The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1907-04-04

professions of their loyalty; for In
stance, on the occasion of the surrender
Of the Pensacola Navy Yard they ex-
pressed to me their Indignation, and
observed: You have no Pensacola Off
GERS here, Commodore; we will never
desert you; We will stand by you to
the last, even to the DEATH"
The virginians Move.
Saturday, April 20, the influence OF
the news from Baltimore was apparent
in Norfolk and Portsmouth. The mil
itary companies were called out and
paraded under arms; companies arrived
from Petersburg and Richmond, the
the latter bringing with them riffed can
non, and the array and the marching
with the military music so impreSt Nc
Cauley that he sent word to Gen. Talia-
ferro that not a vessel should be moved
nor a shot fired except in self-defense
McCauley then gave orders for the scut-
Ting of all the ships to prevent their
falling into the hands Of the enemy,
and also the disabling of the great
guns. While this was going on, Capt.
Paulding reappeared, having been sent
back in haste by the Secretary of the
Navy in the Pawnee upon learning of
the fatal error of OBTAINING the Mer-
rimac.
Pauldlng's Biunder.
Paulding had added to his crew 100
marines from Washington and $50
Massachusetts volunteers that he picked
up at Fort Monroe, under Col. David
W. Wardrop. He reached Norfolk just
as McCauley had completed his mortal
mistake of scuttling the yessels-had 1t
not been for this, every one of them
would have been saved. Paulding him.
self showed sad weakness in being
too prompt to. recognize the desperation
Of the situation. If he had been a man
of higher courage he would have seen
a great opportunity, and with his ma
rines. blue jackets and volunteers could
certainly have held off Taliaferro and
his militia until he could have been re-
inforced from Fort Monroe. Instead of
fighting, as he should have done, he
went on completing the destruction be-
gun by McCauley, and set his men to
burning the slowly sinking ships and
the storehouses, and detailed 100 men
with sledge hammers to knock off the
trunnions of the cannon. Capt. Charles
Wilkes was detailed to destroy the dry
dock; two Commanders, Allen ami
Sands, to fire the ship-houses, barracks,
and buildings; Lieut.. Henry A. Wise to
lay trains on the ships and fire them.
Commander Rogers and Capt. H. D.
Wright, of the Engineers, volunteered
to blow up the dry-dock.
In looking over these names, borns
by men who afterwards distinguished
themselves repeatedly, the surprise
grows into amaZement that none of
them suggested or urged the very sim
pie plan of putting their men behind
the wall of the Navy Yard and standing
off the militia until the arrival of re-
Inducements. which could not have
been delayed more than a few hours.
At a. M, April 81, all the arrange
ments were completed. The ships, ma
rines, sailors and workmen were gath
cred on board the Pawnee and Cum
berland. Only those remained who
were to apply the matches. At 3 a. m.
the Yankee took the Cumberland III
tow. and 20 minutes later Paulding
which was the signal for the men to-
fire the trains. The confagration and
explosion, starting simultaneously from
several different points, became instant
ly terrific. Commander Rogers and
Capt. Wright did not succeed in reach
ing the vessels after they had done their
work, and were taken as prisoners to
Norfolk.
With all the planning and the spec
tacular conflagration the work of de-
struction was practically a failure
The dry-dock was very little injured,
as were most of the shops, quarters,
barracks, etc. The heavy cannon were
mostly unlnJured, and afterward did
wicked service against the Navy from
thousand points in the Confederacy
OF the vessels, the New York was to-
tally burned up, and the Pennsylvania
Dolphin, Columbia and Raritan burnt
to the lower timbers. The Merrimac
was burnt to her copper-Iine; the Ger
mantown was burnt and sank. and the
obsolete old United States and the Ply
mouth uninjured. The Columbus and
"a qntrft lal
Taliaferro proceeded to seize old Fort
Norfolk, which was used as a magazine
and contained about 100000 pounds of
powder and large quantity of loaded
shells.
So ended the most disgraceful chap
ter in the annals of the United States
Navy.
ITO be continued