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RESACA/PD JULY 28, 2014
ALABAMA PUBLIC RADIO IS MARKING THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN THE U.S. CIVIL WAR. IT WAS ON AUGUST 5, 1864 WHEN THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY TOOK PLACE. THE NAVAL ENGAGEMENT HELPED TO SEAL THE FATE OF THE CONFEDERACY AND TO PUT ABRAHAM LINCOLN INTO A SECOND TERM IN OFFICE. THE APR NEWS TEAM IS EXAMINING ALABAMA’S ROLE IN THE CIVIL WAR IN 1864. FIRST, PAT DUGGINS TAKE A LOOK AT HOW CIVIL WAR HISTORY HAS TURNED INTO AN EXPENSIVE HOBBY THAT CAN GET PRETTY LOUD…
“It’s one of the best. It’s not really as big as some of the others. But they consider themselves, but they do a great job on the realism.”
When it comes to Civil War re-enactments, Terry Alley considers himself a connoisseur. The Rome, Georgia man is tromping along a muddy path in an open field on this rainy Saturday. His two sons are toting their Iphones today, but most of the people surrounding us aren’t. Alley says that’s the point…
“I’m a history teacher. So, I like the realism. I taught about half the re-enactors. I tell them they better get it right or I’ll get you the next time I have you in class.”
Forward harch! FX
The rolling hills here are dotted by white canvas tents. Inside are men and women all in Civil War period costumes. The men are in military uniforms, many of the ladies are wearing hoop skirts and bonnets. The whole scene is located just over the border between Alabama and Georgia near a little town called Resaca. “The story goes, the women here are so ugly, they had to “re-sack her.” That’s Ken Padgett. History teacher Terry Alley may train today’s re-enactors, but Padgett bosses them around. He’s the General in charge of this re-enactment of the Battle of Resaca. It took place one hundred and fifty years ago today. “We’re got folks from California, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio. Nearly every state in the nation is represented here. As it was during the war.”
FX Forward HARCH!
Roughly one hundred troops are forming an infantry line. They’re all wearing the gray uniforms of the Confederacy. In another spot, other re-enactors are in Union blue—they call them Federals here. These are the two-legged participants. Others have four… “Okay, bring up buddy!” Buddy is a dark red horse who will lead a team of six horses pulling a caisson. It’s a wagon with a six foot long black cannon complete with ammunition. “A couple of our horses…this will be their first re-enactment. Steve Cameron of Blaine, Tennessee is the Captain of this artillery unit. “We’ve trained with them quite a bit. But this is their first time out. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes.” When he’s not playing the part of a Civil War soldier, Cameron builds cannons for a living. He says the wagon that Buddy will help pull carries more than just gunpowder … “Everything from sythes and shovels and picks and axes, and grain bags, and spare harnesses. And leather making tools, wood working tools, metal working tools to keep a battery in the field.”
“forward harch!”
Cameron’s heavy blue uniform includes Captain’s bars on the shoulders and a cavalry sword hanging from a broad leather belt. He and his fellow re-enactors wear authentic eye glasses, sleep in authentic tents, and even eat hardtack they bring with them.
This begs an obvious question. Where do they get all this stuff? Cameron’s answer is simple. The settler’s tent…
“It’s kind of like Walmart, you know. You basically order whatever you need.”
Tent FX
The settler’s tent doesn’t have a senior citizen greeting you at the door like Walmart, and there’s no blue light special like K-Mart. But, there is Chuck Johnson. He runs the place… “We have everything from their toe to their head…” Johnson takes us past piles of mid-19th century style shoes, uniform jackets, pants, hats, swords. There’s even stuff for modern day tourists like books or CD’s with Civil War music. There are also souvenir buttons with little pictures of generals like Grant, Lee, or Stonewall Jackson. “My tents come from the Amish. I have people in Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida who do my sewing for me. I have stuff from the northeast, just all over the country.” A starter’s kit for a rookie re-enactor can run two thousand dollars, with perhaps the biggest single expense being the rifle. Johnson says each side has a favorite… “Confederates tend to go toward the Enfields. Federals like more like the Springfields. There were more Confederates who used the Enfields since they came in through the blockades. The Springfields were produced up north.”
