Lincoln Sneezed

by Brian Boyington

  Realizing that his plan of attack was in shambles, Governor General Chapman signaled recall and the remaining seven battleships steamed away. Whistles blew, and rockets were fired up in the air from the three forts, indicating that the attack was over. Rescue boats searched the wreckage of HMS Thames looking for survivors. Three sailors were found clinging to floating debris and rescued. They were taken to the hospital at the Navy yard for treatment and questioning.

  Once all his ships were outside the range of Fort Warren’s guns, Chapman organized a blockade of Boston. Chapman signaled for a meeting of all his captains in the flagship, and they gathered in his cabin. Chapman sat at the head of the table, and the senior officers took up the rest of the seats. The frigate captains stood close to the tables, and the sloop of war commanders stood by the walls. The Governor’s steward served everyone a glass of wine. Governor Chapman stood and raised his glass in salute to the HMS Thames saying: “To departed friends” and drank. All the captains joined in the toast.

  Governor General Chapman then said: “The two new forts were unexpected. That is an issue we are here to resolve.” Pointing to the chart on the wall, he continued: “Our next effort will to neutralize the fort on the island of Nahant.” Then with his pointer, he touched the tip of the island and continued: “The battery is here” and moving the pointer along the east side he indicated: “The rocky shore protects the eastern approach. However, there is a sandy beach here at the north end. The charts indicate a wide and long beach at low tide, but at high tide, boats can land close to the rampart at the base of the hill. The battle line will approach from the northeast, and our cannonade should silence the battery and cause damage to the guns.”

  Then looking at Captain Vansittart said: “Achilles will shepherd the long boats of Royal Marines and provide close cover shelling the fortification. Once the Marines overwhelm the redoubt, they will secure the battery. Once secured, the battery can be used to engage the fort in Winthrop.”

  Then addressing the other frigate captains Chapman using the pointer continued: “Your assignment is to harass the ports of Salem and Marblehead here and here. That should minimize ground troop support from those locations.” Then glancing at the sloop of war commanders Chapman said: “Your assignment is to protect the transports and provide your longboats to the Marines. I anticipate landing 300, with another 300 in reserve if needed.”

  Charleston Navy Yard

  General Chamberlain held a council of war in his headquarters. Attending were the Governor of Massachusetts, John Albion Andrews and the Mayor of Boston Otis Norcross. Also present were Colonel Alexander Wickes commander of Ft Warren, Colonel William Jones at Fort Independence, Major Joseph Williams at Fort Winthrop, Major John McNulty at Fort Heath, Major John Anderson at Fort East Point and the commanders of the Casco Class monitors.

  Chamberlain began: “Congratulations are in order today. Colonel Wickes, Major McNulty, and Major Anderson gave the Royal Navy a black eye today. However this was just the initial gambit, they will be back. The other good news is that the first regiments of 30,000 reinforcements are arriving and encampments are being set up from Lynn to Hull.” These reinforcements are to be positioned depending on the threat. As of now, the greatest threats look to be from Quincy to North Chelsea.

  Then addressing Major Anderson Chamberlain continued: “John I suspect the next British attack will be in your direction. If I were in their admiral’s shoes, I would attempt to capture your position and turn the guns on Fort Heath. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to alleviate that situation. What I will provide are passenger steamboats which will aid in the evacuation of your command when necessary. I expect your men to defend as long as feasible to draw the British into a landing, then spike the guns and evacuate. I expect the Royal Navy to begin a bombardment at mid-tide tomorrow and land troops at high tide. An attack tonight is unlikely as the moon will be full, but be on alert for the possibility. Once you have evacuated everyone, Fort Heath will fire explosive rounds into East Point to destroy what is left; and cause difficulties for their ground troops.”

  Then turning to Colonel Wickes Chamberlain said: Alexander, your command occupies the most vulnerable position at the mouth of the harbor. You will have supporting fire from Fort Heath to assist on your north flank, but the Royal Navy’s bombardment will be intense. Defend you must to bring them in. Then addressing the Monitor commanders, Chamberlain added: “When the Royal Navy closes on Fort Warren, your Monitors will intercept them before they gain entrance to the harbor. Make sure your crews and ships are ready. The first engagement when battleships outnumber our monitors. Gentlemen, you will be making history. Make it memorable.”

