Class E U 7 / 7 S3 J Hook mJ (JdS PRESENTED BY Reprinted from Journal Military Service Institution Fort Jefferson and its Commander 1861-2 GOVERNOR'S ISLAND, N. Y. H. 1910 ^ / •\ V Reprinted from Journal Military Service Institution Fort Jefferson and its Commander 1861-2 .w— > \r^J^ H-<^~- G< >VERNOR*S ISLAND, X. Y. H 1910 f?L . K AS . 1 ^4 ^Ml «!§/ a vPf r ' . ^^5i»S»>*» V ^BB¥ P^Hl "* * B SB) 1 ■ ■ j?^ r «BW' , AJ^Bfl BBk. iijf fly t wV-' » "■ JB ™ / /' < 2 Z c or. ^ FORT JEFFERSON AND ITS COMMANDER IN 1861. Compiled from the Official Records axd Other Authentic Sources by josiah h. shinn. Major Lewis G. Arnold. Second United States Artillery, had been in command of Fort Independence from-i857 to 1861. having been -ordered to that post after nearly four years of hard service in the Everglades of Florida against the Seminoles.* On January 4, 1861. he received the following dispatch: "Washington. January 4. 1861. Maj. L. G. Arnold, commanding Fort Independence. Boston Harbor. Hold your command in readiness to embark for the South, and conditionally engage steam transportation. Another telegram to-morrow. Winfield Scott, Headquarters of the Army." On the next day he received the following telegram : "Washington. January 5, 1861. Maj. L. G. Arnold, commanding Fort Independence. Boston Harbor. Engage steam transportation, if *Gen. Lewis G. Arnold was born at Perth Amboy, N. J., January 15, 1817. He graduated from West Point in 1837 and was assigned to the Second Artillery. He was immediately ordered to Florida and served in the Seminole Campaign of 1837-38. In the Mexican War he was engaged in the Siege of Vera Cruz (where he was wounded). Battle of Cerro Gordo, Skirmish of Amazoque, Capture of San Antonio and Battle of Churubusco, where he was severely wounded. Two brevets for gallantry, viz., "Captain" and "Major" were conferred upon him for his services in Mexico. He served in the Seminole Campaigns of 1853-57 an d commanded a battalion in a fight against the Indians at Billy's Town on April 7, 1856. Major Arnold was ordered from Ft. Jefferson to Ft. Pickens in September, 1861, and participated in the repulse of the Confederate attack on Santa Rosa Island, October 9, 1861, and the successive bombardments of the enemy's works, November 22 and 23, 1861, and January 1. 1862, for which he was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel. He was made a Brigadier-General of Volunteers January 24, 1862. and appointed to the command of the Department of Florida which, in March of the same year, was changed to the Western District — Department of the South. He occupied Pensacola on May 9, 1862, after its evacuation by the Confederates and raised the L T nion flag there. He was ordered to the Department of the Gulf on September 22, 1862, to command all the forces at New Orleans and Algiers. General Arnold's military career was suddenly terminated on October 18, 1862, by a stroke of paralysis, which so disabled him as to cause his retirement from active service, and he died at Boston, September 22, 1871. 4 TYPES AND TRADITIONS. practicable, on any reasonable terms, or failing in this, engage a sail vessel and proceed with your company in haste to Fort Jefferson, Tor- tugas Islands, to garrison and command that post. Winfield Scott, Headquarters of the Army." On the same day General Scott indicted the following letter, which in due course of time was received by Major Arnold: "Headquarters of the Army, Washington, January 5, 1861. Maj. Lewis G. Arnold, Second Regiment of Artillery, Commanding Fort In- dependence. "Sir : By telegram you have been instructed to embark your com- pany in a steamer, if one can be promptly chartered at a reasonable rate, and if not, in a sail vessel, for Fort Jefferson, on one of the Tortugas Islands, to garrison the same under your command. "It being possible that you may find Fort Jefferson pre-occupied by any hostile force whatever, you will, in that case, summon the intruders to evacuate the works, on condition of being landed at some convenient port of the United States without further constraint or legal pursuit, and if your summons be rejected, you will next, after careful consideration, determine whether you have the power of enforcing your demands, alone, or with the co-operation of any naval force that may be at hand ; and further, should the attack prove successful, you will treat the intruders, if not notorious pirates, with kindness and land them as above, but with- out any promise whatever. "Should you fail in the important object (after every reasonable effort) to get possession of Fort Jefferson, you will fall back and re- inforce the garrison of Fort Taylor, Key West, of which you will then become the commander. "Before giving up the hope of gaining possession of Fort Jefferson, which you will be slow to do, there being no naval force at hand for co- operation, you will then cruise about the fort some ten, fifteen or twenty days to wait the arrival of a war vessel — probably from Pensacola. "You will take four months' subsistence and some extra arms.'' General