The re-enactors don’t use real bullets. Still, it’s the shooting everyone comes for… “And the most important thing is kind of watching the battlefield, Remember Terry Alley, the history teacher from Rome, Georgia? He and his family are about to head off to find a viewing spot on the rolling hills overlooking the battlefield. “So you see the horses, the messengers, you see the cannon, the riflemen, and all that…” And Alley’s favorite part? “Umm, I think the cannon. When the cannons start going off, it’ll rattle your teeth.”
Boom Shooting and bugles
With the battle at its height, General Ken Padgett explains just what the re-enactors are re-enacting. “Well, the battle took place between Confederate general Joe Johnston, and the federal army of William T. Sherman. The Confederate forces were heavily entrenched here at Resaca. And, the Federal troops attack this position and suffered heavy casualties. There were about fifty five hundred casualties over a two day period here. Spotting either side from the audience today is easy. The Union troops wear blue and the Confederates wear gray, right? Well, tomorrow on APR we’ll talk about an Alabama cavalry unit that fought in the actual battle of Resaca in 1864—but which side they fought for might surprise you. Join me for that story tomorrow. Pat Duggins, APR news in Resaca, Georgia.
WHEN BLUE AND GRAY ISN’T BLACK AND WHITE IST ALABAMA CAVALRY/PD JULY 29, 2014 ALABAMA PUBLIC RADIO IS MARKING THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN THE U.S. CIVIL WAR. THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY TOOK PLACE ON AUGUST 5, 1864 AND IT WAS A TURNING POINT IN THE WAR. YESTERDAY, WE TOOK YOU TO NORTHWEST GEORGIA FOR A CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTMENT OF THE BATTLE OF RESACA. BUT THAT’S NOT THE END OF THE STORY. TODAY, APR’S PAT DUGGINS REPORTS ON AN ALABAMA CAVALRY UNIT THAT TOOK PART IN THE ACTUAL BATTLE. AND, WE WARN YOU, THERE’S A TWIST…
BOOM!
This was music to the ears of hundreds of Civil War buffs. They all braved the rain on this wet, muddy Saturday near the town of Resaca, Georgia-- just over the border from Northeast Alabama. “What’s kind of neat is that this re-enactment is taking place on part of the actual battle ground.” That’s Ken Padgett. The Georgia native is acting as the General of today’s re-enactment. During the real battle in 1864, Confederate General Joe Johnston faced General William T. Sherman from the North. “Resaca was basically a draw between the two armies. But with the Federals’ superior numbers, they outflanked the Confederate army and crossed the rivers downstream and threatened to cut off the Confederate retreat. So, they had to pull back in the middle of the night.”
Rifle fx
One unit that took place in the actual battle was a rag tag group from Madison County called the 1st Alabama Cavalry. It’s okay if you’ve never heard of them. Historians have. “Actually, they did a lot.” That’s Dr. John Kvach. He teaches history at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, not far from where the First Alabama Calvary first formed. “They served and they fought and they died, and they sacrificed just like every other unit that was fighting throughout the war.” But, this is where the story gets a little complicated. During the Presidential election of 1860, not everybody in Alabama liked slavery or the thought of the South breaking away from the Union. Kvach says that left the men of the 1st Alabama Cavalry in a bind on election day. “You might be voting for your very own destruction by voting for secession. Yet, you’re also voting for how you feel about the direction of your party, your country, and the future of your family. So, for many people, this was a very, very difficult decision.” And, that decision may have raised eyebrows in Alabama in 1860… “Their convictions pushed them toward supporting the Union, by becoming part of the Union forces. They fought a number of skirmishes and major battles, and in fact became a guard for General William T. Sherman.”
“Sherman is a bad word around Alabama. He’s not one of our favorites.”
That’s Sallie Cox of Birmingham. She found out about the 1st Alabama Cavalry while researching her family tree.
“marriage certificate FX”
Judging from the pile of documents on her dining room table, Cox has been keeping busy. She wanted to qualify to join the Daughters of the American Revolution. After a little digging, she found something a little different. Namely, Captain Fernando Cortez Burdick of the 1st Alabama Cavalry. He went by Frank. “Great. Great…I think it’s two greats. Grandmother…..yeah, it’s great great grandfather, right.” Cox considers herself an Alabamian, even though she was born in Tennessee. She does have relatives up north, and when word got out that one of her ancestors fought for the Union. Well, you know… “Nobody up there seem to think it’s all that odd. Frankly, I do.”
