The Federal capture of the steamers, the CSS W.B. Terry, and the mail steamboat, Samuel Orr, by the USS Lexington, at Paducah, KY.

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The Federal capture of the steamers, the CSS W.B. Terry, and the mail steamboat, Samuel Orr, by the USS Lexington, at Paducah, KY.

the CSS W.B. Terry, and the mail steamboat, Samuel Orr, by the USS Lexington, at Paducah, KY.

Capture of Terry and Orr

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Capture of the Steamers W. B. Terry and Samuel Orr, at Paducah, Ky.
AUGUST 22, 1861

Report of Maj. Gen. J. C. Frémont, U. S. Army, commanding Western Department.​

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
Saint Louis, August 25, 1861​

Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS,
Adjutant-General of the Army, Washington, D.C.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith communications to my headquarters from Col. R.J. Oglesby, Eighth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, commanding at Cairo, Ill., reporting the circumstances of the capture of the steamer W. B. Terry, on the Ohio River, at Paducah, by the U.S. gunboat Lexington, and a statement by the officers of the mail steamboat Samuel Orr, running between Evansville and Paducah, in reference to her capture in reprisal for the above by a Paducah mob.
Events have thus transpired clearly indicating the complicity of citizens of Kentucky with the rebel forces, and showing the impracticability of carrying on operations in that direction without involving the Kentucky shore.
Colonel Oglesby has telegraphed to me this morning that he is to receive to-morrow a deputation from the governor of Kentucky, and he has furnished them a safeguard.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. C. FRÉMONT,
Major-General, Commanding.​

Report of Col. Richard J. Oglesby, Eighth Illinois Infantry, commanding at Cairo, Illl.​

BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS,CAMP DEFIANCE,
Cairo, Ill., August 23, 1861​

Maj. Gen. JOHN C. FRÉMONT,
Comdg. Dep't of the West, Saint Louis, Mo.
SIR: In the affair of the little steamer W. B. Terry, taken by Captain Stembel, of gunboat Lexington, yesterday morning, at Paducah, Ky., I had indisputable proof, which an examination of her papers found on board confirms, that she was running in the employment of the Confederate States. Without hesitating upon the neutrality of Kentucky, I ordered her capture. She turns out to be of no great value, say, vessel and furniture, $3,000. To the Confederates three times that sum will not compensate the loss. I have had her valued by a commission of my own appointment, and the papers filed at these headquarters. I am at a loss what further to do with her legally. Of course I shall use her, if necessary to do so.
Of course Paducah was in confusion, and his excellency the governor may become indignant. The result is, that yesterday the crew of the Terry, led by the captain and a few citizens, seized the steamer Samuel Orr, from Evansville, the private property of private citizens of Indiana --a retaliation more vindictive than sensible, as they thus destroy the last means of illicit trade with the border States north of the Ohio. Nevertheless, they have the boat and cargo, worth, say, $25,000. I would like to go up the Tennessee River and make the reprisal. I send herewith a copy of the statement of the captain and officers of the Samuel Orr, and also transmit copy of report [No. 3] of Capt. R. N. Stem-bel, commanding gunboat Lexington.

Hoping my action may meet your approval, I am, most respectfully, yours,
R. J. OGLESBY,
Colonel, Commanding Forces at Cairo.​

[Inclosure.]​

CAIRO, ILL.,
August 23, 1861.​

The steamboat Samuel Orr, running as the regular mail-boat from Evansville to Paducah, was, on the 22d of August, 1861, forcibly taken by a mob at Paducah, Ky., from the crew in command, and taken up the Tennessee River. The boat was new, and worth $15,000. It had on board a miscellaneous cargo, worth about $10,000. The principal owners are citizens of Evansville, and the actors in the seizure were Captain Johnson, late commander of the steamboat W. B. Terry, White Fowler, A.M. Winston, and about 40 or 50 other persons,. we believe all citizens of Paducah. Several shots were fired by the assailants, wounding two persons.
We were all of us hurriedly driven from the boat, without allowing us (except in one or two instances) the privilege of bringing away our clothing or baggage.
It is but justice to say that some of the leading citizens of the town were loud in their condemnations of this act, but no measures were taken, as far as we know, to prevent it.

