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Auction archive: Lot number 163

CIVIL WAR]. U.S.S. KEARSARGE AND C.S.S ALABAMA. WINSLOW, JOHN A., Rear Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("Jn. A. Winslow") to Mr. S. McClochland, "Kearsarge off Dover" [England], 7 July 1864. 5 pages, 8vo, pages 2 and 3 written across, a few m...

Auction 09.12.1993
9 Dec 1993
Estimate
US$5,000 - US$7,000
Price realised:
US$4,600
Auction archive: Lot number 163

CIVIL WAR]. U.S.S. KEARSARGE AND C.S.S ALABAMA. WINSLOW, JOHN A., Rear Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("Jn. A. Winslow") to Mr. S. McClochland, "Kearsarge off Dover" [England], 7 July 1864. 5 pages, 8vo, pages 2 and 3 written across, a few m...

Auction 09.12.1993
9 Dec 1993
Estimate
US$5,000 - US$7,000
Price realised:
US$4,600
Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR]. U.S.S. KEARSARGE AND C.S.S ALABAMA. WINSLOW, JOHN A., Rear Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("Jn. A. Winslow") to Mr. S. McClochland, "Kearsarge off Dover" [England], 7 July 1864. 5 pages, 8vo, pages 2 and 3 written across, a few minor marginal tears, tipped to an old album leaf with contemporary newspaper account of "The Destruction of the Alabama. " A PAIR OF LETTERS FROM THE RIVAL COMMANDERS IN THE MOST FAMOUS NAVAL BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR, THE SINKING OF THE ALABAMA BY THE Kearsage Winslow writes: "Your kind congratulatory letter reached me...at Paris. I had seized the only moment I had been seeking, to consult an oculist. My eye is irrevocably gone [from a wound sustained in the battle with the Alabama ] and, if I do not have an operation performed...I must lose the other. So I must go to grass like other blind asses. I went to Paris, hoping for quiet, and found the reverse. I had become a Lion, & all the nonsense consequent on the position, followed and I ran to my ship.... But labour is here; for letters come to me....So you see what this fight has brought about..... Now I have had hard service, on the Mississippi, but no honour followed; an easy victory [over the Alabama ], and every one cries hero....But I would rather receive notes, than go through with that terrible shaking of hands, dinners, &c which I was surprised with in Paris. I am obliged to you for you are the only one who has not asked for my portrait and autograph. It is fortunate some may say I had a portrait at home with two