Louis J. Sands of New York state served in the United States Navy before and during the Civil War. The collection includes a scrapbook of letters, loose letters, newspaper clippings, and pictures relating to Louis J. Sands. There are approximately 90 letters between Sands and others, including Sands's brother, Arthur Sands, and his cousin, Ned Prince. Early letters discuss his experiences in the United States Navy as a clerk on the USS and the USS before the Civil War, including a failed attempt at laying the first transcontinental telegram cable across the Atlantic, and voyages to Montevideo, Uruguay, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Letters written during the Civil War refer to naval battles in which Sands participated while serving on the USS and the USS , including the battle of Port Royal, S.C., and the captures of Norfolk, Va.; Plymouth, N.C.; and Murfreesboro, N.C. Some of the loose letters are from the Civil War years and deal with the same subjects as the scrapbook letters. Other loose letters date from 1903 and appear to be related to attempts by Sands to learn more about the his family history. Newspaper clippings consist of a biography of Samuel Francis du Pont, commander of the United States Navy attack on Port Royal, S.C., and obituaries of Colonel S. Van Rensselaer Cruger, a relative of Sands. Two photographs, 1863, are of Sands in his United States Navy uniform. Also included is a picture by an unknown artist of the sinking of the USS on 9 December 1864 by a Confederate torpedo on the Roanoke River in North Carolina. Sands was commanding the ship at the time of its sinking. Susquehanna Congress Seminole Shamrock Bazely
