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Farragut & Our Naval Commanders

By J. T. Headley
Comprising the early life and public services of the prominent naval commanders who, with Grant and Sherman and their generals, brought to a triumphant close the great rebellion of 1861-1865. (First edition 1867)

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CHAPTER XIX

COMMODORE THORNTON A. JENKINS

HIS NATIVITY—ENTERS THE SERVICE—FIRST CRUISE. —ON THE COAST SURVEY—LIGHT-HOUSE DUTY—SERVES IN THE MEXICAN WAR—COMMANDS HYDROGRAPHIC PARTY IN COAST SURVEY—BRINGS HOME PRISONERS FROM MEXICO—EMPLOYED IN SECRET SERVICE IN VIRGINIA—HIS SERVICES IN THE JAMES RIVER—IN THE WEST GULF BLOCKADING SQUADRON—MADE FLEET CAPTAIN TO FARRAGUT—HIS SERVICES—IS WOUNDED—IN THE ACTION BELOW MOBILE—FARRAGUT’S OPINION OF HIM—CHIEF OF BUREAU OF NAVIGATION.

 

Commodore Jenkins was born in Orange County, Virginia, December 11th, 1811. He entered the navy as midshipman, November 1st, 1828, and was ordered to the Natchez, in which he served for two years—a part of the time cruising in an open boat along the coast of Cuba, in search of pirates. In 1833 he received his warrant as passed midshipman, standing No. 1, and was ordered to the coast survey, in which he afterwards became assistant. In 1842 he was detached from it, and made a cruise in the Congress as lieutenant. In 1845 he was on special duty connected with the examination of light-houses in Europe, and the next year made inspector of light-houses on our coast. He served gallantly in the Mexican war, participating in the capture of Tuspan and Tobasco. In 1850 he was placed in command of the hydrographic party on the coast survey—commanding the schooner John Y. Mason. In 1858 he commanded the Preble in the Paraguay expedition. In 1860, when Miramon bombarded the Fort of San Juan d’Ulloa, the Saratoga and Preble captured one hundred and twelve men, whom Jenkins took to New Orleans, and delivered up as pirates.

The next year he was ordered to report to the Secretary of the Treasury as Secretary of the Light House Board, and from April to November was employed on special duty and secret service in Virginia, in connection with the rebellion. But the great exposure and labor connected with it, broke down his health, and he was, for a long time, laid up with the typhoid fever. On his recovery, he applied for active service, and was given the command of the Wachusett. When the rebels attacked McClellan at Harrison’s Landing, he drove them off; and afterwards did good service in the James River. Being promoted to captain, he was, in September, ordered to the Oneida, and joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. The next February he was detached from this vessel and ordered to report on board the Hartford at New Orleans as captain of the fleet, and Chief of Staff to Farragut.

He led the fleet in the passage of the batteries of Port Hudson in March. A few days after, he engaged the batteries of Grand Gulf, as well as those of Warrenton. In May, in the Monongahela—the temporary flagship—he attacked the batteries of Port Hudson, and remained before the place until called to Donaldsonville.

The next mouth he was ordered to Port Hudson, to assume command. In July, the Monongahela, with the tug Ida in company, silenced a battery of fifteen field pieces about twelve miles below Donaldsonville, which opened on the vessel at only two hundred yards distant. In the engagement, Commander Read was killed, and Jenkins, who was on board on his way up to take command of the Richmond, was wounded "by the same shot, breaking a cutlass which struck him on the thigh." He commanded the naval force at Port Hudson, when the place surrendered. From January, 1864, to 1865, he was in command of a division blockading Mobile, and took an active part in the engagement with the forts in the following August. He commanded the Richmond in that most fearful conflict of modern times, and no higher praise can be awarded him than that bestowed by Admiral Farragut, who said:  

Before closing this report, there is one other officer of my squadron of whom I feel bound to speak, Captain T. A. Jenkins of the Richmond, who was formerly my chief of staff, not because of his having held that position, but because he never forgets to do his duty to the government, and takes now the same interest in the fleet as when he stood in that relation to me. He is also the commanding officer of the second division of my squadron, and, as such, has shown ability, and the most untiring zeal. He carries out the spirit of one of Lord Collingwood’s best sayings: "Not to be afraid of doing too much; those who are, seldom do as much as they ought." When in Pensacola, he spent days on the bar placing buoys in the best position, was always looking after the interests of the service, and keeping the vessels from being detained one moment longer in port than was necessary. The gallant Craven told me, only the night before the action in which he lost his life: ‘I regret, Admiral, that I have detained you; but had it not been for Captain Jenkins, God knows when I should have been here. When your order came, I had not received an ounce of coal.

I feel I should not be doing my duty did I not call the attention of the Department to an officer who has performed all his various duties with so much zeal and fidelity.

In January, 1865, he was ordered north, and in August, the same year, he was appointed Chief of Bureau of Navigation in the Navy Department, having been promoted the month previous to Commodore.


Chapter XX

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