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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC03867.01 |
| From Archive Folder | Unassociated Civil War Documents 1864 |
| Title | John Ancrum Winslow to Charles D. Cleveland complaining about public adulation following a victory |
| Date | 7 July 1864 |
| Author | Winslow, John Ancrum (1811-1873) |
| Recipient | Cleveland, Charles D. |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Written from the U.S.S. Kearsarge by Commander Winslow, who replies to a congratulatory note from Charles Dexter Cleveland, the U.S. consul at Cardiff, Wales. Winslow had sunk the C.S.S. Alabama off the coast of France on June 19, 1864, one of the most vaunted naval successes of the war, and complains here of the adulation of the public. Winslow remarks, “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 away to my ship where I intend to stay… Now I have had hard service, on the Mississippi, but no honour followed; an easy victory, and every one cries hero.” He also reports that he has lost one eye and will likely lose the other, “I must go to grass like other blind asses.” John Winslow’s victory over the Alabama in June 1864 earned him promotion to commodore, and with it the thanks of Congress. He was later promoted to rear admiral and given command of the Pacific Squadron after the war. |
| Subjects | Civil War Military History Union General Union Forces Navy Global History and Civics France Battle Injury or Wound Bravery |
| People | Winslow, John Ancrum (1811-1873) Cleveland, Charles Dexter (1802-1869) |
| Place written | Dover, England |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Health & Medicine; Naval & Maritime |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |
| Civil War: Unit | U.S.S. Kearsarge |