupying Commerce, Missouri, withdrew at the approach of the Union gunboats. This action prevented the erection of Confederate batteries at a location which would have effectively impeded navigation.

USS Lexington, Commander Stembel, seized steamer W.B. Terry at Paducah, Kentucky, for trading with Confederates.

Steamer Samuel Orr was seized by Confederates at Paducah, Kentucky, and taken up the Tennessee River.

23 USS Release and Yankee engaged Confederate batteries at the mouth of Potomac Creek, Virginia.

24 President Davis appointed James M. Mason Special Commissioner to the United Kingdom and John Slidell Special Commissioner to France.

26 Squadron under Flag Officer Stringham, USS Minnesota, Monticello, Pawnee, Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane, US tug Fanny, and two transports carrying about 900 troops under Major General Butler, departed Hampton Roads (later joined by USS Susquehanna and Cumberland) for Hatteras Inlet, NC, for first combined amphibious operation of the war. Hatteras Inlet was the main channel into Pamlico Sound and the most convenient entrance for blockade runners bringing supplies to the Confederate Army in Virginia. The Navy early recognized the strategic importance of the inlet and invited the Army to cooperate in its capture. The operation was designed to check Confederate privateering and to begin the relentless assault from the sea that would divert a large portion of Confederate manpower from the main armies.

Captain A.H. Foote ordered to relieve Commander J. Rodgers in command of the Army’s gunboat flotilla on the western rivers.

US tug Fanny, Lieutenant Crosby, reported the capture of the blockade running sloop Mary Emma at the headwaters of the Manokin River, Maryland.

USS Daylight, Commander Lockwood, recaptured brig Monticello in Rappahannock River.

27 Flag Officer Stringham’s squadron anchored off Hatteras Inlet and prepared to land the troops and take Forts Hatteras and Clark under attack.

28 Flag Officer Stringham’s squadron commenced bombardment of Forts Hatteras and Clark; Marines and troops were landed from surf boats above the forts under over of naval gunfire. The ships’ heavy cannonade forced the Confederates to evacuate Fort Clark. Commodore Samuel Baron, CSN, with two small vessels joined the defenders that evening.
Commander Dahlgren, Commandant of Washington Navy Yard, sent 400 seamen on steamboat Philadelphia to Alexandria, to report to Brigadier General William B. Franklin for the defense of Fort Ellsworth. This timely naval reinforcement strengthened the fort’s defenses and consequently that of the nation’s capital.

USS Yankee, Commander T.T. Craven, captured schooner Remittance near Piney Point, Virginia.

29 Hatteras Inlet was secured as Forts Hatteras and Clark surrendered unconditionally to Flag Officer Stringham and General Butler. The Union triumph sealed off commerce raiding and blockade running from Pamlico Sound. Hatteras Inlet became a coal and supply depot for the blockading ships. Of this most successful joint operation Admiral D.D. Porter later wrote: “This was our first naval victory, indeed our first victory of any kind, and should not be forgotten The Union cause was ten in a depressed condition, owing to the reverses it had experienced. The moral effect of this affair was very great, as it gave us a foothold on Southern soil and possession of the Sounds of North Carolina if we chose to occupy them. It was a death blow to blockade running in that vicinity, and ultimately proved one of the most important events of the war.�

USS R.R. Cuyler, Captain Francis B. Ellison, seized and burned Confederate ship Finland, which was prepared to receive cargo of cotton and run the blockade off Apalachicola, Florida.

30 Confederate tug Harmony attacked USS Savannah, Captain Joseph B. Hull, at Newport News, inflicting damage before withdrawing.

31 CSS Teaser shelled Newport News.

USS George Peabody, Lieutenant Lowry, captured brig Henry C. Brooks in Hatteras Inlet.

USS Jamestown, Commander Green, captured British blockade running schooner Aigburth off Florida coast.

September 1861

William Cheney’s three-man submarine nearing completion at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia. A demonstration of the vessel is witnessed by Mrs. Baker, a Union spy, who reports its existence—and effectiveness—to Allan Pinkerton and the Navy. The vessel was reported to have a three-man crew, one of whom was a diver who exited the craft through an airlock in order to attach a timed bomb to the hull of the target ship. Air was supplied via a rubber hose suspended on the surface by a camouflaged sea green float.

1 President Lincoln received news late at night from Secretary of the Navy Welles of Flag Officer Stringham's victory at Hatteras Inlet, in the initial Army- Navy expedition of the war. Coming shortly after the defeat at Bull Run, it electrified the North and greatly raised morale.

USS Dana, Acting Master's Mate Ely, captured blockade running schooner T.J. Evans off Clay Island, Maryland, with a cargo including blankets, surgical instruments, and ordnance supplies.

4 Captain Du Pont wrote: "The first fruits of the labors of [the Blockade Strategy Board] came out on the North Carolina coast [Hatteras lnlet] . . . we will secure the whole of those inland sounds and passages and hold all that coast by a flotilla the great morale effect and encouragement to the country are of incalculable service just now."

CSS Yankee (also known as CSS Jackson) and Confederate batteries at Hickman, Kentucky, fired on USSTyler, Commander J Rodgers, and Lexington. Commander Stembel, while the gunboats were reconnoitering Mississippi River south from Cairo.

