Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/18



S the different States seceded from the Union, each sovereignty made efforts to provide for a navy, and conferred rank upon its officers. A few revenue cutters and merchant steamers were seized and converted into men-of-war. Thus, at the beginning, each State had its own navy. At Charleston several naval officers assisted in the capture of Fort Sumter; notably, Capt. H. J. Hartstene, in command of a picket boat, and Lieut. J. R. Hamilton, in command of a floating battery. General Beauregard mentioned the assistance rendered by these officers; also the services of Dr. A. C. Lynch, late of the United States navy. Mention is also made of Lieut. W. G. Dozier, and the armed steamers Gordon, Lady Davis and General Clinch. The keels of two fine ironclads, the Palmetto State and the Chicora, were laid, and Commodore Duncan N. Ingraham was put in command of the naval forces.

Upon the secession of Virginia, April 17, 1861, a convention was entered into between that State and the Confederate States of America, after which the seat of the Confederate government was removed to Richmond, and the Congress assembled there July 20th; from which time properly commences the history of the Confederate navy. The navy department was organized with Stephen R. Mallory, secretary of the navy ; Commodore Samuel Barron, chief of the bureau of orders and detail; Commander George Minor, chief of ordnance and hydrography; Pay-