February 24, 1862: Franklin Buchanan given command of C.S.S. Virginia

Franklin Buchanan

Captain Franklin Buchanan was a long service veteran of the U.S. Navy. Of his 62 years, 45 had been spent in service to the U.S. Navy. A native of Maryland, Buchanan had resigned his commission when he thought his home state was about to secede. When Maryland failed to secede, Buchanan had tried to withdraw his resignation, only to be declined. It was with some sense of bitterness then that Buchanan had sought employment with the new Confederate Navy, a service with few commands suitable for such a senior officer.

On this day 150 years ago, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory notified Buchanan that he had been given command of the new ironclad C.S.S. Virginia as well as the various small gunboats of the Confederate James River Squadron. Mallory had extremely high hopes for the new ironclad:

C.S. Navy Department, Richmond, February 24, 1862.

SIR: You are hereby detached from the Office of Orders and Detail and will proceed to Norfolk and report to Flag-Officer Forrest for the command of the naval defenses, James River.

You will hoist your flag on the Virginia, or any other vessel of your squadron, which will, for the present, embrace the Virginia, Patrick Henry, Jamestown, Teaser, Raleigh, and Beaufort.

The Virginia is a novelty in naval construction, is untried, and her powers unknown, and the Department will not give specific orders as to her attack upon the enemy. Her powers as a ram are regarded as very formidable, and it is hoped that you may be able to test them.

Like the bayonet charge of infantry, this mode of attack, while the most distinctive, will commend itself to you in the present scarcity of ammunition. It is one also that may be rendered destructive at night against the enemy at anchor.

Even without guns the ship would be formidable as a ram.

Could you pass Old Point and make a dashing cruise up the Potomac as far as Washington, its effect upon the public mind would be important to the cause.

The condition of our country, and the painful reverses we have just suffered, demand our utmost exertions, and convinced as I am that the opportunity and the means of striking a decided blow for our Navy are now for the first time presented, I congratulate you upon it, and know that your judgment and gallantry will meet all just expectations.

Action—prompt and successful action—now would be of serious importance to our cause, and with my earnest wishes for your success, and for the happiness of yourself, officers, and crew,

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. R. MALLORY, Secretary of Navy.

Mallory admitted that the Virginia was "untried" and a "novelty," but he dreamed of the ship steaming up the Potomac to attack Washington, DC. In fact, the Virginia drew too much water to ever sail up the Potomac and was too unseaworthy to leave the sheltered waters of the Chesapeake. The new Confederate sea monster was effectively limited to the deep but sheltered waters of Hampton Roads.