ships and boats, provide as best he could their ordnance, and create a naval force in a country which in a few days was shut out from the world by an almost impenetrable blockade, and which possessed within its limits resources only in the rude, crude and unmanufactured state. The timber for his ships stood in the forest, and when cut and laid was green and soft; the iron required was in the mines, and there were neither furnaces nor workshops; the hemp required for the ropes had to be sown, grown, reaped, and then there were no rope-walks. The Southern States had never produced a sufficiency of iron for the use of their people in time of peace, and now that war was greatly to multiply the uses of that indispensable metal, the price rose from $25 to $1,300 per ton; and yet neither money nor industry could supply the demand which the navy, the army, the fast-wearing rails and engines of the railroads, and all the other necessities a great war required. With not a rolling-mill capable of turning out a 24-inch iron plate, nor a workshop able to complete a marine engine, and with a pressing need to build, equip and maintain shipsof-war, the embarrassments and difficulties which Mr. Mallory encountered may be estimated. When the Confederate government was formed in February, 1861, Virginia had not seceded, and the Tredegar Iron Works and Belona Foundry, at Richmond, were not accessible to the use of the Confederate States navy, and the Pensacola navy-yard with its dock-yard was not a yard of construction, but merely for shelter and repair. From the 21st of February to the 15th of April there was not time enough, with all the appliances of a first-class manufacturing people, to organize a navy and build and equip its ships; and yet that was what the Confederate Navy Department had before it. When the navy-yard at Norfolk fell into the hands of Virginia, it was burnt and damaged, yet was of inestimable service to the Confederate navy, after being transferred to the Confederate States. The administration of Mr. Mallory is not to be judged and condemned by its failure, but it will excite surprise and win admiration for what was accomplished with the means and resources at his command. The efforts made and the results accomplished will be best understood and appreciated in connection with the operations of attack and defence; but we shall, for the benefit of a clearer understanding of the merits and demerits of the Navy Department, briefly review the administrative acts in connection with the organization of personnel and material in advance of those movements of offensive and defensive action. At the time of the organization of the Confederate government, its treasury was not only absolutely empty, but the legislation and agency for collecting the necessary means of support had to be adopted and applied. Under even the most favorable circumstances, time and experience would be necessary before the supply of money could be collected and on hand to meet expenses which had already begun. But this difficulty was aggravated and increased beyond calculation in the face of an impending conflict with the United States. In this emergency, early in March, 1861, the Convention of the State of Louisiana, by ordinance, transferred to the Confederate States the "Bullion Fund," then in the hands of A. J. Guirot, State Depositary, and which was seized in the U. S. Mint, amounting to $389,267.46, and the further sum of $147,519.66, the amount collected from customs between the 31st January and March 1, 1861. The total expenditures of the Confederate government from February, 1861 to August, 1862, a period of eighteen months, were $347,272,958.58; the receipts were $302,482,096.60. Of the expenditures the navy used $14,605,777.86.1 The resignations of naval officers from the U. S. navy followed the secession of the State of which they were citizens. South Carolina being the first State that severed her connection with the United States, the first resignation came from her officers, and as each of the other States withdrew from the Union, their officers, following the sense of duty of their allegiance, resigned their commissions, until by June 3, 1861, about one-fifth of the officers of the United States navy had resigned. A publication of that date gave a list of all the resignations, with the entire number of officers in the service, as follows: Commander Henry J. Hartstene, in command of the gunboat Pawnee, apprehending that he might be ordered to Charleston, asked to be relieved, and then resigned. Lieut. Thomas P. Pelot and Lieut. J. R. Hamilton resigned immediately after ascertaining that South Carolina had seceded. Lieut. Haralton addressed the "Southern officers of the U. S. navy" a warm appeal, under date of Jan. 14, 1861, to resign and accept commissions from their States. His earnest appeal to the officers, to bring with you every ship and man you can, that we may use them against the oppressors of our liberties," received no response, and not a United States vessel was delivered up by a Southern officer. After the secession of the States those officers were scattered throughout the States, some in shore batteries, others devising means of defence, procuring ordnance supplies, and in one way and another doing all in their power to aid in the defence of their States. These officers were transferred by their States to the Confederate States for appointment in the navy, and to the same rank they held in the navy of the United