Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-10-09
A STORY OF THE WAR
RECALLED BY THE DESTRUCTION
OF THE COLORADO.
Lying on RoFt Piekens IN 1soi-Eietaaa
Out . Night ExpedltlOn-A Peril
ous NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. tAo
Judah on Fire.


CHS III Lud 1874 VI 4bVAs AQL LlNLFNN
Brown, Of the regular army. wa in COM
mand Of the fort, having relieved Slem-
mer with 0 detachment Of troops from
Texas that had been in Bragg's command
there. Below the fort, on a long, low,
sandy stretch of land, known as Santa
Rosa island, was The camp of Billy VIII
sons zouaves. Diagonally opposite Fort
Pickens was the Pensacola OF Warning
ton navy yard. Lying in one Of the slips
and awaiting an opportunity 10 escape
was the Judah, one Of the pretliest
schooners ever seen, fully manned and
equipped with q battery of six twelve
pound hoWitzers. Below the navy yard,
opposite the entrance to the bay and
directly facing Pickens. was Fort Barran-
cas- and McRae, a dangerous looking
water battery, and Gen. Braxton Bragga
camp of 6, 1000 Confederate soldiers.
The city Of Pensacola was seven miles
above, at the head Of the bay,
Capt Bailey was determined that the
Judah should be destroyed, and an expo
dition to accomplish it was fitted out
just after dark on the night Of Sept Is.
1851, four crews in q launch, a whale boat
and two cutters, comprising ninty-eight
sailors, marines and officers, pushed on
from the Colorado. The two first.named
boats had q twelve pound howitzer in the
bow Of each. The oars were mutfied
Every man in the four boats had a white
cap cover on. To distinguish him from his
foe IN the dark, while each marine and
sailor clutched q short carblne, with an
~ugly-looking sword bayonet attached
Lieut. John II. Russell, now commodore
at the Mare island navy yardin California.
was in command.
After an hours pull at the oars they
reached the gulf beach, fronting Fort
| Pickens, and remained there until the
moon went down, Id consultation with
the officers Of the fort When about
starting to enter the mouth of the bay at
/ o'clock next morning the boats crews
were told exactly what was expected Of
them and to sell their lives as dearly as
possible. Slowly and Silently we slipped
from the beach into the smooth waters OF
the gulf and were soon inside Pensacola
bay, hugging the Santa Rosa shore
as closely as possible. To tha
right the massive walls Of Pickens
doomed up, while to the left.
through an almost impenetrable darkness,
the faint shadows Of the Confederate
Notifications revealed themselves by dim
outline.
Not the slightest whisper was heard
among the men. The steady, quiet dip
Of the muffled oars, the almost impercep-
tible forward movements Of the boats and
the beating Of expectant hearts were all
that could be seen or heard as the expedi-
ton made its way in Indian file toward
the city Of Pensacola. We were to drop
down with the tide from that direction.
and surprise the sleeping enemy. 1t was
nearly 3 o'clock in the morning when we
had reached a point several miles above
the navy yard, a mile abreast of the Com
federate shore, Turning the boats around
we headed for the Judah.
All navy yards are equipped with an
immense pair of shears, which stand at
the end of a pier ~overhanging the water.
about on an inclination Of the Leaning
Tower of Pisa They are used to Astepa
masts into vessels. Perched in the 1topn
Of the shears at the Pensacola navy
yard, sixty feet above us, as we wera
nearing the wharf, was a vigilant Con-
federate sentry, but not native of the
south, as his dialect revealed He was
the first to discover us and yelled lustilys
who goes there2 Be Jasus, tell me or
Ill shoot "Pull long and steady for
your lives, said Russell, calmly. Again
the sentry cried and receiving no reply
fred his musket.
In a moment all was confusion along
the shore. The long roll began to beat:
the cry Of TO arms!" ITO arms!" rang
out on the early morning air; rockets were
exploded and the hurried tread Of march
ing feet could be heard. The launch and
whale-boat were quickly alongside the
Judah at the dock. Clambering up her
bow chains, we began pouring on her
deck and after a desperate hand.to,hand
struggle, under a ~heavy*ire Of musketry
from the adjoining wharves, the crew
was driven ashore or overheard Into the
water; bags of shavings and cans Of tur-
pentine were quickly passed up from the
boats, thrown into the hold and set on
fire. The first volley from the
ships crew was showered upon
us as we were boarding the yes
rel Two young boatswain's mates
fell back dead into one Of the boats and q
number were wounded The fire.
though a CALLING one, did not stagger us
IN the determination to succeed.
The flames were now under Roadway
from the hold Of the schooner and the
clack of musketry going on all around us
ITO the boatsl" was shrilly called. The
marines inanimate body was lifted up
and dropped into the launch and we were
soon out Of range Of the enemy's fire.
While battling on the Judah's decks the
crew Of one Of the cutters had boarded a
wharf near by and etfectually spiked o
fifteen.inch Dahlgren pivot gun, which
had menaced Fort Pickens and Billy Will
sons camp for many months on the op.
posite side
The flames were soon in the rigging OF
the doomed vessel, and by the fiickeFing
light we were enabled to see the move
ments of the C~onfederates on shore Two
rounds Of grape and canister were fred
into them from our boat howitzers as va
moved toward the Santa Rosa beach.
With three killed and fifteen wounded.
many Of them severely, We pulled stead
ily for the Colorado. passing the enemv's
Notifications unobserved out into the
gulf and arriving at the frigate at sunrise.
Charlotte Cushman's Lower.