Sale 2473 - Printed & Manuscript Americana, April 12, 2018

This letter describes a rare close encounter with the Confederacy’s most widely feared vessel, the ironclad Virginia, better known as the Merrimack. Written just a month after the Battle of Hampton Roads, it also gives a mention to the USS Monitor, the nemesis of the Merrimack. Thomas Belknap (1835-1872), a clerk from Newburgh, NY, enlisted in February 1862 and shipped out the next month aboard the steamer USS Octorara, blockading the Confederate ports in Virginia. Belknap writes: “Friday morning the flagship Minnisotta fired a gun as a signal that the Merrimack, Jamestown, Yorktown, and two or three rebel steamers where coming around Sewal’s Point. . . . We laid about two miles from them all the day untill four o’clock when the Merrimack moved towards us untill she got within range, when she opened fire on us from her bow-guns. The first shot fell short about forty yards, but was a good line shot. Our ship instantly returned the fire from our forward pivit gun and the after pivit gun. . . . Our shot fell under the starboard bow of the enemy’s vessel and made the water dance around her. The next two shots we fired struck in her ports and exploded and must have done some damage. She fired one more gun at us which must have exploded, as their was a large quantity of smoke seen to ascend from the forward part of the ship, and she immediately withdrew from action and fell back behind Sewall’s Point. . . . I expect she will pay us a visit tomorrow, when I hope she and the rest of the rebel fleet will not escape so easey. . . . The Stevens battery and our ship where the onley ones that exchanged shots with them, and so you see we had all the glory, what their was of it. I looked through the glass at the Merrimack and I can tell you I thought she was about close enough to us. I don’t like her looks or her pills [pillbox gun turrets]. The Monitor lays about a mile from us, and the rest of the fleet about two miles. They make the Octorara stand the brunt.” Belknap added updates the next two days while awaiting an opportunity to post the letter. On the 12th, he wrote that “they went to get our ship under weigh this morning and found her hard aground. . . . They have discovered by the glass that the Merrimack is in the same fix as ourselves.” The CSS Virginia would be scuttled just a month later, making this a rare first-hand account of direct engagement with the ironclad. “WE HAD ALL THE GLORY, WHAT THEIR WAS OF IT” 70 c   (CIVIL WAR—NAVY.) Belknap, Thomas. Letter describing his ship’s brief battle with the Merrimack. Autograph Letter Signed “Tom” to brother William C. Belknap of Newburgh, NY. 2 pages, 12 1 / 2 x 8 inches, plus an integral blank with address panel stamped “DUE 3” and franked by future rear admiral George Brown (1835-1913) as lieutenant commander; folds, toning to address panel, top 1 1 / 2 inches torn from blank leaf. With a typed transcript. Off Fortress Monroe, VA, 11-[13] April 1862 [2,000/3,000]