Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-25
1861 Confederate Cruisers and the Part They Played the War;
w ar.

Work or construction was perHltteu 10
go on, at the end OF that time the ships
were ordered to be sold under penalty Of
seizure.
or the four corvettes. two were bought
by Prussia and two by Peru. One of
the rams was sold to Prussia and the
mark Before her arrival in Copenhagen
the Schleswig Holstein war was over,
and the Danes, having no use for her.
were well satisfied to have her taken of
their hands without inquiring too closely
into the character Of the purchaser. In
this way Bullock got possession OF her.
and the 3Oth of January, 1865, she was
commissioned in the English channel as
the Stonewall, and started on a cruise
under Capt T. J. Page.
The Stonewall had not gone far before
she sprang a leak and put into Ferrol
for repairs. Here she was found by the
Niagara and Sacramento, under Com
modore T. T. Craven, who took up
position in the adjoining port Of Coruna.
On the oath of March the Stonewall
steamed out Of Ferrol and lay for sew
eral hours OF the entrance Of Coruna
Craven, however, declined to join battle,
under the belief that the odds against
him were too great. although the Nj
agara carried ten heavy rifles, and the
Sacramento two 11-inch guns.
The Stonewall steamed that night to
Lisbon, thence to Teneriffe and Nassau,
and finally to Havana. 1t was now the
middle Of May. and the Confederacy
was breaking up; Capt. Page therefore
made an agreement with the captain
general of Cuba, by which the latter adj
vanced $4,000 to pay OF his officers and
men and received possession of the YES
sci. She was subsequently turned over
to the United States, and finally sold to
Japan.
Another cruiser, the Tallahassee, was
originally the English blockade runner
Atlanta. and made two trips from Ber-
muda to Wilmington, N. c., in the sum-
mer OF 1854. She was then fitted out and
armed as cruiser. and on the 9Th of
August sailed from Wilmington under
Commander John T. Wood. Her cruise
lasted less than three weeks, but was
remarkably successful. It extended
along the United States coast and SO on
to Halifax. The small coasters and fish
ing vessels were totally unprepared for
an enemy, and over thirty of them were
captured. nearly all being destroyed At
one time the Tallahassee was not far
from New York, and several cruisers
were sent out in pursuit Of her, but
without success.
At. Halifax the authorities were not in
clined to permit repairs or supplies Of
coal. Wood put to sea again, and on the
10Th ran the blockade into Wilmington
On the 10Th Of October the Tallahassee,
now called the Olustee, made another
short cruise along the coast as far as
Sandy Hook, under Lieut.. Ward, taking
seven prizes, and returning again to Will
mington after a slight brush with the
blockading vessels. Her battery was now
removed, and, after q fictitious sale to
the navy agent at Wilmington, she was
renamed the Chameleon. She sailed with
cargo OF cotton December "A, while
the first attack on Fort Fisher was in
progress. Capt. John Wilkinson of the
navy commanded her, and his object was
to obtain supplies at Bermuda for Lees
army. She returned late in January,
1866. but was unable to enter either VIII
mington or Charleston, and after landing
her stores at Nassau she proceeded to
Liverpool Here she was seized by the
authorities, and ultimately she was de-
hvered to the United States.
The last of the Confederate commerce
destroyers was the Sea King, or Shenan-
doah. Commander John NJ. Brooke, the
Confederate ordnance officer at Richmond
devised the plan which was afterward
the North Pacific exploring expedition Of
1855 had familiarized him with the move
ments Of the New Bedford whaling fleet,
and it was against this feet that the pro-
posed cruise was to be made. The whal-
ers generally cruised in the South Pacific
in winter. going in the spring to Boring
strait, where they remained during the
summer season, returning in October to
the Sandwich Islands. AS the Alabama
and her consorts had nearly swept
American commerce from the seas, the
whaling feet was the only remaining OBJ
ject Of naval attack.
a.
The summer of 1864 was now nearly
over, and 1t was evident to Bullock that