Lieutenant Commander Charles Williamson Flusser
United States Navy
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Lieutenant Commander Charles Williamson Flusser, United States Navy, was killed in the Battle of Plymouth, North Carolina, in the early morning hours of April 19, 1864, on board the U.S.S. Miami when she fought with the C.S.S. ram Albemarle on her maiden voyage to the sounds of North Carolina. Flusser was a true patriot and dedicated unionist, whose family sympathized with the Confederate cause and whose two brothers both enlisted in the Confederate Army. Following is a brief account of the life, and the death, of Flusser, much of which is told through his own personal letters to his mother and sister.
Early Life of
Charles Williamson Flusser
Charles Williamson Flusser was born September 27, 1832 in Annapolis, Maryland. He was the second oldest son of Charles Thomas Flusser and Julianna (Waters) Flusser.
Charles Thomas Flusser, born May 23, 1798 in Prague, Bohemia, was the son of a merchant who travelled throughout Europe. In this manner he met and married Miss Pauline Mayfield of London, England. Her two brothers, "money lenders" by trade, were Charles and Thomas Mayfield, so Charles Thomas Flusser was named for his two English uncles.
Charles T. Flusser was well educated in Prague and could speak fluently and write English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and Greek. When he was sixteen, feeling aggrieved by the harsh treatment of his father, he ran away and came to America as a steerage passenger landing at the City of Baltimore in the winter of 1816.
A gentleman named Mr. Furlong of Charles County, Maryland, met Charles and asked him to join his household as tutor for his children. He remained with Mr. Furlong four years before he went to Annapolis to open a school for young ladies. He was later appointed Professor of Languages at the University of Maryland and closed his school in Annapolis. On November 23, 1827 he was married to Miss Julianna Waters, a former pupil in his Annapolis school.
In the early fall of 1837, Charles Thomas Flusser, his wife Julianna, and their children, Ottaker, Charles Williamson, and Genevieve ("Jenny"), decided to move from Annapolis. Having graduated from law school, Charles decided to make his home in the far new South at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The family crossed the mountains in a private stage but, when they got to Louisville near where Julianna's sister lived, yellow fever was raging in the South, so it was the spring of 1838 before the family could go to Vicksburg.
Two more children were born to Charles and Julianna in Vicksburg, Guy and Fanny. Charles T. Flusser's health was growing constantly worse, gout had developed, business was not prosperous, and Julianna was homesick for her only sister, so the family returned to Louisville in the summer of 1841. Charles Thomas Flusser suffered poor health until his death in the late 1850s. Julianna Flusser then ran a first class boarding house in Louisville in support of her family.
Charles Williamson Flusser
Charles Williamson Flusser attended the public free schools in Louisville. After his death, Fanny Flusser, the younger sister of Charles, wrote about him:
"The earliest strongest characteristic of Charles was his devotion to his mother and his sense of duty. But he was a fighter too. These personal combats were never repeated at home. Once he saw a butcher's boy maltreating a horse. He appointed himself an agent for the Humane Society and ordered the boy to stop beating the animal. His orders were not obeyed quickly enough to suit him and he gave the boy a whipping. He brought home a split scalp but the oldest sister bound the wound with sticking plaster and mother did not know the true [cause] of its reception till long months afterwards. Another time, during vacation, his teacher saw him fighting and said "Charley, I'll give you a whipping for that when school begins." It was against the school rules to fight on the streets. But when school began in the fall that same teacher was coaching (gratuitously) Charles for his examinations at Annapolis."
"One other picture of Charles before he went into the Navy is my inheritance. It was the summer he was studying for his examination. I was only six years old. Almost every day, Mother would put the baby in pillows in a wide deep rocking chair and Charles studied with an eye on me and a hand on the sleeping baby's chair and would rock it when the child moved. Anything and everything to take the burden of care off mother's devoted shoulders. He was shy and modest and thought [his older brother] Ottokar much handsomer and smarter than himself."
Joining the U.S. Navy
His appointment to the Naval School was a gift of personal friendship from President James K. Polk to Mr. William Chambers of Jefferson County, Kentucky. The journey in 1846 from Louisville to Washington was long and arduous and comparatively few made it. Mr. Chambers came to the Flusser home to say good bye and in leaving said [to Julianna, the mother of Charles] "Well, Madam, I shall see Mr. Polk while I am in Washington, what can I do for you?" "Get me an appointment in the Navy for Charles" answered his mother. Mr. Chambers brought the appointment, dated July 19, 1847, with him when he came home.
On a September morning in 1847, Charles "kissed us good bye and his life ceased at home. Thereafter the best he had in him was given to the Navy," according to his sister Fanny. As he was leaving he said to his sister "Do not cry little Fan. I am going to make money for Ma and you". He was never at sea that he did not leave his mother a half pay ticket and he also sent Fanny to school and for some years before his death he sent her a stated amount to spend on her charities. After the war, Fanny wrote:
"We at home did not understand what he was doing. It was not till years after his death that we knew that other young men in the Navy are supplied with money from home; and he gave a large part of his to us. He said that if he could serve out the allotted time of sea service while still young maybe when he was older he could get more shore duty and marry and have a home of his own. It may be, probably was, the case that he felt that he could not do for mother and me and keep up an establishment for a wife, and it was too much to ask a woman to live with his family while he was away, etc. But if he felt it we never knew that the responsibility he had assumed rested heavily upon him. Only at long intervals, three years, could he come home. There was no sympathy in this community with the Navy. A few of his childhood friends maintain their interest in and affection for him, but his identity was at Annapolis and in the Navy."
Early Navy Career of
Charles Williamson Flusser
Charles Williamson Flusser passed the examination and was appointed Acting Midshipman on October 15, 1847 and was ordered the same date to proceed to Norfolk, Virginia without delay for duty on board the U.S.S. frigate CUMBERLAND, on which vessel, flagship of the Home Squadron, he served, and later on the frigate RARITAN, also flagship of the Home Squadron, until April 27, 1853, when he detached with three months' leave.
