Reminiscences of Two Years in the United States Navy

In Short

This memoir records the daily routines, river ambushes, and petty triumphs of an acting assistant surgeon serving on the gunboat Valley City during the final years of the American Civil War. Navigating the treacherous sounds, swamps, and tributaries of North Carolina and Virginia, the narrator registers everything from routine anchorages and casual squirrel hunts to catastrophic torpedo strikes and bloody close-quarters firefights. Written with unvarnished clarity, the narrative survives as an exceptionally grounded, eyewitness ledger of wooden ship operations, joint naval raids, and the unglamorous mechanics of maintaining a riverine blockade.

The Story

The narrative follows John M. Batten from his initial appointment as an acting assistant surgeon in the United States Navy in early 1864 through his final discharge in 1866. Arriving at Hampton Roads, he travels through the Dismal Swamp Canal to report for duty aboard the U.S. Steamer Valley City off Hill's Point near Washington, North Carolina. There he assumes medical charge of the vessel, stepping into a world defined by low-steam cruising, routine reconnaissance, and constant vigilance along narrow, heavily wooded waterways.

Life aboard the Valley City alternates between brief, sharp engagements and quiet river patrols. Batten describes the small-scale economics of the war zone, capturing blockade runners, detaining local trade craft, and taking Confederate prisoners like John Taylor of the Georgia cavalry. Yet the serene landscape of North Carolina's rivers regularly turns deadly. The Union fleet faces persistent threats from shore batteries, hidden sharpshooters, and lethal Confederate mines—then known as torpedoes.

The strategic landscape shifts dramatically with the looming presence of the Confederate ironclad ram Albemarle, which threatens Federal dominance in the sounds. Batten details the tension surrounding the ram’s operations until Lieutenant William B. Cushing executes his celebrated night raid to blow up the vessel with a spar torpedo. Following the ram's destruction, the Valley City acts as Cushing's dispatch boat, carrying the exhausted hero to Fortress Monroe to deliver news of the victory to Admiral Porter.

With the Albemarle eliminated, the fleet pushes deeper into hostile inland waters. During the December 1864 expedition up the Roanoke River toward Rainbow Bluff, disaster strikes repeatedly. A dense field of hidden torpedoes sinks the Otsego and instantly pulverizes the Bazeley, killing several crewmen and leaving officers clinging to debris. When the Valley City comes under fierce four-hour bombardments from concealed Confederate sharpshooters and artillery, Batten works in his berth-deck dispensary beneath the engine line, treating the wounded while heavy shells rip through the ship's timbers, shattering captured heirlooms and killing men taking cover below.

As the war draws to its close in early 1865, the naval forces clear the regional rivers, sweeping dozens of torpedoes from channels and opening routes up the Meherrin and Chowan rivers to support General Sherman's advancing armies. Batten recounts late-war landings, coastal weddings, cotton seizures, and narrow escapes from roving rebel cavalry in small towns like Murfreesborough. Following the cessation of hostilities, Batten is transferred to Cairo, Illinois, in late 1865 to serve aboard the ironclad monitors Oneota and Catawba anchored in the Ohio River. There he observes the post-war naval stand-down, deals with oppressive summer heat and river fevers, and reflects on the fates of his former shipmates before receiving his formal honorable discharge signed by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles in March 1866.

How It Unfolds

Reporting for duty Dr. Batten travels through the dark channels of the Dismal Swamp Canal in April 1864 to join the gunboat Valley City on the Tar River. Upon arrival, his name causes immediate confusion with an engineer of the exact same surname who leaps from his berth believing his mail has arrived.

Patrolling the sounds The crew of the Valley City reads the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July before launching operations to intercept local trade craft and capture Confederate cavalrymen. During one landing, a injured prisoner writes a warm, pious inscription on the fly-leaf of Batten's borrowed Bible.

The shadow of the ironclad Federal control of the inland sounds remains precariously balanced as the Confederate ram Albemarle stalks the mouth of the Roanoke River. After Lieutenant Cushing successfully destroys the ram in a daring launch attack, the Valley City serves as his high-speed transport to convey him safely to Fortress Monroe.

The minefields of Rainbow Bluff Advancing up the Roanoke River in December 1864, the fleet stumbles into a dense nest of submerged torpedoes off Jamesville. The ironclad Otsego is sunk in an instant, and shortly thereafter the steamer Bazeley is blown completely apart, launching its pilot-house into the air and dropping its uninjured captain into the water.

