Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-11-12
E.icut. Cushing.

A correspondent of the New York Times
gives some interesting incidents in the his
| tory Of the young hero of the torpedo ex-
plot against the rebel ram Albemarle:
But this is not the first exploit of Lieut.
Gushing. He seems to have fancy for adj
ventures of this sor.. During the blockade
off Wilmington, some time during last
month, he went up several times inside the
rebel Notifications, in small boats. One
night last march, he landed at Smthville,
alongside of a rebel battery, with two boat
loads and about thirty men. There he
caught negro and made him Come with
| him, to show him where were the head
quarters of Gen. Hebert commanding the
locality Arriving at the spot, he took
about eight men with him and left the rest
with the boats.
The negro pointed out the Generals head
quarters, which proved to be Immediately
opposite the garrison. The sentry must have
been asleep, for it was late at night and no.
body challenged them. lie immediately
ranged his men, armed with cutlasses and
revolvers, IN front Of the Generals head
quarters, in which he was aided by Mr. J. +.
Jones, Acting Eengineer, also William l..
Howarth, then acting Masters Mate, now
Ensign, the latter OF whom was also in the
late Albemarlc exploit. Lieuts Cushing
and Jones went into the house and proceed
I ed up stairs. The General had that day
gone to Wilmington, but they caught Cap
tain Kelly, Engineer, in charge OF the de-
fences, the Adutant- General and others,
very undignitiedly making through the win
dows and for the woods in their shirt
tails.
They evidently must have thought it was
o mutiny of the garrison, for had they rush
ed to the latter instead of the woods our
whole party would have been captured AS
soon as Captain Kelly was dressed they
started with him as a prisoner for their
boats, and Just as they reached it and were
fairly off, lights flashed along the beach
! showing that they were discovered; but it
, was too late for the rebels to catch them,
and they arrived safely on board tie Monti-
cello, at about A. NJ. with their prisoners.
The next day flag of truce was sent in
to the rebel garrison, for Captain Kelly's eff
fects, accompanied by polite note from
Lieutenant Cushing to General Hebert, cx-
pressing his regret that he had not had the
pleasure of finding him at home the night
before. 1t is said that many mutual pleas
, antries passed on the occasion, for the whole
surprise was so ridiculously complete that
even the rebels could not help being good
natured over it, however much chagrined
Jones and Howarth were in this adventure
l also.
In June last Lieut.. Cushing had another
bold adventure He started upod an expcdi
tion with one boat and sixteen men, and
went to within eight miles of Wilmington
5 hiding in the swamps during the day. On
this occasion ne captured rebel courier
with mails from Fort Fisher to Wilmington
containg a large batch of information
$ among other things that the rebel rams ther
l being constructed were utterly useless. Ir
coming away he captured boat containing
six soldiers, and being afterwards discover
ed, was chased by several picket boats.
Lieutenant Cushing pretended lie was go
. ing out by the same way he entered--by tho
western bar-but while they were preparing
to dodge and meet him, he suddenly turneo
: off to the left and jumped his boat over the
: breakers at the new inlet side, where the re
I bells dare not follow him. He got off safely
: and was picked up by the Cherokee, which
{ brought him to his ship next day with al
: his prisoners. For this exploit he was com
plimented by letter from the Naval De
' partment, i'll which Jones and Howarth were
honorably mentioned also, and medals oi
. honor were conferred upon Wm. Wright
: ships yeoman, and John Sullivan, seamen
, The most astounding part of this nara
4 tive is that the hero of it is youth of only
: 22 years of age, with record already
summed up of which many grey beard:
: would be proud. When introduced to him
y | could scarcely reconcile the fact that the
: unassuming young man before me, with hi;
: frank open countenance and long han
: thrown wildly behind his ears, loohing like
! some student just escaped from college for i
: little trolc, was the man whose name is al
ready and SO justly prominent before the
v public.
S Apart from the glory which such espi
sodes as these throw around the character
c of our navy, this destruction of the rebe
d ram Albemarle isa really important affair
1t has, for months past, kept employed il
watching and at bay at least five of ou
double-enders and some five or six othe
5 vessels, which will now be released for an!
other kind of duty.
Lieut.. Gushing was on his way to Wash
ington, and will probably visit New Yorl
shortly, in both of which places he will
doubtless receive the attention due to hi
superior merits. While the navy of tn,
United States can boast of such young anC
vigorous genius, there is no fear of its eve
OUTLYING the grand old stock of its Perry!
and its Farraguts.