Mobile Register
July 3, 1861
Page 2
Excursion
Trip to New Orleans
The Firing into the Creole—Statement of the
Officers
Messrs. Editors:
As everything like adventure seems worthy of note these days, we presume upon
your kindness to ask a short space in your valuable columns for an account of
our little voyage to New Orleans. Our little party, fifteen in number, having
procured the beautiful little sloop Creole from Capt. Andrew J. Hodge, who will
please accept our thanks for the same, set out for a small jaunt to New Orleans to see what
could be seen. We left on Tuesday 26th
ult., and after a pleasant sail of three days,
arrived in the city, no incident worthy of note having occurred. We passed a small schooner which we supposed
to be a Yankee craft in quest of prey.
It however did not interfere with us nor we with it. After spending two days in the city, we left
for home on Sunday morning and arrived at Biloxi
at 10 o’clock on
Monday. We learned that the Yankee fleet
had been there and captured nine of our schooners, but saw nothing of
them. Leaving Biloxi we met the schooner Rapid, D. J. Files
Captain, bound for Biloxi. He had a fair wind and seemed to be moving on
finely. About ten miles this side of Round Island
we discovered a schooner which at first we supposed to be one of our own home
vessels. She passed our bow about seven
miles from Grant’s Pass, rounded up to the spit of Dauphin Island and came
about.—She lowered her launch, manned it with, as we supposed, about eighteen
men, and both the launch and the schooner made for us at full speed.
The launch fired
at us four times, two of the shots taking effect in our mainsail; the schooner
also fired two shots at us from a small cannon, both, however, falling short of
us about thirty feet. The launch
approached to within about one-half to three quarters of a mile of us, the
schooner perhaps not nearer than 1 ½ miles.
We fired them a salute of three guns.
After pursuing us for a mile or so they tacked and returned towards Round Island. We then proceeded homeward and arrived about 9 o’clock this morning, with no other
adventure worthy of notice.
The following note
was handed us by Captain John Foster, who came over with us as a passenger:
ON
BOARD THE OYSTER SLOOP CREOLE
Gentlemen: Although aware of the fact
that you had men aboard of the right grit, I did not expect to find you
prepared with arms to cope with an enemy, but was pleased as well as surprised
to find on board quite a sufficiency of small arms, such as rifles, muskets,
pistols, etc., to enable the gallant little squad in anything like close
quarters, to interest, as I think, at least, twice their number of the enemy.
Respectfully,
JNO. FOSTER
You
will please give this a place in your columns for what it is worth.
A.
LANE, Captain
F. W. VALKING, 3d Lt. Nept. Blues
H.
JACOBS, O. S. Torrent Rangers, and twelve others
