Meet Captain Percival Drayton, US Navy (Deceased)
Event Date
05/07/2018
Event Time7:15 pm;
Location
Historical Society of Montgomery County
1654 DeKalb Street
Norristown, PA
Captain Percival Drayton, (US Navy Deceased) and Sarah Josepha Hale will be speaking, in first person at:
Historical Society of Montgomery County
1654 DeKalb Street
Norristown, PA 19401
Date: May 7, 2018
Time: 7:15 PM
Captain Drayton will discuss his exploits upon the high seas during the Civil War and his unfortunate chance military encounter with his brother, Confederate Brigadier General, Thomas Drayton, at the Battle of Port Royal.
Percival was promoted to Captain, US Navy in 1862, and was assigned to Admiral David Farragut’s West Gulf Squadron, and commanded Farragut’s flagship USS Hartford in the celebrated naval assault and capture of Mobile Bay in August 1864. Mobile was the Confederacy’s last major seaport open, on the Gulf of Mexico. The bay was heavily mined (tethered mines were known as torpedoes at the time). Farragut ordered his fleet to charge the bay. When one of the Union Monitors struck a mine and sank, the other Union ships began to retreat.
Farragut could see the ships pulling back. “What’s the trouble” he yelled through his megaphone? “Torpedoes!” was shouted back by a forward lookout. “DAMN THE TORPEDOES – FULL SPEED AHEAD, said Farragut” The bulk of the fleet then succeeded in entering the bay.
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