e view of several of our
pursuers for a few moments, as they burned their signal blue light; and
had not crossed the bar two hours before the commanding officer of the
fleet received information of the fact. Our rockets had diverted the
pursuit to the misfortune of the blockade-runner "Lady Stirling," which
was captured; and from some of her crew, as we subsequently learned, the
fact of our departure was ascertained. If we could have foreseen such an
event, we might have tried the range of our after pivot gun with very
good effect upon the blockader following in our wake; but although our
crew was at quarters, and we were prepared to fight our way to sea, we
wished to avoid an encounter by which nothing was to be gained; our
chief object being to injure the enemy's commerce. Nearly all of the
officers of the Chickamauga had resigned from the United States Navy,
and I have no doubt they contrasted (as I could not help doing) next
morning, our spar deck encumbered with coal bags, and begrimed with
dirt, and the ragged tatterdemalions leaning over the bulwarks, or
stretched along the decks in the agonies of sea-sickness, with the
cleanliness, order and discipline, to which we had been accustomed under
the "Stars and Stripes." The condition below decks was even worse; the
crew sleeping upon the coal which was stowed in the hold; and the
officers upon the softest plank they could find in the contracted cabin.
In addition to a complement of officers for a frigate, the Secretary of
the Navy had ordered _six_ pilots to the vessel. As three of them held
their "branches" for the approaches to Norfolk, Mr. Mallory must have
expected to hear that we had passed under the guns of Fortress Monroe,
laid Norfolk under contribution, and captured the Gosport Navy-yard.

The scene upon our decks, when the sun rose the morning after our
passage through the fleet, was demoralizing; and I am sure some of us
felt as if we were indeed "pirates," although we were bound to deny the
"soft impeachment," when brought against us by the Northern press. The
exertions of the executive officer, Dozier, seconded by his zealous
subordinates, brought some degree of order out of this "chaotic" mass
after a while.

Our first prize was the "Mark L. Potter," from Bangor for Key West, with
a cargo of lumber. As there was no alternative but to destroy her, the
officers and crew were transferred to the Chickamauga, and she was set
on fire. This capture was made o