He was only a boy—he was but twenty-one years old—but no man, old or young, has ever surpassed him. He was officially complimented by the Secretary of the Navy, and this was the fifth time that the department had “had the gratification of expressing its approbation” of his conduct. He had said when leaving the Otsego, “another stripe or a coffin,” and he got the stripe. But no gold medal was voted to him. Gold was at a premium in those days—so high a premium, apparently, that Congress could not afford it. The writer does not mean to carp, but to deplore the fact that men who during the Civil War showed the most magnificent qualities of mind did not receive every recognition possible. For it is the men who write rank with a capital R that make and save the nation.
It is comforting to note that of the launch’s crew but two were killed, though all the rest were captured except Cushing and one other. The following is a list of the crew:
“William B. Cushing, Lieutenant, commanding expedition, escaped; William L. Howarth, Acting-Master’s Mate, picket-boat; William Stotesbury, Acting-Third-Assistant Engineer, picket-boat; John Woodman, Acting-Master’s Mate, U. S. S. Commodore Hull, drowned; Thomas S. Gay, Acting-Master’s Mate, U. S. S. Otsego; Charles S. Heener, Acting-Third-Assistant Engineer, U. S. S. Otsego; Francis H. Swan, Acting-Assistant Paymaster, U. S. S. Otsego; Edward T. Horton, ordinary seaman, U. S. S. Chicopee, escaped; Bernard Harley, ordinary seaman, U. S. S. Chicopee; William Smith, ordinary seaman, U. S. S. Chicopee; Richard Hamilton, coalheaver, U. S. S. Shamrock; R. H. King, landsman, picket-boat; —— Wilkes, landsman, picket-boat; —— Demming, landsman, picket-boat; Samuel Higgins, first-class fireman, picket-boat, drowned.”
Cushing became a commander in 1872, and he was then the youngest man of the rank. He died of brain fever at Washington in 1874. He was tall (six feet) and slender, and, as his portrait shows, looked more like a poet than a warrior. And the student of history who reads his dispatches will say that he was both.
With the destruction of the Albemarle the hope of the Confederates fled. But two seaports remained to them—Charleston and Wilmington.
CHAPTER XVI
THE NAVY AT CHARLESTON
IT WAS A WELL-GUARDED HARBOR, AND THE CHANNEL WAS LONG AND CROOKED—THE “STONE FLEET” AND THE ATTITUDE OF FOREIGN POWERS—BRIEF CAREER OF TWO CONFEDERATE IRONCLADS—THE BLOCKADE WAS NOT RAISED—A CONFEDERATE CRUISER BURNED—UTTER FAILURE OF THE IRONCLAD ATTACKS ON THE FORTS—CAPTURE OF THE CONFEDERATE WARSHIP ATLANTA—“BOARDERS AWAY” AT FORT SUMTER—MAGNIFICENT BRAVERY OF THE MEN WHO MANNED THE CONFEDERATE TORPEDO BOATS.
When the student of American history turns from the stories of the battles of New Orleans and Mobile to that of the naval efforts to reduce Charleston, he is driven to a conclusion that may be expressed by saying there was only one Farragut in the Civil War. He may easily believe that both Dupont and Dahlgren were great men, but their absolute failures before Charleston simply emphasize the fact that Farragut earned the place he has held in the hearts of his countrymen.
Charleston Harbor.