.
St.
Clement’s Island and the Forgotten Tragedy on the Potomac
A half mile
from Colton’s Point, Maryland,
located in the Potomac River, lies St. Clement’s Island.
St. Clement’s
Island is the site of the first landing of European settlers in Maryland. The
landing occurred on March 25, 1634, when the 150 or so colonists aboard the
ships The Ark and The Dove made landfall here having
departed England
four months earlier. St. Clement’s is, essentially, Maryland’s birthplace and the anniversary of
the landing, March 25, is a state holiday known as Maryland Day.
In a few
days, most of the colonists would move off of St. Clement’s Island,
after having negotiated with the Yaocomico Native American tribe to create a
permanent settlement on the mainland. That settlement would become St.
Mary’s City, the first capital of Maryland.
During the
Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the British captured St. Clement’s Island using it as a base for their operations. It
was known then as Blackistone
Island. The
Blackistone family had inherited the island in 1669 and continued to own it
until 1831. In 1848, the U.S. Congress appropriated $3,500 to build a
lighthouse on the island, which was finally completed in 1851.
The Blackistone
Island Lighthouse in 1928
During the
Civil War, the lighthouse became a target for the Confederacy. On the night of
May 19, 1864, Confederate Captain John W. Goldsmith and his men landed on the
island. It was Goldsmith’s intention to dynamite the lighthouse. The keeper of
the lighthouse, Jerome McWilliams, begged the Captain not to destroy the
building as his wife was pregnant and her life would be in danger if they had
to go back to the mainland before the baby came.
Goldsmith was a St. Mary’s
county native who had crossed the Potomac to
fight for the Confederacy and he knew McWilliams. In sympathy to McWilliams’
circumstances, instead of destroying the building Goldsmith destroyed the
lighthouse’s lens and lamp, and took all of the oil. Union troops eventually were
able to repair the light and stationed a unit of guardsmen on the island.
The aborted
destruction of the lighthouse on St. Clement’s was not the only Civil War era
event to happen near the island. A largely forgotten naval incident also
occurred there during the night of April 23 and 24, 1865. This tragedy
has a connection to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the search for his
assassin.
The incident
involves two steamer ships, the USS
Massachusetts and the Black
Diamond. The Massachusetts was a steam ship built in Boston in 1860. She
was purchased by the U.S. Navy in May of 1861 and became the USS Massachusetts. During the
Civil War, the Massachusetts
was involved in enforcing the blockade of Confederacy and later worked as a
supply carrier between the Northern ports and the other blockading forces.
An engraving from Harper’s Weekly showing the naval forces at Ship Island, Louisiana.
The Massachusetts
is the ship on the far right.
A close up view of the USS Massachusetts at Ship Island, Louisiana.
On April
23, 1865, the Massachusetts
was assigned the task of ferrying Union troops from Alexandria
to Norfolk, Virginia. At 5 o’clock p.m., about 400
men boarded the Massachusetts
at Alexandria,
with one soldier recalling later that the boat was “unfit to carry more than
half the number she had on board”. The troops on board had lived through
the darkest parts of the war.
There were men on the Massachusetts who had
survived the deadliest day in American history at the battle of Antietam. Many had been prisoners of war in the
horrible prison camps of North Carolina and Georgia.
Too many had witnessed their comrades perish at Andersonville
prison. These men had been through the worst circumstances and had
managed to survive.
As the Massachusetts
steamed on one soldier remembered, “We glided along down the river very
nicely until a little after dark, when a strong wind began to blow and the
river became very rough…” They were nearing St. Clement’s Island.
The Black Diamond was an iron hull steam
propeller canal boat built in 1842. At the time of the Civil War, the Black Diamond was being chartered by
the U.S. Quartermaster Department. She regularly transported coal between
Washington, D.C.
and Alexandria,
which was a Union occupied city. Her crew consisted of men from the Alexandria fire
department.
After the
assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, the Black Diamond was assigned picket duty
on the Potomac River. Her job was to
patrol the Potomac, keeping an eye out for the
assassin, John Wilkes Booth, if he attempted to cross the river. On
the night of April 23, the world was unaware that Booth and his conspirator
David Herold had already crossed the Potomac and were that night sleeping in
the cabin of William Lucas in King George County,
Virginia.
