The Guns of Fort Fisher

As noon approached on January 15, 1865, the officers and crew of the Powhatan unleashed the fire of 15 guns against Fort Fisher, adding their thunder to the great naval assault. The side-wheel steam frigate held position in the first of two battle lines, about a mile off the Confederate stronghold.

For one of the ensigns, the battle marked the beginning of a distinguished naval career. Ashtabula, Ohio, native Augustus Greenleaf Kellogg entered the Naval Academy in the fall of 1860 at age 17. Months later, the Civil War reached him when the Navy Department evacuated acting midshipmen and faculty from the Academy’s vulnerable campus in Annapolis, Md., to Newport, R.I. During these formative years, Kellogg earned a reputation as one “of the best, never in trouble, always active, alert, and efficient.” Completing a course of study that normally required four years in less than three, he graduated as an ensign in May 1863. After duty aboard the Ticonderoga and Rhode Island, he joined the Powhatan in time to participate in both assaults on Fort Fisher—the unsuccessful attack in late December 1864 and the victorious operation the following month that closed the Confederacy’s last Atlantic port.

Though the war ended months later, Kellogg remained in the Navy. His next quarter-century reads like an exotic travelogue, taking him to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, India, China, Japan, Europe, and the East and West Indies. Along the way, he steadily climbed the ranks, earning promotion to commander in 1880. When Navy officials tallied his record, they found that in more than 26 years of service, he had spent fewer than two years awaiting orders.

By the late 1880s, years of demanding service had taken a heavy toll on Kellogg. Fellow officers observed signs of mental strain, prompting a medical evaluation and his admission to the Government Hospital for the Insane. In 1891, the Navy declared him unfit for active duty and retired him with generous benefits. Kellogg contested the finding but failed to have the decision reversed.

Three years later, in Norfolk, Va., Kellogg fell from the fourth story of a hotel. Dressed in his bedclothes, he was alone in the room after his wife, Betty, had stepped out moments earlier. Found unconscious, he lingered for about two hours before succumbing to his injuries. He was 60. The cause of his fall was never determined.

Fondly remembered by his fellow officers, Kellogg received full military honors at his burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Two children and Betty survived him. She was laid to rest beside him at Arlington in 1940.

Most Hallowed Ground is part of the Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) Project. Established by Jim Quinlan of The Excelsior Brigade, its mission is to identify all Civil War veterans on the grounds. Contact Jim at 434-992-7041.

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