#ncwnm

[portcolumbus]

December 29, 1864

C.S.S. Shenandoah, Lieutenant Waddell, captured and destroyed bark Delphine in the Indian Ocean with cargo of rice. Delphine was Waddell's last capture of the year and ninth prize in eight weeks.

[portcolumbus]

November 29, 1864

 Double-turret monitor U.S.S. Onondaga, Commander William A Parker, and single-turret monitor U.S.S. Mahopac, Lieutenant Commander Edward E. Potter, engaged Howlett's Battery, on the James River, Virginia, for three hours. This was part of the continuing action below Richmond.

[portcolumbus]

November 24, 1864

U.S.S. Chocura, Lieutenant Commander Meade, sighted schooner Louisa and chased her ashore on the bar off San Bernard River, Texas. A heavy gale totally destroyed the schooner before she could be boarded.

[portcolumbus]

November 19, 1864

C.S.S. Chickamauga, Lieutenant Wilkinson, ran the blockade into Wilmington under cover of heavy fog. He has miscalculated his position the day before and successfully run through the blockade to Masonboro Inlet instead of New Inlet. Wilkinson dropped down the coast and early in the morning of the 19th anchored under the guns of Fort Fisher to await high tide when Chickamauga could cross the bar and stand up Cape Fear River to Wilmington. As the fog lifted, blockaders U.S.S. Kansas, Wilderness, Cherokee, and Clematis opened on what they at first took to be a grounded blockade runner. Chickamauga broke the Confederate flag and returned the fire, joined by the heavy guns of Fort Fisher. Fog and the range of the Fort's guns thwarted efforts to destroy the cruiser; by mid-morning Chickamauga was safely in the river and nearing Wilmington.

[portcolumbus]

November 17, 1864

Side-wheelers U.S.S. Otsego, Lieutenant Commander Arnold, and U.S.S. Ceres, Acting Master Foster, ascended the Roanoke River to Jamesville, North Carolina, on a reconnaissance. The smaller Ceres continued upriver to Williamston. Although Confederates had been reported in the area, no batteries or troops were encountered.

[portcolumbus]

November 15, 1864

Governor William A. Buckingham of Connecticut wrote Secretary Welles of the ''defenseless condition of Stonington." The citizens of the city, he reported, "feel that the Tallahassee having been near them, that or some other vessel may make them a piratical visit at any hour, and urge that an ironclad be stationed in their harbor not only for their protection, but for the protection of other towns on the sound and of the sound steamers." The Governor's letter typified the grave concern caused by the infrequent but devastating Confederate raids near Northern seaports. 

[portcolumbus]

November 14-15, 1864

Acting Master Lothrop Wight and Acting Ensign Frederick W. Mintzer reconnoitered Confederate naval dispositions above Dutch Gap on the James River, Virginia. Work was going ahead rapidly on the Dutch Gap Canal, which would allow Union gunboats to bypass the obstructions at Trent's Reach, and the work of Wight and Minter provided valuable information regarding the positions of Confederate ships and troops.

[portcolumbus]

November 4, 1864

Paddle-wheelers U.S.S. Key West, Acting Lieutenant King, U.S.S. Tawah, Acting Lieutenant Goudy, and small steamer U.S.S. Elfin, Acting Master Augustus F. Thompson, were destroyed after an engagement with Confederate batteries off Johnsonville, Tennessee, along with several transport steamers and a large quantity of supplies. Acting Lieutenant King, in command of the naval group, was patrolling the river and protecting the Union depot and headquarters at Johnsonville as the forces of Confederate General Forrest suddenly struck the city. On 3 November, King discovered a strong Confederate field battery emplaced to command a narrow channel in the Tennessee River between Reynoldsburg Island and the west bank two miles below Johnsonville. Confederate gunboat Undine, lately captured from the Union (30 October), twice attempted on the 3rd to lure King and his gunboats downriver in range of the batteries without success. On the morning of 4 November, Undine again came upriver from the Confederate batteries, and this time King took his three ships down to engage her. At about the same time, Lieutenant Commander Fitch, commanding U.S.S. Moose and five other small steamers, Brilliant, Victory, Curlew, Fairy, and Paw Paw, approached the downstream side of Reynoldsburg Island, to support King. The Confederates burned Undine and opened on the Union gunboats with shore fire. Because of the narrowness of the channel and the commanding position occupied by the batteries Fitch could not bring his ships closer to Johnsonville to aid Key West, Tawah, and Elfin, which had retired to a position off the town to protect the transports and supplies. The Confederates then moved their main batteries along the river to positions opposite Johnsonville, leaving sufficient guns to block Fitch's passage, and commenced a fierce bombardment of the gunboats, transports, and wharf area. After fighting for nearly an hour against great odds, King at last ordered and his three riddled gunboats fired. Army Assistant Quartermaster Henry Howland, a witness to the action from ashore, described it: ". . . for nearly thirty minutes the cannonading was the most terrific I have ever witnessed. The gunboats fought magnificently and continued firing for more than twenty minutes after they were all disabled, when Lieutenant Commander King was compelled to order them abandoned and burned." King and most of his men escaped to the waterfront, which by this time was itself a roaring inferno as Union officers put the torch to supplies on the wharves to prevent them from falling into Southern hands. The gunboats and transports were lost, but General Forrest was prevented from capturing them intact, and was thus unable to cross the river in force and capture Johnsonville. Instead, the Confederate commander, anxious to press his advantage, moved his batteries downstream to cut off Fitch and the gunboats below Reynoldsburg Island. Fitch, nevertheless, succeeded in withdrawing his forces safely. Later reflecting on the action at Johnsonville, he commented: "The Key West, Tawah, and Elfin fought desperately and were handled in magnificent style, but it is impossible for boats of this class, with their batteries, to contend successfully against heavy-rifled field batteries in a narrow river full of bars and shoals, no matter with what skill and desperation they may be fought." By this time it was clear that the Confederates were moving in force, and that Forrest was threatening to close the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers completely. Decisive events both on the rivers and the hills of Tennessee were imminent.