WILLIAM CONWAY, A FORGOTTEN CAMDEN HERO.

Acting Master John O. Johnson.

Read before the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, December 1906

THIS is the story, long forgotten, of the I first patriot of the War of the Rebellion, and of the first surrender of the forces of the United States Navy to the rebels. I have reference to the disgraceful surrender of the United States Navy Yard, at Warrington, near Pensacola, Fla., January 12, 1861, which was wholly brought about by the traitorous acts of officers holding commissions in and wearing the uniform of the United States Navy. It is a long and interesting story of which very little is known. I do not intend, however, to give it in detail — simply enough to establish the record of a patriot. As often happens he was a man from Maine, and he was but a bluejacket.

The officers of the yard at that time were as follows: Commandant Captain James Armstrong, an old man who had served in the navy for more than fifty years; he was a midshipman in the War of 1812, and had recently been invalided home from the command of the squadron in India with chronic diarrhoea, from which he was a great sufferer. When he was ordered to that station from his home in Boston, he protested against it, saying that he was too old, and too feeble to be ordered to that climate. But his protest was without avail. He went, leaving his family at home, with the hope that within a few months at most he would again be ordered North. His only associates were the officers of the yard. The two officers who were nearest to him in rank and position, and the ones looked to for advice and counsel, were traitors to their country, though officers in the United States Navy, and both of them were from the North.

The executive officer of the yard held the rank of commander. His name was Ebenezer Farrand, and he belonged to New Jersey. The next in rank was Lieutenant F. B. Renshaw, from Pennsylvania. These two were brothers-in-law, both their wives being southern women, both traitors in disguise, and both doing their utmost to deceive the old commandant in every possible way, to the end that the yard should be surrendered to the rebels of Florida : for be it remembered that the Confederate States had not yet been formed, Farrand, the executive officer, stood naturally nearer to the commandant than did any other person. He was intended to be the right arm of the commandant, and being a man of northern birth, Captain Armstrong could not bring himself to believe that an officer so circumstanced was doing all he could to blind his eyes and to lead him astray as to the real condition of affairs. But that officer was covertly playing into the hands of the secessionists every moment of the time.

A few days before the surrender of the yard, the gunboat "Wyandotte," Lieutenant-Commander O. H. Berryman, arrived at the yard from Key West, and the store-ship" Supply," Commander Henry Walke, also arrived with stores from New York. Neither of these vessels amounted to much for offensive purposes, but they could have defended the yard against all offenders had they been ordered to do so. The " Supply" was on her way to Vera Cruz, but had called at Pensacola to land supplies. These were the only vessels there, and they had not been in port twenty-four hours before Commanders Walke and Berryman, as well as their officers, began to distrust the loyalty of the officers of the yard, especially Farrand, and his aid and brother-in-law Renshaw. They saw but too plainly how completely the venerable and perplexed commandant was in the hands of the traitors by whom he was surrounded, and among whom the northerners were the vilest of all.

There were three forts in the vicinity of the navy yard, namely Forts McRee, Barrancas and Pickens, which that rebel sympathizer, Secretary of War Floyd, had prevented being reinforced. But on January 3, 1861, the headquarters of the army at Washington had awakened from the lethargy that Secretary Floyd had purposely put upon it long enough to send an order to Lieutenant A. J. Slemmer of the army, who was commander of the three forts, to take measures to prevent either of the forts in Pensacola harbor from seizure by surprise or assault, consulting first the commandant of the navy yard, who would probably have instructions to co-operate with him. This order reached Lieutenant Slemmer January 9, but he knew very well that he would be unable to hold the three forts with but forty-six men, all the force he had. He decided to abandon Forts McRee and Barrancas, which were on the main land, and occupy Fort Pickens which was on Santa Rosa Island, at the mouth of Pensacola harbor, if it was possible for him to do so. What could be thought of the loyalty and intelligence of the headquarters at Washington which at the eleventh hour could dictate such an order!