Respectfully,
W. H. McCLURG, Captain.
THOMAS DE SOUCHET, Clerk.
W. H. LONGNECKER, Clerk.
F. F. DE SOUCHET, Clerk.
A. J. DUNCAN, Esq.
ROBERT REDDEN, Esq.​

Report of Commander R. N. Stembel, U. S. Navy.​

U.S. GUNBOAT LEXINGTON,
Cairo, August 22, 1861​

Colonel OGLESBY,
Commander Military Post, Cairo, Ill.​

COLONEL: Agreeably to your verbal order, communicated to me at midnight of the 21st instant, I got under way, and proceeded to Paducah, Ky., where I arrived at 7.03 a.m. The gentleman you placed on board to designate the steamer employed in the rebel trade and carrying their flag pointed out the W. B. Terry as being the vessel thus illegally engaged. I ran alongside of her, cut her out, made her fast to the Lexington, and immediately returned to this anchorage and placed her in your possession. I was not opposed in the performance of this duty by either the citizens of Paducah or the officers and crew of the Terry, for the latter, evidently suspecting my object, left the boat hastily, with such articles of clothing as were at hand. I was therefore unsuccessful in capturing any of them.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. N. STEMBEL,
Commander, U. S. Navy.​

 

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Here is this...

The Daily Dispatch: August 27, 1861., [Electronic resource], A steamer captured by a gun-boat — a good Haul in turn.

A steamer captured by a gun-boat — a good Haul in turn.
--Brief mention was made in our telegraph columns yesterday morning, of the capture of the Confederate steamer W. B. Terry, by the Federal gun-boat Conestoga. The following, from the Memphis Appeal of the 23d, will show that not much was gained by the Hessians in the enterprise:
‘ At day light on yesterday morning, the packet W. B. Terry, running from Paducah, (Ky.) on the Tennessee river, owned at East-port. (Miss.) and commanded by Capt. Job Johnson, was unexpectedly seized whilst laying at the wharf at Paducah, by the Lincoln gun-boat Conestoga and an armed force of 250 Federal troops, and taken as a prize to Cairo. This fear was no doubt performed by way of retaliation for the recent capture of the steamers Equality and Cheeney by our men; but the captain and crew of the Terry were not to be so easily outdone, as the sequel proved. Accordingly, in the afternoon they managed by some means to seize the steamer Samuel Orr, which was a regular packet between Paducah and Evansville, and owned at the latter place. They succeeded in hurrying her up the Tennessee river to Fort Henry, as we learn, on the Kentucky and Tennessee line, where she was safely secured with a heavy cargo of groceries, consisting principally of coffee, bacon, whiskey, etc. Her cargo was to be paid for only on delivery at Paducah, a circumstance which saddles the loss on the shippers and not the consignees.
The Orr is one of the fleetest packets on the river, and, with her contents, is a valuable "haul."
’

The Daily Dispatch: August 27, 1861. Richmond Dispatch. 4 pages. by Cowardin & Hammersley. Richmond. August 27, 1861. microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mi : Proquest. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

 

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Here is this:

Encyclopedia of Arkansas

The USS Lexington was a timberclad city-class gunboat in the U.S. Navy that saw extensive service on the Mississippi River and tributaries within Arkansas ...

encyclopediaofarkansas.net

Under Commander John Rodgers, the Lexington joined the Western Gunboat Flotilla at Cairo, Illinois, on August 12, 1861. On August 22, under Commander Roger Nelson Stembel, the Lexington saw its first significant action when it seized the Confederate steamer the W. B. Terry at Paducah, Kentucky.

While serving with the USS Tyler on September 4, 1861, the Lexington engaged the CSS Yankee (a.k.a. CSS Jackson) and Confederate shore batteries near Hickman and Columbus, Kentucky. Two days later, the Lexington and the Tyler combined to support Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant’s seizure of Paducah and Smithland, Kentucky, on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Through September and October 1861, Lexington engaged in operations in Kentucky and Missouri, including Grant’s movement against Belmont, Missouri.

 

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W. B. Terry lost place...

https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?220414

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She was later captured by the Confederates and used to ferry e troops across the Tennessee River. On August 31st, 1862, W. B. Terry PSS ran aground 20 feet from shore at the foot of the Duck River Sucks while going up the Tennessee River. She was subsequently stripped of her furniture and burned. Read more at wrecksite: https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?220414

 

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I found this the most of what happen...

