A Confederate Navy Man

Confederate Commander Thomas B Huger died from wounds April 25^th 1862 while fighting Union ships near Fort Jackson.

Thomas B Huger was born in South Carolina.  He became a midshipman in the United States Navy in March 1835.  By February 1848 he had become a Lieutenant.  When South Carolina seceded Huger resigned his commission.

In March 1861 Huger was made a First Lieutenant in the Confederate Navy.  He started off with command of a battery on Morris Island just off the coast of South Carolina.  Later that year Huger was appointed the commanding officer of the CSS McRae a steam powered barkentine.  The ship was placed in defense of the lower Mississippi River and New Orleans.

During a battle on April 24^th 1862 with Union ships near Fort Jackson and Fort St Philip, the CSS McRae was damaged by the USS Iroquois and Huger was mortally wounded.  Oddly Huger had been the First Lieutenant on the USS Iroquois before the Civil War started.  He died the next day April 25^th 1862.

A Solid Ironclad

The USS Weehawken was commissioned January 18^th 1863 under the command of Captain John Rodgers.

The USS Weehawken was an enlarged version of the USS Monitor, a Passaic class ironclad.  She was launched by the Zeno Secor & Company of Jersey City, New Jersey on November 5^th 1862.  Accompanied by the USS Iroquois bound for duty as part of the South Atlantic Blocking Squadron they left New York January 18^th 1863.  They encountered high winds and heavy seas off the coast of New Jersey, but the Weehawken was better designed then her archetype the Monitor, and her commander Captain John Rodgers put her safely into Norfolk on February 1^st 1863.

On April 7^th 1863 the Weehawken led the first assault against Confederate installations in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor.  During the failed action the Weehawken took 53 direct hits and a torpedo.  She did not suffer any real damage.  Her next action was again the CSS Atlanta in Wassaw Sound, Georgia.  With just five shots the crew of the Weehawken put the Atlanta out of action, and got Captain Rodgers a commendation from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and a promotion to Commodore.