Under fire in the dispensary While anchored beneath heavy enemy fire, Batten works at his medical station on the berth deck as sharpshooters pick off men on the hatches above. High-explosive shells punch directly through the ward-room walls, destroying an old family Bible and killing concealed fugitives nearby.

Final sweeps and discharge With enemy batteries silenced and eighty torpedoes successfully dragged from the riverbed, the ship spends the war's final months opening supply lines, seizing cotton, and attending local weddings. Batten later finishes his service aboard ironclad monitors anchored at Cairo, Illinois, receiving his final discharge papers in early 1866.

The People

• John M. Batten — The author and naval surgeon aboard the Valley City. He seeks to fulfill his duty with quiet professional competence while meticulously recording the everyday reality of naval warfare. He balances his medical responsibilities with a keen, observant eye for local geography, human eccentricities, and the sudden violence of battle.
• Captain J. A. J. Brooks — Commander of the Valley City. He leads his crew through coastal patrols and river bombardments while maintaining naval decorum, whether reading the Declaration of Independence to his men on the Fourth of July or hunting squirrels along riverbanks during lulls in the fighting.
• Lieutenant William B. Cushing — A daring, celebrated naval officer who seeks to break the Confederate hold on North Carolina's rivers. Driven by an audacious spirit, he accomplishes the near-impossible destruction of the ironclad Albemarle with a small launch, emerging exhausted but triumphant to become the hero of the squadron.
• Acting Ensign Milton Webster — The resolute executive officer of the Valley City. Known for taking reckless personal risks under fire, he routinely ventures into danger to secure hawser lines, drag for hidden mines, or lead ashore foraging parties, surviving intense sniper fire unharmed.
• John A. Lewis — A pilot formerly stationed on the ill-fated Otsego who is reassigned to the Valley City. He meets a tragic, sudden end when a Confederate sharpshooter's bullet strikes him down on the hatchway steps while standing near Batten.

In Its Own Voice

"The fleet steamed up Roanoke river. The day was beautiful, the birds were singing in the branches of the trees, the leaves of which were gently rustling, and the water could be heard dripping from the wheels of the fleet as they made their slow revolutions. All else was quiet. No man said a word. This was not strange, for we believed the river to be full of torpedoes and its banks lined with sharpshooters."

— En route to Plymouth, as the fleet silently navigates hostile, mine-laden waters.

"He was passed down to me, killed by a bullet from a sharp-shooter, passing through his head from ear to ear. John A. Lewis was pilot of the ill-fated Otsego, and had been ordered aboard the Valley City for general duty after the sinking of that vessel."

— Dr. Batten treating a fatal casualty brought down to his berth-deck dispensary during an intense ambush.

"'Without money he was naturally open for any adventure, and a representative of the Cuban rebellion was the first to offer him a chance.'"

— Recounting the chaotic, post-war misadventures of a fellow officer trying his hand at farming, coal sales, and foreign rebellions.

What It's Really About

Beneath its matter-of-fact chronology, the memoir explores the mundane reality of war behind major historical headlines. Batten exposes how combat in the riverine theater was rarely a matter of grand fleet actions; instead, it was a nerve-wracking game of attrition against invisible hazards. The narrative contrasts the eerie, untouched beauty of southern swamps and riverways with the mechanical destruction wrought by torpedoes, heavy ironclads, and long-range artillery.

The text also wrestles with the complex, surprisingly fluid human interactions across enemy lines. Batten captures moments of unexpected warmth, shared Bibles, and local hospitality alongside ruthless ambush and point-blank bloodshed. Ultimately, the book reveals how individual sailors preserved their sanity and humanity through routine, camaraderie, and steady duty while operating inside a lethal, unpredictable landscape.

Why Read It Today

Reminiscences of Two Years in the United States Navy offers an unpretentious, immediate window into the Civil War's riverine navy—a perspective frequently overshadowed by major land campaigns. Readers who appreciate primary sources will value Batten’s modest, clear-eyed prose, which avoids political posturing or poetic grandstanding in favor of crisp factual observation.

The book's appeal lies in its vivid details: the damp heat of the Dismal Swamp, the terrifying subterranean roar of exploding river mines, the practical engineering required to free grounded wooden gunboats, and the strange surrealism of hunting squirrels or attending local weddings just days after surviving heavy artillery fire.

The narrative does present minor reading hurdles. Because it was printed for the author as a personal memoir, the structure is loosely episodic, featuring sudden digressions, quoted newspaper dispatches, official battle reports, and genealogical listings from captured family Bibles. Yet these unpolished elements only enhance its authenticity. It feels less like a calculated historical account and more like sitting beside an old ship's surgeon as he turns through his private logbook.