Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1231

Rh who was in command in that district. He continued in this service until the evacuation in May, 1862, when he was not allowed to accompany the troops. Subsequently he managed to "run the blockade" several times, and communicate with the Confederate forces. At the age of nineteen he became assistant to the builder of the street railroad of Norfolk, and then became superintendent of the system. After an efficient service of eighteen years in this capacity he retired and spent three years in travel. Since 1895 he has acted as agent of the Ocean View railroad. He has taken a prominent part in politics and has served as delegate in many Democratic State conventions, but has persistently declined official honors.

Charles Schroeder, now a prosperous merchant of Norfolk, Va., has a record in connection with the Confederate service replete with exciting adventures, of which only a brief but suggestive statement may here be made. Born at Portsmouth January 22, 1836, he entered the engineer corps of the United States navy in 1853, and had risen to the rank of past assistant engineer when his State united its fortunes with the Confederacy. He then resigned his commission and tendered his services to the government at Richmond, where he was cordially welcomed and assigned to the navy with the rank of chief engineer. He was first detailed for special duty for several months with Com. Matthew F. Maury, and subsequently served at Richmond with duties in connection with the naval batteries and the James river squadron. While stationed at the capital he acted as a member of the first naval examining board of engineers of the Confederate government. He was then appointed special agent of the government for the purchase of naval supplies, an office which required him to frequently evade the Federal blockade of Southern ports. On this duty he also acted as chief engineer of the vessel upon which he took passage. When the expedition was organized under the command of Capt. John Wilkinson for the relief of the Confederate prisoners at Johnson's island, Ohio, through Canada, he was detailed as chief engineer, and accompanied the party from Wilmington, N. C., on board the blockade-runner Robert E. Lee. Upon arriving at Halifax the party separated to avoid suspicion, and meeting again at Montreal, proceeded to St. Catherines. There they were chagrined by the information that their enterprise had been made public, and was consequently impossible to accomplish. Returning to Halifax they sailed for Bermuda and attempted to enter the port at Wilmington, but were chased by blockade cruisers and forced to run their vessel upon Dauber's Beach, near Georgetown, S. C., and abandon her. On his return to Richmond he received orders to resume his duties as purchasing agent, and was able several times subsequently to evade the Federal blockade and successfully reinforce the Confederate military supplies, until he was seized with the yellow fever and confined to his bed for several months with that dangerous malady. When he recovered he was assigned as chief engineer to the cruiser Tallahassee. In this vessel he made a very successful cruise, capturing several Federal merchantmen, some of whom were bonded and others destroyed. Unfortunately, however, on running into the Bermudas for recoaling, the Tallahassee was allowed to take only enough coal to carry her to Wilmington.