. The naval history of the Civil War . summoned to the Navy De-partment Commodore Hiram Paulding, aloyal officer, but who was now declining inyears and not equal to a position which re-quired not only energy of mind but greatbodily vigor. Commodore Paulding brokeup the conclave which was in the habit ofmeeting in the Bureau of Ordnance, for he 28 THE NA VAL HISTORY felt that these officers were inimical to thegovernment, and he recommended the Sec-retary of the Navy to change the suspectedChief of Bureaux for another known to beloyal. Frequent accounts reached Washingtonof the hostile attitude
. The naval history of the Civil War . summoned to the Navy De-partment Commodore Hiram Paulding, aloyal officer, but who was now declining inyears and not equal to a position which re-quired not only energy of mind but greatbodily vigor. Commodore Paulding brokeup the conclave which was in the habit ofmeeting in the Bureau of Ordnance, for he 28 THE NA VAL HISTORY felt that these officers were inimical to thegovernment, and he recommended the Sec-retary of the Navy to change the suspectedChief of Bureaux for another known to beloyal. Frequent accounts reached Washingtonof the hostile attitude of the people in Nor-folk and Portsmouth towards the govern-ment, and their determination that theNavy Department should not remove a shipor a gun from the station. Large bodiesof troops were reported moving towardsNorfolk to enforce this decision. In fact,Norfolk, which had for many years livedon the bounty of the government and flour-ished by the appropriations for the supportof the Navy Yard, was now the very hot-bed of COADIODOKE HIRAM PAULDING. The Southern officers could hardly restraintheir impatience until the State of Virginiashould secede, so anxious were they toshow their gratitude to the United StatesGovernment, which had conferred uponthem whatever importance they possessed,by pulling it to pieces, and endeavoring todim the glory of the flag under which theyhad served from boyhood. Most of the officers of the Navy Yard wereSouthern men whose honor had heretoforebeen unquestioned, but their heads were nowso turned that they were as wild as the sonsculottes of the French Revolution. Commodore McCauley, who commandedthe Navy Yard, had long and faithfullyserved the government, but was now ad-vanced in years and no match for the wilysecessionists about him, who so hamperedand bewildered him, that he for a timerested under the suspicion of being luke-warm in his allegiance. At this time there were lying at the NavyYard the following named vessels: The steam
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectunitedstatesnavy
