Part 17 (1/2)
A far different story was told on the Confederate cruiser. Winslow's instructions to his gunners were to fire slowly and to make every shot tell, and they did so. The men on the _Alabama_ stripped to their s.h.i.+rts and drawers and fired rapidly, as if the only thing to do was to work the guns without taking pause to aim. Cras.h.i.+ng planks and timber and exploding sh.e.l.ls seemed to be all about them. A single shot from the _Kearsarge_ killed and wounded eighteen men and disabled a gun. Another burst in the coal bunks and cluttered up the engine room. Death and destruction raged on every hand, and still the terrible _Kearsarge_ kept working nearer, the dearest wish of Winslow being to get to close quarters.
The s.h.i.+ps had described seven circles about each other and were starting on the eighth, when Winslow, all alive and eagerness, saw the _Alabama_ set her fore trysail and two jibs and start for sh.o.r.e. That meant that it was all up with her, and her captain's only hope now was to get into the harbor of Cherbourg. Winslow ran across her bow and was on the point of raking her, when the _Alabama's_ flag came down. Uncertain whether this was an accident, and suspecting a ruse by which the enemy expected to reach sh.o.r.e, now only two miles off, Winslow stopped firing, but held himself ready to open again. A white flag was displayed, and he began preparations to render a.s.sistance to his defeated antagonist. Just then, however, the _Alabama_ fired again, upon which Winslow answered with several shots, when the white flag was run up for the second time.
The doom of the _Alabama_ had overtaken her at last. She was fast settling, and while the only two serviceable boats of the _Kearsarge_ were hurrying to the relief of the crew, the famous cruiser threw her prow high in air and slid stern foremost into the depths of the Atlantic.
In the midst of the wild confusion a boat from the _Alabama_, under charge of the English master's mate, came alongside, announcing that the _Alabama_ had surrendered and begging for help. On the promise of this man to return, Winslow allowed him to go back to the aid of the drowning crew, but instead of keeping his pledge, he took refuge on the yacht _Deerhound_, which was circling about and doing all it could for the struggling wretches in the water. Among those picked up was Captain Semmes, who had flung his sword into the sea and leaped overboard as his s.h.i.+p was going down. He was suffering from a painful wound in the hand, and when helped on board of the _Deerhound_ was in an exhausted condition. The captain of the yacht, after picking up thirty-nine men, including a number of officers, instead of delivering them to Captain Winslow, as he was in honor bound to do, edged away from the scene, and, putting on all steam, did not pause until he reached Southampton. The _Kearsarge_ picked up the men that remained and took them into Cherbourg.
In this famous battle the _Kearsarge_ had only 1 killed and 2 wounded, while Semmes lost 40 killed and 70 taken prisoners. The Confederate commander and his sympathizing British friends offered all sorts of excuses for his defeat. Some of them were ingenious, but none was the true one. The cause of the sinking of the _Alabama_ was the same as that which gave us so many wonderful naval victories in the War of 1812. Our vessels were manned by Americans, while the _Alabama_ was really an English s.h.i.+p, armed with English guns and manned and fought by an English crew: there's the truth in a nutsh.e.l.l.
Captain Winslow received the promotion to the grade of a commodore which he had so gallantly won. He died in 1873. It was a source of regret throughout the country that on the night of February 2, 1894, the _Kearsarge_ was wrecked off Roncador Reef, while on a voyage from Port-au-Prince, Hayti, to Bluefields, Nicaragua. None of her crew was drowned, but the vessel itself was lost, despite every effort to save her.
CHAPTER XXVII.
An Unexpected Preacher--Andrew Hull Foote--His Character and Early Career--His Brilliant Services in the War for the Union.
One Sunday morning early in the Civil War a large a.s.semblage had gathered in a prominent church in a Western city for the purpose of wors.h.i.+p. But the hour for opening the services came and pa.s.sed and the preacher, the one indispensable individual, did not appear. The auditors became uneasy. No one knew the cause of his absence and no word came from the parsonage, which was at some distance from the church. When the congregation were about to break up and pa.s.s out a stranger, sitting near the front, quietly arose, walked up the pulpit steps, gave out the opening hymn, led in prayer and preached a sermon which impressed all by its plain, practical truths. He held the attention of the people from the opening to the close, and among the listeners were more than one who felt that the unexplained absence of the regular pastor had resulted in a gain, though a brief one, for them.
Naturally there was no little curiosity to learn the name of the stranger. When approached by some of the leading brethren at the close of the services, he modestly said he was Captain Foote of the United States navy. He occasionally preached, when there seemed to be a call for such work on his part, but preaching was not his profession, and he would not have thought of entering the pulpit had he not seen that it was a choice between doing so and allowing the congregation to go home.