A small black and white photograph of Burdick appears to resolve any doubt about his loyalties. Cox found it during her research. In it, a young looking Burdick has a closely trimmed beard. His military uniform is Union blue… “To me, it looks like he’s been sleeping in it….but, they did that! This is his handwriting, and we speculate that’s why he rose through the ranks because he was an educated person. The inscription is ….that’s an abbreviation for respectfully, ‘Fernando Cortez Burdick, or Frank C. Burdick, Captain, first Alabama Cavalry.’”
The fact that Frank Burdick was a southerner who fought for the Union doesn’t bother historians like John Kvach. What does bug him are the stereotypes about the North and South that can make stories like Burdick’s such a novelty… “What I tell my students is that history isn’t black or white, it’s gray.” But, getting that idea across has been an uphill climb. Kvach says most people think of the North in the 1860’s as industrial and the South as a bunch of wealthy plantation owners sipping mint juleps. Kvach says that’s bunk popularized by books like “Gone With The Wind.” “In 1860, if taken as a separate nation, the South was the fifth most industrialized nation in the world. In the upper South there were a lot of iron foundries, railroads were huge. In the deep South, there were cotton factories that were making yarn, that were making cloth.”
Resaca FX
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is how war pitted brother against brother. Remember Ken Padgett, the general in charge of the re-enactment of the battle of Resaca? That hobby has helped turn him into an amateur historian. Padgett says he heard a lot of stories across the South similar to the 1st Alabama Cavalry… “And you had relatives who were loyal to the Union, and those who were rebellious and were loyal to the Confederacy. So it was not uncommon for soldiers on both sides to come across some of their wounded relatives on the field.”
And that idea hits close to home for Sallie Cox. There’s a portrait that hangs on the wall in her dining room. It’s a painting of two men, one in Union blue and the other in gray.” “This is Fernando Cortez Burdick, and the other is Robert Alexander Hill. Their children married. His son married his daughter. These are my great great grand parents.” And it should come as no surprise that while Burdick fought for the Union, Hill was for the Confederacy. “The thing that I thought was so interesting what that both of them was at the battle of Shiloh, and we always joke in the family that great great grandpa Burdick shot great great grandparent Hill, which didn’t happen, but it makes a great story.” Cox admits if he had, she wouldn’t be here as their descendent. Burdick and Hill returned to Madison County after the war to form Cox’s branch of the family tree. So, it appears everything was resolved… “I consider myself Southern. I’m no Yankee.” Okay, not everything. Pat Duggins, APR news in Birmingham.
Castle Morgan/ Ingold Feature
ALABAMA PUBLIC RADIO IS LOOKING BACK ON A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. NEXT WEEK MARKS ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS SINCE THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY, WHICH WAS A TURNING POINT IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. APR IS ALSO LOOKING AT ALABAMA’S ROLE IN THE CIVIL WAR IN 1864. Many people talk about the battles, but some of those who fought were captured and held in POW camps. The Confederate Camp Andersonville often comes to mind. A-P-R’s Stan Ingold reports, THE LARGEST CAMP WAS HERE IN ALABAMA…
"Jesus Loves the Little Children" fade up...