Scott's plan for stopping secession was, like all campaigns devised by him, very able in its details and nearly certain of success. The Southern States were full of arsenals and forts, commanding their rivers and strategic points. Scott's plan was to transfer the army of the United States to these forts as speedily and quietly as possible. The Southern State could not cut off communication between the Govern- ment and the fortresses without a great fleet, which could not be built for years; no rcould they take them by land without a hundred thousand men, many hundred millions of dollars, several campaigns and many a bloody siege. Had Scott been able to get these forts in the condition he desired, the Southern Confederacy would never have been born. He urged this plan upon President Buchanan, but was thwarted, it is said, by the power of Secretary Floyd. One by one these forts fell into the hands of the Southern States long before any overt act of war had been committed, or war had been FORT JEFFERSON IN 'SIXTY-ONE. 5 declared. In descanting upon this, General Scott said, in a letter pub- lished in the National Intelligencer in October, 1862: ''It was not until January 4, 1861, that, by the aid of Secretary Holt (a strong and loyal man), I obtained permission to send succor to the feeble garrison of Fort Taylor, Key West, and at the same time a com- pany — Major Arnold's from Boston — to occupy Fort Jefferson, Tor- tugas Islands. "If this company had been three days later, the fort would have been occupied by Floridians. It is known that the rebels had their eyes upon these powerful forts, which govern the commerce of the Mexican Gulf, as Gibraltar and Malta govern that of the Mediterranean. With Forts Jefferson and Taylor, the rebels might have purchased an early European recognition." General Scott had previously said, in a letter to President Buchanan, dated December 23, i860: "Lieutenant-General Scott will further ask the attention of the Sec- retary to Forts Jefferson and Taylor, which are wholly national, being of far greater value even to the most distant points on the Atlantic Coast and the people on the upper waters of the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers than to the State of Florida. There is only one feeble company at Key West for the defense of Fort Taylor, and not a soldier in Fort Jefferson to resist a handful of fillibusters or a rowboat of pirates ; and the Gulf, soon after the beginning of secession or revolutionary troubles in the adjacent states, will swarm with such nuisances." Looking backward at this most comprehensive plan of General Scott's for the avoidance of war, one cannot but commend his measures and bow his bead to the superior intellectual power which conceived them. Of all this plan, comprehending all the forts within the Southern States, General Scott was permitted to effectually carry it out with but two forts — Taylor and Jefferson, The importance of the plan measures the importance of the instru- ment selected to give it effect. There were at Washington, within a stone's throw of the headquarters, men of higher official rank than Major Arnold; and there were along the coast, and nearer to Forts Tay- lor and Jefferson, a number of officers of the same or superior rank who might have been selected to carry out this important enterprise. The fact that Major Annold was selected to garrison and command Fort Jefferson at this most critical moment proves the high position Arnold held in the confidence of the commanding general and of the Secretary of War. He had been chosen by the commanding general for a most important enterprise and at once set about to prove that the confidence reposed in him had not been misplaced or unworthily bestowed. He left Fort Independence on the afternoon of the 4th of January and repaired to the shipping district of Boston, where he consulted with the owners of the propellers running between Boston and Charleston, 6 TYPES AND TRADITIONS. and with the owners of the steamer Joseph Whitney. Having ascer- tained their terms, he returned to the fort, where he spent the night in deciding which of these two offers it was best to accept. While in Bos- ton, without disclosing the nature of his business, he learned that a large number of the owners of the propeller line lived in Charleston, S. C, which fact alone led him to decide that it was most advisable to charter the steamer Joseph Whitney. The following matter crept into the Boston Herald on Tuesday morn- ing, January 8, 1861 : "It is rumored that a detachment from the troops stationed at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor will sail for Florida on Wednesday next."' On January 9th the following appeared in the same paper: "It is reported that the steamer Joseph Whitney, belonging to the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, has been chartered by the Government to convey United States Troops, with their officers, to some post or posts in the Southern States. This steamer is now coaling for an extensive trip and will probably leave here as