USS Jamestown Commander Green, captured Confederate schooner Colonel Long. removed her cargo, and scuttled her off the coast of Georgia.

5 Captain A.H. Foote reported at St. Louis, Missouri, to relieve Commander J. Rodgers in command of naval operations on the western rivers.

6 Gunboats USS Tyler, Commander J. Rodgers, and USS Lexington. Commander Stembel, spearheaded operations by which General Grant, in his first move after taking command at Cairo, seized strategic Paducah and Smithland, Kentucky, at the mouths of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. Captain Foote, newly designated naval commander in the west, participated in the operation. This initial use of strength afloat by Grant, aimed at countering a Confederate move into the State, helped preserve Kentucky for the Union, and foreshadowed the General's great reliance on naval mobility and support throughout the campaigns which divided the Confederacy and placed the entire Mississippi under Union control.

U.S. consul in London reported purchase by Confederates of steamers Bermuda, Adelaide, and Victoria.

9 USS Cambridge, Commander William A. Parker, captured schooner Louisa Agnes off Nova Scotia.

10 USS Conestoga, Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, and USS Lexington, Commander Stembel, covering a troop advance, silenced the guns of a Confederate battery and damaged gunboat CSS Yankee at Lucas Bend, Missouri.

USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, captured schooner Susan Jane in Hatteras Inlet. Other blockade runners, unaware that the Union Navy now controlled the inlet, were also taken as prizes.

USS Cambridge, Commander W. A. Parker, captured British blockade running schooner Revere off Beaufort, North Carolina, with cargo of salt and herring.

11 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured Soledeid Cos with a cargo of coffee off Galveston.

13 USS Susquehanna, Captain John S. Chauncey, captured blockade running British schooner Argonaut, with cargo of fish, bound from Nova Scotia to Key West.

CSS Patrick Henry. Commander John R. Tucker, exchanged fire with USS Savannah, Captain Hull, and USS Louisiana, Lieutenant Alexander Murray, off Newport News; shot on both sides fell short.

14 In the early morning darkness sailors and Marines from USS Colorado, rowing in to Pensacola Har¬bor, boarded and burned Confederate privateering schooner Judah and spiked guns at Pensacola Navy Yard.

USS Albatross. Commander Prentiss, captured schooner Alabama near the mouth of the Potomac River.

16 Ironclad Board reported to Secretary of the Navy Welles: "For river and harbor service we consider ironclad vessels of light draught, or floating batteries thus shielded, as very important . . . Armored ships or batteries may be employed advantageously to pass fortifications on land for ulterior objects of attack, to run a blockade, or to reduce temporary batteries on the shores of rivers and the approaches to our harbors.'' The Board recommended construction of three ironclads (Monitor. Galena, and New Ironsides). These ships, and those that followed, revolutionized naval warfare.

USS Conestoga, Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, captured Confederate steamers V.R. Stephenson and Gazelle on Cumberland River, Kentucky.

16-17 Landing party from USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, destroyed guns and fortifications on Beacon Island, closing Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina. Admiral D. D. Porter later wrote: "The closing of these inlets [Hatteras and Ocracoke] to the Sounds of North Carolina sent the blockade runners elsewhere to find entrance to Southern markets, but as channel after channel was closed the smugglers' chance diminished. . ."

17 Confederates evacuated Ship Island, Mississippi; landing party from USS Massachusetts took possession. Ship Island eventually became the staging area for General Butler's troops in the amphibious opera¬tions below New Orleans.

18 USS Rescue, Master Edward L. Haines, captured Confederate schooner Hartford with cargo of wheat and tobacco on the Potomac River.

Flag Officer Du Pont was appointed Commander South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Du Pont wrote : "My appointment as a flag officer will be dated today . . . Things have taken an active turn, and this day is an epoch in naval history–seniority and rotation have seen their last day. Selection with as much regard to seniority as the good of the service will admit is now the order of the day.''

Secretary of the Navy Welles wrote Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough, appointed to command North Atlantic Blockading Squadron: "It is essentially necessary that the Navy should at this time put forth all its strength and demonstrate to the country and to foreign powers its usefulness and capa¬bility in protecting and supporting the Government and the Union. There must be no commercial intercourse with the ports that are in insurrection, and our Navy must, by its power, energy, and ac¬tivity, enforce the views of the President and the Government on this subject. Privateers to depredate on our commerce and rob our countrymen pursuing their peaceful avocations must not be permitted..."

19 USS Gemsbok, Acting Master Edward Cavendy, captured blockade running schooner Harmony, en route Nova Scotia to Ocracoke, North Carolina.

21 Boat under Midshipman Edward A. Walker from USS Seminole, Commander Gillis, captured sloop Maryland on the Potomac River.

22 USS Gemsbok, Acting Master Cavendy, captured schooner Mary E. Pindar off Federal Point, North Caro¬lina, attempting to run the blockade with cargo of lime.

Flag Officer McKean assumed command of the Gulf Blockading Squadron.

23 USS Lexington, Commander Stembel, proceeded to Owenshoro, Kentucky, "for the purpose of keeping the Ohio River open" and in order to protect Union interests in the area. Such expeditions deep into territory with Confederate sympathies were fundamental in containing Southern advances in the border states.

U.S S. Cambridge, Commander W.A. Parker, captured British schooner, Julia bound for Beaufort, North Carolina.

Flag Officer L.M. Goldsborough assumed command of North Atlantic Blockading Squadron including operations in the Chesapeake.

24 USS Dart, Acting Master William M. Wheeler, captured Confederate schooner Cecelia off Louisiana, thereafter fitted out as Union cruiser by USS Huntsville, Commander Cicero Price.

25 CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes. captured American ship Joseph Park off northeast coast of South America; three days later burned her at sea.

USS Jacob Bell, Lieutenant Edward P. McCrea, and USS Seminole, Lieutenant Charles S. Norton, engaged Confederate battery at Freestone Point, Virginia.

Secretary of the Navy Welles instructed Flag Officer Du Pont, commanding South Atlantic Blockading Squadron: "The Department finds it necessary to adopt a regulation with respect to the large and increasing number of persons of color, commonly known as 'contrabands.' now subsisted at the navy yards and on board ships-of-war. These can neither be expelled from the service, to which they have resorted, nor can they be maintained unemployed, and it is not proper that they should be compelled to render necessary and regular services without compensation. You are therefore authorized, when their services can be made useful, to enlist them for the naval service, under the same forms and regulations as apply to other enlistments. They will be allowed, however, no higher rating than 'boys,' at a com¬pensation of ten dollars per month and one ration per day."

28 USS Susquehanna, Captain Chauncey, captured Confederate schooner San Juan, bound for Elizabeth City, North Carolina, with cargo of salt, sugar, and gin.

29 USS Susquehanna, Captain Chauncey, captured schooner Baltimore off Hatteras Inlet.

30 USS Dart, Acting Master Wheeler, captured schooner Zavalla off Vermillion Bay, Louisiana.

USS Niagara, Captain John Pope, captured pilot boat Frolic at South West Pass of the Mississippi River.

Cecelia, prize and render to USS Huntsville, Commander Price, captured blockade running schooner Ranchero west of Vermillion

October 1861

1 Confederate naval forces, including CSS Curlew, Raleigh, and Junaluska. under flag Officer William F. Lynch, CSN, captured steamer Fanny in Pamlico Sound with Union troops on board. Colonel Claiborne Snead, CSA, reported: "The victory was important in more respects than one. It was our first naval success in North Carolina and the first capture made by our arms of an armed war- vessel of the enemy. and dispelled the gloom of recent disasters. The property captured [two rifled guns and large amount of army stores] was considerable, much needed, and highly esteemed. . ."

Secretary Welles, in a letter to Secretary Seward, opposed issuing letters of marque because it would be "a recognition of the assumption of the insurgents that they are a distinct and independent nationality."

3 Captain Eagle, commanding USS Santee, reported return of USS Sam Houston to Galveston with schooner Reindeer, captured off San Luis Pass, Texas. The schooner, deemed worthless, was sunk.

4 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured Confederate schooners Ezilda and Joseph H. Toone off South West Pass of the Mississippi River with four to five thousand stand of arms.

5 Two boats from USS Louisiana, Lieutenant A. Murray, destroyed Confederate schooner being fitted out as a privateer at Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia.

USS Monticello, Lieutenant Daniel L. Braine, drove off Confederate troops and steamers attacking Union soldiers in the vicinity of Hatteras Inlet.

6 USS Flag, Commander Louis C. Sartori, captured Confederate blockade running schooner Alert near Charleston.

7 USS Tyler, Commander Walke, and USS Lexington, Commander Stembel, exchanged fire with Confederate batteries at Iron Bluffs, near Columbus, Kentucky.

USS Louisiana, Lieutenant A. Murray, captured schooner S.T. Garrison, with cargo of wood, near Wallops Island, Virginia.

9 Confederate steamer Ivy, Lieutenant Joseph Fry, attacked U.S. blockading vessels at Head of Passes, Mississippi River; no damage caused but long range of Ivy's guns concerned naval officers.

First documented attempt to sink an enemy ship with a submarine in the Civil War. The target was the U.S.S. Minnesota in Hampton Roads. The submarine became fouled in grappling hanging from the jib boom (which its occupants thought was the anchor cable). The vessel escaped. A 12 October newspaper report based upon testimony from a Confederate deserter claims the submarine employed an India rubber suction plate to attach to its target and plant a timed bomb.

10 USS Daylight, Commander Lockwood, silenced Confederate battery attacking American ship John Clark anchored in Lynnhaven Bay, Virginia.

Confederate troops at Tampa Bay captured American sloop William Batty.

11 Lieutenant Abram D. Harrell of USS Union. with three boat crews cut out and burned Confederate schooner in Dumfries Creek on the Potomac River.

