Dispatches From Bermuda

Description

Civil War diplomacy and espionageIn the summer of 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Charles Maxwell Allen U.S. consul to Bermuda. During the Civil War, Allen's post became one of vital importance to the United States as this British colony became a center for Confederate blockade-running activities. As the sole representative of Union interests in pro-Confederate Bermuda, Allen found himself involved in the shadowy world of intelligence gathering as he attempted to thwart these blockade-runners.Allen's dispatches shed new light on two important and often overlooked aspects of the war: the Union blockade of southern seaports and the effort to bring vital war supplies through the blockade to the Confederate states.Author Glen N. Wiche has compiled all of Allen's Civil War dispatches to the U.S. State Department and provides well-documented commentary to place Allen's activities in the wider context of the "Atlantic campaign" of the Civil War. Dispatches from Bermuda paints a detailed picture of these activities and offers a rare account of this blockade-running traffic from a northern perspective.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• United States of America
• Bermudas
• History of the Americas
• American Civil War
• États-Unis
• Bermuda
• Guerre de Sécession

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 20 janvier 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781631010781
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Dispatches from Bermuda
C IVIL W AR IN THE N ORTH
Series Editor, Lesley J. Gordon, University of Akron
A DVISORY B OARD
William Blair, Pennsylvania State University
Peter S. Carmichael, University of North Carolina Greensboro
Stephen D. Engle, Florida Atlantic University
J. Matthew Gallman, University of Florida
Elizabeth Leonard, Colby College
Elizabeth Varon, Temple University
Joan Waugh, University of California Los Angeles
Dispatches
from Bermuda

The Civil War Letters of Charles Maxwell Allen, United States Consul at Bermuda, 1861–1888
Edited by Glen N. Wiche
Kent State University Press Kent, Ohio
© 2008 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2008014200
ISBN 978-0-87338-938-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Allen, Charles Maxwell.
Dispatches from Bermuda : the Civil War letters of Charles Maxwell Allen, United States consul at Bermuda, 1861–1888 / edited by Glen N. Wiche.
     p. cm. — (Civil War in the North)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0-87338–938-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) ∞
1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Blockades.
2. Blockade—Bermuda Islands—History—19th century.
3. Allen, Charles Maxwell—Correspondence.
4. Consuls—United States—Correspondence.
5. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Personal narratives.
6. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Naval operations.
7. Confederate States of America. Navy—History.
8. Bermuda Islands—History, Naval—19th century.
9. Atlantic Ocean Region—History, Naval—19th century.
10. United States—Foreign relations—1861–1865.
I. Wiche, Glen Norman. II. Title.
E 600. A 44 2008
973.7′5—dc22
2008014200
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.
12  11  10  09  08        5  4  3  2  1
In loving memory of Susan Z. Wiche, who found Charles Maxwell Allen’s last resting place on a warm Bermuda afternoon and encouraged me to tell his story .
Engraved portrait of Charles Maxwell Allen (Courtesy of Bermuda National Trust Collection, Bermuda Archives, Hamilton, Bermuda)
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it .
A BRAHAM L INCOLN
Simple duty hath no place for fear .
J OHN G REENLEAF W HITTIER
 