Calling on the commandant of the navy yard immediately, Lieutenant Slemmer found that that officer was in receipt of orders from the Navy Department to co-operate with him in his measures of defence, and he received from him (Armstrong ) the assurance of assistance in every way, including the services of the "Supply" and the "Wyandotte." The commandant said that he did not think that he could hold the navy yard if attacked, but promised to have Slemmer and his command, together with supplies and ammunition, taken over to Fort Pickens at one-thirty P. M. on that day, January 9..

But no sooner had Lieutenant Slemmer left the office than the treacherous Farrand slipped in, and so worked upon the mind of the old man that he failed to keep faith with Slemmer. Farrand made Armstrong believe that it would be an outrage, a crime, to co-operate with this young army lieutenant, and so provoke a bloody conflict with the Florida state troops that would hand down his name in perpetual execration everywhere throughout the country. In this strait, Lieutenant Slemmer again visited the commandant and remonstrated with him for his failure to keep his promise. Finally, in the presence of Farrand, Berryman and Renshaw, Captain Armstrong gave orders for the "Wyandotte" to be at the wharf at Barrancas at four o'clock P. M., on that day in readiness to transport the garrison to Fort Pickens.

Nevertheless the "Wyandotte" did not move that day. Farrand had evidently gotten in his dastardly work again. His game was delay. He was in constant communication with the rebels at Pensacola, but nine miles away. He knew that within forty-eight hours they would demand the surrender of the navy yard, and he hoped the way to occupy Fort Pickens would be opened also. At eight o'clock the next morning, which was the tenth, Lieutenant John Irwin of the "Wyandotte" went to Fort Barrancas with a big scow, which the army folks at once loaded with provisions and ammunition, brought together all the other boats they could collect, without orders from the commandant, and towed them all across the harbor to Fort Pickens; LieutenantCommander Berryman also transferred from his ship to the fort thirty ordinary seamen and thirty stand of arms. At this time the old captain, under the malign influence that he could not escape, and distracted by the complications surrounding him, began to give such erratic and contradictory orders that Commander Walke of the "Supply" and Lieutenant-Commander Berryman of the "Wyandotte" made up their minds that their principal business was to co-operate with Lieutenant Slemmer of the army in making Fort Pickens secure from the attack of the rebels.

On the day of the occupation of Fort Pickens, Lieutenant Erben, of the "Supply," now Rear-Admiral Erben (retired), went down to Fort McRee with a boat's crew from the "Supply," and threw into the sea all the powder stored there, to prevent its falling into the hands of the rebels. Twenty-two thousand pounds were thus destroyed. When he returned from The executive officer of the yard held the rank of commander. His name was Ebenezer Farrand, and he belonged to New Jersey. The next in rank was Lieutenant F. B. Renshaw, from Pennsylvania. These two were brothers-in-law, both their wives being southern women, both traitors in disguise, and both doing their utmost to deceive the old commandant in every possible way, to the end that the yard should be surrendered to the rebels of Florida : for be it remembered that the Confederate States had not yet been formedFarrand, the executive officer, stood naturally nearer to the commandant than did any other person. He was intended to be the right arm of the commandant, and being a man of northern birth, Captain Armstrong could not bring himself to believe that an officer so circumstanced was doing all he could to blind his eyes and to lead him astray as to the real condition of affairs. But that officer was covertly playing into the hands of the secessionists every moment of the time.

A few days before the surrender of the yard, the gunboat Wyandotte," Lieutenant-Commander O. H. Berryman, arrived at the yard from Key West, and the store-ship "Supply," Commander Henry Walke, also arrived with stores from New York. Neither of these vessels amounted to much for offensive purposes, but they could have defended the yard against all offenders had they been ordered to do so. The "Supply" was on her way to Vera Cruz, but had called at Pensacola to land supplies. These were the only vessels there, and they had not been in port twenty-four hours before Commanders Walke and Berryman, as well as their officers, began to distrust the loyalty of the officers of the yard, especially Farrand, and his aid and brother-in-law Renshaw. They saw but too plainly how completely the venerable and perplexed commandant was in the hands of the traitors by whom he was surrounded, and among whom the northerners were the vilest of all.

would hand down his name in perpetual execration everywhere throughout the country. In this strait, Lieutenant Slemmer again visited the commandant and remonstrated with him for his failure to keep his promise. Finally, in the presence of Farrand, Berryman and Renshaw, Captain Armstrong gave orders for the "Wyandotte" to be at the wharf at Barrancas at four o'clock P. M., on that day in readiness to transport the garrison to Fort Pickens.

