(MILITARY CIVIL WAR) Photograph of the USS Niagara presente

Sale 2503 - Lot 325

Unsold

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(MILITARY--CIVIL WAR.) Photograph of the USS Niagara, presented by William B. Gould. Copy-print photograph, 12 x 16 inches to sight; matted with manuscript caption and presentation inscription "presented to Charles W. Carroll Post 144 by Commander W.B. Gould, one of her crew"; minimal wear. Not examined out of original frame. Belgium, 1864 (image); [Dedham, MA], 21 September 1900 (print)

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The USS Niagara was responsible for returning 271 illegally transported slaves back to Africa in 1858. It later served in the European Squadron during the Civil War. During the latter part of the war, one of its crew was an African-American sailor named William Benjamin Gould. He kept one of only three known surviving diaries by a freed slave during the war. Gould was given a July 1864 photograph of the Niagara by one of his shipmates, James Hogan. It is illustrated in the 2002 book, "Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor." He was very active in veterans affairs after the war, serving as commander of his Grand Army of the Republic post in Dedham, MA from 1900 to 1901.
Offered here is a copy of Gould's photograph of the Niagara, which Gould in 1900 had blown up and presented to the Grand Army of the Republic post which he commanded. As an artifact, its resonance is rich. A photograph of a ship which had combated the slave trade, owned by a former slave who served on its crew, and who later created this copy in his role as a leader of Civil War veterans.