476 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

near Fort Caswell, and anchored at Smithville on the night the
forts were evacuated; but immediately returned to Bermuda,
arriving on the 2ist, and carrying the news of the fall of Fort
Fisher and the end of blockade running at Wilmington. Her
arrival was timely, stopping the Maud Campbell, Old Domin-
ton, Florence, Deer, and Virginia. Most, if not all, of these
steamers now turned their prows towards Charleston, the last
harbor remaining accessible ; and, though the fall of that city

was impending, yet a cargo might be safely landed and trans-
ported along the interior line to the famishing armies of the
Confederate States. To that end Captain Wilkinson determined

to make the effort, which was a brave and gallant one, but was
ineffectual. The blockading fleet, reinforced from that off W3l-
mington, now closed every practical entrance; but it was not
until after assurances from the pilot that entrance was impos-
sible, that Captain Wilkinson turned back. The Chicora, more
fortunate than the Chameleon, ran into Charleston, but, finding
the city evacuated, ran out, despite the effectiveness of the
blockade, and reached Nassau on the 28th. The Fox, less for-
tunate, ran into Charleston in ignorance of its capture and was
seized by the Federal cruisers.

“Capt. John N. Maffitt, C. S. N., in the Owl, left Havana,
about the middle of March, within a quarter of an hour after
the United States ship Cherokee steamed out of the harbor.
Passing Morro Castle, the Owl hugged the coast towards the
west, followed by the Cherokee, the chase continuing for an hour
or more. The Owl had speed, and Maffitt had the seamanship
to ‘throw dust into the eyes’ of his pursuer by changing her coal
from hard to soft, thus clouding the air with dense
under cover of which the Owl turned on the Cherokee, and,

steaming away to the stern of the cruiser, disappeared in the
darkness of night and storm.”

THE CONFEDERATE NAVY.

If the Federal Government was unprepared for naval warfare
at the beginning of the civil strife, the Confederacy was even
less prepared, for it could not claim the ownership of a single
ship. In a conversation shortly after the war, our distinguished
naval officer, Capt. John Newland Maffitt, said:

: ATT
Blockade Running :

tributed materially to the successful

d
ts out West were bafile

_ All our army movemen
“eet aaa Federal steamers which swarmed on Western
ee : ernment had provided nothing to

waters, and which our g0v ew Orleans, the South ought to

meet. Before the capture of N : ergs er
have had a navy strong enough to prevent the cap

d hold firmly the Mississippi and its — a
cote e prevented many disastrous battles ; it wou —
ae Shaeiane? s march through the country pcre TE
would have been master of his lines. — —_— oe abe
ment were numerous, but the neglect of the navy p

diable and fatal.

“Nobody here,

great war was before us.
a navy consisting

“The Northern Navy con

i t first that a
” inued, “would believe a
he conti South Carolina seceded first, and

ised of two small tugboats!
improvise

boat! Georgia, ould hav

‘1 river boats that you ¢
age i pie" shot! That was our navy! Then came
pieces

elena Of course, it woke up by and by,

‘lt here; but
and ordered vessels to be built here, there, and everyw :

. cea oa. said the captain, with a ee Se
the eye, as the thought of other da separ lace for itself
Cnafadarate Navy, minute though 1t was, ioe a of sentenge at
in history. To the Confederates the credit be en ee
battle the invulnerability of ironclads and of revo

“aia .
navies of the world. The Merrimac did this; and, though w

d
had but a handful of light cruisers, while pst ete aa
with armed Federal vessels, we defied the Federal N

gt?
swept Northern commerce from pote f the Confederate

Colonel Scharf, in his a ost interesting

“In many respects the m a eaeof the

States Navy, says: ate Navy

chapter of the history of the Confeder

. the
- . of-war which drove
building and operation of the pe a ae oceans and almost

merchant flag of the United State But the limitations of space
extirpated their carrying trade. brief review of the subject.

in this volume forbid more than @ Pr ar it cAlited a6
The function of commerce-destroyers 18 10