soon as Thursday, taking her passengers from the navy yard. We understand proposals were previously made to engage the propellers forming the line between Boston and Charleston, but owing to the pecuniary interest held in these propellers by Charleston capitalists, it was not deemed advisable." On January 10th the following notice appeared: "Steamer Joseph Whitney cleared at the custom house Wednesday noon, January 9th, for Norfolk, and sailed January 10th. She carried 750 barrels of provisions for the subsistence of the troops and 350 tons of coal. She was under the command of Captain Loveland." On January nth we find the following: "This steamer, Joseph Whitney, sailed this morning from Boston with a clearance for Norfolk, Ya., under a Government charter, but com- manded as usual by Captain Loveland. She sailed at nine o'clock from her berth at Central Wharf, and at once proceeded to Castle Island, where she now lies moored to the wharf under Fort Independence. She will there receive two companies of United States troops and proceed on her voyage this afternoon. It is supposed that, although she clears for Norfolk, the port of Pensacola in Florida is her real destination. She takes 750 barrels of provisions for the subsistence of the troops and 350 tons of coal." On January 14th the same paper said: "The steamer Joseph Whitney was cleared for Key Wesl and not for Norfolk, as before stated." On January 15th the same paper quoted from the Boston Advertiser of January 14th, as follows: "It is now no secret that the Joseph Whitney, which left this port with troops TYPES AND TRADITIONS. effect should they be allowed to be sent. It is not necessary for me to allude to the reason of this unless its propriety should hereafter be ques- tioned. "In regard to the force employed at Fort Taylor, I have not yet had time to see Captain Hunt, but fear the lateness of the season, which takes the white laborers north, and the excitement in town regarding the capture of the black force at your post, will be difficulties not readily to be overcome. "You are correct in ascribing to me a general desire to promote the good of the service, which is, as it always has been, the uppermost thought in my action. "I am, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ''William H. French, Bvt.-Maj., U. S. Army, Commanding." 'She following correspondence explains itself: "Headquarters, Department of Florida, Fort Pickens, Fla., April 22, 1861. "Bvt.-Maj. L. G. Arnold, Commanding Fort Jefferson, Tortugas, "Major: At my request Captain Adams, commanding the naval forces at this place, has ordered the ship St. Louis to be stationed off your fort in such manner as to give you necessary aid and protection. He is also required to render you assistance in any manner that you may require, consistently with the safety of his vessel. "I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "Harvey Brown, Colonel Commanding." The secession of Virginia caused one of Major Arnold's lieutenants to resign his commission in the United States Army, and the following interview with that gentleman, now residing in Boston, showed Major Arnold's sagacity in handling the case. Lieut. J. Watts Robinson, of the First Artillery, came to the Tortugas in April, 1861, from Texas, where he first met Major Arnold. He said: "I had served at Fortress Monroe in 1854-55, where I met Mrs. Arnold, but not the major, who was then in command at Fort Deynaud in Florida. I was a Virginian by birth, while my wife was Northern bred. Secession weighed heavily on my mind, and for some time after coming to Fort Jefferson I was in doubt as to the proper course to pursue. I was not sure whether I owed a greater allegiance to the United States than to the State of Virginia, which doubt was intensified by my mar- riage. My wife clung to the North, while my judgment was for the South. The officers at Fort Jefferson, including Major Arnold, advised me to remain in the army ; but when Virginia seceded, I decided that I could not bear arms against my native State, and on May 15. 1861. handed my resignation to Major Arnold for transmission to head- quarters. Arnold took the paper and said: 'You say that you cannot fight against Virginia. Would it not be well for you to consider whether FORT JEFFERSON IN 'SIXTY-ONE. 17 you can afford to fight against the United States? I do not think you can, and I do not want you to do so. The position of post sutler is open, and you can in all probability obtain it. Now, will that suit you?' 1 thought the matter over and concluded that Arnold's solution was the better one and applied for the position. Arnold convened the Council of Administration, a board of officers, which at once nominated me for post sutler. The nomination was approved by Arnold and forwarded to Washington the same day. Arnold then told me that I need not wait for a return, but to proceed North and lay in a supply of goods. I went to Boston, bought my goods, and in due time the appointment came. "I never would have been in the position of sutler to the army but for Arnold's