12 Confederate metal-sheathed ram Manassas, Commodore Hollins, CSN, in company with armed steamer Ivy and James L. Day, attacked USS Richmond, Vincennes, Water Witch, Nightingale, and Preble near Head of Passes, Mississippi River. In this offensive and spirited action by the small Confederate force, Manassas rammed Richmond, forced her and Vincennes aground under heavy fire before withdrawing. Acting Master Edward F. Devens of Vincennes observed: "From the appearance of the Richmond's side in the vicinity of the hole, I should say that the ram had claws or hooks attached to her . . . for the purpose of tearing out the plank from the ship's side, It is a most destructive invention . . . [Manassas] resembles in shape, a cigar cut lengthwise, and very low in the water. She must be covered with railroad iron as all the shells which struck her glanced off, some directly at right angles. You could hear the shot strike quite plainly. They did not appear to trouble her much as she ran up the river at a very fast rate."

Confederate ship Theodora ran the blockade at Charleston with Mason and Slidell, Commissioners to Eng¬land and France respectively, on board.

Confederate privateer Sallie captured American brig Granada in the Atlantic (33o N, 71o W):

USS Dale, Commander Edward M. Yard, captured schooner Specie east of Jacksonville, bound for Havana with large cargo of rice.

Secretary of the Navy Welles wrote Flag Officer Du Pont: "In examining the various points upon the coast, it has been ascertained that Bull's Bay, St. Helena, Port Royal, and Fernandina, are each and all accessible and desirable points for the purposes indicated [Fleet coaling and supply stations], and the Government has decided to take possession of at least two of them." Coaling and supply depots seized by the Navy on the Southern coast allowed blockaders to remain on station for longer periods without returning to Northern navy yards.

Warning given that Confederates had lined James River with powerful submarine batteries (mines).

13 USS Keystone State, Commander Gustavus H. Scott, captured Confederate steamer Salvor near the Tortugas Islands with cargo of coffee, cigars, and munitions.

14 In the presence of Lieutenant A. Murray of USS Louisiana, citizens of Chincoteague Island, Virginia, took the oath of allegiance to the United States and presented a petition in which they stated their "abhorrence of the secession heresy."

15 USS Roanoke, Flag, Monticello, and Vandalia captured and burned blockade runner Thomas Watson on Stono Reef, off Charleston.

16 USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured schooner Edward Barnard with cargo of turpentine on board at South West Pass, Mississippi River.

17 Flag Officer Du Pont wrote: 'There is no question that Port Royal is the most important point to strike, and the most desirable to have first and hold . . . Port Royal alone admits the large ships– and gives us such a naval position on the sea coast as our Army is holding across the Potomac." Sub¬sequently, the strategic importance of Port Royal to the Union Navy and the blockade substantiated this judgment.

Confederate privateer Sallie, Master Henry S. Lebby, captured American brig Betsey Ames opposite the Bahama Banks with cargo including machinery.

18 USS Gemsbok, Acting Master Cavendy, captured brig Ariel off Wilmington with cargo of salt.

19 USS Massachusetts, Commander M. Smith, engaged CSS Florida, Lieutenant Charles W. Hays, in Mississippi Sound. Though the battle was inconclusive, Captain Levin M. Powell of USS Potomac noted one result that could be bothersome to Union naval forces: "The caliber and long range of the rifled cannon [of Florida] . . . established the ability of these fast steam gunboats to keep out of the range of all broadside guns, and enables them to disregard the armament or magnitude of all ships thus armed, or indeed any number of them, when sheltered by shoal water."

21 Charles P. Leavitt, Second Virginia Regiment, wrote the Confederate Secretary of War: "I have in¬vented an instrument of war which for a better name I have called a submarine gunboat. . . My plan is simple. A vessel is built of boiler iron of about fifty tons burden . . . but made of an oval form with the propeller behind. This is for the purpose of having as little draft of water as possible for the purpose of passing over sand-bars without being observed by the enemy. The engines are of the latest and best style so as to use as little steam as possible in proportion to the power received. The boilers are so constructed as to generate steam without a supply of air. The air for respiration is kept in a fit condition for breathing by the gradual addition of oxygen, while the carbonic acid is absorbed by a shower of lime water . . . I propose to tow out my gun-boat to sea and when within range of the enemy's guns it sinks below the water's surface so as to leave no trace on the surface of its ap¬proach, a self-acting apparatus keeping it at any depth required. When within a few rods of the enemy it leaps to surface and the two vessels come in contact before the enemy can fire a gun. Placed in the bow of the gun-boat is a small mortar containing a self-exploding shell. As it strikes the engines are reversed, the gun-boat sinks below the surface and goes noiselessly on its way toward another ship. After a few ships are sunk the enemy can scarcely have the temerity to remain in our waters . . . I have written you on this subject in order to obtain an opportunity to draft out my invention, which with the means at command in Richmond can be done in a week . . ." Although Leavitt's scheme was not adopted, it was an interesting indication of early thinking about submarines in the South. Ultimately the Confederacy built H. L. Hunley, first submarine to be used successfully in combat.

22 Captain T. T. Craven, commanding Potomac River Flotilla, reported the Potomac River was com¬manded by Confederate batteries at all important points below Alexandria.

