discharge of duty when the Pacific mail steamship which he commanded was wrecked; the Hon. C. R. Breckenridge, at present a member of the U. S. House of Representatives; Colonel J. T. Scharf, the author of this work, land commissioner of Maryland, commissioner of the National Exposition South, shared in the excitement just preceding the outbreak of the war between the States. He was well versed in the political history of the time, and his convictions as well as his sympathies induced him to espouse the cause of the Southern States. Though but sixteen years of age he entered a military organization in New Orleans, and after faithfully serving in the army, on February 24th, 1863, he received an appointment as midshipman in the navy of the Confederate States, and was ordered on board the schoolship Patrick Henry, then lying at Drewry ́s Bluff, James River, to stand an examination. Letters of recommendation being required from his previous commanders, they were obtained. All of these spoke in the highest terms of praise of his gallant and meritorious conduct in the military service, his uniform good behavior and the promptness and faithfulness with which he discharged all the duties required of him in camp and elsewhere. After passing his examination, Midshipman Howell was ordered to Charleston, S. C., where he performed hard service during the winter of 1863-64, in picket-boat duty, between Fort Sumter and Morris Island. While engaged in this arduous and exposed service, he captured an armed picket-boat of the enemy engaged in the same duties; assisted in laying a number of torpedoes in Charleston harbor, and aided in placing a raft of logs around Fort Sumter to prevent another assault. After the evacuation of Charleston in 1865, Midshipman Howell was assigned to the artillery with the rank of lieutenant in the naval brigade of Adm. Semmes, formerly the commander of the C. S. steamer Alabama. He was captured, parroled, and joined his sister, Mrs. Jefferson Davis, at Washington, Ga., and was with her at the time of the capture of President Davis. He was imprisoned at Fort McHenry for several months, and upon being released went to Savannah, Ga., where he was again imprisoned. From thence he joined his brother in Canada, and accompanied him to England. Returning to the United States by way of Portland, Me., he was again arrested and sent to Fort Warren, where he was detained for a few weeks and then finally released. He returned to Canada, and from thence went to New York to find himself without means or employment. Scorning to live on his friends, he went to sea before the mast, and made seve al voyages to Bordeaux, the Cape de Verde Islands, and elsewhere in the Atlantic. His devotion to duty and his thorough competency were soon recognized, and he speedily rose to the rank of mate. While serving in this capacity, in some evolution of the ship he was so injured as to compel him to remain ashore for several months. He then accepted a position upon the staff of the New York News. Tiring of an inactive life ashore, he obtained a berth on board the Pacific mail steamer Ariel as quartermaster, and sailed from New York in the fall of 1869, for China; thence he returned to San Francisco. During his brief residence in that city, he served as first officer on the steamers John L. Stephens, Ajar and Oriflamme. Speedily rising in rank, his first command was the Idaho, and thereafter was given charge success ively of the steamers Moses Taylor, Pelican Cali fornia, Nevada, Los Angelos, and lastly the illfated Pacific. On February 23d, 1874, Capt. Howell was a passenger on board of the Los Angelos; on her voyage from San Francisco to Victoria the steamer broke her propeller shaft, the helm refused to do its duty, and no human agency could be brought to dispel the discouraging forebodings which pressed upon the 150 passengers, and officers and crew who were on board. Tossed about by the waves without a sign of release from their agonizing situation, and drifting towards the dreaded breakers, all hands were in despair. At this critical moment Capt. Howell volunteered to take his chances of life or death in his effort to make the land and reach Astoria, where it was known aid would be rendered immediately. With a boat's crew he bravely pushed through the raging sea and landed on the beach above Tillamook, walked to Astoria, obtained a tug which came to the rescue of the disabled vessel and towed her into port. The passengers on the Los Angelos, mindful of the great service they owed to Capt. Howell, for the heroism be displayed in saving their lives, tendered him the following complimentary resolutions: "Whereas, Capt. Jefferson D. Howell, by noble deeds of daring succeeded in reaching Astoria, after we had supposed he had lost his own life in the vain endeavor to save us from a terrible death, therefore: Resolved-That we return our thanks to the Giver of all good for sparing the life of our noble benefactor, thus enabling him to reach a haven wherein succor to ourselves was speedily rendered. Resolved-That the action, of Capt. Howell in this matter entitles him to our most sincere gratitude, and that we hereby pledge and express to him that thankfulness of human hearts which is more precious than gold, more enduring than diamonds, in the tender regard which we bear for him, and shall ever hold towards him so long as memory shall dwell within its sacred tabernacle." Talented, brave and true, and whether serv ing before the mast or in command of a crowded steamship, always the same courteous and chivalric gentleman, Capt. Howell was beloved by all who came in contact with him. No man was ever more ready to take up the cause of the defenceless than he, and his friends can recall many instances of the liberality with which he disposed of his hard-earned salary in acts of generosity. In the course of conversation on his last voyage from Victoria, he gave an account of how he became a communicant of the Episcopal Church. It seems, as he parted from his mother for a long voyage, he promised to be confirmed the first opportunity. Ere the opportunity occurred she was in her grave, but he was not the man to forget his vow. He was confirmed by Bishop Potter, in New York. While relating the circumstance, he said, with honest pride: "Since my confirmation I have never done anything that conflicted with those solemn vows; and