The Sinking Of The Albemarle ************************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ Contributed by Tina S. Vickery, tsvickery@gmail.com 21:04 4/22/01 *************************************************************************** The Wisconsin Magazine of History June, 1919 Volume 2 Number 4 Published Quarterly by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. page 452 to 454 The Sinking Of The Albemarle A story has recently been told before the Lebanon County (Pa.) Historical Society (1) which calls to mind an historic exploit performed by one of Wisconsin's bravest men. It was October 27, 1864, the high tide of the Civil War. For six months Grant had been hammer- ing Lee's army of northern Virginia, and for the same period of time Sherman in the West had been assaulting Joe Johnston's army in Georgia. The crucial election of the war was at hand and all over America men held their breath, fearing-or hoping as the case might be that Lincoln would be defeated and therewith the war for the preservation of the Union ended ingloriously. A vital link in the serpentine chain with which the Union government was slowly squeez- ing the life out of the Confederacy was the thousand-mile blockade of the southern coast line. If this were broken, permitting the Con- federacy access to the outside world, the Union cause would inevit- ably fail. For a little time it seemed the Confederacy possessed an instru- ment adequate to break the blockade. A few miles up the Roanoke River lay the ironclad ram, Albemarle, built in the style of the famous Merrimac which had been sunk two years before in the duel with the Monitor which revolutionized the art of naval warfare. Before the prowess of the Albemarle the wooden ships of the blockading Federal fleet were as helpless as children contending with a powerful man. In April, 1864, the ram attacked and captured the town of Plymouth near the head of Albemarle Sound, having beaten off the entire Union fleet and sunk one of its best vessels. A month later she again challenged and defeated single-handed a fleet of seven wooden vessels, sinking one of them that vainly essayed to ram her beneath the water line. Some means must be found to stay her career, if the Federal blockade was to be maintained. The man and the measure adequate to the emergency were at hand. A Wisconsin youth of twenty-two, Lieut. William B. Cushing of Delafield, approached Admiral Lee with the cool proposal that he be permitted to go out in a small steam launch and affix a torpedo to the Albemarle which on exploding would sink her. The character of this proposal is best appreciated in light of the fact that the Albe- marle lay eight miles up the Roanoke River, its banks patrolled by watchful pickets, who would be almost certain to discover and destroy the hostile launch; moreover, the Albemarle had been sur- rounded by a protecting boom of logs chained together so as to hold off any approaching craft. Desperate situations justify desperate measures, however, and the necessary consent was given. The fourteen men selected to go with Cushing were warned that death would almost certainly be their fate, even if successful; notwithstanding, so eager were men to share in the enterprise that some of those passed by vainly offered a month's pay to their more fortunate shipmates for the privilege of exchanging places with them. On the night of October 27 the tiny launch stole up the river, and, undiscovered, drew near the ram. A watchful lookout now gave the alarm, but under a storm of shot and shell the launch charged full at the boom and succeeded in breasting it. While successive bullets tore through his clothing Cushing carefully adjusted to the ram's side the delicate machinery of the torpedo and discharged it. A great mass of water spouted into the air, over- whelming, his little vessel, but giving evidence at the same time that the torpedo had done its appointed work. Cushing now ordered his men to save themselves and under cover of the night they plunged into the water. Eleven of them were picked up by a Confederate launch. Cush- ing himself, determined not to he captured, struck out for the oppo- site shore. He reach it so exhausted that he collapsed half in mud and half in water. Here he lay until daylight, when under the spur of danger of discovery he dragged himself into a near-by swamp. During the day he made his way down the river, found a skiff, and under cover of darkness the night following the sinking of the Albemarle paddled to a Federal picket vessel. He had only strength left to hail it when he again collapsed. From the bottom of his boat he was tenderly and joyously lifted by admiring comrades who for twenty-four hours had believed him to be lying at the bottom of Roanoke River. Rockets were sent up from every ship in the Sound and cheer upon cheer rent the air. Republics are sometimes ungrateful, but not always. The public congratulations of the navy department were tendered Cushing; he was given a vote of thanks by Congress upon the written recom- mendation of President Lincoln, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander. In recent years the state of Wisconsin has erected an imposing monument at their Waukesha County home in honor of Commander Cushing and his two spirited brothers. Those who would know more about their story may find in every public library of the state the book Three Wisconsin Cushings, published by the Wisconsin History Commission. The tiny launch which bore Lieutenant Cushing on his eventful night journey up the Roanoke was doomed to a second sinking, sad- der and more tragic than the first. Retrieved by the Union forces the launch was sent as a relic to Annapolis. "One day (about 1867 or 1868, 1 do not have the exact time)," writes Captain Richards, "while in the bathhouse, I heard a terrific explosion, rushed to the window, and was just in time to see a cloud of vapor and smoke in the river where the launch had gone with a party of officers and its crew for some purpose. It is not known what caused the accident. Many were killed or drowned, and I was present when the living, who had been rescued, were brought ashore suffering untold agony. The boat, which had been sunk in its attack on the Albemarle, had again gone to a watery grave." 1. "Some Reminiscences of Noted Men and Times," read before the Lebanon County Historical Society, Feb. 21, 1918, by Capt. H. M. M. Richards.