The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-03-21
JUNE. 1889
WHAT WAS DONE WITH cARyEy,

a /. ~
Colonel Ellet in his official report of the ,oaa
of the ram, Queen of the West, ascribes it to the
treacbery of Garvey, the pilot, who, when or
dercd to back the vessel out of the range of the
fire of the battery, ran her on shore at the We.
ry point where the whole battery could bear on
her. as
The question naturally arises, what was done
with Garvev? Was he shot down instantly, or
thrown into the furnaces, or bound to the boat
preparatory to blowing her up, or subjected to
any such adequate treatment? On the contrary,
Col. Ellet relates that after he and part of the
crew had escaped to the New Era, disabling BY
the way the De Soto by running her into the
bank-though whether under the same pilotage
Is not stated-the same Garvey had the wheel,
and though the boat drew less than two feet.
Garvey ran her aground and did his best to stick
her fast by permitting wheels to make several
revolutions after she struck.
Now we come to the treatment of Garyey for
all this. Col Ellet says:
The disloyal sentiments openly expressed by
Mr.. Garvey, a few hours before this occurrence.
rendered it necessary for me to place him under
arrest, and fix upon him the unwilling conviction
that the loss of the Queen was due to the delib-
crate treachery of her pilot.
Surely, for so brave a man, Col Ellet is the
miidcst hammered, that ever trod deck Per-
haps disloyai sentiments are regarded as no dis
gual'hcatlon for pilots of boats that make forays
INTO strange waters, among rebel batteries; and
perhaps under our benign system of conducting
war, pilot, who through deliberate treachery
delivers vessel to the enemy, should be mildly
placed under arrest. Perhaps that punishment
is too severe. We shall moi. be surprised to hear
that Ellet is reprimanded for this violation of
Garvey's constitutional rights, and that Garvey
is placed in general superintendence of the pilots
OF the Mississippi, as suitable endorsement of
his conservative sentiments. -
We suppose that Garvey's disloyal sentiments
were no worse than those disseminated by the
disloyal journals in the Army of the Mississippi.
whose circulation Gen. Grant has recently taken
pains to protect Where this literature is tho't
necessary to the morals of the army, 1t is not to
be expected that it will be any disqualification
for pilots or officers. Perhaps it takes very rank
disoyalty to prevent the taint of Abolitionism,
But so long as this IS the case, so long as the
open expression of disloyalty and Of malignant
hostility TO the measures of the Government, ;, is
no disqualification for officers, pilots, and men
intrusted with all sorts OF responsible positions,
so long will our expeditions be likely to end like
that of the Queen of the West, and the Indianola,
and Grants campaign at Holly Springs
Col. Eilet was distinguished for remarkable
bravery and successful service before he went
on this fatal expidition, but his own account of
this affair shows that be lacks the stern deter
mination requisite for the various emergencies
to which such daring expeditions are subject
He trusted the vessel to pilot OF open disloyal
sentiments, without putting guard over him
with pistols, ready to shoot him down if the boat
was mismanaged He then trusted him at the
wheel of another boat, and after AN attempt to
betray that to the enemy, he merely put him
under arrest. With proper discipline and q
prompt show Of determination in the commander.
the Queens boat might have been secured to
transfer the crew. and the steamer might have
been blown up; but the yawl was carried away
by some of the crew before Colonel Ellet knew
it, For want of that the wounded Capt Thomp-
son could not be removed, and she formidable
boat, therefore, passed but slightly injured into
the hands of the rebels ''ss Fi'
The first consequence of this misfortune, we
have already seen in the capture Of our most
formidable iron.clad boat. The next we shall
probably see when both these powerful vessels,
which we have supplied to the rebels, are turned
against us But it seems to US that the most i'm
pressive lesson taught by these disasters, is the
danger OF trusting any positions of command or
power in our military operations to men who are
known to entertain disloyal sentiments Placing
or retaining such men in military positions is
nothing but treachery to the army and the coun.
try. The only feature of the war that is at all
hopeless is that SO many of these men are in i'm.
portant positions, and that there are yet men in
some important commands who regard disloyal
sentiments as no disqualification Cincinnati
Gazette. 1"# l-. "'''h.&' -"