the lines of the blockaders into Mobile, and taught them to keep at a respectful distance from Morgan's batteries during the four months they passed in waiting for Maffitt to repeat his bold exploit on the reverse course by forging out to sea again.

After having refitted for sea at Mobile, the Florida celebrated the Christmas Eve of 1862 by a duel at long distance with the Federal ship New London, steaming for that purpose down to the westward of Sand Island, while her antagonist took up a position on the gulf side of the bar at that point. It was a lively afternoon spectacle for the garrisons and the blockaders, and it gave Capt. Maffitt the opportunity he desired of exercising his new crew at quarters and putting them through their gun drill with an enemy as a target to practice upon. The contemporary Confederate accounts report that the Florida was not struck, but it was believed that three of her shot took effect on the enemy.'

Allusion has heretofore been made to the raids of boats" crews of Confederates by way of Mississippi Sound upon Federal vessels. Two that occurred in 1863 are particularly deserving of special description, because of their success and because they illustrate the daring spirit of the Mobile watermen.

On April 6th, 1863, Capt. G. Andrews organized at Mobile a raiding party for the mouth of the Mississippi, where they arrived the next day in a ship's boat, armed with nothing heavier than their revolvers. "So eager were they to take a prize," says the Mobile Tribune, of April 10th:

"That they resolved to board the first vessel they saw, but she proved to be the Illinois, with six guns and a crew of 400 men. Of course they abandoned the purpose immediately. Shortly afterward they sighted the transport steamer Fox, formerly the Whittemore, and used as a tow-boat before she was taken from the Confederates. She was lying at a coal-yard in Pass l'Outre. At night, when all was still on board, the brave fifteen boarded her and made all hands (twenty-three) prisoners. She was in command of Capt. Walker, who was formerly captain of one of the Mobile Bay boats. They submitted to the capture peaceably. Steam was immediately raised, and the Fox, manned by both crews, (the prisoners as well as the captors worked her) was steered away to Dixie land with the United States flag flying at her masthead. She was not interrupted until she attempted to come in by the Swash Channel at about three o'clock, yesterday morning, when thirty shots were fired at her from the blockading fleet. One struck the top of her smoke-stack and another one of her masts, doing, however, no damage. She came on until she got safely under the guns of Fort Morgan and arrived at the city last evening about six o'clock. Her capture is certainly one of the most daring and well-managed exploits of the war."

1 "All but these three were seen to strike the water, but the thousands of eyes which watched could not tell where these three went to if they were not stopped by the New London. She was evidently hit hard, for after backing out of the fight she signalled the fleet, and one of them ran down and lay alongside of her for several hours, rendering assistance, it is supposed.

The spectators say that the Florida's long and terrible guns were admirably served, the practice being excellent, placing the shot and shell all around the mark, so close, in many instances, as to apparently dash the water upon the Lincolnites' decks. The engagement is said to have been a most animating and exciting scene as witnessed from the forts."- Mobile Evening News, Dec. 26th, 1862.

The prize had on board 1,000 barrels of coal. The men who assisted Capt. Andrews were C. W. Austin, M. Riddle, John Brown, Daniel Kernan, R. Hill, Oliver Bowen, D. Mc Mickle, Wm. Brown, Asbell Glenson, J. W. Jones, John Connor, Thomas Nelligan and Charles Stokes.

One of the most daring exploits accomplished at this epoch of the war in the waters of the gulf was consummated by nineteen citizens of Mobile. Cotemporary records have preserved only the name of their leader, Capt. James Duke, although it would have been a solid gratification to have handed down to the future the names of the eighteen volunteers who joined him in the perilous, gallant and successful expedition. Starting from Mobile about the middle of the last week of May, 1863, they pushed through Mississippi Sound in a small boat to the mouth of the Mississippi River. They carried nothing but small arms, and it does not appear that they had any more definite object in view than to reconnoitre the enemy's position and inflict upon him any possible damage the opportunity for which might be presented. After lying three days ambushed in the swamps a few miles above Pass l'Outre light-house, they discovered at dusk of the evening of June 9th the fine steam-propeller Boston coming up the river and having in tow the ship Jenny Lind from Boston, loaded with ice for New Orleans. Speedily embarking his men on their little boat, Capt. Duke in a few moments laid her alongside of the Boston, whose commander had not the most remote suspicion of the presence of a foe in a region patrolled by Federal gunboats. Before he could make any movements toward defence the Mobile men had boarded him with drawn revolvers and compelled his surrender. Capt. Duke cut the hawser connecting the Boston with the ship and with his prize stood down the river. The next day he captured the bark Lenox, Capt. Cole, from New York for New Orleans, took off the officers, crew and a portion of the passengers, sent the others on shore and burned the vessel and her cargo of general merchandise. Then he stood out to sea, safely passing under the guns of the blockading fleet, and on Sunday, June 14th, came up with the bark Texana, Capt. Wulff, also from New York for New Orleans, with a miscellaneous cargo and a quantity of arms. She, too, was boarded and fired; but Capt. Duke was now so encumbered with prisoners that he set all her people on shore except the captain and mate. On the 17th, he brought the Boston to the wharf in Mobile, having run the gauntlet of the Federal ships in the bay without injury. He landed eighteen prisoners and turned his prize over to the Confederate government, which subsequently made good use of her. Besides adding this serviceable steamer to the scanty naval strength of the Confederacy, the ships and cargoes destroyed by Capt. Duke's command were valued at $200,000. The merit of his enterprise was properly recognized in Mobile,

