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TIIORIES & TALBOT.
GOSPORT NAVY YARD.
The accompanying picture represents a por-
tion of the Navy Yard at Gosport, Va., pre-
vious to the burning of the same by the
Federal troops, April 21, 1861. This was a
much coveted point with the rebels, who
looked to it for the necessary supplies with
' which to prosecute the war. Some of the
best ships of the navy were resting there, and
all the armament and equipment required for
them, the possmsion of which would be of the
greatest possible advantge to the rebels. In
connection with the fact it may be well to
recur to the scene of 1861.
It being deemed impossible to hold the
Navy Yard against the assaiiing forces, it was
decided to destroy it, and on the evening of
Saturday, April 20, 1861,’ the steamer Pawnee,
with the ting of Commodore Paulding at her
peak, and manned by some six hundred
picked men, steamed up to the Navy Yard
from Fortness Monroe, where they were
gladly received by those doing garrison duty,
and the sailors held there. All proceeded at
once to business. The military, under Colo-
nel Wardrop, guarded the gatw. WW“ ‘-119
sailors went about the work of destruction.
The night was bright and still, and the
I‘swnee's arrival was greeted with cheers by
the imperillcd garrison, and those on board
the vessels. It was I surprise to the people
No. 48.
of Norfolk and Portsmouth, who heard the
cheers with chagrin, knowing that it meant
the fnrstration of their hopes. They had
obstructed the channel by sinking the hulks
of vessels therein, but the Pawnee steamed by
them all without collision.
The shi, "“' " Pennsylvania, imbed-
ded in the mud, contained much United
States property that was valuable. This was
transferred to the frigate Cumberland, which
was afloat, and such other matters, available,
as could be saved, and then the guns were
spiked, and the niuskets and pistols broken
THE GOSPORT NAVY
that it was impossible to get away. The
moon aiforded light enough to see by, but
when this went down the torch was applied
tothe barracks, which lighted the yard and
the country about for miles. The work of
destruction continued throughout the night.
Cannon, shot, shell, ammunition, were
thrown into the river, and it was almost day-
light before the Pawnee slipped from her
moorings, with the Cumberland in tow, to
rctum to Fortress Monroe. Up to this time
the fire had been confined to the barracks,
but two men had been left behind-n son of
Commodore Rodgers and I Captain Wright of
the Massachusetts Volunteers-who were on-
trusted with the burning, It I given signal.
As the Pawnee leit her moorings, a rocket
was sent up from her decks, when from each
ship-house and cash ship flame simultaneous-
BOSTON, MASS., SATURDAY, l;6Vi‘:.‘iiiEi’t 26. 1870.
ly burst forth. Trains had been laid and
comhustihles placed in a manner to insure an
immediate mnliagration, and the result was
grand and terrific in the extreme. The ships
tired were the I‘ennsylvani.t, liierrimac, Ger-
mantown, Plymouth, Raritan, Columbia and
Dolphin. One ship, thirty years on the stocks
-the New York-was burnt, and the ship-
houses burnt like paper.
A correspondent at the time thus describes
the scene: “ It was not thirty minutes from
the time the trains were fired till the couha-
gration roared like I hurricane, and the
YARD, GOSPOET. VA.
iiames from land and water swayed, and met,
and mingled together and darted high, and
leaped up again, and by their very motion
showed their sympdthy with the crackling,
cracking roar of destruction bcneath. But in
all this hragniiicent scene the old ship Penn-
sylvania was the centre-piece. She was a sea
of (lame, and when the ‘ iron had entered her
soul,’ and her bowels were consuming, then
did she spout from every portrhole of every
dock, torrents and cataracts of lire that to the
mind of iiiilton would have represented her a
frigate oi hell pouring outunrcmitting broad-
sidos of lnfprnal lire. Several of her guns
were left loaded, but not shotted, and as the
fire reached them, they sent out on the star-
tled morning alr minute guns of fearful pen],
that added greatly to the alarm that the light
of the conllagration had spread through ll 6
Vol. XXV. PRICE 8 CTS.
surrounding country. The Pennsylvania
burnt like a volcano for live hours and 3
half before her msinmast ML”
The scene was I painful one to the specta-
tors of Norfolk and Portsmouth, who, as
soon as the Pawnee had left, burst into the
yard and attempted to extinguish the flames.
The task was too much for them, and the do-
struction was great, though not complete.
Many of the guns were not spiked, and many
of those that were, were bunglingly done, so
that they were taken for the foru that were
being built in the vicinity. The iiierrimsc,
though badly burnt, was so for useful to the
oonfederates that they made the ram of in-r
which destroyed her old associate, the Cum-
berland, and woidd have been a prolific source
of mischief but for the providential iiioniwr.
But the war, thank Heaven, is over, and
the Gosport yard, in ruins, remains I sad
monument to the violent times which tried
the Union to the utmost. It is to be hoped
that bad men may not disturb the restored
fabric of the Union by schemes of personal
ambition, or by the iutroductiori of partisan
discontent, and that the rulers of the nation
may see that the scourest bond for the perpet-
uation of the Union is in the amount of legiti-
mate liberty enjoyed under it. The least touch
of oppression is obnoxious Io frcemen, and at-
tempts to force submission is I wedge to sop-
arale those who otherwise would be imitcd.