23 Officers and men of privateer Savannah went on trial in New York charged with "piracy."

25 John Ericcson began construction of single-turret, two-gun ironclad USS Monitor at Greenpoint, New York.

Flag Officer Du Pont wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox of the continuing importance of am¬phibious training: "Landing a brigade today to exercise Ferry boats and Surf boats-reaping immense advantages from the experiment by seeing the defects."

USS Rhode Island, Lieutenant Stephen D. Trenchard, captured schooner Aristides off Charlotte Harbor, Florida.

26 USS Conestoga, Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, transported Union troops to Eddyville, Kentucky, for attack on Confederate cavalry at Saratoga.

CSS Nashville, Lieutenant Pegram, ran the blockade out of Charleston.

27 USS Santee, Captain Eagle, captured brig Delta off Galveston.

CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured and burned American schooner Trowbridge in the Atlantic after removing a five months' supply of provisions.

27-28 Boat expedition from USS Louisiana led by Lieutenant Alfred Hopkins surprised and burned three Confederate vessels at Chincoteague Inlet, Virginia.

29 Large Union expedition to Port Royal, South Carolina, sailed from Fort Monroe, under command of Flag Officer Du Pont in USS Wabash. Comprising 77 vessels, it was the largest U.S. Fleet ever as¬sembled to that date. Army forces numbered about 16,000 men, commanded by Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman. Port Royal Sound, about equidistant from Savannah and Charleston, was of recognized importance, and one of the first locations fortified by the Confederates against the entrance of Union ships.

30 Confederate privateer Sallie captured American brig B. K. Eaton.
Confederate forces sank stone-filled barges to obstruct Cumberland River near Fort Donelson, Ten¬nessee, against the advance of Union gunboats.

Fall
William Cheney’s submarine—either the model reported on by Mrs. Baker or a larger version—is sunk in the James River while attempting to attack Union vessels. Navy pickets patrolling the river spotted the camouflaged float and sliced the rubber hose to the craft.

November 1861

1 Violent storm struck the Port Royal Sound Expedition off the Carolina coast, widely scattering naval vessels, transports, and supply ships and jeopardizing the success of this major undertaking. However, the damage to the Fleet was less than could have been expected. All ships had been furnished with secret instructions to be opened at sea only in case of separation from the Fleet.

De Villeroi contracts with the shipyard of Neafle & Levy in Philadelphia for construction of “one iron submarine.� Total cost is to be under $14,000.

2 USS Sabine, Captain Cadwalader Ringgold, rescued Major John G. Reynolds and a battalion of U.S. Marines under his command from U.S. transport Governor, unit of the Port Royal Sound Expedition, sinking off Georgetown, South Carolina.

British steamer Bermuda ran the blockade at Charleston with 2000 bales of cotton.

4 Coast Survey Ship Vixen entered Port Royal Sound to sound channel escorted by USS Ottawa and Seneca. Confederate naval squadron under Commodore Tattnall took Union ships under fire.

Fearing further attacks by Confederate “infernal machines,� Captain William Smith of the U.S.S. Congress, devises the first anti-submarine nets of chains suspended from spars lashed in a frame around his vessel.

5 USS Ottawa, Pembina, Seneca, and Pawnee engaged and dispersed small Confederate squadron in Port Royal Sound, fired on Fort Beauregard and Fort Walker.

6 USS Rescue, Lieutenant William Gwin, captured and burned schooner Ada hard aground in Corroto¬man Creek, Virginia.

Captain Purviance, commander of USS St Lawrence, reported capture of British schooner Fanny Lee, running the blockade at Darien, Georgia, with cargo of rice and tobacco.

7 Naval forces under Flag Officer Du Pont captured Port Royal Sound. While Du Pont's ships steamed in boldly, the naval gunners poured a withering fire into the defending Forts Walker and Beauregard with extreme accuracy. The Confederate defenders abandoned the Forts, and the small Confederate naval squadron under Commodore Tattnall could offer only harassing resistance but did rescue troops by ferrying them to the mainland from Hilton Head. Marines and sailors were landed to occupy the Forts until turned over to Army troops under General T. W. Sherman. Careful planning and skillful execution had given Du Pont a great victory and the Union Navy an important base of operations. The Confederates were compelled to withdraw coastal defenses inland out of reach of naval gunfire. Du Pont wrote: "It is not my temper to rejoice over fallen foes, but this must be a gloomy night in Charleston."

USSTyler, Commander Walke, and USS Lexington, Commander Stembel, supported 3000 Union troops under General Grant at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, and engaged Confederate batteries along the Mississippi River. The arrival of Confederate reinforcements compelled Grant to withdraw under pressure. Grape, canister, and shell from the gunboats scattered the Confederates, enabling Union troops to re-embark on their transports. Grant, with characteristic restraint, reported that the gunboats' service was "most efficient," having "protected our transports throughout."

8 USS San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, stopped British mail steamer Trent in Old Bahama Channel and removed Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell. The action sparked a serious international incident.

Boat expedition under Lieutenant, James E. Jouett from USS Santee surprised and captured Confederate crew of schooner Royal Yacht, and burned the vessel at Galveston.

USS Rescue, Lieutenant Gwin, shelled Confederate battery at Urbana Creek, Virginia, and captured large schooner.