  Then turning to Colonel Jones and Major Williams, Chamberlain reminded: Your responsibility is the defense of the inner harbor. By tomorrow there will be an additional 10,000 soldiers and two hundred other cannons in place. If they come this far, we will give them a warm reception.

  At dawn, Chamberlain already had his breakfast and was inspecting the new defenses. Captain Lincoln was in charge of building the redoubts and rolling up cannons to protect the Navy Yard. As Chamberlain strode by, he was cheered by many Civil War veterans, and stopped and spoke privately with them. After a fashion, he said: “It is time for us all to be about our tasks” and walked back to his office at Navy Yard.

  The Monitor crews were busy training in the harbor, practicing maneuvers and testing the new steam spindle systems for rotating the turrets. As is typical with new installations, numerous minor problems were encountered and resolved. Better now than in battle was the common expression. Knowing that battle was imminent, the training grows more intense. The Petty Officers shouted, threatened and bullied the crews until slowly their performance improved. The constant drilling focused the teams on their responsibilities and teamwork was developing.

  Royal Navy Fleet

  Governor General Chapman signaled for the attack on East Point to begin. From the northeast, a battle line of five battleships sailing out of a light fog started the bombardment in succession. The battery fired back, but the battleships sailed in and out of the fog bank making targeting difficult. The intense Royal Navy fire knocked several guns out of action. One of the battleships was struck simultaneously by two explosive shells and fires erupted. The battleship steamed out of line into the fog to fight the fire.

  The cannon at Fort Heath joined the battle. Splashes from near misses straddled the lead battleship. The next salvo scored several hits into the hull. The third salvo had several exploding shells burst in the air close to the battleship, causing dozens of casualties. The battleship turned away into the fog. Moments later, broadsides from the next two battleships screamed into the battery at East Point, some exploding in the air others into the ground. The impact of one shell blew Major Anderson off the parapet. Dazed, he staggered painfully to his feet, noticing his right leg was bleeding profusely. Looking at the battery, he only saw one surviving gun crew loading their cannon. There were bodies and parts of bodies everywhere.

  Staggering to the gun, he looked over the rampart and saw HMS Achilles 1/2 mile from shore firing broadsides at the north fortification. He pointed there, the gun rotated on its track, was depressed, aimed and fired. The shell exploded between the Main & Mizzen tops showering cordage wood and metal splinters, onto the deck below resulting in numerous casualties. Vansittart felt the impact in his leg and looked down at a 3-inch wood splinter sticking out of his thigh. He ordered the broadsides to continue and ignored the efforts to take him below.

  Realizing the end was near, Anderson saw the longboats with Royal Marines approaching the beach. Cannons and riflemen on the north rampart were taking a heavy toll of the approaching boats, but for every boat destroyed, five more took its place. Anderson ordered the firing of one red flare. That was the signal to begin the withdrawal. The steam passenger boats, observing the signal, pulled up to either side of the dock. The wounded were the first to be brought aboard, then the surviving gu
n crew, which first spiked all the cannons.

  The Royal Marines were now on the beach, advancing on the rampart. Achilles was providing cover fire into the redoubt. Withering rifle and canister fire drove the advancing Royal Marines back, but as more boats pulled ashore the attack resumed. Scaling ladders went up the ramparts, hand to hand fighting resulted. The defenders pushed the ladders over, and the 2nd attack began to falter. The beach was covered by dead and wounded in red uniforms. More bodies floated in the waves which pushed them ashore. More Marines landed and pressed forward.

  The defenders took advantage of the lull to spike the field pieces and begin to withdraw. One-half of the surviving defenders took up position near the top of the hill, to provide cover for those who remained. The rear guard fired a volley into the Marines, then carrying the wounded withdrew to the dock. The Marines climbed the ladders and swarmed over the rampart. The defenders of the hill fired a volley into the advancing Marines, then in sections retreated to the dock. Full of survivors, most of them wounded, the first steamer pulled away.

