The following article (with minor edits) was published in the July/August 2013 edition of Man at Arms Magazine:

Lt. John A. Payne, CSN

John A. Payne was born in Clarke county Alabama in 1838. John’s brother Richard was born in 1842. It appears that their father died prior to 1850 and their mother passed away on July 4, 1854. Based upon census records it would seem the orphans were raised in the household of Alex Auld of Mobile, perhaps a relation of their mother (John Auld Payne?).

On April 24, 1861 John enlisted in Company B (Gulf City Guards), Third Alabama Infantry Regiment. His enlistment papers describe him as being five feet, eight inches tall with dark complexion, dark eyes and dark hair. The history of the Third Alabama is well documented, it being the first Alabama command to deploy to Virginia, mustering at Lynchburg on May 4, 1861 and then re-deployed to Norfolk.

Being by profession a Seaman, John qualified for a commission in the Confederate States Navy pursuant to Special Order 19 of Major General Benjamin Huger. He was accordingly discharged from the Third Alabama on January 31, 1862, transferred to the Navy and assigned to Richmond station with the rank of Master’s Mate. Serving briefly aboard the receiving ship C.S.R.S. United States, John was quickly transferred to the C.S.S. Raleigh.

The Raleigh served as a tender to the C.S.S. Virginia and also served in the line of battle, providing Master’s Mate John A. Payne the honor of participating in the most celebrated in-shore naval battle of the American Civil War, the so-called Battle of the Ironclads; March 8-9, 1862. The Raleigh suffered heavy losses during the battle when scandalously fired upon by the U.S.S. Congress and federal shore batteries, following the formal surrender of that vessel. Significantly, a future shipmate of Payne’s, Boatswain Charles Hasker, served aboard the C.S.S. Virginia during the battle. This historic battle abruptly marked the beginning of the end for sailing ships, world-wide, as ships of war.

Payne was reassigned to Charleston Station, reporting in early January, 1863. Payne had been promoted to Master and served aboard the C.S.S. ironclad Chicora. Commanding Chicora’s larboard battery in a joint effort with the C.S.S. Palmetto State to break the federal blockade, Payne engaged the enemy fleet outside Charleston harbor on January 31, 1863. At one point during the battle the Chicora engaged six enemy vessels at the same time. The concerted actions of the two Confederate ironclads, C.S.S. Chicora and C.S.S. Palmetto State, successfully (albeit temporarily) ended the federal blockade of Charleston. For this signal victory, the city of Charleston turned out in celebration, with church bells ringing and its citizens singing the Te Deum in thanks to God. In the space of one year, John Payne had fought in two of the CS Navy’s most famous in-shore battles.

On August 7, 1863, newly promoted Lieutenants John Payne and A.F. Warley, with two boats’ crews of men from the Chicora and Palmetto State, launched a daring night attack against two federal naval vessels that were spying on Confederate troop movements. The attack was a joint operation, in which the sailors were joined by elements of the 25th S.C. Infantry Regiment; the combined force proceeding by water to meet up with and engage the enemy. The result was that one of the federal vessels was driven away and the other captured by Payne and Warley. Master John Haynes, USN, along with eleven other federals, became Payne’s prisoners.

What fame Lieutenant Payne has received is the result of his next exploit. The civilian crew of an experimental submarine known as the Fish Boat (later the H.L. Hunley), having failed to timely engage the federal vessels blockading Charleston, General P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate Commander of Charleston defenses, determined to replace them with a crew from the Confederate Navy. Lt. John A. Payne, CSN, volunteered and was given command of the first submarine in world history to successfully sink an enemy vessel.

Payne selected Lt. Charles Hasker, C.S.N. (formerly aboard C.S.S. Virginia) and six others to crew the submarine. Within days Payne and his crew were operating in Charleston harbor, successfully diving under various Confederate vessels and later surfacing some distance away on the opposite side. On August 29, 1863, believing his crew to be adequately prepared for combat, Payne ordered them to make for Ft. Johnson and ready the submarine for a night attack against the federal fleet. In the course of this operation an event took place which caused the submarine to dive with its two hatches open, thus flooding and sinking her. One account states that Payne, in an attempt to disentangle himself from a hawser, accidentally stepped on the diving plane lever. Another account suggests that the submarine was accidentally towed by another vessel, with its diving planes set for ‘dive’ and its hatches open. In History of the Confederate States Navy, J. Thomas Scharf (one of Payne’s shipmates aboard Chicora) states that the wash from a passing steamer (Etowah) caused water to enter the open hatches. In any event, the submarine went immediately to the bottom, tragically drowning five Confederate sailors. Dead were Frank Doyle, John Kelly, Michael Cane and Nicholas Davis, all from the Chicora, as well as Absolum Williams from the Palmetto State.

Lt. Payne and crewman William Robinson escaped out of the forward and aft hatches. Lt. Hasker also escaped but only after being pulled 42 feet to the bottom, his leg being caught by the hatch cover. When he finally reached the surface, Hasker was rescued and pulled to safety by Midshipman Daniel Lee (nephew of Robert E. Lee), also of the Chicora.

