Iron Ships, Iron Men

by Christopher Nicole

  For some weeks following the election there was an air almost of apathy over the country, as everyone waited to see what would happen. Mr Lincoln, of course, would not take office until the beginning of March, 1861, and there were many who were disposed to wait until after that, after he had shown his hand, so to speak, with his inaugural address, before adopting any irreversible attitudes. But most knew the crisis would not wait that long, and Senator John Crittenden, from Kentucky, sought to force the issue at once by introducing what became known as the ‘Crittenden Compromise’, which was designed to extend the Missouri Compromise of 1850 to the Pacific. The Missouri Compromise, managed through Congress by Henry Clay ten years before, had sought to create a situation whereby slave states and free states would be equally balanced in the legislature, to make a perpetual stand-off as regards abolitionist legislation ever getting through the Senate. Senator Crittenden’s proposal was to extend this to all new states being accepted into the Union, so as to make the stand-off indeed perpetual. That the northern governors would accept such an idea was of course remote in the extreme, but in the event South Carolina provoked the issue even further by, just before Christmas, adopting an ordinance of secession, and not satisfied with that, early in the new year fired on the USSStar of the West when she attempted to enter Charleston Harbour. This was open rebellion, even if it was not so treated by the outgoing president, James Buchanan — who was no relation of Franklin. But this overt act was sufficient to encourage any waverers in the ranks of the South. Before the inauguration of the new president, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina had all seceded from the Union. The ball was therefore firmly in Mr Lincoln’s court when he took office.

  *

  Before this could happen, however, the seceding states had their own house to put in order, and they determined to face the new president with a fait accompli. The month before his inauguration, representatives of the slave states in Montgomery, Alabama, and there formed a provisional government, under the name of the Confederate States of America. This was an even more treasonable act than firing on theStar of the West, for which incident perhaps an individual scapegoat could have been found. But now the southerners were declaring themselves to be a separate nation, and four days later they elected a president of their own, a Mississippi planter named Jefferson Davis, who was given a Georgia lawyer, Alexander Stephens, as Vice-President. Davis was a well-known figure, both as a politician in recent years, and as a successful soldier in his youth; at the Battle of Buena Vista, one of the major engagements of the recent war against Mexico, his regiment of Mississippi volunteers had repulsed a Mexican attack which might well have driven General Zachary Taylor’s small American army from its position. Appointing such a man as president clearly indicated that the Confederacy, as it came to be known, was not about to be coerced. Stephens, remarkably, had been one of the few voices to oppose secession, at least before Lincoln had revealed his intentions, but no one could argue with the Georgia representative’s qualities or integrity.

  One of Jefferson Davis’s first appointments was that of Stephen Mallory to be his Secretary of the Navy, as Mallory had hinted might be the case. Rod then knew it was just a matter of time before he received the call to arms, supposing there was indeed going to be a war to secure southern independence. Everyone knew that depended on the decision of Mr Lincoln, and there were not lacking those, like Wilbur Grahame, who supposed, optimistically, that the incoming president, faced with an established situation about which his predecessor had done nothing, might well accept it. From Lincoln’s previous utterances, this did not seem in the least likely to Rod, but in the event it was once again the hotheads of South Carolina who provoked a crisis. No sooner had the new president been sworn in than they opened fire upon the Federal fortress guarding the harbour of Charleston, named Sumter, and after a bloodless bombardment of twenty-four hours, the fort surrendered. No one doubted after that that there would have to be a war. As for how desperately and with what determination it would be fought, that no man could say. But at the end of April Rod received the expected letter from Mallory, containing some quiteunexpected instructions.

