Navy Ships

Frederic James enlisted in the United States Navy on August 20, 1862, for one year as landsman; credit Abington, Massachusetts. His enlistment record describes him as 5' 7" tall, blue eyes, brown hair, and fair complexion. He served on the Receiving Ship U.S.S. Ohio and the U.S.S. Housatonic, where his ship's number was 95. While on the Housatonic and during his prison experiences, James came in contact with sailors from a variety of other military ships. We include descriptions of these vessels and references James made to them in his diary.

A 130 ton side wheel tug with a length of 117', beam 36', depth of 6'2". It had a complement of 25 men, and its armament consisted of two 20 lb. musket-loading rifle cannon. On May 23, 1864, in the St. John's River above Horse Landing, Florida, she was attempting to relieve several army posts when she came under Confederate fire from the shore line. After a battle of some 45 minutes, the Columbine was captured, its crew taken prisoner, and the vessel set on fire by the Confederates to guarantee that the ship would not be recaptured by the U.S.S. Ottawa. Its commanding officer was Frank Sandborn, Acting Ensign. Various Federal and Confederate reports state that 7 commissioned officers, 9 seaman and 47 enlisted Negroes were captured in the battle.

Ensign Sandborn went ashore and surrendered to Captain Dickison of the C.S.Army. Drover Edwards, landsman on the U.S.S. Columbine, reported later that shortly after the Confederate firing ceased, he and three Negro soldiers jumped off the boat, swam ashore, and marched some five days finally arriving at St. Augustine, Florida.

Official records of the Columbine indicate that one seaman, Acting Mate John Davis, was killed in the battle. His remains were "decently interred and covered by the flag" of the United States. The remaining seamen were eventually transferred to Andersonville Prison; the officers being sent to Macon.

James recognized the arrival of his fellow seamen as he recorded in his diary entry of June 1, 1864:

"We saw at Augusta several Blue Jackets who were on duty on board the "Housatonic" after we were captured & at the time she was sunk. They came here [Andersonville Prison] in a train that followed an hour or two behind ours. After the "Housatonic" was blown up, they were transferred to the tug "Columbine", employed as a tender at Port Royal. She was attacked while on a foraging trip & being disabled was set on fire & burned by her crew & they were captured."

There is a report stating that one of the Columbine seamen captured and later interned at Andersonville was J.H. Ellis who eventually died of typhus on July 9, 1864: grave number 3064.

The U.S.Schooner Dan Smith

The Navy purchased a wooden sailing schooner, the Dan Smith, in New York City on September 7, 1861. She was outfitted at the New York Navy Yard and commissioned there on January 30, 1862.

The Dan Smith arrived at Charleston, S.C., on August 9, 1863, in time to take part in the assaults on Forts Wagner, Gregg, and Sumter.

The Dan Smith had a tonnage of 150, was 87'9" in length, 25'2" at her beam, and had a depth of 8'2". She had a complement of 33 men and was armed with two 32-pounders.

In his diary, James mentions one sailor, Alexander Clark, who served on board the Dan Smith and was captured in the assault on Fort Sumter on September 8, 1863 and was later confined to Andersonville Prison.

The U.S.S. Housatonic

The U.S.S. Housatonic was launched November 20, 1861 in the Boston Navy Yard and commissioned there on August 29,1862. She was a screw sloop-of-war: 207' in length, with a beam of 38' and a draft of 8'7". She had a complement of 160 officers and men. Her armament consisted of one 100 pound parrott rifle; three 30 pound parrott rifles; one 11" Dahlgren smooth bore; two 32-pounders; two 24 pound howitzers; one 12 pound howitzer; and one 12 pound rifle.

The officer in charge of the Housatonic was Captain, Charles Pickering, U.S.N. The Housatonic joined in the attack on Fort Wagner July 10, 1863 which began the continuing bombardment of the Southern works at Charleston, S.C. On the night of September 8, 1863, she participated in the failed assault on Fort Sumter which led to the capture of Frederic James and a dozen of his shipmates.