eyes...Had I known you were at Nassau I would have come to see you, for I was up in Germany about a month since & I had hardly returned before I got [a] telegram announcing Alabama 's arrival at Cherbourg....The Ticonderoga I learn is to relieve us. Were it not for this I would go down to the Azores, to get away & be at peace...." [ With ] SEMMES, RAPHAEL, COMMANDER, U.S.N. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("R. SEMMES") TO CAPTAIN DAVIES OF THE ROYAL NAVY, "PARSONAGE, BELSIZE PARK, LONDON," 14 JULY [1864], 1 PAGE, 8VO, INTEGRAL BLANK. THE DEFEATED COMMANDER OF THE ALABAMA , STRANDED IN ENGLAND WITHOUT A VESSEL, DECLINES AN INVITATION: "IT WILL NOT BE IN MY POWER TO VISIT CAMBRIDGE, FOR SOME WEEKS, I FEAR, THOUGH I GREATLY DESIRE TO DO SO. SHOULD I BE ABLE TO FIND THE LEISURE TO VISIT THAT VENERABLE SEAT OF LEARNING, I WILL CERTAINLY COME TO YOUR HOUSE...." ON 14 JUNE THE MOST CELEBRATED SEA ACTION OF THE CIVIL WAR TOOK PLACE OFF CHERBOURG, BETWEEN THE ENGLISH-BUILT CONFEDERATE RAIDER ALABAMA AND THE U.S.S. KEARSARGE , COMMANDED BY WINSLOW. IN HER TWENTY-TWO MONTHS AT SEA, THE ALABAMA , CAPTAINED BY SEMMES, HAD SUNK, BURNED OR CAPTURED 69 UNION VESSELS AND THEIR CARGOES WORTH AT LEAST $5 MILLION DOLLARS. THE ALABAMA ANCHORED AT CHERBOURG ON JUNE 11; THE KEARSARGE TOOK UP STATION JUST OUTSIDE INTERNATIONAL WATERS AND WAITED FOR SEMMES TO SAIL. ON SUNDAY THE 19TH THE ALABAMA SAILED, ESCORTED TO THE THREE-MILE LINE BY A NEAUTRAL FRENCH VESSEL. WINSLOW HAD REMARKED TO HIS MEN, BEFORE THE BATTLE "MY LADS, I WILL GIVE YOU ONE HOUR TO TAKE THE ALABAMA , AND I THINK YOU CAN DO IT!" AN EPIC BATTLE ENSUED, IN WHICH ALMOST 600 SHOT AND SHELL WERE EXCHANGED BEFORE SEMMES, HIS VESSEL CRIPPLED BY THE SUPERIOR GUNNERY OF THE KEARSARGE , GAVE THE ORDER TO STRIKE THE REBEL FLAG AND ABANDON THE ALREADY SINKING ALABAMA . SEMMES WAS RESCUED FROM THE CHANNEL BY A BRITISH YATCH AND LANDED AT SOUTHHAMPTON. IN ENGLAND, STRONGLY SYMPATHETIC TO THE CONFEDERATES, SEMMES, LIKE WINSLOW, FOUND HIMSELF THE FOCUS OF TREMENDOUS PUBLIC ATTENTION. NEWSPAPERS ALL OVER EUROPE REPORTED ON THE BATTLE. AFTER TOURING EUROPE, SEMMES RETURNED TO THE CONFEDERACY AND LATER COMMANDED A JAMES RIVER SQUADRON. WINSLOW, FOR HIS DESTRUCTION OF THE ALABAMA , WAS PROMOTED TO COMMODORE. SEE SEMMES, SERVICE AFLOAT...THE CONFEDERATE CRUISERS SUMTER AND ALABAMA , 1900 AND NORMAN C. DELANY, GHOST SHIP: THE CONFEDERATE RAIDER ALABAMA, 1989. (2)

Auction archive: Lot number 163
Auction:
Datum:
9 Dec 1993
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
Beschreibung:

CIVIL WAR]. U.S.S. KEARSARGE AND C.S.S ALABAMA. WINSLOW, JOHN A., Rear Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("Jn. A. Winslow") to Mr. S. McClochland, "Kearsarge off Dover" [England], 7 July 1864. 5 pages, 8vo, pages 2 and 3 written across, a few minor marginal tears, tipped to an old album leaf with contemporary newspaper account of "The Destruction of the Alabama. " A PAIR OF LETTERS FROM THE RIVAL COMMANDERS IN THE MOST FAMOUS NAVAL BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR, THE SINKING OF THE ALABAMA BY THE Kearsage Winslow writes: "Your kind congratulatory letter reached me...at Paris. I had seized the only moment I had been seeking, to consult an oculist. My eye is irrevocably gone [from a wound sustained in the battle with the Alabama ] and, if I do not have an operation performed...I must lose the other. So I must go to grass like other blind asses. I went to Paris, hoping for quiet, and found the reverse. I had become a Lion, & all the nonsense consequent on the position, followed and I ran to my ship.... But labour is here; for letters come to me....So you see what this fight has brought about..... Now I have had hard service, on the Mississippi, but no honour followed; an easy victory [over the Alabama ], and every one cries hero....But I would rather receive notes, than go through with that terrible shaking of hands, dinners, &c which I was surprised with in Paris. I am obliged to you for you are the only one who has not asked for my portrait and autograph. It is fortunate some may say I had a portrait at home with two eyes...Had I known you were at Nassau I would have come to see you, for I was up in Germany about a month since & I had hardly returned before I got [a] telegram announcing Alabama 's arrival at Cherbourg....The Ticonderoga I learn is to relieve us. Were it not for this I would go down to the Azores, to get away & be at peace...." [ With ] SEMMES, RAPHAEL, COMMANDER, U.S.N. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("R. SEMMES") TO CAPTAIN DAVIES OF THE ROYAL NAVY, "PARSONAGE, BELSIZE PARK, LONDON," 14 JULY [1864], 1 PAGE, 8VO, INTEGRAL BLANK. THE DEFEATED COMMANDER OF THE ALABAMA , STRANDED IN ENGLAND WITHOUT A VESSEL, DECLINES AN INVITATION: "IT WILL NOT BE IN MY POWER TO VISIT CAMBRIDGE, FOR SOME WEEKS, I FEAR, THOUGH I GREATLY DESIRE TO DO SO. SHOULD I BE ABLE TO FIND THE LEISURE TO VISIT THAT VENERABLE SEAT OF LEARNING, I WILL CERTAINLY COME TO YOUR HOUSE...." ON 14 JUNE THE MOST CELEBRATED SEA ACTION OF THE CIVIL WAR TOOK PLACE OFF CHERBOURG, BETWEEN THE ENGLISH-BUILT CONFEDERATE RAIDER ALABAMA AND THE U.S.S. KEARSARGE , COMMANDED BY WINSLOW. IN HER TWENTY-TWO MONTHS AT SEA, THE ALABAMA , CAPTAINED BY SEMMES, HAD SUNK, BURNED OR CAPTURED 69 UNION VESSELS AND THEIR CARGOES WORTH AT LEAST $5 MILLION DOLLARS. THE ALABAMA ANCHORED AT CHERBOURG ON JUNE 11; THE KEARSARGE TOOK UP STATION JUST OUTSIDE INTERNATIONAL WATERS AND WAITED FOR SEMMES TO SAIL. ON SUNDAY THE 19TH THE ALABAMA SAILED, ESCORTED TO THE THREE-MILE LINE BY A NEAUTRAL FRENCH VESSEL. WINSLOW HAD REMARKED TO HIS MEN, BEFORE THE BATTLE "MY LADS, I WILL GIVE YOU ONE HOUR TO TAKE THE ALABAMA , AND I THINK YOU CAN DO IT!" AN EPIC BATTLE ENSUED, IN WHICH ALMOST 600 SHOT AND SHELL WERE EXCHANGED BEFORE SEMMES, HIS VESSEL CRIPPLED BY THE SUPERIOR GUNNERY OF THE KEARSARGE , GAVE THE ORDER TO STRIKE THE REBEL FLAG AND ABANDON THE ALREADY SINKING ALABAMA . SEMMES WAS RESCUED FROM THE CHANNEL BY A BRITISH YATCH AND LANDED AT SOUTHHAMPTON. IN ENGLAND, STRONGLY SYMPATHETIC TO THE CONFEDERATES, SEMMES, LIKE WINSLOW, FOUND HIMSELF THE FOCUS OF TREMENDOUS PUBLIC ATTENTION. NEWSPAPERS ALL OVER EUROPE REPORTED ON THE BATTLE. AFTER TOURING EUROPE, SEMMES RETURNED TO THE CONFEDERACY AND LATER COMMANDED A JAMES RIVER SQUADRON. WINSLOW, FOR HIS DESTRUCTION OF THE ALABAMA , WAS PROMOTED TO COMMODORE. SEE SEMMES, SERVICE AFLOAT...THE CONFEDERATE CRUISERS SUMTER AND ALABAMA , 1900 AND NORMAN C. DELANY, GHOST SHIP: THE CONFEDERATE RAIDER ALABAMA, 1989. (2)

Auction archive: Lot number 163
Auction:
Datum:
9 Dec 1993
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Park Avenue
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