F. S. BARTOW, see Annex I FAIRPLAY SwStr: dp. 156; dr. 5'; s. 5 mph. FAIRPLAY was built in 1859 at New Albany, Ind., for service out of Vicksburg, Miss. She served as a Confederate transport on the Yazoo and other tributaries of Page 519 the Mississippi. In August 1862 she was ordered out of the Yazoo to convey arms, munitions. and stores from Vicksburg to Milliken's Bend, thence up the Mississippi River for a load of corn which she safely delivered to the same landing. She transported arms from Vicksburg to Milliken's Bend a second time, and had arrived with a third shipment on 18 August 1862 when she was surprised and captured with her cargo intact by a Federal gunboat fleet which had sailed from Helena, Ark. At that time, FAIRPLAY was under command of Captain White, a citizen of Milliken's Bend. Her prize cargo was said to include 5,000 Enfield rifles and muskets, much ammunition and quartermaster stores. FAIRPLAY was armed with four 12-pounder howitzers and taken into the Federal Western Gunboat Flotilla which was transferred to the jurisdiction of the United States Navy on 1 October 1862 and redesignated the Mississippi Squadron. She spent the remainder of the Civil War on patrol as a Federal gunboat in the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Ohio Rivers. FAIRPLAY was decommissioned at Mound City, Ill., on 9 August 1865 and sold on 17 August 1865. FALCON SwStr: t. 285; l. 270'; b. 24'; dr. 7'; s. 14-18 k.; cpl. 45; cl. CONDOR FALCON belonged to the largest type of Confederate Government blockade runner placed in United Kingdom shipyards by Commander James D. Bulloch, CSN. FALCON was striking in appearance-long, low, with straight stem, hull painted white, three red funnels fore and aft, a single mast sloop rigged and straight stern; she was extremely fast, being said to have done 20 knots on her trials with her pair of oscillating sidewheel engines. She attracted considerable attention from August to October 1864 and then faded from the limelight, although she is said to have continued running into Wilmington, N.C. from Halifax, N.S. FANNY ScStr: cpl. 49; a. 1 32-pdr., 1 8-pdr. r. CSS FANNY was originally a United States Army steamer. She was captured by the Confederates in Loggerhead Inlet, N.C., on 1 October 1861 with a large quantity of commissary and quartermaster's stores on board. Taken into the Confederate Navy, she was placed in command of Midshipman J. L. Tayloe, CSN, and participated in the battles of Roanoke Island, 7-8 February 1862, and Elizabeth City, N.C., on the 10th when she was run aground and blown up by her captain who escaped with his crew to shore. FANNY MORGAN Yacht: t. ca. 8; l. 26'; b. 11' FANNY MORGAN was a very fast sailboat loaned to the Confederate government by her owner W. H. Beazley, who remained on board as her captain. She was accepted for the Confederate service on 22 October 1861 by Acting Master P. F. Appel, CSN, commanding the Confederate steamer BAYOU CITY, and was ordered fitted out for service by Comdr. W. W. Hunter, CSN, commanding naval defenses on the coast of Texas. FANNY MORGAN served as a guard and dispatch boat o Galveston, Tex., and was part of the Texas Marine Department [See Annex III]. FERD KENNET SwStr: t. 591 FERD KENNET, built in 1861 at St. Louis, Mo., was seized by the Confederate army in May 1861, and served in western waters as a transport. In July 1863 she was burned and scuttled in the mouth of the Yalobusha River by order of Comdr. I. N. Brown, CSN. FINGAL, see ATLANTA FIREFLY SwStr: cpl. 15; a. 1 gun FIREFLY, a wooden side-wheeler, was purchased by the State of South Carolina in 1861 and transferred to the Confederate Navy in May of that year. On 13 August 1863 authority was granted to mount a small gun and construct the magazine necessary for it. FIREFLY was used as a small tender on the Savannah station from March 1863 to 21 December 1864, commanded by Acting Master's Mate R. M. C. Kennedy, Pilot W. Thomas, and Acting Master's Mate S. F. Hebbard. She was burned by her officers