The Admiral's Guard

By Donald L. Collins

A well-researched Civil War historical novel based on and containing letters of Pvt. Charles Leaman, USMC, guard and orderly to Admiral John Dahlgren, Commander, South Atlantic Blockading Squadron 1863-1865. Covers his Involvement with submarines, ironclads, Marine actions, Lincoln, Welles, Ulric Dahlgren, NYC Draft Riots, Savannah, Charleston and his daily contact with the admiral.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald L. Collins
• Release date: Oct 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310274015

Donald L. Collins

Began writing a column for hometown weekly newspaper while in High School. Became a photo stringer for Philadelphia Bulletin a short time later and was a stringer correspondent covering suburban Philadelphia until drafted into U.S. Army where I was assigned as a Signal Corps photographer. Home studied with newspaper institute of America and upon discharge became editor of weekly suburban newspapers. Wrote for FIRE ENGINEERING magazine. Became editorial consultant for regional publishing company working with 17 client weekly and college newspaper we printed. Joined Sperry Rand as editor of a division employee magazine then supervisor for public and media relations for 18 years. Correspondent for Lancaster PA Newspaper for 20 years. Founded Pennsylvania Fireman statewide newspaper and FIREMANICS: Journal of American Fire Service. Now writing historical fiction and children's books. Reside in Tucson AZ.

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DEDICATION

Much of what is presented here results from or is the work of correspondents who covered the action of both Union and Confederate forces in the Civil War. I have included their work as presented in publications of the period to convey a feeling of continuity with Charles Leaman’s letters. In battlefields and aboard ships, they faced the same dangers as those they wrote about. They were the forerunners of today’s front lines journalists.

And A Special Thank You

To friends who have encouraged me along the three decade journey to bring Charles Leaman’s letters to life. Your suggestions and support are as much a part of this book as the words I have written.

FOREWORD

The proud history of the United States Marine Corps has been told many times and in many ways. Naturally, the emphasis is usually on the courage, valor, resourcefulness, and heroism Marines have exhibited in the many battles in which the Corps has engaged in defense of our nation. And rightly so. However, very little has been written about Marine participation and activities in what is probably the most studied and written about war in history; the American Civil War. There is a reason for this.

There was limited Marine Corps action in many battles fought during the four years that took so many lives of Americans on both sides of the conflict.

The Marine Corps at that time was spread around the world on the United States Navy’s small but growing fleet. Sea duty in those days of sailing ships was long and difficult. Food was sparse and only occasionally supplemented by fruits and vegetables from a remote island or friendly port city. Marines played an important role in maintaining order aboard ships that cruised thousands of miles in all extremes of weather and sea conditions. They were not loved by the sailors as this historical novel points out through descriptions of their duties written by noted authors who years before the Civil War had cruised oceans of the world on our men-of-war.

The Civil War led to expansion of the Marine Corps just when Congress was seriously considering disbanding it. The rebellion, as many call the Civil War, was unpopular with a large percentage of the people in the north. When President Lincoln ordered conscription to fill the ranks of the Army, many young men joined the Navy. This was not out of love of the sea or experience, but to avoid duty in the Army where disease in camps and horribly crowded prisons claimed as many lives as combat. It soon became apparent that more Marines were needed to maintain order on new steam-powered ironclad ships being manned by inexperienced and often reluctant sailors.

Admiral John A. Dahlgren, Commander, South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, was a forward-thinking officer who realized Marines had far more potential than acting as guards and policemen aboard ships. He embarked on an effort to create a Marine Battalion trained and equipped to support his operations along the southern coast and inland waterways. It was a significant step in Marine Corps operations.

A young U. S. Marine’s detailed letters to his family have given birth to this look into daily life in the Corps during this significant period. Private Charles Leaman has recorded what has often been overlooked in Marine Corps history. He was a part of that original battalion that participated in land and amphibious operations. His letters, written from his unique vantage point of serving with Admiral Dahlgren as a Marine Guard, also shows how life aboard ships could be dangerous and dull.

His 93 letters led author Don Collins to extensive research expanding on Private Leaman’s many mentions of historic figures, ships, battles and other significant events. Don, who shares my pride in our ever-patriotic hometown of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, brings the letters to life through accounts of many facets of the war that Charles Leaman witnessed and shared with his family.

Major General Robert E. Haebel

United States Marine Corps (Retired)

AUTHOR’S NOTE

That the 93 letters on which this historic fiction novel is based have survived since they were written by a young United States Marine in the Civil War is a story in itself. There is a brief history of the letters’ origins, travels and survival included at the end of the book. Their survival provides an interesting look at life in the Marine Corps during a period in which many people, including marine veterans I have spoken with, are unaware that the Corps even existed. Most have never heard of the Corps’ participation in the war. Congress in 1860 was in serious discussion of disbanding the Marine Corps. With the coming of war, however, the Corps survived and quickly launched an advertising campaign to fill the Congressional-authorized ranks.

At age fourteen Charles Leaman, who had failed in an earlier attempt to enlist in the Army, clipped a Marine Corps recruiting advertisement from the local newspaper and impatiently waited for the opportunity to join in what an older brother noted was a desire to participate in the events of the times, the excitement of which is very alluring to boys his age.

