The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-04-14
CONFEDERATE ToRPEDoes.
Use Made of Them in the james River in
the War of the Rebellion.
(Riohmond, Va, Dispa tch. J

(Richmond, Va, Dispatc h.)
1t is well known fact that numerous
torpedoes were planted Tor floated) in the
James River, and some of these "were
heard from" in the late war. Though
the name of Gen. Rains was connected
with this service, we believe Capt. Hunt
er Davidson, Confederate States Navy,
WAS the officer Immediately in charge
thereof. We have a copy of q letter of his
that was published in 1874, in which he
says: "The first idea of using torpedoes
on the Confederate side originated. ] be-
| lieva, with the Hon. S. r. Mallory, Sec
rotary of the Navy, and he directed the
distinguished Capt. M. f. Maury, TL.
| D., to make experiments with view to
their general employment, if practic-
able" Cat. Davidson, it seems, was Sc
lected as Maury's assistant. After few
months spent in experiments, Maury
was ordered to Europe and Davidson took
charge of the office.
| Davidson says the method adopted by
him differed in every essential particu-
lar from those proposed by Maury. The
|
sells ever injured or destroyed in war by
electrical torpedoes were destroyed by
the torpedo department operating under
my immediate command, and I may add
the only ones that / am aware Of. Where
| the Davidson torpedo was first successfully
used we do net know, but he says in the
letter from which we have quoted that
can efficient system of torpedo defense
was in existence on James River during
| the war -
And SO, considering practical success"
as the test OF invention, Davidson claimed
| to have as good right to the title of in :
ventor of the electrical torpedo as
Morse had to be called the inventor of the
electrical telegraph, or Howe to be called
the inventor of the sewing machine.
However, it is not the Dispatch's purpose
to undertake to settle the question of
| who invented the electri cBl torpedo; our
aim is to recall some Of the work of des-
| tructiOn it was made TO do.
| There was torpedo station in gulch
of CHAINS Bluff, and it was said that it
was equipped with electric wires TO fire
the explosives which were contained in
iron or wooden receptaoIes in the stream.
"a mile below Drewry's Blntf--was
manned by a regiment of heavy artil-
lery, and by Wises brigade of infantry,
IN which organi cations many citizens of
Richmond. now living served. The sta
tion in question was but one of a num-
Der. There were Others at intervals be-
tween that place and Deep Bottom
Two steamers were destroyed on the
James by Confederate torpedoes; one OF
our own and one of the eneny'S. We
believe it was on the stretch of water
known us Graveyard Reach that the Con-
federate steamer Schultz was blown up
by a percussion torpedo That vessel was
used by us in the exchange of prisoners,
when such exchange was permitted by the
Federals. and was returning from Cox s
wharf when it struck torpedo and was
sunk. We write from memory only, and
we think there was no loss of life.
A t Deep Bottom our men blew up the
| Federal gunboat Commodore Jones, and
| it went down with several dozons of Off
GERS and mon on board. But those who
| fred the explosive were pursued by the
FederalS, who landed from the other gum
| boats, and three of our men were over
taken and instantly put to death. I'D
When in 1864, the Confederate fleet of
| ironclads moved down the river from
Drewry's Bluff to Dutch Gap to offer bat
to to the enemy. the torpedoes were care
full removed as precautionary measure.
| Nothing, however, came of that advance.
| Old Ben Butler had then nearly cut the
| Dutch Gap canal through Farrar's Island
| it only remained for him to blow out
| the bulkhead of the work and the water
would have rushed throughput just
| there he was stoppedi s7Cr i
According to his own account, when
the canal was ready for the Federal fleet
to steam through it and attack the Con-
federate feet the United States naval
| officers began to fear that the ironolads
| from Richmond and Drewry's Bluff
| would rush into the canal first, and put
the Union gunboats at a disadvantage
Hence the canal was left unfinished I'M
til the war was over, it's buikhead stand
ing between the hostile fleets. AS for the
rivers stream, it had been obstructed at
Osborne's, and, besides. the heavy Con-
federate batteries at the Hewlett House
forbade any hope on the part OF the enc
my that their boats might pass that way.
We have referred to the fact that two
vessles were blown up on the James in
the vicinity of Richmond. The enemy's
shipping at City Point was also dealt a
destructive blow by means of a clock
work torpedo introduced into one of the
vessels there by Capt. Maxwell of this
city. And in other parts of the Confed-
eracy this new weapon OF war was used
also with good effect. While Gen. Dab
ney III. Marry was commanding at Mo-
bile land making a defense which won
him great distinction,) torpedoes were
successfully used in his department.
We have seen it stated that first and
last, the Confederate destroyed more than
forty of the vessels of The enemy by
means OF torpedoes or submarine mines
or boats Whether these figures are accu-
rate OF not we do not know, but it is
certain the Confederates were the first in
the field-or rather in the water-with
ironclad vessels of war as well as tor