  ‘Dear Bascom,’ the new Navy Secretary wrote, ‘I have before me your letter expressing your willingness to serve the Confederacy, for which I am most grateful. Now I must tell you that we can at any moment anticipate a reprisal from the Union Government for the taking of Fort Sumter, and that this will inevitably lead to war. I can thus apprise you of the fact that it will be my first duty as Secretary of the Navy to create a fleet capable of meeting the Federal Navy on the High Seas and gaining a victory, but this will take some time, and for the moment we must content ourselves with doing the utmost damage we may to the North’s war-making capability. In this regard you will act without delay. Enclosed is your commission as a lieutenant in the Confederate States Navy. In this rank you will proceed to New Orleans Harbour, there to take possession of the MacConell line steam barqueHabana, the purchase of which we have negotiated, and the papers regarding which are also enclosed. If you will reply acknowledging these instructions and giving me the relevant information, I will immediately proceed to have your salary as an officer of the Confederacy paid into the bank of your choice.

  ‘I regret that I cannot at this time offer you the command of this vessel; that is reserved for Captain Raphael Semmes, with whom I believe you are acquainted, and who has happily decided to adhere to our cause. Your posting will be that of Second Officer under Captain Semmes’ command. However, until Captain Semmes’ arrival in New Orleans, you will regard theHabana as your own responsibility, and take all necessary steps to ensure that no damage or distress to her is caused by the actions of any Federal agents. In this regard I have requested immediate co-operation from the Governor of Louisiana.

  ‘That you will command your own ship in the course of the coming struggle is both my belief and my intention, at the earliest possible opportunity.’

  An appointment, Rod thought. To a steam barque. Obviously for use as a commerce raider. In effect, a pirate. And not even as captain, but only second officer. That was a considerable disappointment. But Mallory held out the promise of rapid promotion, no doubt as more ships became available, and it was a place at sea, and under Semmes, for whom he had already achieved a sincere respect. Just as attractive, it gave him authority right here in New Orleans.

  He went downstairs, where Claudine was playing solitaire, one of her favourite occupations.

  ‘I have been given a posting, at sea,’ he announced.

  She turned over a card. ‘I am sure that will please you, Mr Bascom.’

  He picked up all the cards, shuffled them together, set them aside, and sat opposite her. She gazed at him with liquid eyes.

  ‘I am to go to sea,’ he said. ‘Perhaps for several months. Perhaps for ever. I shall do this to defend this land of which you are part, of which you are so proud.’

  She continued to gaze at him, only briefly lowering her eyes to look at her spoiled game.

  ‘I had supposed, I had hoped, that this might be a source of reconciliation between us,’ he said.

  ‘What do we have to reconcile, Mr Bascom?’ she asked.

  He stared into her eyes. It was like looking into a pool of shallow, lifeless water. ‘Why, nothing, to be sure,’ he agreed. ‘No doubt I shall have returned before you are aware that I have left.’

  *

  Next morning he was at the docks, to find theHabanaalready under guard by soldiers of the New Orleans militia, the Governor having acted immediately on receiving Mallory’s letter. Rod’s credentials quickly gained him admission, and he inspected the vessel from top to bottom. She was totally disappointing, being a little of everything and a good deal of nothing. One hundred and eighty-four feet long, thirty feet wide, and with a draft of twelve feet, displacing four hundred and thirty-seven tons, she did not even fill his concept of a very seaworthy vessel. As she had been de
scribed, in addition to her masts and sails she contained a single shaft engine, which her engineer assured him would deliver ten knots, but she carried only sufficient coal for eight days’ steady steaming, and therefore was really no more than a sailing vessel, like theSplendid had been, with auxiliary power to be used in closing an adversary — or perhaps escaping from one. Because she would not dare engage a warship, both because of her small size, and because she was at the moment quite unarmed.

  In this regard he was reassured to a certain extent by Semmes himself, who arrived in New Orleans only a few days later. ‘Welcome aboard, Mr Bascom,’ he said. ‘This will be a more congenial business than planting sugar, eh? You’ll not have met John Kell, my First Lieutenant.’

  Rod shook hands with the heavy-set, heavily-bearded man, like Semmes himself, an ex-Federal Navy officer.

