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.