668 



NAVY, U. S., OPERATIONS OF. 



On January 14th the screw steam gunboat, 

 Columbia, Lieutenant Joseph O. Couthouoy, 

 while cruising between Federal Point and 

 Masonboro' inlet, was wrecked on the bar 

 off the latter place, and, before assistance 

 could be procured from her consorts, was too 

 much broken up by the sea to be got off. On 

 the afternoon of the 15th, the Penobscot 

 anchored near her, and by means of a surf-line 

 succeeded in rescuing about thirty of the crew ; 

 but a heavy gale setting in at nightfall, she 

 was obliged to run to sea again. Early the 

 next morning several rebel shore-batteries 

 opened upon the Columbia, and later in the 

 day the Penobscot, Cambridge, and Genesee 

 approached her. The surf was too high, how- 

 ever, to enable them to render any assistance 

 to Lieutenant Couthouoy, who, being helpless 

 against the fire of the enemy, was compelled, in 

 the afternoon, to surrender the remaining of- 

 ficers and crew, forty in number. He had pre- 

 viously spiked and thrown overboard his guns, 

 drowned the powder in his magazines, and 

 destroyed his signals. 



On the morning of March 14th, an attack 

 was made by the troops under General D. 

 H. Hill upon Fort Anderson, an unfinished 

 earthwork on the left bank of the Neuse, op- 

 posite Newbern, which was garrisoned by a 

 single regiment of volunteers. The fort had 

 no guns mounted, and the troops in Newbern 

 were unable to render assistance. The gun- 

 boats Hunchback and Hetzel, however, as- 

 sisted by the Shawsheen and some smaller ves- 

 sels, came promptly to the rescue, and by a well 

 directed fire silenced the enemy's artillery, con- 

 sisting of 14 pieces, and by compelling the re- 

 treat of Hill saved the fort. A nine-inch shell 

 from the Hetzel dismounted and broke a 

 Parrott gun, and killed and wounded a num- 

 ber of rebels. The enemy were followed and 

 harassed in their retreat up the Neuse river 

 by several light-draught vessels. 



During the attack on Suffolk, Virginia, in 

 the latter half of April, the small fleet of 

 U. S. gunboats on the Nansemond took a 

 distinguished part. On -the 14th the Mount 

 Washington, Stepping Stones, and Commo- 

 dore Barney, the first named being at. the 

 time disabled, succeeded, with but slight loss, 

 in silencing a fonnidable battery ; and on the 

 10th Lieut. R. H. Lamson, with the Stepping 

 Stones, aided the land forces under General 

 in capturing a battery of five gnns, man- 

 ned by 161 men. These exploits are noticed 

 under ARMY OPERATIONS. 



The part taken by the navy during the in- 

 v.-fment of Washington, N. C., by General 

 Hill, in March and April, being in intimate 

 connection with the operations of the army, 

 is de*cri!>iil under that head. 



In June and July a number of small gun- 

 boats cooperated in the exprditions up the 

 York, I'amunkey, and, Mattapony rivers under- 

 taken for the purpose of occupying West Point 

 and threatening Richmond. There were also 



during the year joint army and navy expedi- 

 tions, chiefly in the nature of reconoissances, 

 np the James, Piankatank, Ware, and other riv- 

 ers of Virginia, and among the inlets between 

 the York and the Rappahannock, most of which 

 were attended by substantial successes. Similar 

 operations were conducted at various times 

 along the shallow sounds and inlets of North 

 Carolina, and in the Roanoke and Chowan 

 rivers. 



During the latter half of the year, and par- 

 ticularly after the harbor at Charleston had 

 been rendered inaccessible to blockade run- 

 ners, Wilmington became the chief port of re- 

 sort on the Atlantic coast for vessels of this 

 class. The addition to the blockading fleet of 

 several swift steamers, newly built at the na- 

 tional yards, or captured, greatly increased the 

 risk of entering the Cape Fear river, by either 

 inlet, and, in consequence, many valuable 

 prizes were taken, and nearly as many vessels 

 were driven ashore and destroyed. Although 

 the enemy professed to receive constant sup- 

 plies from abroad, through this source, captur- 

 ed documents written by persons engaged in 

 blockade running showed that, in fact, very 

 few of the vessels which attempted to run in 

 succeeded in making the port. Many, also, 

 upon arriving off Wilmington, and seeing how 

 vigilant were the national cruisers, put back to 

 the ports from which they had sailed, or kept 

 further down the coast in the expectation of 

 landing their cargoes in some obscure inlet. 

 The hardships and perils encountered by the 

 blockading squadron, whose station comprised 

 one of the most inhospitable portions of the 

 Atlantic coast, were cheerfully borne by officers 

 and crews ; but too often their well-deserved 

 prize money was snatched from their grasp af- 

 ter they had driven vessels ashore, by the ac- 

 tivity displayed by the enemy in destroying 

 such vessels, or removing their cargoes. Two 

 exploits, evincing the energy and daring of the 

 fleet, are worthy of being recorded. 



On July 12th the Penobscot, Lieut. Com- 

 mander De Haven succeeded, after a short chase, 

 in driving the iron steamer Kate ashore on 

 Smith's Island, where she was immediately 

 deserted by her officers and crew. A boat 

 was sent in to get her off, but, as the tide was 

 falling, this was found impossible, and arrange- 

 ments were made to burn her, should the at- 

 tempt to float her off at high water prove in- 

 effectual. At noon a battery was brought to 

 the beach by the rebels, the fire from which 

 drove out the party from the Penobscot. 

 Under these circumstances, the Kate was or- 

 dered to be set on fire by shells, and was ren- 

 dered, as was supposed, totally unserviceable, 

 together with her cargo. Upon the departure 

 of the Penobscot the enemy immediately 

 stripped the Kate, and on the night of the 

 81st succeeded in floating her off, the damage 

 to her hull proving to be slight. On the 

 morning of August 1st, she was discovered on 

 her way to Fort Fisher, on Federal Point, the 



