Chapter 25. Charles Stuart Boggs...

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_ CHAPTER XXV. Charles Stuart Boggs--His Coolness in the Presence of Danger--His Desperate Fight Below New Orleans--His Subsequent Services

When the gallant Lawrence, mortally wounded on the _Chesapeake_, was dying, he called out in his delirium, "Don't give up the ship!" thus furnishing a motto that has served times without number for the American navy. Among the mourning relatives left by Lawrence was a married sister, Mrs. Boggs, who lived in New Brunswick, N.J., where a son was born to her in January, 1811, and named Charles Stuart.

It was probably the admiration formed for his heroic uncle which led the boy to determine to follow in his footsteps, for he was appointed a midshipman when fifteen years old, and saw active service in the Mediterranean against the Greek pirates, to which reference has been made in a previous chapter. He was made lieutenant in 1833. One of the most marked traits in young Boggs was his perfect coolness in times of peril and his instant perception of the best thing to do. The following incident will illustrate this remarkable power on his part, which was united to a gentleness of disposition that made one wonder at his daring and intrepidity.

During the war with Mexico Lieutenant Boggs was ordered to the steamer _Princeton_, which took a leading part in the bombardment of the Castle of St. Juan de Ulloa and of Tampico. The brig _Truxton_ unfortunately ran aground on the bar of Tuspan River and had to be surrendered to the Mexicans. The _Princeton_ was ordered to destroy her. Anchoring near the wreck, a boat was manned and placed in charge of Lieutenant Boggs, to whom the work of destruction was intrusted.

The boat had nearly reached the stranded vessel when it was caught in one of the tropical tempests, which sometimes appear with cyclonic suddenness in that part of the world. It was impossible to board the wreck, and equally impossible to get back to the _Princeton_. A powerful current set in toward shore, in which direction the gale was blowing. The combined efforts of the sturdy rowers could not check the progress of the boat, which perhaps would have been the right course to take but for an alarming discovery.

On the beach a company of Mexican soldiers were drawn up with a field piece, making ready to annihilate the little American company, as they could do without the slightest difficulty before the gallant sailors could land and make a charge. Here was a dilemma indeed. Nothing could extricate the boat and its crew from their peril and not a man could raise a finger to help himself.

There was only one person who saw the only possible thing to do. Lieutenant Boggs ordered the single white shirt in the party to be torn up, tied on the end of a boathook and displayed as a flag of truce. Then, by his directions, the men rowed with all speed straight for the enemy, who were thus disarmed of their hostile purpose. Walking up to the leader of the company, the lieutenant explained that he had been sent to destroy the _Truxton_, but had been driven ashore against his will. He hastened to explain to the officer that he had no intention of attacking the town, but he should do so if any one tried to prevent his destruction of the stranded vessel.

When the insignificance of the American party is remembered, there was something amusing in this; but the Mexican officer not only gave his promise, but entertained his visitors until the gale was over. Then the _Truxton_ was fired and Boggs returned to his ship.

He was on the Pacific coast when the Civil War broke out, serving as inspector of lighthouses. Chafing under idleness, he petitioned the Government to give him active employment afloat. His wish was granted and he was placed in command of the _Varuna_, a passenger steamer, purchased by the Government and changed into a gunboat. Admiral Farragut was making his preparations to attack New Orleans, and the _Varuna_ was added to his fleet. She was a very swift but frail craft, a fact which led Farragut to grant Boggs' request to be allowed to run ahead of the position that had been assigned him.

In order to get up all the steam possible, the pork among the ship's store was flung into the blazing furnace under the boilers. The craft went through the water at a tremendous speed, and upon coming opposite the forts, Boggs fired his starboard battery and then ordered grape and canister to be used as rapidly as possible. Work had hardly begun when the Confederate gunboats appeared on every hand. With the same coolness that he had shown when driven ashore in Mexico, the command was given for the guns to be fired "on both sides." Indeed, there were so many targets that it would have been about as difficult to miss as to hit one.

The _Varuna_ did terrific work, her gunners displaying fine markmanship. The formidable craft _Governor Moore_ had detected her in the early morning light, and steaming after her, fired a shot when only a hundred yards away, but missed. The _Varuna_ replied, killing and wounding men on the _Governor Moore_ at every shot. One of the enemy's shot, however, raked the _Varuna_, killing four men and wounding nine. Another struck the _Varuna's_ pivot gun and killed and wounded a number more. Then the _Governor Moore_ rammed the _Varuna_ twice in quick succession.

But while the Confederate was doing so, Boggs planted three 8-inch shells into his antagonist, which set her on fire and compelled her to drop out of action. Her loss had been heavy and her engines were so battered that her commander ran her ashore, where she was burned to the water's edge.

Out of the misty light burst the _Stonewall Jackson_ and rammed the _Varuna_ on the port side, repeating the blow with a viciousness that stove in the vessel below the water line; but the _Varuna_ swung the ram ahead until her own broadside guns bore, when she planted several 5-inch shells into the _Stonewall Jackson_, which set her on fire and caused her to drift ashore.

But the _Varuna_ had been mortally hurt and was sinking fast. To quote the words of Commodore Boggs: "In fifteen minutes from the time the _Varuna_ was struck by the _Stonewall Jackson_, she was on the bottom, with only her topgallant forecastle out of the water."

But those were exceedingly lively minutes for the _Varuna_ and the other craft in her neighborhood. Commander Boggs turned her prow toward shore and crowded all steam, firing his guns as the water rose about the trucks. When the last shell left the side of the sinking vessel the current had reached the mouth of the piece, and some of it was blown out like mist with the shrieking missile.

The moment the bow of the _Varuna_ struck the bank a chain cable was fastened around the trunk of a tree, so as to prevent her from sliding into deep water as she went down and taking the wounded and dead with her. This was a precaution which would not have occurred to every man in the situation of Commander Boggs.

The daring conduct of this officer brought a tribute from one of our poets, which contains the stanzas:

"Who has not heard of the dauntless _Varuna_?
Who shall not hear of the deeds she has done?
Who shall not hear while the brown Mississippi
Rushes along from the snow to the sun?

"Five of the rebels like satellites round her,
Burned in her orbit of splendor and fear,
One like the Pleiad of mystical story
Shot terror-stricken beyond her dread sphere."

When Boggs' native city heard of his gallant conduct it voted him a sword, and the State of New Jersey did the same. He came North and was appointed to the command of the blockading squadron off Wilmington. He would have preferred active service, and finally his health broke down under the exposure and fatigue to which he was subjected, and he was compelled to return home to recruit. Upon his recovery, he was appointed to duty in New York, but the war ended without his having another opportunity to distinguish himself in the service of his country. He died a few years after the close of hostilities. _

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