CIVIL WAR - UNION NAVY COMMODORE HENRY WHITE MORRIS AUTOGRAPH (USS PENSACOLA)

Description

CIVIL WAR - UNION NAVY COMMODORE HENRY WHITE MORRIS AUTOGRAPH (USS PENSACOLA)
CIVIL WAR UNION NAVY COMMODORE of the **** USS PENSACOLA " *** HENRY WHITE MORRIS " AUTOGRAPH ON A RECEIPT from the UNION NAVY'S * USS MONITOR'S BUILDER the ** UNITED STATES NAVY YARD IN NEW YORK.
* USS Monitor
was an iron-hulled steam-powered ironclad warship built for the
Union Navy during the American Civil War, the first such ship commissioned by the Navy.
** United States Navy Yard
, also known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the New York Naval Shipyard, was a shipyard located in Brooklyn, New York,
The infamous Civil War Monitor Class ship the USS Monitor was built and repaired there.
*** US Navy Commodore Henry White Morris (b.1806 - d.1863)
was the grandson of Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was appointed as midshipman on August 21, 1819 and by 1828 was promoted to lieutenant. Over the next decade and a half he served in various sea duty assignments as well as a tour of duty in New York City from 1839 to 1845. He then commanded the store ship "Southampton" in the Africa Squadron followed by a transfer to the
United States Navy Yard in New York
where he spent the next five years. He was promoted to commander on October 12, 1849 where he was in charge of recruiting at New York from 1851 to 1853. His next sea command was on the sloop "Germantown" of the Brazil Squadron followed by additional sea duty in the Mediterranean Squadron. At the beginning of 1861 he had been in the navy for forty one years with seventeen years in sea duty and eleven years in shore assignments and twelve years awaiting orders in a navy with too few spots for assignments. At the start of the Civil War he became superintendent of engines and operations at the Washington Navy Yard. He was given the command of the sloop USS Pensacola and in it sailed south to join the West Gulf Blockading squadron. During the voyage while passing Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip he became involved in a cannon exchange with the Confederate's who ultimately scored numerous hits on the "Pensacola" killing four and wounding thirty three. On July 16, 1862 he was promoted to commodore and remained in command of the Pensacola. Unfortunately his health began to wane and he returned to New York City in an attempt to regain his health, however the attempt was in vain as he died only a year after resigning from the service.
**** USS Pensacola
departed Alexandria, Virginia under the command of Captain Henry W. Morris (later to become commodore) on January 11, 1862, for the Gulf of Mexico to join Admiral David Farragut's newly created West Gulf Blockading Squadron. She steamed with that fleet in the historic dash past Confederate Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson which protected New Orleans, Louisiana on April 24. The next day,
Pensacola
engaged batteries below that great Confederate metropolis. On April 26, a landing party of Marines raised the United States flag over the mint at New Orleans. Four of her sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for their part in the battle: Boy Thomas Flood, Seaman Thomas Lyons, Captain of the Foretop James McLeod, and Quartermaster Louis Richards.
During the next two years, she helped guard the lower Mississippi River, returning to United States Navy Yard where she
decommissioned April 29, 1864, for the installation of new and improved machinery originally intended for the cancelled sloop-of-war USS
Wanaloset
.
EXTREMELY FINE CONDITION.
PARTIALLY PRINTED RECEIPT DATED MAY 1st 1858.
DIMENSIONS: 2 9/16" x 7 15/16"
PLEASE SEE MY 100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK AND BUY WITH CONFIDENCE.