Charley’s letters begin in December, 1862, when, following his 16th birthday, he again ran away from his prominent Lancaster County, Pa. family home and this time enlisted in the Marine Corps in Philadelphia. A prologue covering 1861 and 1862 gives background in understanding the family’s and community’s effects on his state of mind relating to events he discusses in the letters. It also sets scenes for numerous events in which he later became involved during his Marine Corps duty.

The letters incorporated into this novel are mostly unedited – with two exceptions. Charley typically responded to letters from home by beginning with reference to the dates of receiving his mail, which he explained in one of his letters to his sister. You say you think, as for myself I am confident, that I miss many of your letters and I think it can be accounted for by careless Postmasters. This is my reason for mentioning all the letters received from you. He then began writing of events that had transpired, or giving his opinion on military and political activities in which he expressed a great deal of interest.

I have, in instances, moved his introductory record keeping paragraph from the top of the letter and placed it at the close. This allows for a smoother flow from my created character dialogue and narrative into his letters, which often pick up the action or present his firsthand accounts and descriptions of these events. Other editing is simply creating paragraphs where appropriate. Private Leaman wrote in a continuous flow, often several pages without a paragraph break. I have not deleted personal parts of the letters that often are answers to questions and information he received in letters from home. These provide a deeper look into Charley’s character.

The letters spurred my interest and imagination leading me to the work of qualified and enthusiastic Civil War reporters, researchers and writers. Rather than adding footnotes I have used copious materials from period newspapers, military reports, diaries, letters and other sources describing battles, incidents and the contemporary recorded thoughts of characters as part of the story. These sometimes lengthy news stories and military reports provide an on-the-scene look at events he has mentioned. Such material is identified by deep left margins and non-justified right margins. (e.g. below).

In describing the docking of a warship, Nordhoff wrote:

No sooner was the anchor down, than the sergeant of marines was busy placing sentries at gangways, larboard, starboard and bow.

This enabled me to answer the who, what, where and when questions that Charley’s letters raised in my mind. Many historically recognizable people and their writings of places and events are included. With exception of Sgt. Murphy, Charley’s marine friends and other characters are composites created from information found in records, diaries, letters I came across researching his three-year adventure.

Several Civil War events that I include in this novel remain controversial and are still researched and investigated by historians and scientists.

The significant discovery and 2002 recovery of the submarine Hunley has not answered all the questions that have been asked through the years. Research and new discoveries are ongoing. As this novel was being prepared for printing in 2013, an Associated Press story reported that a researcher had discovered an encrusted brass fitting on the torpedo spar that could possible change opinions of what happed that historic night when the Hunley sank the Housatonic. The results will be revealed when the entire spar is eventually cleaned and examined. I have left my version as written, which mentions last minute alterations to the spar as the Hunley was enroute to the Housatonic.

... Lieutenant George F. Dixon checked every inch of the small boat and was not satisfied with the arrangements for the spar that held the explosive charge. He decided on a last minute correction and as they left the dock at Mount Pleasant he decided to go to Breach Inlet where the 23rd South Carolina Volunteers were stationed. Dixon explained that John Payne, who early on had volunteered to captain the boat despite a serious misgiving, had never been satisfied with the torpedo spar arrangement which required ramming a ship rather than dragging a mine under it. ...

"Payne feared that when we ram our target the explosion will create a hole and the rush of water into her will drag us into her. He thought we’ll not be able to provide enough power to hold us from going in or to back out after the blast," Dixon explained to the young artillery officer assisting him.

During research for this novel I found two news accounts in the Boston Herald and New York Times filed by an on-the-scene correspondent that describe the sinking of a Confederate torpedo boat in the same time frame at the location where the Hunley had pulled in for repairing the spar enroute to the Housatonic. I have not seen this discussed other than in these two reports. His reports, however, also contained other local action details that did check out as accurate. Was the reporter confused about the date and location of his described torpedo boat sinking? Or, is there still a mysterious submarine to be found?

Admiral Dahlgren’s son Ulric’s involvement in a raid on Richmond with papers found on his body calling for the burning of the city and killing political figures is still argued. The Union officials said no such orders had been given to the colonel. His father insisted until his own death that the letters were forged. Modern examination of the letters leads most to believe they are authentic. Many believe this raid was the root cause of Confederate forces taking similar actions in Pennsylvania, and also planted the seed for John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of President Lincoln.

Some Civil War historians also question whether or not the steamer Sultana that sank with a disastrous death toll of Union soldiers at the end of the war, went down as the result of a Confederate coal torpedo.

