arrival in Washington he sent in his resignation, which, however, was not accepted. He was dismissed, in accordance with the petty policy of the new Administration, and soon after entered the C. S. navy.

The day upon which Lieut. Gwathmey reached Washington was the one upon which the expedition destined for the relief of Sumter was to sail. It was feared, should the Confederates hear of it, that it would precipitate an attack upon Fort Pickens before the garrison could be reinforced. It was determined by the U. S. government that a special messenger should be sent overland with positive orders to the Federal forces at Pensacola, directing that the troops should be disembarked without delay. Lieut. John L. Worden, who afterwards commanded the Monitor in Hampton Roads, was appointed to perform this duty. The order was made as brief as possible, as the fact that he was a U. S. naval officer, passing through the South, not in sympathy with the people, might cause him to be captured. It was as follows:

44

"[CONFIDENTIAL.]

"NAVY DEPARTMENT, April 6th, 1861. Capt. HENRY A. ADAMS, commanding Naval Forces off Pensacola: SIR: Your dispatch of April 1st is received. The Department regrets that you did not comply with the request of Capt. Vogdes to carry into effect the orders of Gen. Scott, sent out by the Crusader, under the orders of this Department. You will immediately, on the first favorable oppor tunity after the receipt of this order, afford every facility to Capt. Vogdes, by boats and other means, to enable him to land the troops under his command, it being the wish and intention of the Navy Department to co-operate with the War Department in that object.

"I am, sir, respectfully, etc.,

"GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy.”

This order was given to Lieut. Worden unsealed; he committed it to memory before he reached Richmond, and then destroyed it. He hastened on to Pensacola with the greatest speed, reaching there on the 11th of April. He held an interview with Gen. Bragg, stating that he had a verbal communication from Secretary Welles to Capt. Adams, and received a pass to visit that officer. He communicated the orders to Capt. Adams on the 12th of April, and that night the boats of the squadron, under the command of Lieut. Albert N. Smith, successfully landed the artillery company of Capt. Vogdes, consisting of eighty-six men and a detachment of 115 marines. The garrison in Fort Pickens, previously composed of only eighty-three men, was reinforced, and for the time made se

cure.

Gen. Bragg was to have made an attack upon Pickens the night following that on which the fort was reinforced; but this additional strength to the garrison defeated this project. Lieut. Worden, immediately after delivering his message, began his return journey by land. The Confederates, when too late, came to the conclusion that this messenger, who had

come and gone so suddenly, was an agent of the government, and that he had been instrumental in the landing of the Federal troops at Fort Pickens. A description of him was telegraphed to the Confederate government, and he was arrested near Montgomery, Alabama, on the 13th of April. The reason assigned for the arrest was that he had violated a pledge given to Gen. Bragg, and that he had been instrumental in reinforcing Fort Pickens, contrary to an agreement with Capt. Adams. The U. S. government held that Worden had given no pledge, and that the agreement alluded to, instead of having been made by Capt. Adams, was an unwritten truce, mentioned in a communication of Secretaries Holt and Toucey, on the 29th of January, addressed to the naval officers of Pensacola, and Lieut. Slemmer in command at Fort Pickens. Indignation was severe against Lieut. Worden, in the South, and he was detained a prisoner for seven months at Montgomery. He was then exchanged for an officer in the Confederate army, and soon after appointed to the command of the Monitor.

In regard to the communication of Secretaries Holt and Toucey, referred to above, Gideon Welles, in the Galaxy for January, 1871, says:

"The paper or document of Secretaries Holt and Toucey is the only written recognition of the truce or agreement entered into with the rebels

1 W. H. Murdaugh, a distinguished and gallant officer in the C. S. navy, was in the winter and spring of 1861 attached to the frigate Sabine off Pensacola, Fla. The latter part of the time he was first lieutenant or executive officer The Confederate flag was flying on Forts McRae and Barrancas and the navy-yard. Fort Pickens was under the U. S. flag and garrisoned by a company of artillery commanded by Lieut. Slemmer, U. S. A. The best of feeling was maintained by the officers of both sides. Boat loads of Confederate officers would come to the ships which were anchored outside the bar, and were entertained, and good fellowship always prevailed, and the U. S officers had the run of Pensacola and the navy-yard. Capt. Henry A Adams commanded the Sabine and was the senior officer afloat. Gen. Bragg and Com. Ingraham, the Confederate commanders, dined with Capt. Adams on board the Sabine several times. This pleasant intercourse continued until Fort Sumter fell, when Gen. Bragg cut off communications with the squadron. On board the Sabine was a battalion of U. S. artillery commanded by Gen. Vogdes, then a captain of artillery. Soldiers had been sent down to reinforce the garrison of Fort Pickens, but upon their arrival an agreement had been formally entered into by the authorities at Washington and the Confederate Government that the Confederates would not attack Fort Pickens, and that the Federals would not reinforce it. compact was to be observed by the Federal commanders, so that when their troops arrived, instead of going into Fort Pickens, they were put on board the Sabine, where they remained about two months. Some two or three weeks after Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, a little revenue cutter from Key West came in and anchored under the counter of the Sabine. She brought two army officers with dispatches for Capt. Vogdes. Capt. Adams, with whom Capt.