On June 24, 1850 he was ordered to the U.S. sloop SARATOGA July 20, serving on that vessel and the sloop MARION in the East India Squadron until June 22, 1852, when he was detached and ordered to the Naval Academy October 1. June 15, 1853, he was detached from the Academy and ordered to the U.S. frigate SAVANNAH, flagship of the Brazil Squadron, from which he was detached November 30, 1856, with three months' leave.
On this expedition, Charles somehow felt the need to write his last will and testament and did so in the following letter. This letter provides some insight into his wit and character.
U.S. Frigate Savannah
Rio Di Janeiro 13th August 1856
My dear Marley -
In case I should fall a victim to one of the many ills which flesh is heir to, before I am out of debt to you, I hope you will take charge of my affairs, and dispose of such portions of my plunder as will cover the debt to you, and such others as may be shown against me. I now owe you sixty ___ and I owe Lowber (?) fourteen dollars, perhaps my portion of the mess money would pay that. Hand or my ____ to help an old friend would maybe take some of my clothes, my coats would fit them. Old Farant has fifteen or twenty five dollars of mine which he will turn over to you if you show him this note. It will not be very difficult to make up a sufficient sum to cover all my liabilities. If you have no desire to forget me and can find anything in my traps to keep as a ____ ____, appropriate it, and then I want you to box up the rest and send them to Mrs. Juliana Flusser, Louisville, Kentucky. I presume there will be no objection to their remaining on board till we reach the states. My guitar I wish you would present to Lowber, but not until you have paid him the fourteen dollars I owe him. Tell him I do not insist upon his preserving it with religious care, keep it as long as he wants and then dispose of it.
Please say to Miss Reedy I regret my inability to keep my engagement about the walk to Corcovado (?), but if I can afford her any amusement while in the spirit land I will be happy to knock on the table answer to any inquiries she may have to make of departed friends whom I will see. Seriously - I have been misunderstood by everyone I have known, and I feel but little regret in leaving this world and would feel none were it not that the future to me will certainly be worse than the present. However, one cannot endure billiards and groseille for ever and would desire a change even into a worse world. Something seems to whisper (I am growing superstitious) that I will soon know the ropes in the other world, I am about to take a leap in the dark and must spring up somewhere, I will only say stand from under [not clear]. By the bye, I die a gentleman and wish to be buried as a gentleman, so I make it my particular desire that Holy Joe has nothing to do with planting me.
I would like to have the Doctor's overhaul my body and see if my lungs and heart are not affected. I have always thought them so. About being buried, I am not so jolly particular, but if I am stowed away with all the pomp and circumstance of a glorious man or pitched overboard like a beef bone, I still prefer that the Yankee Scoundrel Mr. Rev. Stockbridge be not allowed to come near me, also keep old Turtle-head and dear Hawk(?) away from me.
Finally, that no one may dispute this my last will and testament, I certify myself (for want of someone as a witness) to be sound in mind, limb and pizzle, and not very far out of kilter in the rigging of my mind.
Taking everything into consideration, I think the very best luck I can wish you is that we may never meet again.
Yours truly,
C.W. Flusser
P.S. Remember me affectionately to the gentlemen of the mess. It will not require a great expenditure of breath.
His next duty was on the Coast Survey steamer HETZEL, from February 26, 1857 to September 1, 1857. From September 15, 1857 to September 25, 1857, he was on duty at the Naval Academy, when he was detached and ordered to the U.S. Brig DOLPHIN, on which he served in the Brazil Squadron and the Paraguay Expedition until September 26, 1860, when he was detached with 3 months' leave.
He was, however, ordered to the Naval Academy January 25, 1861, remaining on duty at Annapolis until May 20, just after the Civil War began, when he was ordered to the U.S.S. JAMESTOWN with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
Charles' older brother Ottokar Flusser, who had moved to Texas during the 1850s, enlisted in 1861 in the 4th Texas Infantry, C.S.A. Their youngest brother, Guy Flusser, later in 1861 enlisted in the 4th Kentucky Cavalry, C.S.A. Ottokar's enlistment in the confederate service came as no surprise to Charles but he was shocked and deeply grieved when his younger brother Guy did likewise. His dismay over the enlistment of his brother Guy will be obvious in a letter which appears below.
Charles was next assigned to the command of the U.S.S. COMMODORE PERRY, and took part on the attack on Roanoke Island, February 7, 1862, and other operations in North Carolina waters, including Plymouth, North Carolina.
J. N. Miller, Flusser's roommate when they were both on the faculty at the U.S. Naval Academy when the war broke out, wrote about Flusser:
"Flusser was cool under all circumstances, and apparently without nerves; but he once told me that he was naturally of a nervous temperament, and had made up his mind not to show he was under excitement no matter what occurred--his will power was so great that he was able, in the end, to carry out his determination. During the exciting times of the breaking out of the Civil War, he was on one occasion in my room, and we were overhauling our revolvers. After cleaning his, he was lowering the hammer, when his thumb slipped, the cartridge was exploded, and the bullet just grazed my head and was buried in the window casing behind me. Flusser, although he must have been much shocked, merely arched his eyebrows, which was his wont, and said, "My dear boy, I nearly killed you," and then turned so that I could not see his face, laid the revolver down on the table, and was silent and thoughtful for some hours afterwards."
"Flusser had a great deal of dry humor in his composition, and was sometimes given to harmless practical jokes. One hot night he came into my room, draped in his white uniform, and asked me to take a walk. I declined, saying that I had some studying to do, when he replied: "That is right, my boy. Keep ahead of the youngsters". He went out and returned in an hour or so, smiling. When I asked him the cause of his amusement, he said that he had gone out to the cemetery to see the tombs of some of his relatives, and while there he sat down on one of the vaults which, by the way, was the same one in which, some years afterwards, I temporarily placed his remains that had been sent to my care from their first burial place. After having been seated there some time, he said, meditating upon what the future had in store for him, he arose, went to the entrance of the cemetery to go out, when a negro passed across the field a short distance from him. The man caught sight of him, gave an unearthly yell, and started for the shanties in Lockwoodville, with Flusser chasing him. As he came near the houses, one of the doors opened and the man disappeared within. Flusser turned and walked away; and when he had finished his story to me, he said, laughingly, that the darkey would repeat to his dying day that true ghost story."
