The brothers Thomas F. and Percival Drayton are commonly referenced in the Battle of Port Royal Sound, the first major Union naval victory that secured a base of operations for the Union blockade of the Confederacy. Both South Carolinians, Thomas commanded the Confederate fortifications defending Port Royal, while Percival commanded USS Pocahontas in the assault to seize the area, a direct case of brother fighting against brother in the conflict. Questions often arise as to why Percival, the naval officer, remained loyal, considering his brother joined the secession movement.
Situated to observe this was the U.S. Navy’s most celebrated strategist, Alfred Thayer Mahan. Just a recent Naval Academy graduate and Percival Drayton’s executive officer on Pocahontas at Port Royal, Mahan’s opinions and insights shed light on Drayton’s motivations and his standing within the Union Navy, despite his home’s rebellion. Mahan recorded these observances in his 1907 memoir From Sail to Steam: Recollections of Naval Life (click here to download). Mahan devotes the beginning of Chapter VII of his memoir, from pages 156-166, documenting the Battle of Port Royal Sound, and Chapter IV, from pages 90-91, offering more insight into Mahan’s opinion of Drayton.
The description of the fighting at Port Royal is rather limited, but that is because Mahan only recalls the actions of his ship and its crew, refusing to tell the larger story beyond his personal observations and recollections. Mahan’s thoughts on his captain, Percival Drayton, are more detailed, exploring that man’s choice to remain loyal to the Union, and his standing within the naval service. Drayton had “a strength of conviction on the question of slavery,” Mahan clearly recalled, further describing his captain’s hatred of “the wrong-headed course of the slave power” (Chapter IV, p 90). When describing Drayton in battle, Mahan paints him as “a man greatly esteemed in the service” who received “a public expression of official confidence” from more senior officers over his conduct under pressure (Chapter VII, p 163).
Mahan’s memoir, and his later collection of letters (Robert Seager II, Doris D. Maguire, Editors. Letters and Papers of Alfred Thayer Mahan: 1847-1889 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1975) offer insights of the U.S. Navy’s operations, officers, and challenges by one of that service’s most celebrated officers. Mahan’s description of Percival Drayton and the Battle of Port Royal Sound epitomizes this, highlighting the complexities of a subordinate describing his superior officer, as well as the question of loyalty Southerners faced in the war.
To learn more about the Union capture of Port Royal Sound, and Percival Drayton’s involvement there, read Peter Barratt’s article “‘Hurrah for South Carolina’: Percival Drayton and the Battle of Port Royal” in the Fall 2020 issue of Civil War Navy—The Magazine
Portrait of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, circa 1885. Oil painting by unknown artist. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. NH 48056-KN courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command.