Kentucky Civil War Dispatch - Two Jackson Purchase Towns

By Todd Hattonhttp://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-984685.mp3Murray, KY – One hundred and fifty years ago, the Bluegrass…

www.wkms.org

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Murray, KY – One hundred and fifty years ago, the Bluegrass was walking a fine line, trying to stay out of the Civil War. Today on the Kentucky Civil War Dispatch, we find out the strategic importance of two Jackson Purchase towns pulled the Commonwealth into the growing storm.

On this date in 1861, Confederate troops under General Gideon J. Pillow occupied Hickman, Kentucky thus ending the Commonwealth's fragile neutrality.

On September 3, Pillow led his troops north to Columbus. In Cairo, Illinois, Union Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant expected Pillow's next stop would be Paducah. So, Grant decided to beat him to "the Charleston of Kentucky."

And on September 6, Grant's blue-clad forces bagged the city and nearby Smithland.

Now that Rebel and Yankee soldiers were on Kentucky soil, Kentuckians would have to choose sides.

Throughout the Commonwealth's neutrality, both sides had exercised great caution with the Bluegrass State. President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis wanted to win over their native state.

Lincoln feared a Northern invasion might push Kentucky into the Confederacy. Likewise, Davis worried if Southern troops violated the state's neutrality, Kentucky might fully embrace the Union war effort.

But by early September, both sides had concluded that it was time for military necessity to trump political considerations.

On September 2, Union troops were opposite Columbus at Belmont, Missouri. Their apparent aim was to cross the Mississippi River and take the town.

This prompted General Leonidas Polk to send his subordinate Pillow into Kentucky. In The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky, E. Merton Coulter says Pillow paused at Hickman "in consequence of the armed position of the enemy, who had posted himself with cannon and entrenchments opposite Columbus."

Union and Confederate brass had coveted Columbus since the war began. From atop the tall dirt bluffs towering over the town, an army could command the Mississippi for miles.

Paducah and Smithland were hardly less strategic. The Tennessee River flows into the Ohio at Paducah. Smithland was at the Cumberland River's confluence with the Ohio.

Since at least mid-August, St. Louis-based Union General John C. Fremont wanted to seize the pro-Confederate Jackson Purchase, including Paducah and Columbus.

On August 10, the W.B. Terry, an armed steamboat belonging to some Southern-sympathizing Paducahans, chugged up the Tennessee to Pine Bluff in Calloway County and captured the Louisville steamer Pocahontas while its crew was loading tobacco. The Terry's crew stole the valuable leaf and carried it into Tennessee to sell.

Soon afterward, a group of pro-Confederate Columbus townsfolk commandeered the U.S. Mail Packet P.B. Cheney. They forced the crew to take the boat to Memphis to help ferry Rebel troops to Missouri.

The Terry's days as a Confederate pirate boat ended August 22 when the U.S.S. Lexington, a Cairo-based wooden gunboat bristling with cannon, steamed into Paducah's harbor. Without firing a shot, the crew snagged the Terry while the crew was ashore, and towed the boat back to Cairo.

The Terry was flying a Rebel flag and piled with supplies bound for the Confederacy.

Soon afterward, the Paducah-to-Evansville mail steamer Samuel Orr chugged into port and the Terry's crew saw a golden opportunity to get even.

With help from White Fowler and other armed pro-Confederate Paducahans, they seized the Orr at gunpoint, ran the boat up the Tennessee and gave it to the Confederates.

Not surprisingly, the the Terry-Orr affair made secessionist Paducahans more fearful of the long-dreaded Yankee invasion. On August 20, some Union troops had crossed over from Cairo and briefly arrested a trio of Ballard county citizens suspected of spying for the rebels.

Pro-Southern Paducahans then hastily convened a mass meeting. The citizens passed resolutions denouncing the Federals and appealing to Governor Beriah Magoffin for military help. They also warned that if he wouldn't send aid, they'd invite the Confederate army to Paducah.

After learning what happened in Paducah, Fremont wrote Washington, arguing "events have thus transpired clearly indicating the complicity of citizens of Kentucky with the Rebel forces, and showing the impracticality of carrying on operations in that direction without involving the Kentucky shore."