1861 CIVIL WAR ORGNL STEAMSHIP DIARY SIEGE CHARLESTON LETTER CW CANNONS LOOTING For Sale

7.5 X 6, 12 PP, BLUE WRAPS. SLIGHTLY BENT, WITH LIGHT DIESELY ODOR (WHICH WILL DISSIPATE W/TIME). WRAPS NIBBLED, WRINKLED, SOILED, CONTENTS VG.   GREAT SET OF LETTERS IN DIARY FORM,  FROM ABOARD THE US STEAMSHIP AUGUSTA. WRITTEN BY MAINE NATIVE LYMAN SPALDING TO HIS MOTHER.   LETTER ABSOLUTELY ORIGINAL WRITTEN ABOARD SHIP, AS THE LAST PARAGRAPH WILL ATTEST.   DESCRIBES BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE SIEGE OF PORT ROYAL NOV 26, 1861.  HE MAKES A REFERENCE TO NOV 7; I AM NOT SURE IF HE DID THIS ON PURPOSE.  LETTER IS DESCRIPTIVE, FULL OF LIFE FROM A GUY WHO CLEARLY WANTED TO SEE SOME ACTION.  HERE\'S A PARAPHRASING OF THE LETTER.  (QUESTION MARK ? MEANS I AM NOT SURE OF THE WORD).:     STARTS OFF SAVANNAH NOV 23, 1861,  SAYING OF CONFLICTING REPORTS OF FLEETS ARRIVAL IN PORT ROYAL ON THE FIFTH....TOSSED ABOUT BY STORM...IN ENEMY\'S PORT...SEA DEAD CALM....STEAM UP HARBOR NEAR OPPOSITE RIVER MOUTH,   4 O\'CLOCK ORDERED TO SEARCH FOR 50 GUN SAILING FRIGATE SABINE?,   AS THEY CROSSED BAY, SAW/HEARD OUR GUNBOATS ENGAGING ENEMY, WISHING TO PARTICIPATE,  CONTINUED TOWARD CHARLESTOWN, COULD NOT FIND THE SABINE, SEARCHED ALL NIGHT/NEXT DAY. [NOV 24?]SPOKE THE DALE?, WHO CAME ALONGSIDES, RETURNED TO BAY, HOISTED PILOT SIGNALS, PILOTING TO FLEET INSIDE BAR, PREPARING TO FIGHT NEXT DAY. [NOV 25?] NEXT DAY PREPS FOR FIGHTING, EARLY HANDS ON DECK, SAND STREWN ON DECKS, SIGNALS IN RAPID SUCCESSION, FLEET ALIVE W/BUSTLE, EVERY MAN READY TO DIE, ENEMY ALSO BUSY, SIGNAL BOATS FLYING BETWEEN SHORES, ENEMY IN THEIR BATTERIES READY FOR US TO CRY TO BATTLE, AT 9 1/2 AM, COMMODORE STOOD IN, WEIGHED ANCHOR FACING TOWARD ENEMIES, OTHER SHIPS TOOK THEIR STATIONS, STARTED FORWARD WITH MOTTO VICTORY OR DEATH, AS SOON FILAD SHIP? SHIP WAS IN POSTION, RIGHT BATTERY FIRED UPON, FIRST PART OF PROGRAMME, SHOWER OF SHOT AND SHELL AROUND US, MOSTLY OFF MARK, CLOUDS OF DUST AROUND ENEMIES.  AMUSING TO SEE ALL RUSH TO THE RAILS AT EACH SHOT FIRED AND SEE WHERE THEIR SHELLS LANDED. W/EXCLAMATION,  AFTER PEPPERING RIGHT FORT, CIRCLED AROUND AND SHOT AT LEFT FORT.   RECEIVED BY SHOWER OF DEADLY MISSILES, REPORTS OF GUNS INCESSANT, MUST HAVE MADE GREAT HAVOC AMONGST ENEMY, PLEASANTEST SOUND WAS WHISTLING OF ELEVEN MEN? SHELLS WHICH SOUNDED LIKE PASSING OF TRAIN IN APRIL????...ASTONISHED TO HEAR PASSING OF SHELLS, MOST OVERHEAD...... CIRCLED 3 TIMES, THIRD TIME GUNBOATS RAN CLOSE LEFT FLANK, FLAG SHIP STEAMED OPPOSITE FORT AND DREW THEIR WHOLE FIVE UPON HER, WHILST GUNBOATS POURED DEADLY VOLLIES INTO THEIR MIDST, BATTERY WAS SILENCED AFTER AWHILE WE WONDERED HOW THEY COULD HAVE WITHSTOOD,  BUT THE SEQUEL MUST BE TOLD. WHILE THEY WERE FIRING, A LARGE BODY WAS RETREATING. WE LEARNED FROM THE CONTRABANDS WHO CAME ON BOARD NEXT DAY THAT WHILE THE MAIN BODY WAS RETREATING, A FEW WERE LEFT BEHIND TO MAN THE GUNS GUARDED BY RIFLEMEN,  WHO WOULD SHOOT THE FIRST MAN WHO ABANDONED HIS STATION,   CONTRABANDS SEEMED SMART, HOSPITAL FLAG RAISED, FLAG ON BATTERY, FLAG OF TRUCE.  BOATS SENT ASHORE, STARS STRIPE HOISTED OVER EACH CANON MOUTH, WHERE FLAG OF TREASON HAD JUST WAVED, LITTLE DID CHARLESTON KNOW WHEN THEY DECLARED TREASON 7 NOV 1860, THAT A YEAR LATER THAT HER FLAG WOULD BE LOWERED TO A US FLEET, AND SO MANY OF HER SOULS STRICKEN TO \"LINCOLNS HIRELINGS.\".......SHOUT AROSE SHOOKS AYE THREE TIMES THREE OFFICERS AND MEN ALL JOINED IN,  \" OUR FLAG IS THERE OUR FLAG IS THERE WE\'LL HAIL IT WITH THREE LOUD HURRAHS,  OUR FLAG IS THERE BEHOLD THE GLORIOUS STARS AND STRIPES!\",    RIGGING MANNED, THREE CHEERS AND A TIGER?,  SIGNALS MADE FOR TRANSPORT W/ BANDS PLAYING,  DIXIE,   SUNSET CAME, COMMS ORDERED CUTOFF BETWEEN FORTS,  LOSS ON OUR SIDE VERY SMALL, ALMOST NOTHING.  REBEL LOSS PROBABLY HUGE, AS EVERY SHELL HIT ITS MARK.   