TUCKER, GEORGE. 



TYBEE ISLAND. 



The lieutenant then went to the gangway 

 where his boats were, the commissioners going 

 at the same time to their state rooms on the 

 next deck below, followed by Captain Moir 

 and by the other'pa^seiiL'ers. The lieutenant re- 

 turned with a party of his men, a portion of 

 whom were armed with side-arms, and others, 

 appearing to be a squad of marines, having 

 muskets and bayonets. Mr. Slidell was in his 

 room immediately by and in full view. 

 The lieutenant then said to Mr. Mason that, 

 having his force now present, he hoped to 

 be relieved from the necessity of calling it 

 into actual use. The gentleman again answered 

 that he would only submit to actual force 

 greater than he could overcome, when the lieu- 

 tenant, and several of his men, by his order, 

 took hold of him, and in a manner and in num- 

 bers sufficient to make resistance fruitless ; and 

 Mr. Slidell joining the group at the same time, 

 one or more of the armed party took like hold 

 of him, and those gentlemen at once went into 

 the boat. 



One account say?, an exciting scene took 

 place between Mr. Slidell, his eldest daughter, 

 a noble girl devoted to her father, and Lieuten- 

 ant Fairfax. With flashing eyes and quivering 

 lips, she threw herself in the doorway of the 

 cabin where her father was, resolved to defend 

 him. with her life, till, on the order being given 

 ta the marines to advance, which they did with 

 bayonets pointed at this poor defenceless girl, 

 her farher ended the painful scene by escaping 

 from the cabin by a window, when he was im- 

 mediately seized by the marines and hurried 

 into the boat. The commissioners were taken 

 by the San. Jacinto to Fort Warren, in Boston 

 harbor, where they remained as prisoners. 



A most intense excitement was aroused in 

 England upon the arrival of the news of the 

 transaction. Preparations for war with the 

 United States were commenced, troops were 

 sent to Canada, and a formal demand was made 

 for the surrender of the commissioners, and an 

 apology for the act by the Government. (See 

 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE.) 



A vote of thanks to Captain Wilkes passed 

 the House of Representatives subsequently, but 

 the authorities at Washington sent instructions 

 to the commandant at Fort Warren to deliver 

 the Confederate commissioners to the represent- 

 atives of the British Government. They were, 

 therefore, quietly placed on board of a small 

 steamer and taken to an English steam vessel at 

 anchor near Provincetown, some distance from 

 Boston. In her they were conveyed to the 

 island of St. Thomas, and thence by the line of 

 steam packets took passage to England, where 

 they safely arrived, and were landed without 

 any special official attention. 



TUCKER. GEORGE. A Virginian jurist, born 

 in 1775. died 1861. He was elected to Con- 

 gress in 1819, from the district composed of the 

 counties of Pittsylvania, Halifax, and Campbell, 

 at that time one of the twenty-two districts of 

 Virginia. While in Congress. Mr. Tucker oc- 



cupied a high position as a debater and a con- 

 stitutional lawyer, and his constituent- ii:aiii- 

 fested their appreciation of his merit- 

 electing him in 1821 and 1823. In 1825. he- 

 retired from C" ::ocept the Pn : 

 ship of Law in the University of Virginia, 

 which position he filled for a number of years. 

 In his retirement from public life. I'r< 

 Tucker continued to render himself useful to 

 his countrymen by the preparation of several 

 works, the most important of which were a 

 Life of Jefferson, and a Political History of the 

 United States. 



TYBEE ISLAND. Tybee Island \a in Ty- 

 bee Bay, on the south side of the entrance to 

 Savannah River, in Georgia. The Savannah 

 River is the dividing line between the States 

 of South Carolina and Georgia. This island is 

 southward of the bar, and about twenty miles 

 southwest of Port Royal. It is one of the chain 

 of sea islands which stretch all along the coast 

 of Georgia and the adjoining States. The isl- 

 and is small, not as large as Port Royal Island. 

 Cockspur Island lies immediately to the north 

 of it, on which is situated Fort Pulaski a very 

 strong work, that defends the entrance to the 

 Savannah River, and the defensive ontpost of 

 the city of Savannah itself. Tybee Island has 

 been notable chiefly with mariners on account 

 of its light-house, (Tybee Light,) one of the 

 most prominent on the Southern coast. It 

 was a fixed light, 108 feet above the sea, 

 on the northeast end of the island, and in clear 

 weather it might be seen at the distance of sis- 

 teen miles. This beacon was extinguished by 

 the Georgians shortly after they had seceded 

 from the Union. Tybee is long, narrow, and 

 somewhat marshy, in the coast county of Chat- 

 ham, and in climate and scenery is very much like 

 Port Royal and the other Carolina sea islands. 

 A small amount of sea island cotton is raised 

 upon it, and its inhabitants are few. It has a 

 beautiful creek to the west of it, where a ship 

 of any burden may lie at anchor in perfect 

 safety. 



On the 26th of November, General Sherman, 

 from the Port Royal expedition, determined to 

 make a reconnoissance of the island, and landed 

 with a small party. They discovered, on the 

 point of land reaching out beyond the light- 

 house, a fortification which had apparently been 

 deserted for about eight days. It was a mere 

 redan with flanking curtains, and had been 

 mounted with not more than four or five guns. 

 These had been moved. Behind it was a mar- 

 tello tower, with embrasures, altogether unfit 

 for use. The light-house was deserted, and no 

 trace of occupation discovered anywhere in its 

 vicinity. The island is about two miles wide 

 by five long, and its nearest point is distant 

 only about a mile from Fort Pulaski. The light- 

 house and battery are on the opposite corner 

 from the fort. G'eneral Sherman, with an es- 

 cort of marines, having examined the lower 

 and deserted battery, approached the point of 

 the island nearest to the fort, and was honored 



