Description:

CONFEDERATE ACCOUNT OF THE ATTACK ON THE JUDAH
Fine content A.L.S. by Sergeant A. J. Withers of Co. "D" in the 7th Alabama Inf., 4pp. 8vo. Barracas Barracks, Sept. 15, 1861. Withers writes to his sister Helen Withers in Greensboro, Alabama, the day after the historic attack on the Confederate schooner William H. Judah by sailors on the USS Colorado that resulted in her sinking and the first loss of life in Florida during the Civil War. In part: "...Since my promotion to the title (only) of Sgt. you can condescend to write me a short note...The office, small as it is, & bringing no pay, was won by six months hand drill & the very hardest labor by day & by night. My hands, complexion, everything will go to show it. I've not lost a week in all that from sickness, & not a day has passed, not even Sunday, that I've not had some hard, some musical duty to perform. No one in this Army can say he ever heard me utter one word of complaint, & I am the only non-commissioned officer in this Regiment, who can shew letters of recommendation, from the Field Officers & from my Captain...Yesterday I had to walk several miles in the hot sun, & in sand knee deep almost...Two days ago, yes only yesterday (Saturday) morning, the Enemy came over in three little boats to one of our schooners (a police boat) which was tied to the wharf, & killed one or two of the sentinels (Louisianans, Regulars) besides wounding one or two; it was a very bold act, & the men engaged, though Enemies, deserve great credit for their courage. He who was in command of them, was a man of great courage, in as much as he got on the schooner & ordered his men to 'board her.' This was all done at the Navy yard in the very face of our troops, & the boat was Lying tied up to the wharf. They fired grape shot all through the Yard, set fire to the schooner, which had to be cut loose & which burnt up, & pulled hard for Pickens where they gave three loud cheers. Our guard fired at them, but with what success it is not known. We are engaged moving powder from the Redoubt preparatory to an anticipated fight. We are ordered by the Secty. of War to in no case ring on a fight, or long since would our brave Genl. Bragg have opened with every gun on that eye sore Pickens...When we (the 7th Regt.) fight, you shall have a good account of me. You shall now, at least, have cause to be ashamed of me...". The Confederate war ship Judah was a 250-ton, two-masted armed schooner that sailed in Sept. 1861 from New Brunswick, Canada, to Pensacola with a cargo of mercury, tin and lead. Although she successfully ran the Union blockade and reached Pensacola safely, she was set ablaze the night of Sept. 13 and14, 1861 by a daring band of about one hundred Union sailors and officers from the frigate Colorado who advanced in several cutters and boarded the schooner. Lookouts aboard the Judah spread an alert as the raiders neared, and crewmen opened fire, splintering boats and wounding men in the process, but the band continued. The Union force drove the Confederates off the schooner and onto the wharf. Contrary to Withers' account it was the Confederate crew that set fire to the Judah in response, which was, of course the Union goal as well. The blazing ship loosed its mooring and drifted off to a location near Fort Barracas, where she then sank. The exact location of the wreck is still not known. With original transmittal cover cancelled at Warrenton, Fl. Light tape reinforcements at folds, very good condition.

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January 20, 2010 10:00 AM EST
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