shrewdness and desire to keep me out of the Southern army. He made a neutral out of me as a soldier, but kept my energies on the Union side. I have long since decided that Arnold's action was for the best, and have never wavered in my respect for the man. He was a good officer — yes, a most excellent officer, and was so considered by all the officers at the post and by the higher officials with whom I have con- versed. He certainly put Fort Jefferson into first-class shape, and when he' left it for Fort Pickens it was impregnable. Wilson's Zouaves were considered very tough customers, but they always paid their bills to me. In fact, Arnold's discipline required all the men to pay the sutler's bill. I remained at Fort Jefferson as sutler for four years, and among all the officers who succeeded to that post, not one of them was, in my opinion, the equal of the major in professional ability. I met Arnold in Boston several times after the war, while he was suffering from the unfortunate attack of paralysis, with which he was stricken at New Orleans in 1862. But for this affliction, he would have made a great general officer." On May 1st Major Arnold reported to Colonel Brown at Fort Pickens that all was well at Fort Jefferson, that he was still very busy with the new defenses for strengthening the fort, but that he considered himself capable of repelling any force that the rebels could bring against him. This information was by Colonel Brown, on May 2d, communicated to Colonel Townsend of the War Department. That Arnold understood his orders concerning the new defenses on the approaches to the anchorages at Tortugas, and was proceeding to carry them out vigorously, is attested by the fact that on June 19, 1861, Brigadier-General Totten, of the engineers, addressed a communication to Lieutenant-Colonel Townsend, A. A. G., at Washington, which dis- played considerable anger and showed that the spirit of the old general was aroused to the utmost. He stated that on the 15th instant he had addressed a letter to Townsend asking that Lieutenants Reese and Mc- Farland be transferred back to Fort Jefferson, from whence they had been withdrawn by Colonel Brown. General Totten then went on to say that Colonel Brown had been exercising control over engineer property and engineer operations, which he was not authorized to exercise except 1 8 TYPES AND TRADITIONS. by the express authority of the highest military power, and that he had delegated a like power to Major Arnold. He charged that Major Arnold was issuing orders to the engineer officers in charge of the construction of Fort Jefferson, directing what particular work they should carry on at that fort : that he was directing all purchases that should be made ; requiring the engineers to make and submit plans for Arnold's approval for the new defenses on the several keys in the harbor ; requiring the hire for labor and mechanics for the new works to be submitted to him, and in every way setting aside the instruction of the Engineer Department at Washington for plans and purposes originated on the island and ap- proved by Arnold and Brown. General Totten felt much aggrieved over this and threatened to withhold his approval from all accounts neces- sitated by Arnold's action. Colonel Townsend answered that the ex- pedition of Colonel Brown was organized under great secrecy and au- thorized under strict orders signed by the commander-in-chief, the Presi- dent, and by the general-in-chief, Winfield Scott, and that these orders were not on file in his (Townsend's) department, that he had never seen the orders, and therefore could not act upon them. He ordered Lieu- tnants Reese and McFarland back to Jefferson as soon as Brown could spare them. Arnold went on with his work under his explicit orders, and General Totten, although much mortified, was compelled to submit. The secret orders given to Colonel Brown authorized him to use almost dictatorial power and were not exceeded by authorizing Major Arnold to make the engineer department at Fort Jefferson entirely subordinate to his orders. Another most excellent testimonial in the general character of Major Arnold, as well as to his work at Fort Jefferson, was given by Brig.-Gen. Alexander J. Perry, U. S. A., retired, in an interview with the writer in Sr]>tember, 1906. The general said: "I was of the same regiment with Major Arnold, but he was many years my senior in age and several grades in rank. I was never in service with him, but as a member of the regiment knew him well. He always worked for the elevation of the service, and thereby impressed himself ineffaceably on his regiment. He was a skilled disciplinarian, but in no sense a martinet. The whole regiment, especially the older officers, always referred to him as a splendid officer and a clean man. He had wnn distinction in Mexico before I ever saw him, and distinction easily paves the way to an acquaintance. I came to know Arnold personally in the following manner: In March, 1861, I was ordered by General Scott to Washington to cover the inauguration. I was then