The Black Diamond lay
at anchor about a mile south of St. Clement’s Island.
It was a
clear night but there was no moon. The Black Diamond was said to have had only had one light
showing. Somehow, it wasn’t seen in the darkness. At around 10
o’clock p.m. on April 23, the Massachusetts
and its 400 passengers collided with the Black
Diamond and her twenty crew.
What follows
is a newspaper account of the incident recalled by Corporal George Hollands in
1914. Hollands was one of the soldiers
aboard the Massachusetts
who had spent time at Andersonville prison.
His account provides a vivid description of the tragedy:
“…About 10
o’clock at night, when we were all cuddled down for a night’s sleep, part on
the upper deck and part below — myself and my bunkmates were stretched out on
the lower deck — we heard an awful crash and felt a sudden jar. We all sprang
to our feet, pulled on our coats and ran up on deck to see what the trouble
was. All was confusion and excitement, as we discovered we had crashed into the
side of another boat, striking her amidship.
I ran to the
bow of our boat, as most of the others had done, and found her bow was settling
fast. The Captain was shouting to us to go aft, so as to keep her bow out of
the water as much as possible. In the meantime we were shouting to the boat we
had run into — the Black Diamond — to come to our assistance. She circled
around and came up alongside of us, and about 150 jumped from the Massachusetts to the
deck of the Black Diamond. I was among the first to board her, and I ran
immediately to the man at the wheel and asked him if the boat was all right.
He
said: “No; she is sinking.” I then made up my mind that we had “jumped out of
the frying-pan into the fire.” I immediately turned to go toward the stern of
the boat, and in going I stumbled onto a stepladder which had been torn from
the hurricane deck. I grabbed up the ladder and was about to jump
overboard with it — scores of the boys had already jumped overboard to avoid
the suction of the boat as she went down — when all of a sudden the thought
came to me that the river was not deep enough to engulf the masts and all, so I
threw down the ladder, grabbed one of the guyropes and began climbing up toward
the mast.
I soon landed
my foot on the yard-arm and got my arms around the mast, and about that time
the boat struck bottom, with her deck only about two feet under water. I found
three or four of the crew among the rigging, so they evidently were of the same
mind as I concerning the depth of the river.
We clung to
our positions all night, and could hear the cries for help in all directions
from the boys who had jumped overboard.
A drummer boy
of the 16th Conn.
had been washed overboard and had grasped hold of the keel of the boat, or
something else, and was hanging on for dear life and calling for help. One of
the crew up in the rigging got hold of a rope and time and time again threw it
to where the boy was, telling him to grab for it. The boy couldn’t get hold of
it. Every now and then a wave would wash over him and strangle him, and as he
would emerge from it he would call for the rope. He finally became exhausted
and cried out to us that he could hold out no longer. He told us his name, but
I have forgotten it. [George W. Carter] He said he was a drummer of Co. D, 16th
Conn., and
asked us to inform his mother that he was drowned. He bade us goodby, and as
the next wave washed over him he loosened his hold and sank beneath the waves.
We clung to
our position until daylight, when we were discovered and picked up by a small
United States gunboat or revenue cutter and transferred to our old boat, the
Massachusetts, which, with one wheel out of commission and part of her bow
carried away, had floated about in the vicinity during the night and picked up
those she could of our comrades who had jumped overboard.
After we were
safe on board the Massachusetts
made her way slowly down the river, and about 11 o’clock a.m. she sighted a
large steamer lying at anchor. She steered for her and ran alongside, and we
were immediately transferred to the larger boat…”
As recalled
by Hollands, in the moments after the collision
many aboard the Massachusetts
thought that it was their ship that was going to sink. The panicked
soldiers, who had already experienced hardship and fear far beyond their years,
jumped into the river with anything that would float. Many, like Hollands, sought
sanctuary on the Black Diamond.
However, the impact of the Massachusetts
had struck the Black Diamond
in the boiler and she quickly took on water. It was said the Black Diamond sank in about three
minutes.
In the
immediate aftermath, the death toll was estimated to be about 50 people
drowned.
