The End of the Confederacy and the Confederate Naval Academy-- Part 1

Even though the Confederate States Naval Academy (CSNA) is Navy, I will write about it here as the cadets at the end of the war were land-based.

From Wikipedia.

In the spring of 1865, as the fall of Richmond grew more likely, Secretary Mallory made the decision to relocate the school further into the interior of what was left of the Confederacy, North or South Carolina or even Georgia.   Lt. Graves was sent to find a suitable site.    Nowhere was found and Superintendent  William H. Parker rented a warehouse in Richmond and the midshipmen made preparations to sink their school ship, the CSS Patrick Henry as an obstruction in the James River.

On the afternoon of April 2, as Richmond was being evacuated, Lt. Parker received orders to report to the quartermaster of the Confederate Army and to escort President Jefferson Davis, his party, the Confederate  archives and treasury south.  Parker took 50 of his midshipmen for this task and left  Lt. James W. Billips and 10 more to set fire to and destroy the Patrick Henry.  They succeeded in this, but never succeeded in catching up with the others.

The main group guarded the train with the treasury, consisting of $500,000 which was to be used setting up  a new government seat in Danville, Virginia.  Midshipman Raphael Semmes, Jr. was detailed to the staff of his father, Admiral Raphael Semmes.  Midshipman Clifton Rodes Breckinridge was detailed to the staff as an aide to his father,  Confederate States Secretary of War, John C. Breckinridge.

--Old Secesh

Mulberry Island Point Battery and Land's End Battery

These are by Fort Crafford, Virginia.

The Confederate Engineer Bureau was asked in 1862 to compile a list of fortifications in the Confederacy.  Part of their March 12, 1862, report to Secretary of War Judah Benjamin said  that the Mulberry island Point Battery had five 42-pdr. guns mounted en barbette and two 8-inch Columbiads enroute to the site.  Fifteen casemates building rapidly and a large covering work nearby (Fort Crafford) nearly completed.

There is also a map of Fort Huger & Mulberry Point Battery with soundings.  This was made by  Confederate Engineers.  This is available at Amazon for $15.

I have been unable to find out anything about the Land's End Battery, the 2-gun battery that North American Forts mentions might have been built.

--Old Secesh

Fort Crafford, Va.-- Part 4: Never Saw Action

The Mulberry Point Battery, on the north side of the island, was a water battery erected to guard the Swash Channel on the James River.  It was a complement to Fort Huger on the south side of the river.

In 1862 and enclosed earthwork covering approximately eight acres was constructed near the battery to protect it from land attack and to be a refuge in case the Minor Farm Line was overrun.

This new fort was eventually called Fort Crafford (sometimes confused with the name Crawford) after the name of the family that owned the land.  The house itself was inside the fort.Since this new fort was about a half mile from the Warwick Line, it was not considered a part of it

Confederates withdrew from the fort in May 1862 with the approach of McClellan's troops.  The fort never saw action.

The foundation of the Crafford House was investigated in the 1970s.  The brick and mortar foundation is now surrounded with a fence.  Other archaeological investigations have found three sites within the fort with artifacts dating to the 1600s.

--Old Secesh

Fort Crawford (Va.)-- Part 3: Fort Crafford?

The first place I read about this fort referred to it as Fort Crawford, but I was unable to find out anything about it in search other than a Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin.  Evidently, it is actually Fort Crafford, taking its name from the family that owned the land where the fort was built.

From Wikipedia.

Fort Crawford was a pentagonal earthwork built 1862 and became part of the Confederacy's Warwick Line established to thwart Union soldiers coming up the Virginia Peninsula from Fort Monroe.  It was the James River terminus of the line and included fortifications at Lee's Mill as well as Dam No. 1 and Wynne's Mill in Newport News Park.  This line extended to the York River to the north.

--Old Secesh

Fort Crawford (Va.)-- Part 2: Evacuated With McClellan's Approach and the Stolen Commission

From various sources.

Confederates under Gen. John B. Magruder fortified the James River shore to deter Union ships from proceeding upriver and attacking Richmond.

In 1861 they built Fort Crawford on Mulberry Island and it was abandoned a year later as Union Gen. McClellan and his 125,000 troops approached.

One of the families on the island were the Greens.  Their son Bennett Green had become a surgeon in the Confederate Navy.  Homes left abandoned by Southerners on the island were ransacked by Union troops.  One man found Bennett's commission and took it as a souvenir, but years later returned it to the Green family.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion Group-- The Peninsula Campaign-- Part 1

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table of  Illinois met at Panera Bread Co. on Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake on Saturday June 25, 2016.  The topic of discussion was the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.

