By Ron Field, featuring images from the author’s collection
Naval images of the Civil War period conjure an association with salty sea air and westerly winds when beholding a view of a High Seas sailor. That of a Brown Water sailor brings to mind the heat and oppressive air of the great rivers of the Deep South. The sailor spent lengthy periods of time aboard his vessel, whether it was a sloop-of-war hunting blockade-runners and Confederate raiders, or a stern-wheel steamer patrolling the backwaters and bayous in search of Southern guerrillas. When they had shore leave, officers and ratings alike relished an opportunity of visiting a photographic parlor to have their image captured on glass, metal or paper, in order to provide the folks at home with a glimpse of their sailor life.
Offering a description of the mid-19th century American sailor in his 1855 book Man-of-War Life: A Boy’s Experience in the United States Navy, Charles Nordhoff (1830-1901) wrote: “Your true man-of-war’s man is very particular about his clothing. There is no greater dandy than he. No Broadway swell pays more attention to the cut of his unmentionables, the set of his collar, the tie of his handkerchief, or the spotless luster of his pumps than does Jack. There is a multitude of curiously-wrought stitching on the broad collar and neat bosom of his frock … and many an hour has he attitudinized before the little round pocket mirror, leaning against a gun, to give it that rakish set. His spotless white ducks set tight about the hips, and hang loosely at the bottom, just allowing the tips of a pair of patent-leather pumps to peep out from beneath their ample breadth. See him with his blue collar turned far back over his broad shoulders, exposing a manly and well-turned neck; his hat pressed jauntily over his left eyebrow; one hand carelessly resting on his hip, and you would scarcely need to be told that a true ‘blue jacket’ was before you.”
Ron Field is a MI Senior Editor.
An assistant paymaster urges on an imaginary naval boarding party in a dynamic, artistic pose by Philadelphia photographer Charles H. Spieler. Charles happened to be the younger brother of William F. Spieler, a renowned publisher, artist, colorist, lithographer and photographer. His influence may explain this unusual pose. Since assistant paymasters were equivalent in rank to assistant surgeons, who wore three large buttons around the upper edge of each cuff, they were permitted to add this to their previously plain cuffs during the summer of 1861.
In May 1865, Ordinary Seaman Casper Garret Bradford (1844-1923) served aboard the stern-wheeler Marmora. Stationed in the Mississippi River opposite Vicksburg, it was one of 11 vessels positioned to intercept Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet if they attempted to escape down the Yazoo River. Bradford started the war as a private in the 1st Ohio Heavy Artillery before joining the Navy at Cincinnati in December 1864. After a brief stay aboard the receiving ship Grampus at Cairo, Ill., the Navy transferred him to the Marmora stationed off Cape Girardeau, Mo., the following month. Bradford received an honorable discharge in August 1865. Bradford wears a jumper boldly trimmed around bib and pockets, and has elaborate embroidery around the cuffs and neck of his undershirt. A single star insignia on his right sleeve is either a rank insignia, or watch mark, the latter indicating he served on the starboard watch. Bradford presented this carte de visite to his younger brother, Simeon, after the war. Bradford went on to become a physician in Missouri.
A petty officer proudly poses in a highly embroidered jumper specially reserved for shore-leave. The decorative work on this garment consists of a floral pattern on chest and collar, plus trim around shoulders, pockets and cuffs. Much more highly detailed embroidery, including red paint, is visible on either side of his open neck, and on the collar of his undershirt. First prescribed for petty officers in 1841, his rank is distinguished by a dark blue oval patch with embroidered white eagle, anchor and star insignia correctly displayed on the front of his sleeve midway between the shoulder and elbow. A small shield-shaped pin, likely an identification badge, is attached to the knot of the black silk handkerchief, or scarf, loosely tied around his neck. The white cloth protruding from one of his pockets possibly contains a plug of tobacco. A gold chain attached to a button likely carries a rope knife tucked in his drop-front trousers. A period pencil inscription on the back notes “Mr. & Mrs. Hornbuckle/With T.B.L./Best Regards.”
Clinton J. Gardner (1844-1933), an Indiana farmer, began his service as an ordinary Seaman at the Naval Rendezvous at Cincinnati, Ohio, in November 1863. He sustained a hernia early in his service while helping to load ammunition boxes aboard the tinclad Paw Paw from a barge near Cairo, Ill. He was placed on light duty as ship’s cook. During his service he experienced the March 1864 Battle of Paducah, a Confederate victory by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Gardner received a discharge at Fort Henry, Tenn., in 1864. He wears a overshirt with placket front rather than a jumper with sailor’s collar, and has fastened his black silk scarf like a large neck tie. The gold-tinted star in a circle on his sleeve may be a watch mark, or it might indicate his role as ship’s cook.