This

Vogdes messed, gave up the cabin to them, he and Murdaugh coming upon the deck. After a little while, Capt. Vogdes also came on deck with a paper in his hand, saying: "Captain, I have received orders to land my command in Fort Pickens." "From whom?" asked Capt. A. "From General Scott," replied Capt. V. "I do not know Gen. Scott in this matter," said Capt. Adams, "and you cannot land your men until I get proper orders to that effect." "Do you mean to say that your boats cannot land my men?" inquired Capt. Vogdes. Yes, I do, returned Capt. Adams. "Then I shall charter one or more of these fishing sloops that pass us occasionally, and land my party," said Capt.

V. "No." said Capt. Adams, "you do not leave this ship until I get proper orders to that effect.' Mr. Murdaugh writes as follows concerning the events connected with the subsequent reinforcement of Fort Pickens: "Capt. Vogdes asked Capt. Adams if he might send a bearer of dispatches to Washington to tell the condition of things. Capt. Adams readily consented, and one of Capt. Vogdes' lieutenants was landed at the navy-yard that night and took rail to Washington. Not very long after this, Lieut John L. Worden, U. S. N., since the well-known commander of the Monitor, came on board the Sabine, having permission of Gen. Bragg to do After being closeted with Capt. Adams for awhile, I was sent for. On entering the cabin, I found Lieut. Worden writing at the table. Capt. Adams asked me to remain, as he wanted me to be a witness to something. When Lieut. Worden had finished writing, he handed it to Capt. Adams. It was an order for him to send the army forces to Fort Pickens, and as many marines as could be spared from the squadron as soon as possible. At the bottom of the order was a certificate signed by Lieut. Worden, saying that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the order above was a verbatim copy of a

80.

which I remember to have seen, and of the existence of this document I am not aware that any member of Mr. Lincoln's administration was informed when orders were sent to reinforce Pickens. I never saw it nor knew of it until after the receipt of Capt. Adams' letter of the 1st of April. It has been asserted and denied that the administration of Mr. Buchanan established an armistice, or entered into an arrangement with the rebels by which the functions of the government to suppress insurrection and rebellion were suspended. Capt. Adams states the light in which he and Gen. Bragg viewed the communication of Messrs. Holt and Toucey, which I here insert:

"WASHINGTON, Jan. 29th, 1861.-Received at Į PENSACOLA, Jan. 29th, 1861, at 9 P. M. "To Capt. JAMES GLYNN, commanding the Macedonian; Capt. W. S. WALKER, commanding the Brooklyn, or other naval officers in conmand; and Lieut. ADAM J. SLEMMER, First Reg. Art. U. S. A., commanding Fort Pickens :

"In consequence of the assurances received from Mr. Mallory, in a telegram of yesterday to Messrs. Bigler, Hunter and Slidell, with a request that it should be laid before the President, that Fort Pickens would not be assaulted, and an offer of such an assurance to the same effect from Col. Chase, for the purpose of avoiding a hostile collision upon receiving satisfactory assurances from Mr. Mallory and Col. Chase that Fort Pickens will not be attacked, you are instructed not to land the company on board the Brooklyn unless said fort shall be attacked or preparations be made for its attack. The provisions necessary for the supply of the fort you will land. The Brooklyn and other vessels-of-war on the station will remain, and you will exercise the utmost vigilance and be prepared at a moment's warning to land the company at Fort Pickens, and you and they will instantly repel any attack on the fort. The President yesterday sent a special message to Congress, commending the Virginia resolutions of compromise. The Commissioners of different States are to meet here on Monday, the 4th of February, and it is important that during their session a collision of arms should be avoided unless an attack should be made, or there should be preparations for such an attack. In either event the Brooklyn and other vessels will act promptly. Your right and that of the other officers in command at Pensacola freely to communicate with

