"The Character And Force Of Your Vessel Point To The Enemy's Commerce As Her Most Appropriate Field Of Action, ... Pay Proper Attention To The Shores Of New England And Its Fisheries."
Stephen R. Mallory, Autographed Letter Signed, as Confederate Secretary of the Navy, to John Taylor Wood, commander of C.S.S. Tallahassee, Richmond, July 23, 1864. 3 ½ pages on Confederate States of America Navy Department stationery, minor fraying along right edge of page 1, otherwise in fine condition.
Inventory# 11908 $7,500
Transcript: Sir,
Proceed to Wilmington N.C. and take command of the Confederate States Steamer 'Tallahassee,' formerly Atlanta, which has been fitted out at that place for a cruise against the enemy.
Relying confidently upon your judgment and ability, and believing that the untrammeled exercise of your own wise discretion will contribute to your success, it is deemed unnecessary to give instructions in detail for your cruise. The character and force of your vessel point to the enemy's commerce as her most appropriate field of action, and it is hoped that her speed and capacity for carrying fuel will enable her to pay proper attention to the shores of New England and its fisheries.
The existing blockade of our ports constrains the destruction of our prizes. Should you, however, capture any vessel which in your judgment may be made useful as an armed tender to the Tallahassee, you will, in the exercise of your discretion, arm, man and equip her for such purpose, as a vessel of war of the Confederate States Navy, placing one of your Commissioned Officers in charge, with your instructions to cruise against the enemy.
The strictest regard for the rights of neutrals must be sedulously observed, and upon all proper occasions you will endeavor to cultivate friendly relations with their naval and other authorities, and to present the character of our struggle in its true light.
The form of a ransom bond, herewith enclosed, may be adopted when releasing enemy's property upon ransom, which, however, should not be done when it can, consistently with the rights of humanity and the interests of our Country, be destroyed.
All persons captured and not retained as prisoners, you will parole, taking from them the usual pledge not to serve against the Confederate States in any capacity by land or sea, during the continuance of this war.
You will secure as many good pilots as practicable and as may be necessary, for the Bahama Banks, the Coast of Cuba, and the West Indies and the New England Coasts.
As strict subordination and discipline must lie at the foundation of your ship's usefulness, you will enjoin upon your Officers that the Department looks to them to enforce and maintain those laws, rules and regulations and usages of the service which are essential to its honor and existence.
You are furnished with authority to draw upon the Department's Agent in England for the necessary expenses of your cruise, and you will forward to him a copy of your letter of credit, should you have occasion to draw upon him. The following gentlemen at their several ports may be called upon for such aid as they may be able to render you.
At Bermuda[,]
Lieut. Joseph Fry C.S.N. and in his absence Major Norman S. Walker C.S.A.
At Nassau Mr. Heyliger, at Havana Mr. C.J. Helm, at Halifax the House of B. Weir & Co.
The medicine chests of captured and destroyed vessels and all drugs and medicines, as well as their nautical instruments and charts, should be preserved; and it is suggested, for obvious reasons, that the destruction of prizes should be effected, when practicable, by other means than that of fire.
You will not lose sight of the certainty that, upon learning the character and presence of your ship, the enemy will send his light, fast vessels in pursuit of you; and hence the importance of conducting your operations at any given point with vigor and celerity, and of rapidly changing your cruising ground.
With my best wishes for the success of your cruise and the welfare of yourself, officers and men
I am respectfully
Your Obt. Servt.
S R Mallory
Secretary of the Navy
Historical Background: An important document laying out the mission of the Confederate Navy's commerce raider Tallahassee before it embarked on its first and most successful voyage. One of the most impressive achievements of the Confederate government during its brief existence was the building of a modern navy virtually from scratch. The predominantly agrarian Confederacy lacked materials, funds, and maritime know-how, and it was never able to compete numerically with the Union navy. Precisely because of these disadvantages it relied upon technological and tactical innovations that influenced the subsequent evolution of naval history. Ironclad warships like the C.S.S. Virginia , the submersible torpedo boat Hunley , and the commerce raiders Alabama , Florida , and Tallahassee threatened Northern naval supremacy and the security of its merchant marine, and hence prompted the Union to introduce new ship designs and tactics of its own.
Stephen R. Mallory (1813-1873) presided over the creation of the Confederate navy as Navy Secretary. Born on the British island of Trinidad, Mallory migrated to Key West, Florida. Later he served as a U.S. Senator on the Naval Affairs Committee. Mallory served in Jefferson Davis' cabinet for the duration of the war and accompanied Davis on his final retreat into Georgia after the fall of Richmond.
The C.S.S. Tallahassee was actually a converted blockade runner, the Atlanta . A two-screw steam sloop cruiser capable of a swift seventeen knots, the ship boasted a crew of 120 and five guns. On its first voyage as a commerce raider under Commander J.T. Wood, the Tallahassee marauded up and down the coast as far as Maine. From August 6-25, 1864, her crew burned sixteen ships, scuttled ten, bonded five, and released two--while evading Union naval vessels sent to intercept her. Upon returning to Wilmington, she did not see action again until late October, by which time she had been renamed the Olustee for a battle site near Tallahassee. Far less successful the second time out, she was converted back to a blockade runner and aptly named Chameleon . At war's end, she was seized by British authorities in Liverpool. Eventually the American government claimed her, and promptly sold her to Japan.
The Tallahassee 's career epitomized the terror and loathing felt for the Confederate commerce raiders. Public opinion in the North paralleled that of American attitudes toward Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare some fifty years later: destroying civilian ships was considered a cowardly and dastardly act, however necessary it might seem to address an imbalance in naval supremacy, and despite painstaking precautions taken by Mallory and his commanders to guard against unnecessary losses of life. Nonetheless, the raiders' depredations did have a lasting effect: America's merchant marine never completely recovered.
