Confederates at the Gates

Charles W. Read was an outwardly unprepossessing young man. One of his commanding officers, upon meeting the short, slight-built Read, referred to him in his diary–twice in the same sentence–as slow. He’d shared the same distinction at Annapolis as George Armstrong Custer at West Point: Both graduated dead last in their class. So poor was Read’s performance in his French classes that his friends and classmates dubbed him “Savez,” or “Savvy”–after the only French word he could retain. The nickname stayed with him all his life.

But Savez Read was not slow, either in thought or action. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1861, and only a year out of Annapolis, the Mississippi native gave up his recently acquired U.S. midshipman’s rank and immediately joined the Confederate Navy. Read served with distinction through the first year of the war and joined the crew of a Rebel raider as 2nd lieutenant. After seizing several Yankee ships on the open ocean, he was allowed to assume command of one of the prizes–the brig Clarence–for a series of raids on Union shipping along the northeastern seaboard. He set out from the coast of Brazil on May 6, 1863, armed with only one 12-pound gun, 6 rifles, and a handpicked 20-man crew.

When he reached American coastal waters, Read took four Union ships in short order. On June 12, he transferred his guns and crew to the captive bark Tacony, a faster, more powerful cruiser, and quickly seized three more vessels. When informed of the marauding Rebel’s activities, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, was apoplectic. He ordered the fleet to “send out anything you have available” to stop Savez Read–and off they went. Steamers in droves sailed in pursuit of the raider, but Read, unfazed, continued to “harass, capture, burn, and destroy” Yankee shipping. He bonded some of the vessels; the captains were made to sign a contract between themselves and the Confederacy, stating that within 30 days of the end of the war, they ‘d pay a specified sum to Jefferson Davis for the release of their vessels. Most of the ships, however, he burned to the waterline.

Read was incredibly successful. Between June 12 and June 24 alone, the Tacony seized 15 vessels–4 in one day. And during this entire time, Read was constantly taking and releasing–or bonding–prisoners. One transoceanic ship carried over 750 passengers, whom Read bonded for $40,000. Thus far, in a month’s time, the young Rebel had seized or destroyed some two dozen Union ships. But things were getting hot for Read and his crew; descriptions of the Tacony had circulated through the Union fleet, and his single howitzer was out of ammunition. New England’s coastal waters were teeming with gunships looking to capture or sink them; it was time to transfer vessels again. Read captured the fishing schooner Archer on the 24th of June, and after accepting the captain’s invitation to join them at their meal of fish chowder–which the Rebels thoroughly enjoyed–he transferred his crew and guns aboard, burned the Tacony, and made for Maine waters.

the Rebel raid on Portland Harbor

By Ron SoodalteR

(Continued on page 90)