The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-05-20
TALES OF THE PAST.
INTERESTING HISTORIC RELICS.

Boston is famous for it's wealth Of
historical associations, and it's old
landmarks and buildings make it one
of the most interesting cities in the
country to visit. In the many mu-
seums Of that city, too, may be found
hundreds Of articles of the greatest
historic interest, about which most
people know but little. Some Of the
most interesting of these, as noted by
a writer in the Transcript are to be
found at the Naval Lyceum at the
Charlestown navy yard. About the
most interesting thing in it is the fig.
urehead of the General Armstrong, a
ship about which there is comparative
ly little mention in history, and yet
which played a most important part in
the battle Of New Orleans, one of
the principal battles of the war Of
1872.
! The General Armstrong was a noted
American %privateer, and at the time
of the occurrence which had such an
influence on this fight was command
ed by Captain Samuel c.. Reed. On
the 18th of Seuptember, 1914, she
was lying in the harbor Of Fayal,
when three British vessels were sight
ed bearing down for the harbor. They
turned out to be the Plantagenet, "a,
the Rota, 38, and the sloop Carnation,
IS guns. Although Portugal was a
neutral power, Captain Reed knevshe
was not of sufficient strength to en-
force neutrality in her harbor against
these ships, and anticipating trouble,
he got up his anchor and hauled the
Armstrong as close to she shore as
possible, anchoring her with springs,
so as to bring her broalside to the
British ships. His fears proved well
grounded, for that night they attack
ed him in boats. They were discov-
cred some time before they reached
the ship, and a broadside was poured
into them, repelling them with fearful
slaughter. More boats were launched,
however, and a second attempt was
made. This time, in spite Of the
grape, the boarIers succeeded in Sc
curing a foothold on the Armstrong,
but were finally driven from her.
The Carnation vas then brought up,
and a long-range battle between the
two vessels was begun, but Reed
mounted "Long Tom," his 24-pound
gun, on the main deck, and used it to
such good effect that the Carnation
was crippled and driven off.
After this third attempt, Reed real
lied that the British ships would get
the better Of him in the long run, and
scuttling his vessel, he escaped to the
shore, and made his way inland.
In this fight the Americans lost 2
killed and 7 wounded, while uhe Brit
ish loss was more than 300 GERS and
men killed and wounded.
The damage to the Carnation was so
great that the ships, by reason Of the
necessary repairs, and the shorthand
edness resulting from the great loss of
men, were detained for 10 days. They
were on their way to New Orleans
this delay Of 10 days gave JacAso-
time to gather.his troops and strength
en- his position, so that the gallant
fight made by the General Armstrong
probably won the battle. When the
ship finally broke up, the fgurehead
came ashore, and it was sent By the
council Of Fayal to Washington and
later presented to the Lyceum.
Another interesting relic in the
same museum is an umbrella which
was used by the Constitution in max
ing her escape from the English feet
in July, 1911. This is all that is told
by the card attached to it, and the
umbrella is a complete puzzle to near
ly every one who visits the museum.
In the first place, it is utterly unlike
any umbrella that anyone ever saw
before, and, in the second, not one
person in a hundred is able to figure
put bow the Constitution made use Of
it IN f6i~i;aii;ss1her escape from the Brit
ish vessels. It is7eXacrfy-4ikean UNI
brella frame in general shape but the
stick is about ten feet long, with a
heavy iron ring at each end, and is
about 3 inches in diameter. The
frame slides up and down On it, just
like the frame of an ordinary umbrel-
la, and is made Of stout iron bars.
Some people think that it may have
been set up on the deck to give the
officers a little shade on a hot day, but
they cannot see how this helped in
the escape. The purposefor which it
was intended and used was as a sea
anchor, and it's story is as follows:
On the 18th of July, 1872, the Con-
stitution, then cruising underline com
mand of that famous old fighter, Isaac
Hull, was surrounded by Brooke's
squadron of FIVE vessels. Before they
could close in on him. however, it fell
calm, and Captain Hall at once made
use Of the umbrella, of which there
we're two aboard. A cable was bent
to one of the umbrellas at what would
be the handle in one of theordinary kind
and the umbrella was folded up, and
taken out by a boat to a cables length
ahead of the vessel. 1t was then
thrown overheard, and as soon as the
crew began to haul in on the windlass,
it, of course, spread out, giving a drag
by which the vessel could be warped
ahead.
While the vessel was warping up tc
this one, the other one was taken out,
and before the British had discovered
what Hull was doing, he had gotten
outside of the circle with which they
had surrounded him. They immedi
ately began to pursue the same tao
tics, but he ran two 24-pound guns
out of the cabin windows, and kept
them from getting anywhere near him.
as, whenever one of the boats carrying
out a drag came up astern OF him, ne
would fire with one of the "LonG
Toms" and in this way kept the ship:
from closing in. This was kept up fol
two days, and on the evening of tbt
second day came up a squall. Hui
carried one sail throughit, gaining sucl
an advantage over the Englishmer
that he was able to elude them in the
night, and was out of sight the mex
morning.
Thus, but for the uncouth-lookine
umbrella at the na-yyard, the Consti
tuition would probably have been cap