"I have related this trifling incident merely to show that Flusser was not that austere and serious man that strangers sometimes thought him."
Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser
and the Civil War
Charles W. Flusser, a southerner himself, knew the sympathies of his family lay with the south in the commercial, emotional, and political conflict which developed into the war. For example, on September 10, 1861, in a letter to his mother, Charles wrote "The victory at Hatteras was a step in the right direction and I hope to see it follow up by a movement into South Carolina. But I forget you do not sympathize with the good cause."
A more ardent Unionist than Charles, however, was nowhere to be found, and the contrary views held by his family were a source of deep personal agony to him. To better describe his concerns, below are listed the text from four letters written in 1861 by the 28 year old Lt. Commander Charles W. Flusser to his mother. In these letters he shares, with passion, his views and personal convictions.
(1)
U.S.S. Jamestown
Brooklyn Navy Yard
19th Sept. 1861
My darling Mamma -
I was greatly pleased to receive your letter of the 14th inst. today, but grieved beyond measure to hear of poor Guy's [younger brother of Charles] rash doings. It is the severest blow I have felt for many days - I feel as if some dearly prized friend had proved ungrateful. Poor boy! He enlisted honestly in a hopeless and wicked cause. I have loved Guy with my whole heart, and still do, and I will never forgive those who have misled him.
The leaders of this Southern rebellion are wicked ambitious men who have raised this revolt to further their own ambitious lusts and to bolster up their misused fortunes. This war will end in the total abolition of slavery or the independence of the South. Which of the two stands the better chance it takes but little penetration to discover. I am much afraid Mamma that your sympathies are all with the South but the Union party in Kentucky are strongly in the ascendant, so let prudence dictate to you to not express those sympathies audibly. This is the only question on which we have ever differed, but there is not the slightest chance that I shall ever be induced to view it as you do, for as much as I abhor the odious principle of secession that were every state in the Union to acknowledge it as correct save one of the violent, abolition, southern states, in that [state] should be my home, and there I should seek my fortune. Yet I love the southern people dearly, far more than I do those of the north. Poor Guy! News of his death would have been no more bitter to me than what you have told me. And I have to reproach myself for not writing to him on that subject. I might have saved him from this serious step - but I have always thought of him as loyal and true to the best government the world ever saw - maybe to the best it will ever see, for no one can tell how we will come out of this struggle - and what sort of a government we shall have when this chaos is at an end. I hope that the people's liberties may not be gone from them forever, but that they may be fearfully imperilled hardly admits of a doubt???.
You must not suppose Mamma that I hate those who differ with me in opinion in regard to this war. I know that many, maybe the vast majority, of them are perfectly honest in their belief of the justice of their cause - if they were otherwise they would soon fall an easy prey to their adversaries. I do not hate them but I pity them from the bottom of my heart, and only despise the leaders who have basely deceived them and made them to believe their interests in danger in the Union - in the Union their only bond of strength - their only pledge of security - their lives and property. Tremont has not gone farther than the administration will be obliged to follow if the south makes successful head against our arms for a few months longer. The only safety for southern slavery is in an early peace. Should the government be forced to emancipate the slaves, it would much weaken the south while it would greatly increase the strength of the north by bringing them the sympathy of the world, and material aid from England, France, Germany, and Italy. That this step may not be forced upon the government by the south, I, as a southerner, ardently hope, but in my opinion it cannot be avoided except by an early and sincere offer of peace from the confederates, accompanied with a distinct denial of the claimed right of secession. When Congress confiscated the property of rebels it certainly showed a great deal of forbearance in not including slaves since they are held in the south as property and are represented as property. If the slaves are freed it will not only injure the south immediately, but its interests in Congress will not be so well guarded as heretofore since its representation will be greatly reduced. Whether this war is intended by Divine Providence for the emancipation of the slaves and the subsequent Christianization of Africa, as I sometimes believe, or not, it was begun by the South in folly and can only end to her in disaster.
I have not received Fan's letter but hope to do so soon. The application which I sent to the Department from Hampton Roads has elicited no answer, so that I shall get neither leave of absence or change of vessels. I regret this greatly as I had set my heart on seeing you and had hoped also to be placed where I might do good to the cause and show my devotion to the Country and my love for the dear old flag - the glorious stars and stripes - the flag under whose folds Washington fought, under whose folds her sons have won their undying laurels, and my country has taken her proud stand in the front rank of nations. That it may soon be the beloved flag of our whole country, as of you, is my constant desire and prayer.
I shall try to write to Fan before we sail - we should probably leave again on Tuesday next for Fernandina. If you can write to Ott and Guy give them my love, and tell Guy he has nearly broken my heart. Kiss Fan for me and tell her to stand by the Union forever. Give my best love to all at home and at Hope's. Though I differ from them all in my political opinions I love them none the less for I know them to be honest. God bless you my darling Mamma, and preserve you from all harm is the morning and evening prayer of
Your Affectionate son, Charles
I kiss you my darling and would give all my hopes to be with you once more and my dear Country at peace.
(2)
U.S.S. Jamestown
Off Fortress Monroe
29th Sept. 1861
My darling Mamma -
We were obliged to come to anchor again yesterday as the wind failed (a plague on all sailing vessels) and today it has been ahead and we have been unable to move.
It was fortunate that we were detained as we have now some grateful duty allotted us. We are to make a reconnaissance, in Company with one or two other vessels, of a certain post on the Atlantic Coast (you are too much "Secesh" for me to tell you which) and as there are batteries and armed vessels there, we hope to have a chance for a small amount of glory. I say a small amount for our poor old woman of a Captain (he's a down Easter) will never put us in danger if he can help it & will not let us remain in it once we should happen accidentally to arrive there. When we came north he said he said he would go on the retired list, but when far from danger heplucks up spirit and wants to return. Poor old fellow, he has been sick ever since he received his sailing orders. This cruize [sic] will kill him without assistance from the enemy's shot. I am off to ten now.
