(CIVIL WAR NAVY) Portrait and papers of Ensign Christopher

Sale 2564 - Lot 183

Unsold

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(CIVIL WAR--NAVY.) Portrait and papers of Ensign Christopher Flood. 20 items in one box: 17 manuscript documents, one original hand-painted photograph, and two copy-print photographs; condition generally strong. Vp, 1862-85

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Additional Details

Christopher Flood (1829-1899) of Morrisania, NY joined the Navy as an ensign in November 1862. He served aboard the USS Savannah, Columbine, Fernandina, Harvest Moon, and Norfolk Packet. Included in this lot are his original appointment letter, and his 9 June 1865 promotion letter to Acting Master, both signed by Navy Secretary Gideon Welles. Two letters are signed by Admiral John A. Dahlgren: ordering a ship to assist a "topographical party of the Coast Survey in extending the survey of Ossabaw to McAllister, and other works erected by the rebels" (1 February 1865) and ordering Flood to prepare the USS Norfolk Packet for the journey north as Acting Master (9 June 1865). Flood's list of provisions for this voyage is also included. A long semi-personal letter from a fellow officer aboard the USS Fernandina dated February 1864 (signature illegible) was written while he was on leave, describing the remaining officers as a "forlorn body" and the recent torpedoing of the USS Housatonic as "tough work, there is no mistake." Most notably, the lot includes an attractively hand-painted photograph of Flood in his Navy uniform as ensign, 7 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches oval to sight in a repaired period frame (14 x 12 1/2 inches), labelled on verso "My father Christopher Flood, Civil War veteran, M.A.W." After the war, Flood was a marshal for the 1870 census and commanded a United States revenue cutter.