Description:

CIVIL WAR DIARY OF NAVAL SURGEON'S STEWARD JAMES W. REED WITH SULTANA CONTENT
Civil War diary of Surgeon's Steward James W. Reed while serving aboard the 'tinclad' USS Grossbeak, approx. 50pp. 16mo., covering his service on the vessel from Jan. 14 to July 5, 1865, though with some gaps and missing pages. All entries are clearly written in brown ink, reading in part: "...was examined by Dr. on the Great Western...Received my Bounty Money...Was drafted for the USS Fairy now the USS Grossbeak...Cleaned up for Admiral Lee, came aboard, looked at our boat...2 men deserted last night...glorious news of the capture of Gen. Lee's Army...ashore today in Vicksburg...they are court martialing a sailor off the Vindicator for murdering a man here...we fired 100 rounds in honor of Lee and the fall of Richmond...20 miles above St. Helena. We received news of the death of President Lincoln...our ship was made the flag ship for this Division and we took Commodore Mitchell on board...The steamer Sultana arrived here this evening with 1,366 paroled Union prisoners from Vicksburg...All hands were called this morning by the screaming of soldiers from a burning boat up the river [Sultana]. We caught a great many...met Gunboat #6. Started down for Miss. River...I seen an awful sight, a barge containing about 50 dead persons who were drowned from the explosion of the Sultana...caught 3 bodies - we sewed them up in canvas as had no lumber to make a box & buried them with the honors of war...met Gunboat #38. Had a little fight with some rebels below Memphis...At Memphis. Rec'd news of capture of Jefferson Davis...laying off Vicksburg...Saw 4 steamboats loaded with rebels...". With transcript, overall very good. Surgeon's stewards ranked second in seniority among the ship's petty officers, next only after the master-at-arms. They generally were trained as corpsmen and in pharmaceuticals.

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January 20, 2010 10:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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