Booknotes: I Am Fighting for the Union

New Arrival:
• I Am Fighting for the Union: The Civil War Letters of Naval Officer Henry Willis Wells edited by Robert M. Browning, Jr. (Univ of Ala Press, 2023).

From the description: "On May 18, 1862, Henry Willis Wells wrote a letter to his mother telling her in clear terms, “I am fighting for the Union.” Since August 1861, when he joined the US Navy as a master’s mate he never wavered in his loyalty. He wrote to his family frequently that he considered military service a necessary and patriotic duty, and the career that ensued was a dramatic one, astutely and articulately documented by Wells in more than 200 letters home, leaving an invaluable account of daily life in the Union Navy."

I understand that it is to a degree a numbers game, but it still surprises me a bit, given the massive size that the Union Navy eventually reached, that published army correspondence dwarfs its naval counterpart to the degree that it does. Or maybe it just seems that way, and things are actually proportional within reason. Just judging from a brief thumb-through, the Wells letters are full of details about his Chesapeake, Atlantic, and Gulf naval service and experiences. I'm looking forward to reading them.

More from the description: "Wells joined the navy shortly after the war began, initially on board the Cambridge, attached to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which patrolled the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. He witnessed the Battle of Hampton Roads and the fight between the ironclads CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor. Next, the Cambridge assisted in the blockade of Wilmington, North Carolina. In one instance, the warship chased the schooner J. W. Pindar ashore during her attempt to run the blockade, and Confederate forces captured Henry’s boarding party. After a short prison stay in the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, his Confederate captors paroled Henry. He travelled back to Brookline, and soon thereafter the Navy Department assigned him to the gunboat Ceres, which operated on the sounds and rivers of North Carolina, protecting army positions ashore. Henry was on board during the Confederate attempt to capture Washington, North Carolina. During this April 1863 attack, Henry was instrumental in the town’s defense, commanding a naval battery ashore during the latter part of the fight."

Assigned greater and greater responsibility as the war progressed, Wells must have performed his duties well. More: "His exceptional service gained him a transfer to a larger warship, the USS Montgomery, again on the blockade of Wilmington. Later the service assigned him to the Gem of the Sea, part of the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. Through his hard work and professionalism, he finally earned his first command. In September 1864, he became the commanding officer of the Rosalie, a sloop used as a tender to the local warships."

Unfortunately, Wells's blossoming career did not end well. "Later he commanded the schooner Annie, also a tender. At the end of December 1864, however, the Annie suffered a massive explosion, killing all hands, including Wells(,)" who was only 23 at the time of his death. Several letters written to the grieving family by Wells's colleagues and superiors document that episode.

Eminent ACW naval historian Robert Browning edits the volume, organizing the material into chapters and contributing a brief introduction and extensive endnotes.