American Civil War Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Mariners' Blog

In my last post, I said that the Library had just completed a massive cataloguing project of items related to the U.S. Steam BatteryMonitorand the C.S. Ironclad梵ginia. These items came from 59 different archival and research collections. Among them are extremely rare photographs collected by an earlyMonitor“groupie” in the 1880s by the name of Frank Pierce, letters from sailors aboardMonitorand from witnesses to the Battle of Hampton Roads, both Union and Confederate, unique plans and drawings ofMonitor, and receipts from vendors for materials used in her construction. There are also research notes of people who did important historical work on the two ironclads and genealogical work on their officers and crew. Here, then, is an annotated summary of some of the collections we have catalogued. Enjoy!

Library & Archives

10,000 Items Catalogued

August 4, 2014December 2, 2015

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Almost exactly one year ago today, staff member Aya Eto brought to your attention a project we had then just begun in earnest, a project to catalog 10,000 items relating to the construction, service, destruction, legacy, and research on the U.S. Steam BatteryMonitorand the C.S. Ironclad梵ginia. You can read what she wrotehereand see a few of Jacob Nicklis’s letter’s home to his father. Nicklis died in the foundering ofMonitoroff Cape Hatteras in 1862.

Library & Archives

An Old Claim

August 23, 2012November 27, 2015

CSSAlabamawas sunk by the USSKearsage, but not before causing considerable damage to the American merchant marine. From The Mariners’ Museum collection.

Hello readers, and welcome back to the Library blog. Many of the posts on this blog over the past few months have concerned the SSUnited States. While this blog will by no means abandon the proud ship as a subject matter, it will nonetheless begin to focus on a new topic: Maritime Piracy. Piracy is an issue that comes up frequently in our news, especially in the past few years. Just yesterday, naval forces from France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands worked together to catch numerous pirates that had stolen boats and taken hostages in the Gulf of Aden. Read the full articleHERE!

During the American Civil War, the Confederates deployed several small ships of war as commerce raiders, bent on damaging the Union’s trade routes. Since the Confederate government was not officially recognized by the United States government, these commerce raiders were seen as pirates by Union ships. Perhaps no raider is as famous as the CSSAlabama, a British-built sloop-of-war that terrorized Union shipping all over the world. In fact, First Mate Joshua P. Atkins from theT.B. Walesfiled an insurance claim for his lost property when the CSSAlabamacaptured and burned his ship on November 8^th1863.Read more

Library & Archives

New Library Exhibit

January 6, 2012November 27, 2015

When the Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the southern coastline along the Atlantic and in Gulf of Mexico to interrupt vital flows of supplies to the Confederacy. More than five hundred ships manned by one hundred thousand sailors served on the blockade by the end of the war. Through its sheer size and objectives, the blockade became one of the most extraordinary undertakings by the U.S. Navy.

Be sure to stop by the Library and check out our new exhibit, “Blockaders and Blockade Runners: The Union Blockade during the Civil War,” which highlights the people, ships, and events that made the blockade the scene of dynamic action throughout the Civil War. The exhibit opens on January 9, 2012 and will run through May 2012.

Library & Archives

New Civil War letter

October 14, 2011November 27, 2015

We recently unearthed another Civil War letter in our archives. The letter was written by Charles Pye to Colonel Thomas Millar on October 4, 1862. In the letter, Pye requests that his slave, oxen, and cart be returned to him after they were confiscated by Union cavalry. Pye lived near Port Tobacco, Maryland and his slave was caught transporting supplies to a landing on the Potomac River in an apparent attempt to send them across the river to Confederates in Virginia. A Union cavalry patrol seized Pye’s slave, cart, and oxen. This letter represents Pye’s attempts to have his property returned to him.

Pye’s letter opens up many questions regarding the confiscation of slave property by Union forces. This is especially true considering that Pye lived in Maryland which never seceded from the Union.Read more