150 years ago today: Sgt. David L. Day of the 25th Massachusetts wrote: "A few days ago orders came to get ready for inspection the next afternoon. . . . At the appointed time, Lieut. Col. Moulton and Capt. Rawlston of somebody’s staff put in an appearance. The captain was the inspecting officer; a very airy, pompous young gentleman, with a remarkable faculty of making his weak points conspicuous. . . . The captain said [that] he was sent here to inspect this detachment as infantry and every man must fall in. Now that was all right enough, only it placed me at a disadvantage, for I had taken no thought or care of [my rifle, nicknamed] Spitfire since my promotion and it was looking pretty bad. . . . Handing [it] back he very gravely informed me that he had inspected the whole army of the Potomac and had never before seen a rifle looking so bad as Spitfire, and still further complimenting me by saying I was about the roughest looking sergeant he had ever seen. I nodded assent, venturing the remark that I had been in the artillery detail while here and my rifle had been somewhat neglected, but I had a gun on the Malakoff that could knock the spots off the sun. He allowed that that was insolence and any more of it would subject me to arrest. Imagine the indignation of the chief of artillery on being threatened with arrest by an infantry captain. My first impulse was to call my command, lash him to the muzzle of the gun on the Malakoff and give him rapid transit over the tops of the pines, but better thoughts soon succeeded and I forgave him, thinking that perhaps he was doing as well as he knew how. The inspection over, he had not long to stay, as the boat was waiting for him. I noticed the officers didn’t pet him very much and I don’t believe he got more than one drink." Adm. Charles H. Bell, commanding the Pacific Squadron, ordered USS Narragansett, Cmdr. Fabius Maximus Stanly, to cruise regularly between San Francisco and Acapulco, Mexico for the protection of Pacific mail steamers. In addition, he warned Stanly to keep 2/3 of his officers on board the ship at all times and to maintain a regular sea watch whenever in a port with Confederate sympathies, to avoid being boarded and taken. USS Princess Royal, Cmdr. Melancthon Brooks Woolsey, seized British schooner Flying Scud at Brazos, Texas. She was reported to have run the blockade and landed 65,000 pounds of powder, 7 tons of horseshoes, and thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies. Federal Battery Hays fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Col. Alfred Rhett, in charge of the fort, reported that a 200-lb. Parrott shell hit a ship in the fort’s wharf, injuring 7 slaves. Other Union fire took out the oven in the bakery, exploded in the barracks, and caused him to relocate the commissary to a safer location.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 14:55:51 +0000
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