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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC02829.07 |
| From Archive Folder | Letters of the Allen Family, including five while on U.S. gunboats off South America |
| Title | Joseph H. to Mary Mayberry about health and guarding a rebel prisoner who has talked about his family and a possible spy |
| Date | 18 November 1862 |
| Author | Allen, Joseph H. (fl. 1859-1865) |
| Recipient | Mayberry, Mary |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Glad to hear that her children are in good health. Says he is not well himself, having caught a heavy cold. Has a rebel prisoner under his charge. The prisoner was taken for burning the clipper ship "Alagany" in Chesapeake Bay. He did not deny it, saying his commanding officer ordered him to do it. The POW said he was worth 26,000 dollars before the war and is now penniless with a sick wife and five small children depending on him. He "wanted to know how it was with the poor people at the North for the poor people at the South were in a very bad Condition[.] he was in hopes the war would soon end as he was tired of it." Reports that a man made it to their ship who claims to have escaped from a Richmond prison. The man had cancer eating the side of his face, which had reached the bone. That man claimed he built the "Merrimac No. 2" and that it has 7 inch armor. The doctor "dressed his cancer" and let him go. Suspects the man was a spy. Sends regards to friends and family and says he saw his brother George who was well and "fat as a pig." |
| Subjects | Civil War Military History Union Forces Navy Soldier's Letter Union Soldier's Letter Health and Medical Prisoner of War Confederate States of America Wartime Pillaging and Destruction Finance Poverty Disease Ironclad Spying |
| Place written | Aboard USS New Ironsides off Newport News, Virginia |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Naval & Maritime; Children & Family |
| 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: Recipient Relationship | Sister |
| Civil War: Theater of War | Main Eastern Theater |
| Civil War: Unit | USS New Ironsides |