Four Deserters from the "CSS Savannah."

by Terry Foenander.

Boatswain's Mate Peter Martin, of the CSS Savannah, had been enjoying his liberty ashore, in Savannah, Georgia, with some female acquaintances, when he suddenly realised that what they had told him would be of some interest to his commanding officer. [1] He hurried back to the vessel, and on arriving there, at about 10 p.m., on the night of November 8, 1863, immediately reported to his superiors that he had received information that several members of the vessel, who were on picket duty that night, intended to desert to the enemy.

An officer was immediately sent down to prevent this action but on arriving at the obstructions in the Savannah river (where the pickets were normally stationed), he found that it was already too late, and the men had skedaddled.

The picket crew had consisted of Robert Andrews, a native of Greenock, Scotland, Richard May of Providence, Rhode Island, Thomas Brandt, native of Denmark, and Robert Conner, of Belfast, Ireland, all of whom were under the command of Master's Mate Samuel A. Brockinton. The party had been armed, Brockinton with a revolver, and the enlisted men with carbines.

Master's Mate Brockinton was a native of Brunswick, Georgia, then aged about 32 years. He had previously served in the Confederate Army, as a sergeant of company K, 26th Georgia Infantry, before transferring to naval service on June 2, 1863. [2] His service record had been creditable, so it was no surprise when Captain William W. Hunter, who commanded the naval squadron at Savannah, received a message from Brockinton, some months later, which was dated at Hilton Head, South Carolina, January 9, 1864, advising of his incarceration at Hilton Head, and of the circumstances of his being overpowered by the four pickets under his command, on the night of November 8, and then being taken by them to the Union authorities at Fort Pulaski. From there he was then taken to Hilton Head, where he was held for some time, before being transferred to Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor. He was exchanged in October, 1864.

After they had surrendered themselves to the Union authorities at Fort Pulaski, with Brockinton as their prisoner, Andrews, May, Brandt and Conner were subjected to the usual round of interrogation, during which they provided information on themselves, as well as the Confederate naval forces based around Savannah. This information, collected by Lieutenant Commander A.W. Johnson, of the USS Unadilla, was then passed on to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. All four deserters had also previously served, as seamen, aboard the CSS Oconee, which had previously been named the CSS Savannah, a steamer, as opposed to the ironclad CSS Savannah, on which they were serving just prior to their desertion. When the Oconee foundered in August, 1863, many of her crew were then transferred to the ironclad Savannah. [3]A message from Union Commander William Reynolds, of the USS Vermont, dated at Port Royal Harbor, November 27, 1863, to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, notes that he had also interrogated the four deserters, and that they had actually been aboard the CSS Savannah since June, 1863.
[An almost similar incident is related in the Official Records of the Navies, series 1, volume 21, page 145, in which Union Rear Admiral David Farragut, on March 18, 1864, at Pensacola, advises Captain J.P. Gillis of the USS Ossipee of four deserters from the CSS Selma who had come into Union occupied territory, bringing along their immediate commander, Confederate master's mate, R.B. Holly, as prisoner. However, another source, the Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy, published in 1931, indicates that Holly had actually surrendered himself as a prisoner, on March 15, 1864, and later took the oath of allegiance to the United States. The four enlisted deserters from the CSS Selma were named as Thomas Keats, quartermaster Malcolm Chalmers, ordinary seaman Hiugh Kelly, and John F. Simmons.]

Meanwhile, after the desertion, repercussions were already being felt, with the Commander in Charge of the naval Office of Orders and Detail, in Richmond, Virginia, John K. Mitchell questioning several aspects of the incident, to which Flag Officer Hunter, at Savannah replied:

I have received your letter of the 23rd [November, 1863] instant, in relation to the desertion of the guard boat on this station some time since. You state that "the frequency of similar desertions to the enemy enjoins the necessity of great caution in the selection of men, as well as officers for the performance of all such duties." I can not but be aware of the importance of this, and would state that I have been so guided. You are aware that you have detached from this station to Richmond, Charleston, and to the naval school, with scarcely an exception, such officers as I should most confidently rely [upon] for service of the character alluded to.

Hunter then goes on to describe the service and good character of Brockinton, and that his fellow officers considered him as being completely loyal, and that he would not have willingly gone over to the enemy. Some months later, in another letter from Hunter to Mitchell, he (Hunter) notes that he had heard from Brockinton, held in captivity at Hilton Head, and explaining the circumstances of his capture, and Hunter further adds, rather harshly:

I find that no reliance whatever can be placed on the shipped men of foreign birth who are in this squadron. Without an exception, all the men who have been and are being tried by the naval court-martial here for mutinous conduct are Irish and English. As I feel assured that these men would prove very detrimental and dangerous to our cause, either in the squadron or at large, I deem this fact is worthy the consideration of the revising power when the record of their cases is presented. [4]

As we now know, desertions from both the Army and Navy of the Confederate States, increased to an alarming rate in the final months of the war, as the men, regardless of nativity, grew weary of the war, and the seemingly futile efforts to stop the Union forces.

Notes and Sources:

[1] One can only surmise about the moral character of the women from whom Martin had obtained his information, especially since they had heard directly from the deserters, on a previous occasion, about their intended actions. The incidents related in this article can be found in dispatches as transcribed on pages 105 to 109, series 1, volume 15, of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.

[2] See Lillian Henderson's Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, volume 3, page 257.

[3] See the rosters of the steamer CSS Oconee, and the ironclad CSS Savannah, on pages 297 and 304, respectively, of volume 1, series 2, of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. It is further indicated on page 323, volume 1, of Lillian Henderson's Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, that a Richard J. May, of company C, 1st Regiment Georgia Regulars, who had transferred to the Confederate States Navy on April 29, 1864, was the same Richard May who had served on the ironclad Savannah. However, this is highly unlikely, since May, of the CSS Savannah, had deserted in November, 1863, long before the transfer of Richard J. May, from the Army into the Navy.

[4] Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, series 1, volume 15, page 108.

© Terry Foenander.

December, 2001.