Navy Profiles
Aside from receiving support from naval gunfire during the Peninsular Campaign, the majority of Vermont infantrymen seldom operated with the Navy, or even saw a naval vessel. There are a few pointed exceptions.
The history of the Second Battery Light Artillery relates the following about a joint expedition in late July, 1862: "July 28 (sic) the first section went on an expedition under Major Peck, of the Twelfth Connecticut, to Lake Pontchartrain, embarked on the [side-wheel] steamer Gray Cloud to Pass Manach, where we destroyed a railroad bridge; from thence to and up the Madison River about seven miles, where we were fired into by guerrillas, which were scattered by a few rounds of canister. After visiting St. Louis Bay and other points we returned to Camp Parapet." Major Frank H. Peck reported that five companies of his regiment and a section of Captain P. E. Holcomb's battery embarked Gray Cloud," commanded by Lieutenant Buchanan, U.S. Navy, on the evening of July 25. The next morning, as the vessel approached the bridge at Pass Manach, Captain Holcomb fired the first shot, a shell from his Sawyer gun, which scared off a rebel scout living in one of the houses near the bridge. After destroying the bridge, the expedition sailed up the Tchefuncta River to Covington. After a short visit, as the gunboat was leaving, a volley of musketry came from the bushes covering the river bank. "Captain Holcomb almost instantly sent a charge of canister after them, and Lieutenant Buchanan brought his 32-pounders to bear with terrible effect." As the vessel passed down the river, they used Captain Holcomb's 20-pounder Parrott as well as the ship's guns, to chase away rebels hiding along the banks of the river. Major Peck concluded his report by indicating Captain Holcomb's "large experience in service of this character has been of great assistance to me."1
A force of artillery, cavalry and infantry, including the Eighth Vermont (Colonel Stephen Thomas), left Brashear City, Louisiana, under command of General Weitzel January 13th, 1863 and joined a gunboat fleet of side-wheel steamers, Colonel Kinsman," Estrella," Calhoun and Diana on Bayou Teche. On the 14th, the Eighth Vermont crossed to the east side of the bayou by Diana to engage sharpshooters. The Seventy-fifth New York stayed on the west bank of the bayou for the same purpose. Sixty picked men from the Eighth were sent under command of Captain Henry F. Dutton, Company H, to pick off the gunners of the Confederate side-wheel river steamer Joseph A. Cotton. "Calhoun" went aground, her commander, Lieutenant-Commander Buchanan was killed, and the the boat was "in imminent danger of capture." The Vermonters were requested to take the rifle-pits; they "rushed forward at double quick" and overran the rifle pits, and some cavalry supporting them. They killed 7 rebels, wounded 26 and captured 57, without a single Vermont casualty. That night, Colonel Thomas found his regiment on the left bank of the bayou, alone and vulnerable. He used a bit of deception, building a line of camp fires two miles long, indicating a much larger force than really existed at that point, and convinced the rebels that their position was untenable. They fired the "Cotton," set it adrift, and it sank. Lieutenant-Commander A. P. Cooke, commanding the gunboat Estrella," said of the Vermonters' clearing the rebel rifle pits, "It would have been impossible for the boats to have dislodged them." Acting Third Assistant Engineer George W. Baird, of the Calhoun," recorded in his diary that "the Eighth Vermont Regiment had charged the pits and the rebs were running, so I single out a reb and emptied my revolver."2
On June 19, 1864, the Ninth Vermont Volunteer Infantry participated in an expedition to cut the railroad between Wilmington and Goldsboro, N.C. The majority of the regiment went overland by train and marching to be close to Jacksonville, Onslow County, by June 21. Captain Samuel H. Kelley and 100 men went to Beaufort. On June 20, the side-wheel steamer Nansemond and the screw steamer Calypso embarked Kelley's men and sailed to New River, N. C. The troops were successfully landed in surfboats on June 21. Captain Kelley and his men moved up the river about eight miles, took possession of Snead's Ferry and captured several Confederate pickets. The next evening, Kelley's force came under friendly fire from the 12th New York Cavalry. The mission was aborted due to the size of the Confederate force in the area (apparently the rebels had obtained intelligence regarding the expedition), and Captain Kelley and his men returned to Beaufort. Reporting to Commander Benjamin M. Dove, Naval Station, Beaufort, Acting Ensign J. H. Porter, commanding one of the boats from the Calypso, said of Kelley "he has been untiringly at work ever since his first landing, and though more than once in difficult positions, has managed his part of the expedition with perfect success."3
(to be continued ...)
Notes:
1. Peck, 633; Major Peck to Captain R. S. Davis, A.A.A.G, August 4, 1862, ORN 19:90-92.
2. Peck, 300; Lieutenant-Commander Cooke to Rear-Admiral Farragut, January 16, 1863, ORN 19:518-19; Baird diary, January 14, 1863, ORN 19:519-20.
3. The cavalry regiment suffered three casualties, 1 killed and 2 wounded. The Vermonters suffered none. Benedict, ii:235, incorrectly states 19 May; "Nansemond," and "Calypso," DANFS; ORN 10:169-175.
See Researching and writing about Vermont Blue-Jackets in the Civil War for explanations of references.