  Major Anderson waited impatiently for his men to return. Realizing that no more were coming, he blew his whistle twice, which was the signal to fire two red rockets. That was the message to Fort Heath that he was abandoning East Point. Anderson painfully climbed onto the remaining steamer which then left the dock. Observing the Royal Marines entering the battery and with tools were trying to remove the spikes. Anderson ordered the firing a green rocket. That was the signal for Ft Heath to fire into the battery.

  Major McNulty was observing the withdrawal with his binoculars, seeing the advancing Marines and willing for Major Anderson to move faster. Relieved to see the green rocket, he ordered his battery to fire into East Point. The nine Rodman cannons, loaded with the explosive shot fired in unison, reloaded and fired again. When the smoke cleared, McNulty saw that three of the guns were still mounted and ordered another salvo. One gun was still in its carriage. A fourth salvo dismounted that one also.

  The steamers were arriving at the pier in Beachmont. Medical teams and horse-drawn ambulances were there to care for the wounded. Through binoculars, McNulty saw Anderson hobble down the gangplank and saluted his friend’s courage. The original garrison numbered 350. Only 210 men returned on the steamers.

  Grimly, McNulty knew his position was now exposed. He telegraphed his concerns to General Chamberlain who ordered reinforcements to the fortifications in Beachmont and the construction of other fortifications on the Winthrop Beach side of Upland Hill to protect from a sea assault from that approach to Fort Heath. These defenders consisted of Militia volunteers who were arriving each day. Within a day 5,000 volunteers constructed a series of fortified strong points which extended in a crescent shape one mile to the Winthrop side Short Beach. Field pieces were rolled up to the fortifications and positioned to have overlapping areas of fire. The defenders continued to strengthen the position while they waited.

  Governor General Chapman was incensed with the outcome at East Point. He had taken the fort, but it cost him two severely damaged battleships and over 200 Marines. What was worse, was the fort was useless. The plan was to use East Point’s guns to shell Fort Heath. The final bombardment from Fort Heath had dismounted all nine of the 15” Rodman cannons. Each gun weighed over 49,000 lbs. Cranes were required to lift the cannons onto the cradles. The engineers could build the cranes; but as the battery was in a comfortable range of Ft Heath, construction and use of the cranes would be impossible.

  Royal Navy Fleet

  Chapman called his captains in for a meeting. He was angry and terse. The commanding officers listened as Chapman issued the order of battle for the next day. Chapman announced: “The fleet would engage Fort Warren from Roosevelt Roads and with focused rifled cannon fire eliminate it as a threat. The battleships would then attack Fort Heath and neutralize the battery. Three of the frigates would shell the manufacturing district in Lynn, while the other two, frigates, including Achilles, would cover the landing of two regiments of infantry to burn Winthrop and Beachmont. The sloops of war would escort the troopships, then warn of any relief from Boston Harbor.”

  The next morning at dawn, a thick fog obscured visibility. The Royal Navy battleships had steamed to within one mile of Fort Warren before the lookouts saw tops of masts approaching. Bugle calls woke the gunners who were sleeping next to the guns. The battleships opened fire, and the battleships fired broadsides into the fort before the Rodman cannons could be loaded and fired. Exploding shells had killed or wounded nearly half of the rooftop gun crews. The guns remaining in action fired. The casement guns joined the battle, but without a concentration of shells, damage to the battleships was minor. The warships circled the island firing broadsides into Fort Warren at close range. One battleship ventured too close, struck submerged rocks and heeled over. Several of the fort’s guns concentrated their fire blasting the battleship into a hulk. However, the concentration of battleship broadsides blasting huge holes in the casements gradually silenced Ft Warren’s guns. Two hours after the first broadside, the battleships moved on towards Fort Heath.

  The fog was lifting, and the six remaining battleships were clearly visible from Fort Heath which opened with concentrated salvos. An experienced 14 man gun crew could fire, clean, reload a 15” Rodman cannon every 3 minutes. Major McNulty aimed his cannons at one ship at a time. The Royal Navy 68lb cannons returned fire and the 32 pounders as they were in range. After one hour, two battleships had been disabled and were drifting out of control towards the rocky coastline. Two others were severely damaged. Fort Heath only had surviving gun crews to fight three guns. Fatigue and lack of coordination from mixed gun crews delayed the reloading process to five minutes.