30th Sept. I intended to write more but the last boat is just going with the mail. So goodbye Darling. May God bless you & have you in his holy keeping. Love to all at home & at Hope's. Do not let Sam turn secessionist.
Your affectionate son,
Charles
(3)
U. S. Steamer Commodore Perry,
Pamlico Sound, N. C., January 31, 1862.
My Darling Mamma -
I received a letter from Hopewell [husband of Charles' sister Jenny] today, in which he informs me that he had refused, and still refuses, to receive the money which I sent to you to be paid him on Ott's [Ottakar, or Ott, is the older brother of Charles] account. His views seem to me to be good and for Ott's benefit. Nevertheless, I do not like that my brother should behave as he has done and, to save his honor, I prefer to pay the debt. Therefore, I request, if Hope should continue firm in his refusal, that you will keep the amount by you and, if I am killed in this affair, that you then insist upon his taking it.
I do not like to pain you by supposing the possibility of my being killed, but accidents will happen in the best regulated families, and the only pain I feel in the contemplation of so unhappy a termination is caused by uneasiness concerning you and Fan's [Fanny, younger sister of Charles] future support and comfort. Jennie is married, and her husband should provide for her and her children. But I do not like to think of what will become of you and Fan. I have this assurance, however, that the Lord will not let those want who love him and do his will. But this I hope and believe you both do. I am somewhat of opinion that the rebels will not make a very hard fight, though I know they have some good officers. They have twenty steamers - we have eighteen, and they have also the choice of position - they will no doubt give us battle under the guns of their batteries of which report says they have a goodly number. Whatever individual accidents may occur, I can say with all hope for the side of the Union, may God aid the right cause! If God in His judgment assists the side on which there is order, law, the rights of the people, freedom of thought and of speech, and the hope of enlightened republicans throughout the world, then I am confident of victory. I think I could not go cheerfully into battle in a cause which I felt to be wrong, but now my heart and my reason tell me I am right, and I hold my life as the merest trifle when called upon to sacrifice it in so just a quarrel.
I regard all wars as more or less foolish and wicked in their inception, all engaged in them as more or less asses. If all men thought as I think, no armies would ever be mustered into the fields, no navies would ever sweep the seas. But, unfortunately, I am one of the most silly and uninfluential persons of the eight hundred millions on this globe. I accepted a position under the government of the United States a great many years ago. That position gave me a support and enabled me to render some slight assistance to my friends. To it I owe the little education (which ought to have been much better but that I lamentably wasted time and neglected opportunity) I have received. It also, as the wise world goes, conferred on me a certain standing in society, and which en passant none more heartily despises than myself. To be brief, it furnished me many substantial benefits and would have given me others had I stretched forth my hand to receive them. It seems to me that the Government has received a poor return from me for all these favors. My life has always been hers to command, but she has never called upon me to risk it. Now the existence of the State is imperilled, and why? Because a few unprincipled men, seeing that their employment was gone when the party was defeated, artfully wrought upon the feelings of an excitable minority, contemptible in numbers, and falsely persuaded them that their best interests, their liberties, were endangered under that government whose laws were so mild that none but the wicked ever felt them, under that government, framed by the wisdom of Washington and the nobleFathers of the Revolution, that our country might be the abiding place of Liberty and a refuge for the oppressed of all lands and, finally, under that government which is the slave of the people, and which, even if it so desired, was perfectly impotent to injure them, since the party to which this minority belonged was in the ascendant in bothhouses of the National Legislature. These leaders, without principle, without patriotism, would rather see their country--the greatest State of the world--torn into contemptible fragments each incapable of self-support and existing only through courtesy or forbearance of European nations, and would rather see this great country bleeding at every pore, her mothers childless, her wives widows, her houses in ashes, her altars profaned, than that they should forego for four short years the praise of idiots and the spoils of office. These real Ishmaelites whose hand is against every man, these foes to the human race, should be hunted from the face of the earth. And they will be.They shall seek rest and shall not find it. Their ends will bemiserable as their lives have been wicked. It is pleasant to indulge in dreams of future fame. Perhaps Davis hopes to be called by future ages the father of his Country, his name to be revered as Washington's is, by millions of free men. Vain, delusive hope! History will represent him to posterity as a viler traitor than Arnold. The greatest criminal this country has produced. True greatness, worthy fame, is inseparable from goodness.
Well, to resume about myself, my country has done great things for me as I have shown. Would it not be the vilest ingratitude in me to desert her in the hour of need? To be selfish, what has Maryland done for me? What has Mississippi done for me? that I should take their side against a government that has supported, educated, and protected me, and reposed special trust and confidence in my patriotism and fidelity and abilities? But I state the question wrongly. I should not say what has Maryland or Mississippi or Kentuckydone for me--I should rather say what has the factious, dissatisfiedminority of these states done for me that I should prove a traitor tomy trust, a rebel to my country? (It is well known that in Marylandand Kentucky, an "overwhelming" majority of the people are for theUnion - we can receive maybe no reliable returns from Mississippi, but, from the glimpses we get of the state of feeling in New Orleans, generally in North Carolina, and in portions of the seceded states, we may infer that there exists there among a large part of the people, a warm love for our "Whole Country").
Doubtless you would like to know why I have written the above. You may think, though I hope you would judge me more charitably, that a lame conscience needs many props, that a doubting mind and infirm purpose need much show of reasoning to convince and uphold. True. But this is not my condition. I am fully persuaded of the justness of my cause, and the righteousness of my decision. My intention in the whole of this letter is to let you see that I am, with my whole heart, on the side of the Union, and to try and persuade you that I am right. I fear, Mamma, that your heart is with the other party, with the side on which poor Guy and poorer Ott (poorer because he has not Guy'sprinciple to sustain him) are engaged. I pity Guy with my whole heartfor the choice he has made, and I would not, for the world, believehim other than honest. I know him to be pure-minded and of too ardenta soul. He has been persuaded that the South is right, and he is readyand anxious to risk his life in what he thinks is her "Cause". Poor Ott I pity also. When I last saw him he had lost the ability to reason on any subject. He reminds me much of a poor man in the Navy who, some years since, was my friend and possessed of fine abilities, but who had drunk away his reason, and is now a wreck in mind and body. I should above all things, Dearest, prefer to have you with me inmy opinion of this war and its causes. Women, I know, seldom reason.Where their affections lie all things are centered. It is well for thehappiness of man that it should be so. But to me "Our Side" seems so palpably right, that it seems a perversion of judgment to doubt it, and I cannot bear to think of you as opposed to it. It is inexpressibly painful to me to think that my mother, and such a mother, should be opposed to me in this holy cause. Just look at what I have said as to the cause of this war, just look at the facts elsewhere, throw all feeling aside, and you must be persuaded that this government is right.
My letter has been suggested by the tone of Hope's, which, though he said not one unkind word, seemed to me much less cordial than his former ones. I hope it was not intentional. In this is the bitterness of this unnatural strife. Not that brother should oppose brother, northat father and son meet face to face on the field of battle, but thateach should impugn the other's motive. There are many friends of mineon the other side whom I may meet in fight, some whom I expect to meet, men of the highest honor, but faulty (in my opinion) judgment, and who would look on me as something vile, while I can not help but love and admire them. There is a great deal of hatred on their side, there exists none on ours. We are fighting for a noble principle. They persuade themselves that they are doing the same. They peril their all without a cause and then rally to the cry of "Defend your firesides." Oh! the everlasting negro! Would that he were in Africa, Christianized! To me the hatred which the Southerners feel for us is horrid. If I were to meet one of my friends on the field of battle, and he should intentionally give me a death wound, I should not hate him, nor feel the least resentment but should say, "Well, old fellow, I forgive you, for you thought you were doing your duty." But if I should injure one of them, he would damn me with his latest breath. You may be sure that this difference of feeling is general in the two armies. I never hear a sailor or a soldier speak of the rebels as ifhe hated them; they are all anxious for a brush with them, but they seem to regard it as a jolly lark or as a matter of stern, unpleasant duty, according as levity or seriousness and thoughtfulness reponderate in the disposition of the individual.
It is past eleven at night: my fire has been out for an hour, it's a rainy, nasty night. My feet are cold, and an unpleasant sensation in my throat reminds me that I am catching cold. So, good-night my darling, and may the Lord of Heaven and Earth watch over you and protect you from all manner of harm. I kiss you, dear Mamma. I do not know when I shall finish this scrawl.
(4)
Pamlico Sound, N. C., February 5, 1862. Night.
My darling Mamma:
I intended to write you a long letter this evening, bidding you a loving farewell, etc., but I am quite unwell--have a shocking cold, and feel very tired, and sleepy. I will only say that the cause for which I risk and may lose my life is just, and I beg you to think of me (if I am killed) as dying happily, so far as I am concerned, and only disturbed and anxious as to your and Fan's fate.
I commend you both to the care of a loving and merciful Father. Say to Guy and to Ott that their choice has been a source of great pain to me. Nevertheless, I believe that they have both done what they thought was right, and I do not blame them, nor do I love them the less. Bid them both good-bye for me, give them my love.
Your affectionate son,
Charles
Ottokar Flusser, the older brother of Charles, was with the 4th Texas Infantry, Hood's Texas Brigade, at Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862. He was killed in action near the Miller cornfield in the morning phase of that great battle.
Charles W. Flusser was wise beyond his years in many respects. In the following excerpt of a letter he wrote to his mother in July of 1863, he speculated that the war was far from over...
U.S.S. Miami
Plymouth N.C. 22nd July 1863
My dear Mamma -
It seems an age since I heard from you...
If foreign powers keep off I can see no end to this war for years to come. The north will demand the early, if not immediate, abolition of slavery; the south will demand additional guaranties for the safety of the "peculiar institution". How is it to end, if it can be foreseen, must be by a head which Fowler and Wells would proclaim fuller of "long-seeing" bumps than mine. If we could only wind it up soon by coming together, kicking France out of Mexico, and then whaling England, it would really be jolly.
I wished to send Fan some money, but since I have had command of this vessel, messing by myself, I have spent more money than I ought, and am now scarcely clear of debt. I have a notion of going to sea. My sweetheart (she loves another man - a rebel officer) is going up the country, and I've no one to visit, so I might as well be on salt water. I do not know whether the Department will give me orders if I apply for them.
Nothing new here. Haven't had a fight for a very long time. Love to all at home and at Hope's. Write soon. Make Fan write. God bless you Mamma!
Your Affectionate Son,
Charles
Flusser had his moments of sarcasm too, as evidenced in the following letter to his sister. However, he also made one very notable observation, which is shown in bold print.
U.S.S. Miami
Plymouth N.C.
15th March 1864
My dear Fan -
I've about me now, lying on the table, where I've just put them from mypocket, several letters of yours, of which the latest is the one which inclosed Ma's photograph and contained another epistle of date 3d March 1863 which, en passant, I destroyed as soon as read, to keep it from vulgar eyes. I do not destroy all of your letters for, generally, you are so careless in the formation of numbers and position of the different members of the alphabet in any word you wish to express on paper that I defy anyone, without considerable practice, to read more than one word in ten in any composition of yours taken at random and, as women customarily use a redundancy of words to express their ideas (?), if nine in ten of these were obliterated, at random, the sense!! would probably be destroyed.
The epistle alluded to on first page was so remarkably well written, for you, that I think it must have been a very careful copy instead of the original. What you said in it was all correct, affectionate, etc. but you stepped a little out of your sphere to dabble in politics (Intermission of twenty minutes here to read letters by mail just arrived - one poor lady writes to me from Mass. to affect the exchange of her husband, one of my class-mates in the Navy captured in the foolish assault on Sumpter - what can I do?)
Well, I was about to say I should like to answer all these letters of yours but, just think Fan, what a task, to answer them I must first read them. I'm sure your good heart will excuse me such a labor, and be satisfied with a letter containing just as little as your own. I do not see that time has improved Ma's features. She is the same old two + six pence only a little more so. Her cheeks are somewhat shrunken - the natural effect of increasing age. I do not think the picture is in a very high style of art and should think photography, like all other modes of business, languished in Louisville during the war. The color of the picture is not sufficiently decided - not dark enough. The eyes is excellent, better than I thought 'twould take. But it looks as if 'twere too much accustomed to tears.
I fear you and Ma, like two very weak women, as you are, sit half the time crying over Guy and me, while we are enjoying ourselves famously. This war will do good if it makes our women more like the English. England is constantly at war. English fathers, husbands, brothers, sons are being killed every day, and the women are satisfied if they die honorably. A few years more of peace would have ruined us. We should have fallen a prey to any foreign power making prompt and unwarned vigorous war on us. Now, however this struggle ends, whether we are one nation or two at its close, we will be of the most war like people on the globe and, being strong, can command an enduring peace. Wars may be evils, but not unmitigated evils. Great good flows from them. Whatever is right.
I've a book, and a New York paper of the 12th to read tonight, so you'll excuse me for not making a great show of affection by boring you with more of the same sort. Love to all at home and at Hope's. Remember me to Miss Rosa + anyone else you please - mere form anyhow. Write soon, often, and plain letters.
Your Affectionate Brother
Charles
P.S. Next time you write keep you head out of the skies. Heads that go up there for ideas don't get any that will pass our ___ down here. Tell your infidel friend she's a fool, and cite me to prove it. I'll prove it by swearing to it without knowing her. She's such a big fool that I take her for an old maid. The only way to ___ her is to marry her, and she wants to do that right away whatever she may mean to the contrary and its a sure proof that she is not altogether imbecile, altogether hopeless.
Flusser served well in the Carolina Sounds througout the war. A main concern beginning in 1863 was the ram under construction up the Roanoke River. He knew from his network of spies in the area that construction was nearing completion in 1864 and that the contest was just around the bend, so to speak. In the following letter to his sister Fanny he describes some of his thinking regarding the "formidable antagonist"...
U.S.S. Miami
Plymouth, N. C., 12th April 1864
My dear Fan -
Your last letter, I think of the 22d February, or March, I promised to answer. I must beg you to excuse me. I've looked all over it and can't find anything to reply to. I am not at present a perfect picture of blooming health + beauty - but am improving.
The rebs promise to fight us this week, with the ironclad ram, for which I have been watching so long, and eleven thousand men. I wish our garrison was one-third as strong. I don't know whether the scamps will come or not, but will be prepared by day after to-morrow to give them a good fight so far as the boats are concerned. The long-shore people must look out for themselves while we afloat destroy the Sheep--the name we've given the ironclad because we thought it would not show fight. It will prove to be a formidable antagonist and we will have our hands full to whip it. Fortunately it will not be many minutes after her appearance before the result of the "passage of arms" is known. I wrote the admiral to send me some good shot to penetrate her armor and I should need no more boats. Fact is I look on her as peculiarly mine own. I am prepared for a very desperate fight, and think unless Fortune frown outrageously on me my arrangements will defeat her.
The plan to fight her was the result of long thought and some anxiety. While I was lying sick, abed, she was reported coming down the river. I was awake and trying to read, but was not satisfied with my preparations, and read without understanding, thinking all the while of her. At 4 o'clock in the morning I had found what I wanted, and turning to a friend who was smoking by my bedside, and who was formerly in the Navy, I gave him my plan. He expressed his delight and his entire confidence of success. The next day it was made known to several officers, and its advantages were so evident that all immediately approved. I feel gratified at having received the happy thought. I think there is no instance on record of a fight on the plan I intended to pursue.
In fifteen minutes after we get to close quarters my commission as commander is secured or I am a dead man.
I am aware that the result of these strifes rest with God. I shall not fail to ask his aid, but do not think the rebel cause so good that we have any reason to fear the end.
I do not know what sort of an opinion you have of me - whether you think me smart or silly. Most girls who love their brothers do them the injustice to suppose them bright, and exhibit their letters to others, fools like themselves. I do not wish my letters read by others than those to whom they are written. Besides, this one may seem, and, I suppose, is, egotistical.
What's new in Louisville? How are Ma's negroes getting on - do they remain at home, and are they well behaved or impudent. I hope a Congress, some of these days, will be honest enough to pay loyal owners the value of the slaves freed by proclamation etc. etc.
It's getting late and I am tired of leaning over the table. Goodnight. Love to all at home and at Hope's.
P.S., I do not believe the rebs will come so soon as is reported. Do not be alarmed if you do not hear from me as frequently as formerly for you shall be immediately informed if I am struck. Hope Guy was well at last accounts. I was confined to my bed eight successive days in last month, but didn't mind it - rather be sick than well. A good fever is sometimes a very good friend.
Write soon, often, long letters, sensibly if you can, and do try to improve your handwriting - its shocking bad.
Your affectionate brother,
Charles
Followed by...
Miami Plymouth N.C.
17th April 1864
My Dear Fan -
No fight yet and not likely now to be one soon. Guess I will get along without any for some weeks if not months. Love to all at home and at Hope's.
In great haste
Your Affectionate Brother
Charles
The Battle of Plymouth actually began the afternoon of April 17, 1864 and lasted three days. Flusser's plan had been to lash the U.S.S. Miami and the U.S.S. Southfield together with chains and cables, stretched across the Roanoke River, and then, when the ram came down, snag her in the cables, crowd in on her, and either destroy her with cannon fire or push her stern into the shore and disable her. This approach to battling an ironclad ram had never been tried before. Flussers tangle with the ram, the C.S.S. ram Albemarle, came at 3:30 a.m. the morning of April 19, 1864. Shortly before that fight he penned the following letter, his last, to Commander Davenport, his superior officer...