I am aware of the passion of Civil War enthusiasts and the many pro and con discussions on virtually every aspect of the war. So I stress that this is not a history book. It is a fiction novel in which I have made decisions, based on my research, about some important and interesting incidents. It also includes Leaman’s actual letters that provide a look at the thinking of an involved, intelligent, educated teenage youth whose impressions of people and events in this great conflict he has recorded from a very unique position. As they did for me, Charley Leaman’s letters can lead Civil War enthusiasts down many other changing and increasingly-documented trails to interesting people, events and military units.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

FOREWORD

AUTHOR’S NOTE

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 36

CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 38

CHAPTER 39

CHAPTER 40

CHAPTER 41

CHAPTER 42

CHAPTER 43

CHAPTER 44

CHAPTER 45

CHAPTER 46

CHAPTER 47

CHAPTER 48

CHAPTER 49

CHAPTER 50

CHAPTER 51

CHAPTER 52

CHAPTER 53

CHAPTER 54

CHAPTER 55

CHAPTER 56

CHAPTER 57

CHAPTER 58

CHAPTER 59

CHAPTER 60

CHAPTER 61

CHAPTER 62

CHAPTER 63

CHAPTER 64

CHAPTER 65

CHAPTER 66

CHAPTER 67

CHAPTER 68

CHAPTER 69

CHAPTER 70

CHAPTER 71

CHAPTER 72

AFTERWORD

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PROLOGUE

1861

On February 22nd, a train carrying President-elect Abraham Lincoln to Washington from Philadelphia via Harrisburg stopped in Paradise Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, at the small Leaman Place station. He was greeted by Henry and Catherine Leaman whose farmland estate and tavern on the Philadelphia Turnpike had given name to the village and, in turn, to what was now a Pennsylvania Railroad station. The train took on water and coal as 14-year-old Charles and other family members cheered along with excited residents of nearby townships.

Henry Leaman was an early investor in the Strasburg to Leaman Place Rail Road, a short line from center of the county to the main Pennsylvania rail line. The Strasburg line had scheduled a special train to carry passengers to Leaman Place and more than 5,000 people showed up in the rain to greet the President-elect.

Lincoln stepped out to the car’s rear platform and told the loudly cheering supporters that he was unwell and just wanted to let the local folks see him and for him to see them. He told them that he had gotten the better bargain. Mrs. Lincoln also came to the platform and Lincoln quipped, So you can see the long and short of it. The Leamans, strong Lincoln supporters, rode to Lancaster on the train, passing the nearby Revere Tavern, once owned by their family friend, President James Buchanan, whom Lincoln was about to succeed.

He wasn’t originally scheduled to stop in Lancaster, but a last-minute agreement was struck. He was unprepared to make a speech but spoke to city residents from a balcony at Caldwell House. He again noted that he didn’t have the strength for a speech but was especially lavish in his praise of the local ladies in the crowd. The train went to Harrisburg where, after a speech thanking the state’s leaders for their support in his election, Lincoln raised a flag atop the state capitol dome. It was a glorious day according to news accounts of the events.

But the joy of the day vanished. Pinkerton agents accompanying Lincoln received information of a threat to kill him. Consultation with Pennsylvania government leaders changed the original plan to head south to Baltimore from Harrisburg. None of the Leamans or other leading citizens were on hand in the evening when a special train raced back through Lancaster and Leaman Place returning to Philadelphia. Outside the city, at the Darby Junction, he was hustled aboard an 11 o’clock Baltimore train disguised as an ill passenger.

The man soon to be the 16th president of the United States rode secretly in a darkened rail car to Washington for his inauguration

President James Buchanan handed the reins of government to Abraham Lincoln on March 4th and returned to Wheatland, his country estate at Lancaster. It wasn’t a glorious return. Members of seven of the city’s eight fire companies decided not to participate in his welcome home parade. Only the Union Fire Company, of which he was a longtime member, joined in the parade of citizens who turned out to welcome him home. There was strong antislavery sentiment in Lancaster, and many citizens felt their favorite-son president had not done enough to preserve the Union.

His own fire company, composed mostly of community leaders, drafted an elaborate Memorial to Congress supporting the Crittenden Compromise, which if passed, extended the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific Ocean. Senator William Biegler delivered it to Congress in February. He reported that the carefully hand-lettered memorial caused a sensation when it was presented in the chamber.

But I have doubts there is hope of avoiding conflict, he told the firemen.

He was right. On April 12, 1861, South Carolina artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The Civil War was underway. Northern states, counties and cities called out the militia and home guards. Philadelphia offered $1,000,000 to aid the families of volunteer soldiers. Inexperienced and unequipped troops headed south to defend Washington, now surrounded by hostile southerners. At Baltimore, General William F. Small’s Washington Brigade from Philadelphia and troops of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment were attacked by an angry mob while transferring trains.

Ellis and Evans’ History of Lancaster County described the local attitude at the start of the war:

In this county as in other portions of the loyal North, the thrill of patriotism, aroused by the attack on Fort Sumter, completely silenced for the time the mutterings of disloyalty that had previously been heard. Although there existed here a disloyal feeling, which afterward manifested itself again, the spontaneous uprising of the loyal masses awed it to silence for the time, and apparently the determination to defend the Union against the assaults of its traitorous enemies was unanimous. Although this was the home of President Buchanan, who saw in the Constitution no authority to coerce a sovereign State, it was also the home of Thaddeus Stevens and many others, whose patriotism and loyalty were unquestioned.

Congressman Stevens promptly called for all Lancaster County judges, lawyers, clerks and law students to take an oath of allegiance. He also was president of the Shiffler Fire Company and, according to the company roll book, several members were thrown out for muttering disloyal utterances. The company also purchased the largest flag ever seen in Lancaster and ordered it flown day and night above the fire house. A cannon was purchased for home defense and weekly drills were held. The Union Fire Company members joined the Union Guards and many Lancaster firemen became members of Birney’s and Baxter’s Fire Zouaves formed in Philadelphia.

