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CSS Alabama: John Thomas War-Dated Letter on the Capture of the Express Civil War-dated ALS signed “John Thomas,” one page both sides, 8.25 x 10.75, October 8, 1863. Addressed from Boston, a handwritten letter to New Hampshire Congressman Daniel Marcy, regarding the recent capture of the USN ship Express by the CSS Alabama and her captain, Raphael Semmes, in part: “We rec’d the protest from Capt. Frost this morning & immediately placed it before the underwriters...It seems the ship was boarded by the ‘Alabama’ on 6 July about 1 o’clock on that day. The day was thick & three shots were fired before Capt. F could make out where they came from. At first he supposed the guns, signal of distress but the 3d convinced him they were loaded. Semmes immediately took the ship along side ordered the crew on board his ship & fired the ‘Express’ with every thing on board including all her papers & the Capt & his wife’s clothing.” In fine condition. Semmes detailed his capture of the Express in his autobiography, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States: ‘The morning of the 6th proved cloudy and squally, and we had some showers of rain, though the barometer kept steadily up. At thirty minutes past midnight, an officer came below to inform me that there was a large sail in sight not a great way off. I sent word to the officer of the deck to chase and repaired on deck pretty soon myself. In about three hours we had approached the chase sufficiently near to heave her to with a shot, she having previously disregarded two blank cartridges. She proved to be another prize, the ship Express, of Boston from Callao for Antwerp with a cargo of guano from the Chincha Islands. This cargo probably belonged to the Peruvian Government, for the guano of the Chincha Islands is a government monopoly, but our Peruvian friends had been unfortunate in their attempts to cover it...I was sorry to burn so much property belonging in all probability to Peru, but I could make no distinction between that government and an individual. I had the right to burn the enemy's ship, and if a neutral government chose to put its property on board of her, it was its duty to document it according to the laws of war or abide the consequences of the neglect. The certificate would not have secured individual property, and I could not permit it to screen that of a government which was presumed to know the law better than an individual. As the case stood, I was bound to presume that the property, being in an enemy's bottom, was enemy's. The torch followed this decision. The Express had had a long and boisterous passage around Cape Horn and gave signs of being much weatherbeaten - some of her spars and sails were gone, and her sides were defaced with iron rust. The master had his wife on board, a gentle Englishwoman, with her servant maid, or rather humble companion, and it seemed quite hard that these two females, after having braved the dangers of Cape Horn, should be carried off to brave other dangers at the Cape of Good Hope.’

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CSS Alabama: John Thomas War-Dated Letter on the Capture of the Express Civil War-dated ALS signed “John Thomas,” one page both sides, 8.25 x 10.75, October 8, 1863. Addressed from Boston, a handwritten letter to New Hampshire Congressman Daniel Marcy, regarding the recent capture of the USN ship Express by the CSS Alabama and her captain, Raphael Semmes, in part: “We rec’d the protest from Capt. Frost this morning & immediately placed it before the underwriters...It seems the ship was boarded by the ‘Alabama’ on 6 July about 1 o’clock on that day. The day was thick & three shots were fired before Capt. F could make out where they came from. At first he supposed the guns, signal of distress but the 3d convinced him they were loaded. Semmes immediately took the ship along side ordered the crew on board his ship & fired the ‘Express’ with every thing on board including all her papers & the Capt & his wife’s clothing.” In fine condition. Semmes detailed his capture of the Express in his autobiography, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States: ‘The morning of the 6th proved cloudy and squally, and we had some showers of rain, though the barometer kept steadily up. At thirty minutes past midnight, an officer came below to inform me that there was a large sail in sight not a great way off. I sent word to the officer of the deck to chase and repaired on deck pretty soon myself. In about three hours we had approached the chase sufficiently near to heave her to with a shot, she having previously disregarded two blank cartridges. She proved to be another prize, the ship Express, of Boston from Callao for Antwerp with a cargo of guano from the Chincha Islands. This cargo probably belonged to the Peruvian Government, for the guano of the Chincha Islands is a government monopoly, but our Peruvian friends had been unfortunate in their attempts to cover it...I was sorry to burn so much property belonging in all probability to Peru, but I could make no distinction between that government and an individual. I had the right to burn the enemy's ship, and if a neutral government chose to put its property on board of her, it was its duty to document it according to the laws of war or abide the consequences of the neglect. The certificate would not have secured individual property, and I could not permit it to screen that of a government which was presumed to know the law better than an individual. As the case stood, I was bound to presume that the property, being in an enemy's bottom, was enemy's. The torch followed this decision. The Express had had a long and boisterous passage around Cape Horn and gave signs of being much weatherbeaten - some of her spars and sails were gone, and her sides were defaced with iron rust. The master had his wife on board, a gentle Englishwoman, with her servant maid, or rather humble companion, and it seemed quite hard that these two females, after having braved the dangers of Cape Horn, should be carried off to brave other dangers at the Cape of Good Hope.’

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amherst, 美国
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+16037324284
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Gustavus Fox War-Dated Autograph Letter Signed to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, Discussing the Battle of Cherbourg Officer of the United States Navy (1821-1883) who served during the Mexican-American War, and as the first Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. Civil War-dated ALS signed “G. V. Fox,” one page both sides, 5 x 8, July 30, 1864. Handwritten letter marked “Private” and addressed to Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, in part: “Herewith are some interrogatories for you and the Genl. made on account of the persistent attacks of the papers that the monitors are no use at Charleston and only do what Dupont did with wooden vessels. I think you and the Genl can rectify such stupid assertions but we shall not publish the answer probably until the report of Dec. The engagement of the Alabama and Kearsarge is a vindication of your theory of pivots and big shell guns for that class of vessels.” In fine condition. The United States Navy warship USS Kearsarge sunk the notorious Confederate States Navy warship CSS Alabama on June 19, 1864, off the coast of France in the historic Battle of Cherbourg. Alabama had been pursued for two years by the screw sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge, which, under Captain John Winslow, was armed with two 11-inch (279 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns that fired about 166 pounds of solid shot, four 32-pound guns, and one 30-pounder Parrott rifle. The conflict proved to be a matter of quality over quantity, as the well-placed and powerful shots of the Kearsarge proved far more effective than the scattered salvo sent forth by the Alabama.