ordered 10 Fort Hamilton, and on the evening of my arrival was ordered on board the Atlantic, a vessel of the Collins line, and soon found myself ^teaming south with destination unknown. Col. Harvey Brown was in command, sailing under sealed orders, and imparted no information what- ever as to where we were going. We had a rough voyage, but at last reached Key West, where we remained for a few hours. Following this we headed for the Dry Tortugas, and after a long, hard pull up the harbor, landed at Kort Jefferson, where I first saw Major Arnold. FORT JEFFERSON IN 'SIXTY-ONE. 19 "He was then called 'General' by Colonel Brown and all the other officers, who were already well acquainted with him. I do not remember that he was called 'Little General' ; it was plain 'General.' "Arnold greeted us warmly at landing and made a fine impres- sion on me, an impression which has never been removed. He and Brown were old friends and fellow officers, and their greeting was most affectionate. We found that Arnold knew all about our movements and what was expected of him, but we were still kept in the dark. We went over the fort in squads and found everything in fighting order. The fort was ready for any enemy and the men were in prime condition. We learned that Major Vogdes had been there sometime before and had gone on to Pickens. We stayed at Fort Jefferson two days, working all the time. All the cannon and other munitions of war that Major Arnold could spare were turned over to us, and it kept us busy loading these on the Atlantic. We had about eight hundred men on board, two hun- dred horses and a hundred head of cattle. I was more and more im- pressed with Arnold's soldierly qualities every day we remained on the island. At last we got under way and were told that our destination was Fort Pickens, where in a few months Arnold followed and gained additional fame." The energy of Major Arnold, as well as his executive ability and professional attainments, was never beter shown than in his movements consequent upon the receipt of the dispatch of January 4, 1861, up to and including the time when Fort Jefferson was finally placed in perfect offensive and defensive condition. To charter and have prepared a steamer fitted to carry his detachment over the long distance intervening between Fort Independence and Fort Jefferson, travel among the mer- chants and commission men of Boston, and purchase 750 barrels of pro- visions for the subsistence of his troops, load these provisions on the steamer, together with 350 tons of coal, obtain his clearance paper and ship his men within the short space of six days, one of these being Sun- day, indicates an energy characteristic only of a man of great executive ability. Brig.-Gen. Loomis L. Langdon, in an article written for the writer in September, 1905, recited the following incident as gathered by him from Arnold's men shortly after Arnold had been transferred from Fort Jefferson to Fort Pickens. He said : "While he was at the Dry Tortugas, an incident occurred that is worth relating. "While no shots had as yet been exchanged between the Federals and the Confederates, some of the leading rebels in Florida had gotten into the bad habit of demanding from the United States officers within the State the surrender of everything in sight. To appreciate what fol- lows, it must be borne in mind that Fort Jefferson was an unfinished fort, garrisoned by two depleted companies, and where now the ramparts bristle with over two hundred heavy guns, there was not then a single gun of any kind mounted and ready for service. The major took in the 20 TYPES AND TRADITIONS. situation promptly and, determined to make the best preparations he could under the circumstances, began the construction from some old timber of some kind of carriages for several old flank casemates howitzers he had found lying on the parade. One afternoon, as he was anxiously supervising the working of his first carriage, an armed schooner appeared off the fort and, sending a messenger ashore, demanded the surrender of the fort to the State of Florida. To say Arnold nearly had a fit is to put it mildly. Of course the messenger had not been allowed to enter the fort, but sent in his message by the officer of the guard. Major Arnold rushed to the embrasure nearest the sally-port and shouted out to the man, 'Tell your captain I will blow his ship out of water if he is not gone from here in ten minutes. Think I will open fire anyway.' Within a few minutes the schooner was blending with the horizon." This occurred very shortly after Arnold's landing and is authority for Mr. Hetherton's statement, "That if the expedition had been one day later in landing, the fort would have been seized by authorities of the State of Florida." General Langdon also contributes the following incident, which oc- curred just prior to Arnold's leaving Fort Jefferson for Pickens: "There was another affair happened in the fort about that time that evidenced the major's readiness to assume a responsibility, a quality essential to the making of the best