James Mcleod
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This page is about James Mcleod, a Scot who emigrated to America in the 1800's. I do not have much information about him yet, but have found out about what went on 'around him'. Introduction The first details I found about James Mcleod was this citation for the Medal of Honor he received [official citation]:
His receipt of the Medal of Honor has been listed in various sites: The Illinois Saint Andrew Society has his MOH details listed - in their "Famous, Infamous and Not-So-Famous Scottish- Americans", First Men from Maine to receive the Medal of Honor. A search was carried out on my behalf by the US National Archives and Records Administration in Washington. Here is what they found:
I received this reply from the Maine State Archives:
Enlistment James'
date of enlistment is only a few weeks after President Lincoln called
for "the enlistment, for not less than one nor more than three
years, of 18,000 seamen. in addition to the present force. for the
naval service of the United States." [3 May 1861. source]
Lincoln needed the additional forces to blockade the South in accordance
with the North's "Anaconda Plan". |
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An anomaly that came to light as I searched the Internet for more information was the rank. The rank, "Captain of the Foretop" had been disestablished in the US Navy in 1838, being replaced by the rank "Captain of the Tops" - referring to both Foretops and Maintops. [US Navy] As a Captain of the Tops, he could wear a Petty Officer's shoulder eagle, and would receive $25 per month [from an 1864 payscale]. The 'aft rifled howitzer' was probably one of the two 12 pound howitzers on board - from investigations it was probably a Dahlgren gun. [Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships ; Civil War Naval Ordnance and Battles and Leaders]. Photograph from the Museum of Florida History. Above Left : picture of a US Navy Medal of Honor from 1862. [US Navy] Below Left: smoothbore Dahlgren gun. [from Civil War Naval Ordnance] Below Right: photograph of the USS Pensacola. [Source] |
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USS Pensacola Commissioned in 1861, the steam sloop-of-war was captained by New Yorker, Henry Morris [grandson of a signatory of the Declaration of Independence]. Sailing from it's Washington naval yard, it joined the blockading squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. It joined Flag Officer Farragut's newly created West Gulf Blockading Squadron. She steamed with that fleet in the historic dash past Confederate forts St. Philip and Jackson which protected New Orleans 24 April and the next day engaged batteries below that great Confederate metropolis. On the 26th, a landing party raised the Union flag over the mint at New Orleans. [Source] The roster of the USS Pensacola can be found here. The following illustrations and most of the text comes from "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Volume 2"; an other good source on the web is "The New Orleans Expedition". A holiday company offers tours of the region, and their site has maps. |
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Right: Bird's eye view of the passage of the forts below New Orleans, Thursday April 24 1862. On the left is Fort St Philip, and Fort Jackson is on the right of the picture. At Forts Jackson and St. Philip, over 13,000 shells have been fired in the last four days - to little effect. Flag-Officer David Farragut, wearying of the ineffectual bombardment, decides to run his fleet past the forts and attack New Orleans which is seventy-five miles upriver. [source] |
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Right: Captain Bailey in the USS Cayuga, with the Pensacola and Mississippi behind, breaks through the Confederate fleet. |
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Right: The USS Pensacola disabling the "Governor Moore". Captain Morris wrote "The ram [Governor Moore]...advanced to attack this ship, coming down on us right ahead. She was perceived by Lieutenant F. A. Roe just in time to avoid her by sheering the ship, and she passed close on our starboard side, receiving, as she went by, a broadside from us." |
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Right: the "Governor Moore" in flames, with the Pensacola in the foreground. Farragut felt that the Pensacola was too big for the river, and that she, and the other larger ships in the fleet, delayed his progress by about 12 days. After 1864, Farragut would pass into legend with his "damn the torpedoes" retort. |
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HEADQUARTERS
DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, Off Fort Saint Philip, on Gulf Side, April
26, 1862. Actg. Brig. Gen. GEORGE F. SHEPLEY, General, Commanding
at Ship Island: GENERAL: The fleet passed by the forts on the morning
of the 24th instant with but little loss, leaving the mortar fleet
and a few gunboats below, without reducing the forts. They have
substantially cleared the river of boats above the forts, but have
left the ram and two rebel boats under the cover of the forts. These
are proving troublesome to the remnant of our fleet below in the
river. The flag-officer has gone up with twelve vessels of his fleet
to New Orleans, leaving us to reduce the forts. I am endeavouring
to effect a landing on the Gulf side, at the quarantine grounds.
Very respectfully, &c., BENJ. F. BUTLER, Major-General, Commanding.
[source]
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Captain Theodorus Bailey, second-in-command of the fleet, and the Pensacola's Lieutenant George H. Perkins landed in New Orleans on 25th of April: About every third man there had a weapon out. Two officers of the United States navy were walking abreast, unguarded and alone, looking not to right or left, never frowning, never flinching, while the mob screamed in their ears, shook cocked pistols in their faces, cursed and crowded, and gnashed upon them. So through the gates of death these two men walked to the City Hall to demand the town's surrender. It was one of the bravest deeds I ever saw done. [George Cable, CSA Cavalry, Battles and Leaders] |
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On the 26th of April, 1862, a boat manned by a few marines under command of a lieutenant, put off from the war sloop Pensacola that was anchored in the harbour of New Orleans. It landed at the foot of Esplanade Avenue, and its occupants hurriedly marched to the Mint. Acting without orders from Flag Officer Farragut of the hostile fleet, then abreast the city, the marines under the direction of their officer, hoisted the Stars and Stripes over the building that had been in possession of the Confederate Government for more than a year. [Adelaide Stuart Dimitry "War-Time Sketches Historical and Otherwise"] After the capture of New Orleans, Henry Morris was entrusted with the duty of holding the city and guarding the adjacent coasts. But his health became seriously affected, and he was persuaded to come to the north to recruit his strength, and died soon after his arrival. [source] Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who's websites I visited, and Jeffrey E. Brown, Archivist at the Maine State Archives, who's leads I am still following up. Also the National Archives and Records Administration for having such a detailed web site. |
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