From: Confederate Military History Extended Edition.  Edited by Gen. 
Clement A. Evans of Georgia.  Wilmington, NC. Broadfoot Publishing 
Company, 1987; pages 216-218.

ADDITIONAL SKETCHES ILLUSTRATING THE SERVICES OF OFFICERS AND 
PRIVATES AND PATRIOTIC CITIZENS OF WESTERN VIRGINIA.

*LIEUTENANT FRANCIS L. HOGE*

Lieutenant Francis L. Hoge, of Wheeling, W. Va., distinguished in
the naval service of the Confederate States, was born in Marshall
county, Va., in 1841. Destined in youth for a naval career, he was
educated at the Annapolis academy, and graduated with appointment
as midshipman in the United States navy in 1860. His first service
was on a cruise in the Mediterranean, on board the sloop-of-war
Susquehanna, returning from which he resigned his commission in
order to offer his services to his native State. He resigned June
4th, and on June 24th entered the navy of the Confederate States,
being assigned to the Patrick Henry as a midshipman. Later he was
promoted master, and in February, 1862, was commissioned second
lieutenant. He served on the lower James river until March, 1862,
when he participated in the naval battle on Hampton Roads,
commanding the after division of the Patrick Henry in that combat.
Subsequently, when Norfolk was being evacuated he ran the blockade
carrying stores. At Drewry's bluff, when the Federal fleet
attempted to ascend the river, the Patrick Henry was dismantled
and the guns mounted on the bluff, when in the action of May 15,
1862, he served with distinction in command of the naval gun 
that was nearest the enemy. He remained at Drewry's bluff for some 
time, and in August, 1863, was detailed to select men for the daring 
expedition against the Federal gunboats Satellite and Reliance at the 
mouth of the Rappahannock river. Under Col. John Taylor Wood he was 
second in command, having charge of two of the four small boats which 
constituted the attacking squadron. He led the attack upon the 
Reliance and was the first on board, and fighting his way forward 
with great gallantry, was struck in the neck by a pistol ball, and 
fell upon the deck. The expedition was successful, but the dangerous 
wound which Lieutenant Hoge had received disabled him until October, 
1863. Before leaving Drewry's bluff he served upon the naval 
examining board, and immediately after being detached from that 
station he acted for six or eight months as second lieutenant of the 
ironclad Richmond, under Captain Pegram. His next duty was the 
torpedo service on the Chowan and Roanoke rivers, and while in this 
field he participated in another famous expedition under Colonel 
Wood, the capture of the large Federal gunboat Underwriter, which had 
taken a conspicuous part in the operations along the North Carolina 
coast. The attack was made in rowboats, on the Neuse river, under the 
guns of Fort Stevens, and subject to a direct and heavy fire from the 
enemy before the boats could grapple. Lieutenant Hoge was one of the 
first on board, and took an efficient part in the successful action, 
which was recognized by the Confederate Congress in a joint 
resolution of thanks. It was the intention of the Confederate party 
to get the vessel off, and to this end Lieutenant Hoge's duty was to 
open the magazine and man the guns. Upon doing this, he reported 
ready for action to Colonel Wood, but when the cable of the 
Underwriter was slipped (a duty assigned to Lieut. W. A. Kerr, of 
North Carolina, who was slightly wounded), her bow swung ashore, 
consequently the vessel was abandoned. But as they were leaving. 
Captain Wood, thinking she was not on fire, sent Hoge back to make 
sure of her destruction. He and the cockswain of his boat were the 
only ones who went aboard, each with a canteen of camphene. The ship 
was ablaze before they had got twenty boats' lengths away. Soon after 
this exploit, in February, 1864, Lieutenant Hoge was assigned to the 
Confederate ironclad Neuse, at Kinston, N. C., as executive officer, 
and he served in this capacity until the evacuation of Kinston, in 
March, 1865. On May 11, 1865, he was paroled at Macon, Ga., and he 
then made his home at Halifax, Nova Scotia, during a period of five 
years. Returning to Virginia in 1870, he came to Wheeling, which has 
been his home since that date. In 1881 he was elected city engineer, 
an office he held continuously until 1895, except during the year 
1883, when he served by appointment of Governor Matthews as a member 
of the commission to settle the boundary between Pennsylvania and 
West Virginia.  He is widely known as an accomplished civil engineer.
 

(Linda Fluharty)