In July, 1862, Union General George McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign came to its ignominious end on the banks of the James River, as his Army of the Potomac huddled under the protection of the US Navy’s guns at Harrison’s Landing.

Little Mac’s version of the West Point “Turning Movement,” conceived (but not performed) in grand Napoleonic style was beaten by Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, using the resurgent Army of Northern Virginia in a turning movement of their own and saving the Confederacy’s capital of Richmond in the process.

Almost un-noticed in the campaign’s finish was the end of the abortive Appomattox River Raid. Commodore John Rodgers discovered that warships armored and laden with heavy guns are no good if the river they are fighting in is low on water.

In the aftermath of the Peninsular Campaign, US Navy Secretary Gideon Welles’ and Flag Officer Louis Goldsborough, commander of the Navy’s North Atlantic Blockade Squadron glumly held an inquest on the Navy’s handling of its portion of the conflict.

Goldsborough’s analysis on the Navy’s operations concluded that the USS “Alligator” was not suited to operations in the cramped and shallow confines of the James and Appomattox Rivers, being more successful when operating in the open ocean or at a deep water port like that found at Norfolk. 

Goldsborough added one final recommendation.

As built, the “Alligator’s” current design required significant modifications to improve its speed, efficiency and lethality.

Ever the pragmatist, Welles agreed with Goldsborough’s findings, and immediately ordered the “Alligator” to be towed to the best graving dock and ordnance works on the east coast: the US Navy’s Yard at Washington, DC.  

On July 4, 1862, as the “Alligator” was being examined at the Washington Navy Yard, documents on the captured Rebel gunboat “Teaser” were found to contain information that a new Confederate ironclad ram was being built at William Graves’ shipyard in Richmond.

Dubbed the “Virginia II,” the casemate-style ram was 197 feet long, had a beam of 47 ½ feet, a draft of 14 feet, a cruising speed of 10 knots and a complement of 150 men. The new ram was armed with two double-banded 6.4-inch Brooke Rifles, a double-banded 8-inch Brooke Rifle and a double-banded 11-inch smoothbore cannon: every one of them “ironclad-killers.”

Though smaller than the Confederacy’s first ironclad, the now-scuttled CSS ”Virginia,” the mere thought of a second Rebel ironclad ram of that name loose on the James River caused grave concern to the US Navy.

Then “Harper’s Weekly” got a hold of the Confederate ram’s plans, publishing them in a July issue of the magazine, and the nation as a whole “became concerned.” Suddenly the Navy was beset by all manner of crackpot ideas on how to defeat this new threat to the Union’s waterways.

The Navy’s response was a plan from Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox. Fox ordered the USS “Alligator’s” return to Hampton Roads, there to await further orders for an underwater mission up the James to Richmond. Once in the Rebel capital, the “Alligator” was to locate by stealth and then sink the CSS “Virginia II.”

Fox’s orders were vetoed almost immediately by the civilian crew of the “Alligator.” Their captain, Acting Master Samuel Eakins had disappeared into Washington, abandoning his crew. Having just experienced the “charms” of the James River in wartime, the men of the “Alligator” were in no mood to go back for a second helping.

When Eakins’ replacement, Master’s Mate John McMillan proved unequal to the task, Fox then offered the “Alligator’s” captaincy to Navy Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge.

Selfridge, formerly of the USS “Cumberland,” of “Battle of Hampton Roads” fame, at first declined the offer. This prompted Fox to sweeten the deal, saying that if Selfridge would accept the post and was successful he, Fox, would make Selfridge a US Navy Captain, a jump of two officer grades. Selfridge agreed, and departed for the Washington Navy Yard.

At the Navy Yard, Selfridge was dismayed with the condition the USS “Alligator” was in. Some minor mechanical revisions had been made, but major modifications required the mind and hand of her inventor, Brutus de Villeroi, who was nowhere to be found. The “Alligator’s” air purifier, necessary for prolonged stays underwater was, Selfridge stated, “nonexistent.” Without the purifier, the time spent underwater would be reduced by as much as seventy five percent. Selfridge made his findings known to the Chief of the Navy Yard and to Assistant Secretary Fox, and then set about finding a Navy crew for his boat. About this time, Samuel Eakins turned up. (Though no longer the boat’s Captain, Eakins was still considered an asset, and so was given the title of “Superintendent.”)

