Admiral D.D. Porter's General Order No. 184.

by Terry Foenander.

The Confederate States Torpedo Bureau had, through the course of the war, taken an immense toll on the Union Navy. In March, 1864, the Union gunboat Signal, of the Mississippi Squadron, captured some correspondence relating to the activities of the Torpedo Bureau, which prompted Rear-Admiral David Dixon Porter, commanding the Mississippi Squadron to issue the following General Order:

U.S. Mississippi Squadron, Flagship Black Hawk,

Alexandria, La., March 20, 1864.

General Order,

No. 184.

The enemy have adopted new inventions to destroy human life and vessels in the shape of torpedoes, and an article resembling coal, which is to be placed in our coal piles for the purpose of blowing the vessels up, or injuring them. Officers will have to be careful in overlooking coal barges. Guards will be placed over them at all times, and anyone found attempting to place any of these things amongst the coal will be shot on the spot.

The same policy will be adopted toward those persons who are caught planting torpedoes, or floating them down, or with any of these inventions in their possession.

Extra vigilance will be required in preventing the passing of boats across the different rivers. Anything in the shape of a boat or scow must be destroyed, no matter to whom it may belong. No pass will be given to anyone to cross or recross a river. No letter of any kind will be permitted to pass, and no boats will after this take from the banks anyone (except contrabands) who have not passes from me. No one will be allowed to go on board any gunboat unless the commander knows them personally and can vouch for them. Their names must be mentioned in the log and the facts reported to me.

The transports are not to take on board refugees or prisoners of war or deserters, and only such persons as are authorized at Cairo or by me.

All persons captured are to be thoroughly searched, also all trunks and clothing. All letters to be sent to me. When wheeled vehicles are captured, the lining and seats are to be cut and examined, horses, harness, and in fact everything where there is the least chance of stowing correspondence. No person is to be released who is caught carrying mails, but sent to Cairo as a prisoner of war. The same with all ferrymen, whose property will be confiscated on the spot.

The names of persons who are engaged in the torpedo business are: R.W. Dunn, E.C. Singer, J.D. Breaman, J.R. Fretwell, C.E. Frary, F.M. Tacker, L.C. Hirchbarger, and the sooner they are got rid of the better.

David D. Porter,

Rear-Admiral, Commanding Mississippi Squadron.

The issue of this General Order indicated that the activities of the Bureau were having the desired effect upon Union gunboat activities. Explosive devices in the guise of lumps of coal are assumed to have been used in the massive explosion at City Point, Virginia, in August, 1864, and also claimed to have caused the explosion on the USS Chenango in April of that year. In spite of the warning given in Porter's Order, more damage was done by the Confederate Torpedo Bureau in the last twelve months of the war then had been done in the previous three years.

Sources:

The transcript of the General Order, and preceding activities leading up to the issue of the Order can be found on pages 184 - 192 of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Volume 26. For an excellent coverage of the activities of the Confederate Torpedo Bureau, Milton F. Perry's volume Infernal Machines: The Story of Confederate Submarine and Mine Warfare is highly recommended.

Copyright, Terry Foenander.

September, 2000.