Samuel Gilbert Webber letters and sketch, 1862 December.

ArchivalResource

Webber, Samuel Gilbert, 1838-1926. Samuel Gilbert Webber letters and sketch, 1862 December.

Samuel Gilbert Webber letters and sketch, 1862 December.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/775010550

This collection includes 3 letters written by Webber to his future wife Nancy (Nannie) Sturtevant from the US Steamer Rhode Island in December of 1862. It also contains a sketch of a building he entitled "Berard's." The sketch depicts the building in a tropical setting, suggesting that the sketch may have been done while Rhode Island was assigned to the Gulf Blockading Squadron in the summer of 1862 or the late spring of 1863. The letters give an unambiguous picture of Webber as both a devoutly religious man and deeply in love with Nancy. Scattered among the lengthy expressions of love and Christian piety are references to battle casualties, civic duty as Webber sees it, and evidence of his lifelong abhorrence of alcohol. Of chief interest to Civil War scholars are his descriptions of both Fort Monroe and Monitor. Webber includes a small sketch in his Dec. 22 letter depicting the design of the fort's casemate gun ports. Also present in the letters is a telling of his visit to Monitor to minister to a crewman who "caught his leg in the machinery." Nearly an entire page of text is dedicated to his description of Monitor, including a rather rare reference to the rifle screen and the auxiliary ship's wheel atop the turret, both of which had been installed the previous month in Washington, DC. He also states that the ironclad Montauk is expected any day, and supposes that the ironclad Nahant will soon be in Hampton Roads. Ominously, he writes to Nannie, "We leave as soon as the weather is favorable enough. I hope they won't wait till it is still & then have a storm as soon as we get outside."

4 items.

The Mariners' Museum Library