The Republican journal., 1906-03-22
presence he said: Captain, we were
all very much hurt by the abuse that
has been heaped upon us by Mr.. Smith.

has Deen neapeu upon us ny MI. Cuish'
We do not deserve it. We are not cow
ards and to show to you and the other
officers of the ship that we are not we
are willing to go on that expedition, or
any other, no matter how hazardous,
provided we can select the officer to
lead u.s. The captain became some
what wrought up about the matter, as
I it was assuming rather singular phase.
He promised the men that they should
/ 90 on that very expedition, and on that
4 very night, provided the officer they Sc
! lected would consent to lead them. Ac-
! cordinglv the men and officers were all
mustered aft again and the captain re-
! peated to them what bOatSwain'S mate
| Powell had told him, and asked them If
! the statement was correct, and they all
as with one voice said yes! He then
asked them who they had selected to
! lead them, and they all as one mention
/ ed NV name. Had the deck of the ship
opened then and swallowed me l should
not have been more aStounded. Several
kinds of emotions took possession OF
me at the same time: but the two that
were uppermost in my mind were an
| tagoniStic, viz, supreme delight ana
holy horror | was delighted to know
that the men thought enough OF my
i ability to lead them, and at tile same
time when | thought of the forlorn
hope [ was about to lead cold chiils
ran down my back. | knew what that
: expedition meant. | knew that the
! chances were at least twenty to one
against us. But | would have died a
! thousand times rather than have shown
] the white feather. So with my sllver-
/ ing back behind and a toleraoe bold
! face in front | managed to thank them
/ in as fitting words as l could ma 1or
! their confidence Ill me ana nopeQ tlial
/ it would not be a mlSflt At the same
/ time | told them that | was not an OF
! ticer of high rank enough to lead such
I, gallant set of fellows on such haZ-
| ardous undertak 4ng Though | was d
watch officer Oh board the ship | was
| not entitled to wear shoulder straps
| and had no insignia OF rank that was
so necessary for an officer to have in
case we were captured by the enemy
and which would have q tendency to
assure us good treatment. |, therefore,
would lead them until | died but would
| like very much to have the LIST Lieut.,
Mr.. Dean, lead me. They all gave three
cheers for Mr.. Dean.
Several of the men had been with US
on some slight sklrmlsheS and we knew
each other. | knew that this expedition
appeared as foolhardy to Mr.. Dean as
it did to me- | knew also that he would
not try to Shirk it in any manner SO L
felt relieved Of great responsibility.
When the men were dismissed Mr.. Dean
came up behind me and whispered in
my ear: Oh you" | said to him:
Don't d-n me, d-n Smith" Then he
said: CD d-n Smith," Thus we all
were pushed into this perilous under
taking by the unbounded ambition and
the villainous tongue of this man Smith.
The men because they We're mad with
him and wished to show him and the
other officers that they We're not cow
| ards; and MI. Dean and myself because
| We had too much pride not to go, though
| Mr.. Dean assured me that he had that
same cold place down his spine that
| felt. As the weather looked propltiouS
| for the expedition we concluded to make
the effort that very night, for there were
| Slight indications OF nOrther and any
one who has Deen in Texas any length
of time knows what n0rther is ike Ill
| that locality. The first indications were
! these: The land at the north began to
| loom up and look very much higher,
and the wind began to blow from tie
north in the middle OF the day, with
every Indication of continuing through
| that day and the next. Though not
severe it did give Us ittie more hope,
| for if there was a strong wind from the
| north and we should succeed IN captul-
ing the cutter the chances of running
| her out of the bay We're slightly i'm
| proved. Well, we selected the men Tor
| the undertaking and got all ready The
win Il + No rtb "a IatI ON cd
the ship to run up and down the coast
with the wind abeam Oh either tack,
which We did, making all the obserya-
tons and cleaning all the knowledge
in relation to the position of The vessel
we We're to attack, the best place to
land, the bearing from the landing
place to the vessels across the land, etc
For at best we could know but little
about it and the undertaking was d big
one. Commodore Porter, in his history
of the navy, says that the most hazard
GUS thing that the navy ever undertook
to do was to attempt to cut an armed
vessel from a port belonging to the
enemy and cites no instance where 1t
was ever accom- plished in the history of
the L. S. navy. In 1904 Lieut.. Decatur
with a small schooner and twenty-siX
men entered the harbor of Trlpol,
North Africa, through an open road
stead, for the purpose of recapturing
the U. S. frgate Philadelphia, which
had been captured from us by the
Tripolitans short time before, and
though he succeeded in boarding her
and capturing her, he was unable to
get her underway, the enemy having
opened on him with SO hot fire. But
he succeeded in setting her on fire and
making his escape with the loss of but
few men. For this service he was made
Post Captain in the L. S. navy, and
the name of Stephen Decatur became
famous throughout tie land. 1t was
| the same with Lieut.. Gushing when the
rebel ram Albermarle was sunk in the
Roanoke river, North Carolina, in 1864.
The nearest approach to success in
that line was in 1868 when the rebels
entered Portland harbor, Maine, and
captured the revenue cutter at anchor
and took her outside the harbor. But
she was soon recaptured with all on
board together with the vessel that
they came in, and all were made prison.
ers to the United States government.
| | have mentioned these instances
simply to show how foolhardy our I'M
| dertaking was, and it was always a
mystery to me why Capt. Trathen per-
mitted us to leave the ship. 1t is said
that a little leaven leaveneth the whole,
and presume that the lpayen snrinkl led