Just before 9 o'clock on the night of February 17,1864, while on blockade duty outside the bar in Charleston Harbor, the Housatonic was rammed on her starboard side by a torpedo from the Confederate underwater ship, the C.S.S. H. L. Hunley. The Housatonic sank within minutes, taking with her two officers and three enlisted men: Ensign E. C. Hazeltine, Captain's Clerk C.O. Mezzey, Quartermaster John Williams, Second-Class Fireman John Walsh, and Landsman Theodore Parker. A description of the three enlisted men from the muster roll of the U.S.S. Housatonic dated 1 October 1863 reads as follows: John Williams, born 1833 in New York City, blue eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, 5'5 ^1/2"; John Walsh, born 1837 in Manchester, New Hampshire, blue eyes, brown hair, light complexion, 5'5"; Theodore Parker, born 1840 in Delaware, negro, 5'4".

"Bartlett got [a letter] from his Father dated the 4^th inst. in which he mentioned that my wife was well, & confirmed a rumor which we had heard from several sources that our Ship, the Sloop-of-war "Housatonic" has been sunk at her station off Charleston, by a torpedo. The particulars of the affair we have not learned. "

A Confederate submarine, length 40', beam 3 1/2', depth 4'. It had a speed of 2 1/2 mph, and a complement of nine men. The submarine was privately built in the spring of 1863 at the machine shop of Park and Lyons in Mobile, Alabama. It was named from plans furnished by Horace L. Hunley, James A. McClintock, and Baxter Watson, and was shipped by rail from Mobile to Charleston, SC.

The Hunley was fashioned from a cylindrical iron steam boiler as a main center section, with tapered ends added, and expressly built for hand-power.

She was designed for a crew of nine persons, eight to turn the hand-cracked propeller and one to steer and direct the boat.

Her original armament was a floating copper cylinder torpedo with flaring triggers which was towed some 200 feet astern, the submarine to dive beneath the target ship, surface on the other side, and continue on course until the torpedo struck the ship and exploded. The torpedo-on-a-tow line was abandoned in favor of a spar torpedo which was a copper cylinder holding 90 pounds of powder and equipped with a barbed spike. The submarine would drive into the target by ramming, back away, and by a line attached to the trigger, explode the charge from a safe distance.

On the night of February 17, 1864, the Housatonic was anchored in about 27 feet of water, some 2 miles from Battery Marshall in the north channel entrance to Charleston Harbor. Approaching silently through the calm waters, H.L.Hunley made a daring attack in bright moonlight, and came within 100 yards of the blockader before the Housatonic's lookouts spied the Confederate craft. The heavy guns of the Housatonic could not be depressed sufficiently to come to bear. There was an explosion and the Housatonic, in shallow water, settled rapidly to the bottom with all her crew save five killed by drowning or the impact of the explosion.

The H.L. Hunley failed to surface. Lieutenant George E. Dixon, 21st Alabama Volunteers, Co. E, and the crew were lost. They are listed as: C. F. Simpkins, C.S.N.; James A. Wicks, C.S.N.; Fred Collins,C.S.N.; Joseph Ridgeway, C.S.N.; Arnold Becker, C.S.N.; and Corporal C. F. Carlsen of the Army. The crew also included two others unidentified: White and Miller.

On May 22, 2001, a small article appeared in the New York Times stating that archaeologists had discovered the remains of Lieutenant George Dixon, Commander of the Hunley. Thus the expedition had discovered the bodies of all nine crew members of the ill-fated Confederate submarine.

The U.S.S. Lodona

A bark rigged iron screw steamer built in England in 1862 was engaged in blockade running and was captured by the Union gun boat Unadella on August 4, 1862, while attempting to run the southern blockade in Ossawbe Sound, S.C. . The Lodona was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on January 5, 1863.

The vessel participated in attacks against several Charleston forts in the first week of September, 1863. She sent boats in the attack against Fort Sumter, losing one boat and having its crew captured.

The Lodona weighed 750 tons; it was 210' in length, had a beam of 27 1/2', and a depth of 11 1/2'. It had a speed of 7 knots, and a complement of 97 men. Its armament consisted of one 100-pound parrott rifle, one 30-pound parrott rifle, one 9-inch Dahlgren rifle, and four 24-pounders.

In his diary, James' mentions two sailors, John Brown and Austin Littlefield, who served on the Lodona and were captured in the assault on Fort Sumter on September 8, 1863.

