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Missourian Recounts Capture of the U.S.S. Maple Leaf

I was searching archive.org for Confederate connections in Southeast Missouri when I stumbled upon
"Reminiscences of the boys in gray, 1861-1865" within this collection is the story of R.T. Seckel, a Texas born Southerner who had moved to Missouri and enlisted as a Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers under Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson.

Seckel was wounded at the Battle of Fredericktown, Missouri  and was later captured in Broomtown, Missouri on March 1 , 1863. He was sent to Myrtle Street prison in St. Louis, Missouri. From St. Louis he was to be sent to Fort Delaware and it was during this time he found himself on the U.S.S. Maple Leaf.

Seckel states:

" I was taken out on exchange but for some reason that order was countermounded and I was sent to Fort Delaware. On the way to Fort Delaware, off the coast of North Carolina , I was approached by one of the prisoners and told that there would be an effort to capture the ship. She was a large steamer named "Maple Leaf".  I was asked if I wanted to take a hand, and on telling him I would be glad to do so he said "At three taps you take the musket from that man", pointing to a guard at the door of the second cabin. I had that musket at the first tap, and in thirty minutes the capture was complete. Ordered the Captain to run close to the shore near Currytuck Sound, and we paroled the whole outfit after swearing them to keep on their voyage to Fort Delaware. However, they did not, but returned and reported our escape. While in the dismal swamps , after we had proven who we were, a young lady, Miss Adelaide Campbell brought us a pound cake with a Confederate flag stuck in the center, and you bet we gave her three cheers three times over. She was a daughter of the sunny South, lovely, pure and true. I hope she still lives, and I know if she does not that she is in Paradise.

Admiral Sims' son was with us in the capture, and Captain Daughter of St. Charles, Mo. and I were the first to reach Richmond and report to Gen. Winder, who was then in command. After remaining in Richmond for a few days, I received transportation and rejoined my command at Jacksonport , Ark."

Seckel also talks of General Price's raid into Missouri in 1864 and his account of the condition of the country speaks volumes about how the population suffered :

"Referring to General Price's raid to St. Louis just prior to this , I saw the General at Camden, Ark., and he gave me dispatches for Gen. Marmaduke , and his last words were: "Tell them that my course will be only onwards." After our raid into Missouri and on our return for 300 miles you could see nothing but chimneys. My place at Bloomfield was fired and robbed by Yankees. They did not leave my wife even a change of clothing, but I made some of them pay dearly for it later on."



 
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