Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/84



N the night of August 20, 1863, Lieut. John Taylor Wood, with four boats and 60 men, boarded and carried the United States steamers Satellite and Reliance, then lying at the mouth of the Rappahannock river. The Satellite mounted one smooth-bore 32-pounder and one 12 -pounder howitzer, and had a crew of 40 men. The Reliance had one 3o-pounder Parrott and one 24-pounder howitzer, with a crew of 40 men. The boats boarded the two steamers at the same moment; Lieutenant Wood with two boats boarding the Satellite, and Lieut. F. L. Hoge with the other two, the Reliance. The latter vessel was stoutly defended. Lieutenant Hoge, Midshipman Henry Cook, and 3 men were wounded, and the Reliance had her captain and 8 others wounded, and 2 men killed. The Satellite had 2 men killed and 6 men wounded. In this brilliant affair Lieutenant Wood was gallantly supported by his officers, Lieutenants Hoge and William E. Hudgins, Midshipmen M. P. Goodwyn and Cook, and Engineers Bowman and Tennent.

Lieutenant Wood, with the Satellite, cruised for a day or two in Chesapeake bay, and took three prizes. Information of the loss of the Satellite and Reliance having by this time reached the enemy, overpowering forces were sent up from Old Point, seeing which Wood took all his captures up the Rappahannock and burned them. The