The Deadliest Single Shot of the War

   The Civil War looks different in different parts of the country. The guerrilla actions in Missouri and Western North Carolina are a far cry from the large battles waged in North Georgia and Central Virginia. The same is true for the naval actions. Ships on blockade duty off Charleston Harbor are far different from the ironclad gunboats that steamed along the Mississippi River.

   In 1861, the Federal government began building special ironclads that were able to navigate the Mississippi River. The USS Mound City was one of those ironclads. Constructed in Mound City, Illinois, in 1861, she was 175 feet long in total and drew five feet of water, with a speed of nine miles per hour. Her armament consisted of thirteen cannons overall: thee 9-inch, six 32-pounders, and four rifled 42-pounders, with a crew complement of 175 men.[1]

   The Mound City steamed up and down the Mississippi River.

USS Mound City.

    Typically, an ironclad would escort a mortar boat down the river to bombard Fort Pillow.  On May 10, 1862, the Confederate River Defense Fleet attacked at Plum Point Bend. Most of the Federal ironclads did not have sufficient steam to maneuver. Three Confederate vessels, the CSS General Brag, General Sumter, and General Sterling Price, rammed the USS Cincinnati; the vessel later sank. The USS Carondelet and Mound City arrived, and the CSS Earl Van Dorn rammed the Mound City, opening a four-foot hole in the Federal ironclad. The captain was able to run the ship ashore before it sank. The timber and cotton-clad rams of the Confederate fleet were able to sink two ironclads with no losses. They moved off before the rest of the Federal gunboats arrived.[2]

   The Mound City was repaired and rejoined the squadron. A month later, the Mound City took part in an expedition up the White River in Arkansas to destroy Confederate gun emplacements located at St. Charles, Arkansas. This would allow Federal vessels to resupply a Union army under Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis. Curtis was attempting to capture Little Rock but was stuck at Batesville due to a lack of supplies. Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman constructed fortifications near St. Charles to stop such an action. Besides the two artillery batteries, three ships were scuttled in the river as obstructions. Additional logs were floated down the river and driven into the bottoms to further impede ships. The main battery consisted of two rifled 32-pounders taken from the CSS Pontchartrain. The secondary position contained two, 3-inch Parrott rifles. Cannons were removed the CSS Maurepas before it was scuttled, and added to the defenses. Overall, the Confederate force numbered just seven cannons and 114 crewmembers, including 34 men from the 29^th Arkansas Infantry.[3]

   Joseph Fry, a former U.S. Naval Officer, the commander of the CSS Maurepas, was in overall command.

   The Federal expedition was composed of several ships – the timberclads USS Conestoga, New National, and White Cloud. Aboard the New National and the Jacob were members of the 46^th Indiana Infantry. Several miles below St. Charles, two scouting parties, one on the land and one on the river, were sent forward. They found the Confederate defenses but could not determine their strength.[4]

   On the morning of June 17, Federal naval vessels began moving up the river. The Mound City was in the lead. Confederate infantry, with a 12-pound howitzer, were sent as sharpshooters along the riverbank. When within two and a half miles out from the defenses, Confederates were spotted and the Mound City opened fire, scattering the pickets. The Federal infantry disembarked on the shore, and, with skirmishers posted, began to advance.[5]

   The Mound City began dueling with the shore batteries. Confederates were able to do much damage against the ironclad, even before they fired what appears to be the deadliest single shot of the entire war.  The Mound City moved to steam past the first battery when a solid shot struck near a gun port, killing three or four gunners. Then, the shot ruptured one of the ship’s boilers, filling the ship with scalding steam. Of the approximately 175 men on board, 125 were killed and over twenty others were wounded. The Mound City floated down the river and ran aground. Fry demanded that the remaining men onboard surrender. When they refused, the Confederates opened fire, killing several.[6]

   Additional Federal gunboats moved up into the position, and the Federal infantry positioned themselves to storm the works. With the Federals just fifty yards away, the Confederates abandoned their works. Twenty-nine Confederates, including Fry, were captured. Eight others were killed during the battle. The Mound City was towed downstream and the Federals began working on clearing the obstructions from the river. Many of the dead Federals were buried in a mass grave near the lower battery. The Federals destroyed the earthworks, transported the smaller cannons back to Memphis, and spiked the larger cannons, dumping them in the river.[7]

   What became of the USS Mound City? She was repaired and served in the Vicksburg Campaign, and later, the Red River Expedition. After the war, she was decommissioned and sold at public auction on November 9, 1865. The vessel was broken up in 1866.[8]

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[1] Mirza, Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks, 100.

