The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-02-23
A STORY OF TIE WAR.
RECALLED BY THE DESTRUCTION
OF THE COLORADO.
Lying OF Fort Pickens in 1S61-Fittina
Out q Night Expedition-A Peril
Gus UndertakIng-set.ing the
Judah on Fire.
rPhaadelphia Timss.l

The Colorado was lying of Fort Pick
ens in the fall of 1861. Col. Harvey
Brown, of the regular army. was in COM
mand of the fort, having relieved Stem
mer with detachment of troops from
Texas that had been in Bragg's command
there Below the fort, on 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 or Warning
ton navy yard. Lying in one of the slips
and awaiting an opportunity to escape
was the Judah, one of the prettiest
schooners ever seen, fully manned and
equipped with 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 Bragg's
camp of 5000 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 expe
dition to accomplish it was fitted out
Just after dark on the night of Sept IL,
1851, four crews in launch, whale boat
and two cutters, comprising ninty eight
sailors, marines and officers, pushed off
from the Colorado. The two first-naued
boats had a twelve pound howitzer in the
bow Of each. The oars were muff1ed.
Every man in the four boats bad white
cap-coVer on, to distinguish him from his
Zoe In the dark, while each marine and
sailor clutched a short carbine, with an
uRly-looking~ sword bayonet attached.
Lieut. John FL. Russell, now commodore
az the Mare island navy yard in 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, in consultation with
the officers of the fort When about
starting to enter the mouth of the bay at
: I 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 aud 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 the
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-
fible forward movements of the boats and
the beating of expectant hearts were all
tiop made its way in Indian file toward
Gle city of Pensacola We were to drop
Down With the tide from that direction,
and surprise the sleeping enemy. 1t was
1earIgs8 o'clock in the morning when we
had reached point several miles above
the navy yard, a mile abreast Of the Con.
federate sh5re. Turning the boats around
ne headed for the Judah.
All navy yards are equipped with an
immense pair of shears, which stand at
TIE end OF pier overhanging the water.
about on an inclination Of the Leaning
Tower of Pisa They are used to "stepF
masts into vessels Perched in the stop :"
Of the shears at the Pensacola navy
yaxd, sixty feet above US, as we were
nearing the wharf, was vigilant Con
fedefate sentry, but not native of the
south, as bis dialect revealed He was
the first to discover US and yelled Justify:
@Who goes there? Be Jasus, tell me OF
XII shoot SPuIl long and steady foI
your lives, " said Russell, calmly. Again
the sentry cried and receiving no reply
fired his musket
In a moment all was confusion along
the shoye. The long roll began to beat
the cry of "To armsI" "To armslD rang
cut on the early morning air; rockets were
exploded and the hurried tread of march
inR feet could be heard. The launch and
whale-boat were quickly alongside the
Judah at the dock. Clambering up hel
bow chains, we began pouring on hel
deck and after a desperate hand-to- hand
struggle, under heavy fire 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 or
fire. The first volley from the
ships crew was showered upor
US as we were boarding the yes
Eel. Two young boatswain's mate!
fell back dead into one of the boats and 8
number were wounded The fire
though CALLING one, did not stagger u
In the discrimination to succeed.
The flames were now under headway
from the hold Of tie schooner and the
cyeck Of musketfy going on all around us
TO the heStsl" was shrilly called. The
marines inanimate body was lifted uI
and dropped into the launch and we were
soon out of range of the enemy's fire
While battling on the Judah's decks TIT
crew Of one of the cutters had boarded
wharf ,near by and effectually spiked
fifteen.inch Dahlgren pivot gun. wnlcl
had menaced Fort Pickens and Billy WI
sons camp for many months on the op
posite side
The flames were soon in the rigging o
the doomed vessel, and by the t1icker1nI
light we were enabled to see the move
ments of the Confederates on shore. Twt
rounds of grape and canister were free
into them from our boat howitzers as We
moved toward the Santa Rosa beach
With three killed and fifteen wounded
many of them severely, we pulled stead
ny for the Colorado, passing the enemy
Notifications uncbserved out into TIT
gulf and arriving at the frigate at sunrise