9 Gunboats of Flag Officer Du Pont's force took possession of Beaufort, South Carolina, and, by block¬ing the mouth of Broad River, cut off this communication link between Charleston and Savannah.

Major General Robert E. Lee wrote Confederate Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin regarding the effects of the Union Navy's victory at Port Royal: "The enemy having complete possession of the water and inland navigation, commands all the islands on the coast and threatens both Savannah and Charleston, and can come in his boats, within 4 miles of this place [Lee's headquarters, Coosawhatchie, South Carolina]. His sloops of war and large steamers can come up Broad River to Mackay's Point, the mouth of the Pocotaligo, and his gunboats can ascend some distance up the Coosawhatchie and Tulifinny. We have no guns that can resist their batteries, and have no resources but to prepare to meet them in the field."

11 Thaddeus Lowe made balloon observation of Confederate forces from Balloon-Boat G.W. Parke Custis anchored in Potomac River. G. W. Parke Custis was procured for $150, and readied for the service at the Washington Navy Yard. Lowe reported: "I left the navy-yard early Sunday morning, the 10th instant– . . . towed our by the steamer Coeur de Lion, having on board competent assistant aeronauts, together with my new gas generating apparatus, which, though used for the first time, worked admi¬rably. We located at the mouth of Mattawoman Creek, about three miles from the opposite or Vir¬ginia shore. Yesterday [11 November] proceeded to make observations accompanied in my ascensions by General Sickles and others. We had a fine view of the enemy's camp-fires during the evening, and saw the rebels constructing new batteries at Freestone Point."

12 Fingal (later CSS Atlanta ), purchased in England, entered Savannah laden with military supplies– the first ship to run the blockade solely on Confederate government account.

USS W.G. Anderson, Acting Lieutenant William C. Rogers, captured Confederate privateer Beauregard near Abaco.

13 USS Water Witch, Lieutenant Aaron K. Hughes, captured blockade running British brigantine Cornu¬copia off Mobile.

14 U.S. cutter Mary, Captain Pease, seized Confederate privateer Neva at San Francisco, California.

15 Confederate Commissioners Mason and Slidell disembarked from USS San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, at Fort Monroe.

USS Dale, Commander Yard, captured British schooner Mabel east of Jacksonville.

16 Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory advertised for plans and bids for building four seagoing ironclads capable of carrying four heavy guns each.

17 U.S.S Connecticut, Commander Maxwell Woodhull, captured British schooner Adeline, loaded with mili¬tary stores and supplies off Cape Canaveral, Florida.

18 USS Monticello, Lieutenant Braine, engaged Confederate battery near New Inlet, North Carolina.

USS Conestoga, Lieutenant S. L. Phelps, on expedition up Cumberland River, dispersed Confederate forces and silenced battery at Canton, Kentucky.

19 CSS Nashville, Lieutenant Pegram, captured and burned American clipper ship Harvey Birch, bound from Le Havre to New York.

21 USS New London, Lieutenant Abner Read, with USS R. R. Cuyler and crew members of USS Massachusetts, captured Confederate schooner Olive with cargo of lumber in Mississippi Sound; same force took steamer Anna, with naval stores, the following day.

22 Two days of combined gunfire commenced from USS Niagara, Flag Officer McKean, USS Richmond, Captain Francis B. Ellison, and Fort Pickens against Confederate defenses at Fort McRee, the Pensa¬cola Navy Yard, and the town of Warrington, terminating the following day with damage to Confed¬erate positions and to USS Richmond.

U.S. Marine Corps authorized to enlist an additional 500 privates and proportionate number of non¬-commissioned officers.

23 CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, evaded USS Iroquois at Martinique and steamed on course for Europe.

Confederate gunboat Tuscarora accidentally destroyed by fire near Helena, Arkansas.

24 Landing party from USS Flag, Commander J. Rodgers, USS Augusta, Pocahontas, Seneca, and Savan¬nah, took possession of the Tybee Island, Savannah Harbor. "This abandonment of Tybee Island," Du Pont reported, "is due to the terror inspired by the bombardment of Forts Walker and Beauregard, and is a direct fruit of the victory of the 7th [capture of Port Royal Sound]."

25 First armor plate for shipment to CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack) accepted by Confederate Secre¬tary of the Navy Mallory.

USS Penguin, Acting Lieutenant Thomas A. Budd, captured blockade running schooner Albion near North Edisto, South Carolina, with cargo of arms, munitions, and provisions.

CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured American brig Montmorenci off Leeward Islands.

26 CSS Savannah, Commodore Tattnall, and three steamers sortied against Union fleet in Cockspur Roads, Savannah; unsuccessful in effort to draw blockading vessels within range of Fort Pulaski's guns.

Flag Officer Du Pont observed the blockade's increasing pressure on the South's economy: "The flag is hoisted on the lighthouse and martello tower at Tybee . . . Shoes are $8 a pair in Charleston. Salt $7 a bushel, no coffee– women going into the interior– [Captain James L.] Lardner has closed the port so effectively that they can no longer get fish even."

CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured and burned American schooner Arcade north of Leeward Islands.

