Reminiscences of Two Years in the United States Navy

by John M. Batten

A shell exploded in the pilot-house of the Valley City, badly wounding her other pilot. A number of her men were also badly hurt.

THE FLEET IN A TIGHT PLACE.

The 21st and 22d were passed in shelling the batteries on Poplar Point, and endeavoring to drag the river for torpedoes, that were now thicker than ever. As fast as our boats would leave the ships to commence dragging, the rebels would open on them, wounding and killing the men. A new battery opened on the Valley City, inflicting serious damage on her. The other ships, with their hundred-pounder rifles, drove the rebels off repeatedly, but only to return whenever our fire slackened. It was plain that we could no longer do without a land force to drive the fellows off and clear the way for our dragging boats. Every moment the rebels thickened in the woods; the trees and bushes were alive with sharpshooters; batteries were discovered in process of erection in our rear; and in a word, the position of the squadron was critical.

THE FLEET WITHDRAWS TO JAMESVILLE.

Commander Macomb again sent a despatch to the colonel commanding the land forces, begging him to press forward without delay. The reply was that the army would advance when transportation permitted. The position of the fleet was untenable for twenty-four hours more; to have remained would have insured the loss of another vessel; to advance was impossible without army co-operation: so, very reluctantly, Commander Macomb gave the order to fall back to Jamesville, there to await the action of the army. The fleet fought its way back for seven or eight miles, and the rest of the way was passed in quiet.

The Otsego had not yet been put out of commission—Commander Arnold and a portion of her crew remaining on her hurricane-deck, and living al fresco. Her heavy battery had been removed to the Shamrock and Wyalusing, but her brass howitzer still remained on her hurricane-deck to defend her crew. A survey was now held upon her, and it was decided that it was impossible to raise either her or the Bazeley. Everything that could be removed was taken away, and two torpedoes were placed in her hull and exploded, thus finishing the work of the rebels. Her remains were then set on fire, and she was burned to the water's edge.

The entire fleet, with the exception of the Chicopee and Mattabessett, are now at Jamesville; and the United States steamer Lockwood, to which Captain Aimes was ordered after the loss of the Bazeley, joined it last night, having sailed from Newbern to do so.

COMMANDER MACOMB.

The indomitable perseverance of Commander Macomb and his captains, in pushing on through a river filled with torpedoes and lined with sharpshooters for fifty miles, dragging almost every foot of the way, and driving the enemy before them, is unsurpassed even in the brilliant naval history of this war. Many commanders would have faltered after losing two of their vessels; but there was no faltering in Macomb. It was not until all hope of land co-operation was exhausted, and until it was demonstrated that without a land support he could go no further, that he consented to retire. Throughout the whole expedition, he asked his men to encounter no danger that he did not himself share. His exposure of himself to death was constant and unflinching; his coolness and self-possession never left him; and in him his officers and men beheld an example worthy of their emulation.

Thanks of the officers of the Otsego, to Captain Wood and officers of the transport, General Berry: