Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/40

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30
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY.


was rendered tenfold greater by supplying the necessities of the enemy.

The fuse referred to by Professor Soley was extinguished by Lieut. C. F. M. Spottswood, Confederate States navy, who was one of the first to enter the yard after its evacuation. The powder was seized and carried to Richmond by Lieutenants Pegram, Sinclair and C. Jones. The navy yard was immediately taken possession of by the Confederates. The following is a list of the guns in the yard, as given in the report of W. H. Peters to the governor of Virginia: One 11-inch columbiad, two 10-inch guns, fifty-two 9-inch guns, four 8-inch 90-cwt. guns, forty-seven 8-inch 63-cwt. guns, twenty-seven 8-inch 55-cwt. guns, one 8-inch 57-cwt. gun, four 64-pounders of 106 cwt., two hundred and twenty-five 32-pounders of 61 cwt., one hundred and seventy-three 32-pounders of 57 cwt., forty-four 32-pounders of 51 cwt, twenty-eight 32-pounders of 46 cwt, one hundred and sixteen 32-pounders of 33 cwt., forty-four 32-pounders of 27 cwt., two hundred and thirty-five 61-cwt guns, old style, fifty 70-cwt. guns, old style, forty-four 4o-cwt. guns, Shrubrick, sixty-three 42-pounder carronades, thirty-five 32-pounder carronades.

Here we have 1,195 guns of large caliber! These guns furnished the batteries of the Confederate forts from Norfolk to New Orleans. They were to be found on all the rivers of the South; and without them it is difficult to see how the Confederates could have armed either their forts or ships.

The vessels destroyed, or partially destroyed, were the Pennsylvania, three-decker; the Delaware, seventy-four; the Columbus, seventy-four; the frigates Merrimac, Columbia and Raritan; the sloops-of-war German town and Plymouth, and the brig Dolphin. The old frigate United States was left intact, and was afterward used by the Confederates as a receiving ship. The large