Major-General Henry W. Halleck was now in command of the Department. He was compelled to adopt rigorous measures in some cases in consequence of the pertinacious conduct of the secessionists. A memorable event of the month of January was the annual election for officers of the Mercantile Library Association, in which loyalty and secession were antagonistic elements. General Halleck officially announced that each officer of the Association would be expected to take the oath of allegiance within ten days from the date of his order, and in default thereof the officers failing should be deemed to have resigned their offices. Any officer refusing to take the oath of allegiance, who should exercise or attempt to exercise the functions of his office, should be arrested and dealt with under the laws of war.
He also ordered that all carriages bearing the enemy’s flag should be seized and confiscated; and that women resorting to the neighborhood of the military prison and insulting the Federal troops, or communicating with prisoners by exhibiting and waving secession flags, should be imprisoned. Disloyal persons who, under the military rules, were liable to assessment for the support of loyal fugitives from their homes, should be compelled to pay their assessment. All persons of every rank or position, violating the laws, or interfering with their execution, should be dealt with under strict penalties.
This energetic administration had the desired effect; and the violent minority who were determined, at every hazard, to plunge the State into war, were restrained, and order and peace assured and restored.
THE STONE FLEET.
Notwithstanding all the activity and watchfulness of the blockading vessels off the Southern coast, many instances were exultingly heralded by the Southern press, as well as in Europe, of the successful running of the blockade by vessels bound both outward and inward. The logic of these occurrences was very simple on the part of the secessionists and their sympathizers. The frequent evasion of the blockade proved that it was “inefficient” on the part of the Federal government, and therefore not only to be disregarded, but officially declared by foreign governments to be incomplete, and practically null and void. This declaration was expected to be sufficient to warrant the free movements of commerce, and any attempt to interfere on the part of the United States would be a challenge for the intervention of England and France.
The repeated instances of vessels escaping rendered it an imperative necessity for the government to adopt some measure that would, if possible, prevent their recurrence at the principal ports of the South. For this purpose it was determined to close several of the harbors by placing obstructions in the channels. Most of the harbors of the Southern coast, in consequence of the deltas, and numerous islands at their entrances, have several channels, through which vessels of light draft may pass, while those of the heaviest draft are confined to one principal channel. This is the case in the approach to both Charleston and Savannah. The obstructing of these two principal channels was therefore assigned for the month of December.
For this purpose a number of old whaling vessels were purchased at New Bedford and New London, freighted with granite from the Bay State, and taken to Port Royal as a rendezvous, whence they were to be convoyed to their destination. The people of Savannah, after the capture of Port Royal and Beaufort, anticipating the approach of the Federal fleet, volunteered the work on their own behalf and blockaded their own port by similar means. The fleet was therefore at liberty to repair to Charleston, and within sight of the walls of Sumter, to shut out the rebellious people of that city from the ocean.
The “Stone Fleet” sailed from Port Royal on the 18th of December, accompanied by the steamers Cahawba, Philadelphia and Ericsson, to tow and assist, the whole convoyed by the Mohican, Captain Gordon, the Ottawa, Captain Stevens, and Pocahontas, Captain Balch.
The fleet arrived off Charleston harbor the next day and preparations were made for sinking them in their places. Each of the weather-beaten and storm-tossed old vessels that had so long borne the stars and stripes in every latitude, were now to make a stubborn protest against treason by keeping watch at the very door of its birth-place. They were furnished with ingenious contrivances and plugs, the withdrawal of which would allow the water to flow in and sink them on the floor of the channel.
The sinking of the fleet was intrusted to Captain Charles H. Davis, formerly on the Coast Survey, and ever since more or less intimately connected with it. It is remarkable that when, in 1851, an appropriation was made by the Federal Government for the improvement of Charleston harbor, and, at the request of South Carolina, a commission of army and navy officers was appointed to superintend the work, Captain Davis was one of the commission, and for three or four years was engaged in these operations. The present attempt was of somewhat different character. The entrance by the main ship channel runs from the bar to Fort Sumter, six miles, nearly south and north. The city is three miles beyond, bearing about N. W. The other channels are Sanford’s, Swash, the North, and Maffit’s, or Sullivan’s Island, which need not to be particularly described. Only the latter is practicable for vessels of any draught, but all serve more or less to empty the waters discharged by the Ashley and Cooper rivers. Over the bar, at the entrance of the main ship channel, is a narrow passage, through which vessels may carry eleven feet at low water; about seventeen at high water. The plan of Captain Davis for closing the harbor proceeded on the following principles: