©2024 Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County
Horace Stafford Brown
written by Beverly Vaillancourt, M.Ed
To know my story, we should start at the beginning. My name is Horace Safford Brown. I was
born in Carthage, Illinois, in 1837. I received a good education and decided that engineering
was something of great interest. Then came the Civil War. Now, I was not convinced that the
Civil War was being fought for any true purpose, or at least not a purpose that made sense
to me. So, why then did I join the Union Navy in January 1863? For the adventure and travel,
of course! Plus the pay was $45 a month.“I am only following out my inclinations by going
on the trip, as I always thought I should like to try it,” I wrote my mother after enlisting. And
as I told her, “Don’t imagine I am in any danger because I am in danger everywhere.” Well,
you know how plans seem to go the opposite from what you think at times? That was me.
No sooner had I joined for what I thought would be just one year on the USS Lackawanna
chasing down the Confederate CSS Alabama and heading off to foreign ports, than INSTEAD
off to battle I went on the newly commissioned ironclad USS Nahant! Now, some call these
ironclad boats a “cheesebox on a raft.” I always found that a bit amusing since to us sailors
being on an ironclad was a downright frightening place to be. In June 1863 we captured the
CSS Atlanta with help from the USS Weehawken. We simply ran her aground. Then, to add
to the woes of the Confederacy, the Atlanta was floated off, repaired, rearmed for use by the
Union Navy, and with the help of its steam powered engines it was deployed to the James
River to support Union forces fighting there, moving at a speed of 7 to 10 knots per hour.
The ironclads were mighty ships, and the Union Navy made great use of them, though
not always successfully. Why just two months earlier, in April, 1863, in the First Battle
of Charleston Harbor, it was decided that Admiral Du Pont should attack the Confederate
defenses near the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Now, we were a strong force of 9
ironclads. Capturing this harbor would have dealt a strategic blow to the Confederacy. But
the Confederates had done their job of fortifying the harbor, yet we had failed to consider the
difficulty of maneuvering our ironclads. The battle did not go well. Our ships were hit over
500 times by Confederate shot and shell, some below the waterline. The USS Weehawken
was rocked by an underwater explosion and hit 90 times. Somehow the USS Nahant was hit
only 36 times, but our turret was disabled, and our helmsman was killed. It was a disaster. Du
Pont finally called off the fight as darkness fell, and we limped back to sea. Not one captain
was willing to go into battle again the next day. And, even though Du Pont had warned that
the harbor could not be taken by naval forces alone, he was blamed for the failed battle plan.