The jumper worn by this sailor is embroidered with a pattern of what may be small spread eagle motifs. A small anchor appears to have been painted in gold on the black silk handkerchief tied around his neck, and a chain extends from a large chest pocket which likely contained a pocket watch.The painted backdrop behind him features a gunboat with a larger vessel farther off. A camp scene in the foreground includes a tent and tinted national flag.
Photographic studios near Northern navy yards or Southern riverside communities, often provided their sailor customers with nautical-themed backdrops. In Philadelphia, John Bullock, who operated a gallery with Jessi H. Groom, offered a scene featuring a ship’s mast, dead-eye blocks on rigging, and a bulwark with a sailing ship on the seascape. The sailor is Landsman Charles W. Adams (1842-1922), who enlisted at Portsmouth, N.H., in August 1862. He served aboard the side-wheel steamer Tallapoosa and frigate Santee until May 1863, when he transferred to the sloop Macedonian as a paymaster’s clerk. His appointment was soon revoked, and he received an honorable discharge in July 1863.
This sailor wears a frock made from “Barnsley sheeting,” a material likely similar to the type of linen produced in the mills at Barnsley in Yorkshire, England. White clothing was not practical, especially aboard a steamship, by the Civil War period. It was usually reserved for special occasions such as Sunday service, while visitors were being received aboard ship, or shore leave. The collar and cuffs were usually of blue “nankin,” a light-weight cotton cloth first produced at Nanking in China. His trousers are fly-front rather than the customary “drop-front” pattern mostly worn by sailors.
The navy Paymaster paid the crew, provided clothing and sundries for them, and procured supplies and materials for the vessel to which he was assigned. The rank, previously known as Purser, was renamed in 1860. This assistant paymaster wears a four-button sack coat with sleeve lace prescribed via an order dated May 23, 1863, and shoulder straps with silver oak sprig and single gold bar at each end. He also wears a white vest and white summer pantaloons. The woman pictured with him, according to an inscription on the back of the mount, is his wife, May, who presented this carte “To My Dear Husband.”
This sailor posed for his portrait in front of a backdrop loaded with nautical imagery. A fully-rigged warship and lighthouse are seen on the distant seascape, while a mast or spar from a wrecked vessel rests on the rocks in the foreground.
Views of sailors carrying side arms are uncommon. They were usually issued for limited purposes: drilling, taking part in boarding parties or landing operations, or repelling enemy boarders. This petty officer is armed with what is likely a Whitney Navy .36 caliber revolver and Model 1861 cutlass, both seated in leather frogs forming an integral part of his leather waist belt.
Another view of a sailor with a side arm is this junior officer in the Brown Water Navy. He is pictured with a revolver in a leather frog attached to his sword belt. His cap displays a plain silver anchor without a wreath authorized by the Navy on July 31, 1862, and is without the gold band dispensed with on Nov. 11, 1863. His frock coat features eight buttons in each row and a rolling, or turned down, collar. These uniform details indicate he served as a boatswain, gunner, carpenter, or sailmaker between November 1863, when the gold cap band was eliminated, and Jan. 28, 1864, when the Navy issued new uniform requirements. In addition to his revolver, he is also armed with a Model 1852 sword with “dolphin head” motif on the knuckle-bow of the pommel.
Coxwain William Hughes (1834-1888) has the name of his ship, the sloop-of-war Constellation, around his cap. A sailor before the war, Hughes re-enlisted for three years aboard the receiving ship Ohio at the Boston Navy Yard on Nov. 14, 1861, and received an honorable discharged from the Constellation at Norfolk, Va., on Jan. 25, 1865. The Constellation prowled Mediterranean waters from 1861 to 1864 on the hunt for Confederate vessels. Hughes posed for this portrait during shore leave at Genoa, Italy.
This weather-beaten, late-war petty officer has a ribbon bearing his ship’s name Sabine around his cap. A white lanyard with a rope knife likely attached to one end is stretched neatly across the waist of his drop-front trousers. The four strands of white tape around his cuffs are an indicator of his rank. A Seaman of the same period had three strands, an Ordinary Seaman or Fireman two strands, and a Landsman, Coal-heaver, or Boy one strand. The Sabine, a sailing frigate commissioned in 1858, saw extensive service during the war with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In August 1864, it sailed to Norfolk, Va., for service as a training ship for Navy apprentices and landsmen.
The sailor seated, right, wears a photograph, possibly a gem-sized tintype, on the chest of his jumper. The photographer’s colorist has painted gold around it, presumably to draw attention to it. The image appears to show a head and shoulder view of another sailor wearing a blue cap.
This stern looking petty officer posed in Hord’s Paducah studio, in front of a painted backdrop featuring a stern-wheel steamer in a river scene that is almost three-dimensional. The insignia sewn on the right sleeve of his plain jumper is missing the star above the white embroidered eagle and anchor motif. As these were individually made by sailors handy with needlecraft, they often did not conform to regulations established in 1852.
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