This song is a Sunday school staple. But, those weren’t the original words…
(FADE UP TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP)
SONGWRITER GEORGE F. ROOT PENNED THE TUNE TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP IN 1864—THE YEAR OF THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY. IT WAS ABOUT A UNION SOLDIER WRITING HIS MOTHER ABOUT LIFE IN A CONFEDERATE PRISON CAMP. BIRDS CHIRPING FADE Up AND THAT WAS A FAMILIAR SONG HERE. WE’RE IN A FIELD NEAR THE TOWN OF CAHABA. THE CIVIL WAR PRISONER OF WAR CAMP CALLED CASTLE MORGAN STOOD here... “This is the wall that originally supposed to be a cotton warehouse, but was then converted into a prison for the captured federal soldiers….” (sound of the area where the prison was) It is quiet now in the Old Cahaba Archaeological Park outside of Selma, but this area was once home to a bustling city. At its center was a prisoner of war camp. Many of the captives called it ‘Castle Morgan”… “This is the wall that originally supposed to be a cotton warehouse, but was then converted into a prison for the captured federal soldiers….” Linda Derry is the site director at the park. We walk around the grounds of the prison that once held_____ men…
“(me) so I’m standing on the wall?... yes, so like a guard, if you were a little higher up you’d be on the catwalk for the guard.” (15sec) “Now we should move fast because if the guards caught you here next to the wall this was called the “deadline” and they could shoot you dead, and there wasn’t any marking so you just had to remember not to get close to the wall and reportedly several men were shot by the guards.”(16sec)
AND IT’S THE GUARDS AND THE PRISONERS THAT GIVE HISTORIANS THE MOST VIVID DETAILS ON LIFE AT CASTLE MORGAN. BOTH CAPTOR AND CAPTIVE WROTE LETTERS HOME OR KEPT JOURNALS. PRISONER Melville Cox Robertson WAS A MEMBER OF the 93rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry…
“I write this evening because I have nothing else to do – not because I have anything of importance to record. I have tried life in a good many ways, but prison life is rather the most monotonous thing yet. There is so little of congeniality of spirit among those with whom I am associated that I often feel myself almost completely alone in the midst of 500 men.” (21sec)
This monotony even carried over to the guards. confederate SOLDIER G.M. Wilson’S JOB WAS TO WATCH OVER MEN LIKE COX… “My dear brother and sister…it seems a long time since I heard from you or any of my connection. I am very anxious to hear from you all. I am still at cahaba, the same place you heard from me last. I have not heard from you since last spring, I want to know what has become of you. I have not heard from home since I was at your house, I have wrote and wrote and still no answer. If you have ever heard from my family please do not delay to let me know.”(25sec) “One of the stories he told my mother was the best meal he had while in prison was a piece of bread a horse had stepped on.” Arlene Chissom (OF WHERE) doesn’t need old letters or history books to have some idea about what life was like at Castle Morgan.
Her great grandfather fought in the Union army and was imprisoned here. One story she heard from her mother was about the piece of bread and the horse. “He reached down after the horse moved on by and ate that and said that was the tastiest food he had.”(17sec) Castle Morgan opened its gates in June of 1863 and housed in all around nine-thousand captives during its active years in the war. DESPITE THE HORROR STORIES ASSOCIATED WITH POW CAMPS, PARK DIRECTOR LINDA DERRY SAYS Castle Morgan only LOST ____ men TO DISEASE OR STARVATION. “If I was fighting in the Civil War and I was captured and could pick where I was sent I would come to Cahaba. It was probably the best conditions anywhere. When they went to parole at the end of the war, they were noticed for being the healthiest of all the prisoners, ‘cause they were far from the front, there was food for them to eat, it wasn’t great but it was almost as good as what the Confederate soldiers were getting.” (22sec) Derry says they’re able to know about the conditions from letters they have collected from the descendants of the men held at Castle Morgan.
ALONG WITH THE HARDSHIPS OF CAPTIVITY, THERE WERE SIGNS OF NORMALITY TOO. Private Alfred Cotton of the 137th Illinois Infantry WROTE ABOUT IT IN HIS LETTER TO HIS FAMILY… “After travelling about the country and seeing all that was to be seen of importance, we were introduced to one of their most renowned institutions of learning “Castle Morgan University” beautifully located on the banks of the Alabama River. The structure was partly of brick, the grounds were well laid off and surrounded by a high fence to keep out intruders, I suppose upon which is a beautiful walk, but the walk was reserved for the faculty.” (24sec) IF STUDYING IN THE LIBRARIES OF CASTLE MORGAN WASN’T ENOUGH—HOW ABOUT A STROLL AROUND THE TOWN OF CAHABA LIKE 1st Sergeant Charles Sumbardo of the 12th Iowa…
“An English merchant tailor invited me into his store, our few moments conversation in a backroom seemed to be mutually enjoyed. He was opposed to the war, but dare not make it known, his two sons were in the southern army, but not even they were aware of his sentiments. He gave me a quantity of reading matter that afforded much pleasure as it was read and circulated until worn out.” Sumbardo recalls Even the women of the town seemed to take a liking to the captive union soldiers… “ I was walking on the principle residents street when two young ladies drove leisurely along in a single carriage. In passing I must have glanced at them, for they tossed a rose from the back of the carriage I secured the flower and pressed it to my lips, they waved their pretty hands and drove away.”
