Yeoman in Farragut's Fleet
The Civil War Diary of Josiah Parker Higgins
On February 8, 1862, the Kennebec was commissioned as a Union gunboat in the fleet of David Glasgow Farragut’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron. On the same day, Josiah Parker Higgins of Massachusetts celebrated his twenty-first birthday by enlisting in the Union Navy. He expressed his experiences and sentiments in his diary every two or three days for more than two years, itemizIng numbers of men wounded, masts broken, bales of cotton seized, and spells of boredom at sea when the Kennebec was awaiting orders for action. He noted Confederate ships captured breaking through the Union blockade and deserters and prisoners taken on board. With horror he described the bombardment of Confederate forts, the forts’ retaliation, and rumors of rebel mutiny.
Purpose
Higgins’ diary reveals to the reader a pivotal slice of American history as it was lived and described by a seemingly highly literate young man. Higgins joined the Union Navy after anguishing about finding a career that would bring meaning to his life. According to his earlier 1859-1860 diary, he routinely attended abolitionist meetings in Boston when he wasn’t at work in his father’s store.
Because his diary is a real-time account, not recollections selectively noted and amended years after the war, the reader will likely experience a sense of being alongside Higgins. The diary provides a more vivid history lesson of a Civil War sailor’s daily life than could a textbook today. Entries have been edited out when repetitive about the weather and his frustrations.
His diary could have been lost at sea during battle. Instead it was discovered in the basement of a California home in a dusty cardboard box, beneath albums of annotated photos taken on three continents by a missionary group between 1910 and1927.
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Excerpts
I went over to the Navy Yard and saw Capt. Russell . . . the man who burnt the privateer “Judith” lying at Pensacola Navy Yard wharf, for which he was promoted . . .
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Here we are at last (New Orleans), where we have been trying to get for months . . . the forts surrendered on account of a mutiny among the rebel soldiers . . . and at three o’clock, Monday P.M., April 28, 1862, the rebel flag was hauled down and at half past three the stars and stripes went up.
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(Re: Pensacola) It is a different looking place from what I expected: the Navy Yard is destroyed, the town of Warrenton burnt, and everything ruined which the Rebels could.
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. . . On the way we fell in and captured the sch. (sic) “Marshall J. Smith” from Mobile with 260 bales of cotton, and put a prize crew on board . . .
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Yesterday I handed my abstract of “Quarterly Returns” into E. Baker - Executive Officer: he wished them be made out differently . . . and so I had made them over four times! . . . In my opinion . . . ” E.B” . . . knows nothing.
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(After capturing a ship) A more desperate “black leg” set of men I never saw than came from her: they were all dressed in the best manner; and looked like a set of gamblers.
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Summary court-martial held on board on Poole and Welsh for “absence without leave” — in the afternoon . . . sentence read — “loss of three months pay — 20 days double irons — on bread and water —”
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. . . Soon after the salutes were fired . . . Mr. Baker wanted me: I went there and he read me the answer to my application to the Admiral (Farragut) . . .
Reader Credit
After reading the book, could an upper-grade/college student receive credit or acknowledgement for:
- Presenting an oral report to a class to educate other students about the young sailor’s personal experiences and sentiments about military duty during a pivotal period in American history?
- Interviewing an elderly military veteran about his/her most memorable military experiences and sentiments, then transcribing the interview to satisfy a class assignment as well as to give a copy to the veteran in appreciation?
- In addition, inquiring about publication of the interview by a local newspaper, a community magazine, or a school newsletter?
- Volunteering in a history museum assisting with mounting/displaying exhibits, welcoming visitors at the front desk or lobby, and explaining basic information about exhibit pieces?
- Volunteering at a Veterans’ Hospital or Clinic?
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