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CHAPTER XVII.

THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WATERS.

N the early days of the war, the operations of the great armies and navies which were then organized, were confined almost exclusively to the territory east of the Mississippi River. In some of the States west of that river, there were a few important military movements before 1863, but the great demonstrations of the Federal government to crush the independence of the Southern States were aimed at those more vital points of the Confederacy from which issued the intelligence and the power that directed and prosecuted the struggle.

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The Confederate naval operations west of the Mississippi were confined mainly to the army, or were conducted jointly by both branches of the service-the army and the navy. At the beginning of the war, the few navy officers who were assigned to duty in the trans - Mississippi department were placed under the command of district commanders. performed meritorious service as engineer officers, building, arming and officering shore batteries and fortifications; and it can be said of them, that without their co-operation and aid many Confederate successes would not have been obtained. The deeds of enterprise and daring of the navy officers in the trans-Mississippi department, in the early days of the war, are worthy of all praise, and we regret that their labors in the cause of the South are covered up in the operations of the army with which they co-operated.

In 1861 Texas, like all her sister States of the South, was. entirely unprepared for war, but her people were ready to answer with alacrity any call from the President of the Confederacy. One of the first accessions to the Confederate States navy was the capture of the U. S. steamship Star of the West off Indianola, Texas, by a party of volunteers from Galveston. The Star of the West was 1,172 tons burden, and built to run from New York to Aspinwall on the route to California. She was chartered by the U. S. government to take a small force and supplies to Major Anderson at Fort Sumter,

Charleston. She left New York at five o'clock in the afternoon of January 5th, 1861, and proceeded down the bay, hove to and received on board four officers and two hundred and fifty soldiers with their arms and ammunition, and proceeded to sea, crossing the bar at Sandy Hook at nine o'clock the same night. She arrived off Charleston bar at half-past one in the morning of the 9th, and as the lights were all out and no guiding marks to be found, she proceeded slowly until 4 A. M., and then, being in four and a half fathoms of water, lay to until daylight. As the day began to break a small steamer was seen inshore, which, as soon as she discovered the Star of the West, burned a blue light and two red lights as signals, and shortly after steamed over the bar into the ship channel. The soldiers were now all put below, and no one allowed on deck except those belonging to the vessel. As soon as there was light enough to see, the Star of the West crossed the bar and proceeded up the channel until she was about two miles from Forts Moultrie and Sumter, when a masked battery on Morris Island opened fire on her. The battery floated a red Palmetto flag, and the Star of the West the United States flag. The latter continued on under the fire of the battery, which was about five-eights of a mile distant, for over ten minutes. Several of the shots went entirely over her; one shot passed just clear of the pilot-house, another passed between the smokestack and walking-beam of the engine; another struck the ship just abaft of the fore rigging and stove in the planking, while another came near carrying away the rudder. At the same time there was a movement of two steamers from near Fort Moultrie, one of them towing a schooner, which was thought by the officers of the Star of the West to be an armed vessel to cut them off. Fearing capture or destruction, Capt. McGowan of the Star of the West wore round and steered down the channel, and the battery continued to fire upon him until the shot fell short. He crossed the bar outward at 8.50 A. M. and returned to New York.

A correspondence immediately took place between the commander of Fort Sumter and the Governor of South Carolina, in which the former stated that an unarmed vessel of the United States had been fired on, and wished to know if it had been with the sanction of the Governor. The latter replied, that any attempt to send troops into Charleston harbor by the United States, to re-enforce the forts or to retake and resume possession of the forts within the waters of South Carolina, would be regarded as an act of hostility.

The Star of the West was subsequently chartered again by the Federal government, and sent to Texas to receive and convey to New York a part of the regular force withdrawn. from that State; but on the 17th of April, 1861, she was boarded off Indianola and captured without resistance.

It appears that in April 1861, Col. Earl Van Dorn, being in Galveston, determined to attempt her capture. He called for volunteers, and in about two hours and a half detachments from the Galveston Artillery, Lieut. Van Buren commanding; * the Island City Rifles, Capt. Muller, a German company, and the Wigfall Guards, Capt. McGrath, an Irish company, responded to the call. The entire party amounted to 71 men13 artillerists, 29 rifles, and 29 guards. They embarked on the steamer Matagorda, which left early on the following morning for Indianola, reaching that point about five in the afternoon. The men were concealed in the state rooms. At Indianola the transport Fashion was loading with U. S. troops, numbering about 6,000 men, with baggage, to put on board the Star of the West, Capt. Howe, which was lying in deep water outside of the bar. The Matagorda put back, and at Siluria, eighteen miles distant, she transferred her armed force to the General Rusk. About midnight the Rusk, with the soldiers on board, came in hailing distance of the Star of the West, and upon being hailed, answered, "The General Rusk, with troops on board; can you take our line now?" "Certainly," was the answer from Capt. Howe, he fancying that the troops belonged to the United States. Capt. Howe asked why the Fashion did not bring the troops, and was told that she would be along in a few hours, with the rest of the troops and their baggage. The sea was rather rough, and after some little trouble the Rusk made fast alongside. In a very short time the Galveston soldiers were on board with their guns; and Capt. Howe hardly had time to look at them, when they suddenly presented bayonets, and their officer commanded him to surrender.

"To what flag am I requested to surrender?" asked the astonished captain. Ensign Duggan, of the Wigfall Guards, here displayed the Lone Star flag of Texas, and in his richest brogue exclaimed: "That's it, look at it, me byes; did ye iver see the Texas flag on an Irish jackstaff before?" The captain, having no means of resistance, surrendered without say ing a word. He had a crew of forty-two men and 900 barrels of provisions, but nothing else; none of the arms or munitions of the Federal troops had yet arrived on board.