officers. In this battalion brought from Texas was an officer of at least sixteen years' service, but who had, I believe, never been under fire. He was not deficient in courage, but somehow dreaded having his skin punctured by vulgar lead, and had al- ways managed to keep on some staff duty away from the firing line, pre- ferring to remain in rear to report progress. One day an order arrived from the department commander for the battalion to proceed to Fort Pickens immediately. This order appears to have affected the afore- mentioned officer in a queer way. He took to his bed and summoned the surgeon. Arnold suspected the captain was malingering and directed the surgeon to re-examine him. This was done, and the surgeon reported that nothing was the matter with the captain that could prevent his doing duty. Thereupon Arnold ordered the officer to embark on the transport at once with his company. The captain refused, claiming to be ill. Thereupon the major sent a detachment of soldiers to the captain's quarters and had him placed in a blanket and, despite his alternate angry remonstrances and loud lamentations, laid on a cot on the deck of the transport and conveyed to Fort Pickens under the watchful eye of the fearless and energetic major." Mr. Hetherton contributes the following : "Only one company, C, of the Second Artillery, was there at the be- ginning. Major Arnold was in command with Lieut. Matthew Blunt next. Soon afterward two companies of the Wilson Zouaves arrived, and in a short time a company of the First Artillery from Texas. Arnold brought some heavy guns with him and obtained others from Key West. FORT JEFFERSON IN 'SIXTY-ONE. 21 The Zouaves were tough customers, being made up in part from the rough element of New York City. They were in a most pitiable plight at landing, having been three weeks on the ocean in a scow. Ar- nold made them take off the Zouave uniform and burn it, and supplied them with the regular uniform of the United States Army. Their officers were to report to and be governed by the officers of the Second Artillery, and I was to instruct their musicians in field music. The Zouaves were two or three times as numerous as the regulars, had never been subordinate to anybody and threatened to wipe Company C off the face of the earth. I do not know whether these threats ever came to the ear of Arnold or not, but if they did, it did not disturb his equanimity, having, in the person of Lieutenant Graham, a splendid executive officer. Certain it is that Arnold tamed these men into a body of docile and well-drilled soldiers, who came to love him because he was the only man they had ever met they could not bluff. They were sorry when he was ordered away. "We had plenty to eat at Fort Jefferson. Fish came in in great schools, and we waded in behind them and threw them to the shore with our hands. There was a lighthouse at Loggerhead Island, where plenty of turtles were to be had. Arnold let us go there at times turtle-hunting, and we kept the mess supplied with this savory food. We frequently caught them weighing from three hundred to four hundred pounds. The major worked us very hard in getting the fort into shape, but he always issued us not more than a gill of whiskey after our fatigue. Arnold him- self never fished, except for guns. While the men slept he was at his desk working out ways and means. "Arnold had a high regard for a good soldier, and when he wrote the discharge of such a one he hunted up all his good points and set them out clearly so that justice might be done the man in the future. He was ex- tremely punctilious about these things. Every man got the character he deserved — honestly and justly. He would write with his own hand 'a most excellent soldier,' or 'a most excellent soldier, but fond of rum.' He was also very fatherly to the men. He sent for bad characters, ad- vised and lectured them in private, which caused the reform of many of the men and also made all of them love him for the interest he dis- played in their welfare. "I was transferred on the sloop of war Richmond, along with Major Arnold and Company C from Fort Jefferson, to Fort Pickens, where I saw less of Arnold than before. He was now Lieutenant-Colonel Brown's chief officer and was more prominently connected with the headquarters than his company assignment. In the Wilson's camp affair, after Vog- des's capture, Arnold was placed in command, and all the credit of that action belongs to him." ******* Brig.