Put On A Dress And Take A Ship

The ship, the St Nicolas was captured with the use of disguise June 28^th 1861 by a War of 1812 veteran and a pirate fighting adventurer.

The plan to capture a commercial sailing ship on the Chesapeake Bay and add it to the Confederate Navy was hatched by George Hollins.  Hollins was born in Maryland September 20^th 1799 and at 15 he joined the United State Navy, even serving during the War of 1812 on Lake Erie.  When the Civil War started Hollins was commanding a ship in the Mediterranean.  He returned to the United States resigned his commission, and offered his service to the Confederacy.

Very shortly after joining the Confederate Navy, Hollins met another Marylander, Richard Thomas Zarvona.  He was born October 27^th 1833 on the family plantation known as Mattapany.  Zarvona was an adventurer.  He had attended the United Military Academy at West Point in 1850 for a short time, fought pirates in China, and fought with Giuseppe Garibaldi in Italy.

These two men set up a plan to seize the St Nicolas, a commercial ship and put it into use in the Confederate Navy.  Zarvona recruited some sketchy men in Baltimore, Maryland and they boarded the St Nicholas, along with Zarvona who went on board disguised as a woman using the name Madame La Force.  Hollins came on board the St Nicholas at its next port of call.  With all the conspirators on board they met in Zarvona’s cabin, where they armed themselves and then surprised and capture the crew on June 28^th 1861.  Hollins took command of the ship.  They stopped the St Nicholas on the Virginia side of the Chesapeake to take on a Confederate crew.  They planned to use the ship to capture the sloop, the USS Pawnee, but it sailed out before the St Nicholas got there, instead they captured three other commercial ships carrying cargos of coffee, coal and ice.

For this action Hollins was given a promotion to Flag Officer and sent to command the Confederate fleet at New Orleans, Louisiana.

If you are interested in reading more about the men involved check out Richard Thomas Zarvona (1833-1875) and George Nichols Hollins (1799-1878)

 

Shot Off His Horse

Union Brigadier General Charles Garrison Harker was killed June 27^th 1864 during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

Charles Garrison Harker was born December 2^nd 1835 in Swedesboro, New Jersey.  As a young man, he worked in a store owned by United State Congressman Nathan T Stratton.  Stratton worked to get Harker an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.  He graduated in 1858 and joined the 2^nd United States Infantry on garrison duty at Governor’s Island in New York Harbor.  He would go on to see service in the Oregon and Washington Territories.

When the Civil War started he assigned to train new recruits in Ohio.  With a couple of promotion he was by October 24^th 1861 the Captain of the 15^th United State Regulars.  He would then move onto the 65^th Ohio Infantry and become their Colonel on November 11^th 1861.  Harker and the 65^th would be in the Battles of Shiloh and Corinth.  He would move up to command a brigade in the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Cumberland.  For his actions during the Battle of Chickamauga on Snodgrass House Hill, Harker received a promotion to Brigadier General on September 20^th 1863.

As the Atlanta Campaign got rolling in 1864, Harker was commanding a brigade in Union Major General Oliver Otis Howard Corps.  Union General William Tecumseh Sherman made an attempted to push Confederate troops out from behind their lines on Kennesaw Mountain.  During the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain while leading his men on June 27^th 1864, Harker was shot off his horse, receiving a mortal wound.  He died the same day.  Harker is buried in the Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in Swedesboro, New Jersey.

The Navy Man Of The West

Union Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote died June 26^th 1863.

Andrew Hull Foote was born September 12^th 1806 at New Haven, Connecticut the son of Senator Samuel Augustus and Eudocia (Hull) Foote.  He was a good student and received an appointment to the United State Military Academy at West Point in June 1822.  Only six months later he left West Point on December 4^th 1822 and joined the United State Navy as a midshipman on the USS Grampus.  He became a Lieutenant in 1830.  In 1837 Foote serving on the USS John Adams circumnavigated the globe.  In 1849 he became the commander of the USS Perry sailing off the coast of Africa.  It was this duty that caused him write the book “Africa and the American Flag” about the evils of the slave trade.  In 1958 Foote became the commander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, where he would be serving when the Civil War started.

On June 29^th 1861 Foote was promoted to Captain and took over the command of the Mississippi River Squadron.  In February 1862 the now Flag Officer Foote in conjunction with Union General Ulysses S Grant captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River.  This was followed in a few days by the fall of Fort Donelson.  Foote was wounded in this battle.  After this he joined with Union General John Pope in a campaign against the Confederate held Island Number Ten on the Mississippi River.

With a promotion to Union Rear Admiral he was on his way on June 26^th 1863 to take command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron when he died of Bright’s disease.  Foote is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Holding An Importain Bridge

The Battle of Staunton River Bridge took place June 25^th 1864 in Halifax and Charlotte Counties, Virginia.

As the Siege of Petersburg continued the Confederate troops had become dependent on supplies coming in on the Danville, Richmond and South Side Railroad lines.  Union General Ulysses S Grant knew that if those could be cut, the Confederates would have to abandon Petersburg.

On June 22^nd 1864 Grant sent 5,000 cavalry and 16 pieces of artillery under the command of Union Brigadier Generals James H Wilson and August V Kautz to destroy those railroad lines.  Despite being harassed by Confederate Major General WHF Rooney Lee, the Union troops were able to destroy 60 miles of railway over three days.

They reached the Staunton River Bridge, along which ran the Richmond and Danville Railroad and was the vital supply line for the Confederates in Petersburg.  The bridge was being held by 296 Confederates under the command of Captain Benjamin L Farinholt.  Farinholt had received intelligence warning him of the Union approach, giving him time to request reinforcements.  The extra men; about 640, arrived on the morning of the battle June 24^th 1864.  Knowing he was being watched Farinholt ordered the train station to his south to keep running a train, making it appear he was receiving a large number of troops.  Also helping along this impression was Mulberry Hill plantation owner Mrs. Nancy McPhail, who informed the Union commanders that there were 10,000 Confederate troops at the bridge.

At about 4pm on June 24^th the Union troops arrived on the northern side of the Staunton River Bridge. Kauts had his cavalry dismounted and advanced.  They attempted to capture and hold the bridge long enough to set it on fire, but were quickly repulsed.  Other Union men occupied a ditch about 150 yards from the bridge, where they made several charges, sustaining heavy casualties, gaining no ground.  About sunset WHF Rooney Lee arrived on the scene, attacking Union troops in the rear.  This forced Wilson and Kautz to retreat.

The next morning Farinholt advanced into the vacated Union lines.  They buried 42 Union dead.

If you would like to read more about the BATTLE OF STAUNTON RIVER BRIDGE  this is a good place to start.

Holding The Gaps

George H Thomas

The Battle of Hoover’s Gap a part of the Middle Tennessee Campaign was fought June 24^th 1863.

After the Battle of Stones River, Confederate General Braxton Bragg established a line from Shelbyville to Wartrace along the Duck River, this included holding the Bellbuckle, Hoover’s and Liberty Gaps.  Union leaders fearing that Bragg would go to the support of Vicksburg pushed Major General William Rosecrans to attack Bragg’s position.

Rosecrans made a move towards Shelbyville on June 23^rd 1863 to get Bragg’s attention, while the mass of his troops headed for the Gaps.  On June 24^th 1863 Union Major General George H Thomas attacked Hoover’s Gap.  Thomas used Colonel John T Wilder’s mounted infantry known as the “Lightning Brigade” armed with Spencer Rifles to spearhead the attack.  They met Confederate Colonel J Russell Butler’s 1^st Kentucky Cavalry, and pushed them back 7 miles, before Wilder’s men came up against Brigadier General William B Bate’s brigade.  Wilder entrenched on the hills to the south of the gap and held throughout several Confederate attacks.  More units arrived on both sides and everyone settled down hold their position.

On June 26^th 1863 the Confederate force began pulling back.  Although rain made moving slow Rosecrans pushed Bragg’s men until they fell back to a defensive line at Tullahoma.

A Skirmish In The Pass

The first Battle of Monterey Pass; a skirmish in size, was fought June 22^nd 1863 as the Confederates moved into Pennsylvania.

Confederate Captain Robert B Moorman, who was commanding Company D of the 14^th Virginia Cavalry, was ordered east from the Greencastle, Pennsylvania area on June 22^nd 1863.  He was to obtain horses which were reported to be available in the vicinity.  The cavalry moved on east coming to Monterey Pass they ran into Union cavalry.  There was a short skirmish after which the 14^th Virginia withdrew back towards Hagerstown, Maryland where they joined up with Confederate General Richard S Ewell.

A Builder Of American

Union Colonel Charles Ellet Jr died June 21^st 1862 from a mortal wound he received at the Battle of Memphis 15 days earlier.

Charles Ellet Jr was born January 1^st 1810 in William Penn Manor, Buck, Pennsylvania.  He studied civil engineering in Paris, France at the Ecole Polytechnique.  He designed the first wire cable suspension bridge built in the United States in 1842.  It spanned the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, Pennsylvania, and was 358 feet long.  There were other bridges to follow including the 770 foot long footbridge at Niagara Falls.  Ellet also engineered canals and railroads in Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well as building flood control dams on local rivers.  In 1850 he was directed by the United States Secretary of War Charles M. Conrad to survey the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and make plans to improve navigation.  Ellet wrote a pamphlet in 1855 called “Coast and Harbor Defenses, or the Substitution of Steam Battering Rams for Ships of War”.

Union Secretary of War Edwin M Stanton had Ellet appointed Colonel of Engineers in March 1861, and set him creating the Union Ram Fleet.  He had nine steam ships converted to vessels.  These ships were designated the Mississippi Ram Fleet.  While he was on board the USS Queen of the West, Ellet was mortally wounded, being shot in the knee during the Battle of Memphis on June 6^th 1862.  He died fifteen days later June 21^st 1862 at Cairo, Illinois.  He is buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.