AOA I te TE NAP TS

 

 

 

 

 

396 NortH Caroitina Troops, 1861-65.

then ordered to relieve Captain Cooke at Plymouth, N. C.,
from the command of the Albemarle, which had been so won-
derfully constructed and handled by Captain Cooke in the
attack on the Southfield and Miami. From this duty Cap-
tain Maffitt was soon relieved and ordered to the command of
the Owl, one of the blockade-runners purchased by the Gov-
ernment in England.. The 21st of December, 1864, found
him on board the Owl, at Wilmington, receiving her cargo of
750 bales of cotton. With three other blockade-runners in
company, he started for the bar. He escaped the Federal
sentinels “without the loss of a rope yarn,” though one of his
companions came to grief through an accident to her machin-
ery. Their destination was St. George’s, Bermuda, which
they reached in safety and found several steamers loaded and
anxiously awaiting news from the Federal expedition under
General Butler against Fort Fisher. A Halifax steamer
brought in the Northern papers which apprised them of the
failure of the expedition; and in company with six other
steamers and many gallant spirits the Owl started on her re-
turn to Dixie, much cheered by the joyful news. In the
meantime another expedition, fitted out under General Terry
and Admiral Porter, had been successful, and the river was
in possession of the Federals. In communication with Lock-
wood’s Folly, all was reported quiet and Fisher still intact.
Captain Maffitt steamed for the Cape Fear. At 8 o’clock it
was high water on the bar and the moon would not rise before
11. Approaching the channel he was surprised to see but
one sentinel guarding the entrance. Eluding him, he
passed in.

Some apprehension was excited by a conflagration at Bald
Head and non-response to his signals; but, as Fort Caswell
looked quiet and natural, he decided to anchor off the fort
wharf. He was immediately interviewed by the chief of

' ordnance and artillery, E. S. Martin, and another officer,

who informed him of the state of affairs, and that the train
was already laid for blowing up Fort Caswell. Gun-boats
were approaching, and in great distress Captain Maffitt hast-
ily departed. The solitary blockader pursued him furiously
for some time, and far out at sea he heard the explosion that

BLocKADE RUNNING. 397

announced the fate of Caswell. As his cargo was important
and much needed, Captain Maffitt determined to make an
effort to enter the port of Charleston, although he had been
informed that it was more closely guarded than ever before.

The rest ef the story is told in Captain Maffitt’s inimita-
ble style:

“The history of the five steamers, in whose company I
sailed from the harbor of St. George’s, is briefly told.

“Captain Wilkinson, the late gallant commander of the
Chickamauga, was too experienced and keen a cruiser to be
caught in a trap. Convinced from observation that there
was ‘something rotten in’ the state of Denmark,’ he judi-
ciously returned to Bermuda. The remaining three were
decoyed into New Inlet by the continuance of Mound light,
and became easy prey under the following circumstances.
First, the Stag, with several English officers on board as pas-
sengers, deceived by Admiral Porter’s cuteness, crossed the
bar, and, as was customary, anchored under the mound, then
to abide the usual visit of inspection from the boarding of-
ficer of Fort Fisher. Waiting for some time without re-
ceiving the official call, the captain naturally concluded it had
been deferred until daylight. He therefore directed the
steward to serve the entertainment that had been elaborately
prepared to celebrate their safe arrival in the Confederacy.
The gastronomic hidalgo flourished his baton of office, and es-
corted his guests to the festive board. In shouts of revelry
and with flowing bumpers, the jocund party huzzahed for
Dixie, and sang her praises in songs of adulation that made
the welkin ring, and aroused the seamen from their peaceful
slumber. A pause from exhaustion having occurred in their
labor of justice to the luxurious repast gave to an English
captain a desired opportunity to ventilate in appropriate sen-
timents his appreciation of the joyful occasion. Mysteri-
ously rapping to enjoin attention, in the silence that followed,
he solemnly arose. At a wave of his dexter, the steward, all
alertness, replenished the glasses.

“ Gentlemen,’ said the captain, ‘after a successful voyage,
fraught with interesting incidents and excitements, we have
anchored upon the soil of battleworn, grand old Dixie. We