Charles Rice

The Sailor Who Volunteered for a Floating Bomb

Charles Rice was a United States Navy sailor and Medal of Honor recipient whose courage was recognized during one of the most unusual naval operations of the American Civil War. Serving aboard USS Agawam, Rice volunteered for a dangerous mission involving an explosive-laden vessel intended to destroy Confederate defenses at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in December 1864. His willingness to undertake this hazardous operation earned him the Medal of Honor.

Born in 1840 in Russia, Maine, Rice entered the United States Navy during the Civil War. His naval service was officially credited to Portland, Maine. Although limited information survives concerning his childhood, family background, and early civilian life, his military record preserves the story of his extraordinary participation in the Union campaign against Fort Fisher.

Rice served in the engineering department of steam-powered naval vessels. At the time of his Medal of Honor action, he held the rating of Coal Heaver, an enlisted position essential to the operation of nineteenth-century steam warships.

Coal heavers supplied fuel to the ship's fire rooms, helping maintain the steam pressure needed to operate its engines and machinery. The work required considerable physical endurance and was essential to keeping a steam-powered vessel operational during extended naval missions.

Rice later attained the rating of Fireman Second Class, the highest naval rating recorded in his military history.

During the latter part of the Civil War, Rice served aboard USS Agawam, a double-ended side-wheel gunboat assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The vessel operated in the coastal waters of Virginia and North Carolina, supporting Union naval operations against Confederate defenses and maritime supply routes.

By late 1864, Wilmington, North Carolina, remained one of the Confederacy's most important ports. Blockade-running vessels continued using its approaches to transport military supplies despite the Union naval blockade.

Fort Fisher, situated near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, protected the entrance to Wilmington. Its extensive defensive works and artillery batteries presented a significant challenge to Union forces seeking to close the port.

Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter assembled a large naval force for an operation against Fort Fisher. Before the main bombardment and amphibious assault, Union commanders developed an extraordinary plan intended to weaken the Confederate defenses.

The plan involved bringing a vessel filled with explosives close to Fort Fisher and detonating it in the hope that the resulting blast would damage the fortifications and disrupt the Confederate defenders.

The former steamer Louisiana was selected for the mission and converted into an explosive-laden powder boat. Large quantities of explosives were loaded aboard the vessel, creating a dangerous floating charge that required a volunteer crew to guide it toward the Confederate fortifications.

Charles Rice volunteered to participate.

His decision placed him among a small group of sailors from USS Agawam who accepted an assignment involving exceptional danger. The volunteers would have to approach enemy-held territory aboard a vessel filled with explosives, prepare it for detonation, and escape before the charges exploded.

On the night of December 23, 1864, the powder boat was towed toward Fort Fisher by USS Wilderness.

The operation was carried out under cover of darkness to reduce the risk of Confederate detection. As the vessels approached the fort, the volunteers prepared to position Louisiana as close as possible to the enemy defenses.

Near the shoreline, the tow was released, and the explosive-laden vessel continued toward the coast. Rice and the other volunteers assisted in bringing the powder boat into position.

The official account of the mission records that the vessel approached to within approximately 300 yards of the beach.

Once the powder boat was in position, the crew began preparing it for destruction. Fires and fuses were started, and another anchor was dropped in an attempt to hold the vessel in the intended location.

The volunteers then faced the most dangerous stage of the mission. They needed to leave the explosive-filled vessel and withdraw to safety before the charges detonated.

Rice and his fellow crew members transferred back to USS Wilderness and escaped from the immediate area.

The sailors withdrew approximately twelve miles offshore before the powder boat exploded in the early hours of December 24, 1864.

The detonation produced an enormous flash and concussion, but its military effect proved far smaller than Union commanders had anticipated.

The explosion failed to inflict serious damage on Fort Fisher or destroy its defensive positions.

Although the powder-boat operation did not achieve its intended tactical objective, the danger faced by the volunteers remained substantial.

Rice and the other sailors had knowingly approached Confederate defenses aboard a vessel carrying large quantities of explosives. A premature detonation, failure to escape, or enemy attack could have resulted in the loss of the entire volunteer crew.

Their participation required courage, discipline, and the ability to carry out a dangerous assignment under extraordinary circumstances.

Following the explosion, Union naval forces continued their operations against Fort Fisher. Warships began bombarding the Confederate fortifications on December 24, while Union troops prepared for an assault from the shore.

The initial expedition failed to capture Fort Fisher, and Union forces eventually withdrew.

A second assault in January 1865 succeeded in capturing the fort, bringing an end to one of the Confederacy's most important coastal defensive positions.

For Charles Rice, the December powder-boat mission remained the defining event of his documented naval service.

His Medal of Honor citation recognized his participation as a volunteer crew member of the explosive vessel operated near Fort Fisher on December 23, 1864.

Rice had served aboard USS Agawam as a Coal Heaver, performing essential engineering duties. His voluntary participation in the powder-boat operation placed him in a role far removed from his normal responsibilities aboard a steam-powered warship.

Rather than operating machinery or supplying fuel to the fire rooms, he joined a small crew assigned to bring a vessel packed with explosives into dangerous waters near a major Confederate fortification.

His courage was demonstrated not through the destruction of the fort but through his willingness to accept the risks of the mission and complete his assigned duties.

The volunteers successfully prepared the powder boat and escaped before its detonation, even though the explosion itself did not produce the intended military result.

On May 12, 1865, Charles Rice was formally presented with the Medal of Honor aboard USS Agawam, then lying off New Bern, North Carolina.

The presentation came during the final period of the Civil War, after the surrender of the principal Confederate armies and the collapse of organized Confederate resistance across much of the country.

His decoration preserved the account of an enlisted sailor whose voluntary participation in an exceptionally hazardous operation demonstrated distinguished courage.

Rice survived the mission and lived for several decades after the war. His later life is less extensively documented than his naval service, and surviving biographical accounts provide limited information about his civilian occupation, family circumstances, and activities following his discharge.

Historical recipient records identify his death in 1895.

His military record remains the most clearly documented part of his life. It establishes his service in the United States Navy, his rating of Coal Heaver during the Medal of Honor action, his later rating of Fireman Second Class, and his assignment aboard USS Agawam.

Above all, it preserves the events of December 23, 1864, when he volunteered to help bring an explosive-filled vessel near the Confederate defenses at Fort Fisher.

Charles Rice is remembered as a United States Navy sailor whose courage and willingness to undertake an extraordinary wartime mission earned him the Medal of Honor.

His participation in the Fort Fisher powder-boat operation remains an example of the bravery displayed by enlisted sailors during the American Civil War and secured his place among the recipients of the nation's highest military decoration.