The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1899-07-12
A DARING DEED.
The Sinking of the Yankee War
shin HOuSatOniC.

! ship HousatoniC.
If we are approaching the
romantic era which certain
writer's have been trying to
create, when literature and the
drama of the daring heroic type
receive unstinted approval, we
may look for a revival of the
stories of sublime courage ex-
hibited in the civil war.
| Of these tales few will more
readily appeal to the hero-wor-
shipper than that of Lieut.. Dixon
and his comrades who en-
barked in a crazy little boat on
an expedition against big
Yankee mano'-war in the siege
of Charleston.
The incident was daring in
it's conception, heroic in it's ex-
ecution and tragic in it's ter
mination.
| Charleston was choked off
from the sea by the strong hand
of the federal blockade. Ten
majestic battleships lay in the
outer harbor, and by day and
night they rained storm of
shot and shell on the fortitica-
tons and defenders of the an
cient city.
For each gunshot from Sum
ter or Wagner ten or more
Numbered back a deadly an
swer from the fleet of federal
gunboats.
| Of this latter most aggres-
sive member was the Housa-
tonic, a splendid new ship an
chored in the north channel
She was particularly offensive
from the advantage of her po-
sition. The firing of her rifled
cannon on the forts was cruelty
perfect and persistent. She
threw Parrot shells into the
city and her solid shot tore
away great sections of the de-
fensive ramparts. BY reason
of the wholesale havoc she Gre
ated and the destruction she
ldealt, the motive of the catas-
trophe which befell her was
conceived.
Beauregard had accepted from
"a Mobile firm for the torpedo
service a strange craft, 40 feet
in length and shaped like CT
gar. She was propelled by
hand and was intended for sub
marine work.
But in each half dozen at
tempts to submerge her in the
Charleston harbor she had
smothered her crew in the
green waters of the bay, so she
was tied up to the wharf nea,
the battery, with only her cur.
wing back above the water line
where she vacillated like a
stranded sea monster, tossed
by the moving tides,
There the "cigar boat" (she
was unnamed) was observed by
George Dixon, an officer of the
Twenty-tirst Alabama infantry
then engaged in the defense
of Charleston.
Dixon had been casting
for some plan by which the
harbor might be relieved of one
or more of the blockaders. A
car eful inspection of the aban
, doned boat convinced him that
she could be used in plan
which he favored. He was full
j. ly cognizant of the grim record
she had made for herself
and realized the extreme dan.
gers which lay in the execution
of his plan, but he determined
to try it in the face of all risks
Likewise with the men tC
whom Dixon unfolded his pro.
ject. They knew fearful
! death for themselves was al.
; most certain in the event of the
; success of the enterprise, yet
; they readily agreed to accom-.
! pany him as crew of the boat
81 It was a deliberate sacrifice
of themselves for the attain.
! ment of a desired object. The
men were Capt. Carlson and
Ridgeway, Becker, Wicks, Col.
Inns and Simpkins.
3 At seven o'clock on the night
of February II, in 1854, the
! party assembled on the deck OF
the once-abandoned but now
! important boat. It was pic.
: turesque situation. The dark
; ness of the night was dispelled
by a confagration back in the
City and bv a calcium raft