Description:

(UNION NAVY) USS BARON DE KALB SEAMAN PREPARES TO ‘GIVE THEM REBELS THE DEVIL'
A fine content war-date letter on patriotic stationery, 3pp. 12mo., Cairo, IL, Nov. 13. 1862, from U.S. Navy seaman John Hornby, serving aboard the ironclad gunboat USS BARON DE KALB, to an unnamed friend. Hornby describes the recent status of his ship, which has just been transferred to Navy command from the Army, and predicts her next assignment, in part: ‘I now take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well and hope that thease few lines will find you and the rest in good health. we are in cairo getting repaird up we have some larger guns onboard. we expect to go to vicksburg in a few days. we intend to give them rebels the devil when we get their. It is six hundred miles from cairo… [all sic]' Hornby continues by describing letters recently received from friends and family, and requests that they write more often, before concluding: ‘...so no more at preasent we may have vicksburg by the time i get an answer to this… [all sic]' He signs at the conclusion, adding ‘U S Gun boat Baron de Kalb Cairo Illinois'. Shows folds overall, evenly toned, with some scattered foxing and a pencil notation on the verso, otherwise in very good condition overall. The Baron de Kalb was a City-class ironclad gunboat, sometimes referred to as ‘Pook Turtles' or ‘Eads gunboats', after their designer James Eads, built at Carondelet, Missouri in 1861. Originally named SAINT LOUIS, she was operated by the Army and participated in the Battle of Lucas Bend and the capture of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, and served as flagship for the gunboat squadron at the capture of Fort Donelson. She was transferred to the Navy and renamed in October of 1862 and dispatched up the Yazoo River to attack Vickburg from the rear, although contrary to Hornby's expectations she and the rest of her squadron would be forced to turn back. She would be sunk by a mine in July of 1863.

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March 27, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

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