Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-06-30
A WAR OF ONE BATTLE.

How the American ship Wyoming Won
J-.equaI Fight.
In the annals of the American navy
no achievement of a single commander
in single ship surpasses that of David
McDougal in the Wyoming at Simon
osel5i. Happening on the other side of
the globe, during our civil war, this
daring exploit passed unnoticed at the
time. Ignored by our naval historians,
it has thus far found no chronicler
The modest report of the hero, in about
eve hundred words, conveys no idea of
he splendor of the achievement
briefly told, the story is this: A sloop
of war of six guns, in a narrow strait,
engaged during seventy minutes a
force of seven batteries mounting thir-
ty heavy guns, and three men-of-war
carrying eighteen guns-in all, forty
eight guns. The Japanese force com
prised probably 1900 men. The Wyom-
ing, unassisted, destroyed one of the
batteries, sunk two ships, disabled a
third, and emerged from the conflict
With a loss of four men killed and seven
wounded.
The Wyoming was a sister ship to the
Kearsarge, and on the same errand. At
the outbreak of the war, being one of
the few national vessels within call,
she was dispatched to the Asiatic sta
ton. Built in 1858 by Merrick & Co,
of Philadelphia, she was rated as a
sloop of war, second class. of 726 tons.
Like the kearsarge, she was of the type
recommended as far back as 1871, by
Capt. Matthew Galbraith Perry. This
sailor diplomatist was not only one of
the most accomplished artillerists in the
navy, but the trainer, as both officers
repeatedly and gratefully acknowledge
ed, of David McDougal and the able ex-
ecutive officer of the Kearsarge, James
). Thornton. Long and narrow in
build, of great speed, the Wyoming was
armed with the heaviest ordnance.
With only four 32-pounder broadside-
guns, she mounted amidships two IL
inch Dahlgren pivot-guns.
In anticipation of confederate prlva-
teers being let loose in the eastern seas,
the Wyoming received a new crew at
Panama, and was put under the COM
mand of McDougal in June, 1861. This
tried and true officer was then a COM
mander. He was fifty-four years old,
had seen service for thirty-two years on
many seas, and had been under fire in
the Mexican war. Having been trained
especially on steamers, he had little of
that fear which in 1861 occasionally
possessed, like a paralyzing demon,
naval officers who had never fought
over a boiler. Though he had served
for sixteen years in one grade-that of
lieutenant-he was not a creature of
routine, afraid of taking responsibility
when necessary One of his compal-
ions in service had been Lieutenant
James Glynn, who, at Nagasalli, in
1919. with his little fourteen-gun brig
Preble, in the teeth of all the Japanese
batteries, had dashed through the cor
don of spy-boats and compelled the re-
lease and delivery of eight shipwrecked
American seamen. With such prece-
dents in Japan as Glynn and Perry.
McDougal was the man TO make the
most Of his ship and men. Among
these, mostly native Americans Injured
to danger and burning with patriotism,
were some foreigners who required
watching. and McDougal found it expe-
dent occasionally to shift or change the
personnel of the gun crews. Even after
the battle, with the smell of powder
still in their clothes, he found a Portu-
guese fighting an Englishman because
the latter had said. My stomach is on
the Wyoming. but my heart is on the
Alabama Century.