BUT LIBRARY BOOKS AND ROSES TOSSED BY TOWNSPEOPLE DIDN’T KEEP SOME PRISONERS FROM TRYING TO ESCAPE. Linda Derry RECALLS ONE OF THE MORE FAMOUS JAILBREAKS BY HIRAM HANCHETTE—IT DIDN’T WORK OUT… “At first it was successful, they got the guards from the prison, locked them in the latrine, things were going well, but it was just bedlam, most of the soldiers didn’t have any idea what was going on. The confederate in charge of the prison did probably the smartest thing he could do, he opened the gate and rolled an artillery piece through the gate and told them in words I don’t want to use on public radio, ‘Lay down or I’ll blow you to wherever!” (27sec)
Robertson survived the prison, but did not make it home. He died of typhoid ten days after being released. He was not alone, many of the men held at Castle Morgan at the end of the war did not make it home. After surviving combat and for some, years in a prison camp, Derry says another tragedy was waiting on their way home… “They thought they were going to go home and see their children, their girlfriends, their wives and their mothers and their families. And what happened is they crammed them on this ship called the “Sultana” on the Mississippi and somewhere right above Memphis the boilers exploded and killed most of them and most of those men were from here. It’s considered the largest maritime disaster in US history.”(23sec)
This story hits home with Arlene Chissom. We met her earlier in this story. Her great grandfather Samuel Jenkins was a prisoner at Castle Morgan. Chissom says he was also one of the survivors of the explosion aboard the Sultana. “Samuel, who was a great swimmer, and that probably saved his life because he jumped from the upper deck to the lower deck and was injured on a large coil of rope and he got an extreme hernia he had to live with the rest of his life.”(19sec) Stories like those of Jenkins and others who were held at Castle Morgan help keep their memory alive. It is these stories and efforts by organizations like the Alabama Historical Commission that help preserve this often forgotten piece of Alabama history… I’m Stan Ingold…A-P-R News in Cahaba Alabama… ?
Buchanan/ INGOLD FEATURE
All week long Alabama Public Radio is taking a look back at events during the War Between the States. One hundred fifty years ago plans were underway for federal forces to attack and capture Mobile Bay from the Confederacy. A-P-R’s Stan Ingold has this remembrance of the ensuing battle from someone with a unique vantage point…
“As far as my friends and people really knowing this information, very few of them do.”
Julia Hinson lives in Mobile. Her little secret is her family tree and the critical role it played in the history of the city and of the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864… “Buchanan went to sea when he was fifteen years old.” There’s a hint of pride as Hinson talks about Franklin Buchanan. The Confederate Admiral is Hinson’s great, great, great grandfather… “Ended up being the first superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy. He went to Japan with Perry when he opened up Japan. And then, he was head of the Washington Naval Yard when the Civil War broke out.” Hinson’s memories of Buchanan come from stories told by parents, and from the writings of Buchanan’s daughter, who was Hinson’s great great grandmother. Her manuscript is sitting on Hinson’s lap. She reads how famous Buchanan was among residents of Mobile, especially when he went to the theater… “Buchanan was given a private box for the season, draped with the Admiral’s flag. Every evening when we were not previously engaged, we would went to the Theater. Whenever my father entered his box, the audience applauded until he stood and bowed, and the band played Dixie.” Of course, that was before the battle of Mobile Bay. Things changed afterward because Admiral Buchanan was the man who lost…
(cannon and musket fire)
THE SOUNDS OF CANNONS AND MUSKETS NEAR THE MOUTH OF MOBILE BAY ARE JUST CEREMONIAL. IT’S ALL PART OF THE SHOW MODERN day RE-ENACTORS DO FOR VISITORS AT THE FORT Gaines. The scene was a lot different in 1864 when Confederate and Union forces fought over Mobile Bay. naval FORCES from the north WERE LED BY ADMIRAL DAVID FARRAGUT WHILE THE CONFEDERATE ships were COMMANDED BY BUCHANAN…
‘This started 1862, Farragut goes in and takes New Orleans. Mobile panics, refugees flee New Orleans and come to Mobile…” David Smithweck is a local historian in Mobile… “Farragut’s intention is to come to Mobile right away, but General Banks orders him to the Mississippi, red river campaign.” (21sec)(david1) General Nathaniel Banks commanded the army of the gulf for the Union. He was Farragut’s boss at the time. This delay and panic gave the defenders of Mobile time to plant underwater mines throughout the bay. At that time, these weapons were called torpedoes. The extra time also allowed the Confederates to build up the defenses at the two forts guarding the mouth of the Bay…
(blacksmith intro)
A modern day blacksmith demonstrates his craft for visitors at Fort Gaines. It was the smaller of the two main forts at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Waves up On the other side was Fort Morgan… “Fort Morgan was the major post because the main ship channel running through Mobile Bay ran directly under the guns of Fort Morgan.” Mike Bailey is the site director of the Fort… “It was turned over to the Confederacy in march 1861 by the state of Alabama. And it served as a fort to guard the entrance of Mobile Bay for blockade runners who were bringing necessary supplies into Mobile.”(21sec)(mike1)
Bailey says the forts were just the first obstacle Farragut and Union forces encountered… “The confederates to bolster their defenses planted torpedoes and obstructions and built up a four ship confederate naval force centered around the CSS Tennessee which was one of the most powerful ironclads the confederates ever constructed.”