  Noticing the sporadic return fire, the three frigates assigned to shell Lynn sailed up the channel, past Nahant towards Lynn. All opened fire with explosive rounds. Soon the four and five story brick mill buildings in Lynn were burning, along with dozens of waterfront businesses. Local fire crews valiantly fought the flames amid the exploding shells. Civilians huddled in their basements, some fled, but many grabbed their guns and headed to the parapets.

  More than 5,000 additional reinforcements had arrived in Boston. Some were assigned to defend the Navy Yard, others to defend positions in Chelsea. The balance boarded barges which were towed up Belle Isle Inlet towards Winthrop and Beachmont.

  Militia units in Lynn had set up batteries behind the log and earth walls. Dozens of field pieces were firing on the frigates. Anticipating that the British would attack Lynn with naval units, the militia commander had moved the channel markers. Two of the frigates ran aground on sandbars and the third, HMS Isis narrowly avoided collision with her grounded sister ships. The grounded frigates heeled over and were unable to fire their cannons. Helpless they were shelled mercilessly.

  HMS Isis launched longboats in an attempt to rescue the crews and fired broadsides into the ramparts. Dozens of officers and crew members were able to be rescued, but she was unable to prevent the shelling of the grounded ships. More militia units were arriving with additional field pieces on the horse-drawn caissons. More and more cannons joined the fight.

  As the high tide began to turn and the field cannons began to focus on her, HMS Isis recovered the boats and steamed away. Cheering erupted from the ramparts; then boats were launched to look for British survivors and to salvage the grounded ships. Others helped the firefighters and others salvaged what they could from buildings in the path of the fire. The fires burned through the night until they burned themselves out at the waterfront.

  HMS Achilles and HMS Grogan sailed into Broad Sound towards Beachmont. HMS Achilles and HMS Grogan were shelling the ramparts on Beachmont Hill, and most of the shorefront buildings in Beachmont were burning. The longboats carrying 300 soldiers were landing, with other waves close behind. With a signal, boardwalk demolitions exploded showering the landing soldiers with wood splinters and rocks. Dozens fell, but the others pressed on.

  The tugboa
ts pulling barges of reinforcements were arriving in Belle Isle Inlet and docked at the piers. The militia companies ran down the piers, formed up and double-timed up Pearl Ave and Summer Street towards the sounds of fire.

  HMS Achilles and HMS Grogan moved closer and intensified the bombardment on the ramparts. There were now 1,000 British troops on the beach moving through the burning remains of the boardwalk and buildings. At a range of fewer than 500 yards, the broadside bombardment of the ramparts caused them to collapse in several places. Under cover of the bombardment, the British troops advanced up the hill towards the ramparts. The surviving Gatling gun crews began firing, and field pieces were firing canister. All across the line of attack scores of British troops began to fall, but the advance pressed on into the breaches. With fixed bayonets, they engaged the defenders. Intense hand to hand fighting took place. Veteran against a veteran with rifle butts, knives, fists and trenching shovels. No quarter asked, none given.

  More British soldiers charged up the hill. The Gatling guns, firing from the crescent shaped rampart decimated the attackers, but they surged upward. Capturing three of the Gatling guns, the British began to turn them around. At that moment freshly arrived militia reinforcements crested the top of the hill and without hesitation counter-attacked. The advance recaptured the guns and began to push the British back.

  The Royal Navy’s bombardment of Fort Heath continued, with the forts remaining guns firing in return. Major McNulty sent runners with urgent messages to the ramparts below the fort for gunners who had been trained on or fired heavy artillery. Thirty men responded and began reloading two more of the cannons. Looking towards Beachmont, McNulty saw the intense hand to hand fighting, with neither side giving quarter. He then looked out towards the harbor and saw one of the British sloops of war with signal flags hoisted. For the first time in hours, he smiled. Out of the lifting fog, the monitors were arriving.