Source:
HISTORY of JEROME TOWNSHIP, UNION COUNTY,
OHIO
Curry, W. L. : Columbus, Ohio: Press of the E. T.
Miller Co.
1913
UNITED STATES NAVY.
pg. 160
Major
Llewellyn B. Curry, Paymaster.
Daniel R. Cone.
So far as can be
ascertained by careful inquiry, the above named are
the only two young men who enlisted from Jerome
Township in the U. S. Navy during the Civil War.
They served under Admiral Farragut in the
Mississippi Squadron on the same gunboats, and
participated in some of the hardest naval battles on
the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers.
They were first assigned to the gunboat "St. Louis,"
and during their service the name was changed to the
"Baron de Kalb," which was sunk on the Yazoo River
by a torpedo.
They participated in the battle of Fort Henry on the
Tennessee River; Fort Donelson on the Cumberland
River; Island No. 10, Columbus, Ky; Fort Wright; the
destruction of the rebel fleet off Memphis, and an
expedition up White River, Ark. They were
afterward on duty at Memphis.
The Baron de Kalb was in continuous service
patroling the river and shelling forts until
she was sunk. Admiral Farragut was one
of the most distinguished naval officers of the war,
and these boys were very fortunate in having had the
opportunity to serve under him and participate in
these decisive naval battles.
Fort Donelson surrendered Feb. 16, 1862, and my
regiment passed up the Cumberland River on boats
about the 1st of March and saw the wreck and havoc
of the fort, and timber along the river banks mowed
down by the shells from the gunboats, which gave us
the after-glimpse of that terrible battle.
Daniel R. Cone wrote a letter to his family at
home, in which he gave a most thrilling description
of the battle of Fort Donelson, equal to that given
of the storming of the castle in "Ivanhoe." A
part of this letter was written during the
engagement, giving the time and the location on the
gunboat where the balls from the guns in the fort
were striking the vessel with such terrific that it
was expected the hulls of the boats would be pierced
and the boats sunk at any moment.
They enlisted January 14th, 1862, and were discharged
September 30th, 1862. and during that period
were in a sufficient number of engagements to have
satisfied even Paul Jones. |
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