By J.
T. Headley
Comprising the early life and
public services of the prominent naval commanders who, with Grant and Sherman
and their generals, brought to a triumphant close the great rebellion of
1861-1865. (First edition 1867)
(Return to table of contents of this book)
CHAPTER
III
REAR-ADMIRAL
CHARLES WILKES
HIS
NATIVITY—A MIDSHIPMAN—HIS FIRST CRUISE—HIS EARLY SERVICES—APPOINTED TO
THE DEPOT OF CHARTS AND INSTRUMENTS—HIS EFFORTS TO CREATE A NATIONAL
OBSERVATORY DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL—SENT TO SURVEY ST. GEORGE’S
BANK—APPOINTED TO COMMAND THE ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION—ACCOUNT OF HIS
EXPLORATIONS.-TAKES VENGEANCE ON THE CANNIBALS FOP THE MURDER OF HIS
NEPHEW—HIS AFTER-VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD—COURT-MARTIALLED.-NAMES OF THE
VARIOUS WORKS THAT HE PUBLISHED—AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR PLACED IN COMMAND
OF THE FRIGATE SAN JACINTO, AND SENT TO THE WEST INDIES TO CAPTURE THE PRIVATEER
SUMTER—SEIZES THE BRITISH MAIL-STEAMER TRENT, AND CARRIES OFF MASON AND
SLIDELL—EXCITEMENT IN BOTH HEMISPHERES OVER THE SEIZURE—THE ACT FINALLY
CONDEMNED BY THE PRESIDENT—MADE COMMODORE, AND PLACED FIRST ON THE
LIST—ASSIGNED TO THE COMMAND OF THE POTOMAC FLOTILLA—MADE ACTING
REAR-ADMIRAL, AND SENT TO PROTECT OUR COMMERCE IN THE WEST
INDIES—SUSPENDED—PLACED ON THE RETIRED LIST
Charles Wilkes is a native of
the city of New York, where he was born in the year 1801. A mere lad, he entered
the navy as midshipman, when he was fifteen years old. In 1819 and 1820 he was
attached to the squadron of McDonough in the Mediterranean. The two following
years he served in the Pacific under Commodore Stewart, and exhibited so much
nautical skill that he was selected for a separate command. In 1826, when
twenty-five years old, he, after ten years’ service, was promoted to the rank
of lieutenant. In 1830 he was appointed over depot of charts and instruments,
and was the first man in the country to set up fixed astronomical instruments
and make observations with them. He placed the observatory in his own garden;
but, on attempting to build a firm enclosure around the stone piers erected to
sustain his instruments, he received an informal notice from the Navy
Department, that it would not be allowed. On inquiring the reason, he was told
that a national observatory was
unconstitutional. It seems hardly credible that this could have happened a
little over thirty years ago. The constitution has been made to play a very curious role in our national history.
He was taken from this post and sent to survey St. George’s Bank, which was a
great bugbear to navigators, and performed the service with entire satisfaction.
He was now transferred to a
position of still greater responsibility. For some time the Government had been
contemplating an expedition into the Antarctic Ocean, to see what lay beyond the
stormy seas of Cape Horn, and at length organized it, and placed him at its
head. It consisted of five ships, and set sail August 18th, 1838.
Reaching the Pacific Ocean, he
explored various groups of islands lying south of the equator, and discovered
many never before known. Having finished his surveys here, he, at the end of the
year 1839, turned his prow for the Antarctic. Pushing boldly toward the South
Pole, he at length reached the icy barrier that surrounds it, and discovered the
Antarctic Continent, never before seen by explorers. With the American flag
flying in the strange breezes of this unknown, mysterious region, he boldly
sailed along the barrier of ice in full sight of the land he could not reach,
running half as many degrees of longitude as it is across the Atlantic Ocean.
