Nov 25, 2014 - Sale 2368

Sale 2368 - Lot 77

Price Realized: $ 1,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(CIVIL WAR--NAVY.) Sprague, Arnold P. Diary of a seaman aboard the USS New Ironsides in the blockade of Charleston. [5], 253, [10] manuscript pages. 4to, original 1/4 sheep, worn; contents generally clean and legible. The diary entries extend from 1 January 1863 to 19 March 1868 (pages 101-253). Within that, the entries covering naval service are dated 9 July 1863 to 30 June 1864 (pages 112-158). Laid in are a 32-page pocket account book dated 1873-74 and 10 letters and clippings dated 1872-94. Vp, 1863-74
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Arnold P. Sprague (1838-1906?) grew up a farmer in Johnston, RI, just west of Providence. Two years into the war, his farming life was interrupted: 'I was drafted for the U.S.A. . . . Not wishing to serve in the army on account of the asthma I shipped this day in the U.S. Navy' (9-10 July 1863). Within a week, he had his first excitement as Boston was shaken by draft riots that echoed the larger ones in New York: 'Sent to shore to protect the Navy Yard from the mob' (16 July). Soon he headed south and went aboard the USS New Ironsides, an ironclad then blockading and bombarding the harbor at Charleston, SC shortly after the Battle of Fort Wagner.
Sprague's battle experience began on 17 August: 'This morning all hands were called at four o'clock and hove up anchor and went up to the buoy and opened fire upon Wagner with apparently good effect. She returned it in good style but to no purpose, for although we were struck forty-three times it did us no damage, her shot bounding off like hail stones.' His shipmates were called upon to help support the Second Battle of Fort Sumter: 'The commodore addressed the crew tonight. He spoke very highly of our firing and said the Army were to make a charge at 9 o'clock in the morning and he wished us to cover them" (6 September), but three days later Sprague reported that 'the attack upon Sumter last night was a failure, our loss was four killed, eighteen wounded, one hundred and twenty prisoners.' The fort was in ruins but still held: 'Sumter breached very badly . . . looks like a heap of rubbish' (30-31 October).
Sprague described the loss of a fellow ship during a storm: 'The Weehawken sunk. We went to her assistance and picked up four men. One of them died soon after . . . The Weehawken lays here with smokestack in sight' (6 December). Sprague also recorded periodic unpleasantness aboard the ship: 'The master at arms fought twice with Con Crimmings' (29 August); 'Nicklear was stabbed last night in seven places' (9 March 1864); 'Last night the admiral was hung in effigy' (12 June 1864). However, he finished his year in the navy without any major injuries, and started for home on 30 June 1864.
Back home, Sprague proudly mentioned voting for Lincoln's re-election, attended the president's Rhode Island mourning services, and then bought four pictures of the late leader. The remaining years of Sprague's diary are less dramatic: a move to Pennsylvania, a marriage, and the birth of a daughter. Through it all, he kept this battered diary, perhaps sometimes flipping back to 1863 and the most dangerous year of his otherwise quiet life.