[2] Symonds, The Civil War at Sea, 111.

[3] Chatelain, Defending the Arteries of Rebellion, 132, 181; Bearrs, “White River Expedition, June 10-July 15, 1862.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 21 (4): 315-318.

[4] Bearrs, “White River Expedition, June 10-July 15, 1862.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 21 (4): 312-314.

[5] Bearrs, “White River Expedition, June 10-July 15, 1862.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, 21 (4): 319-20.

[6] Barnhart, “The Deadliest Shot,” Civil War Times, 45 (March/April 2006) 30-36

[7] Barnhart, “The Deadliest Shot,” Civil War Times, 45 (March/April 2006) 30-36; Hubbs, “A Rebel Shot Causes “Torture and Despair,” Naval History, 16 (2):46-50.

[8] https://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86066.htm

The Fate of the Confederate Governors

   As the war ground to a close, orders went out for the arrest of various political figures, including both sitting governors and former governors.

Alabama had three men who served as governors. Andrew B. Moore served from 1857 to 1861. The Alabama constitution did not allow Moore to run for a third term, although he remained active in the war effort. Moore was replaced by John G. Shorter, who served one term, and was replaced by Thomas H. Watts, then serving as Confederate Attorney General. Watts served as governor until the end of the war. US Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered Moore to be arrested on May 16, 1865. He was imprisoned at Fort Pulaski in Savannah until being released in August 1865. Shorter apparently avoided arrest, while Watts was arrested on May 1, 1865, and sent to Macon, but appears to have been released by mid-June 1865.

Arkansas had three men in the governor’s chair during the war years. Henry M. Rector served from November 16, 1860, until he resigned after losing an election on November 4, 1862; President of the Senate Thomas Fletcher served from November 4, 1862, until November 15, 1862, when Harris Flanagin was elected. Flanagin served until May 26, 1865, often as governor in exile. None of these men appear to have served jail or prison time after the end of the war.

Florida had two war-time governors. Madison S. Perry and John Milton. Perry could only serve two-terms, and following his second term, became colonel of the 7^th Florida Infantry. His health was poor, and he returned to Florida, dying at home in March 1865. John Milton, realizing that the war was over, took his own life on April 1, 1865.

Georgia had one war-time governor: Joseph E. Brown. He was in office from November 6, 1857 to June 17, 1865, when he resigned. Brown was arrested on May 23, 1865 and imprisoned at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. He was released after meeting with President Andrew Johnson. (The Atlanta Constitution, August 7, 1910)

Kentucky, as a border state, is complicated. George W. Johnson was the first Confederate governor. He was serving as an aide-de-camp on Breckinridge’s staff at Shiloh when his horse was shot from under him. Johnson continued on foot, attaching himself to the 4^th Kentucky Infantry (CS). Johnson was mortally wounded in the afternoon of April 7, 1862, dying two days later. Richard Hawes was selected by the state council as Johnson’s replacement, often making his headquarters with the Army of Tennessee. Hawes returned home after the end of the war.

Louisiana had two Confederate governors: Thomas O. Moore and Henry Watkins Allen. Moore could only serve two terms. He returned to his home near Alexandria, but after Federal troops burned his plantation, he fled to Mexico, and then Cuba. He eventually returned to Louisiana. Hawes also lost his home to fire, and with Moore, also went to Mexico. Allen, who was colonel of the 4^th Louisiana infantry, was wounded at Shiloh and Baton Rouge and died of his unhealed wounds in Mexico City on April 22, 1866.