States. Thus, at its very beginning, the new government found itself embarrassed with a wealth of officers, while it was poor beyond description in every other essential of a navy. To provide for the officers who had resigned from the U. S. navy, the Confederate navy, as provided for by the act of February 21, 1861, was increased by the Amendatory Act of April 21, 1862, and made to consist of "Four admirals, 10 captains, 31 commanders, 100 first lieutenants, 25 second lieutenants, 20 masters, in line of promotion; 12 paymasters, 40 assistant paymasters, 22 surgeons, 15 past assistant surgeons, 30 assistant surgeons, 1 engineer-in-chief, and 12 engineers. "That all the admirals, 4 of the captains, 5 of the commanders, 22 of the first lieutenants and 5 of the second lieutenants shall be appointed solely for gallant or meritorious conduct during the war. The appointments shall be made from the grade immediately below the one to be filled and without reference to the rank of the officer in such grade, and the service for which the appointment shall be conferred shall be specified in the commission: Provided, that all officers below the grade of secondlieutenant may be promoted more than one grade for the same service. "That the warrant officers shall be as follows: 20 passed midshipmen, 106 acting midshipmen, 50 first assistant engineers, 150 second assistant engineers, 150 third assistant engineers, 10 boatswains, 20 gunners, 6 sailmakers, and 20 carpenters. "That the annual pay of the additional grades created by this act shall be as follows:-Admiral, $6,000; second lieutenant, for service afloat, $1,200; when on leave or other duty, $1,000; master in the line of promotion, $1,000 for service afloat; when on leave or other duty, $900; past midshipman, $900 for service afloat; when on leave or other duty, $800. "That the annual pay of assistant paymasters shall hereafter be, when on service afloat, $1,200; on other duty, $1,100." By the latter act the following was established as the pay table of the officers of the navy : On duty at sea first five years after date of commission. 2,825 Lieutenants Commanding-at sea First Lieutenants On duty at sea. After seven years' sea service in the navy After seven years' sea service in the navy After seven years' sea service in the navy Second Lieutenants- Duty afloat . When on leave or other duty Fleet Surgeons Surgeons on duty at sea- 2.250 For first five years after date of commission as surgeon 2.200 For first five years after date of commission as surgeon 3,000 2,000 2,200 2,400 2,600 . 2,800 The loss and destruction of naval records render it impossible to follow the changes and details that took place in the Confederate Navy Department. In the earlier days of the war many assignments were made hurriedly and for immediate necessity which the imperfect records do not explain or consecutively follow, and officers are found discharging duties at stations for which no orders are now obtainable. The difficulty is further increased by the simultaneousness of the preparations for war in every part of the country, and at every port, in every river, and along the whole coast. The States, after secession, ordered the officers who resigned from the U. S. navy to different places within their limits, and they remained at those posts after the formation of the Confederate government until ordered elsewhere. Thus, South Carolina, before the formation of the Confederate government, preparing for the capture of Fort Sumter, had assigned Capt. Hartstene to the command of her naval forces in Charleston harbor, where, on the 8th of January, the first gun in the war was fired at the Star of the West on her ill-advised attempt to reinforce Sumter. General Beauregard, after the formation of the Confederate government, assumed command of the Confederate forces beleaguering Fort Sumter, and in erecting the batteries which surrounded the fort was aided by Confederate naval officers. In his report of April 27, 1861, he mentions "the naval department, especially Capt. Hartstene, as perfectly indefatigable in guarding the entrance into the harbor "; and the same officer as having had charge of the arrangements with the United States fleet off the harbor for the transportation of Major Anderson's command to some port of the United States; Captains Hamilton, Hallonquist, and Lieut. Valentine for the rapidity and accuracy of their mortar practice; and Surgeon A. M. Lynah, C. S. navy, for intelligent professional arrangements in anticipation of the casualties of battle. Hon. G. V. Fox, afterwards Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Navy Department, while in New York arranging for the expedition, which, under his direction, was designed to relieve Sumter, encountered the agents of the State of South Carolina negotiating to purchase two tugs; and writing to Mr. Blair, under date of March 1, 1861, Mr. Fox mentions "Hartstene, now a captain in the Confederate States navy, who thinks he has prevented an attack upon Sumter so far, but says it will soon be done and will be a very sanguinary affair. Paul Hamilton commands the floating battery now launched. They have four tugs, which do not amount to much compared to one of these powerful New York ones." When Mr. Fox visited Charleston, March 21, he was carried down to Fort Sumter under the escort of Capt. Hartstene, who commanded the little fleet of three steamboats which kept watch and ward over the outer harbor of Charleston, lighting |