Food To Union Army In New Orleans Ship Romance 1862 Cargo/crew Manifest
We are offering the Manifest of Cargo and Crew of the Brig " Romance". The Romance was bound from Philadelphia to New Orleans, Louisiana, carrying food, apparently for the Union Army occupying New Orleans and controlling the Mississippi River. Which cleared through the Custom House at Phil. This list of cargo was later attached with a wax seal to the second part of this document, the manifest of crew members, at the time of the actual voyage which was August 6, 1862. The cargo consisted of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of bushels of oats, corn, and flour, hundreds of pounds of pork, hams, chests of tea, boxes of chocolate, and tons of hay. The manifest of crew members consisted of: Master Peter Duncan and 7 crew members plus 1 passenger - W. At the bottom, is a hand-written sworn statement as to the truth of the document, written and signed by Master Peter Duncan. The crew members were E. Cooper of Baltimore, John Watcan? Of Philadelphia, Joseph Maxwell of Baltimore, Geo. Doan of Wilmington, Delaware, John Lewis of New Jersey, Henry Young of Bermuda, and Andrew Anderson of Delaware. This August 6, 1862 voyage does not appear on that list; the list may not be entirely complete. NOTE - In our research we found that in April of 1862, the Union began a campaign to gain control of the Mississippi River in order to divide the Confederacy in half and to block needed supplies from coming in and cotton exports from going out of the south.
The key to the river was New Orleans, the South's largest port. On April 24, 1862, Captain David Farragut captured New Orleans, after which the city was occupied by troops under the command of General Benjamin Butler. We believe this cargo of food was intended for Union Army/Navy personnel during this occupation. Written lightly in pencil on the back of the document is a notation regarding Farragut's taking of New Orleans in April 1862, some of which is difficult to make out. CONDITION - for the most part, in Very Good condition.
We can see that the manifest of crew members has some tape on the back where apparently it had been torn. The way the tape was applied sort of prevents the document from lying completely flat. We have added acid-free archival mending tape to reinforce this older tape. Also, the Cargo Manifest that had been attached with a wax seal, had separated at the place of the seal from the Crew Manifest.