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the exact number of "passengers" that started in the boat. On Friday evening, June 28th, the St. Nicholas, a side-wheel steamboat of about 1,200 tons, regularly plying between Baltimore and Georgetown, D.C., touching at regular points on the Potomac, received on board a very quiet, demure, rather passé lady, with a French accent and rather masculine features; but reserved in deportment, and rather uneasy as to the time the boat would reach Washington. In all other respects the "French lady's" behavior attracted no attention. The "passengers." booked for different stopping places, dispersed themselves about the boat, holding but little conversation among themselves and none whatever with the French lady. The officers of the boat observed nothing peculiar in the conduct of any of the passengers, and certainly nothing in that of the "lady." The boat proceeded on her course, with no occurrence worthy of note, until the landing at Point Lookout was made, when two more passengers" came aboard, one of these an "elderly-looking" man. With nothing to attract attention, that "elderly-looking" passenger took his position on deck in rear of the ladies' cabin, giving apparently more attention to the weather, the water, or the skies, than to the boat or her passengers.

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Upon casting-off from the wharf at Point Lookout, the St. Nicholas headed up stream for Washington, and when a mile or so from the wharf there might be seen climbing over the deck rail, immediately above the window of the cabin to which the "French lady" had retired, an active and determined man, clad in Zouave uniform and fully armed with sword and revolvers. The "French lady" had doffed her wig, her curls, her petticoats, and donned the uniform of the Zouave and was ready for action. Exchanging a few hurried words with the "elderly passenger," he, too, was suddenly changed into Capt. George N. Hollins, formerly of the U. S. navy, but having resigned his commission in that service now about to assume the command of the St. Nicholas in the service of the Confederate States. The few hurried words exchanged, both officers repaired below decks, where further transformations were immediately made among twenty-five "passengers," who now appeared as Zouaves, armed and determined to have and to hold the steamer. Surprised and astounded, the officers and crew of the boat found that resistance would be unavailing, and quietly yielded possession of the boat. The real passengers on the boat, though greatly alarmed by the unexpected turn which had been given to affairs aboard, were quieted with the assurances of safety and respect. The St. Mary's (Md.) Beacon, of July 6th, 1861, says:

"Throughout the whole night not a single act of rudeness was perpetrated, all the passengers being treated with the greatest civility. The ladies were told by the commander that they were in the hands of Southern gentlemen, and would be treated as his own sisters. Whatever

opinions may be entertained of the capture itself, no one who was present on that eventful night can say aught but in praise of the gentlemanly deportment of all concerned."

A passenger on board the St. Nicholas, who witnessed Col. Thomas' appearance on deck, and his conversation with Capt. Hollins, "suspected nothing of the truth, supposing that a government boat was boarding her for the purpose of inquiry." So quiet was the execution of this well-considered and arranged plan of capture that every man knew his duty, the moment for his appearance, and the exact part he was to take.

Such was the account given of this exploit in the Union papers of that day; but Col. Alexander, one of Col. Thomas' men, and who was subsequently captured and confined in Fort McHenry with Thomas, gives a somewhat different version. He says:

"The detail that accomplished the capture of the St. Nicholas got on in small groups at different landings as ordinary passengers. When I got aboard, the first person I saw in the cabin was Col. Thomas, who was of small stature, dressed as a lady, carrying on an animated conversation with a Federal officer. He spoke French fluently and was passing himself off as a French lady. It was from this circumstance that the nickname was afterward given him. It was amusing to note how admirably he performed his part, tossing a fan about and putting on all the airs of an animated French woman, much to the enjoyment of the Federal officer with whom he was conversing. Our whole force was by this time aboard, known to each other by private signals. Thomas, when he saw that everything was ready for the émeute, excused himself from his companion and retired to his state-room. We all knew that the time had now arrived for action, and we gathered together awaiting the reappearance of Thomas, It was but a few moments when, with a shout, he sprang from his stateroom in the dress of a Zouave, armed with cutlass and pistol. The balance of us made a rush to the state-room, where our arms were concealed, and likewise secured pistols and cutlasses. In a few moments we overpowered the passengers and crew, secured them below the hatches, and the boat was ours. We then proceeded immediately to the rendezvous where we expected to take aboard our infantry reinforcements, but owing to the long delay before they arrived word of our movements got abroad, and the enemy were placed on their guard. Had our infantry regiment been at the appointed place in time, the Pawnee certainly, and perhaps the entire Potomac fleet, would have been captured."

