1863 HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT LETTERS - TWO AUTHORS - ONE PIECE OF PAPER - TWO SEPARATE LETTERS - CIVIL WAR SAILORS WRITE HOME

[CIVIL WAR NAVAL] ALS, USS Marion, Boston, Mass., "Sabbath morning Aug. 23, 1863", 2 pages. Each page is a separate letter to friends at home. Both are complete but bear no signatures. Each begins mentioning the other - Benjamin and James; both are sailors serving on board the Union vessel USS Marion. Benjamin writes of buying alpaca, church and visits. James in his letter mentions sick men and doctor coming on board who writes prescriptions partially in Latin, which he cannot read - it appears it is James duty to tend the ill after doctor is gone. He further mentions Lt. Kane, a trip to Boston and a visist to May Roberts. While in Boston he mentions several sites and seeing Wendall Phillips on the street. USS Marion was a sloop of war of the fourth rate in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, when the Civil War broke out, Marion recommissioned, 21 June 1861, and on 14 July sailed in search of the Confederate cruiser Jeff Davis. In September, she joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron, participating in the capture of Ship Island on the 16th. She remained on the gulf coast until May 1862, when she was ordered to Boston for repairs. VG.