These torpedoes inspired the now infamous line delivered by Admiral Farragut “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” however, there is a problem with that line… “It’s not David Farragut who said “damn the torpedoes” but Tunis Craven who is the commanding officer of the Tecumseh.” Bailey says Craven disobeyed orders to go into the field… “The pilot, John Collins who is relating the story in a newspaper article, that he tells Craven that he is going into a torpedo field. And craven says, damn the torpedoes, I want that fellow, take me along-side. And he is talking about the Tennessee.”(23)
Craven’s ship soon struck a mine, ripping a hole in the ironclad. It sank in just three minutes taking Craven and ninety-three members of the crew to the bottom of the bay. A buoy near Fort Morgan marks the final resting place of the Tecumseh and the men who went down with the ship. “After being wounded during the battle of Mobile bay, he was taken prison and shipped up to New York.”(08sec)(julia3) Julia Hinson prefers the good stories about her famous ancestor. In this account from her great grandmother, Hinson says Buchanan’s fame in Mobile held up even after his defeat… “after the war, when my poor father was left without his profession and penniless, his kind friends there gave him a position in the mutual insurance company which he accepted until he was offered the position of president of the agricultural college in Blandensburg Maryland.”(18sec)(julia4)
Fort Gaines held out until August eighth, three days after Farragut’s victory. Fort Morgan lasted until the end of the month. Mike Bailey says before the surrender of Fort Morgan, the men inside had to see the Confederate Ironclad Tennessee turn its guns on them. Union sailors were in control… “That was rubbing salt in the wounds of the garrison at fort morgan. They saw this powerful ironclad be beaten into submission by an overwhelming union force. Then it comes down on the 14th of August and begins to bombard the fort.”(15sec)(mike4)
Once Fort Morgan was captured, the bay was under Union control. However, the city of Mobile held out until after Robert E Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse. The battle for Mobile Bay was a turning point in the war, the confederacy was effectively cut off from outside supplies and the union received the morale boost it needed. It considered by some to be the first modern naval battle. And it attracted a lot of attention from newspapers of the day. Pat Duggins has that story tomorrow on Alabama Public Radio. I’m Stan Ingold, APR news, at Fort Morgan. ?
Mobile Bay Newspapers
Alabama Public Radio is looking back on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay. The Naval engagement helped close off supply lines to the Confederacy, which brought the war to an end. It was also a big deal for newspapers during that time. APR’s Pat Duggins has more…
"Newspaper Printing press FX" up
Before radio, television, and the web—this is how most people got their headlines. We’re in the press room of the Birmingham News. Press manager David Ellis takes around as tomorrow’s issue goes by on rollers. The first thing you notice is the smell. It’s the red, black, yellow and blue ink. Ellis says he doesn’t notice it..usually. “If I’m back from vacation and get back here, I’m like ‘oh yeah, I’m home again,’” Ellis says. “You’re right, it does have a distinct smell to it.” The edition you hear on the presses now will wind up on doorsteps in a few hours. Back in 1864, the earliest news on the Battle of Mobile Bay took six days to get out.
“The Daily Ohio Statesman, August 17, 1864. We have our first installment of the glorious news from Admiral Farragut’s victorious squadron. The reports furnished are full of the most intense interest, and this latest achievement of the ‘old salamander’ will place him at top of the list of all Naval commanders of the world.”
“One source I read said it was the Naval equivalent of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg,” says Dr. Debra Van Tuyll. She teaches history at Georgia Regents University in Augusta. “That tells me that the writer thought it was indeed a turning point.” Van Tuyll’s specialty is Civil War journalism, and how it worked.