and the skill and courage of himself and his companions highly applauded. Their daring is attested by the fact that in the Mississippi they were for several hours within speaking distance of the Federal sloop-of-war Portsmouth, and half an hour previous to their capture of the Boston a gunboat had passed up within gunshot of them. The newspapers of the day speak of the expedition as having been fitted out by Julius Buttner, a citizen of Mobile.

These cool and plucky dashes into the enemy's confines had an inspiriting effect upon the military and naval defenders of Mobile, as affording an indication that notwithstanding the weakness of the Confederacy upon the waters, and the immense resources of the Federals, the latter were not invulnerable against bold hearts and ready hands.

A hitherto unwritten chapter of the war in the Mexican Gulf is that which must record in fitting_language the reconnoisance of Pensacola, made by Lieut. James Mc C. Baker,' of the Huntsville, and his brother Page M. Baker, Master's Mate of the Tuscaloosa, and their subsequent project to capture Fort Pickens, which was thwarted by the hesitation of their superior officers. The preliminary scout was an achievement that could only have been carried through by cool men utterly devoid of fear, and the scheme which grew out of it was phenomenal for its shrewdness and possibilities of success even in the days when men who wore the Confederate uniform

1 James Mc C. Baker entered the Confederate service early in the war as a member of Drew's battalion, and on January 23d, 1862, was transferred to the Washington artillery; but very soon afterward was appointed Acting Master in the Confederate navy and ordered to report to Commodore Whittle, in command at New Orleans, by whom he was assigned to the iron-clad Louisiana, then recently launched and still unfinished. As her screw engines were not in position and the recess wheels alone were insufficient to propel her, she was towed down the Mississippi and moored on the bank above Fort St. Philip to aid in the defence of the river against the Federal fleet. Alongside of her was placed the river steamer W. Burton as quarters for the officers and crew, and the tug Landis was close at hand with a company of artillery detailed to assist in serving her battery. When Farragut's ships advanced to the attack, Lieut. Baker hastened from the Burton to his station on the Louisiana, making way for Commodore Mitchell to precede him on the ladder that reached the deck, where Mitchell took his stand and passed his orders through Baker to the officers below. The floor not being laid, Baker supported himself astride a scantling in the pilothouse, and when a Federal ship fouled with the Louisiana during the battle the shock knocked him from his place and he fell through to the deck. As he rose to his feet, Lieut. John Wilkinson, in charge of the forward division, ordered him to inform Lieut. Ward, who was aft, to look out for the Federal vessel as she swung around on the starboard side of the iron-clad. The commander of the Louisiana, Capt. McIntosh, was mortally wounded while in the act of throwing a fire-ball on this vessel, and Baker was detailed to take him ashore, where he placed

him in the temporary hospital established on a flatboat above Fort St. Philip. After the dis persion or destruction of all the Confederate squadron except the Louisiana and McRae, Lieut. Baker says, engineers and mechanics, by working day and night, put the iron-clad into working and fighting trim; and Baker, learning that Commodore Mitchell contemplated taking her to Mobile, offered himself as pilot. "I am glad to know you are a pilot," responded Mitchell, "as I may need your services." On April 25th he was placed in command of the Burton and on the 26th participated in the council of officers called by Mitchell that decided to destroy the Louisiana after hearing of the surrender of the forts. Early on the morning of the 28th Lieut. Baker says he was ordered to report to the commodore, and as he presented himself on board the Louisiana Chief Engineer Youngblood stepped up and reported that the auxiliary propeller engines were ready and the whole machinery in running order. Lieut. Wilkinson, who had already received orders to destroy the ship, asked Mitchell, in Baker's presence, "What shall I do?" And the commodore after some hesitation replied: "Go on with the work." Baker was then directed to have the Burton ready at a moment's notice to take the crew off the Louisiana. All but those engaged in the destruction of the iron-clad were transferred to the tender, and Mitchell, with Wilkinson, Ward and other offcers soon followed, leaving the Louisiana in flames fore and aft. The Burton was headed for the opposite shore, where Baker made her fast. and the Louisiana blew up in the position where they had left her. Discovering that the commodore had dispatched Lieut. Whittle to surrender the command, he requested permission to effect his escape, and was the only officer of the