Some of the things discussed:

McClellan organized a very messed up Union Army after he took command after the First Battle of Bull Run.  Joe Johnston did much the same for the Confederate Army, which despite its victory at that battle was also very disorganized and a reason it did not pursue the defeated Federals.

**  The Army of the Potomac bonded with McClellan and it became "his" army.

**  Johnston and President Davis became enemies.  Davis really wanted to be a field general (with his military background) and secretary of war for the Confederacy more than he wanted to be its president.

**  McClellan chose the Virginia Peninsula between the York and James rivers instead of attacking overland from the north because of the rivers.  he figured that the Union Navy could then protect his flanks and deliver goods.

--Old Secesh

150 Years Ago: Battle of Smithfield, Virginia-- Part 1

I mentioned this on my February 1st post in my Civil War Navy Blog, Running the Blockade.

This battle took place February 1, 1864. I'd never heard of the Battle of Smithfield before (nor did I even know there was a town by that name in Virginia).

I found this article in the Jan. 31, 2014, Hampton Roads (Va.) Daily Press "Hampton Roads History: Cannon fire thunders down Main Street 150 years ago in fiery Battle of Smithfield" by Mark St. John Erickson.

During the Civil War, the Union ships blockading the Hampton Roads area were often fired on from shore while they patrolled. This battle was a result of those actions.

In late January 1864, the near-grounding of a Union vessel from these shots from the James River bank caused four gunboats, two armed Navy launches and detachments of infantry, cavalry and artillery to land at Smithfield and Chuckaluck on January 31st for a two-pronged sweep along the banks to help eliminate this Confederate practice.

More to Come. --Old Secesh

Civil War Archaeology at Jamestown

From the April 28th Virginia Gazette "Jamestown looks at Civil War digs" by Steve Vaughan.

Archaeological work is planned this summer at a Civil War-era fort and bomb shelter at historic Jamestowne.  Work will also be done at what is believed to have been barracks.  This in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Williamsburg in May.

Fort Pochahontas was one of five fortifications built on the island during the war.  It was built by Captain William Allen's troops and slaves in April of 1861.  At times, as many as 1,200 Confederates were stationed here before it was evacuated in May 1862.

The fort was supposed to protect Richmond from Union movements up the James River.  Artifacts have been recovered from the site and a collapsed 12-by-18-foot bomb shelter was also located.  The fort and earthworks were first uncovered in 2004.

A Historical Fort At a Historical Site.  --Old Secesh

Looking for the Cumberland and Florida-- Part 1

From the June 27th Daily Press.

Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Navy had a two-day expedition to survey the remains of two famous Civil War ships resting on the bottom of the lower James River in Virginia.

Using sonar technology, data will be retrieved and 3-D maps made of the USS Cumnerland, which was sunk off Newport News Point by the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia during the March 8-9 Battle of Hampton Roads. The Cumberland, a frigate mounting 50 guns, sank with over 120 crew members and is protected by federal law as a war grave.

The same will also be done for the Confederate captured commerce raider CSS Florida which was sunk November 19, 1864, after a collision with a Navy troop ferry.

Sunken Ships Always a Big Interest of Mine. --Old B-Runner

Confederate Fort Huger-- Part 1

From the Historical Marker database.

In 1861, Confederate engineer Col. Andrew Talcott surveyed several defensive positions along the James River to protect Richmond, including Harden's Bluff and the nearby Fort Boykin. He selected Harden's Bluff and construction on Fort Huger, named for Confederate General Benjamin Huger, commander of the Department of Norfolk.

Slaves and free blacks constructed it under direction of the Confederate Engineer Bureau.

Detachments of Lt. Col. Fletcher Archer's 5th Virginia Infantry were posted here and by August 1861, several guns were in place. By March 1862, the fort mounted 13 guns: 1 ten-inch Columbiad, 4 nine-inch Dahlgrens, 2 8-inch Columbiads and 6 32-pdr naval hot shot guns.

Next, the Peninsular Campaign. --Old B-Runner

Butler's Dredge Boat-- Part 1

Shorpy's pictures today had one of the wreck of the dredge boat being used by General Benjamin Butler to dig the Dutch Gap Canal to bypass Confederate batteries on the James River in 1864.

It was sunk by a Confederate shell on Thanksgiving Day, 1864. I was unable to find out its name.

One thing I like about Shorpy is where you can view the photograph full size, up close and personal. This way you an look for detail.

Across the James River from the wreck, on a bluff, is a Union lookout tower. Plus, you can see monitors in the river, perhaps as many as three, or perhaps two if one of them is a double turret. Two Union soldiers are standing by the wreck near shore on some wooden planks.

But, Wait, There's More. --B-R'er