The Civil War Navies Message Board

Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"

Sure. In fact, I link to the OR on my web site. I'm looking for Porter's personal take on the affair, if he has one. General Order 184 is fairly specific about hanging saboteurs, "summary punishment" etc. About the same time General Sherman says, "It is not war for individuals to burn steam-boats or supply them with coal or wood charged with gunpowder, and the laws of war do not apply to such people; therefore, I don’t care to have our military prisons or courts encumbered with such cases." Which makes a nice contrast with his own march to Atlanta a few months later.

All the various confederate innovations like early land mines, submarine mines, burning steamboats by traditional means as well as the coal torpedo, were initially regarded as going beyond lawful warfare, where men stood up and shot at each other "fair and square." I like Sherman's reaction contrasted with what neccessity forced him to do a few months later. There is an interesting letter in a southern history journal about 1890 from a former confederate officer claiming that Jeff Davis was horrified at the idea of the coal torpedo and refused to support it, which is clearly contrary to the evidence, but is part of the idea that warfare had gentlemen's rules. It's interesting to compare attitudes at the time with later attitudes.

Messages In This Thread

David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"
Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"
Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"
Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"
Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"
Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"
Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"
Re: David Porter, "Incidents and Anecdotes"