Captain Armstrong sent for Farrand, to advise with him in relation to the matter. That officer immediately advised the arrest of Erben and sending him on board ship, asserting that he (Erben ) was drunk. But this the commandant refused to do. At this Farrand rose up in great rage, and throwing a chair at Erben's head, left the room in great abruptness. Erben remained for a short time, talking with the commandant, and, bidding him good night, departed. The moment he got outside the front door Farrand, who had been lying in wait for him on the piazza, stepped up to him and shaking his fist in his face exclaimed: "D-you, I will teach you how to treat your superior officers."

He was so violent that Erben caught him by the throat, saying: "D-you, I will have you hanged as a traitor, as you are." They rolled off the piazza in their struggle, and Erben landing uppermost, Farrand began to shout for assistance. At this Renshaw, who had been in hiding in the shrubbery, came to Farrand's assistance. But Assistant Surgeon W. A. King, of the "Supply," who had come on shore with Erben, came up on Erben's side, and the two traitors, seeing a row very imminent in which they were likely to come out second, ran off to the other quarters, telling the officers' wives that Erben intended to blow them all up.

Farrand's whole conduct had been so unmistakably disloyal, that Erben and the other loyal officers of the navy had determined to seize him at the first opportunity and carry him on board ship. Lieutenant Berryman said that he would receive him on board the " Wyandotte," and if necessary put him in the coal bunkers for safe keeping. But Farrand was too wary. He felt that he was suspected and obnoxious to the officers and men on board the ships, and that the best measure of personal safety for him was to keep away from the water front. He could not be induced to approach the wharf on any matter of duty whatsoever. Had he ventured there, he was sure to have been seized, and he seemed to have had such a presentiment. He carried things with a high hand at the upper end of the yard with the distracted old commandant; but when he looked in the direction of the wharf, and saw the old flag under which he had been educated, his conscience made him a coward.

"He made a narrow escape," says Erben; " for had he been captured he would never have got on shore again." And Lieutenant Erben goes on to say that whatever orders Captain Armstrong gave for the protection of the yard, Farrand without his knowledge would countermand. Farrand knew the very hour that Victor M. Randolph would present his rebel forces at the gate of the navy yard, and was there to receive and welcome him, dressed in the full uniform of a United States naval officer; while Captain Armstrong was kept in entire ignorance of the whole affair and did not know that the rebels were approaching till they were reported at the gate, and the two commissioners selected by the governor of Florida were conducted to him by Farrand. All the details of the surrender were conducted by Farrand, even to the punishing of the faithful old quartermaster for refusing to haul down the flag in surrender when ordered to do so by the traitor Renshaw.

This faithful old seaman was William Conway, of Camden, Me. He had obeyed the order to stand by the halliards, but when ordered to haul down the flag in capitulation he said: "I will not do it, sir! That is the flag of my country under which I have served many years. I love it; and will not dishonor it by hauling it down now."

Renshaw had to do the traitorous work with his own hands, and then he and Farrand set about punishing the old quartermaster by putting him in irons for his fidelity to the old flag, which they had dishonored while holding the commission of an officer in the United States Navy; for Farrand resigned on the sixteenth and Renshaw on the twenty-first, after they had surrendered the yard on the twelfth. Their resignations were accepted by the Secretary of the Navy, when they should have been dismissed with dishonor and hung when caught. Erben says that the yard easily could have been defended, had the "Supply" and "Wyandotte" been ordered up to protect the approach to the yard, which was a road that ran for a half mile along the beach. As it was, the feeble old commandant was so hoodwinked and muddled by his traitorous officers, that he surrendered to a rabble of about four hundred Florida and Alabama troops. The two ships in the offing hoisted all the flags they had in defiance of the disgraceful surrender.