As modifications continued, Selfridge’s reports of the boat and crew’s progress became increasingly pessimistic. Chief among the defects that needed resolving was the “Alligator’s” oar-driven propulsion system, it being plagued with constant breakdowns, oars jamming in the oar-locks. Worst of all, the oarsmen only produced a forward speed of, at most, two knots, which meant the “Alligator” would be buffeted by the smallest river current or tidal ebb and flow. Some other form of propulsion was needed to make the “Alligator” go.

Because of this, it was Selfridge’s considered opinion that the “Alligator” was too underpowered and too unwieldy to be sent on any kind of mission against the enemy.

This proved to be the insurmountable problem that sank Secretary Fox’s pet mission in using the “Alligator” to sink the “Virginia II” on Jeff Davis’ doorstep.

The plan was abandoned,

The “Alligator” returned to her place on the stocks at the Washington Navy Yard where her modifications got underway once more.

Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge received orders from Gideon Welles to take his crew and head west to Cairo, Illinois, becoming the Captain and crew of the river ironclad, USS “Cairo.”

Samuel Eakins remained behind to oversee the improvements being done on the “Alligator,” even returning to Philadelphia at the end of August, 1862 to consult on the new propeller being designed at Neafie & Levy shipbuilders, “the “Alligator’s” birthplace.

Throughout the next eight months, all specified modifications were completed on the USS “Alligator.” Sea trials in the Potomac River began in February of 1863.

March 9, 1863 saw the end of Samuel Eakins’ association with the “Alligator;” his services “being no longer required.”

The following day, March 10, the “Alligator” was towed to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and delivered to Union Admiral Samuel P. Lee, the new commander of the North Atlantic Blockade Squadron.

As the boat was being made ready for the trip, Secretary Welles re-hired Samuel Eakins, restoring him as Acting Master of the USS “Alligator.” Welles also informed Eakins that he would be in Hampton Roads only a short time.

Both Eakins and the “Alligator” were on their way to Port Royal, South Carolina, and service with Admiral Samuel DuPont’s South Atlantic Blockade Squadron off Charleston, South Carolina.

March 31^st saw the “Alligator” and her tender, the USS “Sumpter,” being made ready in all respects for the trip south. The next morning, April 1^st, the USS “Alligator” was taken under tow by the USS “Sumpter,” and the two naval vessels departed Hampton Roads, heading south for Port Royal.

In the early afternoon of April 2^nd, while off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the pair encountered a heavy gale which caused the “Alligator” to pitch and roll violently from the high wind and rough seas. By 5 p.m. the violence of wind and sea had snapped the starboard towing hawser, and was threatening to snap the port towing hawser, the last connection between “Alligator” and the “Sumpter,” endangering both vessels.

On consulting his officers and including Acting Master Eakins, the “Sumpter’s” Acting Master J.F. Winchester ordered that the “Sumpter’s” portside tow cable be cut. The “Alligator,” set adrift in the stormy sea, was soon lost from sight.

The “Sumpter” continued to be battered by the gale for several days more before finally reaching Port Royal. Winchester’s report to Navy Secretary Gideon Welles on the loss of the “Alligator” was backed up by Samuel Eakins in his own report to Welles; a tragic but unavoidable loss to the US Navy.         

Welles response was both terse and predictable.

Winchester and the “Sumpter” were to hold themselves in readiness to support Admiral DuPont and the South Atlantic Blockade Squadron.

Eakins’ commission as Acting Master was “revoked … (his) services no longer being required.”

His commission gone and a civilian once more, Samuel Eakins disappeared into history, abandoning his crew once again.

Without the services of the USS “Alligator“ to deal with the obstructions and torpedoes that infested Charleston harbor’s “Gate of Hell,” the naval assault of Admiral Samuel DuPont’s South Atlantic Blockade Squadron on April 9^th was doomed from the start. DuPont lost one ironclad, the “Keokuk,” to shellfire from Charleston’s harbor defenses, with the rest of the squadron taking damage both heavy and light for their efforts.

Could the USS “Alligator” have been the key to unlock Charleston’s “Gate of Hell?”

The answer can be found off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, somewhere in “The Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

(Note: All graphic images of Infernal Machine game materials used in this series of articles are subjective and may change and appear different in their final form.  All images show sourcing unless otherwise noted.)

---

Previous Infernal Machine articles