541

"...Another communication from the old man of the Sea."

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:137.00 USD Estimated At:275.00 - 350.00 USD
 ...Another communication from the old man of the Sea.
Letter of Union sailor Byron P. Drown, U.S. Bark Midnight, Daboy Sound, Ga., Mar. 17, 1864, 5 x 9, 4 full pp. To his father in Plattsburgh, N.Y. With splendid Navy content, on blockade duty in the West Gulf Squadron. "...I charged $4.00 for the calf brogans...$8.00 for the boots...I did not want to make too much as I did it more for a favor as our ship shoes are worthless...The Paymaster arrived here yesterday on the Mass(achusetts) & brought a bountiful supply of Greenbacks. You need not be afraid about the pay for if they do not (pay), I can bring them to the mast & the Capt. will make them do it. I expect I will get the money in time to send in this letter 'not present!] for you want it bad...I have sent you another communication from the old man of the Sea...You must not think I composed all of it, for we have fellows aboard here that can keep up to our own best Editors. This piece is a response to a Sailor('s) wife, a letter which appeared in the Eve. Post of Jan. 28. I believe it is the first & best move I have seen for the Sailor. I hope the vessel will be ordered home this Spring for she need(s) repairs. Her deck leaks like a riddle. I expect you have recd. my letter telling you about the capture of our Prize. She is going to Philadelphia...Mother wrote me that Joe Baker was getting to be a very bad boy. Why don't you take him to work in the shop...We have been working ballasting a schooner all last week, which brought the Huron. We are expecting the Oleander every hour. She has a mail for us and will take a mail north for us...I guess the expedition I spoke of is all a fizzle...I hope the Republicans will run Old Abe again. Did you see that editorial in the N.Y. Herald about Bunsy Welles, the boat jockey 'the Midnight's Acting Master, J.C. Welles]. It hits pretty hard on matters about his slow 2 Dogpower steamers...." Early in the war, the Midnight was "patrolling off the coast of Texas - independently for a large part of the time - ...bombard(ing) Confederate positions ashore"--Naval History and Heritage Command. The ship was not relieved in Georgia until July 1864. File creases at lower right corner, else very fine and clean. * With envelope, manuscript marking "Ships Letter / U.S. Bark Midnight, "Due 6," black Port Royal, S.C. c.d.s. Stamp removed, light dust-toning, tear at blank upper left, else good plus. Civil War Naval letters are uncommon for good reason: there were millions of soldiers, but "the total number of seamen, landsmen and boys in the Navy at present is estimated at 50,000"--The Sailor's Magazine, May 1864. The Midnight appears in dozens of contemporary sources; late in the war, it was wrecked near Key West, catching fire. With modern research, including lengthy first-hand account of the ship's inland Florida foray, using a black slave guide to capture Confederate soldiers, and liberating some thirty slaves from plantations. (2 pcs.)