In the surrendering of this navy yard, we have the very singular and striking circumstance of a captain in the United States Navy acting as a commissioner, appointed by the governor of Florida, to receive the surrender of the property of the United States in the name of the State of Florida, a territory the United States had purchased from Spain but forty-two years before, and had spent millions for the protection of its people in the war with the Indians, known as the Florida War. The two commissioners appointed by the governor of Florida to receive the surrender of the navy yard were Colonel W. H. Chase, of the Florida state militia, and Captain Victor M. Randolph, of the United States Navy. Florida passed the ordinance of secession January 10, 1861. On that day Randolph sent in his resignation as a captain in the United States Navy, and on the same day was appointed a commissioner by the governor of the seceded State. But his resignation papers did not reach Washington till after the surrender of the yard.

A court martial was held at Washington on the conduct of Captain Armstrong in relation to his surrender of the Warrington Navy Yard, near Pensacola, Fla., on the following charges :

1st. Failing to take the ordinary and proper measures for the defence of said yard and property.

2d. Disobedience of orders and conduct unbecoming an officer.

This court convened at Washington, February 8, 1861, and consisted of the following officers : Captain George W. Storer, president; Captain Elie A. F. Lavallette and Captain Levin M. Powell. After a long session, Captain Armstrong was found guilty on both charges and was suspended for five years, half that time without pay.

It was during this trial that the noble conduct of the old quartermaster was brought to the front, and the following report in relation thereto was sent to the Secretary of the Navy:

Washington, D. C., April 3, 1861. The president and members and judge advocate of the court lately held in the City of Washington, D. C., for the trial of Commodore Armstrong, beg leave respectfully to submit to the Honorable Secretary of the Navy, the propriety, justice and good policy of bestowing some appropriate mark of its approbation of the loyalty, spirit and good conduct of William Conway, quartermaster of the navy on duty at the navy yard at Warrington, Fla., when the same was surrendered on the twelfth of January, 1861 ; who with manly pride and in a spirit of patriotic devotion refused to obey the order to haul down the national flag on the occasion of that surrender. The evidence of this honorable devotion to the dignity and credit of the flag of his country is found in the record of the testimony in Commodore Armstrong's case. Respectfully submitted by order of court.

A. B. Magruder, Judge Advocate.

To this report Secretary Welles added these words:

It appears from the testimony taken in Captain Armstrong's case that William Conway, an aged seaman, doing duty as quartermaster in the Warrington (Pensacola) Navy Yard at the time of its surrender, when ordered by Lieutenant Renshaw to haul down the national flag, promptly and indignantly refused to obey the order. The love and reverence thus impulsively exhibited for his country's flag in the hour of its peril is not the less worthy of being called noble and chivalric because displayed by one in an humble station. It is the more deserving of commendation, for subordinates in the service are not usually expected to set examples of patriotism and fidelity to their trusts, but to follow them. The department deems it no more than strict justice to William Conway that this testimonial from the court in his behalf should be made known throughout the service. It therefore directs that this general order be publicly read, as early as practicable after its receipt, by the commander of all naval stations and all vessels in the navy in commission in the presence of the officers and men under their command.

The following is the order of Secretary Welles to Flag Officer McKeen, United States Navy, commanding Gulf Blockading Squadron, for the transmission of a gold medal to Quartermaster Conway, and other communications relative thereto are added :

Navy Department,
November 11, 1861.
SIR:- I herewith transmit a letter from the department to William Conway, who is on board one of the vessels of your squadron, together with a gold medal presented to him by his countrymen in California, as a testimonial of their appreciation of his conduct in refusing to haul down the flag of his country at the surrender, at Pensacola, to the rebels, on January 12, 1861.

A copy of the letter addressed to William Conway by the citizens who presented the medal, and of the letter of Major-General Halleck, the bearer of it to the department, is also submitted.

You will please to have the medal handed to William Conway on the quarter-deck of the vessel to which he belongs, in the presence of the officers and crew thereof, and the correspondence read at the same time. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Gideon Welles.

