Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-04-14
A NEGLECTED HERO.

lie Worked the Engine of the 'Ashuelot
After His Arm Was Shot on.
john Drummond saved the Ashuelot
The story appeared in the newspapers
at the time but has long since been for
gotten. The Ashuelot was a side
wheel wooden steamer of one thousand
tons burden armed with twelve rified
guns in battery and two carronades.
Her commander was Adam Barrett, a
worthy but somewhat narrow-m minded
old seaman. The Ashuelot had been
sent a few miles up the James to put a
stop to some Notifications which the
confederates had begun upon long,
narrow spit of land running well out
into the stream and commanding the
channel for considerable distance.
An hours vigorous Smelling had accom-
plished the work The enemy were
dislodged, the guns spiked, and, the
lookout reporting the smoke of several
other steamers around the bend of the
river two miles above, the Ashuelot
was headed down stream. At this
point the James is full of dangerous
shoals and the channel is tortuous.
Sailing vessels drawing as much water
as the Ashuelot at full speed was task
of infinite difficulty but Capt" Lee
Jordan. who was in charge of the ship
on this expedition, had been an old
James river pilot capt" Jordan
knew every sand bar, spit snag, rock,
curve and turn in the river and no one
better, except perhaps, John Drum
mond, likewise James river pilot in
the old days before the war.
Drummond, however, was also an ex-
perienced engineer and when the
Ashuelot was put in commission he had
been given charge of her engines.
With his two assistants he was now in
the engine-room of the ship and when
the bell rang for full speed" he took
the starting-bar in his own stalwart
hands. No sooner had the Ashuelot
opened the point above than three YES
sells came steaming around the curve
in full view. They were the three
most powerful members of the confed-
crate feet on the James-the York
town, the Potomac and the iron-clad
ram Virginia-the latter destined, a
few days later, to work such terrible
hovoc among the federal vessels at
Hampton Roads. The Ashuelot was not
a match for the smallest of her pur-
suers in men and metal Her only hope
was in her heels AS the pursuers
came sweeping around the bend two
puffs of smoke arose from the bow-guns
of the Yorktown and the Potomac. A
solid shot sang far over the mainmast
of the Ashuelot; then a heavy shell
crashed into the port battery. and, ex-
ploding, killed and wounded half the
guns crew. The Ashuelot replied with
her stern guns and the forward smoke
stack of the Potomac disappeared.
For the next fifteen minutes rapid
exchange of iron salutations took place
between pursuers and pursued without
noticeable effect. BY this time the
slower moving but much more heavily
armed Virginia had rounded the point
and now took hand in the duel by
discharging both of her ten-inch bow
guns Both shots took effect One, a
solid shot, struck the pilot-house, car
ried it overheard and killed Capt"
Jordan; the other, she'll exploded aft
the mainmast, a fragment severely
wounding Commander Barrett; another
one, entering the engine-room, took off
John Drummond's left arm and broke
his left leg.
The second officer, young man, who
happened to be in the engine-room at
the time, Immediately gave orders to
strike the colors. with the pilot killed,
the captain insensible and the chief
engineer apparently dying, no one
10 he
intricacies of the channel what, in
deed, was left for him to do? But as
the order to strike was about to be
transmitted to the deck John Drum
mond struggled feebly to his feet, and
while one of his assistants knotted
piece of waste about his bleeding stump
to check the blood he said:
mo, no Don't give her up, lieuten-
ant! ] can pull her through"
And pull her through he did by an
exhibition of grit, skill, experience and
fortitude probably never excelled in the
history of our navy. Propped up on his
seat by the valve rods, CHASTITY, sick
and racked with agony, he coursed the
ship from the engine room. His fire.
men, stimulated by his superhuman
courage worked like demons. Coal,
resin, hams, fat, grease, waste were
poured upon the furnaces. The drafts
were wide agape and the blowers
working like cyclones Clouds of smoke
poured from the chimneys; every pound
of steam which the boilers would gem
crate was admitted to the valves And
the Ashuelot escaped, albeit badly hurt
in many places and with twenty-one of