Mississippi had John Pettus and Charles Clark. At war’s end, Pettus, wanted for questioning regarding the Lincoln assassination, went into hiding. He died of pneumonia in Lonoke County, Arkansas, on January 28, 1867. Clark was arrested and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski and was held until he took and signed the Oath of Allegiance in September 1865.

Missouri’s Claiborne F. Jackson took office on January 3, 1861, and after June 1861, was basically a governor in exile. Jackson was deposed by the General Assembly in July 1861, followed various Confederate military forces around on campaign, and died in Little Rock, Arkansas, December 7, 1862. Lieutenant Governor Thomas C. Reynolds assumed the role of governor, but really did not have a large role in political affairs. At the end of the war, he also went to Mexico, but returned to St. Louis.

North Carolina had three war-time governors. John W. Ellis led the state out of the Union in May 1861, only to die in July 1861. He was replaced by Speaker of the North Carolina Senate Henry T. Clark. Clark did not pursue election and stepped down at the end of the term in September 1862. Zebulon Baird Vance, colonel of the 26^th North Carolina, was elected as governor twice during the war years. At the end of the war, he attempted to surrender and was told to go home. In Statesville, he was arrested on his birthday, May 13, 1865, and imprisoned in Old Capital Prison. Vance was released after receiving his parole on July 6, 1865.

South Carolina had three men in the role of governor: Francis W. Pickens, Milledge L. Bonham, and Andrew G. Magrath. Pickens and Bonham were limited in the number of terms they could serve. Pickens retired to his plantation, and Bonham was reappointed a Confederate general and served in the Army of Tennessee. Magrath was arrested and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski, not being released until December 1865.

Tennessee had only one Confederate governor: Isham G. Harris. After the fall of Nashville, Harris served on the staffs of several Confederate generals, including Joseph E. Johnston, Braxton Bragg, and Albert S. Johnston. The US Congress issued a $5,000 reward for the capture of Harris at the end of the war. He fled to Mexico, then England, only returning to Tennessee once the bounty was removed.

Texas had Sam Houston, who was removed in March 1861; Edward Clark, the lieutenant governor, who lost the election in November 1861; Francis Lubbock who did not run for reelection and stepped aside in November 1863; and Pendleton Murrah.  Houston died in 1863. Clark served as colonel of the 14^th Texas Infantry but fled to Mexico at the end of the war. Lubbock was commissioned lieutenant colonel on the staff of Maj. Gen. John B. Marguder, and then aide-de-camp for Jefferson Davis. Lubbock was captured with Davis in Georgia and imprisoned at Fort Delaware for eight months.

Virginia had two governors. John Letcher and William Smith. Letcher’s arrest order was issued by U.S. Grant, and he was taken into custody on May 20, 1865, and imprisoned at Old Capital Prison. He was released forty-seven days later. Likewise, Smith turned himself in on June 8, 1865, and was paroled.

More information on these governors can be found in Years, editor, The Confederate Governors. For information on biographies on each governor, check out this link.  

Confederate judge impeached by the US – Tennessee’s West Humphreys

Impeachments of judges and justices don’t really happen all that much in our history. By 1862, only three impeachments had been successful – those of Judge John Pickering (1803), Associate Justice Samuel Chase (1804), and Judge James H. Peck (1830). It was probably with a degree of excitement that the trial of District Judge West H. Humphreys began in the US Senate in 1862.

Established by the Constitution in 1878 and the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Federal judicial system has three tiers – district, circuit, and supreme court. District courts lie (usually) within one state, and the judge for that court usually comes from that state. District courts can only hear cases that deal with federal statutes, the Constitution, or treaties. District court judges are appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and are lifetime appointments. 

