North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
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Born at sea on 22 February 1822 and enroute with his parents from Ireland to New York, later Connecticut, Maffitt was predestined for life as a sailor. At the age of five, uncle Dr. William Maffitt, brought him to Fayetteville, North Carolina due to his parents dire financial straits; at about nine or ten years he was sent for schooling at White Plains, New York under Professor Swinburn. Thanks to friends of his father, thirteen year-old Maffitt acquired a midshipman commission to the US Navy, with first orders to the USS St. Louis, then at Pensacola and bound for the West Indies. A task that marked his later years of service was being posted to the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1842 under the eye of Professor Bache, and surveying the harbors of Nantucket, Wilmington, Savannah and Charleston – a channel at the latter still bears his name.
Commanding the USS Dolphin in 1857 and USS Crusader, 1859-1861, Maffitt captured New York-financed slavers bound for Spanish colonies in the West Indies – slaves bartered for in Africa with New England rum and Yankee notions. His capture of the Northern-slaver Echo alone in 1858 liberated 318 Africans aboard who were returned to their homeland.
Maffitt resigned his commission in May 1861 and became a lieutenant in the Confederate Navy, first assigned as an aide to General Robert E. Lee and making preparations for the defense of Charleston. In early 1862 he was ordered to the steamer Cecile to run the blockade to obtain needed supplies. In April of that year he took command of the CSS Florida which began his legendary career as a blockade runner – battling his way through Northern warships at Mobile Bay and capturing or sinking many tons of Northern shipping. He attained the rank of Commander in May, 1863 for meritorious conduct.
In the summer of 1864 Maffitt was given command of the ironclad CSS Albemarle which dominated the Roanoke River in North Carolina and seriously threatened the Northern occupation forces at New Bern. In September he returned to blockade-running service by taking a large load of cotton aboard the CSS Owl to Bermuda; with the same ship he made several more trips through General Scott’s very porous anaconda. It is reported that the monetary value of Maffitt’s service to the American Confederacy amounted to nearly $15 million of captured or destroyed Northern shipping – notably Confederate naval forces destroyed the Northern merchant marine, never to recover.
Rather than surrender his ship after learning of Lee’s surrender in April 1865, he returned the Owl to agents in Liverpool and remained in England. After two years in command of the British merchant steamer Widgeon and trips between Liverpool and South America, Maffitt settled on a 212-acre farm near Wilmington called “The Hammocks.” The Wilmington area had been his home during much of his service in the Coast Survey -- he was married for the third time to Emma Martin, daughter of a Wilmington merchant, in November 1870.
Maffitt presented an address at the May, 1879 Memorial Day service in Wilmington, stating that: “the cause defended [by the Confederacy] was that of self-government and constitutional liberty. The cry from the North was The Union!, The Union! – but they manifested naught save contempt for the Constitution that sealed and sanctified that Union.” Maffitt died on 15 May 1886 after a three month-long illness.
Lt. J. Pembroke Jones, who commanded the Wilmington-based ironclad CSS Raleigh said of Maffitt: “He was the warmest-hearted and most generous friend and the most congenial companion I ever knew. He was always the life of the mess, full of fun and tender sympathy for all around him. He was born a sailor and a splendid officer, and I have never known one more beloved.”
(John Newland Maffitt, James Sprunt, Southern Historical Society Papers, August 2, 1896)
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Born at sea on 22 February 1822 and enroute with his parents from Ireland to New York, later Connecticut, Maffitt was predestined for life as a sailor. At the age of five, uncle Dr. William Maffitt, brought him to Fayetteville, North Carolina due to his parents dire financial straits; at about nine or ten years he was sent for schooling at White Plains, New York under Professor Swinburn. Thanks to friends of his father, thirteen year-old Maffitt acquired a midshipman commission to the US Navy, with first orders to the USS St. Louis, then at Pensacola and bound for the West Indies. A task that marked his later years of service was being posted to the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1842 under the eye of Professor Bache, and surveying the harbors of Nantucket, Wilmington, Savannah and Charleston – a channel at the latter still bears his name.
Commanding the USS Dolphin in 1857 and USS Crusader, 1859-1861, Maffitt captured New York-financed slavers bound for Spanish colonies in the West Indies – slaves bartered for in Africa with New England rum and Yankee notions. His capture of the Northern-slaver Echo alone in 1858 liberated 318 Africans aboard who were returned to their homeland.
Maffitt resigned his commission in May 1861 and became a lieutenant in the Confederate Navy, first assigned as an aide to General Robert E. Lee and making preparations for the defense of Charleston. In early 1862 he was ordered to the steamer Cecile to run the blockade to obtain needed supplies. In April of that year he took command of the CSS Florida which began his legendary career as a blockade runner – battling his way through Northern warships at Mobile Bay and capturing or sinking many tons of Northern shipping. He attained the rank of Commander in May, 1863 for meritorious conduct.
In the summer of 1864 Maffitt was given command of the ironclad CSS Albemarle which dominated the Roanoke River in North Carolina and seriously threatened the Northern occupation forces at New Bern. In September he returned to blockade-running service by taking a large load of cotton aboard the CSS Owl to Bermuda; with the same ship he made several more trips through General Scott’s very porous anaconda. It is reported that the monetary value of Maffitt’s service to the American Confederacy amounted to nearly $15 million of captured or destroyed Northern shipping – notably Confederate naval forces destroyed the Northern merchant marine, never to recover.
Rather than surrender his ship after learning of Lee’s surrender in April 1865, he returned the Owl to agents in Liverpool and remained in England. After two years in command of the British merchant steamer Widgeon and trips between Liverpool and South America, Maffitt settled on a 212-acre farm near Wilmington called “The Hammocks.” The Wilmington area had been his home during much of his service in the Coast Survey -- he was married for the third time to Emma Martin, daughter of a Wilmington merchant, in November 1870.
Maffitt presented an address at the May, 1879 Memorial Day service in Wilmington, stating that: “the cause defended [by the Confederacy] was that of self-government and constitutional liberty. The cry from the North was The Union!, The Union! – but they manifested naught save contempt for the Constitution that sealed and sanctified that Union.” Maffitt died on 15 May 1886 after a three month-long illness.
Lt. J. Pembroke Jones, who commanded the Wilmington-based ironclad CSS Raleigh said of Maffitt: “He was the warmest-hearted and most generous friend and the most congenial companion I ever knew. He was always the life of the mess, full of fun and tender sympathy for all around him. He was born a sailor and a splendid officer, and I have never known one more beloved.”
(John Newland Maffitt, James Sprunt, Southern Historical Society Papers, August 2, 1896)
NCPatriots of ’61 – Captain John Newland Maffitt
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