-Gen. William Montrose Graham was with Major Arnold at Fort Jefferson from March to August, 1861, and in addition to what has 22 TYPES AND TRADITIONS. already been contributed by him, bas tbe following to say about that period : "Major Arnold was always referred to at Fort Jefferson as The Little General,' although at that time he had not attained that rank. He de- tailed me to mount a certain character of guns and detailed Lieutenant Benson to mount another character of guns. We had six companies in the fort, two of the First Artillery, two of the Second and two of Wilson's Zouaves. The officers in command under Arnold were Lieut. Henry Benson, Capt. Bennett H. Hill, Lieut. Lewis O. Morris, Capt. Samuel K. Dawson, Lieut. Matthew Blunt and Lieut. James St.Clair Morton. Major Arnold was a most companionable man, full of jokes, and a most excellent conversationalist. With all this he was the most rigid disciplinarian I ever served under, and despite all this had the unreserved affection of every officer and man in the fort. He was an officer without a single enemy. His reprimands were given in a dignified manner without an offensive word of demonstration. His temper was always under control. His laugh was peculiar to himself and alv/ays put everybody into good humor. His general education was excellent, and he was a master of his profession. He was always careful of the interest of his soldiers and always had an eye open to their comfort. In this particular he was al- most a father. I considered it an honor as well as a pleasure to serve under him. "Arnold had to court-martial a great many of the raw recruits, but they were no better and no worse on the whole than other volunteer soldiers. I, with other lieutenants, had to drill the Zouaves, under Arnold's inspection, in order to bring them into a proper stage of ef- ficiency. When Arnold took them they were very rough soldiers, but when he left the island they were good soldiers, not equal to the regu- lars by any means, but Ai, first-class troops. There were incorrigibles of course, but the ratio of incorrigibility was no greater with the two companies of Zouaves than with other raw recruits. "I remember a very amusing incident connected with these Zouaves. One man, of the Sixth New York, stole a sum of money from his cap- tain. The man arrested him, got the money, forced a confession and sentenced him to run the gauntlet Indian fashion. Major Arnold's at- tention was called to the affair, but he declined to interfere, saying: 'Let them alone. They are going to punish the man, and as it is a pun- ishment set up by themselves, it may have a good effect.' The gauntlet was formed — the two companies of New Yorkers making a double line, armed with barrel staves. The criminal was made to run through, and his comrades gave him a tremendous beating. The man afterwards made a good soldier, and no charges were ever preferred against him." $ * ♦ ♦ * ♦ ♦ In August Colonel Brown made a recommendation to the War De- partment that inasmuch as Fort Jefferson was now completely fortified, and that it was becoming evident that the seceding States were not in FORT JEFFERSON IN 'SIXTY-ONE. 23 position to attack it, the services of Major Arnold were demanded at Fort Pickens. The War Department complying with this recommenda- tion ordered Major Arnold, together with Company C of the Second Ar- tillery, to report for duty at Fort Pickens, which he did in the month of September, 1861. In all that has been written of these earlier operations on the Gulf, little had been said of Fort Jefferson, of the movement to fortify it or the importance of the position to the Union Cause. Much has been written concerning the action of Lieutenant Slemmer, who was in com- mand at Fort Barrancas in January, 1861, and who in the same month transferred his command from Barrancas to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. Lieutenant Slemmer deserves the fullest credit for this act. By an agreement between the Government and the seceding States, Slem- mer was permitted to hold Fort Pickens, but not to fortify it, nor was the Government to reinforce it. He made no attempt to fortify, and the Government abstained from reinforcing, except to the extent of keeping the Brooklyn near the shore loaded with men ready to land when the terms of the agreement should expire. Slemmer was merely a tenant at the will of the seceding States, which tenancy could have been termi- nated by them with perfect ease at any time between January 10th and April 12th. The real movements which guaranteed the holding of Pickens were (1) the making of Fort Jefferson by Major Arnold, and (2) the position of the Brooklyn in the Gulf after February 6, 1861. Of the two move- ments, the making of Fort Jefferson was the more important, and was so considered by President Lincoln and General Scott. In fact, Fort Jeffer- son was considered more important than Pickens by these great men, and if either had to be sacrificed, Pickens, by their express order, was to go. With Jefferson impregnable and a base of operations guaranteed, the holding of Pickens was assured, together with its corollary, the evacua- tion of Forts Barrancas and McRee and of Pensacola. Much condemnatory eloquence has been wasted by political and mili- tary writers upon this agreement between the seceding States and the Government. It is certain, however, that this much-abused agreement was of far more advantage to the Union than to the seceding States. First, it protected Slemmer in the quiet possession of Pickens from January 10th until April 12th, when Vogdes landed. Second, this agreement gave the Government ample time to so fortify Fort Jefferson, and to so strengthen its approaches, as to make it an impregnable base of operations, not only for the operations which really saved Pickens to the North, but also for those other operations which resulted in the fall of New Orleans. General Totten, possibly the ablest engineer in the army at that time, in a report made to the War Department in March, 1861, said that against a force that meant busi- ness Fort Pickens could not hold out ten days, and advised its evacuation. 