The sun., 1897-02-28
DAVIS AND DAVIDSON.
n OHIPTER OF WAR HISTORY COZ
OERNING TORPEDOE6.

VIE Corrcspoudence That Passed befween Sef-
fersor Davis and Capt Davidson In Rsistis.
to the Services OF the Latter Omcers
A lettor from Capt. Hunter Davidson. for
merly OF the Confederate naval service. dated
villa Ric., Paraguay. Dec. Ia. 1890. places At
the disposal Of THE Sun fragment Of personal
experience during tho civil war. which u also.
In It's way. q contribution Of value IN tho liters
turc relating TO that period. II was originally
published IN the Buenos Avres Herald. but will
OF course ind an incomparably greater circle
of readers In this country.
Capt Davidson entered the navy withAdmiral
Luce In Ist1. and they wore together at the
Naval Academy. Annapolis. twenty years later.
while their friendship was renewed after the
civil war. As to the correspondence with JEFF
ferson Davis. II speaks for itself, Althou xh 10
should be added that Cant. Davidson considers
that Mr.. Davis was romowhat prcIudiced
against tho navy. and that ho attributes the
particular omission OF mention which he dis
cusses to Mr.. Daviss having been informed OF
hir criticism OF the latters prejudices, Mr..
Davis's history thus ignoring events discussed
In many works on torpodosa.
BuKSos AIRES, Dsc ., 1881.
Hon. ysrsrso~ Davis.
BiR, I write 10 ask that you VIII do an ses
Of Justice.
On pages 2o7-s. cd vol. Of your "Rise and
Fall Of tho Confederate Government" you
ray. "This led IN an order. placing Gen. q.
7. Rains IN charge OF the Submsr,n. .s deienSes. Cos
ccss. The to-pedoes were made OF
the most ordinary material generally. - beer
barrels Hred with conical beads.
Homo were made of cast Iron. copper. or tin.
and glass temiIohns we're usod. There we're
fuse primer. change OF sixty pounds OF gun
powder. and actual contact bntwcen the tor
pedo and tho bottom OF the vessel weasel ..
feet OF torredoes. and you continue At some
length on tho two following pages.
your rcmsrks on this subject. in days wien
you and have passed away. and when L. VIII
be TOO late TO correc, LsI zen; ~ Halhs ,h
To him IS due the success Of thi. mesnsof
warfare; His "senriti'e iusS primer WAS
As President you.eonld not p. eIpsoted to
tons lions dnrns such a terribis war as that Of our
second revolution; tut whatever may come
From your pen VIII be received by the world
as the highest authority. even upon torpedoes.
know It 10 too late TO correct, unless SEQ
ond edition DO published; but you can answer
The facts OF tho ,ase are briefly these. so far
as am acknowledgements; IN tho summer OF
1892 seii,v,d commandes , n. =, Ma.ry; .ry.ba IN
Richmond, ty written order OF the Secretary
Of the Navy. the result of which was tho or gan
eIectrio battery OF convenient size aud sum-
Client .rougth TO th. explosion OF submarine
tfs soS nine s the Wors
holding 1,sO0.poun nds OF runpowder, which ~ero
placed At . depth OF seven iathoms; tho impor-
tatiou OF insulated cable TO connect the minoe
and the electric batteries: the nanufacturr OF
the platinum or quantity fuse, which alone
Richmond. aud In those at Charleston.
Tho department was complctsly organised DO;
fore the lst OF January. isS3. both In personnel
ID stations on the JAMES River alone. connected
by telegraph. and With the office OF the Secre-
The eifectiv. work Of this organization con.
sisted In the partial destruction of the Com
modors BsTney ana a tho oss 2. any
struction OF the Commodore Jonee. y large gun
boat, aud nearly all her crew In Nay, 1864.
war by any system OF electrical Gefences-
In o long letter from the secretary of the
@ihs de.trnotion Of the Commodore Jones.
the leading vcssel of Admiral Lees heot,
wnioh was ascending tue james Hiver 70 COOP
crate with Gen. Butler In the attack on Drew.
rvs Blun By causing the .etirement OF that fleet
pSndoae.sdiy, saved Dr'~ry'. Blnff' tho key of
Again he SAYS: IT always regarded the sub
marine department under your command as
equal 10 Importance to any division OF the
About tho same tims received tho most
nattsring letters from Con. Robert T.. Leo. Ad-
my services In command OF the submarine de-
fences. and Il Il with palnfu! surprise nnd
nature written me by yourself. as you do not
In March. 1864, ran down the James River
launch, and attacked the nAgship Minnesota
with = "spar torvedo." doing her considerable
intIry. and returned 70 Kichmond without the
This was the only Instance during our war.
and the fret. Of coprse; wnere the spar tor
loss OF the attacking party, and therefore the
only instance 10 establish the effieiency OF the
phuric acid. Sc. fuse was used, tho ssms that
Capt. Giasssli usod against the ''tron,ides.
.ae iS Al
details and reauiI ements until near the end of
th, war under the orders OF tho Secretary Of
the Navy only. and never heard Of any OF Con.
Rains's work. but in tSo instances.
Once, when told tlnt he had placed . selt-
complained 70 the Minister Of the Improperly
Of this act, as II would close the river 10 our
vessels and seriously affect the management
thority OF the Minister l had the "torpedo'
arAeged for and removed.
tho war. when some of these sslf- acting tor
pedoos OF Zen. Rains were again placed In tie
ao%n Snd The wiss s
eral prisoners to be EXCHANGED at city Point"
Fortunately for the South there was not an
Rains torpedo going iown and delivered the
prisoners safely; S but when returning she struo1
During tho year. that commanded the cleo
tricai submarine deiennes MT friendly skin
was broken to my knowledgs, and IL must BE-
yemsaabered that had to experiment and
bring the systenl to perfection. I never met
or com nuDicatsd with Gen. Rains or any one
attached TO his submarine defences" during
the war or since.
II your memory rtl fails you. there are four
weli-known officers living who can testify TO
the exnctneAs of all have hero written. VIZ:
Capts. W. II. Parker. J. Pembroke Jones, John
N. brooke. and J. Taylor Wood.
/ have therefore to request that ~ an act Of
simple Justice You will answer this letter and
correct the mistakes referred to. Very truly
And respectfully yours,
HUNTER DAVIDSON.
BEAuvoIE, Harrison County, Miss,
Jan. 90. 1882.
SIR Yours OF the 9th December 10 dupli-
cateJ has been received and opens with q call
on me 10 do you Justice. IL you were sur
priscd at not finding IN nv book your name
mentioned in connection with torpedUss. was
certainly not less 40 at your arraiEnment OF ms
rs having done you injustice by the omission.
II you will refer to tho preface II the book
YOU will see In the first paragraph the an
nouncement of the purpose for -hich II was
written; aud on the seventh page ths reason
Tor numerous Omissions OF events entitled to
consideration. As well as tho expression of the