Richmond daily palladium., 1889-12-09
A SAD MISTAKE.
One of the Ottawa's Men Relates In
cident of the Charleston blockade.

Ono of the Ottawa's Men Relates an In
cident of the Charleston blockade
Some of you shipmates will remem-
ber the Ottawa gunhoQt, and the sec
ond attack on the forts IN Charleston
harbor in which she took part. Lieut..
Com w. d. Whiting commanded
her, as brave and, wlhal, as gentle
and kind COMMANDERS a crew could
get Of any of his crew see this they
will be panied to leqn, that he has
lost his eyesight.) WE made almost
daily some demonstrati6n against forts
Wagner or Gregg, and occasionally
against that pile of bricks upon which
huttered in the breeze that handsome
white rag with-ne3 Aaaa-hlue- starry
cross daring us to come and retake
what they compelled Maj Anderson
to surrender. At night we were out
side watching for blockade runners.
One Saturday night gun was fired
from the blockader; next salute of
our station, and a rocket shot up into
the dark sky, showing the direction IN
which the fleet was to be on the look
out. The rattle called ''All hands to
quarters" at once, and Cast loose
your guns and prepare for boarders"
was the order given. A murky night;
little wind; clouds obscuring the set
lluR I1OOu, Il SOuIclnlliS approaching
US In the haze that we could not make
out, the shape seemed to be similar to
the Confederate style of ironclads.
Considering the fact that but few
months before the Chicora and the
Palmetto State had come out of Char
lesion one night and played the deuce
with the blockading feet, especially
with the Mercedita and the keystone
State, it can be imagined that we made
sure we were in for it this time. /
will acknowledge that, as l ran to the
arm chest and buckled on my sword
and revolver, / thought there's as good
a chance now of going to Davy Jones'
locker as to Libby prison. Meanwhile
the nondescript had come nearer, and
| finally within hail. Our 200 pound
Parrot was trained to the port side,
but the eside tackle fall had got jammed
under the carriage. and we could not
| get it cleared as quick as usual, because
| Of the darkness. Capt. Whiting hailed
| the stranger, and the answer which
| her officer of the deck vouchsafed
was: "All right; we will be aboard of
you directly" almost the Identical an
| swer the Chicora had given to the
| MeIcedita's halt
This equivocal answer, and the fact
OF ner not recognizing or answering
| any of our nigh%signals, made it GER
| tain that-sfe was an enemy's ship.
| Thecofnmand was given t.e give her a
| broadside, and Tom Brady fred OF
the twelve pound howitzer load ed
| with shrapnel How lucky that the
big pivot or the thirty pound forecastle
| gun couldn't be trained in timel An
| aronizing shrek was heard and the
| officers request for Gods sake to stop
| firing" The shrapnel had torn away
| the chest of the man at the wheel,
| struck the steamers working beam,
disabling it, and then burst. 1t proved
| to be a blockade runner loaded with
cotton, captured at Mobile Bay. and
sent home for adjudication as prize
| with a lot of men whose time was out,
and the poor fellow that was killed
the only support of widow IN Bos
ton, was, after two years service
going home to be discharged She hae
| lost her anchors and fooled arounc
the whole blockading fleet all nigh
awaiting daylight Being now entirely
disabled and drifting, she was towes
by our second cutter to the next ship II
line and there secured by a hawser
With sincere pity we buried the vic
tim of the sad mistake A court of IN
quiry was held. but as Capt Within:
only did his duty he was of courss
honorably acquitted--A- l. Lowe Il
National Tribune