The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-12
A DARING DEED.
A Remarkable Incident Of the Civil
War.

Robert Hunt Tells the Story to the
Confederate Veterans.
The following paper was read before
the Confederate Veterans Association of
this city by Mr. Robert Hunt, its author:l
Sometime since few of my friends
suggested to me that prepare a paper,
giving a description of the capture of the
United States revenue cutter Caleb Cush-
ing, in Portland harbor, Me, by the con
federate states cruiser Tacony Lieut.. C. w.
Read commanding. l beg leave to assure
you that 1 am not at all fitted to do Justice
to this incident of the war. But as our
band was small consisting of twenty
four men all told) and as our gallant
leader is no more and as probably, there
may be no survivor any better
qualified than myself to giveyou the par
ticulars of that capture, have concluded 10
do my best toward giving you the facts
as near as possible. II is more than thirty
years since the event happened that [ am
about to relate, and l may possibly be not
exactly correct, but will give it to the
best of my recollection.
1t was a clear, calm night in Che month
of June, 1863 The confederate states
cruiser Tacony commanded by Lieut.. c.
w. Read &C. S. NJ lay becalmed, about
forty-fiye miles from Portland harbor. We
had been for several days burning and
bonding yankee merchantmen and were
now among the fishermen, several
of whom we had captured and DESTROYED
About six bells of the first watch (as
well as ! can remember) our lookout re-
ported a steamer ahead our commander
came on deck and after scanning the
steamer with his glasses, pronounced her
yankee gunboat. well boys he said
II guess our frolic is about over but we
must try and fool them" All hands,
with the exception of few mem were
ordered below. Our crew as l have be-
fore stated consisted of twenty-four
men, all told, we had beside our side
arms) one six pound brass howritzer: so
you see we we were in no condition to
show fight to yankee gunboat. She
was soon in hailing distance
and as she hauled up her
commander hailed US as follows:
"Barque Alloy, what barque is that,
where are you from, and whe re bound2"
to which Lieut.. Read answered "BarQue
Mary Jane, from Sagua La Grande
bound to Portland" The captain of the
gunboat then informed us that there was
a rebel privateer cruising along the
coast, capturing and burning merchan-
men, and that we had better keep a sharp
lookout. Lieut.. Read thanked him and he
steamed away to the southwark What
narrow escape; we were all speechless:
for more than minute not a word was
passed The silence was broken bv
Lieut. Read, whose first words were
"Boys, we have had a close call
but we are still on deck. II is
getting too hot for US in this latitude we
must change the programme" 1t was
pretty generally known in the northern
and eastern ports that we were cruising
off the coast, and several gunboats and
cutters had been sent out in search of US.
Lieut. Read ordered all hands aft and
stated to US his plans, which were as fol-
lows: To capture smart schooner,
burn the Tat oney, go into Portland burn
the two gunboats then about completed
capture one of the Boston steamers, burn
the revenue cutter, put TO sea and make
for southern waters and join the Florida
Are you all willing to stand by me?n he
said. We answered him to man, that we
were. All hands were then ordered
below to get all the rest they
could, for they would need it.
The next afternoon we captured a smart
looking little fishing schooner called the
Archer Her crew were just about set
ting down to nice fish supper. Their
captain asked us to Join them, and as they
had tirst-class chowder, besides some
nice sounds and tongues cooked as they
AAApN LON W COuh bliGlll, We dCEtpleu LtlG
invitation After dark we transferred
one six-pounder and such other articles as
we needed from the TacOny to the Archer.
We then set fire to the Tacony and staid
by her until she burned to the waters
edge and sank She was a smart vessel
and we were sorry to see her 90. The
next afternoon we anchored Off Long
Wharf, in Portland harbor. All hands
We're below, with the exception of
few hands knocking about the deck
those below were employed making
oakum balls and saturating them with
turpentine, with which to set fire to the
gunbOats. AT the last moment, when
everything was in readiness and every
man had received his instructions, our
engineer, Mr.. Brown, informed Lieut..
Read that he did not feel competent to
take charge of the Boston steamers en-
glne. Lieut.. Read then decided to cap
ture the United States revenue cutter
caleb Gushing and put to sea again
Two boats were then manned, one in
charge of Lieut.. Read and the other in
charge of Masters mate, Billups We
Then started for the cutter, leaving three
men in charge of the Archer and
the prisoners, with instructions TO follow
us out to sea after we captured the cutter
We were soon alongside of her and were
nailed by the lookout, but before he had
tlne to hail again we were aboard and
mad him silenced.
IL was a short struggle. Every man
mad his station, we were all provided
with handouts, and in less than Ave
minutes there were thirty-fve of as sur
prsed and foolish-ooking men as you
ever saw in irons. Lieut.. Davenport was
ia charge of the cutter at the time and
ne pleaded hard not 10 be ironed, saying
mat he was a Georgian.
lead complied with his request, after
pleaglng his word that he would not at
Tempt TO escape. We then proceeded
WIN the exception of a guard over the
prisoners, to get ready for sea, and we
found that we had Job ahead of us
.IopsaI and top gallant sheets were out
70 the yardarms, and had TO be brought
III and hooked on to the clews running gear
l3 cut adrift, which had been triced up
a'ong the shrouds, awnings and gear TO
tet down and out of the way, and TWEEN
E.nVe fathoms of chain to heave in
Aiter getting everything in readiness,
sails hoisted and sheeted home, we dis.
Iu'tred that we were aground not a
,,,eath Of wind, and a flood tide set
Just imagine our situation! Twenty
U|l confederate seamen in charge of "A
$aukee revenue cutter. in a down east
t.'5' and after midnight Something
nau 10 be done, and done in a hurry We