By 1863, the blockade of the South was beginning to take effect, and the Confederates were desperately salvaging all the armament within their reach. The recovery of the guns of the sunken USS Keokuk showed what can be accomplished by resolute men.
Charleston had been placed high on the Federal Navy’s list for capture, and in March 1863, a fleet was assembled under Rear Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont to take the city. The largest and most powerful of these ships was the U. S. Frigate New Ironsides, an armored seagoing broadside ship. Also included were a large fleet of monitors and the double-turreted tower ironclad Keokuk.
The Keokuk was one of a large number of turreted vessels ordered by the Navy Department after the success of the original Monitor. On paper, she was in many ways superior to that ship. She was laid down in April of 1862 and commissioned in February 1863. As launched, she had about five feet of slanting, armored hull showing above the waterline. The level deck had a beam of just over 20 feet. Fore and aft on the center line were two non-revolving gunhouses, each shaped like an igloo or the frustum of a cone. Each gun- house was armed with one 11-inch smoothbore, muzzle-loading Dahlgren gun, mounted on a circular track. The gunhouse had ports cut in the sides and one on the center line for firing. The gun was trained by hand inside the turret and, when ready for firing, it was run out through the port. When not in use these ports were covered by iron shutters. This system of non-rotating gunhouses was not repeated in the U. S. Navy, and the only other ships similarly armed were the British turreted ram Hotspur and a small French ram, both built after the Civil War.
The pilothouse and conning tower were part of the structure of the fore turret and were located at its after end. This location allowed easy communication with the fore battery and engineering spaces. A small spur was fitted as a ram. The upper hull and gunhouses were covered with 6j-inch iron armor. Most of the hull armor was backed by the coal bunkers. The principal dimensions of the ship were: length 153§ feet, beam 36 feet, depth 13 feet, and draft 85 feet. The power plant was fairly complete for a ship of that era. She had two boilers, each with two furnaces. Twin screws were powered by two simple two-cylinder engines with a 20-inch stroke and diameter of 23 inches. Her best speed was 9 knots. Ballast pumps, blowers, and boiler feed pumps were also steam driven.
The 7th of April 1863 dawned on fine weather and a smooth sea, and the Union force was soon under way. Unfortunately for Admiral Du Pont, his vaunted fleet of ironclads was not up to the task. The New Ironsides stayed too far out to be of much use and the monitors did not have the volume of fire to reduce the forts. The monitors had increased their protection at the expense of their fire power. Also, the monitor captains had a great deal of respect for the mines that they thought the Confederates had laid.
Commander A. C. Rhind, captain of the Keokuk, pushed his ship to within 550 yards of Fort Sumter and opened fire with the fore gun. The Confederate batteries returned the fire. After 30 minutes of action and firing only three shots, the ship was forced to leave the scene. She steamed down and anchored off the southern end of Morris Island. Her damage was extensive and fatal. She had been hit 90 times in the hull and turrets, 19 of those shots were near or below the waterline, and the turrets had been penetrated repeatedly by rifle bolts and 10-inch solid shot. One shot had jammed the gun port cover against the gun, thus putting the gun out of action. Riddled as she was, her machinery escaped intact and was able to take her out of action. The ship was kept afloat that night by the use of all pumps and the assistance of a tug. Early on the morning of the 8th, the sea began to pick up and, in spite of all efforts, the ship sank in 18 feet of water. All hands had been put on board the tug minutes before she went under. During the action the crew sustained 16 wounded, but no dead. Among the wounded was the ship’s captain, Commander Rhind.
The wreck lay at the southern end of Morris Island, 1,300 yards off the beach. At low tide, the tops of the turrets were visible from Fort Sumter with the naked eye. The distance from the Fort was about four miles.
Admiral Du Pont had the wreck examined, and ordered Captain John Rodgers of the monitor Weehawken to destroy it. One of the USS Ericsson’s torpedo rafts* was made ready for the job. Rough seas and fear of damaging the overhanging bow of the monitor with the unmanageable raft caused abandonment of this attempt.
Immediately upon withdrawal of the Union Fleet, the Keokuk was examined by Confederate engineering officers of both services. The naval officers among them declared that the ship and armament were beyond salvage. After further inspections by the officers, however, it was decided to attempt the hazardous job of recovering the badly needed guns.
The project was placed under the control of Adolphus W. La Costa, a civilian rigger working for the Ordnance Department. La Costa had mounted many of the guns in the forts around Charleston and was a skilled mechanic. A crew of picked men from Charleston was quickly assembled and, with a covering force from Fort Sumter, began the attempt to recover the guns.
The two turrets of the Keokuk were only 14 feet in diameter across the top, and so little was exposed at low water that only two and one-half hours of work a night was the best that could be expected. From the beginning the work depended upon darkness, silence, smooth water, secrecy, and eternal vigilance. The swells rolling up from the sea drenched the men and made the job doubly dangerous.