The prisoners were all treated with politeness. The steamer was immediately put about for Galveston; and great must have been the bewilderment of the officers of the Fashion and of the Federal troops next morning when they found the Star of the West nowhere in sight.

At Galveston, Col. Van Dorn put Mr. Falval, first mate of the Mexico, on board the Star of the West as captain, and likewise the engineer of the Mexico; and ordering the soldiers on board to see her safely into New Orleans, he left, to take charge of some 600 troops who were waiting there for him to go back to Indianola.

The Star of the West arrived safely in New Orleans and was moored in the Mississippi River below Algiers. She was turned over to the C. S. navy, and for some time was used as a receiving-ship.

The Texas coast, extending over several hundred miles, was reported, September 27th, 1861, as "in almost a defenceless state," and that the "task of defending successfully any point against an attack of any magnitude amounts to a military impossibility." Earnest efforts were made to put all points of danger in a position of defence. For this purpose, by "Special Orders No. 123," from the Adjutant and Inspector General's office, at Richmond, Va., on August 14th, 1861, Commander W. W. Hunter, C. S. N., was ordered to proceed to Galveston, and "report to Gen. Earl Van Dorn for duty, as superintendent in charge of the works for the defence of the coast of Texas.' By the same order, John Withers, Assistant Adjutant General, directed Brig. Gen. Paul O. Hébert to assume command of the Department of Texas in place of Gen. Earl Van Dorn, who was ordered to turn the department. over to him and report in Richmond.

On September 27th, upon assuming command, Gen. Hébert reported to the Secretary of War, that "On a coast like this, where in calm weather a landing can be effected at any point, and the bays in the rear and flank of Galveston Island reached in that manner, or by the pass at the west end, the problem of defence, considering the means available to that effect, is certainly one of very difficult, if not impossible, solution." The port of Galveston was partially defended by a few open sand-works, mounted with guns of calibres ranging from eighteen to thirty-two pounders and totally inadequate to resist a bombardment with heavy guns.

Upon his arrival in Texas, Commander Hunter was placed on special duty and assigned to the immediate command of the naval defences of the port of Galveston and the vessels in the employ of the Confederate government. He was subject to the orders of his military superiors in the district and was authorized "to employ such boats propelled by steam or otherwise, as the service, in his judgment, rendered necessary." He was to "take measures to guard against any surprise by the enemy in the harbor and bay of Galveston," and report upon a plan for "establishing a system of alarm signals with the forces on the island and at Virginia Point." His attention was also directed to the railroad bridge.

In obedience to these orders Commander Hunter made a complete inspection of the water approaches and defences of Galveston. On November 17th, 1861, with the chartered steamer John F. Carr, drawing two and a half feet of water, he made an examination, and reported on the Rollover, and the practicability of the launches being transported across it, and the necessity of defending that point, and the best means

of effecting this. He also examined the water of East Bay; from Bolivar Point to the nearest approachable shore of the Rollover in that direction and examined and recommended the means of defence at Smith's Point. On the 22d of November, by direction of the commanding general, he reported on the practicability of gunboats of the class represented to be in the enemy's fleet being able to reach a position in Galveston Bay to command the bridge from Galveston Island to the mainland; and on December 2d, he reported on "the means of defence of the mouth of Trinity River."

Commander Hunter was exceedingly active, and directed all his energies and talents to fortifying Galveston, Brownsville, Pass Cavallo, and Sabine Pass. There were no vessels under his command, except a few improvised "cotton-clad" river steamers and with these he rendered efficient service to the army in transporting troops and munitions of war, and guarding the coast from the marauding expeditions of the enemy. The "mosquito fleets" of Texas cotton-clad steamers had many severe engagements with the enemy during the war, and their brave actions form a noteworthy series of episodes.

If the Texan authorities found the coast defenceless, and a navy non-existent, in 1861, fortunately the Federal government, in blockading the Atlantic coast, Mobile and New Orleans, exhausted its supply of vessels. We find the following decided opinion expressed of this attempted blockade in the London Shipping Gazette, as late in the year 1861, as August:

"There is no doubt that, up to the present time, so far as we have been informed, the blockade of the Southern coast has not been efficient. The more important ports, such as New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston and Pensacola, have been blockaded, but the blockade of these places appears to have nearly exhausted the disposable forces of the national government and the consequence is that other places, such as Wilmington, Beaufort, etc., although declared to be blockaded, have not as yet been legally, that is, efficiently closed against commerce. It is in vain for the national government to proclaim the blockade of the Southern ports from Baltimore to the Rio Grande. Neutral States are only bound to respect such a proclamation so far as there is the ability to give effect to it, which on the part of the national government there does not appear to be. All this is, of course, well known to Admiral Milne, who has been placed in the somewhat difficult position of having to witness an inefficient blockade with a force at his disposal adequate to raise it. That he should have applied to his government for precise instructions under the circumstances is more than probable, but with the sincere desire to preserve a strict neutrality between the American belligerents, which animates our government and people, it is equally probable that Admiral Milne has been directed to avoid any collision with the blockading squadron, until at least a fair time has elapsed for establishing the blockade of coast along the line indicated by President Lincoln's proclamation."

To anticipate a little, it was not in fact until 1863 that the blockade of the Texas coast became formidable, and operations began with a purpose to hold the important points.

In July 1861, the South Carolina, a vessel previously in the New York and Savannah trade converted into an armed

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