United States v. Farragut

[Syllabus from pages 406-408 intentionally omitted]

APPEAL from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

On the 22d of January, 1862, the city of New Orleans being then in the possession of the rebel confederacy, and access to it from the ocean by the troops of the United States being cut off by the rebel forces in Forts Jackson and St. Philip, below it; a large armament of mortars was sent to the mouth of the Mississippi, which the Western Gulf Squadron of the United States was blockading; and Flag-officer Farragut, afterwards admiral of that name, ordered to its command. These were his instructions:

'When these formidable mortars arrive, and you are completely ready, you will collect such vessels as can be spared from the blockade and proceed up the Mississippi River and reduce the defences which guard the approaches to New Orleans, when you will appear off that city and take possession of it under the guns of your squadron, and hoist the American flag therein, keeping possession until troops can be sent to you. . . . As you have expressed yourself perfectly satisfied with the force given to you, and as many more powerful vessels will be added before you can commence operations, the department and the country will require of you success.'

On the 3d of February, 1862, Flag-officer Farragut sailed from Hampton Roads to assume his command. By letter of February 10th, 1862, from the Secretary of the Navy, he was instructed that—

'The most important operation of the war is intrusted to yourself and your brave associates. . . . Eighteen thousand men are being sent to the gulf to co-operate in the movements, which will give to the armies of the United States full possession of the ports within the limits of your command. You will, however, carry out your instructions with regard to the Mississippi and Mobile without any delay, beyond that imposed upon you by your own careful preparation. A division from Ship Island will probably be ready to occupy the forts that will fall into your hands.'

A land force of 18,000 men, under Major-General Butler, destined to co-operate with the navy in the attack on New Orleans, was dispatched from Fortress Monroe, and entered the Mississippi about the middle of April, landing on Ship Island there, and putting itself into relations with Admiral Farragut.

General Butler, when leaving Fortress Monroe, received orders by which the army under him was to await the reduction of the enemy's works by the navy, and then, after their capture, in case a reduction and capture was made, the army was to put and leave in them a sufficient garrison to render them secure; but in case the navy failed to reduce the works, then a co-operative movement by the united forces-land and naval-was to commence; the army, covered by the navy, to make its approaches and carry them by assault.

All preparations being made, the fleet commenced the bombardment of Fort Jackson on the 16th of March, which bombardment lasted until April 24th, 1862. At half-past three o'clock on the morning of that day, the fleet, in two divisions, moved up the river, and, aided by the mortar fleet, ran past and between Forts St. Philip and Jackson, placed on the east and west sides of it, under a fire described by Farragut 'such as the world had rarely seen.'

After passing the forts the fleet, on the morning of the 25th, proceeded to New Orleans, attacked the forts immediately around the city for its defence, reduced them, and demanded the surrender of the city on that day in the name of the United States.

General Butler in the meantime, in accordance with an agreement which he had previously made with Flag-officer Farragut before the bombardment began, rowing seven miles to get a good footing, landed 3000 men at the quarantine station (Sable Island). He then threw a body of them across the Mississippi and hemmed in the forts. That night the garrison of Fort Jackson mutinied against their officers, and a majority of them surrendered to the government pickets; and on the next day the officers also surrendered, and the government troops were put and left in the forts. He then followed Flag-officer Farragut up the river, and with 2000 men took possession of New Orleans.

Such at least was one part-the historical proscenium as it may be called-of the case; though the evidence adduced in the record of this particular suit, while establishing it, in the main, may or may not have considerably modified it as to the degrees in which the army and the navy shared in the conquest. Whether it did or did not was one of the questions raised and disputed about by counsel, and the reporter states what he has stated chiefly to lead in and make more intelligible what follows.

The result of the reduction of the forts was the capture of a large number of vessels, coal, and other property.

All this property was appraised at the time by a board of officers duly appointed for that purpose. But there being no District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana open at that time, and much of the property being river steamers unfit to be sent to sea, and much of it necessarily used by the army and navy of the United States in their further operations in the gulf and the river Mississippi, none of it was sent in to be condemed as prize at the time of the capture.

Congress, accordingly, on the 3d of March, 1869, passed an act with the following title and enactment:'An Act relating to captures made by Admiral Farragut's fleet in the Mississippi River in May, 1862.

'Be it enacted, &c., That the vessels attached to or connected with Admiral Farragut's fleet in the river Mississippi, which participated in the opening of that river, and which resulted in the capture of New Orleans in the month of May, 1862, and which by law would have been entitled to prize-money in the captures made by said vessels, shall be now entitled to the benefits of the prize laws in the same manner as they would have been had the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana been then open, and the captures made by said vessels had been libelled therein; and any court of the United States having admiralty jurisdiction may take and have cognizance of all cases arising out of said captures, and the same proceedings shall be has therein as in other cases of prize.

'SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That the shares in such captures awarded to the officers and men entitled to prize shall be paid out of the Treasury of the United States.'

In pursuance of this statute Admiral Farragut, on behalf of himself and the officers and crews of his fleet, filed his libel in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, on the 26th April, 1869, against thirty-six sailing vessels of different kinds, or steamers, including the ships Metropolis, Farwell, Milan, the barkantine Ocean Eagle, the bark George Alban, and the steamer Sallie Robinson, of the aggregate value, as alleged, of $116,500.

Five steamers, to wit, the Diana, the Ceres, the Tennessee, the McRae, and the Iberville, valued, as alleged, at $613,520.

[The steamer McRae (of the value as alleged of $96,000), the libel averred had been 'sent up with paroled prisoners to New Orleans, but not being properly cared for by the Confederate officers having her in charge, was sunk.']

Five Confederate vessels, then in process of construction.

The following steamers, St. Charles, Time and Tide, Louisiana Belle, Empire Parish, St. Maurice, and Morning Light, appraised in the aggregate at $64,000, and which steamers, among others, the libel alleged belonged to the Confederate authorities or citizens of the Confederate States, and after being captured were delivered over to the United States, and used by them in transporting their forces, munitions of war, &c.

Sixteen thousand tons of coal worth $20 a ton.

The libel alleged the capture by Farragut's fleet, jure belli, of all these thirty-six vessels, as also of the coal; and setting forth their value, prayed a monition, and that all might be held to be prize of war, and that a decree might be passed directing their value to be distributed among the officers and crews of the Western Gulf Squadron, as to law and justice might appertain.