Description:

(CIVIL WAR NEW ORLEANS) THE CIVIL WAR PAPERS OF CAPTAIN CHARLES BOOTHBY
A large and impressive archive of documents and letters concerning the Civil War and post war career Capt. CHARLES BOOTHBY (1837 - 1908) kept between 1862 and 1876. Boothby joined the 12th Maine Volunteers in 1861 and was later commissioned a captain commanding 1st Louisiana Regiment in 1864. After he was mustered out in 1866, Boothby remained in New Orleans where he worked as a customs official and Superintendent of Education for New Orleans. The collection contains approximately 27 war date manuscript and partly-printed documents and letters including general orders concerning the guarding and inspection of ships on Lake Pontchartrain, as well as returns, muster rolls and official letters (some written and signed by Boothby), as well as an additional 28 documents and letters documenting aspects of his post-war service, 1865 - 1866. The "Instructions for Officers doing duty at Lake End Lakeport, and along the Coast of Lake Pontchartrain " [n.d., but c. 1862] is particularly instructive: "No vessel is allowed to pass out for points without Federal Lines unless it have Clearances from the Custom House Officer and no permits signed by the Provost Marshall General and countersigned by the General, or Officer, commanding the Defenses of new Orleans, and not then until a thorough search of the Cargo is made, and items compared with the List or manifests, and if goods contraband of war be discovered such vessel to be detained until the facts are reported to the General Comdg Defenses and his permission again given to proceed. Also persons or passengers on board of such vessels before they will be allowed to pass shall be rigidly searched both person and baggage and shall produce the pass of the Provost Marshall General countersigned by the General commanding the Defenses of New Orleans Vessels bound for points within the Federal Lines shall produce the pass or permit of the Provost Marshal General and the officers and crew shall be compared with the Lists on the permits and if other passengers be aboard they are to be subjected to search and must produce the Provost Marshall's pass and proper authority for carrying their baggage…" Also of interest are approximately 70 printed general orders (1862-1866) from New Orleans including Benjamin Butler's farewell address (General Orders No. 106, Dec. 15, 1862) as well as Nathaniel Bank's Dec. 25, 1862 proclamation announcing his assumption of command of the Department of the Gulf. Other orders concern a variety of matters including courts martial, promotions and other matters. An early order, dated New Orleans, May 1, 1862 warned disembarking federal troops who were soon to be "amid the temptations and inducements of a large city" to refrain from "all plundering of public or private property…" Also of interest is a lengthy day book, (July 1862 - July 1863 with approximately 75 pages filled-in) documenting the departures, arrivals and loadings of various steamships on Lake Pontchartrain including the Creole, Natchez, J.M. Brown, Gray Cloud, Whiteman, among others. A good deal of the book contains accounts for coal used for the river steamers as well as other supplies loaded. The first several pages have been covered with later news clippings, but the majority of the book has been spared that fate. The archive also includes volume II of the 1862 edition of Silas Casey's Infantry Tactics (some water damage), an account book much of which has been covered in chromolithographic cards, but the latter half (approximately 40 leaves) is not obscured and includes diary entries and accounts for the year 1876. Worthy of further research. Overall condition good to very good.

The property of Mike Minett

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September 11, 2013 11:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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