Miami, Plymouth, N.C.
18th April, 1864
My dear Davenport:
The Army has been engaged with the enemy off and on all day.
About sunset the rebs advanced along our whole line, but were driven back. They were obstinant and continued to fight till near 9 o'clock. The Southfield and Miami took part and the General [Wessells] says our firing was admirable. I am fearful for Fort Gray. The enemy has established a battery of long range guns above it, with which they would sink all our boats if we went near enough to the fort to fire grape and canister into the enemy's infantry. They sunk the army steamer Bombshell to-day, temporarily under command of Ensign Stokes, who fought her well.
I gave the army to-day 100 projectiles for 100-plunder Parrott. Please send powder, shot and shells, for that gun, for IX-inch and 20-plunder Parrott. The ram will be down to-night or to-morrow. She was just after daylight this morning foul of a tree 6 miles above Williamston. I think if she doesn't stay under cover of their battery established above Fort Gray, that we shall whip her. I had to destroy the obstruction in the Thoroughfare, as the Whitehead was above, and could not run by the battery placed below her on the Roanoke.
I have written the Admiral.
The Eighty-fifth Redoubt repulsed three obstinate assaults, but the enemy remain near it.
In great haste,
Yours sincerely,
C. W. Flusser
Flusser was killed in the conflict with the ram. The U.S.S. Southfield was sunk by the ram, and the U.S.S. Miami retreated down river, believing it to be no match for the ram. With the river now under Confederate control, the fate of the Union land forces at Plymouth was sealed. As a result, the entire garrison was surrendered around mid day Wednesday, April 20, 1864, and over 2,000 men , known as "Plymouth Pilgrims", went to prison. The enlisted men and non-commissioned officers went first to Andersonville. Many of these prisoners, nearly half, died in prison. More information on the Battle of Plymouth and the "Plymouth Pilgrims" can be found at Civil War Plymouth Pilgrims Descendants Society.
Years after the war, Frank W. Hackett, the Acting Assistant Paymaster on the U.S.S. Miami, wrote the following:
"The Albemarle, for so the ram was called, waiting until the moon had gone down had passed over the obstructions (thanks to the depth of water) dropped slowly down the river on the farther bank beneath the trees, slipped by the water battery without a shot being fired at her, then slanting her course had run her prow into the Southfield which was on our port side. The Southfield almost immediately sunk carrying under a portion of the ram with her. As the iron monster lay under our port counter, the first broadside gun forward of the engine shaft almost reached her with its muzzle. Flusser, it seems, himself held the lanyard of the gun. The officer of the division said to him quickly, "There's a shell sir, in that gun". "Never mind my lad" said he, "we'll give them this first and solid shot after". With that he pulled the lockstring, the shell exploded on the iron side of the ram, fragments of it came back upon the Miami, and Flusser was instantly killed. The officer of the division, Acting Ensign Hargis, was so severely wounded that in a few days after he died. One of the engineers also was slightly wounded, and several of the men, but not seriously. Flusser's presence at the gun was not chargeable to undue exposure of himself, but rather to the necessity he was under to seeing with his own eyes the precise position of the enemy.
At the sinking of the Southfield, her commanding officer, French, a few other officers and several of the crew jumped on board our ship. The moorings had been parted by the shock and we were clear to take our own course. Instant decision had to be made. Single handed we were no match for this ironclad ram, and we slowly steamed down the river, stern foremost, firing our bow gun. The ram fired at us once or twice, but the shot did not take effect. Some of the Southfield's complement were drowned and others taken prisoner.
Had Flusser lived, in my judgment we would have either whipped the ram, or been sunk by her. We would I firmly believe have gained the victory. This result I would attribute not wholly to the indomitable bravery and the quickly applied ingenuity of our commander, but in a measure to the unity of plan that he had resolved upon. Again the inspiration that the living man was to officers and crew was something indescribable. His sudden dispirited everyone on board. The action of Captain French in withdrawing the Miami from the river was prudent and praiseworthy. In trying circumstances that officer exhibited fortitude and discretion that entitles him to grateful remembrance."
Following is a letter written by Hackett to Julianna Flusser, the mother of Charles, less than two weeks after the battle...
U.S.S. Miami
Roanoke Island
Sunday, 1st May 1864
My dear Madam:
It has been my purpose for some days to write you a word expressive of the deep sympathy which all the officers feel for you in the affliction which has taken from you a dear son, and from us a noble and beloved Captain. But such has been the constant excitement and anxiety consequent to the disaster at Plymouth, that I have had hardly a moment to write my parents at home.
And to day I cannot tell you of our sympathy, I can only say that it is genuine and heartfelt. I can assure you that no one who ever knew Capt. Flusser could fail warmly to admire him. Those officers who knew him more intimately esteemed him most highly. An acquaintance with him seemed to work upon a man as a refining furnace - taking away the meanness and props of one's charade if one had any such in him. I can feel that I am a better man for having known him. A more unselfish disposition I never saw, and rare indeed is a mind so impartial, just, and liberal as his. He was brave. He used to say he believed "all good men were brave". He was himself the best exponent of that truth - But I do not know as this can afford you consolation, as your grief must be the greater to lose a son of whom every one thought so much. Still it should help you to acquiesce in the will of Providence when you know that he has left a character behind him so true and noble.
He was not afraid to die and died as he wished - in action. He has told me frequently that he many times has lain down at night with a belief that he would not wake at morn. His heart difficulty troubled him, on board this vessel, at intervals. Just before the attack at Plymouth he had got over a severe illness and had hardly regained his accustomed sprightly look.
I am sorry indeed that his remains could not have been forwarded to you; but Comdr. Davenport thought it necessary to have them interred at Newbern. The funeral there was to have taken place on the 23d. It is possible that Comdr. Davenport may have written you. Mr. Stanford, our Captain's clerk, has already sent you a letter.
