“Respectfully,
Robert Handy.”
He was not allowed to abandon his ship again, but it is a fact, incredible as it may seem, that even after the South Carolina had come—the South Carolina that, single-handed, was of a force to have destroyed, with one watch in their hammocks, the whole Confederate squadron—even after she had come, Handy, in his haste to get clear, threw overboard all of his guns, and it was done by permission of Pope. So the Vincennes got away in tow of the steamers.
On the 14th they were all at anchor outside, but even here, according to Captain Pope’s report, Captain French, of the Preble, did not feel safe. He was ordered to blockade Pass à Loutre, but, after starting, came back and asked permission to go to Ship Island for wood for the galley fire. Pope told him there was wood a-plenty at the Northeast Pass, but he “earnestly requested to go to Ship Island,” and Pope “reluctantly consented.” At Ship Island the Preble would be safe, but there was no telling what might happen if she were caught all alone by a Confederate gunboat off Pass à Loutre.
And then, in his report, written on the 17th, Pope makes this statement: “My retreat down the pass, although painful to me, was to save the ships by preventing them being sunk and falling into the hands of the enemy; and it was evident to me they had us in their power.”
This one other quotation will complete the story: “It having been rumored there was a panic on board this ship at the time she was engaged with the enemy, I state it to be false; both officers and men exhibited the utmost coolness and determination to do their duty.”
This chapter shall conclude with the brief story of brave men at Galveston.
It was in November. The frigate Santee was blockading Galveston, and a Confederate steamer, the General Rusk, was inside, together with a privateer schooner called the Royal Yacht. The Confederates were fitting the Rusk for a cruiser, but she could not be shelled without throwing shot into the city. So Lieut. James E. Jouett volunteered to go in and cut her out.
One has to look at the chart of the harbor to appreciate the danger of the service, for the boats would have to pull around the north end of the island, on which the city stands, and then along the water front of the city itself, to reach the ship. Nevertheless, Jouett, with forty men in two boats, started at 11.40 o’clock on the night of November 7, 1861. Everything went well while passing the sentinels on the point, and those on the Royal Yacht that lay near the point, also. But in keeping well to the off side of the channel when approaching the city the leading boat grounded, and the second crashed into her. The noise of the collision and the efforts to get afloat betrayed them, and fire was opened from the land and the Rusk. There was nothing for it but to retreat. The forty men could do nothing against the forces of the Confederates, now that they were alarmed. But Jouett was not to be balked altogether, and turning about, he dashed at the Royal Yacht. The first boat to reach her had a twelve-pound howitzer in its bow, with Gunner William W. Carter in charge. Aiming at her water-line Carter fired just as the boat’s bow was within jumping distance of the schooner, and as the shell crashed through the schooner’s side he leaped to her deck. Unfortunately, the recoil of the howitzer drove the boat away from the schooner, leaving Carter, with cutlass in hand, alone to face the enemy. But Carter was the man for the place, and at them he went, slash and parry and thrust, while Jouett slewed the boat up once more to the schooner’s rail and leaped on board. But the moment he landed there a Confederate thrust a bayonet through his arm and into his lung. It was a dangerous wound, but Jouett cut the man down and hewed his way to Carter’s side.
Even then the fight was not won. Twice the Confederates rallied and drove the Federals back, but Jouett led on again, gained the victory at last, and destroyed the schooner. The Federals lost three killed and six wounded. They carried off thirteen prisoners, but the Confederate loss in killed and wounded is not recorded. And it is worth adding that Jouett is to be heard from further on.