  ‘I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr Bascom,’ Kell said. ‘I look forward to working with you.’

  ‘Why, thank you, Mr Kell,’ Rod said.

  ‘Now, you’ll understand that our business is destroying northern shipping,’ Semmes went on.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Rod agreed, wondering what his two new superiors, until only a month before sworn supporters of the Union, felt about their new situation.

  As Semmes understood. ‘It was a difficult decision, to be sure,’ he agreed. ‘But a man must go where his roots lie, or where, like you, Mr Bascom, his roots have been put down. At least ours is a clear cut choice. The real tragedy concerns men like Frank Buchanan. You’ll know he resigned his commission as well, immediately on learning that the Confederacy had been formed, assuming that Maryland, his home state, would also be seceding.’

  ‘But Maryland has opted to remain within the Union,’ Rod said.

  ‘Exactly. So Buchanan has been left up a tree. He immediately applied for reinstatement, and has been refused by the Union Navy Board.’ Semmes face broke into an unaccustomed grin. ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison, one can say. Secretary Mallory has offered Frank command of our own navy, such as it is, and there is no doubt he will accept. That is by the by. You know our business. Now, where are the guns?’

  These had already been contracted for, and were soon delivered. They consisted of four thirty-two pounders, for main deck work, and an eight-inch chaser, an altogether more powerful weapon, although as it, like the thirty-two pounders, was smooth bore, it could hardly be called a modern gun in terms of either range or accuracy.

  ‘Hardly power enough to engage a modern frigate,’ Semmes observed drily. ‘But enough to overawe the average merchantman, I have no doubt. Why, gentlemen ...’ he surveyed his other officers, who were by now all assembled. ‘We are latter day pirates, to be sure. But we will be flying our country’s flag. We will not disgrace it.’

  His energy was enormous, and in two months he had theHabana repainted, refitted, her bottom scrubbed and all suspect rigging renewed, her engine greased and thoroughly overhauled, to make the ship in every way ready for sea. While engaged in this he had also recruited a crew of nearly a hundred men, almost all of whom were either English or Irish, Rod noted with pleasure — there were few other experienced seamen in the seaports of the south. They were a rough and ready lot, and would undoubtedly require severe discipline, but they knew their way to a masthead, and were prepared to fight ... at the prospect of plunder.

  Once satisfied with the ship, Semmes assembled his crew and re-named the vessel, the Confederate States ShipSumter, after the fortress captured at the very beginning of the war. ‘A fitting name,’ he announced, ‘as we shall be the first confederate ship to carry the stars and bars to sea, and there we shall triumph or die in the attempt, make no mistake about that.’

  He then swore the entire crew in, read them the Articles of War, and announced that they would be sailing in forty-eight hours — and not sneaking out of the river at night, but at dawn, challenging the blockading squadron to do its worst.

  As the only local resident amongst the crew, Rod was given compassionate leave for the night before departure, and went out to Martine’s, whence Claudine had already betaken herself in anticipation of becoming a grass widow — or perhaps even a real one. His farewells were muted. Antoinette Grahame hardly seemed to understand what was happening, and Claudine was as disinterested in his presence — or coming absence — as ever. Even Wilbur Grahame regarded his son-in-law’s departure with mixed feelings, pride that he should have been summoned to serve the Confederacy being mingled with a feeling of being deserted by the man he had set up as his support for just such a crisis. It occurred to Rod, not for the first time, that these were a totally alien people ... for whom he was now proposing to risk his life. And then wondered what Marguerite, lost in a no less alien society, to her, thought of it all ... and where Jerry might now be. The pair of them were even more rivals than before, he thought — all without Jerry being the least aware of it. To the plantation, and Marguerite herself, and now the war, was added his impatient determination to carve himself a reputation which would surpass that of his friend. Simply so that Marguerite would realise her mistake.

