Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-03-08
CONFEDERATE EXIL E S.
omccrs of the Southern navy Who
Sought Refuge Abroad Mt the
Close of the Civil War.

w. F. Clayton, of Florence, S. c.,
who served under Commander John
TAYLOR Wood in the confederate navy,
takes exception to a recent statement
in reference to the death in the Brit
ish army in South Africa of Robert
Wood. son of his old commander, in
which it is intimated that Commander
Wood went to Canada at the end of the
civil wal because of hate of the YAM
KEGS" Mr.. Clayton says in an inter-
esting interview on this subject:
NO man in the confederacy made a
better record than did John Taylor
Wood. He was an officer of the Merri-
mac, in the fight with the Monitor. He
was at Drewry's Bluff when the
United States feet was driven back
and Richmond saved. He commanded
the ships boats that captured the
United States gunboats Satellite and
Reliance on the Ra%ppahanock river;
also the expedition which, with ~
boats and 100 men, captured and
burned the United States gunboat Tn
derwriter at Newbern. y. C.. This YES
sci mounted eight guns and carried a
crew of 175 officers and men. After
ward in command of a blockade steam
er. ~improvised as a war vessel, he raw
aged the coast of New England, de-
~stroying its fishing fleets and coastwise
trade. When Richmond was evac-
uated he was with a naval brigade, and
at Sailors creek, one of the hardest
fought and last battles of the war, he
led his men.
when the war was over Commander
Wood, Ike most of our boys, found
himself financially aground. 4 sail
or's life units one for land duties,
hence they as a class stood a poor show
in the competition for existence. The
animosities e~ngendered by the politi-
clans after the collapse of the confed-
eracy made the naval officers fate par
ticularly hard. The English people
having sympathized with the confed-
eracy. and the doctrine of prescription
prevailing in the United States, many
OF the navy and army sought refuge
abroad. Thus it was that Commander
j. Taylor Wood found a better recep-
ton in Canada than he would have re-
ceived in New York or other northern
cities. And in the south all was de-
struction. 1t was not a question OF
hate with these veterans; probably
more a question of bread. Brave men
never hate.
John Taylor Wood was not the only
one of the gallant officers of the o
federate states navy who sought an
asylum in foreign land. John r. Tuck
er, who commanded the Patrick Henry
in the Hampton Roads fight and was
afterward commander of the naval de-
lenses of Charleston, became admiral
of the Peruvian navy, and in the wal
between Spain and Peru and Chill
saved the cities of Callao and Valpa'
raise by sailing with his fleet to the
Philippines, thus throwing off the
Spanish fleet. The Bullochs, of Geor
gia, father and son, found remuner
ative business in Liverpool, and have
remained there, and hat young and
gallant lieutenant of the navy, A.. n
Mason, became a pasha in the khe
dives service and was the last pasha
officer retained, dying a few years age
in Washington, in some representative
capacity for the Egyptian government
i, Other officers of the confederate navy
sought their fortunes abroad, but il
every case | am convinced it was neces
sity and not hate that exiled them.
when the wars tocsin sounded IL
1861 no class of people quilted their al
legiance TO the United States Will
more reluctance than the naval Off
, GERS, and the venom and partisanshil
of reconstruction marked them fol-
, especial vengeance. The consequence
r was that many became exiles from ne
cessity, but in the secret recesses o
their bosom are photographed tn
3 scenes of early years and the love o
their country. They are incapable o
: hate as applied to their government
! and at heart they are Americans"
Noted Living Ex-Confederntes.
North Carolina can still count u,
4. L q