Navy Department, November 11, 1861. SIR :- It gives me great pleasure to cause to be delivered to you the accompanying letter and gold medal from your countrymen in California, presented to you as a testimonial of their high appreciation of your noble and patriotic conduct in refusing to haul down the flag of your country while others (your superiors in position) were wanting in fidelity to it. I also forward a copy of the letter of Major-General Halleck, who was selected as the bearer of these testimonials, and by his request I have directed them to be transmitted to you - which you will please to accept with the assurance of my regard. Very respectfully, Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy.

William Conway,
United States Gulf Blockading Squadron.

Washington, D. C., November 6, 1861. Sir :- I have received from certain citizens of California the accompanying letter and medal, to be delivered to William Conway, quartermaster United States Navy, as a mark of their appreciation of his noble conduct in refusing to haul down the fag of his country; but as I am unable to see Mr. Conway personally, I respectfully request they may be transmitted to him by the Navy Department. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. W. Halleck, Major-General United States Army.
Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy.

San Francisco, September 20, 1861. DEAR SIR:— The undersigned citizens of California from New England have read with pride and gratification the story of your brave and patriotic refusal to haul down the flag of your country. As a mark of our appreciation of your conduct, we request you to accept the accompanying medal of California gold, together with our best wishes for your prosperity and happiness. F. W. Brooks, Henry L. Dodge, F. A. Fabent, H. F. Cutter, W. T. Reynolds, Henry F. Teschemascher, Geo. J. Brooks, Geo. H. Faulkner (and 140 others).

William Conway,
Quartermaster United States Navy.

With such testimonials as these one would little think the person receiving them would be almost entirely forgotten in the lapse of forty-four years, but such indeed is the case. I well remember Conway, though I had not seen him since before the war. In 1858, when but a lad, I was first mate of the brig "Tocoa," of Rockport, Me. Captain Thomas Fitzgerald was master and the present Captain Ed. Harkness (if living) was second mate. William Conway, then termed an old man-o'-war's-man, was home on furlough, and having a sister living at Rockport (I have forgotten her name), he was staying with her. During the three weeks that we were getting the vessel ready for sea we saw much of Conway, as he spent a large portion of his time on board with us. We had to take the vessel to Rockland to haul out on the ways, and as we had no crew shipped, he volunteered with others to help work the vessel round to that port. In this manner I came to know him very well, so that when two and one-half years later, he refused to haul down the flag by order of the traitor Renshaw, I felt that I had more than a passing interest in the Camden sailor, and was proud that I knew him. During the time between the surrender of the navy yard at Pensacola and the reading on board every ship in the service of the general orders relative to his noble conduct, I had entered the navy as a volunteer officer and was attached to the U. S. bark "Midnight," stationed as by fate's decree off Fort Pickens, in sight of the Pensacola Navy Yard, when this order reached us. At the reading of the same, with all hands at muster, and being the only officer from Maine, and in fact the only man on board ship with the exception of one ordinary seaman, from this state, I stretched to my utmost height and drank in patriotism and courage from the reading that lasted me through the four years that I served in the navy, helping me to make such a record as did not, I hope, disgrace my country, my state or my people.

Many years ago I learned through some source that Conway was dead. How, when and where he died I did not learn, but presumed that he died with his people at Camden and was buried with his ancestors. Of late I have had a desire to visit his last resting-place and to stand with bowed head beside his grave. While on my way to the Waymouth celebration, held at Thomaston, in July, 1905, I stopped off at Camden for that purpose. Judge of my disappointment, when I made inquiry for Conway in his native town, to find that no one knew of or had ever heard of him.

At last I inquired of an old friend, Comrade Henry Payson, of Rockport, who had lived in the town for fifteen years and was a member of the G. A. R. Post. He had never heard of William Conway, but he made inquiry of an old gentleman named Ogier, who remembered something in relation to Conway and his history. Mr. Payson informed me that there was a lady named Conway living in Camden and kindly took me to her place. She proved to be a niece, who told me that she and a cousin of hers, Mrs. Louise E. Robbins, of Thomaston, were the only living relatives of William Conway; that she thought he died in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1865, and that he was buried in the naval cemetery there, but she was not certain. She also informed me that the gold medal was in the possession of the other niece, Mrs. Robbins.