The Battle of Mobile Bay appears to have been hot news in 1864. Just how hot? “It made page one," says VanTuyll. "Prior to the Civil War, page one was all advertising usually. News actually ran on page two. But, during the war people wanted news so quickly, newspaper editors realized that they needed to put the news on the front page.”
“Chattanooga Rebel, August 26, 1864. The flag of the truce boat returned last evening. The Yankees say Fort Morgan capitulated at two o’clock on Tuesday last. On Monday evening, they concentrated their fire on the fort, which replied sharply. On Tuesday the bombardment was renewed.”
Papers ranging from the New York Times to the Chattanooga Rebel sent correspondents or collected eyewitness accounts on the battle between Admiral David Farragut of the Union and Franklin Buchanan for the Confederacy. This is where historians start to differ on the value of news accounts…
“Newspapers are not necessarily the best place to go to find out what happened,” says Dr. Craig Symonds. He taught for thirty years at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Symonds also wrote over thirty books on American military history. His criticism focuses on how, in the 1860’s, newspapers took sides… “So, there were Republican newspapers and Democratic newspapers. And the Republican newspapers would generally say something like ‘what a tremendous victory this is to substantiate our great President’s war policy,’” says Symonds. “And the Democratic paper would say ‘okay, we won this one, but the costs were very heavy and that proves the policies aren’t working and we should throw this rascal out of office.” And that was just in the North. And the rascal Symonds is talking about was Abraham Lincoln who was a Republican.
“You certainly did a majority of Northern newspapers who were 'yay Union,' and the majority of Southern newspapers who were 'yay Confederacy,'” says Debra Van Tuyll. She says Southern papers appeared even more critical of their president Jefferson Davis. “They used terms like despot,” she recalls. “In fact, the Augusta Chronicle once wrote if they had to have a despot, they maybe they should stay part of the Union and have Abraham Lincoln.”
“Richmond Inquirer, August 15, 1864. Fort Gaines has gone the way of Hatteras, Roanoke Island, Pulaski, and Hilton Head. Its isolated position was exposed to the concentrated assault of the Yankee Navy, and a flanking operation of troops debarked upon commanding points. Perhaps the officer in command of the fort may have proven himself a traitor. In that case, eternal infamy awaits him.”
One point all sides appear to agree on is the political value of the news reports of the Battle of Mobile Bay to Abraham Lincoln. His support of the war effort and the abolition of slavery wasn’t widely accepted and election day was coming.” “Lincoln knew he had to be re-elected for his policy to be sustained,” says Craig Symonds. “And when Farragut made his dash into the Bay, there was no clear indication that he would be re-elected.” “At that point, Lincoln as very low in the polls. And it looked like McClelland was going to win the election unless something didn’t turn around,” says Debra Van Tuyll. “And the Battle of Mobile Bay and the capture of Atlanta turned Union opinion around and back favorable of Lincoln, which is what helped Lincoln get re-elected.”
If there’s one thing news coverage didn’t resolve, it’s what Craig Symonds says is the holy grail connected to the Battle of Mobile Bay. It’s one of the famous sayings he used to hear around the campus during his teaching days at Annapolis… “Phrases like ‘don’t give up the ship,’ and ‘we have met the enemy and they are ours,’ those kinds of things,” he says. “And with along with them is ‘damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” As catchy as David’s Farragut’s might have been, Symonds contends a navy man wouldn’t have said it like that. “Another theory is that he said ‘damn the torpedoes, go ahead, four bells’ which doesn’t have the same ring as ‘damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. So, instead of ‘full steam ahead’ like a land lubber might say, he probably said ‘four bells.’” And apparently, no newspaper account says who’s right and who’s wrong. ?
Medal of Honor/Ryan 07-29-14
Runs: MedalofHonor_Vasquez_07219_NEWS
The Battle of Mobile Bay was a major naval victory for the Union in 1864, but it also holds significance in the United States’ naval history. Tonight, APR news will present a documentary about the battle, titled “Damn The Torpedoes.” More Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded for the Battle of Mobile Bay than any other U.S. naval battle. Alabama Public Radio’s Ryan Vasquez takes a look at some of the heroism on display during the historic battle 150 years ago.
