$85.00 CAD
| /
Interesting letter written by A.C. McCorrison, a sailor from Maine on the USS Rhode Island, moored in Brooklyn NY. The Civil War ended less than 4 months before this. He talks of being in the West Indies to protect the American Consul...there was a rebellion going on!
On lightly lined paper. Some sort of embossed mark UL corner.
Three horizontal folds. Some toning on folds.
8” x 5”
(Courtesy www.ibiblio.org)
Albert C. McCorrison was born in 1843. Son of Sylvanus and Margret McCorrison. On the 7th November 1866 he married Maria Metcalf in Old Town Penobscot Maine.
Rhode Island was built in New York City, in 1860 by Lupton & McDermut as John P. King; burned and rebuilt and renamed Eagle in 1861 before being purchased by the U.S. Navy on 27 June 1861 at New York; renamed Rhode Island; and commissioned at New York Navy Yard on 29 July 1861.
In early 1863, Rhode Island was sent to the West Indies to look for Confederate cruisers thought to be operating in the area. During the rest of that year and into 1864, she operated along the Atlantic coast. Placed out of commission for repairs in April 1864, Rhode Island returned to active service in early September with a greatly increased gun battery, better suiting her for a cruising role. In addition to serving in that mission, she also towed several monitors to and from the combat zone and participated in the assaults on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in December 1864 and January 1865. Throughout her Civil War service, Rhode Island took part in the capture or destruction of seven blockade runners.
Maintained in commission in the years immediately following the end of the Civil War, Rhode Island's first duty was to help bring the formidable former Confederate armored ram Stonewall to the United States. Departing on 21 October for Havana in company with USS Hornet, Rhode Island returned with the French-built Stonewall on 23 November.
