A unique collection of wartime letters from naval officer Roswell
H. Lamson, US Naval Academy class of 1862, ably edited and
annotated by Pulitzer Prize - winning historian James McPherson and
independent researcher Patricia McPherson. Lamson grew up in the
Oregon Territory, where he fought Indians as a boy, got his first
glimpse of the sea, and learned his devotion to the Union from his
father, whose westward itch had brought the family from
Massachusetts. He matriculated at Annapolis in 1858 and excelled
there, finishing second in a class decimated by resignations due
either to wartime allegiance to the South or to failure to make the
grade. As the war loomed, Lamson, in letters home to his cousins
Kate (whom he later married) and Flora, noted that he intended to
defend the Union "as long as there's a star in the flag." Lamson's
final year as a student was hardly an academic exercise: He served
in the blockade of Southern ports, participated in the victorious
bombardment of Port Royal and Hatteras Inlet, and was the officer
who took charge of the CSS Planter, which was hijacked by slaves in
May 1862 in the middle of the battle for Charleston and surrendered
to the Union fleet. Lamson played a significant role in the war, as
his letters show: In 1863, he commanded a gunboat fleet that
captured Fort Huger, a Confederate battery; stopped Gen.
Longstreet's attach on Suffolk, Va.; and later was instrumental in
the North's long campaign to reduce Fort Fisher, a key Confederate
stronghold. Throughout the war, the editors observe, Lamson "had an
uncanny knack for being where the action was." His life after the
war did not match these early brilliant prospects: His wife and
five of seven children died, and success in civilian life eluded
him. He died in 1903. A rare correspondence from one who was part
of the great blockade, and an absorbing contribution to Civil War
literature. (Kirkus Reviews)
The publication of the war-time letters of Roswell Lamson, one of the boldest and most skillful young officers in the Union navy, marks a major addition to Civil War literature. Indeed, co-editors James M. McPherson, America's preeminent Civil War historian, and Patricia R. McPherson term Lamson's correspondence "the best Civil War navy letters we have ever read or expect to read". Lamson commanded more ships and flotillas than any other officer of his age or rank in the service, climaxed by his captaincy of the navy's fastest ship in 1864, USS Gettysburg. Throughout the war, Lamson always seemed to be where the action was on the South Atlantic coast, and these letters describe with striking immediacy the part he played in these events. Though he resolved to "stand by the Union as long as there is a plank afloat," Lamson's correspondence also reveals his deep ambivalence about the war. Featuring superb introductions to each section and informative notes, Lamson of The Gettysburg now joins the first rank of Civil War sources.
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