You will pardon my awkward letter as the hurried and distressing events around us almost serve to distract one. If I am spared and have another opportunity - I shall feel it my duty to write again. At all events please accept my sincere sympathy for an event which I trust God will give you comfort.
My dear Madam, I remain
your friend and servant,
Frank W. Hackett
A. A. Paymaster
U.S.S. Miami
Following the action at Plymouth, Guy Flusser, the younger brother of Charles and a soldier in the Confederate army, wrote the following letter to their mother...
Bristol, Tues. May 3d 1864
My Darling Mother,
Again am I called upon to offer condolences to my dear Mother. I see by the paper that Charles has fallen another victim to this cruel war, but he died nobly in the discharge of his duties- and though he was fighting against me and that I think right, yet I always loved him and wished him well, but he has gone! Death has claimed him for his own, thus again my darling is the cup of gall administered to the innocent and just(?)-yes? Ma, often have you been called upon to drink of its bitterness and never shall it cease until the last of the males of our family have passed away and you and my sisters be left alone.
I know not what crime we have committed but, certainly, some fate seems to over-hang our house, especially the male portions of it, and only when the last scion shall have been cut down and cast aside then only shall happiness return to our afflicted family- Mother, rest assured that I am not insensible of the deep suffering under which you and Fan are now laboring, but look aloft! Look aloft! For up there only is hope and pure happiness. Charles has gone home I think there is little doubt but ___ this he reposes upon the bosom of his savior, for though he never (to my knowledge) made a profession of religion, yet do I think that he was a holy and good man prone to do good and a pious believer in the saving power of Christ Jesus.
Farewell, my darling. I would like to write much more but have to close. Should it be my lot to fall, do not weep for me but think only that I, like Charles, died doing my duty and a willing sacrifice.
Love to all at home and Hope's. I have no brother now to send love to. I had written a long letter asking news of Charles and came to this place to mail it when I found a paper in which he was highly eulogized for his bravery. Farewell, don't mourn to deep and long, he may not like to see it if he was alive and it may be my time next, so now I make a like request in my favor "don't mourn for me when I am dead". First Ott, next Charles, and next, God in His wisdom only knows, it may be me.
_______, your affectionate and only son,
Guy Flusser
[Note: 37 days after this letter was written, on June 9, 1864, Lt. Guy Flusser of the 4th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, C.S.A., fell in death on the battlefield at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, leaving his mother with no sons, she having lost all three of her sons to the war.]
The Secretary of the Navy wrote to Mrs. Flusser...
Mrs. Julianna Flusser,
Louisville,
Kentucky
Navy Department
Washington, May 4, 1864
Madam:
It was with true grief that the Department received the report of the death of your son, Lieutenant Commander Chas. W. Flusser, of the Navy, who was killed on the deck of his vessel, the Miami, at Plymouth N. C. on the 19th ultimo during the action with the rebel ironclad ram which came down the Roanoke river. That he would be soon called upon to combat with this armored enemy was known to him. But he did not dread or fear the combat; on the contrary, with the heart of a brave soldier, he rather courted it - feeling confident of his ability, with the force around him, to secure a victory. Had he not met with his death so early in the action, it is not impossible that his efforts would have been as brilliant as they had been on many previous occasions.
The career of Lieut. Commander Flusser in the Navy, was most useful and honorable, and his record from the commencement of the rebellion to his last moments, has been marked by devotion to duty and to his country. Possessing superior intellect, and fine abilities, as an officer, he used them advantageously, and the service lost in him one of the bravest and best officers. Acting Rear Admiral Lee has very truly said, "his patriotism and distinguished services had won for him the respect and esteem of the Navy and the Country. He was generous, good and gallant, and his untimely death is a real and great loss to the public service."
The name of Lieutenant Commander Flusser is identified with the principal victories achieved in repossessing the Sounds of North Carolina, - "Roanoke Island", "Elizabeth City", "Newbern", "Plymouth", - and it was his lot to have been most prominent in maintaining the possession.
The Department sincerely sympathizes with you in your affliction, and considered it a duty to pay this feeble tribute to the worth of the late lamented Lieut. Comdr. Flusser.
Very respectfully,
Gideon Welles
Secretary of the Navy
Mrs. Flusser
An interesting anecdote deserves mention. Mr. Frank W. Hackett added this to a story he wrote just after the turn of the century regarding Flusser:
"One incident attending the death of Flusser deserves to be mentioned here since it is not generally known. The Albemarle was fought with skill and daring by the Confederate Commander James W. Cooke, whom Flusser well knew as a former officer in the United States Navy. In the engagement at Elizabeth City, N.C., February 10, 1862, Cooke commanded the Ellis, a small paddle-wheel ferryboat. She was driven on shore under fire from our gunboats and grounded in 2 feet of water. Cooke gave orders for his men to save themselves, and they threw their muskets on deck and scrambled for shore. Cooke himself stayed on board the Ellis firing with the abandoned muskets.
Flusser in a launch from the U.S.S. Commodore Perry boarded the Ellis and recognizing Cooke as an old shipmate ordered his men not to shoot, but to capture him. Cooke had been knocked down with the butt of a musket and lay on his back slashing about with his sword and refusing to surrender. He was finally seized, carried a prisoner to the U.S.S. Commodore Perry, and later was paroled and exchanged [It was Captain Cooke who skippered the C.S.S. ram Albemarle which, in the fight with the U.S.S. Southfield and U.S.S. Miami, killed Flusser]. When Captain Cooke learned of Flusser's death he expressed sorrow, especially that it should have occurred in combat with himself whose life Flusser had saved about two years before."
Charles Williamson Flusser is buried in the cemetery at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. His two brothers are buried on the battlefield, where they fell. Their parents are buried in Louisville, Kentucky. Their plot contains a memorial headstone to their three sons lost in battle during the Civil War, two in service to the Confederate States of America and Charles, who faithfully served and died for his country, the United States of America.