Lt. James Iredell Waddell Responds To Three Topics Of Question

1. Martin CJ Mongiello
US History – HIS 1010, January 28, 2010
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, PA
Lieutenant James Iredell Waddell responds to three topics of question
FREE LABOR: Let me tell you of the last shots fired in the flames of anger during the
American Civil War - several months after General Lee surrendered, by myself. In the
frozen wastes of the Sea of Okhotsk, my cannons were manned by free labor and the
spirit of independence. With the ice storms, frigid weather upon us and myself a farm
boy from Pittsboro, North Carolina - I lead a Confederate States Navy that embraced free
labor - to survive. For is that not what we did in Melbourne when several dozen men
freely signed up to serve in the Confederate States Navy? We had dozens of them join
us. Also, please take note the United States Navy in which I served for twenty years –
already had free blacks serving on board ships! Unlike the Army, we lived with the
threat of death in each day on the oceans of the world and formed a common brotherhood
of survival. Such is why I embrace free labor in all regards.
Despite my cannon bringing the American Merchant Marine to its knees while my ship
sailed the globe – I have no regrets. My feats crippled the Yankee fleets not to reach
their prominence in the world ever again until WW I. A crushing and destructive blow
that took 50 plus years to regain, beyond my life, on this earth. Let all remember what a
simple landlubber from North Carolina could do on the globes waters – unleashed.
Let all see what free men working together at sea can accomplish when faced with
survival. The whip is not needed with slaves to win, my friends. It is not needed.
STATES RIGHTS: Those of you reading may be surprised to find that, I had no contest
in taking sides against the Federal flag. In my resignation letter to the Secretary of the
Navy I stated, “In thus separating myself from association’s which I have cherished for
twenty years, I wish it to be understood that no doctrine of the right of secession, no wish
for disunion, of the state’s impel me, but simply because my home is the home of my
people in the South, and I cannot bear arms against it or them” (Waddell 66).
I sincerely regret and leaving my country and upon my arrival in New York that the navy
yard, via the USS John Adams – I was faced with hate and angry comments at every turn
against southerners. I had been gone for quite some time and see as far away as China –
only to return to this mess that had been created by those living here. …

2. POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY: “The ridicule and contempt which ever attach to
ignorance, rashness and rudeness in high places, was never more conspicuous then by the
British authorities in that portion of their empire” (Waddell 136). Such is the treatment I
and my crew received when we spent a month in Melbourne, Australia. I was constantly
reminded of the fact that I am an advocate of popular sovereignty. Now that the war is
over and my travels across the oceans and continents of the world are completed – I find
myself once again back home. Housed in our fine country where those who are elected
consider themselves to be servants.
Such is the manner of most naval men who on a daily basis find themselves inside a
floating prison, awash on the seas of the world. You will find that naval men espouse to
1the greatness of a flag that they fly under – which is why I tendered my letter directly to
President Lincoln requesting that I be able to continue to support the greater country that
I had served for twenty years at sea.
Naval men, such as me, have little regard for the political mockery and carnival that some
leaders desire to create for themselves in government. Now living in more modern times
and being concerned for the growth of the government as we see it today – I offer a word
of caution.
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