all who know him will bear testimony that such was the life of this Chris tian gentleman. His was an Anglo-Saxon face at New Orleans; William P. Hamilton,' of South Carolina, and R. H. Fleming, a Presbyterian clergyman of prominence in Virginia. Virginia. F. C. Morehead, late commissioner general of the New Orleans Exposition and president of the National Cotton and Planters' Association, was another of the young middies of the Patrick Henry, as well as Clarence Cary, a lawyer of high standing in New York and a gentleman of fine literary attainments; the Rev. J. G. Minnegerode, J. De B. Northrop, Preston B. Moore, William A. Lee, nephew of General R. E. Lee; John H. Inglis, a son of the late Judge Inglis, president of the South Carolina Secession Convention of 1860, and many others of equal distinction. of the highest type, with high brow, fair hair, The last act of Capt. Howell was worthy of his life. The steamer Pacific was foundered in a gale off Cape Flattery, near Victoria. The survivors of the wreck report that Capt. Howell was drowned from a raft on which some of the unfortunate passengers and crew had taken refuge, and that he was the last man to leave the ship. A writer giving an account of the disaster, says: "When one of the occupants of the raft, a woman, was swept away, what did Howell do, though the sea was running mountain high, and experienced sailor as he was, he knew that once from his support he was lost forever? He acted as every one was sure he would act, and at the cry of a perishing woman, plunged in to her assistance, sacrificing his own life in the same locality where, seven short months before, by another act of heroism he saved the lives of 150 persons aboard the steamer Los Angelos, which would have gone ashore among the breakers, had he not volunteered his successful assistance." 1 Capt. Wm. P. Hamilton, son of Col. Paul Hamilton, and Catherine A. Campbell, was born in Beaufort, S. C., Oct. 11th, 1845, and died May .3, 1875. He was a great-grandson of Hon. Paul Hamilton, who was secretary of the navy under President Madison, and great-nephew of Archibald Hamilton, U. S. N., who served under Decatur. In Aug. 1861, William P. Hamilton received an appointment as midshipman in the C. S. navy, and served on the Lady Davis, under Lieut. Com. John Rutledge, at Port Royal. He was subsequently stationed on the steamer Nashville, until the summer of 1862, She when he was ordered to Richmond to stand his examination on the Patrick Henry. He grad uated as passed midshipman, and was ordered to the Palmetto State, at Charleston. He participated in the attack on the U. 8. steamer Mercedita, and the Federal blockading fleet, and served in the navy with distinguished gallantry in the defence of Charleston. In April, 1864, he was ordered to the ram Albemarle, at Plymouth, N. C., and took a conspicuous part in the fight with the Federal gunboats at that place. He returned to Charleston, and served until the close of the war. there After the war he worked his passage to England, on the bark Nutfield. During the voyage the crew were stricken down with the yellow fever, and his cousin, ex-midshipman P. Hamilton Gibbs, died. There were not sufficient hands on board to man the vessel, and the helm was lashed and the bark allowed to run before the wind, until some of the sick were convalescent finally arrived at Liverpool, when W. P. Hamilton shipped as a seaman on the West Indian, in the South American trade. Upon his return he passed an examination, and received a certificate as second mate in the British merchant service. He first served on the John Fraser & Co., and subsequently was appointed mate of the Royal George. After each trip from Liverpool to the East Indies, he was promoted, until he became master of the ship. In 1872 he returned to Charleston, where he married. Finding that his wife could not endure the long voyages to Bombay and Calcutta, he left the Indian service after a year, and went to the Mediterranean. The following year he commanded the Clyde steamer Atlas, running between New York and the West Indies, but the rapid changes of climate impaired his health, and Jan. 1875 he came home to die. Capt. Hamilton was a gallant, amiable, cour teous and model officer, and his career proved him to be a model man. I CHAPTER XXVI. THE CONFEDERATE STATES CRUISERS. N many respects the most interesting chapter of the history of the Confederate navy is that of the building and operation of the ships-of-war which drove the merchant flag of the United States from the oceans and almost extirpated their carrying trade. But the limitations of space of this volume forbid more than a brief review of the subject. The function of commerce-destroyers is now so well admitted as an attribute of war between recognized belligerents by all the nations of the world, that no apology is necessary for the manner in which the South conducted hostilities upon the high seas against her enemy, and while the Federal officials and organs styled the cruisers" pirates" and their commanders "buccaneers," such stigmatization has long since been swept away along with other rubbish of the war between the States, and their legal status fully and honorably established. We have not the space for quotations from Prof. Soley, Prof. Bolles and other writers upon this point, but what they have said may be summed up in the statement that the government and agents of the Confederacy transgressed no principle of right in this matter, and that if the United States were at war to-day they would strike at the commerce of an enemy in as nearly the same manner as circumstances would permit. The justification of the Confederate authorities is not in the slightest degree affected by the fact that the Geneva Tribunal directed Great Britain to pay to the Federal government $15,500,000 in satisfaction for ships destroyed by cruisers constructed in British ports. Eleven Confederate cruisers figured in the "Alabama Claims" settlement between the United States and Great Britain. They were the Alabama, Shenandoah, Florida, Tallahassee, Georgia, Chickamauga, Nashville, Retribution, Sumter, Sallie and Boston. The actual losses inflicted by the Alabama ($6,547,609) were only about $60,000 greater than those charged to the Shenandoah. The sum total of the claims filed against the eleven cruisers for ships and cargoes was $17,900,633, |