Auction Date:2012 Mar 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
War-dated LS signed “D. G. Farragut,” two pages, 7.75 x 10, embossed “U. S.” letterhead, July 26, 1863. A letter to Acting Rear Admiral T. Bailey, Com’dg E. G. B. Squadron, regarding allegations pertaining to stolen goods, in full: “Your dispatch in relation to the stealing of certain articles from the passenger Don Higena of the ‘Comet’ captured by the Kanawha and sent to Key West has been received. I regret that Lt. Com’dr Mayo should have allowed his judgment to give way in the manner he did in his letter, altho’ I agree with you that the Officer’s statement is perfectly satisfactory, still it was an official representation of a Foreign Consul and called for circumspection on your part; but I have my doubt that these men would say anything to give trouble as they almost invariably do when you meet with a perverse disposition, and I believe the whole representation a fabrication, and that all these articles were for Commercial purposes, and not entitled to respect as private property.
Our war has been conducted with the greatest liberality and our part, while so far as I know, we have been taken advantage of whenever it was possible for them to do so. The part that the English people, if not the Government, is playing in this struggle with us is as great a disadvantage to us, as the Rebels, and we are unable to help ourselves; but I trust it will be not so long. I regret that I am not 20 years younger and could live to see it all fairly settled. But God will settle it all right, in his good time. I will say this for the British Officers whom I have met that they do not approve the conduct of their countrymen and regret that there should be such just cause for complaint against them. I suppose they are much as good and honest people of our Country were on the subject of Philibustering. I shall attend to your letter and admonish Lt. Com’dr Mayo of his impropriety in addressing such a letter to his Com’dg Officer when a Superior Officer is a party in the complaint.” In fine condition, with a small hole and paper clip impression at the top edge, and mounting tape on the reverse.
On May 15, 1863, Lieutenant Commander William Kennon Mayo seized the British brig "Comet" as it tried to run the blockade 20 miles east of Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay, Alabama. In a dispatch to Secretary of the Navy Welles, dated May 15, Mayo describes seizing papers torn and thrown overboard by Thomas Johnson revealing the true course of the "Comet" which varied from the ship's log as well as several account books containing navigational figures. The New York Times reported that the prize ship was sent to Key West for adjudication where the Comet's crew complained about stealing and their treatment by the Kanawha's seamen, prompting Admiral Theodorus Bailey's July 3 dispatch to Farragut.
Farragut commanded the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and responded about "the stealing of certain articles from the passenger Don. Higena," defending Mayo's claim of the cargo stating that "these articles were for commercial purposes, and not entitled to respect as private property" and declared "the whole representation a fabrication." He stressed the difficulties navigating political waters following the British brig's capture by Lt. William Kennon Mayo's ship, Kanawha, expressing his frustration about the British stating "our war has been conducted with the greatest liberality and our part, while so far as I know, we have been taken advantage of whenever it was possible for them to do so. The part that the English people, if not the Government, is playing in this struggle with us is as great a disadvantage to us, as the Rebels, and we are unable to help ourselves." A year later the Admiral threw caution to the wind, engaging in the Battle of Mobile Bay; ignoring the threat of torpedoes famously shouting "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" to capture the last seaport in the Gulf of Mexico.
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5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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