Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-09-15

lGrcen was a member of that fomous
IeXpedition which put out from Port
land in 1863 and rccaEtured III. rcve-
nue. cutter Caleb Gushing" which han
been captured by the rebel and aIsc
made prisoners the 23 rebels who wcr,
concerned in the affair. Mr.. Groom h,I
III ms possession an old copy of the
Argus which contained the followinn
interesting "reminiscences OF this ex-
letting episode.
| ON ire afternoon of June -, 1869. a
sang or pirates. rs we called Them in
those days. originally from the robe!
steamer Florida. peacefully entered
Portland i'll the fishing schooner Arch
tr which they had captured a few ,lays
before. Early i'll the morning Of III,
18th thCy easily surprised and can
turcd the revenue cutter Caleb Cush-
ing. ana put to sea with her. III, Arch
cr following.
| TIL captain Of the Taconv WAS
| Lieut. G. y. Btal, Il commi> sion.l
| officer of the r''bcl navy. For son,r
time fe had pursued his dcpredatiou%
On this coast when learning that fed
cral cruisers were after him. and fear
ing recognition. &c captured. June 9Th
The fishing schooner Archer of South
port. and after transferring everything.
to her burned the Tacony. The Archer
WAS then headed for Portland for the
purpose of cutting out the United
St.'tcs revenue cutter Caleb Gushing
lying in the stream. and of DESTROYING
two uIcomnlcted Sunboats inoorcd at
n r in II .,f rslI
ping il, the barber. While on the way
two fishermen of Falmouth named Al
bert Il. BiLbcr and Elbridge Titcomb.
who We're hauling their trawl in a
small boat about eight miles from
Damariscove Island, were captured by
Read, whose intention was to use thcn
for pilots. but they refused to serve
and were shortly afterwarG coniinc,,
below. About sunset the Archer came
10 anchor to the eastward of Pomcroys
Rock, off Fish Point. Between the
hours of one and two o'clock that nigh
they approached; the Caleb CuShin.
with muft'ed oars. She was heavily
armed. supplied with two months pro-
visions. and was under orders to cruise
III search of the Tacony. The cutter
was boarded on each side by Read anI
his companions, who were armed witt
revolvcrs and Cutlasses. No sooner
were they OH deck than they seized and
iron"d the watch. The unusua. noise
aroused Lieut.. Davenport, who. as lie
with ;hc crew. about twenty in All. All
of whom were ironed and placed be-
low. Having obtained possession Of
I,a ~,
tuWcd out of the harbor, procrcdin~
scaWard ty way of IIuss- Us Sound.
thus avoiding the forts-followcd by
the Archer. which sent a boat to her
containing Bibbcr, who was placed or
board. About ten o'clock he was tif-
teen miles at sea, when the wind died
away and left him bccalmed.
The seizure of the cutter WAS first
made known is the town about halfpast
seven, when she was discovered from
the observatory. The news circulated
like wildfirc. and in Il short time the
city was wild with excitement. Can't.
Jake McLeilaE WIS mayor of our city
then. and the lat" Jcdediah Jcwett col
lector of the port: and life WAS worth
living that morning if only to sec the
tremendous energy of these two men.
The steamer Forest City. Capt. Lis
comb, and a smaller steamer. til" Cas-
co. together with steam-tuG Tiger.
We're chartered. Men and guns were
put on board thr Forest City. About
enc hundred citizens volunteered who
went aboard. The New York steamer
Chesapeake was also put in readiness
for pursuit She was provisioncd for
turty-eight hours. a number of cit
izcnS also went as volunteers. anG
Fred Harris was placed in command Of
them. Among those on board the
Chesapeake were John Green, f. i.
Furlong, >. s. Murray. II. &. Wood.
Edward Gratfam. &. *. Bahb. \. j.
Miller. Jr. @. NJ. Marrctt, J. W. Brack-
cit, S. W. Prince. VIM. Lcavitt. NJ. Nc
Bride, W. IA. McAllister. sE. Enfer,
Chas. Gordon. II. Z. Ham, +. c. Emery.
d. NJ. Patch. +. Robinson, George New
all. J. 5. White, T. {. Lewis, Henry
Foy &. Warwick. w. Z. S. Whitman.
reporter Daily Evening Courier, w. II.
Fcsscnden. +. V. Carney. j. NJ. Gould,
Howard Gould. Clarence Abbott. L. @.
Hailc. reporter Daily Argus. Henry
Fox J. g. Lewis. G. S. Akers. FL. Hall,
J. $. Winslow. Frederick Ilsley. james
Doughty. =. II, Harris. Chas. Knapp,
j. l.. Gardiner. VIM. Bigelow. VIM.
Turnbill. J. G. Gambler. H. 3. Brown,
Rev. j. Lowering and others.
Tho steamer Forest City and the tug
Tiger got TO sea Lefcre the Chesapeake
hut were lily armed. They waited fOr
the Chesapeake to come up, when ii
was decided the Chesapeake SHOULD
run the cutter Gown. The guns were
ordered shotted and those on board
were assigned to their positions The
htth shot from the cutter brought IL
response from the larboard gun of tho
Chesapeake. Under full head OF steam
the Chesapeake proceeded directly for
the cutter. Steadily she kept her
course until within two miles of the
cutter when a boat was seen lowered
from the cutter loaded with men. The
boat was found to contain Lieut.. DAY.
export and the crew of the cutter. who
mad been sent adrift with their irons
on. On tfeir being taken on board and
placed below, another shot came from
TIE cutter, and the grape went Shrek