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We have found dates to Dec. 11th and from the news are much inclined to fear a British War.56 I found New Haven papers and news down to Dec. 5th. This afternoon H.M.S. Cadmus arrived from St. Thomas in two days, bringing news to the 19th ult. She reports the U.S.S. Quaker City at St. Thomas, having on board for the Iroquois Commander John De Camp, who will relieve Comdr. Palmer, he returning to New York in the Quaker City, whether under arrest or not we do not know. We are to sail for St. Thomas on Friday or Saturday; there we will hear all.57 This causes me some exercise of judgment. Shall I, if offered by Capt. De Camp a Clerkship, accept it and remain in the Iroquois, or shall I return to the United States? I have the whole two days trip to St. Thomas in which to dispose of the perplexing query. If I do decide right it will be well, for it is rarely that a young man is correct in his first independent decisions. (2) Riverine Warfare RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY, BACON DECIDED TO RETURN TO THE north with Palmer, arriving at Hampton Roads in late January. From there he went to his home in New Haven. Palmer, meanwhile, faced an inquiry into the Sumter affair. Semmes, Palmer’s nemesis, correctly noted that “when my escape became known to his countrymen , he had all Yankeeland down on him.” Palmer told Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that some people doubted his loyalty and that “some of my own officers had expressed dissatisfaction.” He also forecast that newspapers would publish “some of these unjust accusations and base insinuations.” Indeed, the press soon published derogatory hearsay and calumnies in abundance, vilifying Palmer as the antihero of the saga. Apparently the news of the Sumter’s flight first reached the New York Times on December 12, 1861, by private letters from St. Thomas. More letters followed, including one from Palmer when he wrote, “Twenty Sumters might get out of that port with only one vessel to blockade it.” But one of his officers, who wrote anonymously, declared, “The crew all say that we ran away from her, and I think so myself.”1 Instead of a formal court of inquiry, however, Palmer appeared before a Navy Retiring Board in New York to examine his fitness for duty. That board also probed into how the Sumter slipped away from Martinique. One witness was Bacon, who testified in support of his captain. Board members found Palmer fit for duty; and on March 17, 1862, Welles wrote him, “The Department fully exonerated you from all blame.”2 Riverine Warfare 31 32 The Sailor, 1861–62 Meantime, Bacon enjoyed about two months of home leave. This gave him time to rest, tell his sea stories, and prepare for the next tour of duty. With Palmer absolved and again assigned to command the Iroquois, Bacon’s long leave ended. He and Palmer sailed to New Orleans to rejoin their ship. Along with hundreds of other deep water sailors, they then embarked upon a new kind of warfare on the Mississippi River. On comparatively shallow fresh waters, they would fight enemy land batteries, warships, and riflemen sniping at them from hidden positions on river banks. In addition, they had to contend with lethal diseases and fevers endemic to the lower Mississippi. In that time of primitive medicine, hygiene, and sanitation, debilitating illnesses often disabled many in a ship’s crew.3 Control of the Mississippi was one aspect of General-in-Chief Winfield Scott’s “Anaconda Plan” and of later strategic thinking: squeeze the Confederacy from all sides. Gaining sway over the vital north-south river would split the Confederacy into two unequal parts. Texas, parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri would be isolated in the Trans-Mississippi. This would deny the eastern sections the troops, supplies, foodstuffs, horses, and revenue that came from across the river. Conversely, success would give Federal ships and troops free movement on the waterway, enabling the North to make gains in the West. This strategy required the capture of New Orleans, the South’s largest city, and the reduction of fortified Vicksburg, the upstream bastion which enabled the South to hold the river.4 For the rest of his naval service, Bacon took part in the fight for the Mississippi . He missed the battle for New Orleans, when Flag Officer David G. Farragut...

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