Scope and Content Note
The papers of Samuel Phillips Lee (1812-1897) span the years 1860-1869, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1861-1865. The collection deals entirely with the naval activities of the Union forces in the Civil War and consists primarily of letterbooks, letterpress books, retained copies of correspondence, and logbook abstracts supplemented by copies of reports, lists, memoranda, requisition orders, and miscellaneous material. There are comparatively few original documents in the papers. Most of the documents are copies of originals sent to the Navy Department or the Naval War Records Office. One notable exception is a file of indexed correspondence, in a Miscellany series, which originally was designated for the Naval War Records Office. The papers are organized into four series: Letter and Letterpress Books, Copies of Incoming Correspondence, North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and Miscellany
Lee served three tours of duty during the Civil War. His first duty station was with the Mississippi Squadron from 1861 to August 1862, when he commanded the sloop-of-war Oneida under Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. There is relatively little material in the collection for this duty station. A logbook for the USS Mississippi in the summer of 1861 and some printed matter comprise the documentation for these months.
In September 1862 Lee was made an acting rear admiral and put in charge of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. This tour of duty lasted until October 1864. The bulk of the material in this collection relates to these two years. Most of it is concerned with the routine details of the Union blockade and the Confederate efforts to break it. These details present insights into the everyday activities of the fleet of ships responsible for the blockade of the Confederate coastline. There are reports from most of the Union vessels in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron describing the conditions under which they labored, the morale of the crews, the physical requirements of the fleet, and their attempts at disrupting Confederate shipping and blockade running. Abstracts from the logbooks of most of the vessels in the fleet, combined with monthly reports, prize lists, communications to and from the Navy Department, and squadron dispatches, present a detailed account of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron’s activities in relation to the Confederate and Northern blockade runners. Details are also supplied for the interaction of the navy with the army on land maneuvers, especially with the command of General Benjamin F. Butler in and around the Newport News, Virginia, area.
In October 1864 Admiral Lee exchanged places with David D. Porter, commander of the Mississippi Squadron. His third tour of duty in the Civil War lasted until September 1865. Although the material for Lee’s months as commander of the Mississippi Squadron is neither as detailed nor as illuminating as the material for his previous command, it is similar in type and arrangement. There is a good deal of information on the final months of the Mississippi River campaign, affording detailed descriptions of the everyday activities of the fleet. The papers for the year 1865 continue well past the end of hostilities in April. The correspondence, lists, memoranda, and reports describe the dismantling of the Mississippi Squadron in the months immediately following the end of hostilities. The examination, inspection, and sale of several of the Mississippi Squadron vessels, along with the fuel requirements, discharge requests, requisition orders, and resignations, give valuable insights into the immediate postwar problems of the navy on the Mississippi River.
From 1862 to 1865 Admiral Lee maintained files on such diverse matters as court-martial trials, confidential and miscellaneous correspondence, printed copies of the general orders, and communications with the Navy Department and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. These files all reflect the degree of interaction between the fleets and the central headquarters in Washington, D.C. Of special interest are two files of correspondence in the miscellany section: one with James B. Devoe, 1864-1865, a “special agent” of Admiral Porter, and the other with Major General John G. Foster, 1863, which concerns a projected attack on the Confederate military bases in the Cape Fear, North Carolina region.