The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 35, July 1931 - April, 1932 Page: 113
348 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The "Harriet Lane" and the Blockade of Galveston 113
the city would be a useless braggadocio against forty guns, or
about, at 1 mile from the wharf. The place shall not be surren-
dered, but slowly evacuated.28
Farragut was not only hurrying the attack on this menacing
leak in the cotton blockade, but he was busy elsewhere. On March
12, 1862, he wrote Captain Henry Eagle of the Santee,
Galveston will be looked to at my earliest convenience . . .
I have not at this time the vessels to spare. . . . I do not
wish you, however, to either burn or fire on the town unless they
fire on you first, but do not hesitate to return the fire for fear of
injuring the town.29
Eventually the Admiral found the vessels, for two months later,
on May 17, Eagle demanded the surrender of the fortifications
and notified foreign consuls that the bombardment would com-
mence on May 23.80 But the attack was delayed for some months.
At last, on October 4, the Harriet Lane and four other ships, with
virtually no opposition, entered the harbor and for three months
held the city defenceless under their guns.31 The Harriet Lane
was very active in this bloodless conquest of Galveston. But she
and her sister vessels found it easier to enter than to retire.
Never was the Harriet Lane again to unfurl the flag of the United
States Navy outside of Galveston Harbor.
Galveston Island is a flat low-lying irregular body of land
some twenty miles in length and about five miles in width at the
broadest part. It lies roughly parallel with the jagged coast in
a south-westerly-north-easterly direction a couple of miles from
the points running out from the mainland. The little city of
Galveston then lay on the side of the Island nearest the Texas
coast, and nearer the northeastern end of Island. Today the Gulf
Coast side of the Island is flanked by the great seawall, built
since the disaster of 1900, and without the seawall is the beach.
The city now extends across the Island from side to side. But
to reach the city and harbor in 1862 it was necessary to round
the ends of the Island by careful navigation through shoals and
between sandbars.
"8Ibid., vol. 19, p. 261. October 5, 1862.
29Ibid., vol. 18, p. 60.
"8Ibid., 536.
"Ibid., vol. 19, pp. 254, 262-263.
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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/m1/117/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.