BATTLE LASTED A FURIOUS 4 HOURS, ONLY STOPPED TO GIVE MEN THEIR GROG,  TODAY EVERY MAN HAS HIS GROG THIS IS CALLED \"SPLICING THE MAIN BRACE\",  IN THE MORNING WE SAW FLAG OF TRUCE ON OTHER FORT, QUICKLY REPLACED BY STARS AND STRIPES, 2  ORTS, FIRSTLY FORT BEAUREGARD, 18 PIECES, OTHER FORT HIGHWOOD MOUNTING 22 GUNS, THEY WERE BOTH SCIENTIFICALLY LAID OUT, AND THE REBELS THOUGHT THEM IMPREGNABLE,  9 OCLOCK SOME OFFICERS FROM OUR SHIP WENT ASHORE, OBTAINED TROPHIES GUNS RIFLES BOOTS SHOES ASSORTMENT OF EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING SCATTERED, ENEMY MUST HAVE BEEN IN A GREAT HURRY TO LEAVE.ONLY 2 REBEL PRISONERS, 2 HOURS LOOTING RETURNED TO SHIP, GREETED BY CURIOSITY SEEKERS WHO TOOK OUR STUFF, ORDERED BY COMMODORE TO CUT UP? AND LAY OFF SAVANNAH.  AFTER THIS WE WENT ON SHORE, AND SAW OTHER TROOPS EMBARKING, LIVELY, SUNSET LEFT PORT ROYAL, SCENE OF GREATEST AMERICAN NAVAL BATTLE IN HISTORY.  JUSTICE NOT DONE TO THE AUGUSTA, WHICH DID AS WELL AS ANY SHIP.  PERHAPS YOU HEARD OFTHE MUSGUSTO? FLEET? WHICH HAD 5 OR 6 RIVERBOATS, DURING THE BATTLE ONE OF THEM APPROACHED NEAR, SO WE THOUGHT WE WOULD GIVE HER A SHOT OR TWO FROM THE 12 POUNDER, NEAR SLOOP OF WAR ANDALIA?,  ALL THE OFFICERS CLAPPED THEIR HANDS AS MR SICESH? THOUGHT HE BETTER TURN AROUND.  TOWARD END OF BATTLE WE FIRED ON BARRACKS AT BAY POINT, DIRECT HIT, THEY FIRED BACK, WENT THROUGH ONE OF OUR PORTHOLES, ONLY ONE THAT STRUCK US,  FROM HERE, ORDERED TO BLOCKADE SAVANNAH, PRETTY BORING, ALL OF US ANXIOUS TO SEE ACTION AGAIN,  THIS VICTORY PLACES CHARLESTON AND SOUTH AT OUR MERCY.  YOU SHOULD VISIT, SEND ME TOM BROWN AT OXFORD,       NOV 26, \'61,    A DAY OR 2 SINCE WE STARTED AND RAN INTO SAVANNAH RIVER OPPOSITE  TYBEE LIGHT FULL VIEW OF FORT , WE LANDED, FOUND PLACE DESERTED.  DUCKSHOOTING TODAY,  YOU WILL SEE PARTICULARS IN THE PAPERS, THE STEAMER MCCLELLAN TAKES MAIL TOMORROW, AND YOU WILL SEE MY LETTER........... SIGNED L.C.SPALDING.  SPALDING WAS THE GRANDSON OF RENOWNED DOCTOR LYMAN SPALDING.  HE WAS A LIEUTENTANT ON A SURVEY SHIP TO THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND TO THE AMAZON IN THE 1870\'S.  HE WAS ALSO PORT AUTHORITY CHIEF AT PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE 1850\'S.     HERE\'S SOME WIKI INFO ON THE AUGUSTA [edit]A part of Flag Officer Samuel Francis du Pont\'s newly established South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Augusta was assigned to the task force then being formed to capture a naval base on the Confederacy\'s Atlantic coast somewhere within the new squadron\'s jurisdiction which stretched from the Florida Keys to the border separating North and South Carolina.Augusta departed New York on 16 October, reached Hampton Roads two days later, remaining there while the other warships of Du Pont\'s fleet assembled. When she sortied with them on 29 October, the captain of each ship carried sealed orders to be opened only in the event of the force\'s separation. While the fleet of some 75 ships slowly sailed south, a storm arose in the wee hours of 31 October, shortly after Augusta passed Cape Hatteras. By 3:30 that afternoon, the wind had increased so greatly in violence that Du Pont signaled the commanding officer of the other ships that they were free to leave the formation and to proceed in whatever manner seemed most conducive to safety. While suffering varying amounts of damage as they battled the tempest, some ships were forced to turn back; two transports went to the bottom; but most continued on toward their original objectives.As she proceeded south, Augusta — which had been steaming on the starboard flank of the transports — managed to weather the hurricane; and the wind had abated by the time she passed Charleston, South Carolina on 3 November. The next day, she reached an anchorage just off the bar outside Port Royal harbor. Two days were then spent in charting the nearby waters — from which all aids to navigation had been removed; in