The USS Commodore Perry which is the same type
of ferry boat as the USS Fort Henry.  Both were
converted for military use.
 
Medal Of Honor Winner At Crystal River
by David Ekardt of the USS Fort Henry
Reenactment Unit
 
    Most folks do not realize it, however there was a Medal of Honor won for an action on the Crystal River in Florida.  Marine Orderly Sergeant, Christopher Nugent of the USS Fort Henry, led an attack that earned him the high award.  The Sergeant, born in County Craven, Ireland, had several years of experience, and was the third Marine to earn the Medal in the Civil War.  He had joined the Navy as a ship's boy at the age of 14, and had even been with Commodore Perry when he went to Japan.  When he was old enough, he switched over to the Marines in 1854.
    Crystal River was one of the favorite places for blockade runners to collect their out-going cargoes and return the supplies purchased from Caribbean ports.  Florida was important to the Southern war effort.  This state supplied much of the beef and salt that the armies of the Confederacy and the civilians of the South needed to survive.  The many rivers, creeks, and small islands along the Gulf Coast provided excellent cover for the many smugglers and blockade runners that helped supply the war effort for the Confederates.  The men who ran the blockade smuggled out cotton, pine turpentine and beef to be sold at the markets in Havana, the Bahamas and other places in the Caribbean where weapons, medicines and other supplies could be purchased for the war effort.
    The Union Navy was stretched thin along the coast to try to stem the flow of supplies in and out of the state.  Larger ships that could not come in close to the coast were replaced with shallower draft vessels, and from them, the Marines and sailors would scout the rivers, islands and bays in the launches, cutters and long boats of those ships, often staying out in the open boats for forty-eight hours at a time.
    One such ship and crew earned the moniker of, "The Terror of the Gulf" due to the successes in capturing blockade runners along Florida's West Coast.  The USS Fort Henry, acting Lt. E.Y. McCauley in command, with his Marine Orderly Sergeant, Christopher Nugent were the driving forces behind the crew's successes as evidenced in Acting Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey's report:
"Sir:  Since my last communication dated May 28 and numbered 186 the following prizes have been made by vessels of this squadron:
May 14 - A flatboat, with 225 bushels of corn, by the Fort Henry.
May 22 - Sloop Isabella, no cargo, by the Fort Henry.
May 24 - Sloop Fashion, 49 bales of cotton, by the Fort Henry.
May 31 - Schooner Echo, 125 bales of cotton, by the Sunflower.
June 1 - A scow, 56 bales of cotton, by Fort Henry.
June 3 - A lighter, 39 bales of cotton, by the Fort Henry and Beauregard.
June 6 - Schooner Statesman, 50 - 75 bales of cotton, by the Tahoma.
June 13 - Pushmatakaha, some loose cotton, by the Sunflower.
    You will perceive by the above list that the Fort Henry has displayed much activity.  The prizes made by her have been the result of boat expeditions which have been out constantly and which have been attended with enterprise and incident".
    The Fort Henry was a converted New York ferry boat which had a shallow enough draft to get in close to the shore.  McCauley gave Nugent his own boat from a sloop that they had captured to use with his Marines.  Nugent put his men to work refurbishing the boat that they used for their own patrols.
"Orderly Sergeant C. Nugent superintended the work with skill and zeal.  On the 11th instant she was manned by 6 of the guard of this vessel and sent in charge of Sergeant Nugent to the Withlacoochee with orders to watch for the appearance of the Frolic."
    On one of these patrols, 15th of June 1863, he took them up Crystal River in search of the blockade runner Frolic.  Several miles up the river, he spotted a fortification on the river bank.  Nugent left the boat with two of his men, and with his other four men, attacked the log breastworks.  The attack surprised the occupants who ran into the swamp beyond the encampment.  There were eleven soldiers and one woman.  When the Sergeant saw the woman, he kept his men from firing at the retreating enemy.
    "his gallantry not permitting it as there was a woman among the fugitives", as the official report stated.
    The Confederate officer fired a shot at the attackers, which hit Nugent in his cap box.  The marines confiscated all the weapons left behind, captured very important documents that named names of several smugglers, and destroyed the camp equipage that they could not take into their boat.
    Sergeant Nugent was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Crystal River.  The following month, he was noted for bravery again for the rescue one stormy night of three Unionists escaping from Depot Key as their small boat was sinking.

 
Nugent's enlistment paper.
Obtained from the Marine
History Center.
Dave Ekardt
USS Fort Henry
Reenactment Unit






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