Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1298

1218 the bomb-brig Stromboli. As an officer of the United States navy at Norfolk in the spring of 1861 his fidelity to the Federal government until relieved of his allegiance by the secession of Virginia, was so marked as to incur hasty criticism. But when his state had joined the Confederacy none were more devoted to the new republic. He entered the service with the rank of commander, and was in charge of the James river squadron of three vessels, the Patrick Henry being his flagship. In this lightly-armored boat he confronted the Federal steamers before the mouth of the river, on the night of December 2, 1861, engaging four of the enemy's vessels under the guns of Newport News. He led his squadron into the Hampton Roads fight under Admiral Buchanan, in which he was actively engaged, contributing much to the success of that famous encounter. After the destruction of the Virginia, Tucker and his sailors, in the fortifications at Drewry's bluff, saved Richmond from the Federal fleet in May, 1862. Subsequently, having been promoted captain, he served at Charleston. As commander of the Chicora, he was distinguished in the action of January 31, 1863, when the Federal fleet was driven away and the blockade raised, by the two Confederate ironclads. Then, promoted commodore, he was in command of all the vessels at that important station until early in 1865, when he was ordered to Richmond with his men. The seamen were organized into the naval brigade under his command, and he had charge of the artillery at Drewry's bluff until the evacuation of the Confederate capital, when his naval brigade was attached to Custis Lee's division of Ewell's corps, which formed the rear guard of the army in the retreat to Appomattox. At Sailor's Creek, April 6th, he fought his first land battle, and held the right of Ewell's line, repulsing two assaults of Sheridan's infantry and cavalry. The naval brigade was valiantly holding its original position when General Ewell's order to surrender was passed along the line, but Commodore Tucker declared, "I can't surrender," and kept up the fight fifteen minutes after all the other Confederate colors were lowered. When they did yield the gallant men were cheered long and vigorously by the Federal forces. Subsequently Commodore Tucker, with the commission of rear-admiral, commanded the combined fleets of Peru and ChiliChile [sic], in their war with Spain. His last great work was the exploration of the upper Amazon and its tributaries, as president of the Peruvian commission. He died at Petersburg, Va., June 12, 1883, and was buried beside his wife at Norfolk.

Captain John S. Tucker, a prominent lawyer of Washington, D. C., who devoted four years of his early manhood to the defense of his native State, was born in Norfolk, Va. At the beginning of the war he was in Missouri, and promptly enlisted in Company H, Third Missouri infantry, and served under General Price until after the battle of Corinth, in which engagement, October 4, 1862, he received a wound in the arm of such a severe nature as to make amputation necessary. He was soon promoted to first lieutenant, and was afterward made captain of artillery and assigned to duty at the Richmond arsenal, where he remained until the evacuation of that city. After the war he returned to Norfolk and engaged in the practice of law. He was chosen city attorney, and afterward, in 1876, was elected mayor and re-elected in 1878. In 1880 he was appointed secretary of the commission