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Lincoln's commando
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Lt. William B. Cushing, USN
William B. Cushing was born to Dr. Milton Cushing and Milton's second wife, Mary on November 4, 1842, in a log cabin located 25 miles west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a village known as Nemehbin. Years later the village would be renamed Delafield.
A story tells of how William, at age three, donned his father's hat and made his way down to the Chicago waterfront (the family had moved there a short time before). He saw a ship departing and ran down the wharf to catch it. He missed and he was fished out of the water by a sailor. Many point to this reckless disregard for personal safety as foreshadowing events of his later life.
As a young man, Cushing entered the United States Naval Academy in the fall of 1857. He was a prankster while there, which, combined with less then stellar grades, eventually led to his being asked to resign.
About two weeks later, Confederate guns opened up on Fort Sumter. Cushing immediately pled his case to United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. Welles gave Cushing an appointment as an acting master's mate.
Cushing quickly distinguished himself, volunteering for hazardous missions. By 1862, he was promoted to Lieutenant and commanded several gunboats. He led many daring raids into Confederate territories.
In April of 1864, the Confederate ram Albemarle, an ironclad warship built along the lines of the Merrimac, attacked and recaptured the town of Plymouth, North Carolina sinking the USS Southfield and killing it's commander.
In May, the CSS Albemarle escorted a troop ship when it was engaged by several Union vessels. The USS Sassacuse was destroyed after that ship had unsuccessfully tried to ram the Albemarle.
The Albemarle dominated the area for the summer of 1864. Cushing, then only 21, came up with a daring plan. On the night of October 27, he took a small launch armed with a spar torpedo and snuck into the harbor. Cushing's small launch was spotted and under heavy fire, he sped toward the Albemarle, despite the ring of floating log booms that surrounded the ship.
His launch went up and over the logs and when the spar was touching the side of the Albemarle, Cushing detonated it. The resulting explosion threw everyone into the water and blew a hole in the Albemarle's iron hull at the waterline "big enough to drive a wagon through." The ship sank quickly.
Cushing and another crewmen were the only two to escape. Two others were drowned and rest were captured.
Admiral Farrugut called Cushing "the Naval hero of the Civil War." In 1872 Cushing earned the rank of Commander. He died on December 17, 1874. Five ships in the U.S. Navy have been named after him.
For further information on William B. Cushing, read Lincoln's Commando: The Biography of Commander William B. Cushing, U.S. Navy, by Ralph J. Roske and Charles Van Doren.
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