The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 35, July 1931 - April, 1932 Page: 118
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
on Galveston. Commodore Bell evidently thought that he had
arrears of activity to make up. He hovered about the Island
making observations. On March 19 he wrote Farragut:
I observe . . . that they [the enemy] congratulate them-
selves upon the arrival of Commodore Catesby Jones, who served
on the Merrimack, and subsequently fitted out two rams on the
Chattahoochie. I have no doubt he is here to prepare the Harriet
Lane for like service.40
Bell edged close to Galveston fearing the Harriet Lane would
escape, closely questioned deserters from the town, and reported
the results to his superiors. Some of his informants thought
that the captured vessel would be sold because of her short cruis-
ing radius, the result of small fuel space, and that a "propeller"
would be purchased with the money.41 Others opined that she
was being loaded with cotton.42 Once she was observed steaming
around the harbor, and the blockading fleet cleared for action.43
Every few days the new officer in charge of the Texas blockading
station, Captain J. B. Marchant, reported that he was closely
watching the Harriet Lane and had vessels patrolling the coast
without ceasing.44 Yet the Harriet Lane did come out and did
completely escape the waiting Federal squadron.
The Confederates had turned a neat trick on the temporarily
sleeping Federals. In addition to glory and prisoners they had
in the Harriet Lane a ship which Farragut praised highly, per-
haps the most efficient open-sea vessel the South ever had in the
Gulf waters. What should they do with her? Should they raid
the seas for hostile merchantmen as the Alabama and the Florida
were then doing, should they cut her down and make a gunboat
or ram of her, should they sell her and invest the price in some
other craft, or should they load her with cotton and slip out into
the Gulf some dark night? The Federals considered the problem
from all angles and worried for months. The Confederates wav-
ered and let over a year glide by without coming to a decision.
Thus they lost the chance to make use of her at the time to their
own profit as they might have done.
4oIbid., 94.
Ilbid., 142-143.
42Ibid., vol. 21, p. 176.
48Ibid., 161.
"Ibid., 194; 204.118
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 35, July 1931 - April, 1932, periodical, 1932; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101092/m1/122/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.