COMMANDER THOMAS WILLIAM BRENT - MANUSCRIPT LETTER SIGNED 07/28/1862 - HFSID 283737
Price: $1,400.00
THOMAS W. BRENT
As Commander of Savannah Naval Station (CSA) in 1862, he authorizes Lt. John
Rutledge to assigne new, specified petty officers to the gunboat CSS
Savannah.
Manuscript Letter signed: "Thos. W. Brent" as Station Commandant, 1
page, 8x9¾. Confederate State Naval Station, Savannah, 1862 July 28. On
letterhead of the Commandant's Office to Lieut. J. Rutledge, Commanding, Battery
Savannah and Savannah River. In full: "By
authority of the Bureau of Orders & Detail, you may appoint one gunman Mate,
one carpenter Mate, and two Quarter Masters, in addition to the established
complement of the Savannah, as given in my letter to you of the 23d inst. The
reduction of the Petty Officers of the Savannah (agreeably to my order of the
23d inst) will take place from the 1st inst." Thomas William Brent
(1808-1875) was appointed a US Navy Acting Midshipman in 1825. In
1857 Brent, by now a Commander, received his first command: the USS
Marion, a 16-gun sloop of war. In January 1861, he resigned his USN
commission, and in March 1861 - now a Commander in the Confederate Navy, he
took command of the Pensacola Navy Yard. One year later (March 8, 1862), he
obeyed an order to evacuate the base, torching the Navy Yard and defending
fortifications. He subsequently commanded the Savannah Station
(1862-1863), and was then promoted to Commander of Naval Forces West of
the Mississippi. In 1864, he received command of the ironclad CSS
Savannah, but the ship hit mines while attempting to escape from a Savannah
under assault by Sherman's army, and had to be scuttled on December 21.
Brent was reassigned to Charleston Station until war's end. After the war, Brent
returned to Pensacola, working in the fire/casualty insurance business until his
death. The CSS Savannah mentioned here is a steam gunboat used for harbor
defense and re-supply missions. Having run the Union blockade successfully,
it sank in a storm en route to England with cotton to pay for Confederate
munitions and other supplies, in August 1863. It should not be confused with
the Confederate ironclad ram Savannah, built in June 1863 and used in
defense of Savannah harbor. Thomas Brent was its last commander, as noted
above. The letter's recipient, John Rutledge (1820-1894), grandson of
South Carolina Governor and US Supreme Court Justice John Rutledge, Jr.,
commanded several Confederate naval vessels, including later the ironclad ram
Palmetto State. Horizontal fold creases. One small hole at lower crease
1" from lower edge at center. Moisture stains at upper left margin and lower
address block - does not affect content. Creased. Otherwise, fine
condition.
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