at the fall of Savannah. FISHER StGbt: t. 66 The small wooden gunboat captured while building at Edwards Ferry, N.C., has been presumed to have been CSS FISHER. "New and with good machinery," she reached Hampton Roads 27 June 1865. She may have been the side-wheeler ALEXANDER OLDHAM documented for commerce 27 September 1865 in Philadelphia and lost in 1873. FLAMINGO SwStr: t. 284; l. 270'; b. 24'; dr. 7'; cpl. 45; s. 16 k.; cl. CONDOR FLAMINGO was one of the striking, three-stacked, sloop-rigged steamers, usually painted white to obscure their movements at night through the blockade, which were delivered to the Confederacy's order in the United Kingdom-very likely on the Clyde-sometime in 1864; they were negotiated by Comdr. James D. Bulloch, in close correspondence with Navy Secretary Mallory. FLAMINGO was one of the largest type of blockade runners placed by the Confederate Navy in foreign yards. Sailing from Glasgow under Captain T. Atkinson in July, she put in at Queenstown in nearby Northern Ireland and at Ponta Delgada in the Azores before beginning her runs into Wilmington, N.C., with high priority cargoes. FLAMINGO suffered a serious setback probably for several weeks or longer in the autumn: she was at Bermuda in September, along with her sister, PTARMIGAN, while their crews battled yellow fever. While two of her last runs in 1865 were into the Gulf, FLAMINGO must have attempted one more into Charleston, for a contemporary Coast Survey chart shows the wreck of a FLAMINGO off Battery Rutledge on the north side of Charleston harbor. FLORIDA Sch: a. 1 6-pdr. rifle The pilot schooner FLORIDA was not issued a letter of marque but gave better account of herself as a "junior privateer" than did many a larger vessel better armed after formal commissioning. Maj. W. Bevershaw Thompson, CSA, chief engineer of the Coast Defense Department fortifying Hatteras Inlet approaches, in a report from Fort Hatteras, N.C. to the Military Secretary, Col. Warren Winslow, 25 July 1861 described her: "We have also a saucy-looking little pilot schooner, the FLORIDA, mounting one 6-pounder rifled cannon. She Page 520 captured a prize 2 days since, took her crew out, and sent her in with her own men. A U.S. Government steamer gave chase to the prize, and they were obliged to beach her near Nag's Head. She, of course, is a total loss." After this brief moment on stage during the early days of the war, history says no more of the enterprising pilot boat-privateer, it is impossible at this distance even to be sure that she was privately owned and not a North Carolina public vessel. FLORIDA ScStr: t. 429 or 460; l. 171'; b. 29'11"; dph. 9'6" CSS FLORIDA, built at Greenpoint N. Y. in 1859, was thrice considered for a gunboat before she became one. Contrary to previous interpretation of the official records, closer comparison of entries reveals that she did not serve the Mississippi River Defense Fleet as originally intended but became a Government-owned blockade runner, most authors have confused her with the Mobilian CSS FLORIDA who did not receive her name SELMA (q.v.) until July 1862. CSS FLORIDA of New Orleans was one of 14 steamers of Charles Morgan's Southern Steamship Co. which Maj. Gen. Mansfield Lovell "impressed for public service" at New Orleans 15 January 1862, acting on Secretary of War Benjamin's orders. The colorful Lt. Beverly Kennon, CSN, had sought her command but had to be content with GOVERNOR MOORE. He nostalgically described FLORIDA to a court of inquiry as "a very fast and a very handsome vessel indeed.... A direct-acting screw of about 100 horsepower ... about the same size in all respects as the U.S. steam sloop POCAHONTAS. Of the several ships of the same name, she apparently is the FLORIDA who arrived at Havana 23 March 1862 with 1,000 bales of cotton. Attempting to repeat her success, she had loaded 211 bales in St. Joseph Bay near Pensacola when captured by Acting Master Elnathan Lewis with armed boats from US Bark PURSUIT, 6 April. The boarders had