The Blockade Begins

When the war began, the United States Navy consisted of 76 vessels of varying classes, carrying a total of 1,783 guns. These ships were spread across the seas of the world. Only 15 vessels were in their home ports. Some of these ships were in southern ports and were seized by Confederate authorities. The captured ships were then manned by thousands of officers and crew members who deserted the U. S. Navy and quickly enlisted in the Confederate States of America Navy.

Union political and military leaders knew Confederate port cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts would have to be sealed to foreign shipping. The mostly-agricultural Confederacy, with little manufacturing capability, was dependent on materials from foreign nations to feed her new war machine. Occupying the ports of Norfolk, Wilmington, N.C., Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans was an immediate objective.

Charleston, the seat of the rebellion, was looked on as a prized target for retaliation. However, there was little hope of this happening quickly because of the coastal distance and lack of adequate ships. In lieu of seizing these ports, President Lincoln proclaimed a blockade was in effect along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines.

With so few ships to enforce it, the Union had merely created a paper blockade, and under international maritime law, a paper blockade has no legal standing. Without armed ships to stop neutral vessels from passing there is no obligation on the part of foreign nations to honor a blockade. It was now simply a case of catch-me-if-you-can. England, France and other nations scoffed at the idea that the United States could effectively seal more than 3,500 miles of shoreline.

Europe needed what the Confederate States had plenty of – cotton. England’s huge textile mills devoured southern cotton at an enormous rate. Tens of thousands of jobs were at stake in these mills if American cotton didn’t flow regularly into them. The British didn’t want to antagonize the United States. They had lost two wars to determined and ingenious Americans. The British government also did not want to interfere with powerful people who ran England’s vast manufacturing complexes. An even more important consideration in not officially recognizing the blockade was the fact that there was lots of money to be made.

Knowing there was little hope of getting cooperation from Europe under such conditions, the United States acquired all sorts of vessels for quick conversion to wartime blockade duty. In the first year of the war, 136 vessels were purchased and converted and 52 new ships were built at private and government shipyards. The United States Navy at the end of 1861 consisted of 264 vessels carrying 2,557 guns and manned by 22,000 officers and men, many of them novice seamen.

As the Union government was building its fleet, entrepreneurs were also at work. Syndicates and individuals in Europe and the United States were rapidly acquiring ships to be used for blockade running. The goals of the Union Navy and goals of blockade runners were quite different. But there was one characteristic of the ships that was important for both sides. That was speed. Success in running a blockade depended on speed, which was also critical in stopping runners. For blockade duty, there was no need for tremendous firepower. The vast majority of runners were neutrals who would not engage in fighting that could bring charges of piracy.

The Union began to purchase as many commercial steam vessels as it could and quickly converted them to warships for chasing down blockade runners. Across the Atlantic Ocean, the blockade runners-to-be purchased, or ordered built, sleek craft that were painted blue-gray to blend with the sea and mist. Masts and funnels were severely raked to provide a low silhouette. The cat and mouse game of running the blockade got under way almost immediately, with many syndicates investing huge sums in these specially built ships. They knew the risk of capture on the first run was small, and the profits were so great that a ship could often be paid for in just one run. After that it was all profit, with ship captains and crews sharing in the wealth. Many a rich seaman was made during the Civil War.

The notorious British blockade runner, Capt. Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden, wrote of his adventures in an 1867 book titled Never Caught. In it the captain wrote:

If ever a cool head, strong nerve, and determination of character were required, it was while running, or endeavoring to run, through the American blockade of the coast of the Southern States..... One was always either running away, or being deliberately pitched into by the broadsides of the American cruisers, the slightest resistance to which would have constituted piracy; whereas capture without resistance merely entailed confiscation of cargo and vessel.

During the first year of the war the success of blockade runners in reaching southern ports by far outweighed the success of the United States Navy in halting them. Only 161 blockade runners were captured or were destroyed by captains to avoid capture. Thousands of successful runs were made avoiding capture.

Charleston was a favorite port destination for blockade runners. As the home of wealthy merchants, plantation owners and businessmen, there was strong demand for luxury items that brought tremendous profits. In the darkest days of the war Charleston residents maintained social activities as much as possible. The city was key target for Union politicians and military leaders. To them it was here the first blow was struck to set a nation at war among itself. The North thirsted for revenge and Charleston was a prize that could bring great political and career rewards to the man who returned it to the Union.

Despite a loose blockade by converted merchant ships, ferry boats and quickly-built gunboats, Charleston was mostly untouched for the first year of the war. The blockade runners amassed fortunes bringing in shiploads of luxury products for the city’s well-to-do while Confederate soldiers went without shoes and proper weapons.

An early joint army-navy operation established a large Union military base at Port Royal, just below Charleston. Ambitious Union army and navy officers now saw Charleston as an objective that would win them and their services glory when they seized it. While politicians clamored for victory, battle-tested officers, like Captain Samuel Du Pont, who led navy operations in the Port Royal victory, were keenly aware that it would take a combined effort to seize the city. In Washington, Secretary of Navy Gideon Welles and his assistant, Admiral Gus Fox wanted an all-navy assault and victory at Charleston. Their goal was to gain worldwide political strength based on a quick and glorious U. S. Navy victory

Officers, sailors and marines assigned to the blockade often found it a boring assignment. Days passed without so much as a sighting, let alone a chase. There was, however, always the hope of catching the big fish – a runner loaded with high value cargo. When such a prize was caught, the crew of the vessel making the capture was entitled to half the value of the ship and cargo. A writer for Harper’s Monthly Magazine described the excitement that came with a capture.