Contents   Preface   Acknowledgments   Editor’s Note   Maps and Illustrations Chapter 1 “The most self-effacing of men” Chapter 2 “Such a God-forsaken place” Chapter 3 “They are a big lot of scamps” Chapter 4 “A great many blockade runners in the harbor now” Chapter 5 “I have used my utmost endeavors” Chapter 6 “There could hardly have been greater consternation” Chapter 7 “In the place where the tree falleth” Appendix Schedule of Blockade-Running Vessels   Notes   Bibliography   Index
Preface
My quest for Charles Maxwell Allen began on a warm Bermuda afternoon in 1992. My wife and I had gone to the island for a short holiday and were charmed by its beauty, the hospitality of the people, and its curious history, so strongly connected to that of the United States. That Sunday we worshipped at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Smith’s Parish. After the service, we strolled across the narrow road and through the picturesque old cemetery. Our attention was drawn to a tall handsome obelisk. Closer inspection revealed it to be the last resting place of Charles Maxwell Allen, who, according to the inscription, had been the U.S. consul to the Island of Bermuda from 1861 until his death in 1888.
We were touched to discover the grave of this American who had served his country for so many years on foreign soil. I had long been interested in the international aspects of the American Civil War, and particularly the maritime history of the period. I was well aware of the important part that Bermuda had played in the conflict as a haven for Confederate blockade-runners in their attempts to bring vital war materiel from Europe through the Union blockade of Southern ports and into the Confederate states. But, in all my reading on the subject, I could not recall any references to Allen’s own wartime activities in Bermuda.
I decided to review the printed sources on the subject when I returned home. In doing so, I discovered that there had been no books or scholarly monographs devoted to Allen’s Civil War career. I wondered whether his story, if it could be pieced together, might make a valuable contribution to the literature of the war, and my wife urged me to tell his story.
Not long after, I was delighted to discover that Allen’s diplomatic dispatches survived and had, in fact, been microfilmed by the National Archives in Washington, D.C. I quickly purchased the microfilm reels and began to make transcripts of the original documents. It soon became apparent what a rich source of information Allen’s dispatches were. Here was a new, largely unused, eyewitness account that shed important light on the diplomatic and naval aspects of the conflict.
This book gathers together all of Consul Allen’s Civil War diplomatic dispatches. Many of the dispatches are published here for the first time since Allen penned them in wartime Bermuda. They tell a fascinating story of diplomatic and military intrigue. They also illuminate the character of a proud, patriotic New Englander who represented his country skillfully and ably for more than a quarter of a century. It is a testament to Allen that, although he was greeted with scorn upon his arrival in pro-Confederate Bermuda in 1861, he became a beloved figure in the postwar years and was genuinely mourned by Bermudians when he died on Christmas Eve 1888.
Acknowledgments
My chief debt of gratitude is to Kathleen Moore of Chicago—indefatigable researcher, candid counselor, prudent critic. When the editor became legally blind, she became the project’s chief transcriber and researcher. Without her efforts and encouragement, the story of Charles Maxwell Allen would yet remain unwritten.
The Allen Family Papers at the Vermont Historical Society were made available through the courtesy of Alice Ross de Kok. A descendant of one of Charles Maxwell Allen’s brothers, Ms. de Kok generously shared Allen family letters, photographs, and memories. A special thank you is due to Bettye Hitchcock Allen, who preserved all of the Allen family history.
Paul Carnahan of the Vermont Historical Society provided valuable research assistance on the Allen family in Vermont. Marlene Wightman of Belmont, New York, provided much material on the history of the Republican Party in Allegany County, New York. My thanks to Charles B. Smith of the Orono, Maine, Historical Society for providing information on Anson Allen and the Allen Match Manufactory. I also wish to acknowledge the assistance of the staff of the Bermuda Archives for making the Allen papers in their possession available to me. My thanks are also due to the Bermuda Library in Hamilton, which provided microfilm copies of the Bermuda Royal Gazette .
I wish to thank John Aubrey, Ayer librarian of the Newberry Library, for his many assistances and the expediting of important interlibrary loans.
To my friends and colleagues, Tom Drewes, Edward Gordon, Robert Guinan, Bruce Kirstein, Professor Deirdre McCloskey, Kathleen Occhipinti, Charles Priestley, Sandra Sadler, Frank C. Schell III, Edgar Self, and Robert Sharp, who read portions of the manuscript, I am grateful to each for their valuable comments, suggestions, and encouragement.
I am indebted to the following individuals and institutions for the illustrations they provided for this book: Horst Augustinovic, Dr. Charles Peery, Alice Ross de Kok, St. George’s Historical Society, the Bermuda National Trust, and the Chicago History Museum.
Editor’s Note
The diplomatic dispatches of Charles Maxwell Allen, from the time of his appointment until the assassination of President Lincoln, have been transcribed in their entirety. The enclosures with Allen’s quarterly reports have been omitted, being numerous and lengthy ledger sheets. Also omitted are letters from various persons that Allen forwarded to the Department of State along with his official dispatches. These omissions can be found in the microfilmed dispatches.
Consul Allen was required by the Department of State to number each dispatch consecutively. Omissions in the consecutive numbering indicate dispatches that were not microfilmed.
Allen generally wrote in a very clear hand, unlike many of his contemporaries. He made few errors in spelling, and where these occurred, corrections have been made. In a small number of instances, where a word or phrase is illegible, a question mark within brackets is used.
From time to time, Allen made minor mistakes in spelling the names of the vessels about which he wrote. These errors in spelling have been corrected for uniformity.
Every effort has been made to be as accurate as possible.
Maps and Illustrations
M APS
1. Bermuda
2. St. George’s, Bermuda
F IGURES
1. St. George’s, Bermuda
2. Penno’s Wharf, St. George’s, Bermuda
3. St. George’s Harbor
4. Blockade-runner Alice .
5. Blockade-runners Maude Campbell and Hansa
6. Wistowe, Flatts, Bermuda
7. Charles Maxwell Allen

Line drawing of Bermuda showing the location of St. George’s, Flatts, Hamilton, and the Dockyard (Courtesy of Horst Augustinovic, Hamilton, Bermuda)

Line drawing of St. George’s, Bermuda, ca. 1890 showing the principal streets of the town and Penno’s Wharf (Courtesy of Horst Augustinovic, Hamilton, Bermuda)
CHAPTER 1
“The most self-effacing of men”
Charles Maxwell Allen, who served his country as U.S. consul at Bermuda from 1861 until his death in 1888, was the most self-effacing of men. It is ironic that the very qualities that helped make him the skillful and articulate diplomat that he was—his even temperament, his steady habits, and his personal modesty—were the very