. Officers of the army and navy (regular) who served in the Civil War . ed herin the inlet beyond. Ensign Coney, with six men, thenreconnoitred, and found that about twenty men and asmall piece of artillery were guarding the vessel. Inspite of this, an attack was made, the enemy routed, andten prisoners, a howitzer, and eighteen small-arms cap-tured. The schooner and adjacent salt-works w:ere de-stroyed, and the expedition rejoined the vessel withoutloss. Once, while blockading off Cape Fear River, Cush-ing went in his gig, with six men, up the river pastFort Caswell, to Smithville, two miles
. Officers of the army and navy (regular) who served in the Civil War . ed herin the inlet beyond. Ensign Coney, with six men, thenreconnoitred, and found that about twenty men and asmall piece of artillery were guarding the vessel. Inspite of this, an attack was made, the enemy routed, andten prisoners, a howitzer, and eighteen small-arms cap-tured. The schooner and adjacent salt-works w:ere de-stroyed, and the expedition rejoined the vessel withoutloss. Once, while blockading off Cape Fear River, Cush-ing went in his gig, with six men, up the river pastFort Caswell, to Smithville, two miles above, and gotimportant information. Once he entered the river inthe same way, captured the mail-rider for Fort Fisher,and possessed himself of his bag. His most remarkable feat, however, was the destruc-tion of the iron-plated ram Albemarle, while that for-midable vessel was secured to a wharf at Plymouth,North Carolina, with a guard of logs placed around herat a distance of thirty feet,—her crew on board to useher guns, and a company of soldiers on the wharf with. small-arms and howitzers. Unfortunately, the reportersfor the Northern press had found out that a torpedo-boatwas preparing for those waters, and, of course, the infor-mation was transmitted to the enemy, so that they hadample time for preparation. The torpedo was of theearl_\- boom kind, carried in a steam-launch. Theenemy was vigilant, and Cushings approach was discov-ered after he had ascended the river, but before he camevery near. But, nothing daunted by the fire of artilleryand musketry, he put on steam, jumped his launch overthe logs, lowered his torpedo in a most deliberate way,and blew the vessel up at the very moment when a shellfrom one of the heavy guns of the Albemarle and thecolumn of water from the explosion of the torpedo sentthe launch to the bottom. Cushing, Paymaster Swan,and others escaped, after much exposure in swimmingdown the ice-cold water and hiding in the swamps. Butthe terror of the Sou
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectuniteds, bookyear1892