dispatch which had been given by the Navy Department at Washington to be delivered to Capt. Adams. That on his way through the Confederate States he had reason to think that his dispatch might be taken from him; he therefore had opened it, committed its contents to memory, and destroyed it. I signed this certificate as a witness. Capt. Adams gave me orders to have everything in readiness to land the men soon after nightfall. These facts are mentioned to show that although I was then what would now be termed a rebel,' I was doing my duty in the service from which I could not get away, and by the authority to which I was amenable till my resignation had been accepted. That I was in no way suspected of any desire to neglect duty, nor did I suspect myself of being capable of doing so, never mind how distasteful that duty. I had made all preparations for hoisting out the boats in the afternoon. Capt. Adams thought he had better hoist them out for fear of delays, but I told him it would attract attention on shore; that they could be hoisted out after dark, armed, and the men landed very soon after nightfall. Capt. Adams let me have my way, and all went well. Worden went ashore to return to Washington on that same afternoon. When it was known the next morning that forces had been thrown into Fort Pickens, Gen. Bragg had Worden arrested, and

he was kept a prisoner at Montgomery for some
time. The report in the squadron was that when
Worden asked leave to communicate with the
squadron. Gen. Bragg told him that he could do
so if he was not a bearer of dispatches; that he
could not if he was. Commodore Ingraham,
who was at Pensacola at the time of these oc-
currences, always maintained that Worden had
been treated badly
that he had done
nothing to justify his imprisonment. On the
25th of April, I heard that Virginia had with-
drawn from the Union, and immediately put my
resignation of my commission in Capt. Adams
hands. Although a warm friend of mine, and
willing to do me any favor, Capt. Adams consid-
ered it his duty not to let me leave the squadron
until he could hear from Washington. So for six
weeks I had to do faithful but most disagreeable
duty in the U. S. navy. As a return for an honor-
able course of duty on my part. the U S. govern-
ment struck my name from the navy list, and
when, after the war, I asked that my political
disabilities might be removed, I was required
to return to the Treasury one hundred and
twenty dollars which I had drawn for services
rendered before the receipt of my resignation,
my dismissal, of course, being antedated. About
four hundred and fifty dollars are yet due me
for services honorably discharged. I exchanged
from the Sabine to the storeship Supply in order

the government by special messenger, and its right, in the same manner, to communicate with yourselves and them, will remain intact, as the basis of the present instructions.

"J. HOLT, Secretary of War.

"I. TOUCEY, Secretary of the Navy."

"The construction which Capt. Adams put upon what he calls the engagement made by Mr. Mallory and Mr. Chase with the U. S. government, and which restrained him for four weeks from landing troops, will be seen by the following extract from a letter written by him under date of the 18th of March, and sent by Lieut. Gwathmey:

The officers and men, as I mentioned in my letter of February 19th, are kept in readiness to land at the shortest notice; but I have engaged the assurances of Gen. Bragg, who commands the troops on shore, that he will respect the engagement made by Mr. Mallory and Col. Chase with the U. S. government, and will make no disposition for the attack of Fort Pickens. This engagement, you are aware, binds us not to reinforce Fort Pickens unless it is attacked or threatened. I could easily have thrown any number of men in it almost any time within the last four weeks.'

"This communication, written on the 18th of March, Capt. Adams would not trust to the mails, but withheld for other conveyance; opportunities, however, were rare, and hence the delay in its reception."'

Four days after the arrival of Lieut. Worden at Fort Pickens with orders for the reinforcement of that fort, the transport Atlantic arrived with Gen. Brown and his force and supplies on board for the reinforcement of that post. Gen. Brown found the place in a miserable condition for hostilities, and in a "complete state of confusion, all requiring the labor of every man in it.' The Powhatan arrived next day, the 17th of April, but did not attempt to run the batteries and enter the harbor, as had been designed by those who had dispatched the Powhatan to Pensacola, the army and navy commanders being opposed to it, as Fort Pickens was not strong enough to resist