just captured a sloop, LAFAYETTE, at St. Andrew's, 20 miles below, and the latter's Captain Harrison volunteered to pilot Lewis' party on up to capture FLORIDA. Surprised at 4 o'clock Sunday morning, FLORIDA's crew were unable to fire their ship. It later appeared that the pilot, chief mate, first and second engineers were Union sympathizers. Mr. Lewis, after running FLORIDA aground twice and jettisoning 30 bales of cargo, found "it was impossible to bring her out without the assistance of the engineers, pilot, and mate; so rather than burn her he considered it prudent to bargain with them, and gave his word that they would receive $500.00 each. They were faithful." In the 30-mile passage to the bar, FLORIDA and LAFAYETTE were almost recaptured by the Confederates on 8 April after Capt. R. L. Smith, CSA, and his company of dragoons had galloped 24 hours from Marianna, Fla. to intercept them off St. Andrew's. A ship's boat was ambushed with four casualties, one dead, but the prizes continued on to Key West. There, 19 April 1862, Commodore McKean reporting to Secretary Welles confirms that FLORIDA had never been converted: "I have examined her, and find that her upper deck is too light to carry guns of any weight. I have not the means to strengthen her sufficiently, or I should retain and convert her into a gunboat." Despite this rejection the U.S. Navy bought FLORIDA from the Philadelphia prize court, 20 September, changed her name to HENDRICK HUDSON (q.v.) and placed 4, later 5, guns on board. ScSlp: l. 191'; b. 27'2"; dph. 14'; dr. 13'; s. 9.5 k. (12 under canvas); cpl. 146; a. 6 6" r., 2 7" r., 1 12-pdr. CSS Cruiser FLORIDA was built by the British firm of William C. Miller & Sons and purchased by the Confederacy from Fawcett, Preston & Co.. also of Liverpool who engined her. Known in the shipyard as ORETO and initially called by the Confederates MANASSAS, the first of the foreign- built commerce raiders was commissioned FLORIDA; Union records long continued to refer to her as ORETO or to confuse her with ALABAMA although, fitted Page 521 with two funnels she was readily distinguishable from single-stacked ALABAMA. FLORIDA departed England 22 March 1862 for Nassau to coal and contrived to fill her bunkers, although entitled only to enough to make the nearest Confederate port. The Governor drew the line, however, at an attempted rendezvous with her tender in Nassau harbor; so she transferred stores and arms at isolated Green Cay. There she commissioned as FLORIDA 17 August, with veteran Lt. John Newland Maffitt, CSN, in command. During her outfit, yellow fever raged among her crew, in 5 days reducing her effective force to one fireman and four deckhands. In desperate plight, she ran across to Cuba. There in Cardenas Maffitt too was stricken with the dread disease. In this condition, against all probability, the intrepid Maffitt sailed her from Cardenas to Mobile. In an audacious dash the "Prince of Privateers" braved a hail of projectiles from the Union blockaders and raced through them to anchor beneath the guns of Ft. Morgan for a hero's welcome by Mobile. FLORIDA had been unable to fight back not only because of sickness but because rammers, sights, beds, locks and quoins had, inadvertently, not been loaded at Nassau. Having taken stores and gun accessories she lacked, along with added crew members, FLORIDA escaped to sea 16 January 1863. After coaling again at Nassau, she spent 6 months off North and South America and in the West Indies, with calls at neutral ports, all the while making captures and eluding the large Federal squadron pursuing her. (See also the exploits of Lieutenant Read under CLARENCE, TACONY, ARCHER and CALEB CUSHING.) FLORIDA sailed 27 July from Bermuda for Brest, where she lay in the French Government dock from 23 August 1863 to 12 February 1864. There broken in health, Maffitt relinquished command to Lieutenant Morris. Departing for the West Indies, FLORIDA bunkered at Barbados, although the 3 months specified by British law had not