While the newspapers of the day contained reports of the
collision and the presumed number of dead, the killing of John Wilkes Booth on
April 26 ensured that the focus on the crash was fleeting. Only local Alexandria and Washington,
D.C. newspapers continued to
report on the accident a week after it occurred. What they did report,
however, showed the grim aftermath and growing number of dead that washed up on
shore of St.
Clement’s Island:
Out of the
eighty-seven people who died when the Massachusetts
crashed into the Black Diamond,
only four of them were from the Black
Diamond‘s twenty person crew. They were Peter Carroll,
Christopher Farley, Samuel Gosnell, and George Huntington. The bodies of
these four men received special treatment when they were returned to their
native Alexandria:
These
four men, though employed by the Quartermaster’s Department through its charter
of the Black Diamond, were
civilians and yet they received a high honor and were buried together in the
Soldier’s Cemetery in Alexandria, now known as Alexandria National Cemetery.
One source
states that President Andrew Johnson gave authorization for these civilians to
be buried in the Soldier’s Cemetery, although substantiating evidence has yet
to be found by this author. In November of 1865, some of the fallen men’s
comrades erected a monument to their memory in the cemetery.
Over the
years, this first monument to the lost crew of the Black Diamond deteriorated. On July 7, 1922, a new
granite monument with a bronze plaque was unveiled to honor the men:
In the 1950’s
the headstones for each of the four men were also quite deteriorated.
They were replaced around 1955 with the new ones being of the same design
as those used for Union soldiers:
The other
victims of the Massachusetts – Black
Diamond collision are buried all over the country but many of the
bodies of those who drowned were never recovered. For example, the body
of George Carter, the regimental drummer who drowned after several attempts to
throw him a rope, was never found. He has a memorial cenotaph in West Suffield
Cemetery in Suffield, Connecticut.
It states that he “died April 24, 1865, age 20 yrs.” and that he,
“Drowned near the mouth of the Potomac River”.
Today,
seasonal visitors can take a quick ferry ride to St. Clement’s Island from
its museum at Colton’s
Point. The island is home to a recreated Blackistone Lighthouse (the
original was destroyed by fire in 1956). It also boasts a 40 foot tall
commemorative cross which was dedicated on Maryland Day in 1934.
Many people
come to the island to tour the lighthouse, go birdwatching, hike, or just relax
on the beach. Like most beaches, the sands of St. Clement’s Island are spotted with pieces of beach glass – fragments
of broken glass containers that have been weathered by the wind and the waves.
During my visit yesterday, I filled my pocket with pieces of the smooth
glass.
After taking the ferry back to the mainland, I drove straight to Alexandria, Virginia
to see the graves of four men who lost their lives near the shore I had
visited. On each grave I placed a small piece of my St. Clement’s Island beach glass as a reunion of sorts between the men
and the place where they lost their lives.
If you visit
St. Clement’s Island, you will not find any mention of the collision
between the Massachusetts
and the Black Diamond.
The story is not told on any of the historical markers on the island nor
is it mentioned (or seemingly known) in its museum on the mainland. It
truly is a forgotten tragedy and its victims are more blood upon the hands of
John Wilkes Booth. Had he not assassinated President Lincoln, there would
have been no need for the Black Diamond
to perform picket duty off of St. Clement’s. The men on the Massachusetts, who had already experienced the worst
of war, would have steamed into Norfolk
without incident. The shot in Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, killed
far more than the President; it also created a ripple effect that caused
eighty-seven men to lose their lives.
If you’re
ever at St. Clement’s Island, take the spiral
staircase up the recreated Blackistone Lighthouse. At the top of the
stairs ascend the ladder into the cupola. Take your pictures and enjoy
the view for a bit. Then, turn your eyes to the water in the south.
It was there on the night of April 23 and early morning of April 24 that
eighty seven men lost their lives, collateral damage of John Wilkes Booth.
References:
A History of St. Clement’s Island by Edwin W. Beitzell
Slipped
into Oblivion: A Connecticut Tragedy on the Potomac by John Banks
George
Hollands’ account “On the Massachusetts“,
National Tribune, 5-14-1914
American Canals,
No. 48 – February, 1984, Page 9
Alexandria National
Cemetery
St.
Clement’s Island Museum
Newspaper articles from GenealogyBank.com
About
About the
Blog:
The story is
a well known one: On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot
while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.