The next year he explored the Fejee Islands, where a nephew of his was killed by
the cannibals, for which act he took summary vengeance. He thus opened these
islands to future navigators and missionary establishments, which were
subsequently planted by the Christian world. He then set sail north, and visited
the Hawaiian Islands, the Northwest Coast of North America, and made
explorations by land in California. Crossing thence to Asia, he visited Manila,
Loochoo, Borneo and Singapore; and, returning by way of the Cape of Good Hope
and the isle of St. Helena, completed his voyage around the world, and reached
home June 10th, 1842, having been gone four years. The next month he was made
commander. During the year charges were made against him, by some of his
officers, and he was court-martialled. He was, however, acquitted of all, except
of illegally punishing some of his crew, for which he was reprimanded. He
published a narrative of his explorations in five octavo volumes, which made his
name widely known in both hemispheres. Eleven other volumes and atlases were
subsequently published, of which he was the author of the one on meteorology. In
1849 he published another book, giving an account of his observations in
California and Oregon. In 1855 he was made Captain. The next year he published
his "Theory of Wind." Five years of comparative quiet now passed, but
on the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, he was sent to the West Indies in
the frigate San Jacinto, to capture
the privateer Sumter.
While cruising in the region
he learned that Messrs. Mason and Slidell had reached Havana from Charleston on
their way to England, as accredited ministers for the Confederate States to
Great Britain and France. He immediately sailed for that port, and there
ascertained that they had taken passage on board the English mail steamer Trent,
which was to sail from St. Thomas on the 1st of November. He immediately
determined to capture them, and for that purpose cruised in the neighborhood of
the course it was supposed the vessel would take on her voyage to England. On
the 8th he saw her smoke rising over the water, and immediately beat to
quarters, and ordered Lieutenant Fairfax to have two boats manned for the
purpose of boarding her. The steamer, as she approached the waiting frigate,
hoisted English colors. Wilkes ran up the American flag, and, as she drew near,
fired a shot across her bow as a sign to heave to. She however paid no attention
to the summons, and kept steadily on; he then fired a shell across her bow,
which was saying, “the next will be a broadside." The English commander
understood it, and hove to. Lieutenant Fairfax then proceeded with his boats
alongside, and mounted the deck. The captain being pointed out to him, he
informed him that he was Lieutenant Fairfax of the American frigate San
Jacinto, commanded by Captain Wilkes, and asked to see the passenger list.
The request was peremptorily declined.
The Lieutenant then told him
that he was informed that Messrs. Mason, Slidell, Eustis, and McFarland, were on
board, and he meant to find them. These gentlemen, hearing the discussion, then
came forward. Lieut. Fairfax quietly communicated to them the object of his
visit. They at once protested against being taken on board of the American
vessel. The passengers now began to crowd around, in a state of great
excitement. The lieutenant, fearing that violence would be used, ordered the
lieutenant in the boat alongside to come on board with a party of marines. The
appearance of these armed men on deck of the British vessel was the signal of
still greater excitement. "Marines on board!" was shouted on every
side. “What an outrage!” “What a piratical act!" “England will open
the blockade for this," and various other exclamations which showed the
bitter feeling that was aroused. Fairfax was in the cabin, and the lieutenant,
hearing the altercation and angry threats, marched his marines in among the
startled passengers, who fell back at their presence. Amid the confusion was
heard a woman’s voice, which proved to be that of Slidell’s daughter, who
stood before the door of the state-room into which her father had retired,
declaring that no one should take him away. Finding that the prisoners would not
go without force, the lieutenant took Mr. Mason by the collar and called on Mr.
Hall to assist him. Slidell now came through the window of the state-room, when
he too was seized, and the party hurried off into the boats. The families of the
gentlemen preferring to keep on to England, they were allowed to remain on board
the steamer, and she resumed her course.
The news of the arrest of
these men in our port caused the wildest excitement. Washington was thrown into
fever heat, and the whole nation aroused. Some were delighted at the capture of
these arch traitors, others alarmed at the consequences that would result from
their capture. “What would England say to it?” was asked on every side.
Pages of argument were written to show that the seizure was in accordance with
the law of nations, and past history was ransacked for precedents to justify it.
The Secretary of the Navy indorsed the act by a letter of thanks to Capt.
Wilkes, and Congress passed a vote of thanks. A banquet was given to the Captain
in Boston, and the country seemed determined to sustain the act at all hazards.
