208 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



bombard the city. He bombarded Tuxpan, also, and was wounded severely in 

 the arm by stray shrapnel; consequently he had to return home to recuperate 

 (1847). Sent to the coast of Cuba, where American ships were filibustering, 

 he found that attempts would be made by an American naval commander to 

 release captured American ships in possession of Spanish war-ships on the high 

 seas. Tattnall, realizing that this meant war, so informed the governor general 

 of Cuba, who ordered that all American vessels taken into Cuban ports should 

 be held there and not brought over to Havana harbor. Thus the clash of naval 

 vessels was averted. His course was warmly applauded by his government. 

 In 1857 he was ordered to take charge of the China squadron a well-warranted 

 tribute to his diplomacy. Ordered to take the new American minister to Pekin, 

 he was a witness of the English and French attack on the Chinese forts at the 

 mouth of the Pei-ho. In this battle he took a more active part than strict neu- 

 trality warranted, but his explanation, "blood is thicker than water," was accepted 

 by our government. He shortly afterward returned to the United States, where 

 he received many honors. 



In February 1861, Georgia having seceded, Tattnall resigned from the navy 

 of the United States, reported to the governor of Georgia, and was placed in defense 

 of the waters of South Carolina and Georgia. In this capacity he fought the naval 

 battle of Port Royal harbor and was defeated by the greater force of the enemy. 

 He continued to attack the squadron blockading the Savannah river, erected 

 batteries, and hindered as he could the operation of the Federal naval forces. 

 After the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac (the latter commanded 

 by Franklin Buchanan, who was wounded), he was given command of the Con- 

 federate fleet at Norfolk, with directions to hoist his flag on the Virginia (i.e., the 

 Merrimac). This he did, but was unable to fight his ship and, finally, when the 

 Federals captured the Norfolk navy yard, he burned her. He was court-martialed 

 for the act and acquitted. Sent to defend Savannah harbor, he set to work to 

 make a fleet, but this he had to destroy (January 1865) when Savannah was cap- 

 tured. After the war he resided for four years in Halifax, but lack of funds made 

 it necessary for him to return to Savannah, where the post of inspector of the 

 port was created for him (1870). He died June 14, 1871. 



Tattnall was fearless. As a mere lad he helped salvage the grounded barge 

 of the enemy under the guns of the enemy's fleet. When his captain found a cap- 

 tured American ship, the Federal, in the port at St. Bartholomew, it was Tattnall 

 who undertook to row to the vessel, which lay right under the guns of the fort, 

 to hoist her sails and weigh anchor. Just then the midnight exploit was detected 

 by the garrison of the fort, whose cannonading, however, came too late to be 

 effective. Being denounced for this act by an American filibuster, who threat- 

 ened him with "chastisement at sight," Tattnall "sought the threatener, who 

 then fled at sight of him and went into hiding." When he brought Santa Anna 

 to Vera Cruz and noticed the hostile troops that threatened Santa Anna, Tattnall 

 took his arm and walked with him to the hotel. The mob was so impressed by 

 the boldness of the act that the idea of assassination was replaced by enthusiastic 

 welcome. "Tattnall knew the danger, but danger seemed always a welcome 

 guest to him." Similar courage was shown by his father, also, as when, at the 

 age of 18 years, he left his loyalist father in England and disobediently returned 

 to America to fight on the colonial side, and as when, after the war, he organized 

 militia bands to quell Indian troubles in Georgia. 