to get home, and arrived in New York early in June. I was indebted to the gallant Capt. Foote, U. S. N., to get out of the way of arrest in New York, and so escaped customary impris onment in Fort Warren. It may seem that much or all that I have written so far is irrelevant to the scheme in hand, but it has a bearing which I consider very important and one which I confess is very dear, and that is, the standing in the old navy of those who resigned both upon and after they had tendered their resignations. A Yankee pedlar spirit in those who happened to be in power in the times of which I write, brought forth a small and venomous expedient illegal and unjust, that of dismissing from the service instead of accepting these resignations. It was a mean spirit to seek to degrade honorable men, who, without one single exception that I am aware of, did faithful duty in the service in which they were engaged until relieved of that duty by competent authority. Had I been the traitor they would have made me out to be, a single line from me to Gen. Bragg, informing him of the orders from Gen. Scott, to Capt. Vogdes, as narrated above, would have resulted in the immediate capture of Fort Pickens. I am quite sure that it never entered into the minds of any of the loyal' officers of the large squadron off Pensacola, that I was less loyal to the U. S. navy while doing duty in it

than themselves. Admiral Porter commanded
the Powhatan in that squadron. He came there
with a plan for the holding of Fort Pickens, of
which I was entirely informed, yet he never
questioned the propriety of my retaining the
position of executive officer of the flag-ship.
Political harpies in Washington measured the
honor of men by their own possessions in that
line. The officers of the U. S. navy, with only the
exception of some two or three of the whole body
that I ever heard of, were, up to the breaking
out of the war, conservative men who believed
in the Constitution and the rights of the States,
and greatly deplored a condition of things which
made it their duty to assist in coercing a por-
tion of their countrymen: nobly they did that
duty. At the risk of seeming egotistical, I will
mention, in concluding these remarks on the
status of Southern officers in the U. S. navy, the
fact that only a couple of years ago Admiral
Mullaney, the last officer under whom I served
in the old navy, spoke to a friend of his with
whom he had made acquaintance at a summer
resort, of what he was pleased to term my
highly honorable conduct under very delicate
circumstances, and gave instances of it.
all, he was only speaking of what any Southern
officer would have done in like circumstances;
by accident I happened to be the man on the
Occasion."

After

the fires of the Confederate batteries should the Powhatan provoke an attack by entering.'

The U. S. transport Philadelphia, Capt. Kittridge, sailed for Fort Pickens. April 19th, and arrived there May 2d. She had on board a large cargo of arms and ordnance stores. She approached within three-quarters of a mile of the fort and discharged her cargo. During this time the Philadelphia lay within range of the guns of Forts McRae, Barrancas and the land batteries, but no disposition was manifested to attack her. The garrison at the fort were working vigorously at the traverses and all the salient points were well protected with sand-bags. The mortars were planted and protected in like manner. The Mohawk also landed heavy guns at Fort Pickens, going up with several small boats and a scow in tow near the fort, but outside the harbor. She lay within the range of guns at Fort McRae, but no demonstration was made against her. The fleet off Pensacola at the time consisted of the U. S. ship Sabine, steam sloop-of-war Brooklyn, steam sloop Powhatan, and steamer Water Witch; also the storeship Supply, transport Illinois, steamer Wyandotte and schooner Oriental. The Philadelphia left Fort Pickens in May, having on board Lieut. Slemmer and his command on their way to Fort Hamilton, New York.

May 4th, the schooner Oriental, Lieut. Brown commanding, overhauled two steamers that flew the Southern flag; but as nothing contraband of war was found on them, they were permitted to enter the harbor. On May 7th, two Confederate vessels, bound from Mobile to Pensacola, were captured by the Powhatan. They were taken possession of and searched, but neither arms nor ammunition were found. They were laden with provisions for Pensacola, and as they were private prop erty, Capt. Adams did not feel authorized to take them as prizes, but permitted them to return to Mobile.

May 9th, a number of small vessels inside the harbor, passed to and from the forts and Pensacola, taking down large bodies of men and munitions of war. The blockade of the port was proclaimed on the 6th of May, and was rigidly enforced. No vessels, except those in ballast, were permitted to enter the harbor.

At Key West, Commodore Mervine created some anxiety by the publication of the following proclamation :

"To all whom it may concern:

"I, William Mervine, Flag-officer, commanding the U. S. naval forces composing the Gulf Squadron, give notice that by virtue of the power

1 On the 12th of March, 1861, at a Naval General Court Martial convened in Washington, Captain James Armstrong of the navy was tried on the charge of neglect of duty and disobedience of orders and conduct unbecoming an officer, at the surrender of the navy-yard at Warrington, Florida. The charges were preferred against him by direction of the Secretary of the

Navy, and he was found guilty by the court of both charges. The following sentence was pronounced against him: "That Captain James Armstrong be suspended from duty for the term of five years, with loss of pay for the first half of said term, and be reprimanded by the Honorable Secretary of the Navy in general orders."