The Union ships were just across the bar, the nearest being only two miles away. Nothing prevented these ships from crossing, and at any time a picket boat could make a dash for the wreck. The troops from Fort Sumter were placed to seaward in barges, and in case of surprise by the Federals, they hoped to allow the escape of the working crew by a show of force. When the crew was enlarged and the recovery of the guns near, one or both of the Confederate ironclad gunboats took station near by.
The space on top of the turret being so small and with so many men working, supervision was very difficult. The clang of one dropped tool could give the whole show away and expose the men to death or capture. The top to be cut away consisted of a layer of one- inch-to-lj-inch iron set upon iron girders; the inside was also ceiled with another layer of iron. A hole big enough to allow the lifting and passage of a gun 13 feet 5 inches long, nearly three feet in diameter, and weighing 16,000 pounds had to be cut through this iron. The only tools available were sledges, chisels, bars, and possibly small hacksaws. Before the hole was big enough three of the girders were also removed. After each night’s work, the wreck had to be left with no visible signs of salvage efforts.
After the tops of the turrets were removed, the guns were seen in their carriages below the water line. Before they could be rigged for hoisting, they had to be prepared by the removal of the elevating screw and cap squares confining them to the carriages. Lashings were finally secured around the guns making them ready for raising.
Altogether, two weeks were spent in cutting through the turrets and preparing the guns for lifting. La Costa was now ready for the most risky part of the task, the actual raising of the guns. A night in early May was selected for this operation.
An old lightship hulk in Charleston was made ready for the task of raising and moving the guns. A jury mast was rigged in place of the foremast, and an outrigger of two 14-inch timbers was extended 20 feet from the bow. The necessary blocks, tackle, and stays were provided. To give added lift, 1,500 sand bags were placed in the bows. In the final act, shifting of these bags was to give the final inch of lift that was needed.
At such a time more protection became necessary. The Confederate Navy Department furnished two ironclads, the Chicora and the Palmetto State. These ships were to take their positions in the main channel to seaward. More men from Fort Sumter were added to the working and covering forces.
Secrecy and speed now became the prime requisite if success was to be gained. The entire crew with the lightship hulk were towed down the channel by a local steamer, the Etiwan. The Union ships lay just across the bar and their picket boats could be seen from the decks of the Etiwan. So stealthily did the Confederates move that no sign of their presence was given. The background of sand dunes on Morris Island helped in concealing the two ships.
Upon reaching the wreck, the hulk was secured to one of the nearly submerged turrets of the Keokuk, and the actual raising of the guns began. The men, waist deep in water, slung the gun to the tackle and the order was given to take up the slack and then a strain was put upon the line.
The swell made the work in the turret difficult and dangerous and the footing on the lightship was slippery and unsteady. The men heaved on the line with a will and the breach of the gun was soon in sight.
Unfortunately, the gun was slung with the muzzle low and when the blocks were touching, the breech was free but the muzzle hung up in the turret. With the gun swinging with the roll of the hulk but still refusing to raise free, the thoughts of the men must have been bitter. Not to be thwarted, La Costa now ordered the sand bags in the bow carried to the stern. Even this was not enough; the gun still lacked some inches of being free. To add to their worries, the sky in the east began to lighten. The gunboats started to withdraw and the captain of the Etiwan hailed the crew. Just when all seemed to be in vain, an enormous swell lifted the hulk and the gun swung free.
It was broad daylight when they passed up the bay, with the long and hard-worked-for prize on the bow of the hulk. As they passed each fort, the soldiers cheered them for a job well done.
With the experience gained from the first gun, the lifting of the second gun was accomplished without trouble. Three nights later she joined her sister in Charleston.
The Charleston papers announced the recovery of the guns on 6 May. As the work must have started soon after 19 April, it must have taken about three weeks.
Soon after their recovery, the two guns were back in use against their former owners. One gun was sent to Fort Sumter. Later this gun was returned to Battery Ramsey at White Point Gardens. The other was mounted in Battery Bee on Sullivans Island. These guns were the largest that the Confederates had in Charleston and remained in use until the city was evacuated in 1865.
The Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Gideon Welles, noted in his dispatch to Admiral Du Pont, “The wreck and its important armament ought not to have been abandoned to the rebels, whose sleepless labors appear to have secured them a valuable prize.”
In August 1863, the Navy inquired into the possibility of raising the Keokuk. On 28 September 1863, Admiral Dahlgren agreed to the terms of Whitney and Johnson Higgens of New York for raising the wreck, but there is no record that the monitor was ever raised.
* See Sydney Jackman, “The Federal Navy’s Missing Raft,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, September 1960, pp. 154-155.