American Civil War Anecdotes

Balloons on the James River

"It may be of interest at the outset to relate an incident which illustrates the pinched condition of the Confederacy even as early as 1862. The Federals had been using balloons in examining our positions, and we watched with envious eyes their beautiful observations as they floated high up in the air, well out of range of our guns. While we were longing for the balloons that poverty denied us, a genius arose for the occasion and suggested that we send out and gather silk dresses in the Confederacy and make a balloon. It was done, and we soon had a great patchwork ship of many varied lines which was ready for use in the Seven Days campaign. We had no gas except in Richmond, and it was the custom to inflate the balloon there, tie it securely to an engine, and run it down the York River Railroad to any point at which we desired to send it up. One day it was on a steamer down on the James River, when the tide went out and left the vessel and balloon high and dry on a bar. The Federals gathered it in, and with it the last silk dress in the Confederacy. This capture was the meanest trick of the war and one that I have never yet forgiven."

General Ewell at the Battle of Gettysburg

from Trevor at Waterloo Battlefield Tours

General John B. Gordon relates a fortuitous escape from injury by General Ewell at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

"As we rode together, a body of Union soldiers, posted behind some buildings and fences, suddenly opened a brisk fire........I heard the ominous thud of a Minie ball as it struck General Ewell at my side. I quickly asked, "Are you hurt, Sir?" "No, no," he replied; "I'm not hurt. But suppose that ball had struck you: we would have had the trouble of carrying you off the field, sir. You see how much better fixed for a fight I am than you are. It don't hurt a bit to be shot in a wooden leg."

General John Sedgwick

from Trevor at Waterloo Battlefield Tours

One of the cardinal rules of war is never underestimate your enemy. Bruce Catton relates how Union General John Sedgwick did exactly that at Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia on the 9th of May, 1864.

".....Sedgwick rode forward to an elevation near the centre of his position, found that his men were a little nervous because of the fire of Confederate sharpshooters, assured them there was nothing to worry about because 'they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance......', and then himself fell dead with a sharpshooter's bullet in his brain."

H. L. Hunley, Confederate Submarine

H.L. Hunley was a Confederate submersible that demonstrated the advantage and danger of undersea warfare. Hunley was the first submarine to engage and sink a warship.

Hunley was fashioned from a cylindrical iron steam boiler, which was deepened and also lengthened through the addition of tapered ends. Hunley was designed to be hand powered by a crew of nine: eight to turn the hand-cranked propeller and one to steer and direct the boat. As a true submarine, each end was equipped with ballast tanks that could be flooded by valves or pumped dry by hand pumps. Extra ballast was added through the use of iron weights bolted to the underside of the hull. In the event the submarine needed additional buoyancy to rise in an emergency, the iron weight could be removed by unscrewing the heads of the bolts from inside the vessel.

On 16 February 1864, the Confederate submarine made a daring late night attack on USS Housatonic, an 1800 ton sloop-of-war with 23 guns, in Charleston Harbour off the coast of South Carolina. H.L. Hunley rammed Housatonic with a spar torpedo packed with explosive powder and attached to a long pole on its bow. The spar torpedo embedded in the sloop's wooden side and was detonated by a rope as Hunley backed away. The resulting explosion that sent Housatonic with five crew members to the bottom of Charleston Harbor also sank Hunley with its crew of nine. H.L. Hunley earned a place in the history of undersea warfare as the first submarine to sink a ship in wartime.

Best selling author Clive Cussler spent fifteen years searching for Hunley. He finally discovered her in 1995. For the full story go to The Official Hunley Site.

The Merrimack versus The Monitor

from Trevor at Waterloo Battlefield Tours

On the 9th March 1862, one of the most extraordinary engagements in Naval history took place. It was the battle of the ironclad ships – the Merrimack (also known as the CSS Virginia) and the USS Monitor.

The Virginia was created by bolting on armour plating to the hull of an old frigate. Her armaments comprised 10 guns and attached to her prow was a massive steel ram. The plating to the superstructure was set at an angle of 36 degrees to the horizontal. This afforded added protection by causing enemy shots to ricochet. Unable to build new engines of adequate horsepower, they had been forced to recondition the existing engines. Consequently, the Merrimack was severely under powered and had a top speed of only some 4 knots. She was so slow and unmanoeuvrable that a 180 degree turn could take up to half an hour to perform.

The Monitor was purpose built at the enormous cost of $275,000 to specifically counter the threat of the Merrimack. She was flat decked and had 4.5 inch armour plating. She had a top speed of  8 knots. She had only two 11 inch guns, but these were housed in a rotating turret (protected by 8 inch thick armour plating). This enabled the Monitor to fire in any direction.

On March 8th 1862, the Merrimack steamed out of Norfolk to run the blockade of the five Union ships guarding the mouth of the St James River. She easily sank two of the ships and forced another to run aground before steaming back into harbour. However, when she reappeared on the following day, the Monitor was waiting for her and the two extraordinary ships engaged.

The ironclads blazed away at each other for two hours, but neither was able to penetrate the other’s armour. Only superficial damage was caused. During two days of engagement the Merrimack was hit by 98 shots and the Monitor by 22, none of which came anywhere close to doing significant damage. During the battle the two ships got so close to each other, firing at point blank range, that they collided on five separate occasions. It is said that, such was the noisy and concussive effect of the shots hitting the armour, that many sailors had blood running from their ears.

Finally, a shot hit the pilot house of the Monitor, wounding her captain, and the Union vessel withdrew briefly from the fray. By this time the Merrimack’s overworked, wheezy engines were all but useless, making her “as unwieldy as Noah’s Ark”, according to one of her lieutenants. Thinking that she had won the battle, the Merrimack steamed back into harbour. The crew of the Monitor took this as a retreat and also claimed victory. But of course it had been nothing more than a complete stalemate.

Telegraph Operators

Other than telegraphic espionage, the most dangerous service was the repair of lines, which often was done under fire and more frequently in a guerilla-infested country. Many men were captured or shot from ambush while thus engaged. Two of Clowry's men in Arkansas were not only murdered, but were frightfully mutilated. In Tennessee, conditions were sometimes so bad that no lineman would venture out save under heavy escort. Three repair men were killed on the Fort Donelson line alone. W. R. Plum, in his "Military Telegraph," says that "about one in twelve of the operators engaged in the service were killed, wounded, captured, or died in the service from exposure."

While scouting, Operator William Forster obtained valuable dispatches by tapping the line along the Charleston-Savannah railway for two days. Discovered, he was pursued by bloodhounds into a swamp, where he was captured up to his armpits in mire. Later, the telegrapher died in prison.

The Gatling Gun

The Gatling gun was a hand-crank operated weapon with 6 barrels revolving around a central shaft. The cartridges were fed to the gun by gravity through a hopper mounted on the top of the gun. 6 cam-operated bolts alternately wedged, fired, and dropped the bullets, which were contained in steel chambers. Gatling used the 6 barrels to partially cool the gun during firing. Since the gun was capable of firing 600 rounds a minute, each barrel fired 100 rounds per minute.

Major General Benjamin F. Butler

When Major General Benjamin F. Butler and his men occupied New Orleans in 1862, he found the Confederate women of the town, so abusive to his troops, that he issued General Order No. 28 which read:

"As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous noninterference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation."

This seemed to do the trick but he was nick-named Beast-Butler, thereafter.

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