Andrew Hull Foote was born in New Haven, Conn., September 12, 1806. He belonged to a prominent family, his father, Samuel A. Foote, having served in Congress for several terms, as United States Senator, and as Governor of his State. The son received the best educational training and was subjected to the strict religious discipline characteristic of the Puritan families of old New England. His romantic nature was deeply stirred by the accounts of the naval exploits of his countrymen in the War of 1812, and he set his heart upon entering the navy. His mother opposed, but, when she saw it was useless, wisely yielded. His father's influence readily procured him the appointment of mids.h.i.+pman, and he was directed to report on the schooner _Grampus_, under the command of Lieutenant (afterward Admiral) Gregory.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ANDREW HULL FOOTE.]
The _Grampus_ went to the West Indies in quest of pirates, but never found any. Young Foote was then transferred to the sloop of war _Peac.o.c.k_, which had made such a glorious record in the last war with Great Britain, his next transfer being to the frigate _United States_, the flags.h.i.+p of Commodore Isaac Hull, who won the famous victory over the _Guerriere_ in August, 1812.
The cruise lasted three years, and Foote returned to New York in the spring of 1837. He made a visit to his home, when he was once more ordered to the West Indies.
About this time he was brought under religious influence. He read his Bible and spent many hours in prayer, and finally yielded completely to G.o.d. He made his mother inexpressibly happy by sending her the glad news, and thenceforward throughout his stirring life he was one of the most humble, devout and consecrated of Christians.
Like Havelock, he did an amount of good among those placed under his charge, the full extent of which can never be known in this world. While on duty at the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia he persuaded the men to give up their grog rations and sign a pledge of total abstinence, and when executive officer on the _c.u.mberland_ he did the same thing with its crew. He was a voluntary chaplain and gave a religious address on the berth deck every Sunday evening to those who wished to listen.
Disease of the eyes incapacitated him for duty for a long time, and he was much disappointed that he was not permitted to take any part in the Mexican war. One of his most practical temperance addresses was that, while engaged off the coast of Africa in suppressing the slave trade, he persuaded the men under him on the _Perry_, of which he was the commander, to give up the use of liquor. Although exposed to one of the most pestilential climates in the world, he did not lose a man.
At the breaking out of the Civil War he was in command of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was overwhelmed with work for a time, and was glad when, early in the autumn of 1861, he was ordered to the West to help in the building of an inland navy on the Mississippi.
Captain Foote worked with the tremendous energy which he threw into every task, and succeeded in getting together seven boats, four of which were partly protected by armor. At the beginning of February, 1862, he started from Cairo to ascend the Tennessee, his objective point being Fort Henry, though the Confederates were deceived into thinking it was Columbus, on the Mississippi. He asked the Government for more men with which to man additional boats, but they were not furnished, and he went forward with such as he could get.
On the night preceding the attack on Fort Henry the little fleet anch.o.r.ed abreast of the army under General Grant, which was encamped on the bank. The night was cold and tempestuous, but the morning dawned keen and clear, and no time was lost in preparing the flotilla for the attack on the fort. He intimated to General Grant that he must not linger if he wished to cut off the retreat of the enemy. Grant a.s.sured him he would be on time to put his army in motion.
Fort Henry stood on a bend in the river, which it commanded for a long distance up and down stream. Foote placed his boats behind an island a mile below the fort, with a view of avoiding the long range rifles of the Confederates, which were liable to cripple the gunboats before they could get into close action. The wooden vessels halted upon coming in view of the fort, and the ironclads, as they were called, moved slowly up stream abreast of one another, firing their bow guns in answer to the shots of the rebels. The latter had had the time to practice to acquire the exact range, while the boats had yet to find it. They fired slowly and with such accuracy that the infantry stationed outside of the works hastily fled, though the gunners bravely remained at their posts.
Foote opened fire when not quite a mile from the fort. His instructions were to fire slowly and with care, the result of which was that guns were continually dismounted and the earth and sandbags sent flying in every direction. It was while the attack was being pressed in this vigorous fas.h.i.+on that a sh.e.l.l pierced the boiler of the _Ess.e.x_, commanded by Lieutenant Porter, and caused so many deaths, as has been related in a preceding chapter.
This appalling accident was a serious loss to Captain Foote, for Porter was doing inestimable service when thus driven out of action, but the daring commander pressed forward in the face of the murderous fire, encouraged by the visible results of his shots, which were playing frightful havoc against the defences of the fort. Tilghman, the Confederate commander, displayed great bravery, fighting until every one of his guns was dismounted. Then, finding himself powerless to offer further resistance, he hauled down his flag. Firing immediately ceased on the part of the Union flotilla, and Foote sent a boat ash.o.r.e to take possession.
Despite General Grant's usual promptness, he did not arrive in time to intercept the flight of the garrison. As a consequence the prisoners surrendered, including General Tilghman and his staff, numbered less than a hundred. The others fled overland to Fort Donelson, only to be compelled to surrender shortly afterward to Grant in what proved to be the first great Union victory of the war.
The severity of this battle is shown by the fact that Foote's s.h.i.+p was struck 31 times, the _Ess.e.x_ 15, and the _Carondelet_ 6. The total number of killed, wounded and missing was 48. The success was so decisive that Foote was applauded throughout the North, sharing the well-earned honors with General Grant, whose successful career is known to every boy in the land.