What a life of adventure and watchfulness there was aboard the blockading squadron! What hopes of prize money!

What eager chases of a flying enemy! The chase of a blockade runner was always a scene of intense excitement to every person aboard the federal cruiser.

Pride, patriotism, and pocket were all appealed to. Blockade runners were richly laden, and their capture put half the value of the vessel and cargo into the pockets of their captors. England was very unpopular with Union sailors, for that nation had built and manned many of these illegal traders. It gave the Union seamen great pleasure to know that their captors touched the purses of English merchants.

Admiral John Dahlgren

At the Washington Navy Yard, Captain John A. Dahlgren, the United States Navy’s leading ordnance expert, was also making plans. The Philadelphian headed the Ordnance Bureau quartered at the yard. When war began, the sprawling facility was under the command of a naval officer with southern sympathies. Aware of the commander’s sympathies, Dahlgren secretly recruited a team of loyal Union marines and sailors. He stored a cache of small arms and heavy weapons where they were under his control.

Drawing on extensive Philadelphia political and civic connections, he sent a message to that city’s fire chief, David Lyle, asking for a fire engine to protect the yard. On April 17, Lyle sent one of the city’s new steam fire engines and hose carriage from the Hibernia Fire Company. Eight Philadelphia volunteer firemen went along to man the engine. If there was any attempt to turn the yard over to the Confederates or to burn it, the captain and his men were poised to prevent it. Fortunately, yard commander, Captain Franklin Buchanan, honorably resigned his post and joined the Confederate States Navy.

President Lincoln placed Captain Dahlgren in command of the yard, but without the promotion he so desperately sought. The captain, a widower since 1855, was extremely ambitious, but knew he couldn’t be promoted without combat experience. He wanted a seagoing command worthy of his experience and rank. A friend of Lincoln, Captain Dahlgren repeatedly tried to gain such a position.

Secretary of the Navy Welles had several run-ins with the captain because of Lincoln’s frequent visits to the Navy Yard. There was also an early-in-the-war event in which Lincoln, without telling Welles, gave Dahlgren command of navy and army forces in Washington when the President feared the Confederate ironclad Virginia might sail up the Potomac and shell Washington. Welles was furious about that.

When Lincoln frequently suggested a promotion for his friend, Welles replied he was too valuable in his present position as head of the ordnance bureau and kept him commander of the Washington Navy Yard. Welles was also a firm believer that no one should become an admiral unless he had received the thanks of Congress and had been under fire. Despite President Lincoln’s numerous urgings as the war continued, Welles continued refusing to give Dahlgren a major sea command.

As the war dragged on, the man who knew more than anyone else about naval weapons, and whose name was carried on the popular Dahlgren guns that were aboard every major warship in the U. S. Navy, could not get to sea himself.

Trouble in the Marine Corps

At the same time in Washington, Colonel Commandant John Harris, United States Marine Corps, was pondering the fate of his organization. When the war began, the United States Marine Corps consisted of 1,892 officers and enlisted men. Harris saw more than half of his junior grade officers and enlisted men defect to the Confederacy soon after Fort Sumter was attacked. Shorthanded because of the defections, he also faced the serious problem of desertions among those who remained. Many marines went off to join the Army when the states, cities and federal government began offering bounties for enlistments. A marine with experience was almost certain of a promotion in the newly forming army.

While all the Marine Corps’ field grade officers remained loyal to the Union, the biggest fights they seemed to be involved in were bitter squabbles about who was best prepared to succeed the aging Harris. The colonel was beyond the Corps’ mandatory retirement age and engaged in frequent disagreeable confrontations with his officers. Secretary of Navy Welles, under whose authority the Marine Corps operated, called all of the older officers loggerheads and thought they should all be forced to retire.

Marines had very specific duties as the nation entered the Civil War. Two battalions of marines were formed by Continental Congress in 1775 and fought in the Revolutionary War as naval infantry. These battalions were disbanded at the end of the war. The new United States Congress created the Marine Corps 1796. The Corps’ every move was controlled by the Secretary of Navy and naval officers. Nothing could be purchased, no one could be promoted, nor actions taken by marines without Navy approval. The basic duty was to act, in a sense, as policemen aboard ships. Except for ship’s officers, who liked having marine guards aboard, sailors had little regard for the marines and openly displayed their disdain for them.