U.S.S. Lodona
Charleston, September 9, 1863

Sir: I have the honor to report the following-named men of this ship who participated in last night's attempt to storm Fort Sumter, as missing or wounded, as well as the loss of our first cutter: missing - David Welch, Captain Hold; John Brown, Coxswain; James Blake, Nathaniel Sedan, James Lawton, Henry H. Horn, seamen; William Morrison, ordinary seaman; James Wholly, Austin Littlefield, landsmen. Wounded slightly - Leonard McComber, seaman.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Edgar Brodhead
Acting Lieutenant, Commanding

Admiral J. A. Dahlgren,
Comdg. South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Charleston, S.C.

Official Records of Union and Confederate Navies, Vol. 14, p. 620

The U.S.S. Ohio

A ship-of-the-line was launched in May 1820. It was a large ship: 2724 tonnage, with a length of 197', and a complement of 840 men. Active off the coast of Mexico and later in the Pacific, her main function was protecting commerce and policing the California territory.

The U.S.S. Ohio

In 1851, the Ohio became a receiving ship and continued in this function until 1875. She was sold in Boston in 1883.

After enlisting in the Navy on August 20, 1862, James first served on the receiving ship U.S.S.Ohio until August 28, 1862. Many sailors who were prisoners at Andersonville with James also served on the Ohio. Among those mentioned in his diary are the following men: Victor Bartlett, Joseph Connaton, John Dillingham, John Foley, Charles Freeman, John Hyde, John Keefe, Thomas McCarthy, and Richard Tinker.

The U.S.S Water Witch

A side wheel steamer of the third class; she had a displacement of 378 tons and an armament of four guns, viz. : one 30 pounder and three 12 pounders. In June of 1864, the Water Witch was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Austin Pendergrast. The full complement of the Water Witch was 82 men.

On the morning of June 3, 1864, at about 3:00 o'clock, the Water Witch was attacked by seven Confederate launches containing approximately 145 officers and enlisted men under the command of Lieutenant Thomas P. Pelot, C.S.N. who received a mortal wound during the engagement.

The boarding of the Water Witch by the Confederates took place in Ossahaw Sound, near Savannah, GA. The casualties on the Union ship were 2 killed and 12 wounded; 43 men and 13 officers were made prisoners. The officers and enlisted men were sent to Savannah where the wounded were attended to at the naval hospital located there. The other officers were sent to Macon while the enlisted men were sent to Andersonville. Of the forty-three seamen captured on June 3 and sent to Andersonville Prison, we have records of five individuals who died during their confinement there. They were:

In his diary entry of June 8, 1864, James refers to the arrival in Andersonville of the sailors of the Water Witch taken at Savannah:

"About a thousand prisoners came in yesterday from Grant's army, Belle Island [sic], among whom were some of our crowd of "blue jackets" who have been at work in the Richmond hospitals, & the crew of the U.S.S. Water Witch captured about a week ago near Savannah in seven barges."

Among these Navy personnel was Andrew Muir, who would later bear the distinction of being one of the six raiders to be hung on July 11, 1864, thirty-four days after his arrival at Andersonville.

The U.S.S Wissahickon

A screw gunboat built in 1861 at Philadephia, it was commissioned on November 25 of that year. It participated in the attack on Fort Wagner in July 1863 and, in September of that same year, was engaged in the ill-fated assault on Fort Sumter.

She had a tonnage of 507, a length of 158'4", a beam of 28', and a draft of 18'8". Her speed was 10 1/4 knots. The armament is listed as one 11" Dahlgren smooth bore, one 20-pounder, and two 24-pounders.

In his diary, James' mentions two sailors who served on the Wissahickon and were captured in the assault on Fort Sumter on September 8, 1863.

U.S.Steam Gunboat Wissahickon
Off Morris Island, South Carolina, September 1863

Sir: I have to report the following men as missing from this vessel since the engagement of last night:
Charles Hilliard, boatswain's mate; Charles P. Pyne, master-at-arms; Frederick Seedsman, quarter gunner; Ambrose H. Gaines, seaman; John Pasque, William Hull, Philip McDevitt, ordinary seamen; John S. White, Thomas Flynn, William O'Connor, landsmen, being the crew of the second cutter. Lieutenant-Commander [E.P.] Williams and Acting Ensign E.G. Dayton, executive officer, are also missing.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Walter C. Odiorne,
Acting Ensign

Rear Admiral J.A. Dahlgren,
Commanding South Atlantic Blockading Squadron

Official Records of Union and Confederate Navies, Vol. 14, pp 618-619