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The Battle of Sailor's Creek also known as Saylor's, Sailer's or Sayler's Creek was the last major battle between the Army of Virginia and the Army of the Potomac.
The Confederate sailor's, now fighting as infantry put up such a fight that some people believe that the Confederates started calling it Sailor's Creek in their honor.
The Confederate States Navy was established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It existed for almost 4 years and 9 months until finally, it's last flag was lowered by the CSS Shenandoah at Liverpool, England on November 6, 1865.
The Birth of the Ironclads!
On the night of Saturday, April 20, 1861, the United States naval authorities evacuated the navy yard at Gosport, Va. This was one of the most extraordinary proceedings of the war. Whether the commandant of the yard was perplexed by the indecisive instructions of the authorities at Washington, or whether he was simply panic-stricken, remains a mystery to the present day.
"Though a few shops and houses were burnt, the work was done so hurriedly that the best part of the valuable material at the yard fell into the hands of the enemy. The dry-dock was not destroyed, as the fuse failed to ignite the powder; but whether from accident or from the work of other hands has never been discovered. The magazine, with great numbers of loaded shells, and 150 tons of powder, had already been seized. Two thousand guns of all descriptions were left practically uninjured, 300 of them being new Dahlgren guns of various calibers. Besides the guns, machinery, steel plates, castings, construction materials, and ordnance and equipment stores in vast quantities came into the possession of the Confederates; and severe as the loss of so much material would have been by itself to the Federal government, it was rendered tenfold greater by supplying the necessities of the enemy."
Dr. Edward Smith, Dean of American Studies at American University, estimates that by February 1865, 1,150 Black Americans had served in the Confederate States Navy. This number would equate to approximately 20 percent of this branch of the Confederate military.Confederate Naval Regulations allowed a ship’s captain a ratio of one black seaman to five white seamen. A higher percentage of black crewmen were allowed upon the captain filing an exemption. Since numerous exemptions were filed, it seems reasonable to conclude that the surface has barely been scratched where blacks in the Confederate Navy are concerned.
CSN Skilled pilots on Confederate gunboats were well paid ($80 to $100 per month) and held an officers rank, albeit without the authority. One such pilot was Moses Dallas, who served with the Savannah Squadron from 1862 to 1864. A letter from the Savannah Squadron Commander to the Secretary of the Navy gives us a small glimpse: "I have also been compelled to increase the pay of Moses Dallas from $80 to $100 per month in order to retain him. He is a colored pilot and is considered the best inland pilot on the coast."Moses Dallas was on the expedition that captured the Federal gunboat USS Water Witch on the rainy night of June 3-4, 1864. He was among six Confederates killed in action during the firefight that erupted as they boarded the ship. Another black man identified as "Ben" (Newell?) piloted the captured vessel.While the Confederate government purchased a casket for Moses Dallas and paid his funeral expenses, his story refused to die. A rumor has persisted that Dallas didn’t die – that the foregoing was a cover-up story to hide the fact that he faked his death, then defected to the Union Navy. Truth may very well be stranger than fiction: There were actually two men in that part of the country with the name, Moses Dallas. The Confederate Pilot, Moses Dallas was from St. Marys, Georgia. The Moses Dallas who joined the Federal Navy was from Jacksonville, Florida.
When Charleston was evacuated towards the end of the war, navy and marine personnel withdrew to Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia (described above). Drewry’s was also the site of the Confederate States Naval Academy.At Drewry’s Bluff, Cleaper, Hicks, Johnson and the other men of the Charleston Squadron joined with remnants of the Wilmington (NC) Squadron and Virginia based personnel to form a combat unit that has come to be known as "Tucker’s Brigade" after it’s commander, Commodore John R. Tucker. The terms "Marine Brigade" and "Naval Brigade" are also used interchangeably in identifying this unit.
Tucker’s Brigade was assigned to the rear guard of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia during their withdrawal from the Richmond/Petersburg line which began April 2, 1865. Four days later, the Federal army intercepted and cut off the rear of Lee’s army. This resulted in the Battle of Sayler’s Creek.During the battle, Tucker’s Brigade was the only Confederate unit that didn’t break under the first Federal charge. After repulsing the charge, the Brigade – numbering 300 to 400 men, was then surrounded by six Union divisions. Rather than surrender, Tucker counterattacked, smashing the 37th Massachusetts Infantry into fragments and tearing into the 2nd Rhode Island in hand to hand combat.
"We expected regional interest, not national and international stories," Lasch recalled earlier this week. "But it was not just a southern thing; it was a national thing, a science, history, mystery and research thing."That sums up the Hunley project, which is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of that milestone today. The story of the long-lost Hunley - the first successful combat submarine in history - has captured imaginations for a decade now. It is the tale of a secret project, ground-breaking technology and lingering mystery. It has brought thousands of tourists to Charleston and generated an estimated $120 million for the state.
Having served in our Navy in the 60's this battle was of special interest to me. In this thread I will begin to post links concerning the Confederate Navy and it's birth, growth, battles, and death.http://civilwartoday.net/sailorscreek.aspxQuoteThe Battle of Sailor's Creek also known as Saylor's, Sailer's or Sayler's Creek was the last major battle between the Army of Virginia and the Army of the Potomac.QuoteThe Confederate sailor's, now fighting as infantry put up such a fight that some people believe that the Confederates started calling it Sailor's Creek in their honor.Please feel free to post links as well just so long as they concern the Naval aspect of the war.
Though Shenandoah 's late June assault on the whaling fleet was accompanied by many rumors of the Civil War's end, she did not receive a firm report until 2 August 1865, when she encountered an English sailing ship that had left San Francisco less than two weeks before. Waddell then disarmed his ship and set sail for England. Shenandoah rounded Cape Horn in mid-September and arrived at Liverpool in early November, becoming the only Confederate Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe.
I've read the book on this ship, she had a very interesting life.http://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/Navy_Ships/CSS_Shenandoah.htmlQuoteThough Shenandoah 's late June assault on the whaling fleet was accompanied by many rumors of the Civil War's end, she did not receive a firm report until 2 August 1865, when she encountered an English sailing ship that had left San Francisco less than two weeks before. Waddell then disarmed his ship and set sail for England. Shenandoah rounded Cape Horn in mid-September and arrived at Liverpool in early November, becoming the only Confederate Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe.
Quote from: Ga.windbreak on September 22, 2010, 08:53:08 PMI've read the book on this ship, she had a very interesting life.http://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/Navy_Ships/CSS_Shenandoah.htmlQuoteThough Shenandoah 's late June assault on the whaling fleet was accompanied by many rumors of the Civil War's end, she did not receive a firm report until 2 August 1865, when she encountered an English sailing ship that had left San Francisco less than two weeks before. Waddell then disarmed his ship and set sail for England. Shenandoah rounded Cape Horn in mid-September and arrived at Liverpool in early November, becoming the only Confederate Navy ship to circumnavigate the globe.Hmmm.....If the Confederacy had ceased to exist, was she truly a Confederate ship then?
To suppose the Shanandoah was not truly a Confederate ship to the end is like suposing Andy Jackson's Battle of New Orleans wasn't really a part of the war of 1812.I have a copy of both "Wolf of the Deep" on the CSS Alabama and "Last Flag Down" on the CSS Shanandoah. Both are fasinating reading.