Charles Nordhoff ran away from Wheeling, Virginia, at 13 and sought a life at sea. He wrote vivid descriptions of a marine’s life aboard a man of war in an 1855 book. A confirmed bookworm and printer’s apprentice, Nordhoff kept a diary of his exploits aboard the U. S. S. Columbia, which was burned at Norfolk Navy Yard in 1861 to prevent her from falling into Confederate hands. He developed his lengthy diary into Man-O-War Yarns published by Dodd, Mead & Company. Defining shipboard duties he wrote:

The marines act as a body of soldiers, they do duty as sentries in different parts of the vessel and in action are the principal marksmen, being stationed for that purpose in various parts of the vessel, alow and aloft. At sea they are divided into watches, and do duty with the afterguard. Being used as a sort of armed police over the sailors, the latter cordially hate them, and often wreak vengeance upon them for some real or supposed offence. The fact is the marine’s place is not at all an enviable one. Compelled to live with and labor among the crew, it is yet their principal duty to spy out and bring to punishment all offenders against the laws of the vessel. Thus it is that they have become a by-word and a reproach. The name soldier or sojer, as pronounced by your real tar is the most stinging epithet of contempt at the command of a sailor. There is an old saying, messmate before a shipmate, a shipmate before a stranger, a stranger before a dog, but a dog before a soldier, which expresses fully the contempt in which marines are held.

In describing the docking of a warship, he wrote:

No sooner was the anchor down, than the sergeant of marines was busy placing sentries at the gangways, larboard and starboard, and on the bows. The officer of these sentries is to keep off shore boats unless they have special business of which notice is given to the officer on deck; to prevent the smuggling on board of liquor and other contraband articles, and also to act as checks on any attempts on the part of sailors to make their escape from the vessel.

They are on guard day and night, and have a laborious and thankless task of it. Of course, the marines perform their duty.

Herman Melville, in his 1850 novel, White Jacket, or The World in a Man of War, also wrote of the sailors’ low opinion of marines and their duties:

Our marines had no other than martial duty to perform; excepting that at sea they stood watches like sailors and now and then lazily assisted in pulling the ropes. But they never put foot in the rigging or hand on the tar bucket. On quarter-bills these men were stationed at none of the great guns; on the station bills they had no posts at the ropes.

What then where they for? To serve their country in time of battle? Let us see. When a ship is running into action, her marines generally lie flat on their faces behind the bulwarks (the sailors are sometimes ordered to do the same), and when the vessel is fairly engaged, they are usually in the ship’s waist – like a company reviewing in the Park. At close quarters, their muskets may pick off a seaman or two in the rigging, but at long-gun distance they stand in their ranks and are decimated at the enemy’s leisure. Only one case in ten, that is when their vessel is attempted to be boarded by a large party, are the marines of any essential service as fighting men; with their bayonet they are called upon to repel!

If comparatively so useless as soldiers, why have marines at all in the Navy? Know then that what standing armies are to nations, what turnkeys are to jails, these marines are to the seamen in all large men-of-war. Their muskets are their keys. With those muskets they stand guard over the fresh water; over the grog, when doled; over the provisions, while being served out by the Master’s mate; over the brig or jail; at the Commodore’s and Captain’s doors and in port at gangways and forecastle.

Secretary Welles voiced serious doubts about the marines, questioning if they had a place in the changing Navy. Soon after the war began he wrote:

There has been divided opinion among naval officers in regard to maintaining a distinct organization of marines for service on ships-of-war, even before the great change which the service has undergone by the introduction steamers with their corps of engineers, firemen and attendants. An incongruity attaches to the system, for the marines are partly under Army laws and regulations, and partly under the Navy code. On shore they are paid by a Marine paymaster, on shipboard by a Navy paymaster. They are subsisted on the Army ration on shore, while on shipboard they have Navy rations. Consequently the condition of the marine varies from shore to ship or ship to shore as they may be employed.

Congress, however, agreed that the Marine Corps was worth saving and appropriated funds to raise the corps strength to 3,167 officers and men. A battalion from Washington Marine Barracks was engaged in the first battle at Bull Run under the command of Major John G. Reynolds. Reynolds was seen by other officers as the logical man to replace Harris with whom he often exchanged barbed letters that sometime bordered on insubordination.

With new life breathed into the corps, Harris embarked on a recruiting program. Advertising was placed in newspapers in major cities and an enlistment bounty offered. Recruiters were told to enlist good looking young effective American citizens not less than 5 feet, 5 inches in height. Commanders at all Marine Barracks were ordered to enlist 100 men and train them as quickly as possible. By the end of 1861 Harris reported to Secretary Welles that he now had the U. S. Marines Corps just shy of 3,000 men on ships, at navy yards, and in barracks or undergoing training.

1862

The war was not going well for the Union. Bull Run had been a disaster and there were few victories for the Union Army to brag about. Politicians were scheming against each other. Greedy men with political contacts were getting richer through shoddy materials that were produced for an army dangerously untrained and inexperienced. In Europe, Great Britain and France watched with interest and with some glee as the United States faced possibility of being divided permanently. France’s mischievous moves began in Mexico with an eye on the southwest territory and the British saw the possibility acquiring a portion of the northwest, going so far as sending troops into western Canada.

President Lincoln, aware of threats in the west, assumed command of the war there. While Army and Navy commanders planned campaigns to keep the Mississippi River open, President Lincoln was getting information from an unlikely source who pointed that out Mississippi River efforts would prove futile and costly without other actions implemented.

Anna Ella Carroll was an accomplished journalist from a prominent and powerful Maryland family. She had devoted her writing to Union causes and was instrumental in keeping the state from joining the Confederacy. She gained Lincoln’s attention with persuasive pamphlets and newspaper articles on the President’s war powers and his authority to suspend habeas corpus in wartime. She had a brilliant mind and was deeply interested in military operations.

