Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-06-15

The Desperate Bravery Of the Oonfederacy
| Few realize at this day the desperation
OF valor with which the Confederate states
carried on the war. The best Illustration
OF it, we find in letter from Maj. Gen.
Dabney H .Maury, who had commanded the
defense at Mobile, to the Richmond Wing.
He says:
But of all the boats in all the tide Of
time, and of all the daring deeds of all
mankind in the history of wars, that of
Lieut.. Dixon, Twenty-frst Alabama vol
unteers, in the submarine torpedo boat in
Charleston harbor, in 1854, stands unpar-
alleled.
This boat operated under water. She
could take the bearing of her enemy more
than mile away, then settle down under
the surface of the water, head for the hos
tile ship, and strike her atany depth below
the water-line. She required crew Of
nine men, all told-a captain, or pilot, and
eight men to propel her.
She was built in Mobile by Hundley Il
McClintock, who took her by rail to Beau
regard at Charleston. He called for volun-
teers from the fleet to man her and use her
against the Ironsides. Lieutenant Payne,
Confederate Navy Ia Virginian) and eight
seamen volunteered to take her out. She
was made ready one evening, and lying
alongside steamer. The crew were all
at their posts inside the boat, Payne was
standing in the round hatchway just about
to stoop down into his place and fasten the
hatch down when the wave of passing
steamboat swept over and into her, sinking
her instantly. Payne caught by the guards
of the steamer and sprang out, the other
eight went down with the boat and perish
ed.
In a few days she was raised and again
made ready. Payne again volunteered,
and eight sailors with him. This time they
are lying by the warf Of Fort Sumter
Payne standing as before in the hatch to
give his final orders, when the boat careen-
ed, filled, and sunk. Payne and two men
sprang out, the other six went down in her
and persisted.
In few days she was again raised, and
Hundley and a crew took her into Stone
river, where she dived and swan on the
water and under it, showing all her powers,
until presently she dived and carried her
hapless owner and crew with her to the
bottom. When they were found a week
after, her nozzle was deep in the mud of
the bottom, and the boat was inclined As
degrees to the surface. Her ballast had
shifted and her crew were unable to relieve
her, and they all persisted (asphyxiated).
Again she was made ready for action,
and though they had seen the fate of these
crews, fourth led by Lieutenant Dixon,
of the Twenty first Alabama infantry, vol
unteeEed to take her out and attack the
Housatonic, a new corvette, which had
just arrived on the station, and was lying
outside few miles off Charleston harbor.
Brave Dixon steered his boat with the
Ger tainty Of fate. struck the Housatonic
fairly, and blew her whole stern off. The
ship sunk in two minutes and half, and
the torpedo boat disa ppeared forever. Six
years afterwards men in submarine armor
went down to wreck the Housatonic, and
they report the Torpedan lying or the bot
tom one hundred feet from where her great
victim lies Undoubtedly the conclusion
produced by the explosion of the torpedo
destroyed instantly the lives of Dixon and
his crew.