Fort Fisher Sailor's Letters Discussed at Cape Fear Civil War Round Table-- Part 1

From the Jan. 8, 2020, New Bern (NC) Sun Sentinel.

Becky Sawyer, interpreter and collections manager at the Fort Fisher State Historic Site will  speak about a trove of long lost letters written by a mariner aboard of Union naval ship in the last days of the war.

The Cape Fear Civil War Round Table out of Wilmington, North Carolina, will (well, had) a presentation at 6:30 pm, at Harbor Church, 4853 Masonboro Loop.  Unfortunately, it is too late, but she has given this talk several times in the area so will probably do it again.

Becky Sawyer is a native of St. Louis, Mo.,  and earned her Masters degree in public history at UNC-Wilmington.  She is also a re-enactor .

Over the course of three years, with the assistance of Rick Morrison, Sawyer and the staff at Fort Fisher have been transcribing letters of the Sydney Stockbridge who served as clerk on the USS Pawtuxet in the Second Battle of Fort Fisher (whose anniversary is January 15).

These letters are on loan from Joe Stockbridge  of Surry, Maine,  the great nephew of Sydney Stockbridge.

--Old B-Runner

Major William C. Clemens at Fort Fisher-- Part 3: "We Have Possession"

Continuing with Major Clemens' letter from Fort Fisher.

"...At daylight we, that is the navy, commenced shelling the Fort and after a vigorous shelling until about two o'clock the troops as well as a force of sailors and marines made an assault upon the works..

"The advance was badly cut up whilst the sailors and canals were driven back with heavy loss but the soldiers kept steadily forward gaining traverse after traverse of the Fort until finally at eleven p.m. the signal was made to me 'Cease firing on the fort as we have possession.'

"The fighting has been severe and hard and many a poor fellow has gone to his last home but we have possession of Fort Fisher but I can not say anything about the balance of the works beyond although it is natural to suppose that it is all a victory."

Word From the Front.  --Old B-Runner

USS Pawtuxet-- Part 1: Looking for the Tallahassee

From Wikipedia.

Earlier this past week, I wrote two blog entries I wrote about Sidney Stockbridge's letter about the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.  I must admit that I had never heard of his ship, the USS Pawtuxet.

The USS Pawtuxet was a sidewheel steamer launched at Portsmouth Navy Yard (New Hampshire) 19 March 1864, delivered to the Navy at New York City 18 May 1864 and commissioned 26 August 1864, under the command of Cmdr. J.H. Spotts.

It was 205 feet long and 35 foot beam and mounted two 100-pdr. Parrott Rifles, four 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbores, two 20-pdr. Parrott Rifles and two 24-pdr. howitzers.

It was immediately ordered to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, Canada, to look for the Confederate raider CSS Tallahassee, but that vessel had already returned to its home port of Wilmington, N.C..

--Old B-Runner

The Sidney Stockbridge Letters at Fort Fisher-- Part 2: Colonel Lamb's Dog

The letter was dated January 16-18, 1865 and had information about the torpedoes at Battery Buchanan, a sketch of the fort done from the USS Pawtuxet and another from inside the fort.  In addition, there was a gruesome post-battle description of the fort.

Apparently, Mr. Stockbridge had also been involved in the capture of Col. Lamb's dog.

No one on the Fort Fisher staff was aware that Lamb had had a dog.

With the assistance of Christian Edwards from the NCDNCR Archives and History Collection Branch in Raleigh an agreement was worked out to obtain the entire collection of approximately 30 letters. All of them will be scanned and transcribed on a one-year loan.

An exhibit at the museum is being planned.

--Old B-Runner

The Sidney Stockbridge Letters at Fort Fisher-- Part 1

From the Summer 2016 The Powder Magazine by Becky Sawyer.

In April 2016, the Fort Fisher State Historic Site was contacted by Joe Stockbridge of Surry, Maine.  He had a set of letters written by his great-uncle, Sidney Stockbridge who was serving on the USS Pawtuxet during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher.

One of those letters contained an account of the battle, a sketch of the fort and a souvenir of Colonel Lamb's signature.

Joe Stockbridge sent the original letter.

--Old B-Runner

Letter From Wilmington 18 October 1863-- Part 5

"I am much gratified to hear of the complement to Eugine. Eugene, in my opinion made a fatal error when he failed to accept the colonelcy of his regiment long ago, if he had he would have been a Brigadier before now.

"We have been looking for several days for news from Gen Lee; I hear a rumor this morning that there had been another fight at Manassas in which we were victorious. I humbly hope it may be so.

"I wish I could have been at home while our Hanover friends were with us; I was never so home sick, I am going to have a 30 day furlough some time this winter at all hazards.

"Tell mother I thank her most affectionately for her long and interesting letter. I think she writes in better spirits than usual, and argue from it that her health was not so bad at the time, or at all events that she was suffering less pain.

"I beg, my dear Father that you will seriously take care of your health, you cannot safely expose yourself as you have done and your life is of much value to many people."

Long Letter Again, But Full of Information. --Old B-Runner

Morfit's Letter

While looking for more information on the CSS Oconee earlier this month, I came across this item of interest from the Schuyler Rumsey Philatelic Auctions site which was offering a letter addressed to Asst. Surgeon Chas. M. Morfit, CS Navy Portsmouth.

The auctioneers expected to get from between $300 and $400 for it.

Dr. Charles M. Morfit (1838-1925) received his medical degree from the University of Maryland. He became an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Navy in 1861, but resigned to join the Confederacy.

He served on the CSS Ivy, Arkansas, Stono, Albemarle, Oconee and Chicakamuga. He was captured and imprisoned at Old Capitol Prison and later Fort McHenry. I wonder if he was at Old Capitol when John Wilkes Booth was hanged?

--Old B-Runner