Description:

(UNION NAVY) USS METACOMET ENGINEER PREPARES FOR THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY
Extremely fine, historic military content letter, 5pp. 8vo., Pensacola Navy Yard, Aug. 3, 1864, from Assistant Engineer George P. Hunt, to Mrs. Eames, the mother of his sweetheart, Cordelia. Writing aboard his ship, the ‘double-ender' gunboat USS METACOMET, only two days before the Battle of Mobile Bay, Hunt details the preparations for the upcoming fight and describes Admiral David Farragut's line of battle in great detail, as well as the Confederate forces that oppose them. In large part: ‘...We have been very, very, very busy & will be for some time, have been to New Orleans for repairs & to bring two Iron-clads, & when we had arrived safe off Mobile with our charge as the [gunboat USS] Eutaw had not arrived with the remaining monitor ‘Tecumseh' the Admiral [Farragut] sent us here to fetch her as the Metacomet is the pet-ship, and the fastest ship in the fleet, talk of the ‘Eutaw' why, all hands here on the M[etacomet] would bet their years pay on her (the M-)… The ‘Eutaw' has been here & gone home disabled, chased a blockade runner & could not catch her, I only wish we had been in sight (if [Secretary of the Navy] Gideon Welles wants to bet money on a double ender he ought to bet on the M- she is the only double ender that can run fast yet). Affairs are looking rather more promising off ‘Mobile', we expect to be at the city in less than a week. The Admiral & all his staff are there, Generals [Edward] Canby & [Gordon] Granger & a host of others are in the neighborhood with troops. Our 3 iron clads Winnebago, Chickasaw, & Manhattan are there, we shall be there with the Tecumseh tomorrow, we have 18 vessels besides, we go in three abreast; 2 Monitors & a gunboat leading the van, [Farragut's flagship] Hartford & a Monitor & the Metacomet following, then the Richmond, [a] Monitor, Ossippee, Seminole, Lackawanna, Monongahela, Oneida & the rest of the fleet; how we will fare God knows, for what with forts, batteries, rams, torpedoes & other infernal machines we shall have all we can attend to & some of us more than that, if they fight well they have enough to blow half of us out of the water. We have been busy the past day or two making barricades around our boilers & Machinery of sand bags, the fleet engineer & Fleet Captain are hurrying away the last of the fleet, just as we left Mobile one of our Monitors had approached Fort Morgan & exchanged a few shots, the Blockade Runner ‘Denbigh' (the one we ought to have Caught & did not the night after the Capture of the ‘Donegal') they [the Confederates] have made a gunboat of also the one that since ran in, they together with the rams & rebel gunboats lay under Fort Morgan. The Rebel ram ‘Tennessee' is there flying the… pennant of Admiral [Franklin] Buchanan, the same who fought the ‘Merrimac' in Hampton Roads. I don't care a snap of my finger about passing the forts & fighting the rebel vessels but ‘tis those torpedoes I fear, our monitors dragged for them in the main channel the other day & exploded one, the Rebs have been experimenting with them & they exploded two, threw a column of water up about 40 feet high, we picked one up in the open sea just before we went to N. Orleans, evidently had got loose & drifted out to sea, the neatest affair I ever saw. I scarce expect to see the ‘Metacomet' get through this affair for our Captain [Commander James H. Jouett] is just the man to run foul of those rams or gunboats if he can once get clear of the Hartford, & if he should make up his mind to run one of them down whether of wood or iron, if steam will do anything, and as I have charge below in action, by all that is good & true she shall have it…' Hunt closes the letter by providing an update on his health, and requesting that Cordelia send him a carte de visite. He adds two post-scripts to the verso of the final page, the second reading: ‘Some deserters have just come in from Fort Morgan, they promise us a warm reception. 4pm, [Aug.] 4th we have just arrived with the Monitor ‘Tecumseh' & expect to all go in tonight – the mail is just leaving so have but time to close this. Adieu…' The letter shows original mailing folds with slight interior splits thereto, with archival tape residue on the fourth and final pages, but is otherwise in fine, easily legible condition. The original transmittal envelope addressed to Mrs. Eames in Brooklyn is also present, franked at New Orleans on Aug. 9. Hunt's letter, particularly his fear of Confederate naval mines (then referred to as ‘torpedoes') would prove prescient: as Farragut's fleet approached Fort Morgan on the morning of August 4, the Metacomet's charge, the monitor USS TECUMSEH, struck a torpedo and sank within three minutes, taking all but 21 of her crew with her. This loss prompted Farragut's legendary (but possibly apocryphal) order, ‘Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett [Metacomet's captain], full speed!' The rest of the fleet passed safely through the minefield and beyond the reach of Fort Morgan's guns, allowing the Metacomet to detach from her column and capture the confederate gunboat CSS SELMA, after first rescuing the Tecumseh's survivors. Admiral Buchanan aboard the ironclad CSS TENNESSEE then decided to challenge the entire Union fleet alone, withstanding multiple ramming attacks and with her armor deflecting shot after shot before she was disabled and captured by the monitors USS CHICKASAW and USS MANHATTAN. With the enemy naval threat neutralized, Farragut and the land forces were able to besiege the Confederate forts, with Fort Morgan finally surrendering on August 23. New York native George P. Hunt had a career in the US Navy that lasted from 1861-1887. He was appointed 3rd assistant engineer on July 1, 1861, and served aboard the steamer USS RHODE ISLAND, Blockading Squadron, 1861, as well as the steam-sloop USS DACOTAH, 1862-1863. On December 18, 1862, Hunt was promoted to 2nd assistant engineer, and from 1864-1865, he served aboard the Metacomet. Hunt was promoted to 1st assistant engineer on July 4, 1865, and chief engineer on December 29, 1880. His life was cut short when he died on board the Cunard steamer Catalonia in April 1887, and his remains were buried at sea.

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November 14, 2025 10:00 AM EST
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