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