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Supplemental report of
Major Watkins, C. S. Army, commanding on the Sabine River |
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| Houston, Tex., March 14, 1863 |
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Captain E. P. Turner
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Assistant Adjutant-General
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| Captain,
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| The battle of the
21st of January could have been heard in the Galveston offing. The
Gulf was calm; the distance, as I was informed, did not exceed 40
miles. There was, therefore, just cause to expect the arrival of a
portion of Commodore Bell's fleet within a few hours after the
surrender. It was impossible to communicate with the major-general
commanding and ascertain his wishes. There was no time for council.
I had to determine the course of the expedition at once.
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| The captured vessels
would be worse than useless in battle, for I could not spare seamen
enough to maneuver them, nor were there among my excellent
artillerists any who were skillful in the use of guns mounted on
ship carriages. With so much property that had been valuable to the
enemy, it would have been imprudent to remain in the Gulf. Indeed,
it was impossible to remain there; existing orders forbade my
leaving the Sabine and Neches unprotected by the boats as well as
the batteries, and the supply of wood for the steamers was limited
and could not be materially increased without transportation for 50
or 60 miles.
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| The Morning Light,
for the reasons above stated, could not be fought with hope of
success anywhere in the Gulf. Moreover, the recent victory of
Major-General Magruder at Galveston and the destruction of the Hatteras
by the C. S. S. Alabama had brought into the waters
around us a large number of United States steamers, greatly our
superiors in speed and metal. My wish was to take our fine prizes
into the Pacific and operate against the commerce of the enemy
there, but this was impracticable, for want of supplies and seamen.
The sloop of war could not be brought over the bar. There was
nothing left me but to remove from her such things as would be of
most value to our Government and destroy her on the approach of an
enemy that could not be successfully encountered. She was
accordingly towed up near the bar, and after the transfer of the
prisoners and wounded from her decks to my own, the Bell was
started for the city of Sabine, the Ben having been
previously ordered forward with the captured schooner. I left in
charge of the Morning Light Lieutenant Eugene Aiken, an
officer who had been noted in the previous history of the expedition
for his good judgment, courage, and sobriety, and who was withal a
practical seaman. He kept with him a crew for 1 cutter, and was
instructed to fire a signal gun and exhibit United States colors on
the approach of a force that we might with confidence attack, and to
burn the ship and come ashore if attacked by the abolitionists in
such numbers as to hazard the recapture of our prize. As soon as I
reached the city on the Bell, I ordered to the ship, which
lay in full view, the steamer Ben, having on board Captain
Heriot, of the engineers, and Captain Odlum, chief of ordnance and
artillery, with a sufficient number of men, with directions to
remove immediately the guns and ammunition that had been captured.
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| A post was
established under command of Captain O. M. Marsh, who had fought
gallantly in the battle, and who was familiar with the city, its
approaches, its resources, and the character of its inhabitants. The
prisoners and wounded were removed from the Bell; guardhouses
and a hospital were procured; pickets thrown out toward the shell
ridge; all the axes that could be spared (six or eight in number)
were put to work at once cutting up the wharf for a supply of fuel.
The wood on the transport Sunflower was removed to the Bell.
These dispositions, required by prudence and humanity, were soon
made, but before the Bell could possibly leave it was late in
the evening and she grounded on the Oyster Reef, became
unserviceable, and remained there about twenty hours. I had lost the
assistance of Captain Fowler, who reported too unwell to command his
boat, and who never afterwards came on board of the ship outside the
bar. In the meantime the Uncle Ben had reached her
destination, and while the engineer and ordnance officers were
preparing for work, a false alarm was sounded which caused the
temporary commander to put back into the river. A lifeboat was
manned and in it I proceeded from the Bell (aground) to the Ben,
accompanied by Captain Johnson, who had started on the Bell to
command her during the indisposition of Captain Fowler, passing in
the darkness of the night the engineer and ordnance officers who
were going in a similar boat to report to me.
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| The Ben, on
our arrival, steamed out again to the sloop. I discovered at once
our inability to cope with any steamer that might come against us.
The Bell was aground inside of the bar with her rifle gun.
The Ben could not live in the Gulf in ordinary weather; she
was slow and the two 12-pounders on her were unfit for use. Without
a competent crew to manage the Morning Light and her guns,
two of which had been disabled in the late engagement, my duty was
clearly to fire the vessel on the appearance of an enemy and get
back to a position in which I could defend the Sabine and Neches
rivers, which I hoped the Federals would, in a moment of
exasperation, attempt to enter.
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| We were strangers to
the ship and to the naval service. It would have required a long
time to find the machinery necessary for the removal of heavy guns
in the Gulf, where the boats were constantly striking in such manner
as to endanger the weaker, and a long time, with inexperienced men,
to rig such machinery after it had been found. I therefore thought
it better to devote my attention chiefly to the removal of the
ammunition than to spend the limited time allowed me in the
preparation of heavy mechanical agencies for the removal of the
guns; in other words, it was better to save the ammunition than to
incur the risk of losing both ammunition and guns, for if a Federal
force had appeared when there was every reason to expect it our
labor would have been wholly lost if directed to the doubtful
experiment of shipping cannon of about 7,000 pounds weight. The
remainder of the night was spent in unremitting exertions to save
the gunpowder and shells, and at daylight the magazine and every
other safe place on the Uncle Ben was filled with ordnance
stores. We started then for the city, the first available depot, and
it was late before our precious cargo could be discharged, a
magazine established, and a sufficiency of wood taken on board. We
again returned to the sloop with the Ben and captured
schooner, my best boat, the Bell, being still aground. The
officer commanding the Ben reported that his boat could not
live even on the lee side of the ship, and she was therefore sent
back to the city to put on shore the few stores that had been
transferred to her. That day (the 22d) we had nothing to operate
with in the Gulf except a schooner of 87 tons. My men were
constantly engaged in saving such stores as could be removed from a
very large ship to a small schooner in a very rough sea. Many of
them, officers and soldiers, were seasick and unfit for duty, still
they labored earnestly until night came, and with it came the enemy.
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| A steamer was
discovered bearing down upon us. The light exhibited (we could see
nothing else) proved her to be a large one. The Bell was in
the river; the last intelligence was that she was aground. The Ben
could not live in the Gulf. The guns of the schooner and the
ammunition of the sloop had been removed. I was forced to attempt to
save the schooner and burn the ship. Lieutenant Aiken was ordered to
fire the latter and make for the shore in his lifeboat, and the
schooner was ordered in haste to the city. The enemy could not
understand us, signaled, put out his lights, and bore down
cautiously upon the sloop. A sudden swell of the sea carried off the
lifeboat of Lieutenant Aiken, and he was left at the mercy of the
Federal commander; but by his ready answers when spoken he made the
latter believe himself entrapped and start in haste for Galveston,
thinking doubtless that the dreaded Semmes was in his wake. The next
morning the Bell steamed out under the command of Captain
Johnson, Captain Fowler still reported sick. The ship was grounded
on the bar, and while we were working at the guns two propellers of
the United States service, the New London and the Cayuga, approached
us from the westward, and the torch was applied to our finest prize
before most of her guns had been removed. * * *
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| I regret to announce
the loss of Sergeant Davis, of Captain Nolan's company (G), Second
Texas Mounted Rifles. After fighting and laboring zealously, he fell
accidentally from the captured schooner on the night of the 21st and
now sleeps in the Gulf, over which he was of the first to carry in
triumph the flag of the State.
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| I have the honor to
remain, captain, with great respect,
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| Oscar M. Watkins |
| Major and Assistant Adjutant-General |
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