making reconnaissance probes to feel out the Confederate defensive forces and to locate their guns; and in seeing that the commander of each unit clearly understood his role in the forthcoming attack.For the invasion, Du Pont divided his warships into two groups: a main squadron which was to bombard the Southern forts that defended the harbor and a flanking squadron which was to parry any attempted counterthrust by the Confederate fleet. Augusta was the last of the five ships composing the flanking group.Fort Walker on Hilton Head — the stronger of the two defensive works protecting the harbor — was some 2.5 mi (4.0 km) across the water to the southwest from Fort Beauregard on Bay Point. Since this distance was great enough to prevent the guns of one fort from effectively supporting those of the other, Du Pont decided to engage the Southern positions, one at a time, beginning with the stronger, Fort Walker. Having learned that most of its guns faced south, the flag officer had his main squadron steam by the Hilton Head shore along a counterclockwise, elliptical path which kept its warships out of effective range of the Confederate batteries. Then, when it had reached a point beyond the traversing limit of these guns, this squadron began a turn to port along a wide arc which closed the shore as the Union ships opened fire on the fort and steamed back in the direction from which they had come. This maneuver prevented most of Fort Walker\'s cannon from getting into action while leaving them almost completely exposed to the Federal salvoes.Meanwhile, Du Pont\'s flanking squadron — including Augusta — followed the main group into the harbor and took station to the northwest of this ellipse in position to turn back any Southern warships which attempted to enter the fray. They did not have long to wait. The small Confederate squadron — commanded by Flag Officer Josiah Tattnall, CSN — soon steamed out and opened fire on Augusta and her consorts. However, the Union ships answered with a barrage that soon convinced Tattnall that his ships had more than met their match and compelled him to withdraw into Skull Creek. Nevertheless, Tattnall\'s ships did aid the Southern cause by ferrying Fort Walker\'s troops from Hilton Head to the mainland.After driving off the Confederate squadron, the warships of Du Pont\'s flanking squadron joined in the bombardment of Fort Walker. When Penguin was disabled by a shot from Hilton Head, Augusta took her in tow and enabled her to resume firing.Unable to withstand the Union shelling, the Confederates evacuated Fort Walker which was soon occupied by Northern sailors and Marines. Du Pont then turned his attention to Fort Beauregard across the harbor and soon had it too in his hands.Immediately after the battle, Du Pont ordered Augusta to sail for Savannah. She arrived off that port that same day, and reestablished the blockade which had been open since 1 November, when the hurricane had blown Savannah and Monticello out to sea. At the end of the second week of November, she accompanied Flag on a reconnaissance ofTybee Island, which guarded the entrance to Savannah Harbor and found it to be abandoned. On 18 November, she reconnoitered Wassau Sound and reported that it must be covered if the blockade of Savannah were to be effective. Finally on the last day of and Seminole in taking E. J. Waterman after she ran aground on Tybee Island.The next day, 1 December, Du Pont ordered Augusta to Charleston for blockade duty, and she spent much of the next year and one-half as the flagship of the senior Union naval officer off that strongly defended city, the \"birthplace of secession.\" On 6 December, she took the British blockade runner Cheshire — of and from Liverpool — some 12 mi (19 km) southeast of Tybee Light. She towed the captured vessel as far north as Charleston and then sent her on to New York under a prize crew for adjudication.