Description:

Admiral J. A. Dahlgren "the Flag which is so dear to all of us, requires every sacrifice." Assoc. To 54th Mass. And 'Glory

JOHN A. DAHLGREN, Manuscript Letter Signed, to Francis M. Bunce, December 8, 1863, USS Philadelphia, Off Morris Island, South Carolina. 2 p., 7.75" x 9.75". Expected folds; short tear on fold on second page; some holes along folds, not affecting text.

Complete Transcript
Flag Steamer "Philadelphia"
Off Morris Island
Decr 8th: 1863
Lieut. Commander F. M. Bunce
USS. Frigate Wabash.
Sir
You will proceed to Port Royal, and report to Commr Wm. Reynolds Senior Naval Officer on that station; for temporary duty as Executive Officer of the "Kaatskill," commanded by Lieut. Commander Gibson: As soon as your services can be dispensed with, you will be detached.
It is with reluctance that I call upon you for duty of this kind, when you had been relieved from it for so short a time; but Officers Experienced in "Monitor" service are so scarce here; that there is no alternative.
You will therefore I feel confident accept the position cheerfully'when the Flag which is so dear to all of us, requires every sacrifice.
Respectfully
Your Obdt Serv't
J A Dahlgren
Rear Admiral Commd'g / So: At. Block. Squad.

[Endorsement:]
Reported at Port Royal
Dec 9th 1863
Wm Reynolds / Comr & Sen Off
[Prest?]

In November 1863, Lieutenant Commander Francis M. Bunce of the USS Patapsco, an ironclad monitor operating off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, suffered an injury when a cartridge detonated prematurely in a gun turret during action against Confederate forces. He was detached from the Patapsco and ordered to the steam screw frigate USS Wabash to convalesce. While Bunce was there, Admiral John A. Dahlgren reassigned him with this letter to the monitor USS Catskill for temporary duty.

After a month's service with the Catskill, he returned to the USS Wabash on January 7, 1864. Within a few days, he was again reassigned to command the monitor USS Weehawken temporarily before being returned to the USS Wabash. He was soon assigned to the staff of Rear Admiral Dahlgren as his "Chief of Scouts," commanding the picket boat line until April 6, when he took command of the monitor USS Lehigh for just over one month before being detached from the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron entirely on May 14, 1864.

John A. Dahlgren (1809-1870) was born in Philadelphia to the Swedish consul in the city and joined the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1826. After working on the coastal survey from 1834, he was promoted to ordnance officer in 1847 and stationed at the Washington Navy Yard. He founded the U.S. Navy's ordnance department and made major advances in gunnery. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln promoted Dahlgren to captain and made him chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. Promoted to Rear Admiral in February 1863, Dahlgren took command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, where he worked with General Quincy A. Gillmore on the siege of Charleston and with General William T. Sherman on the capture of Savannah in December 1864. After the war, he commanded the South Pacific Squadron from 1867 to 1869, before returning to the Washington Navy Yard.

Francis Marvin Bunce (1836-1901) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1857. He was promoted to lieutenant by the beginning of the Civil War and participated in the Union blockade of the Confederacy as part of the Gulf Squadron and then served as executive officer of the gunboat USS Penobscot during the siege of Yorktown in the Peninsula Campaign. He later supported the 54th Mass. Colored troops in the attack on Morris Island and Fort Wagner outside Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. This is depicted in the movie 'Glory' In 1863, he participated in the siege of Charleston aboard the monitor USS Patapsco. He later served on or commanded several other monitors for the remainder of the war. After the war, he commanded the monitor USS Monadnock in its voyage around Cape Horn to San Francisco, the first extended ocean voyage by a monitor. Over the next three decades, he alternated land and sea duty and gained promotion to captain (1883), commodore (1894), and acting rear admiral (1895), when he took command of the North Atlantic Squadron. He favored training ships to act as a squadron rather than individually and the outbreak of the Cuban War of Independence heightened tensions with Spain. In 1897, he took command of the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, from which he sent the battleship USS Maine to Key West, Florida, from which it was deployed to Havana, where its explosion triggered the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1898 and retired from the Navy at the statutory retirement age of 62 on December 25, 1898.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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