  *

  ‘I suppose we have all known this would happen,’ Jerry wrote. ‘Have all both feared and anticipated this day. It means, alas, my dearest darling, that I shall not be returning home this spring as I had hoped. Our ship is under orders to return immediately across the Atlantic, to be sure, but we are to join the Federal Squadron blockading Charleston Harbour, and there will be no furloughs in the foreseeable future. I leave you to imagine how this grieves me; Joey will be a grown lad before I see him for the first time, although we all must hope and pray that this will be a short contest, and that Messrs Davis and Stephens et al will soon be brought to their senses and forced to abandon this insane attempt to destroy the Union.

  ‘Believe me, my dearest darling, I am also aware of how you must be feeling, of the fears you must entertain for your family and erstwhile home. I can only rejoice that you are in such good, and safe hands, as those of my parents. As for your own, I do not believe they will suffer any physical misfortune, as a result of this conflict, as the centre of decision must lie in the east, but I am bound to say that I feel the end of slavery in the United States is in sight, and how this will affect the prosperity of the South, and of Martine’s in particular, is difficult to say. It will be something for us to consider when I finally return home.

  ‘In this regard, I should be grateful for any news of Rod Bascom, whom I still count as a close and loyal friend. I have written to him, but whether he will receive my letter I cannot say. I also know that Father wrote to him, indicating that a posting would definitely be found for him in the United States Navy should it come to bullets, as it has done. I have heard from Father that Rod acknowledged this letter, but that was nearly a year ago. Whether he will now be able to make his way north to enlist it is difficult to say, and as I have written above, I should dearly love to have some word on his whereabouts and plans, should you be able to discover them.

  ‘Now, my darling, I must post this and return to my duties. We set sail from Cherbourg at midnight. I will tell you more about the European scene when we meet; there has been so much other news to recount that this letter could simply not contain it all. I must now charge you to take care of yourself, and the babe, and to have trust in the righteousness of our cause, and be certain that I shall return to you, hopefully with the laurels of victory on my brow. Until then, I am your most loving husband, Jerry McGann.’

  Slowly Marguerite folded the letter, looking over at the crib as she did so, where Joseph McGann was for the moment sleeping. He was a demanding child, and as the McGanns would not consider such a thing as a wet-nurse, she was feeding him herself, and as far as she could judge, would have to continue doing that for several months to come.

  That had proved a certain blessing, however. Being first pregnant and now a nursing mother, she had been spared any of the back-breaking labour that was required by both men and women to keep the farm pro
sperous. But that would surely come. For ever and ever. There was a daunting thought. But how much more daunting were Jerry to be killed in this senseless conflict, and leave her with not even that solace to look forward to, only the boy his father would never have seen. As the letter would also have had to cross the Atlantic, Jerry’s ship was certainly by now on station, and he could be fighting for his life at that very moment.

  Was the conflict senseless? Not to these people, or anyone else she encountered on Long Island. If she had never really felt a part of this family, over the months since the South Carolingians had fired on Fort Sumter she had felt like the spectre at the feast. The McGanns, and the Palmers, were as courteous to her as they had ever been, but she knew they looked on her as a very typical representative of that proud, rich, careless and vicious plantocracy which had torn the nation asunder. To them, the Union was engaged on a crusade. They did not seem able to grasp the fact that an entire bloc of states had determined to break away and live their own lives in their own way. Surely, in a free democracy, which the Northerners claimed they were fighting for, people had the right to do that. But now they were to be coerced back into the fold by force of arms ... or equally, be forced to secure their independence, by force of arms. Either way, the prospect was sombre. And for her more so than for any other, she felt. More strongly than ever before she wished she could be back in New Orleans, to hear what was going on, to see Mama, and even Claudine, and of course Papa. And Rod? There was an unworthy thought, when Jerry so generously sought news of his friend. And in any event, Rod would probably no longer be there. Like Jerry, he would count this as one of the great opportunities, to be seized, and was probably already on his way to some Federal recruiting station, anxious to get back to sea, and fighting ships.