Matlack family.

Philadelphian Samuel J. Matlack (1845-1898) served as a sailor aboard the USS Wissahickon during the American Civil War.

Family members in Philadelphia--including his father, mother, sisters, brothers, and a relative--sent letters to Samuel J. Matlack, who served on the Wissahickon for the duration of the war. His family's letters, which span the period 1862-1865, were delivered via the steamer supply ship USS Massachusetts and addressed to Matlack onboard the "US Gunboat Wissahickon, South Atlantic Blockading Squadron," frequently specifying "off the coast of South Carolina."

The Wissahickon was a Unadilla class screw steam gunboat, initially deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. In 1862 the Wissahickon joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which covered over 500 miles of coastline from the northern border of South Carolina to Cape Canaveral in Florida. Established by the Union Navy in 1861, the squadron sought to control the coastline and capture key port cities held by the Confederacy. The Wissahickon fought in the bombardments of Fort McAllister, Georgia, in late 1862-early 1863, and of Forts Wagner and Sumter, off Charleston, South Carolina, in the summer of 1863. The gunboat spent the remainder of the war patrolling the coast of South Carolina and its inland waters.

Samuel J. Matlack was employed as a manufacturer after the war. In 1867, he married Emma L. Everly (b. 1848). Records of his post-war activities are sparse, although his pension application indicates that he received treatment for mental illness in 1883 and that by 1885 his condition was severe enough to prevent him from working. In 1890 Samuel Matlack was admitted to the US National Homes for Disabled Veteran Soldiers for a "depression of skull" and in 1891 he successfully applied for a pension due to mental disorders resulting from his military service. In his pension application, Matlack was diagnosed with epilepsy and an unspecified "mental derangement." In 1892 Samuel Matlack was transferred to the Government Insane Asylum in Washington, D.C. (later known as St. Elizabeth's Hospital), where he remained until his death in 1898 of bronchial pneumonia.

Matlack family records are sparse. Samuel's parents were Mason Matlack (ca. 1824-1868) and Matilda E. Matlack (ca. 1808-1894). His brother, Lewis J. Matlack (1842-1909), was employed as a merchant and was married to Clemmie Matlack (b. 1844). As mentioned in letters in this collection, Lewis and Clemmie Matlack had two children: Laura (b. 1863, died in infancy) and an unidentified son (b. 1865). Samuel J. Matlack had four sisters: Mary, Mollie, Tillie, and Annie. A second brother, Harry Matlack, served in the Union Army and died while a prisoner of war, sometime prior to 1862. At the time of the Civil War, all of the surviving members of Samuel J. Matlack's immediate family were living in Philadelphia. Samuel Matlack's "nephyou" (probably his cousin), Mason M. Murray, served in the Union Army and was wounded in June 1864 in a campaign against Richmond. Mason Murray's leg was subsequently amputated and he remained hospitalized for the duration of the war. In December 1865, Murray wrote to Matlack from Tilton US General Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware.

"Approved pension applications of widows and other dependents of Civil War and later Navy veterans (Navy widows' certificates), 1861-1910." Matlack/Medlock/Matlack/Matlicks a guide to the 1790-1920 census and collective works. (Accessed 20 January 2012). http://www.ba044ancestry.com/MATLOCKMISC/WarRecords/NavyWidowPensions/SamuelJMatlackNavyWidowCertificates.html. Browning, Robert M., Jr. Success is all that was expected: the South Atlantic blockading squadron during the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, Inc., 2002. "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, death certificates index, 1803-1915." Ancestry.com. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. (Accessed 20 January 2012). search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FSPhilPADeath&h=1343214&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=1200 "U.S. national homes for disabled volunteer soldiers, 1866-1938." Ancestry.com. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. (Accessed 20 January 2012). http://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?h=296162&db=NationalHomes&indiv=try "USS Massachusetts (1861-1867)." Naval Historical Center. (Accessed 24 January 2012). http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/massach2.htm "USS Wissahickon (1861-1865)." Naval Historical Center. (Accessed 20 January 2012). http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-w/wisahick.htm