close to home
and saw the newspapers from New York, Washington, and New Orleans. In
these papers the army was accorded all the glory while the navy was
almost ignored. This neglect rankled in the minds of the madcaps, and
they blamed Commodore Conner, an officer of much experience and
distinguished record, for not storming every fort and citadel near the
coast instead of carrying out his instructions to maintain an
efficient blockade of the ports and to co-operate with the army
whenever possible. These duties, tiresome and inglorious as they
seemed, were of the first importance to the scheme of the campaign,
and they were performed with a patience which rose superior to
weariness, sickness, and death. The duty required of the blockaders
did not require much fighting, but the men were in danger of the
coast fevers all the time, and hundreds died. And then at some seasons
the fleet was likely to be blown ashore by the fierce "northers" which
prevailed. Many accidents resulted during these storms, the most
serious being the capsizing of the brig "Somers," Lieutenant Raphael
Semmes (afterward commanding the Confederate ship "Alabama")
commanding, and the loss of more than half her crew.

When the war began at Palo Alto, Commodore Conner was with his
squadron off Point Isabel, at the mouth of the Rio Grande River. Not
knowing the issue of the battle, five hundred seamen and marines were
sent to strengthen the garrison at Point Isabel, where the army
supplies were stored, while Captain Aulick, of the "Potomac," with two
hundred men, pulled up the Rio Grande in boats for fifteen miles and
until a junction with the army was established at Barita. At this time
the squadron consisted of the frigates "Cumberland" (flagship),
"Potomac," and "Raritan"; the steam frigate "Mississippi"; the
sloops-of-war "Falmouth," "John Adams," and "St. Mary's"; the
steam-sloop "Princeton"; and the brigs "Lawrence," "Porpoise," and
"Somers." Before the close of the war some of these ships were
recalled, at least one was wrecked, and the squadron was from time to
time largely reinforced.

The squadron, now that war had begun, was ordered to blockade the
ports of Matamoras, on the Rio Grande; Tampico, on the Tampico River;
Alvarado, on the Alvarado; Coatzalcoalcos, on the river of the same
name; Tabasco, on the Tabasco River; and Vera Cruz, on the Gulf. The
rivers mentioned, except the Rio Grande, are mere creeks, not fit for
vessels of any size, a