Capture of a Crew from the "USS Cambridge."

Naval Skirmishes 1:

Capture of a Crew from the "USS Cambridge,"

November 17, 1862.

by Terry Foenander.

The Naval blockade of the Southern coastline generated many minor skirmishes and incidents which tended to ease the boredom of shipboard life for the sailors on such duties. Many of these incidents were fraught with danger, and there was often loss of life involved in such episodes.

One such incident, although not involving loss of life, but still as risky as any other, was the capture of several crew members of the Union blockading vessel, the USS Cambridge, near Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina (about twelve miles north east of Fort Fisher), on November 17, 1862. At around 8 a.m. of that morning a schooner, the J.W. Pindar, was observed near the Inlet, attempting to run the blockade. The commander of the USS Cambridge, William A. Parker, gave orders to his crew to attempt to capture the Pindar. After firing their 30 pounder Parrott gun at the blockade runner, the pursued vessel was run ashore. Commander Parker then instructed Acting Master William H. Maies to take ten men in a boat, and to try and burn the Pindar. Maies was also instructed not to attempt to risk the lives of his men, as the surf was high, and in the event of failure, to return safely to the gunboat.

The boat, however, was swamped, but Maies and the ten sailors were able to reach the shore, and successfully set fire to the schooner, which was entirely destroyed.

Meanwhile, Parker, who had observed the difficulties that Maies had gotten into, decided to send along two other boats from the USS Cambridge, with two of his other officers, Acting Master's Mates Henry W. Wells and Walter C. Odiorne, to assist in bringing the men back to the gunboat. Wells, on reaching close to land, swam ashore with a line, but it parted, whereupon Odiorne followed, and landed ashore.

Unfortunately for the entire party, at this particular moment about twenty five or thirty armed personnel of the Third North Carolina Cavalry appeared and took everyone ashore prisoner. Those captured were:

William H. Maies, acting master.

Henry W. Wells, acting master's mate.

Walter C. Odiorne, acting master's mate.

H.C. Reed, seaman and quartermaster.

John Graham, seaman and captain of top.

Daniel Derocher, seaman and captain of top.

George Lilly, seaman.

William B. Frost, seaman.

Hans Deboar, seaman.

Dick Haman, seaman.

Thomas McGee, seaman.

William Haley, seaman.

William Thomas, ordinary seaman.

Seaman William B. Frost later took an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, at Petersburg, Virginia. The rest of the captured personnel were later released on parole. When these paroled prisoners arrived in Washington, D.C., on December 3, 1862, Maies sent an account of their capture to Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, before returning to his home in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to await his release from parole.

Also taken with the Union Naval personnel were three West Indians from Nassau, and the captain of the Pindar, all crew members of the blockade runner. The load of the Pindar had consisted of salt which was being brought into Wilmington. Because of their attempts to help the Confederacy, these blockade running crew were treated favorably by Confederate Brigadier General W.H.C. Whiting, into whose care they were taken.

All three of the Union Naval officers captured continued in service until after the end of the war. Nothing else is known about the subsequent dispositions of the enlisted men who were captured.

Although seemingly of trivial importance when compared to the larger encounters between the naval forces of the Union and Confederacy, such small skirmishes tended to keep the sailors on their toes.

[All information relating to the events mentioned in the preceding article are included in dispatches as found on pages 214-216, Series 1, Volume 8, of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. ]

October, 2001.