American Civil War Engravings Fort Pickens Castle Pickney 1861 US Navy Pub 1870s for Sale

American Civil War Engravings Fort Pickens Castle Pickney 1861 US Navy Pub 1870s For Sale

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American Civil War Engravings Fort Pickens Castle Pickney 1861 US Navy Pub 1870s:
$235.00

This original double engraving was published in the 1870s. The images were taken from Frank Leslie’s publication The Soldier in Our Civil War, originally published in 1861. It is custom-matted with acid-free materials. It is in pristine condition, unframed. The image area measures approx 20 in x 13.5 in. With matting, approx 27 in x 20 in.

The full title of the top engraving is: “Relief of Fort Pickens, Santa Rosa Island, Pensacola Bay, Fla., By The United States Fleet, April 17th, 1861”. The ships and landmarks featured in this engraving are described in the following paragraphs below.

The first USS Powhatan was a sidewheel steam frigate in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for Powhatan, a Native American chief of eastern Virginia. She was one of the last, and largest, of the United States Navy\'s paddle frigates.

USS Wyandotte, originally USS Western Port, was a steamer acquired by the Navy as a gunboat for the Paraguay expedition in 1858. When the crisis of the American Civil War occurred, she operated in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

Fort McRee was located on Foster\'s Bank, at the eastern tip of Perdido Key, near Pensacola Pass. The first troops arrived in 1842, and the fort was manned until 1845. During the Civil War, Confederate forces fired back against Union vessels and Fort Pickens, but after five hours of artillery exchange, the guns of Fort McRee fell silent. The fort was abandoned in May 1862 and left to the elements. By the early 1900s, the fort had crumbled and nothing is visible today.

During the Civil War, Fort Pickens was one of four forts in the South that remained in Union control. The fort exchanged artillery fire with Confederate batteries at Fort McRee and Fort Barrancas on November 22–23, 1861, and again on January 1–2, 1862. The Battle of Santa Rosa Island was fought one mile east of the fort on October 10, 1861.

Steamer Illinois: The Navy used many types of steamboats during the Civil War, including for battle, medical aid, and transporting people and goods. Steamboats were vital to the success of the Union forces because they could quickly move soldiers and supplies to needed locations.

The second engraving is entitled: “Castle Pinckney, Charleston Harbor, S.C.” Castle Pinckney was a small masonry fortification built in 1810 to replace an earlier fort. It was used as a prisoner-of-war camp and artillery position during the American Civil War. From 1876 to 1917, it was primarily used as a lighthouse. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge designated Castle Pinckney as a National Monument, but in 1956 Congress abolished it after it never received visitors.