Navy Profiles
The common sailor, like the common soldier, is rarely cited in Civil War literature, unless killed, wounded, captured or recognized for gallantry. Similarly, individual ships receive little press, unless they are famous for some incident or other. Fifty-four Green Mountain blue-jackets served on the screw sloop-of-war USS Wachusett during and immediately after the war, the largest number on any one ship. These men provide a fairly representative picture of Vermont sailors during the war. Among their number were volunteers and substitutes; natives and foreign-born, many who served their full enlistment, and some who deserted; some died, but most survived.
Wachusett, a screw sloop-of-war, was built in Boston and commissioned March 3, 1862. Among its crew was Charles C. Scott, of Newbury. She was immediately assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron, deployed on the York and James Rivers, in support of General George McClellan's Peninsular Campaign that spring, and stayed in the immediate area until the end of August. Between April 5 and 29, and again from May 4 to 7, Wachusett engaged the works at Yorktown and Gloucester almost daily, providing support for McClellan's troops, including one already bloodied brigade of landlubber Vermonters. From August 29 to September 7, Wachusett was Commodore Charles Wilkes' flag-ship in the Potomac Flotilla. On September 8, Wachusett was designated flag-ship of a special "Flying Squadron," still under Wilkes, and led a squadron of seven ships to the West Indies searching for the Confederate raiders CSS Alabama and Florida. Although the squadron captured some Confederate blockade runners, including CSS Virginia and the British steamer Dolphin, she failed in her primary mission, and returned to Boston in May, then transferred to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in June for repairs and decommissioning. Scott deserted in mid-August 1863 while the ship was undergoing repairs.1
Wachusett, Commander Napoleon Collins, was commissioned again on January 28, 1864, and sailed for Brazil in February, to protect American commerce from the likes of Alabama and Florida, but spent several fruitless months in this effort. Finally, Florida, Lieutenant Charles M. Morris, CSN, was sighted entering the harbor at Bahia, Brazil on October 4. Wachusett steamed past a Brazilian gunboat anchored between it and Florida, and rammed the raider on her starboard quarter. Florida surrendered, but as Wachusett was towing her prize to sea, the fort at Bahia opened fire on Wachusett. The vessels escaped and returned to Hampton Roads, Virginia on November 11. Collins was court-martialed for his illegal action, but later reinstated by Navy Secretary Gideon Welles.2
Landsman3 Stephen O. Powers, of Rutland, sailed on Wachusett during its second deployment, and mustered out December 19, 1864. Substitutes Charles Boone, of Wilmington and Pat Higgins of Williamstown, joined the vessel in December, but deserted just one or two days before its next deployment, as did volunteer Charles Brown, of Woodstock, and John French of Royalton, who joined the crew at the end of January, 1865.4
After repairs at Boston, Wachusett got underway on March 5, 1865, and sailed via the Cape of Good Hope for the East Indies, searching for the raider CSS Shenandoah. When the war ended, Wachusett and her crew stayed on station in the Far East. On June 20, 1866, 100 seamen and marines from Wachusett landed at New Chwang, China, to arrest a bandit whose followers had assaulted the American consul. In July, the screw sloop-of-war Hartford, joined the squadron, served as the flagship of the Asiatic Station Squadron and was designated as such in late 1866. On June 13, Hartford and another screw sloop, Wyoming, attacked aborigines on Formosa, retaliating for the massacre of the crew of an American merchant, the Rover. Wachusett returned to the United States in early 1868 and was decommissioned February 4; Hartford returned in August and was also decommissioned.5
Fourteen Vermonters returned with the Wachusett from the Far East; twenty-four had transferred from Wachusett to Hartford during the deployment, and returned with it.
William Anderson of Woodstock, George Chapin of Manchester, John Gill of Orange, Daniel Grant of Burke, James Green of Newfane, Rufus Green of Tunbridge, Albert Green of Windsor, Patrick McCoylan of Rutland, John McLaughlin of Manchester, Luke Murphy of Waterford, William Nelson of Rutland, Thomas Smith of Topsham, John Taylor of Randolph and John Whipple of Windsor were discharged upon return of the Wachusett, in February 1868. McCoylan was a native of Ireland, and Nelson was born in Sweden.6
Thomas Boston of Orange, Thomas Burnett of Danby, John Casey of Tunbridge, John Cashier of Dummerston, William Chapel of Rutland, Daniel Curran of Manchester, Michael Dougherty of Dover, Thomas Durkin of Randolph, William Harrigan of Mendon, George Harvey of Winhall, Patrick Hennessy of Williamstown, Joshua Johnson of Randolph, Charles Mattison of Sandgate, Joseph Merriam of Royalton, Nicholas Merritt of Newfane, John Montgomery of Dummerston, Timothy O'Connor of Rutland, Thomas Patten of Sutton, James Ragan of Hardwick, Joaquin Rickard of Waterford, Bartholomew Ryan of Rutland, Charles Simonds of Brattleboro, William Smith of Newfane and Henry West of Jamaica returned with the Hartford and were discharged in August 1868, having served more than three and a half years. O'Connor had come to Vermont from his native England.6
Acting Ensign Thomas J. Kelley joined Wachusett in January, 1865, and died during the deployment, on August 13, 1866; Timothy Murphy of Pomfret died on December 10. William Frazer of Hartford, Charles Lamontaine of Windham, Neil McLaw of Royalton, Thomas O'Neil of Guilford, Michael Regan of Winhall and George Williams of Panton, deserted during the deployment.7
(to be continued ...)
Notes:
1. Wachusett," DANFS; Robert Wilden Neeser, "Statistical and Chronological History of the United States Navy 1775-1907," (Burt Franklin, New York, 1909 (1970 reprint) ii:102, 104, 114, 378, 388; Peck, 705.
3. Navy enlisted ranks (and corresponding level of pay) were based on prior experience. New recruits were rated as Landsman. Enlistees with appropriate experience were assigned the ratings of ordinary seaman (required a minimum of three years' experience) or seaman (a minimum of five years' experience).
4. Peck, 699ff.
5. Wachusett," DANFS; "Hartford," DANFS; Jack Sweetman, "American Naval History," (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 1984), 91.
6. Peck, 699ff.
7. Peck, 699ff
See Researching and writing about Vermont Blue-Jackets in the Civil War for explanations of references.