His tragic death the next morning was a stunning blow to a country that
had just begun to emerge from the dark shadow of a Civil War that had lasted
four long years. Instantly, and appropriately, Lincoln became an American saint. He
gave his last, full measure for the country and was struck down just after
completing his goal. Abraham Lincoln’s actions and resolve have earned
him the title of our country’s greatest president. His story is told all
over this country and it is said that Lincoln
is one of the most written about figures after Jesus Christ.
But, there is
another part of this story. It is the story of a young actor driven to
extremes. It is the story of a group of conspirators who were determined
to strike back against a government that, they believed, had destroyed the United States
they had known and loved. It is the stories and facts about these
individuals that this blog hopes to share. Not because we agree with
their actions or because we share their values. We learn about them
because the darker parts of history can shed the most light on the past.
While the actions they took were abhorrent, the sentiments that motivated
those actions were shared by many.
There was a
time when those who studied the assassination of Abraham Lincoln were looked
down upon by mainstream Lincoln
historians. Focusing on the end of Lincoln’s
life was deemed macabre and those who studied it were accused of sympathizing
with the assassin. The history of the assassination and its characters were
largely ignored by popular Lincoln
historians. Those who delved too much into learning about John Wilkes Booth and
his conspiracy were derogatorily called “Boothies” as an insult.
However, in
recent years, a beneficial shift in thinking has occurred. More and more,
historians are coming to understand the importance of those dramatic days in
April, 1865 and how they relate to Lincoln’s
legacy. While still a horrific crime, it is no longer a period of time to
ignore or to speak of in hushed tones. Many of us who study the Lincoln assassination
today continue to refer to ourselves as “Boothies” out of pride. This
does not mean we condone the actions of the assassin. Rather, our moniker
states our commitment to studying, analyzing, and interpreting the actions of
John Wilkes Booth and others involved in the great American drama that is the Lincoln assassination.
Ignoring and dismissing the lives and actions of the men and women
involved in the conspiracy does a great disservice to history and to the memory
of Abraham Lincoln. We cannot truly honor and appreciate the man without
understanding the complexity of his death.
As a self
pronounced Boothie and teacher, I hope that this blog will be a worthwhile
educational source for information about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
It is a fascinating chapter of history and deserves to be explored and shared.
The content on this site varies between serious pieces of scholarly research,
travelogues by the author, and the occasional displays of levity. All posts,
however, from the serious to the trifling, relate to or demonstrate how the
assassination of Lincoln
has impacted our world.
I invite you
all to follow this blog by email or just come back from time to time. Together,
we’ll learn about the death of Abraham Lincoln and the enigmatic man in a
burning barn who caused it.
About the
Author:
My name is
Dave Taylor and I am an elementary school teacher. For many years, I have
been fascinated by the events of April, 1865. As a child growing up in Illinois, I never
understood how anyone could kill Abraham Lincoln, our greatest President.
I started doing more serious reading and research on the matter in high school
when I was introduced to the Stephen Sondheim musical, Assassins. Ever since
then, I have found that the rabbit hole that is the Lincoln assassination is infinitely
deep. There are countless branches to the story which all
provide fascinating insights into the minds of those involved.
In 2012, I
moved from Illinois to the state of Maryland. Being so close
to the nation’s capital and the escape route of the assassin has given me the
chance to explore my favorite period of history in person. Sharing my visits to
the many historical places around me through this blog has become my favorite
activity.
In addition
to writing and maintaining this blog, I am one of the guides for the John
Wilkes Booth Escape Route Bus Tour organized by the Surratt Society. We provide
a narrated 9 hour tour of John Wilkes Booth’s escape, from Ford’s Theatre all
the way to the site of his death near Port
Royal, Virginia. The
Surratt Society puts on several tours each spring and fall and also caters to
groups that would like to schedule their own private bus tour. Visit the Surratt House Museum
website for more information.
I also enjoy
giving speeches and presentations about different aspects of the Lincoln assassination
story. A list of my former speaking engagements, press appearances, and
published articles outside of this blog appears at the end of this page.
If you have
something you’d like to share about any part of Lincoln’s assassination, no
matter how minor it may seem, feel free to comment on a post or here on the
About page. If you would like to contact me personally with a question or
inquiry you can e-mail me at: boothiebarn (at) gmail (dot) com.
