Posted inUS Civil War

November 18, 1861 – Scott’s Regiment

The regiment of mounted volunteers under command of Col. Scott, five companies of which will leave Baton Rouge for the seat of war in Kentucky on Saturday, is a corps of which the State may justly feel proud. It is composed of the substantial young men of Louisiana—gentlemen in their social standing, sons of our worthiest citizens healthy, temperate, athletic—good marksmen and excellent horsemen. They have volunteered for the whole war from an ardent patriotism, leaving behind them the comforts of home, and in every instance all the luxuries that wealth can procure. A nobler regiment of cavalry never formed into line on this continent than the one about to part from us—brave and worthy men, commanded by chivalric and intelligent officers.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

October 28, 1861 – Dispatches from Head of Passes

U.S. steamer Richmond, showing a near side-on view. Her sails are partly unfurled, and her smokestack sits mid deck.

Washington, Oct. 25.—Commodore McKean’s dispatches are received at the Navy Department. Capt. Pope of the Richmond, reports the hole made in her by the ram was two feet below the water line and five inches in circumference. At the first alarm, the crew cooly repaired to quarters, and as the ram passed abreast the Richmond, the entire port battery was discharged at her, with what effect, it was impossible to discover in the darkness. A red light was shown as a signal of danger, and the entire squadron was under way in a very few minutes, the Richmond covering the retreat. The Preble went over the bar while the Vincennes and Richmond grounded.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

October 14, 1861 – The Great Naval Victory

Confederate ironclad ram CSS Manassas attacks the USS Richmond in the Battle of the Head of the Passes, 12 October 1861. Harper's weekly, 1861 Dec. 7, p. 773.

Last Saturday, the 12th day of October 1861, has now a place in history, and a place, too, inferior to none connected with the history of the people of America, the Fourth of July only excepted. Thursday gave to the South also another hero, one who will rank with the Jones’, the Hulls, the Perrys, and the Decaturs, those glorious defenders of the rights of the old Union. Yes, henceforth the name of Hollins will be mentioned with pride throughout the broad extent of the Southern Confederacy. He has fought against odds, we believe, which have never before been encountered, and obtained a victory which, so for as we recollect, has no parallel in history. Five extemporised gun boats, armed with 17 guns all told, attacked a fleet of four men of war, armed with about 40 guns, sunk one of them, put the balance to flight, ran them ashore, and captured a transport schooner from them.

This expedition, which had such a glorious termination, was fitted out here and over in Algiers by Capt. Hollins, amidst the most profound secrecy, not the slightest hint of what was intended getting noised abroad until the vessels were almost ready for departure, and even then nothing definite could be learned, nor did any one know exactly what was going to be done.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

September 28, 1861 – Important from the Head of the Passes

The following dispatch, by the Balize Telegraph Line, from Fort Jackson to Major General Twiggs, was received yesterday :

Fort Jackson, Sept. 2-0, 1861. Major General D. E. Twiggs:

Mr. Fulda, the telegraphic operator at the head of the Passes, arrived here this morning from that point. He reports an engagement between the C. S. steamer Ivy and the U. S. steamer Water Witch, without injury to the Ivy.