Immediately after the capture of the steamer, all lights upon her were extinguished, and her head was turned to the Virginia shore, where she arrived at 3:30 in the morning, and stopped at the wharf at Cone River, where she was boarded by the officers of the C. S. navy, and the Tennessee infantry appeared for her protection. Embarking a portion of the infantry, the St. Nicholas, now under command of Capt. Hollins, headed up the Potomac in search of the U. S. steamer Pawnee, the capture of which was contemplated by surprise and boarding; but, not finding the Pawnee, the steamer rounded and stood down the river for the bay. Between Smith's Point and the mouth of the Rappahannock River, Capt. Hollins met the

schooner Margaret, from Alexandria (Va.) to New York, whose mate, Mr. E. Case, gave to the N. Y. Times the following account:

"On Saturday, the 29th day of June, we passed Smith's Point, at the mouth of the Potomac; we saw the steamer St. Nicholas come out of a river on the Virginia shore, called Cone River. She passed us, and paid no attention to us, we thinking all the while it was rather strange for her to be sailing down the bay, as it was out of her course. Her object, we soon found out, was to seize the brig Monticello and the schooner Mary Pierce, which were bound up the bay as we were going out.

"In a few minutes the St. Nicholas headed up the bay again; she came up and passed us, then turned again and bore down on us. Capt. Hollins hailed us, and asked what schooner it was. We told him the schooner Margaret. He then inquired what it was loaded with, and we told him. He then sung out that we were a prize to the Southern Confederacy. The St. Nicholas was then run close alongside; then about twenty-five armed men jumped on board, and drove all hands on board the steamer. When I got on deck, and before they drove me into the hold, I looked around me, and who should I see but the traitor, Capt. Thomas Skinner, formerly master of the steamer Jamestown!

"They then took the schooner in tow, and took us up the Rappahannock River as far as the depth of the water would permit. That night they came again alongside, and coaled the St. Nicholas from our cargo. Next morning we started for Fredericksburg, and took the Mary Pierce in tow, and towed her within fifteen miles of the town. At dark, on the 30th, we came alongside of the dock; they kept us on board all night. The next morning early we were marched out, closely guarded by soldiers, and were placed on board the cars for Richmond, not having eaten anything worth speaking of for twenty-four hours."

The vessels then captured by Capt. Hollins with the St. Nicholas were:

Brig Monticello, from Brazil, bound to Baltimore, with 3,500 bags of coffee.1

Schooner Mary Pierce, from Boston, bound to Washington City, with 260 tons of ice.

Schooner Margaret, from Alexandria, bound to Staten Island, with 270 tons of coal.

Lieutenant Simms, C. S. navy, was put in charge of the Monticello; Lieut. Robert D. Minor, C. S. navy, in charge of the Mary Pierce; and Lieut. Thorburn, of the Virginia navy, in charge of the Margaret.

The people in the Confederacy needed coffee, ice and coal, their government needed the steamer and the vessels, and it is not surprising that the bold officers and brave men who brought in supplies so much needed should have been loudly praised and profusely complimented. On the Monticello were found a number of bags containing the mails and dispatches from the United States squadron in Brazil, from which the movements of the ships in that squadron were learned by the Confederate government. The ice captured was sold in Fredericksburg for $8,000. Col. Thomas repaired to Richmond,

1 The Monticello, after being taken up the Rappahannock River, was released by her captors

after the coffee had been taken out, and permitted to return to Baltimore, where she was owned.

where every attention and compliment awaited and were lavishly bestowed upon him. The State of Virginia, by Governor Letcher, on July 1st, commissioned him, under the name of Richard Thomas Zarvona, a colonel in the volunteer forces of the State. During his visit, his friends insisted on seeing him in his costume of the "French lady," as he appeared on the steamer St. Nicholas. To gratify them, he left the room, promising to return promptly, provided the company was not enlarged, as the joke was to be strictly private. Unfortunately, the circle was shortly after disturbed by the entrance of a strange lady, for whom, however, room was made, and to whom a seat was tendered with customary Virginia gallantry. The rest of the company broke up into knots, leaving the stranger to herself, and discussing in whispers the propriety of keeping the colonel out until a favorable opportunity presented itself. Suddenly their embarrassment was relieved by the action of the lady, who, lifting her skirts to a modest height, displayed a soldier's uniform and end of a cutlass. The effect may be imagined!

The capture of the St. Nicholas illustrates the difficulty which the United States authorities encountered at the beginning of the war in preventing communication across the Potomac between the sympathizing Marylanders and their compatriots in Virginia. Chas. Worthington, the Baltimore agent of the steamer St. Nicholas, writing to the Secretary of the Navy, July 1st, after describing how the steamer had been spirited away, gives at length the precautions he had taken with Capt. Ward to prevent any such occurrence: "The arrangement," says Mr. Worthington, "we made was mutually satisfactory, and he promised to meet her (the steamer) every Saturday morning at the mouth of the Potomac, and give her a pass to proceed on her trip. But, alas! he is no more Col. Thomas had timed his enterprise so well that he slipped through the unguarded door of the mouth of the Potomac, and accomplished effectually his daring exploit.