I’d like to
thank all of you that have been so supportive of my efforts here at
BoothieBarn. I will strive to provide thought provoking and
interesting posts about John Wilkes Booth and his plot.
Dave
Taylor’s previous speaking engagements on the Lincoln assassination:
- “Southern Hospitality:
The Garrett Family and John Wilkes Booth” at the 14th Annual Surratt Society
Conference, March 16, 2013
- “John Wilkes Booth and
the Garrett Family” at Historic Port Royal general membership meeting,
April 22, 2014
- “The Lincoln
Conspirators” – Panelist with Michael Kauffman and Kate Clifford Larson at
the Lincoln Group of New York,
March 28, 2015
- “A House Divided: Edwin
and John Wilkes Booth” at Tudor Hall, April 12, 2015
- “A History of Rich Hill:
A Stop on the Escape Route
of John Wilkes Booth” at Rich Hill Farm for Charles
County’s Lincoln 150th Weekend, April 18 &
19, 2015
- “The Escape Route of John Wilkes Booth”
for the Veteran Motor Car Club of America’s 2015 National Heritage Antique
Car Tour, April 19, 2015
- “The Death of John Wilkes
Booth” at the unveiling of the new highway marker for the Garrett farm
site at the Port Royal Museum of American History, April 26, 2015
- “Mr. W: Friend of
American Liberty” at Historic Port Royal’s 16th Annual Fourth of July
event, July 4, 2015:
- “A House Divided: Edwin
and John Wilkes Booth” at Tudor Hall, September 13, 2015
- “The Escape Route of John Wilkes Booth:
Rich Hill and Garrett’s Farm” at the Historical Society of Charles County,
October 24, 2015
- “Behind the Walls of Rich
Hill” at Rich Hill Historic Site, November 1, 2015
- “Southern Hospitality:
The Garrett Family and John Wilkes Booth” for the King George
County Historical
Society, November 19, 2015
- “Choose Your Own Path:
The Lincoln
Assassination” at the Charles County Public Schools HITS Expo, March 19,
2016
- “Rosalie Booth: The
Eldest Sister of John Wilkes Booth” at Tudor Hall, April 3, 2016
- “The Collision of the USS Massachusetts and the Black Diamond” at St. Clement’s Island Museum, April 24, 2016
Contributions
and Press about Dave Taylor
- Coauthor with Kate
Ramirez of the “Assassin’s End” Highway Marker at the site of the Garrett
Farm in Caroline County, Virginia.
- Interviewed by Charles County Government
Television on March 27, 2015:
- Interviewed and quoted in
Megan Wagner’s New York Daily News article, “Lincoln
assassin John Wilkes Booth was gifted actor, ladies’ man, ‘handsomest man
in America’: experts” April 7, 2015
- Interviewed and quoted in
Jennifer Schuessler’s New York Times article, “For
a Biography of John Wilkes Booth, Terry Alford Turns to Amateur
Researchers” April 13, 2015
- Interviewed by Fox 5 News
in Washington, D.C. about the 150th anniversary of the
death of John Wilkes Booth: http://www.myfoxdc.com/clip/11429378/talking-john-wilkes-booth39s-escape-with-tim-morgan-and-dave-taylor
John Wilkes Booth Escape
Route Bus Tours
narrated by Dave Taylor
- April 4, 2015 for the Frederick County Bar
Association
- April 25, 2015
- May 2, 2015 for the Southern Maryland Civil War Roundtable
- September 12, 2015
- September 19, 2015
- October 11, 2015 for the
General Meade Society of Philadelphia
- April 23, 2016
Dave
Taylor’s published articles on the Lincoln
assassination:
Knife
World Magazine – “Cloak and Daggers: Cutting Through the Confusion of the Lincoln Assassination
Knives” April, 2013.
Published in
the Surratt Courier:
- “Emerick Hansell: The
Forgotten Casualty” November, 2010
- “Cloak and Daggers:
Cutting Through the Confusion of the Lincoln
Assassination Knives” March, 2012
- “Michael O’Laughlen:
Quilter” August, 2012
- “The Escape Attempt of
Dr. Mudd” November, 2012
- “A History of Rich Hill”
January, 2014
.