27 USS Vincennes, Lieutenant Samuel Marcy, boarded and seized blockade running British bark Empress, aground at the mouth of the Mississippi River, with large cargo of coffee.

28 USS New London, Lieutenant A. Read, captured Confederate blockade runner Lewis, with cargo of sugar and molasses, and schooner A. J. View, with cargo of turpentine and tar, off Ship Island, Mississippi.

29 Lieutenant Worden, later commanding officer of USS Monitor, arrived in Washington after seven months as a prisoner in the South.

30 USS Wanderer, Lieutenant James H. Spotts, captured blockade running British schooner Telegraph near Indian Key, Florida.

USS Savannah, Commander John S. Missroon, with other ships in company, seized Confederate schooner E.J. Waterman, after the vessel grounded at Tybee Island with cargo of coffee on board.

Late autumn
Keel of the Crescent City Project boat is laid in New Orleans; the vessel is to be 34’ long with a three-man crew.

December 1861

1 USS New London, Lieutenant A. Read, captured sloop Advocate in Mississippi Sound.

USS Seminole, Commander Gillis, seized sloop Lida, from Havana, off St. Simon's Sound, Georgia, with cargo of coffee, lead, and sugar.

2 In his first annual report, Secretary of the Navy Welles reported to President Lincoln that: "Since the institution of the blockade one hundred and fifty-three vessels have been captured . . . most of which were attempting to violate the blockade . . . When the vessels now building and purchased are ready for service, the condition of the navy will be . . . a total of 264 vessels, 2,557 guns, and 218,016 tons. The aggregate number of seamen in the service . . . Is now not less than 22,000 . . . The amount appropriated at the last regular session of Congress for the naval service for the current year was $13,168,675.86. To this was added at the special session in July last $30,446,875.91- making for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1862, an aggregate of $43,615,551.77. This sum will not be sufficient. . ."

CSS Patrick Henry, Commander Tucker, attacked four Union steamers above Newport News; Patrick Henry damaged in the two hour action.

Lieutenant Robert D. Minor, CSN, reported a laboratory had been organized at New Orleans "for the supply of ordnance stores for the vessels fitting out at this station."

3 CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured and burned at sea American ship Vigilant, bound from New York to the West Indies.

USS Santiago de Cuba, Commander Ridgely, captured British blockade running schooner Victoria.

4 Confederate steamers Florida and Pamlico attacked USS Montgomery, Commander Thompson D. Shaw, off Horn Island Pass, Mississippi Sound.

5 Flag Officer Du Pont, regarding expedition to Wassaw Sound, Georgia, and plans for the use of the "stone fleet," wrote: "Ottawa, Pembina, and Seneca penetrated into Wassaw the 'stone fleet' are all at Savannah, and I hardly know what to do with them- for with Wassaw that city is more effectively closed than a bottle with wire over the cork . . . I am sending to [Captain James L.] Lardner to know if he can plant them on the Charleston bar . . . One good thing they [the 'stone fleet's' appearance at Savannah] did, I have not a doubt they were taken for men-of-war, and led to giving up the Wassaw defenses . . ."

6 USS Augusta, Commander Parrott, captured British blockade runner Cheshire off South Carolina.

8 CSS Sumter, Commander Semmes, captured and burned American bark Eben Dodge in the mid-Atlantic (30o 57' N, 51o 49' W), equipped for whaling voyage in Pacific.

USS Rhode Island, Lieutenant Trenchard, seized British blockade runner Phantom with cargo of sugar off Cape Lookout, North Carolina.

9 USS New London, Lieutenant A: Read, captured schooner Delight and sloops Express and Osceola off Cat Island Passage, Mississippi.

USS Harriet Lane, Lieutenant Robert H. Wyman, and other vessels of the Potomac Flotilla engaged Confederate forces at Freestone Point, Virginia.

10 USS Isaac Smith, Lieutenant James W. A. Nicholson, on expedition up Ashepoo River, South Caro¬lina, landed on Otter Island and took possession of abandoned Confederate fort; Nicholson turned over command of the fort to the Army.

11 USS Bienville, Commander Steedman, captured schooner Sarah and Caroline off St. John's River, Florida.

USS South Carolina, Commander Alden, captured Confederate sloop Florida off lighthouse at Timbalier, Louisiana.

12 USS Alabama, Commander Edward Lanier, captured British ship Admiral off Savannah, attempting to run the blockade.

USS Isaac Smith, Lieutenant J. W. A. Nicholson, on a reconnaissance in the Ashepoo River, South Carolina, with Marine detachment embarked, scattered Confederate troops by gunfire and landed Marines to destroy their quarters.

15 USS Stars and Stripes, Lieutenant Reed Werden, captured blockade running schooner Charity off Cape Hatteras.

USS Jamestown, Commander Green, captured Confederate sloop Havelock near Cape Fear, North Carolina.

17 Flag Officer Foote, Commanding U.S. Naval Forces, Western Waters, issued General Order regarding observance of Sunday on board ships of his flotilla: "It is the wish. . . that on Sunday the public worship of Almighty God may be observed . . . and that the respective commanders will either them¬selves, or cause other persons to pronounce prayers publicly on Sunday. . ." Foote added: "Discipline to be permanent must be based on moral grounds, and officers must in themselves, show a good example in morals, order, and patriotism to secure these qualities in the men." Since 1775 Navy Regulations have required that religious services be held on board ships of the Navy in peace and war.