At the session of the Confederate States District Court in Richmond, February 3d, 1862, in the admiralty case of George N. Hollins et al. against the steamer St. Nicholas, her cargo, tackle and apparel, the marshal reported that he had placed the amount of the sale of the vessel, etc. ($18,924.73), in bank to the credit of the case.

The St. Nicholas was burned at Fredericksburg in 1862, when that city was evacuated, along with many other vessels.'

1 The following is the list of vessels destroyed at that place by the Confederate military authorities previous to the evacuation of the town: Steamer Virginia,steamer St. Nicholas,schooner May, owned by McConkey, Parr & Co., Baltimore, Md; A. Henry Armstrong, valued at $45,000; schooner Ada, owned by Samuel G. Miles, of Baltimore, valued at $3,500; schooner Northern Light, valued at $2,000; Reindeer, owned by Capt. W. C. Moore, Middlesex County, Va.,

valued at $1,500; Decapolis, valued at $700; Mary Pierce, owned by R W. Adams and L. B. Eddens, Fredericksburg, Va., valued at $5,600; Helen, Capt. Solomon Phillips, Essex Company, valued at $2,000; W. J. Valiant, valued at $1,500; Anglo-Saxon, owned by Segars & Perkins, Middlesex Company, valued at $1,500; Dazzling Orb, Fredericksburg, Va, valued at $600; Putala, owned by A. Williams and B. Walker, Lancaster County, Va, valued at $1,500; James Henry,

Col. Zarvona, prompted by his success, if not spirited by the praise and flattery it elicited, determined to return to Baltimore, and possibly with the purpose of accomplishing another daring feat. In spite of all persuasion, and against the advice of friends-indeed, against the application of force on the part of some of his admirers-he set out in a schooner in July for Maryland, and landed at Fair Haven, in the Bay.

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On July 4th, certain parties were seen inspecting the steamer Columbia, of the same line as the St. Nicholas, while lying at Fardy's ship-yard, near Federal Hill, Baltimore. They went aboard and inquired of Capt. Harper what was her speed, how much coal was on board, and whether she could be chartered. The steamer Logan, of the Baltimore and Fredericksburg line, and the steamer Virginia, were already in the possession of the Confederates; the steamer William Selden, of the Baltimore Steam Packet Company, was being used by the Confederates in Norfolk harbor. These captures had made the Union authorities more vigilant and suspicious. It was also reported to the authorities in Baltimore that several parties had left the city on the Monday night preceding, in omnibuses, and it was presumed that their purpose was to co-operate with Col. Zarvona, whose arrival at Fair Haven, in Anne Arundel County, had also been reported. To effect the capture of the French lady" and her whole party, an expedition was arranged by Provost Marshal Kenly, and placed under command of Lieut. Thomas H. Carmichael and John Horner, of Baltimore. The steamer Chester, according to one contemporaneous authority, and a sloop, according to another, was equipped at Fort McHenry with an armament of two twenty-four-pounders, an artillery company, an infantry company, and a posse of police officers. Proceeding to Fair Haven, the officers arrested Neale Green, a noted barber, doing business on Pratt Street, Baltimore, on the charge of having been engaged in the assault on the 6th Massachusetts regiment on the 19th of April; and with Green in charge the officers returned to Baltimore on September 19th, 1861, on board the steamer Mary Washington, while the Chester proceeded down the bay in search of the schooner which brought Col. Zarvona to Fair Haven. The Baltimore American, of July 9th, has the following account of the capture of Col. Zarvona:

"Shortly after leaving, the lieutenant entered into conversation with a number of passengers, and ascertained that Capt. Kirwan, with the engineer and another officer of the steamer St. Nicholas, as well as others

owned by Capts. Mullin and Dickinson, Richmond County, Va., valued at $400; J. Wagner, Lancaster County, Va., valued at $225; Active, Capt. Henry Taylor, Richmond County, Va., valued at $2,200: Sea Breeze, owned by Miles, of Baltimore, Crabb & Sanger, Richmond, Va., valued at $2,000; Mary Miller, owned by G. Burgess, of Northumberland County, Va., and Miller, of Middlesex County, Va., valued at $4,000: Nannie Shrevel, owned by E. Mann, valued at

$2,500; Lucy Renn, owned by a citizen of Gloucester County, Va, valued at $600; Hiawatha, owned by Mr. Garland Richardson, valued at $2,000; sloop Amethyst, owned by Capt Charles Gutheridge, Fredericksburg, valued at $900; including the value of the Virginia and St. Nicholas.

In connection with the burning of bridges and vessels, from $15,000 to $20,000 worth of cotton was also burned.

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