The Civil War Touches Fire Island

The Civil War Comes to Fire Island on August 12, 1864

It was the first word about of one of the most brazen maritime undertakings by the Confederacy in northern waters-- and the word came to a shocked Union from a dispatch from the Surf Hotel on Fire Island to the New York Times on August 12, 1864.

A Confederate ship the Tallahassee, being used more like a pirate ship than a regular naval ship, had run a Union blockade at Wilmington North Carolina, cruised up the East coast and on August 11 started attacking merchant vessels heading for New York.

The Front Page of the New York Times on August 13, 1864 broke the "Highly Important" news from the Surf Hotel on Fire Island, (just west of present day Kismet) where a boatload of 16 refugees landed during the peak of the summer season at the resort for the rich and famous:

Surf Hotel, Fire Island



All News reports copyright The New York Times:

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CSS Tallahassee

In the following days the Tallahassee terrorized the seas around and about Long Island and New England, and within a week or so it was said to have captured and burned and sunk some forty merchant ships.

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After marauding off Long Island, the Tallahassee steamed to Halifax, got a supply of coal, and snuck out before pursuing Union Ships could intercept it. The British Government would not let the Tallahassee take on amunition, and only permitted it to load enough coal to enable it to sail directly to a safe sourthern destination. Federal ships were heading to Halifax to intercept the Tallahassee, but the southern ship slipped out of the harbor in the middle of the night.

The Union navy never captured the Tallahassee. It made it back safely to Wilmington.
A southern Newpaper, the Goldsboro Journal gloated in the success of the Tallahassee and Capt. Wood who became something of a folk hero for his exploits on the high seas, although after he returned to Wilmington, he apparently never went back to sea during the war.

From the Goldsboro Journal, Sept 29, 1864:

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Capt. John Taylor Wood always put passengers and crew of the ships he destroyed onto other ships headed for New York. That is how the first thirteen ended up on Fire Island. Wood was said to be courteous, and warned that they were sending a signal to "Uncle Abe." After the War he moved to Halifax, where he is buried.

SO THE TALLAHASSEE FIRST CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD FROM A BUNCH OF REFUGEES LANDING ON FIRE ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUMMER.

AND YOU HEARD IT FIRST ON SALTAIRE38.BLOGSPOT.COM