Seven "stone fleet" vessels sunk at entrance of Savannah Harbor.

19 Confederate forces demolished lighthouse on Morris Island, Charleston.

20 "Stone fleet" sunk at Charleston by Captain C. H. Davis, Steamer Gordon ran the blockade off Wilmington.

21 U.S. Congress authorized Medal of Honor, the Nation's highest award.

24 USS Gem of the Sea, Lieutenant Irvin B. Baxter, captured and destroyed British blockade runner Prince of Wales off Georgetown, South Carolina.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory wrote Major General Leonidas Polk, commanding troops at Columbus, Kentucky, requesting furlough of troops to assist in construction of ironclad gunboats at Memphis. Mallory commented: "One of them at Columbus would have enabled you to complete the annihilation of the enemy."

25 USS Fernandina, Acting Lieutenant George W. Browne, captured schooner William H. Northrup off Cape Fear, North Carolina.

26 Confederate Fleet, including CSS Savannah, Commodore Tattnall, Resolute, Sampson, Ida, and Barton, attacked Union blockading ships at mouth of Savannah River. Before returning to his anchorage under the guns of Fort Pulaski, Tattnall forced the blockaders to move seaward temporarily.

USS Rhode Island, Lieutenant Trenchard, captured Confederate schooner Venus southeast of Sabine Pass, off the Louisiana coast.

27 Flag Officer Du Pont wrote regarding the "Trent Affair": "I hope now that our politicians will begin to learn, that something is necessary to be 'a great universal Yankee Nation etc.' than politics and party. We should have armies and navies and have those appurtenances which enable a nation to de¬fend itself and not be compelled to submit to humiliation [releasing Mason and Slidell] . . . Thirty ships like the Wabash would have spared us this without firing a gun, with an ironclad frigate or two."

28 USS New London, Lieutenant A. Read, captured Confederate schooner Gipsey with cargo of cotton in Mis¬sissippi Sound.

29 CSS Sea Bird, Flag Officer Lynch, evaded Union gunfire and captured large schooner near Hampton Roads carrying fresh water to Fort Monroe.

30 USS Santee, Captain Eagle, captured schooner Garonne off Galveston.

Flag Officer Foote wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox of the pay scale he was using: "In the case of Masters, and Pilots, I have been obliged, in order to secure the services of efficient Men, to pay 1st Masters $150. per month, 2nd Masters $125, 3rd Masters $100, and 4th Masters $80. per month, while Pilots are paid $175. per month. These prices are much less than the incumbents received in ordinary times, while they have before been provided with table furniture and stores, bedding & c., which I have not allowed them."

E. Biedermann posts a letter to Gideon Welles describing a submarine built by a Wilhelm Bauer six years previous and used in the Crimean War. His note includes detailed schematics of the vessel, “Diable Marin� (“Sea Devil�), which supposedly made 134 successful dives. Bauer was an experienced submariner, having built his first vessel “Brandtaucher� (“Incendiary Diver�) in 1850 and using it to force blockading Danish ships away from the German harbor of Kiel.

31 Biloxi, Mississippi, surrendered to a landing party of seamen and Marines covered by USS Water Witch, New London, and Henry Lewis; a small Confederate battery was destroyed, two guns and schooner Captain Spedden captured.

Flag Officer Foote wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox about the delay in fitting out mortar boats: "I did say and still consider the mortar boats very defective. They are built of solid timber and when armed and manned will be awash with the deck . . - all will leak more or less. Still I would have them fitted out, with all their defects." Foote made excellent use of the mortar boats later at Island No. 10.

USS Augusta, Commander Parrott, captured Confederate schooner Island Belle attempting to run the blockade near Bull's Bay, South Carolina.

Two boats, under Acting Masters A. Allen and H. L. Sturges, from USS Mount Vernon, destroyed lightship off Wilmington which had been fitted out as a gunboat by Confederates.

31-2 January Naval squadron under Commander C. R. P. Rodgers, including gunboats Ottawa, Pembina, and Seneca and four armed boats carrying howitzers, joined General Stevens' troops in successful am¬phibious attack on Confederate positions at Port Royal Ferry and on Coosaw River. Gunboat fire covered the troop advance, and guns and naval gunners were landed as artillery support. Army signal officers acted as gunfire observers and coordinators on board the ships. The action disrupted Confederate plans to erect batteries and build troop strength in the area intending to close Coosaw River and iso¬late Federal troops on Port Royal Island. General Stevens wrote: "I would do great injustice to my own feelings did I fail to express my satisfaction and delight with the recent cooperation of the command of Captain Rodgers in our celebration of New Year's Day. Whether regard be had to his beau¬tiful working of the gunboats in the narrow channel of Port Royal, the thorough concert of action established through the signal officers, or the masterly handling of the guns against the enemy, noth¬ing remained to be desired. Such a cooperation . . . augurs everything, propitious for the welfare of our cause in this quarter of the country."