July 14, 1865 Friday Blockade runner Owl, under Commander Maffitt, steamed up the Mersey River and came to anchor in Liverpool harbor. He had brought the ship from Nassau through a Union Navy that had been alerted by Secretary Welles to exert all efforts to capture him. The following day, Maffitt had his boatswain pipe all hands aft where he appeared in an immaculate uniform and addressed the crew. "This is the last time we meet as sailors of the Confederate States Navy. . . . The Confederacy is dead. Our country is in the hands of the enemy, and we must accept the verdict. . . . I am grateful to you for your loyalty to me and to the South." He then paid off the crew, spliced one last mainbrace for the Confederacy and then personally struck the colors to three resounding cheers from the crew. Maffitt turned the ship over to Fraser, Trenholm and Company and established residence in Liverpool. After qualifying for a Master's License, he was employed by a shipping company and commanded the merchant steamer Widgeon trading between Liverpool and South American ports.
Maffitt finally returned to the United States in 1868 and made an unsuccessful attempt to secure restitution of confiscated property valued at $75,000. With the money he earned while serving in the British merchant marine, he purchased a 212 acre farm outside Wilmington, North Carolina, where he lived his remaining years. During these sunset years, Maffitt engaged in some very perceptive reflecting. On one occasion he summarized the important role played by sea power in the war, .."The Northern navy," he wrote, "contributed materially to the successful issue of the war. The grand mistake of the South was neglecting her navy. All our army movements out West were baffled by the armed Federal steamers which swarmed on western waters, and which our government provided nothing to meet. Before the capture of New Orleans, the South ought to have had a navy strong enough to prevent the capture of that city, and hold firmly the Mississippi and its tributaries. This would have prevented many disastrous battles; it would have made Sherman's march through the country impossible and Lee would have still been master of his lines . . . the errors of our government were numerous but her neglect of the navy proved irremediable and fatal."
Maffitt also astutely commented on the lasting contributions made by the navy he represented. "The Confederate Navy," he wrote, "minute though it was, won a place for itself in history. To the Confederates the credit belongs of testing in battle the invulnerability of ironclads and of revolutionizing the navies of the world. The Merrimack did that. And though we had but a hand full of light cruisers, while the ocean swarmed with armed Federal vessels, we defied the Federal navy and swept Northern commerce from the sea." For this latter achievement, Maffitt personally merited a large share of the credit. As captain of C.S.S. Florida during her 1863 cruise he captured 24 American merchant ships and he commissioned tender Clarence, commanded by Lieutenant Charles W. Read, whose subsequent exploits accounted for 23 additional merchantmen.
_________________ Gen Ned Simms 2/XVI Corps/AotT Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em. VMI Class of '00
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