Lt. Payne continued in command of the Fish Boat until relieved by Horace Hunley, the next in a series of three skippers to sink the Confederate submarine. Payne was responsible for coordinating the efforts of the divers hired to raise the Hunley after her first sinking (Angus Smith and David Broadfoot); he also arranged for the internment of the bodies of the five sailors.

The history of the Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley is well documented, having been extensively researched by several historians, in particular Mr. Mark Ragan, to whom the author is deeply indebted for much of the information used in the preparation of this article.

Lt. Payne was soon promoted to First Lieutenant, Provisional Navy, with a date of rank of January 6, 1864. He was transferred to Mobile station and appointed Executive Officer aboard the C.S.S. Gaines. By this time the Confederacy was in dire need of medicines and supplies from Europe. One of Payne’s duties was to protect the blockade runners that attempted to bring these desperately needed supplies into Mobile.

On the evening of June 30th, 1864, the English blockade runner Ivanhoe, while attempting to elude the enemy fleet blockading Mobile Bay, was fired upon and so severely damaged that she was deliberately run aground under the protective guns of Fort Morgan. Ivanhoe’s crew and cargo, both precious, were at great risk of being lost, and the C.S.S. Gaines rendered all possible aid. Payne led the rescue attempt in the Gaines’ Howitzer Launch; also under his command was the Gaines’ First Cutter, under immediate command of Midshipman George S. Waterman. By quick action the brave men in these vessels were able to save the majority of the ship’s crew and cargo, while it was still under long-range bombardment of the enemy. When the federals saw what was going on they came in great force, driving away Payne’s boats, and set fire to the Ivanhoe. Upon their departure Payne immediately returned and began fighting the fire in an effort to save the remainder of the doomed ship’s crew. Payne repeatedly risked his life by entering the burning vessel three times to rescue survivors, and nearly died in the process. Midshipman Waterman later wrote an account of the action in the Confederate Veteran magazine. Waterman also sketched the rescue, depicting Payne at the helm of the howitzer launch.

On the morning of August 5, 1864, a Confederate fleet under the command of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, consisting of the C.S.S. Tennessee, C.S.S. Gaines, C.S.S. Morgan and C.S.S. Selma, sailed out to meet the enemy in a desperate battle to protect Mobile Alabama from destruction. The federal fleet, under the command of Admiral Farragut, overwhelmingly out-numbered and out-classed that of Buchanan’s; nevertheless, the Confederate vessels fought the enemy as long as they were able to continue the fight.

The Gaines was shot to pieces, with 17 direct and numerous indirect hits. Sinking, she made for Ft. Morgan, firing as she went. Lt. Payne went over the side to inspect the underwater damage to Gaines’ hull and determined that the damage was beyond repair. She was deliberated run aground and, after all gun equipment, powder and other munitions were removed, the Gaines was destroyed by her own crew, who then offered their services to the general in command of Ft. Morgan. Their services not being required, Payne and his shipmates buried their dead on the grounds at Ft. Morgan and proceeded by launches to Mobile. Admiral Buchanan was wounded and captured; the Battle of Mobile Bay was lost. Also lost was Lt. Payne’s military history, until we see him paroled on November 4, 1865.

However, it is possible to make a reasonable guess as to what Payne did following the Battle of Mobile Bay. Documents confirm that the crew of the C.S.S. Gaines was reassigned to man Battery Buchanon following the loss of their vessel. Battery Buchanon was a part of the Mobile defensive works. One of Payne's fellow officers from the Gaines later wrote a letter in which he states that the he and the crew were at Battery Buchanon until December 1864, at which time he was reassigned to Richmond Naval Station. From there he states that he was part of the CSN formation which was assigned the job of removing and guarding the Confederate Treasury during the evacuation of Richmond. If Payne were assigned the same duties as his shipmate it would explain both why there's no record of his duties following the Battle of Mobile Bay as well as why he was so late signing his oath of allegiance in Mobile, since he very well may have had to walk from North Carolina, where the treasury money was delivered by the CSN to Confederate authorities and were released to return to their respective homes.

After the war John A. Payne lived in Mobile, working in the hardware business. On December 18, 1867 he married Isabelle Walker, the daughter of Captain Daniel Walker. Isabelle died less than one year later, possibly from childbirth. On November 10, 1873, Payne married Jessie Danforth.

Payne was an avid baseball player. He was the Captain of Mobile’s Dramatic Baseball Club as well as the founding President of the Alabama State Baseball Association. Payne was also involved in Mobile politics. He died in 1876 following a two week illness and was buried in Mobile’s Magnolia Cemetery on February 5, 1876.

Payne’s death, such a short time after the war, prevented what may have been his participation in veteran’s associations and his written contributions to historical publications like The Confederate Veteran. Much of the available histories of less famous veterans were documented through veterans’ participation in such. During the war, federal authorities declared Confederate sailors to be ‘pirates’ and threatened, if captured, to treat them as such. The Confederate Navy had its own form of ‘secret service’ of which submarine operations were an important part. Participation in these operations, if made known to the federal forces occupying the South following the war, constituted a clear and present danger to persons like Lt. Payne. In consequence, Lt. Payne became little more than a footnote in the Hunley saga, despite his exemplary and heroic war record.

Lieutenant John A. Payne, CSN