elapsed since last coaling at an Empire port. She then skirted the U.S. coast, sailed east to Tenerife in the Canaries and thence to Bahia, 4 October 1864. Anchored in the Brazilian haven, on 7 October FLORIDA was caught defenseless in a night attack by Comdr. Napoleon Collins of USS WACHUSETT, while her captain was ashore with half his crew. Towed to sea, she was sent to the United States as a prize despite Brazil's protests at this violation of neutral rights. At Newport News, 28 November 1864, FLORIDA reached the end of her strange career when she sank in a collision with the USAT ALLIANCE, a troop ferry and thus could not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order. Commander Collins was court-martialed but won fame and eventual promotion for his daring. FLORIDA captured 37 prizes during her impressive career; her prizes TACONY and CLARENCE in turn took 23 more. FLORIDA, see SELMA FLORIDA NO. 2, see TACONY FLORILDA Str FLORILDA was employed by the Texas Marine Department [See Annex III] in 1863 as a troop transport. Capt. J. Price and his officers were commended by Col. Leon Smith, CSA, for their role in the Battle of Sabine Pass, 8 September, in which USS CLIFTON and SACHEM were captured. The citation said FLORILDA "assisted in placing the reinforcements at disposal in time to effectually intimidate the enemy from further attack." FLY CATCHER, see FLYCATCHER FLYCATCHER ScStr: t. 37 FLYCATCHER, sometimes spelled FLY CATCHER, was sunk by Confederate forces in November 1862 as an obstruction on the Atchafalaya River, La. FORREST StTug: a. 2 guns, 1 32-pdr. FORREST, known originally as Edwards, was bought at Norfolk in 1861. EDWARDS/FORREST operated off the North Carolina coast in 1861-62. She participated in the battle of Roanoke Island on February 7, 1862 during which her commanding officer, Lt. J. L. Hoole, CSN, was seriously wounded. FORREST was disabled during the action and towed to Elizabeth City, N.C., for repairs. There, 3 days later, while out of water on the marine railway, she was burned to prevent capture by Union forces. FREDERICKSBURG IrcRam: l. 188' [170']; b. 40'3"; [34']; dr. 9'6"; cpl. 150; a. 11" sb., 1 8" r., 2 6.4" r.; type Enlarged ALBEMARLE CSS FREDERICKSBURG was built at Richmond, Va., 1862-63. On 30 November 1863 she was reported completed and awaiting armament. In March 1864 she was taken down to Drewry's Bluff to be fitted out, and placed in command of Comdr. T. R. Rootes, CSN. FREDERICKSBURG, one of the ships of the squadron commanded by Commodore J. K. Mitchell, CSN, was actively engaged in the James River from mid- 1864 until the end of the war. She participated in an action with Union ships in Trent's Reach on 21 June 1864 but little damage was inflicted on either side due to the distance between them. Similar inconclusive encounters took place in August, October, December, and the following January. With the evacuation of Richmond on 3 April 1865 the Confederates blew up FREDERICKSBURG and other ships in the vicinity the following day. [cf. CHICKAHOMINY] FRIGATE NO. 61, see SANTA MARIA SwStr: t. 296 FROLIC was built in 1860 at Wheeling, W. Va. She served the Confederacy in the Red River above Fort de Russy in May 1863. She was still in the Red River, below Alexandria, La., in June 1864, having come out of the mouth into the Mississippi under a flag-of-truce to deliver Union casualties suffered during engagements with Confederate batteries on the banks of the Red River. FULTON SwStr: t. 698; l. 180'; b. 34'8"; dr. 10'6"; s. 10 k.; cpl. 130; a. 4 32-pdr. FULTON was a side-wheeler built at Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1837 and rigged as a fore-topsail schooner. FULTON, formerly of the United States Navy, was captured by the Confederates when they seized the Pensacola Navy Yard on 12 January 1861. She was selected for Confederate Navy service but never finished refitting. The Confederates destroyed her while evacuating the yard before Union reoccupation on 10 May 1862. FULTON, see ROBERT FULTON