Point of Honor
the continuing exploits of Lt. Peter Wake United States Navy
Robert N. Macomber
Pineapple Press, Inc.
Sarasota, Florida
The Honor Series
By Robert N. Macomber
At the Edge of Honor
Point of Honor
Honorable Mention
A Dishonorable Few
An Affair of Honor
A Different Kind of Honor
The Honored Dead
The Darkest Shade of Honor
Honor Bound
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 by Robert N. Macomber
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Inquiries should be addressed to:
Pineapple Press, Inc.
P.O. Box 3889
Sarasota, Florida 34230
www.pineapplepress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data available upon request
E-ISBN 978-1-56164-521-3
Print and ebook design by Shé Hicks
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my parents, Robert (Bob) Charles Macomber and Martha Jane (Janie) Macomber, who instilled in me a love of books and of exploring beyond those far-off watery horizons
Preface
We’re sailing with Lt. Peter Wake again. He is in his second year with the East Gulf Blockading Squadron and facing a multitude of professional and personal dilemmas afloat and ashore. Peter Wake is not the same man who arrived in Key West from New England as a volunteer naval officer in May of 1863. Like the rest of the nation, Peter Wake has been through too much to ever be the same.
The war, sadly, is far from over. It is now the spring of 1864, and everyone, in both the North and the South, has given up hope for a quick end to the bloodshed. Indeed, throughout the Northern states the sickening litany of casualty lists is producing second thoughts for many citizens about the wisdom of continuing to force the South to stay in the Union. If they want to leave the Union that badly then let them go, some are saying. Does the nation have the will to stay the course and win total victory? National politicians are debating that very thing.
On the other side of the conflict, the Southerners are exhausted. They are fighting because they must defend their home soil, but the enthusiasm is gone, along with the naïve hope of formal recognition by Great Britain and France. Too much of the Confederacy has been captured, too many thousands of men killed and wounded, too many homes and towns destroyed for anyone to feel they will have a total victory. By now they are hoping for a partial gain of some manner of independence, at least a grudging cessation of the hostilities so the Yankees will just go away. Some sort of agreement is hoped for so the people of Georgia and Tennessee and Virginia can return to a semblance of peace and try to rebuild what they have lost.
Florida is in an ironic position by 1864. Previously considered a nice but nonessential sibling in the sisterhood of Confederate states, Florida is the South’s sole remaining largely unconquered food-producing region east of the Mississippi, the main breadbasket for the large Rebel armies fighting the Federal forces in Georgia and Tennessee. Beef, in particular, is Florida’s most important contribution to the Confederate war effort, and thousands of head of cattle are shipped northward by priority rail each month.
Florida’s coastline is still somewhat important, with hidden places remaining where the occasional small Rebel blockade runner can bring out small quantities of cotton and run in equally small shipments of foreign munitions and manufactured goods. These runs are not productive enough to matter much in the overall war but do influence local events in the peninsula. Generally speaking, however, the U.S. Navy has made blockade running on the Florida coast much more dangerous than it was the previous year.
In fact, the navy has been instrumental in transforming its efforts in Florida from a backwater blockade to an offensive invasion at several points along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Working closely with the army authorities, naval operations have succeeded in enabling Union forces to break up the food production capabilities in different areas of Florida. More substantial invasions to capture the heart of the state are being thrust ashore against numerically weaker Confederate defenders.
But with all that effort and naval support, Tallahassee remains the only Confederate state capital east of the Mississippi not captured during the conflict. Each time the Federal forces have tried to get close, they have been defeated by a ragtag rabble of the frontier Floridian home guard along with some regular Confederate army units that have been moved back into the state.
This is the situation that Peter Wake faces as he leads men through the inhumanity and confusion of war. The conflict becomes continually more complicated. This year of the war will find Wake making decisions at sea that will bring him the unwelcome attention of his superiors and decisions ashore that will have profound risks. Wake will also have to make bittersweet decisions of the heart. But no matter what, Wake will remain steadfast, and his decisions will be made based upon that most simple point of character he has ingrained deep in his soul: honor.
Come aboard. The anchor’s hove short, and the sails are unfurled. It’s time to get under way. There’s a war on and we’re needed out there.
Your most humble servant,
Robert N. Macomber
Acknowledgments
Again my thanks go to the other two writers of the Parrot Hillian Writers Circle, Roothee Gabay and Dian Wehrle. They have been aboard with Peter Wake for his whole career, and I hope they ship over for the next cruise.
There are three nonfiction authors who deserve a “Bravo Zulu” notation. They are Dr. George Buker, who wrote Blockaders, Refugees and Contrabands; Lewis Schmidt, who wrote the four-volume work The Civil War in Florida—A Military History; and John Viele, who wrote The Florida Keys, a three-volume work on the history of those unique islands. These are excellent books that I recommend to anyone who wants to know the true story of that fascinating time in this fascinating place.
And a special thank you to Dena Macomber.
—Bob Macomber
Off the coast of Florida
13 September 2002
Map
1
Desperation