Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/280

 274 Southern Historical Society Papers.

[From the Richmond (Va ) Dispatch, Sunday, November 24, 1895 ]

CRUISE OF THE CLARENCE, TACONY ARCHER.

Read's Daring Exploits.

HOW HE CARRIED TERROR TO THE NORTHERN PORTS.

Left a Blazing Path Desperate Federal Pursuit of the Little Rover- Capture of the Caleb Cushing Evacuation of Richmond by the Confederates The Origin of the Fires Interesting Letters Bearing Upon the Subject Running the Blockade- Chat with a Southern Naval Officer- Some Exciting Incidents.

On the 6th day of May, 1863, the American brig Clarence, bound from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore, with a cargo of coffee, was captured off the coast of Brazil by the Confederate States steamer Florida, Captain John N. Maffitt, Confederate States navy, commanding. Lieutenant Charles W. Read, Confederate States navy, an officer of the Florida, a young Mississippian, of scarce twenty-three years, filled with a patriotic devotion to the cause of the Confederacy, im- mediately proposed to take the Clarence, with a crew of twenty men, and proceed to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and there cut out a gun- boat or steamer, with which it was his intention to go on a raid against the Federal commerce. Captain Maffitt granted his request, gave him a howitzer, with ammunition and equipments, and the necessary small arms for a crew of twenty men, and bade him God-speed. Read was accompanied by Second- Assistant-Engineer E. H. Brown, so that, altogether, he had twenty-one men, besides himself.

He immediately shaped his course for the capes of the Chesapeake Bay, drilling his crew, and preparing them for the arduous service which was expected of them. He also kept the men busy making wooden guns, as he sailed northward, to supply in appearance what he lacked in reality.

Off the Windward Islands he chased several weeks, but failed to overhaul them, on account of the inferior sailing qualities of the Clarence. On the 6th of June, in latitude 33 degrees, 39 minutes,