As I stood by the beautiful monument erected in a Camden public square in honor of the country's defenders from that town,I was chagrined to learn that Conway's name, though perhaps "the noblest Roman among them all," was not written there. The thought occurred to me, why is this? If this same William Conway had been the commander of a ship in our navy, and had been commanded by an enemy of superior force to haul down the flag of his country as a token of surrender, and he had used the self-same words that he used at Pensacola, viz: "I will not do it, sir ; it is the flag of my country, under which I have sailed for many years and I will not dishonor it now!" his name would have been sung in song and told in story down to the end of all time and a monument erected to perpetuate his memory. But being only a common sailor he died "unwept, unhonored and unsung," his name not even a memory in his native town.

This should not be. The tide of oblivion should not be permitted to set in that direction. In the language of Secretary Welles: "The love and reverence thus impulsively exhibited for his country's flag in the hour of its peril is not the less worthy of being called noble and chivalric because displayed by one in an humble station," and the following words from Kipling's "Recessional " would seem to be fitting here:

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle line -
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine -
Lord, God of Hosts, be with us yet, -
Lest we forget - lest we forget.
Far called our navies melt away,
On dune and headland sinks the fire-
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre !
Judge of our Nation, spare us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget.

I have said I was disappointed in learning that the name of William Conway had been forgotten in his native town. But on second thought it is not so surprising, for during the lapse of forty-four years or more the population of the thriving town of Camden has greatly changed, and it would be simply an impossibility for those born since the Civil War to have any personal remembrance of him ; while with the older residents time has naturally dimmed the memory. Moreover, all the official documents relating to Conway were deposited in the Navy Department at Washington, where no outsider had access to them till within the past ten years.

Happily in this time Congress had enacted a law for the publication of the records of the doings of the United States Navy in the War of the Rebellion, and for their distribution throughout the land in order to show to those, who care to know, what the navy did. From one of these books, "The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion," 1 I obtained my information relative to the Court of Enquiry before which Captain Armstrong was brought, and also the copies of the papers in relation to Quartermaster Conway which I have already read. Otherwise Conway has been allowed to sink out of sight; for up to the time I dug his name out from under the avalanche of forgetfulness, not one word had been said or written in relation to him, as far as I can learn, except in a very short and inaccurate sketch of the affair at Pensacola covering about one half-page in Abbott's "History of the War," and a few words in "The Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," in connection with a pencil sketch of Conway by William Waud. From Rear-Admiral Joseph B. Coghlan, U. S. N., commandant at the Navy Yard at Brooklyn, N. Y., I learned that William Conway died at the naval hospital there November 30, 1865, while still in the service, and was buried in the naval cemetery at that place in a grave which cannot now be located.

When I read Admiral Coghlan's letter I should not have been more astounded had I been hit on the head with a hammer. For that record shows that in less than five years after Conway uttered those memorable words at Pensacola, refusing to dishonor the flag of his country by lowering it at the demand of traitors, and having died while still in the service of his country, at a home port and in a time of peace, his body was dumped into an unknown grave. For this almost criminal neglect I know not whom to censure. But some one blundered.

Surely the name of this loyal American sailor should be rescued from oblivion. I believe his name is fully as worthy of honor as is that of John Paul Jones, for while Conway was distinctively an American, Paul Jones claimed to be a citizen of the world. In Conway we have a brave old American tar, who shifted his quid of tobacco, gave the waistbands of his trousers a hitch, and stood as firm as the rock of Gibraltar for one country and one flag. For this I think his name should be placed on a pinnacle of fame, and what could be more fitting than to have this honored organization, which bears the proud title of the "Loyal Legion of the United States," take the first steps toward the erection of a suitable memorial in his honor? For who is there among us who would not have been thrilled to his fingers' ends could he have listened to the loyal words of that loyal old American sailor, "I will not do it, sir ! It is the flag of my country under which I have sailed for many years, and I will not dishonor it by hauling it down now." Tweet