NOVEMBER 27, 1864:
General Benjamin “Beast” Butler, Commander of
the Army of The James (bivouacked on the Virginia capes) holds a Council of War
with a number of his subordinates aboard his floating headquarters, U.S.S.
GREYHOUND. Admiral David Dixon Porter is also on board. He (along with many
others, North and South) despises Butler whom he afterward calls a "thief,
a black-bearded traitor, and an imbecile" for not posting guards around
this meeting of interservice brass hats.
Shortly
after Porter comes aboard he finds two unsupervised “hang-dog ruffians” between
decks, and when they cannot explain themselves, they are arrested and locked in
the brig.
During
the War Council the ship’s boiler explodes violently. Since the ship is at the
quay it is safely evacuated, but the two “hang-dog ruffians” are immediately
suspected of being saboteurs (especially in the aftermath of the incidents in
New York). The docked ship had only minimal pressure in the boilers, and so the
rescued generals all assume a “coal torpedo” (an irregular lump of iron,
hollowed out, filled with explosives, and painted black to resemble coal) had
been dropped into the ship’s coal bunkers. Unfortunately, they cannot question the
“ruffians” about their theory as the two men go down with the burning ship.
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