24 TYPES AND TRADITIONS. Colonel Brown, on April 17th, after his landing upon the island, was amazed at the weakness of the fort and so reported to the War Depart- ment. Tn whatever light we may view the whole matter, it has heen said that the most important character in the operations on the Gulf from January, 1861, to July of the same year was Major Arnold, and that the operations in and around Fort Jefferson were more far-reaching in their character and of vastly greater importance than any writer has as yet accorded them : It is also true that President Lincoln and General Scott were the only officials who grasped their truly stupendous import. The New Orleans Delta of January, 1861, called the attention of its readers to what Fort Jefferson might be and what it really was. It was a fort built to accommodate 1500 men and to mount 298 guns of the largest caliber. It commanded the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, as every vessel passing through the Straits of Florida came in full view of its men and entirely within the range of its guns. This was what it might be. Its actual condition was summed up in the few words, "Cap- tain Meigs is stationed there with a few laborers." It had no men and no guns. Such was the fort when Arnold landed on January 18, 1861. We have seen the despatches from the general-in-chief which hurried him thither ; we have also seen the arguments presented by this same gneral to President Buchanan for a rapid occupation of this post and the reasons underlying its importance ; we have read the written order of General Scott outlining Major Arnold's work should he find the post un- occupied ; we have also noted the energy of Arnold and his single com- pany in making Fort Jefferson proof against attack ; we have noted the change of administration and the promptitude of President Lincoln in recognizing Scott's arguments concerning the paramount importance of Forts Taylor and Jefferson ; we have seen a great expedition sent out under the command of Colonel Brown with sealed orders given under the greatest secrecy, signed not only by the commanding general, but by Abraham Lincoln himself, which orders were not made known to even the adjutant-general of the army, nor filed in his office; we have seen that while the primary object of the expedition was the relief of Fort Pickens, that explicit directions were given that under no circumstances were the defenses at Forts Taylor and Jefferson to be weakened, as these forts were of more importance to the Union cause than Fort Pickens ; we have seen from both official and unofficial sources the armaments and munitions of war hurried to Arnold, the vigilant commander of Fort Jefferson, and the tremendous energy displayed by the man in putting all these in place ; we have line upon line from both officers and men show- ing the intelligent zeal and confidence with which Arnold executed his trust, and a great mass of matter showing the entire confidence of the Government, from the President of the United States through all its officers down to the enlisted men, in Arnold's professional ability, not only to make this indefensible fort of January, 1861, an entirely impreg- FORT JEFFERSON IN 'SIXTY-ONE. 25 nable fort six months later, but also to defend it against all comers. He found it but a fort in structure and in name ; he left it in September, the Gibraltar of the Gulf, bristling with more than one hundred guns, manned by more than five hundred well-disciplined troops and surrounded by numerous additional defenses. Silently and without ostentation — without a single newspaper article heralding his achievements — this true and tried soldier met every responsibility imposed upon him and carried to a successful completion the great enterprise confided to his care. In the recommendations of the Engineer Department for the fiscal year July 1, 1861, to June 30, 1862, an appropriation of $500,000 was asked for Fort Jefferson and its defenses, a larger recommendation by nearly 100 per cent, than was made for any other fort. Congress re- sponded with alacrity, thus crowning with official sanction the supreme importance of Fort Jefferson as a base of operations for the various mili- tary, expeditions on the Gulf. When this appropriation was made Fort Jefferson was already a palladium of strength, irreducible by any force the enemy should bring against it — and the man who brought it into this condition of efficiency was Maj. Lewis G. Arnold, who may without any impropriety be styled "The Maker of Fort Jefferson." FORT JEFFERSON IX l^Cit. •WN J5 m\