Nat Sound of Staff Sergeant Ryan Pitts receiving the Medal of Honor…fade under
Staff Sergeant Ryan Pitts is the most recent recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. The honor is awarded to military personnel for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. Pitt joins an exclusive fraternity. Just over three thousand soldiers out of the millions of u.s. servicemen and women get to wear one. It also connects soldiers today to some of the first recipients of the award following the battle of Mobile Bay KJ- John Lawson 1 :13 “John Lawson is serving in the shell whip. Ken Johnston is the executive director of the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia. it’s the area where they are bringing powder and shells up from the storage lockers up to the guns and an incoming shot goes off in that confined space.” KJ- John Lawson 2 :16 “He’s stunned, knocked unconscious, wounded there are dead men on top of him you know these smoldering fragments choking smoke, he gets up and continues passing the much needed ammunition and gun powder up and goes on about his job.”
For this action during the Battle of Mobile Bay, John Lawson received the Medal of Honor. Lawson and 114 men received the U.S. military’s highest honor for Mobile Bay which makes it second only to the Battle of Vicksburg for the most decorated battle in U.S history. So why were so many medals awarded for this engagement? That depends on who you ask EC-06 “By the time you get to 1864, Mobile is a very strategically important place…”
Edwin Combs is an assistant professor of history at Miles College. EC-15 “It’s the last remaining port on the Confederate Gulf Coast, it’s used for blockade running. Cotton goes out of Mobile to Cuba and then military goods and supplies come back in.” The port is significant enough that come early August, Admiral David Farragut decides to take his Union fleet to Mobile Bay in an attempt to cut off the port and capture the city. We transport back in time to take you aboard the ship Farragut would lead into battle. KJ :05 “And now we are below deck, we are on the birth deck of the Hartford…”
(fade under) Ken Johnston takes us through a replica of the U.S.S Hartford. The original was Farragut’s flagship during the capture of New Orleans and the battle of Mobile Bay… KJ:31“It’s accurate down to the details of the rat sitting on top of the gun rack over there, the guy eating his dinner just on the floor there with a piece of canvas for his table cloth, another guy swinging in the hammock (there and if you listen … you hear the sounds of creaking, dog barking in the background, a little bit of wind we like that audio feature here because it lets you know that even at rest, even when you’re not in battle you just say anchored the ship is moving.)
Farragut would steer the Hartford and the rest of his fleet into Mobile Bay for a clash with Confederate forces on August 5th. Site director at Fort Morgan Mike Bailey says it was the fight of Farragut’s life. MB-23 “David Farragut himself said it was the hardest battle he was ever involved in and that’s saying a whole lot because he was involved in fighting on the Mississippi River, intense fighting there. But just the nature of the fighting, it’s the largest naval battle that was during the Civil War and just the intensity that went down. At the very beginning of the battle you lose your lead monitor and then the fighting with the Tennessee up the bay later on.” So we have a strategically important port that if taken could cripple the Confederacy and intense fighting between Union and Confederate forces in the war’s largest naval battle.
Any other explanations? JB-split1 :04
“One of the reasons so many of them are being awarded in the Civil war is it’s the only medal the Navy has.” John Beeler teaches history at the University of Alabama. JB-split2 :20 “There are Navy Stars and other forms of commendation for conspicuous bravery above and beyond the call of duty which don’t quite rise to the level of the Congressional Medal of Honor. There are plenty of those now, but there’s nothing else in the Civil War so it becomes this sort of all or nothing mentality. If you’re going to give a naval sailor an award basically the only one you can give him is the Congressional Medal of Honor.”
Mike Bailey.says that may explain how John Smith won his Medal of Honor with nothing more than a rock. MB-Funny MOH :23 “A confederate sailor looked up through the gunport of the Tennessee and looked at Commander Marchand who is the commanding officer of the Lackawanna and yelled you Yankee so and so and John Smith’s hearing that ran to his commanding officer’s aid took a holy stone and through it through the gun port of the Tennessee and hit the Confederate with it and he was awarded the Medal of Honor for that.” More than 40 percent of all Congressional Medal of Honor Awards were given out during the Civil War. The United States military may be more selective today on which soldiers it honors, but Edwin Combs says it’s important to remember that all historical events take place in their own time and context. EC-context :18 “When you look at experience of combat in the Civil War, I think sure you can compare it to the experience of combat in any other conflict. It’s fighting one way or the other; it may be in the context of its own times but it’s still the use of violence and harnessing it in some way.” I’m Ryan Vasquez, APR News.