The news caused still greater excitement in England. "The British flag had
been insulted," was the angry exclamation on every side. The deck of an
English vessel had been invaded by a hostile force, and the cry of "redress
or war" rolled over the land. After the first burst of passion had subsided
with us, the affair did not wear so gratifying an aspect. We were not in a
condition just then to go to war with England, and whatever else might be the
result, it was plain that such a catastrophe at this critical juncture would
give the South its independence. This was not a pleasant alternative; yet
Congress and the Secretary of the Navy had indorsed the act, and if the
President did the same, we must abide the decision, whatever the results might
be. The British government at once denounced it as an affront to the British
flag, a violation of international law, and demanded the restoration of the
prisoners. The press throughout the country laughed at this extreme
sensitiveness to the obligations of international law on the part of a nation
which had violated it more than all other maritime powers put together. Still
her crimes in this respect could not sanction us in committing similar ones. The
wrong, if one, was the same, whatever her conduct may have been. The feeling,
however, was very general, that, because Great Britain was the chief of sinners
in the invasion of maritime rights, therefore we had a right to sin also. But
fortunately our Government took a more statesmanlike view of it. What England
deserved was one thing; what precedent we should establish to be used in future
complications was quite another. Our record must be kept clean, without any
reference to feelings of pride or passion.
The demand of the British
government for the return of the prisoners on board an English ship was finally
acceded to, and the threatened storm averted. Some, who believed the North could
conquer both the South and Canada, and at the same time maintain the blockade,
whip the English navy, and chase her commerce from the seas, were disappointed
and offended at the humiliation, as they termed it, of the Government. But none,
judging from the tone of their press, were more chagrined than the rebels. They
professed to be ashamed of the poltroonery of American blood, and scoffed at the
base self-degradation. But the truth was, this unfortunate occurrence seemed to
be such a stroke of good fortune for them that they did not want to lose the
benefits of it. Mason and Slidell were sent abroad to secure the intervention of
foreign governments in their behalf, and their mission promised to be successful
before it was begun. In their imaginations, the storm of foreign war was already
darkening over the North, and they saw their independence secured. To see it
dissipated so suddenly aroused all their anger and derision.
Many at the North accepted the
action of our Government on the ground of expediency alone, but it was in fact
justified on the strict ground of international law. Much ingenious argument was
expended to justify Capt. Wilkes, but men forgot that international law, like
the laws of civilized warfare, is not based on the strict rule of justice, but
of mutual benefit. They are simply general rules, adopted for the good of all
parties, under the present order of things; nothing more.
The Secretary of State gave
several reasons to show the propriety of the decision which the government came
to, but only one was needed. Capt. Wilkes’ duty under international law was,
if he regarded the carrying of Mason and Slidell as a violation of neutral
rights, to seize the vessel and carry her into a neutral port, and have the case
decided by a prize court. This was the first step to be taken; and until this
was done, all requirements about the status of these men, and what constituted
articles contraband of war, were out of place. Neither the press, nor the
people, nor Capt. Wilkes, were to be judges of that. The first step which he did
take being a wrong one, there was no use of discussing the intrinsic merits of
the case.
To justify Capt. Wilkes would
be to lay down the extraordinary doctrine, that any sloop-of-war may turn her
deck into a prize court and adjudicate on its own seizures. This would be a
monstrous principle for our government to establish, and yet this is exactly
what it would have done, had it sustained Capt. Wilkes. It evidently dawned on
his own mind, after his first report was sent to the Government, that his action
was unjustifiable on this very ground, for he made a second, in which he
apologizes for not bringing the vessel in, on the ground of inability to do so.
But this was plainly an afterthought, and had no foundation in fact.
On the reorganization of the
navy in 1862, he was promoted to the rank of Commodore, and placed first on the
list. He was then assigned the command of the flotilla in the James River. The
rebel troops at City Point having attacked our transports, he moved up and
shelled it, leaving it a heap of ruins. Afterwards he was made acting
rear-admiral, and was sent in command of a squadron to the West Indies, to
protect our commerce there. His presence in those waters annoyed the English
much, who imagined that it was done to insult them, because of their
denunciations of his conduct in the Trent
affair. The scene of his discomfiture was made to witness his promotion and a
still larger exercise of power granted him.
Afterward, having allowed some
Governmental documents to be made public, he was court-martialled, and the trial
told so heavily against him, that he was suspended for awhile, and eventually
placed on the retired list, where he now is. He is an able man, and stands among
the first of American explorers, and as such is more widely known than any other
regular naval commander.