Miss Carroll, at her own expense and with blessings of the War Department, undertook a trip to St. Louis where she studied Confederate Mississippi River defenses. She interviewed dozens of steamboat captains and river pilots. Her intelligence work convinced her that it would be difficult to keep the Mississippi open. She devised a strategy of attacking directly into the heart of the Confederacy by using the Tennessee River.

No military officer had thus far considered such a plan. She concluded that any Confederate success in both the west and the Potomac campaigns depended on one major artery for movement of troops and supplies. That artery was the important Memphis-Charleston Railroad, and no Union military leader had declared this railroad’s importance.

When her highly detailed battle plan reached Lincoln he was awed by her thoroughness and immediately set her plan in motion. While highly complementary of Miss Carroll’s work among his staff, he made sure his military officers didn’t know the plan was the work of a woman. He took the credit for himself.

Meanwhile, in the east, the Confederates had salvaged the half-burned Merrimac at the Norfolk Navy Yard and turned her into an ironclad monster they named the Virginia, and she wreaked havoc on Union wooden ships. Navy Secretary Gideon Welles was slow to grasp the importance ironclad ships would play in this war and was now rushing to catch up.

To come up with a design for an ironclad ship, Welles created a board that ultimately couldn’t agree on a single design and three different ironclads were ordered. The Monitor, New Ironsides and Galena were hurriedly built. The Union ironclad Monitor was completed first and rushed south to engage the Confederate’s rebuilt Merrimac in a James River shootout that left the Virginia badly damaged.

Secretary Welles’ assistant, Admiral Gustavus V. Fox, along with most Union politicians and northern newspaper editors, caught Monitor Fever and began pushing for more costly, though still-unproven ironclad warships.

The Union needed a significant victory and the capture of Charleston, where the war began, would be a stunning defeat for the Confederates. Fox convinced Welles that one monitor-type ship could steam past Fort Sumter without damage and then force Charleston to surrender. Fox neglected to tell his boss something important. Most of the battle-seasoned captains were wary of these ships and questioned their ability to effectively operate in the Charleston channel and harbor which was now rigged with nets, electric mines and floating torpedoes.

Newly promoted Rear Admiral Samuel Du Pont commanded the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and was responsible for sealing the coastlines of South Carolina, Georgia and eastern Florida. At first his converted ships had little success. Gradually the number of successful blockade runners reaching and leaving most ports was reduced. However, Charleston’s well-off were still getting plenty of foreign food, wines, textiles and whatever else money could induce the blockade runners to bring them.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee, military commander in South Carolina, Georgia and eastern Florida, strengthened Charleston’s defenses and secured railroad lines into the city from Savannah. Even another disastrous fire in late 1861 did not cause the City of Fire’s residents to be disheartened. Hundreds of acres of homes, commercial and civic buildings were destroyed. As their ashes cooled, food, money and support poured into the city from across the South.

More specially designed blockade runner ships were being financed by European syndicates. The word was out that just one or two successful runs through the Union fleet by such a ship would pay for the ship and provide the owners with a handsome profit, even if it was captured or sunk later. Syndicates knew that even with the Union’s improved blockading methods, few runners were ever captured on their first attempt.

Fort Sumter remained an imposing threat to any Union ship that tried to run past her into Charleston. Sumter and the several other Confederate forts guarding the harbor were able to bring 200 heavy guns to bear on any ship that ventured within range. Sleek, ghostlike blockade runners, with their gray paint blending with the fog and mist, silently maneuvered through the blockade and came under protection of Confederate guns.

Union officers were frustrated time and again when the sun rose and they trained their glasses on Charleston and saw neutral ships safely at anchor under cover of Sumter’s guns. Wharves that were empty the night before were bustling with activity as the ships were unloaded and then reloaded with cotton for a night trip out of the harbor.

Captain Dahlgren, still frustrated at his inability to gain a sea post, openly fumed to the President. Lincoln was fascinated by weapons of all sorts and visited with him often, and was well aware of his frustration. In talks with Secretary Welles, the President made it known several times that he’d readily approve a promotion for Dahlgren if the secretary would offer it. Welles, who had repeatedly made it clear that major commands would be given only to those who had been under fire, deftly sidestepped the President’s continuing hints.

Dahlgren continued making plans for himself getting a command that would pave the way for promotion. To him, it appeared that Monitor Fever might be the cure. The big problem with the new ironclads was the lack of and reliability of firepower, and he reminded his friends that no Union naval officer knew more about naval ordnance than he did.

Ulric Dahlgren, one of the admiral’s sons, was not frustrated. He was already a Philadelphia lawyer at 18 and received a commission in the Union Army. He served with distinction in several staff posts and had also been befriended by Lincoln. The Admiral was proud and determined that this son would one day be a general.

Colonel Harris, frustrated by bickering within the Marine Corps ranks, brought charges against Major Reynolds for sending him a letter that virtually challenged the Commandant to a duel. In May, most Marine Corps’ senior officers were attending the trial that lasted 12 days. Fifty miles away the largest amphibious operation of the war got underway in the Peninsular Campaign. The Marine Corps missed a chance to become what it eventually became – an amphibious battle force.