 
Many Southern states were divided into more than one district. In Alabama, there was a northern and Southern District. William G. Jones was the judge (appointed by James Buchanan in 1850) of both districts within the state of Alabama. With the creation of the Confederate States of America, Jones resigned his judgeship, effective January 12, 1861, and went on to be appointed a district judge for the Confederate States by Jefferson Davis, serving until the end of the war. It seems that most of the Federal district judges resigned and were later appointed to the same post in the Confederate States by Jefferson Davis: Daniel Ringo (Arkansas); McQueen McIntosh (Florida); John C. Nicoll (Georgia); Theodore H. McCaleb and Henry Boyce (Louisiana – resigned US, neither served as Confederate judges); Samuel J. Gholson (Mississippi); Asa Biggs (North Carolina); Andrew G. Magrath (South Carolina); and James D. Halyburton and John W. Brockenbrough (Virginia). However, Judge William Marvin, Southern District of Florida, and Judge Thomas H. Duval, Texas, did not resign and continued to serve as Federal judges throughout the war years. 

 
Judge West H. Humphreys, Federal judge for both districts in Tennessee, also became a Confederate judge for the state of Tennessee. But it appears that Humphreys missed an important step. He did not actually resign his former job, and the Federal government impeached and convicted him for it.

Humphreys was born in Montgomery County, Tennessee in 1806. His father was a state judge. He attended Transylvania University and then read law. Humphreys was in private practice in Clarksville and Somerville from 1828 until 1839. In 1834, he was a member of the state constitutional convention. He was a member of the General Assembly from 1835 to 1838, Attorney General of Tennessee 1839 to 1851, and reporter for the Tennessee Supreme Court those same years. In 1853, Humphreys was nominated to fill the judge’s seat for the United States District Court for Tennessee by President Franklin Pierce.

On July 25, 1861, Jefferson Davis submitted to the Confederate senate the names of two men to be judges, including West H. Humphreys. Nothing really seems to come of Davis’s nomination of Humphreys. On March 26, 1862, Thomas Bragg again submitted the name of Humphreys to Jefferson Davis to be a district court judge. It appears that the senate confirmed Humphreys on March 29.

Word made its way back to Washington, D.C., that Humphreys had taken the position of a Confederate District Judge. The US House impeached Humphreys and appointed managers on May 7, 1862, to go to the Senate to try Humphreys for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

On May 8, 1862, the notification of Humphrey’s impeachment reached the US Senate. The Senate convened as a jury on May 22, with Vice President Hannibal Hamlin presiding. There were seven articles of impeachment. Those articles included public speaking “to incite revolt and rebellion” in Nashville, Tennessee, December 29, 1860; that in early 1861 Humphreys “together with other evil-minded persons within said State, openly and unlawfully support, advocate, and agree to an act commonly called an ordinance of secession”; in 1862 he “unlawfully, and in conjunction with other persons, organized armed rebellion against the United States and levy war against them”; disregarded his duties as a Federal judge by refusing to hold district court; deprived Andrew Johnson and John Catron of their property; and had William G. “Parson” Brownlow arrested. The Secretary then issued a summons that Humphreys appear before the Senate to answer these charges on June 9. The Senate then moved to postpone the trial until June 26. With that, the court adjourned.

The sergeant-at-arms of the Senate, George T. Brown, made his way to Nashville, but was unable to find Humphreys. (Chicago Tribune, June 14, 1862) The Senate published ads in three Washington, D.C., and one Nashville, Tennessee, newspapers, summoning Humphreys to the US Senate. The House managers presented their case, including a list of witnesses that included Jacob McGavock, William H. Polk, Horace Maynard, and William G. Brownlow. The witnesses were examined, and the articles of impeachment were gone through. Humphreys never made an appearance, and the Senate impeached him. Humphreys was removed from office and was disqualified from ever holding an office under the United States again.

Information on Humphreys for the remainder of the war is kind of sparse. There are a few mentions in Robinson’s Justice in Grey regarding a couple of cases, but Humphreys, like most Confederate judicial personnel, slips out of the pages of history. We do know that Humphreys was indicted for conspiracy against the government of the United States. Humphreys was able to resume his law practice in 1866, and continued to practice until 1882. He died on October 16, 1882, and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.