Not all marines were fighting among themselves. In May, Corporal John F. Mackie was stationed aboard the new ironclad monitor Galena. She was part of a naval group headed up the James River to Richmond with intentions to shell the city into capitulation. Eight miles below the city small fleet encountered Confederate obstructions it couldn’t get through. High above them on Drewry’s Bluff the gunners at Fort Darling began firing at the stalled fleet. Corporal Mackie rallied the ships’ Marine Guard onto the exposed deck and manned the ship’s guns. President Lincoln awarded him the Medal of Honor, the first for a U.S. Marine.

CHAPTER 1

Mary Leaman read the story of Marine Corps Corporal John Mackie’s bravery to her younger brother who listened with interest and excitement. Paging through a May, 1862 Lancaster Express newspaper after Sis had gone to bed Charley found a recruitment advertisement from the U. S. Marine Corps on the same page as the story. He took the newspaper to his room and put it in a chest drawer.

That was six months ago and now, as he tossed restlessly, the newspaper with the advertisement was on the table next to his bed. Outside, the December wind blew as the chill of winter was punctuated by hail against the window. Charley was taking stock of his situation as he tried to sleep. His oldest brother, Will, was now a lawyer in Lancaster and was too sickly to serve in an army that was losing more men to disease than to bullets. Henry was in Philadelphia setting up a medical practice and planned to join the Union medical service. Older brother, John, enlisted as second lieutenant in Company F of the 122nd Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers in August. Since the start of the war Sis was actively engaged in the work of the Patriotic Women of Lancaster, and was spending her weekends in the city aiding the war effort.

Now that the harvest was completed and winter had settled in, Charley was ready to make his move. About to turn 16, but looking older, he had listened to war stories long enough. Last night he had taken the Marine Corps advertisement and some coins from his drawer, laid out his winter clothes and went to bed. He had not slept.

Wind whipped across the field where the rows of corn stalk stubble gave windblown snowflakes a place to collect into small piles. Now the piles quickly expanded into a covering of white and the blanket stretched between the stately stone farmhouse and the railroad station where Charley hunched against the swirling flakes. The tall, well-built and handsome youth lingered at the side of the freight shed being careful to stay out of view of the house.

The hissing, steaming locomotive was just several yards from him, ready to pull the six passenger and freight cars away from the snow-covered platform at Leaman Place station. Philadelphia was 50 miles to the east, and Charley knew the next few hours were crucial to his plan. His sister often watched as the trains came into and left Leaman Place. He waited until he saw the conductor climb the steps of the last car and wave a go ahead to the engineer. Then he made a dash to the train.

The engine slowly chugged past him and as the first passenger car rolled by Charley leaped onto the steps. The train started to move faster as he quickly climbed onto the slippery platform and pushed the car door open. He felt the eyes of all the passengers on him as he entered the car, slid into the first row of seats and hunkered down into the green velvet-covered bench. Charley had been awake all night thinking of this moment and had arisen early to do his morning chores. The rattle of the train wheels and rocking of the cars lulled him into sleep as the train neared the Welsh Mountain village of Gap.

Tickets! The word came softly into his ear as Charley felt a hand on his shoulder.

Awakened from his short sleep, his widened eyes began to focus. The conductor was staring down at him and Charley saw surprise on the trainman’s chubby face. It was Amos Wright, a local jack of all trades and handyman who often helped in farm chores. Amos did a lot of work for his father.

Well, good morning, Charley. What a surprise to see you headed to the city so early, Amos said, his face stony, and eyes set on the obviously uncomfortable youth.

Morning, Mr. Wright, Charley said sheepishly. I didn’t know you worked on the railroad, too.

Takes a lot to feed the family with these high wartime prices. Have to do whatever it takes, the conductor replied.

Charley dug into his coat pocket and held out the 78 cents he had taken from his drawer. What’s the fare to Philadelphia these days?

Amos smiled. I think that will cover it. But I’ll tell you what, Charley. My son told me what you’re up to just before he went and joined up. I know about your previous attempt to enlist. If your father finds out, I’ll probably be fired, but so be it, son. If I didn’t have this gimpy leg, I’d be doing the same. God bless you, Charley. Come home safe.

Amos turned and walked back through the car. Charley leaned back in the seat and blew a soft whehhhh through his pursed lips. Then he drifted off into sleep.

He was startled awake when the train lurched to a stop at small station in Chester County near Duffy’s Cut that his father often talked about. He had helped engineer the hand-dug route through the mountains where it was said the ghosts of dozens of Irishmen were sometimes seen walking along the railroad tracks. The story was that 58 men had been recruited in Philadelphia to come here to work on the railroad as it was being built in 1832. It was dangerous work because the Chester County residents, like most natives didn’t like Irish immigrants and made that clear to them with verbal and physical abuse.

Shortly after arriving in the county all 58 men were dead, reportedly from the dreaded cholera epidemic that had spread through the world. Father suspected some may have been victims of retaliation by locals who blamed them for bringing the disease with them. Most of the bodies were dumped into a mass grave dug along the railroad tracks. Charley looked from the window and shuddered as he wondered if the train might be stopped above their remains. He drifted off as the train left the station, unaware that