Motor7
Private
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2018
The following is a odd story of a discovery of a piece of American history. It occurred several years ago, laid dormant for a time, but recently has become a powerful force in it's own right, and continues to lead me in directions I had never considered.
I'm just a retired civil service worker now living in East Tennessee. Born in Atlanta and raised in a NOLA suburb. My family fought on both sides of the Civil War which has always held a mild fascination to me. I read a lot, from fiction to history & I guess my favorites are just simple western paperbacks & American military history. I share the dime paperbacks(most written in the 50, 60 and 70's) on the American West with family and friends. My father in law up in Manitoba gives me a box or two of the books to take home every item I visit. Friends here in Tennessee have also given me bags or boxes of books & others I pick up at auctions or used book stores. In the same manner, I give all my 'read' books away. The cycle has been going on for over 20 years.
So one night I was reading, and I don't remember the title or what bag or box this particular book came from, but when I got to the middle I found something. I though it was a book mark since finding all manners of scrap paper in these books was common. Casually turning over the paper I noticed it had a stamp on it, and it was not just a piece of paper, it was a letter, and the letter looked old. This is what I saw(sorry for the crappy cell photo):
Inside was one page, but it was folded four times to make it a four page letter. The cursive was faded in places and against the tan background difficult to read. The stationary however was astounding:
I have rotated this photo, re-shot it, save it, edited it, but the dang thing just wants to be upside down. If anyone can fix it for me, please do so
The letter is dated Nov 1861, and it from James Bradbury who was serving in Company C, Maine 6th Infantry to his brother Captain Issac Bradbury, Boston Mass(who was currently serving in the US Navy just prior to being posted aboard the USS Cambridge).
I stuck the letter in my safe, and life got in the way and it sat for a few years(I know, I know...but I had good intentions, but I'm on 100 ac and the 2do list endless). Fall of last year, my wife and I are planning our first ever trip to Ireland. Since I'm a third Irish on my fathers side(both great grandparents came over on a famine ship in 1860) I joined Ancestry.com and started digging. When I got exhausted down that rabbit hole, "The Letter" popped into my pea brain. So I got it out and scanned it so I could attempt to read it without causing anymore damage.
I then dove down the rabbit hole following James and Issac and their story is most interesting and tragic. All of the sudden I have this compulsion to write their story, and no, I am not a writer, nor have I ever written anything lengthy other than arrest reports. This little treasure of American history contains so many unanswered questions. Questions that deserve attention and investigation.
In the mean time, I tracked down the only surviving member of the Bradbury family and contacted him. Turns out, he had asked his step mom to research his genealogy for him(she is a bit of a sleuth) and he knew all about Issac(who is his direct ancestor), and James. So, the "letter" is currently being scanned on a high definition scanner at a photography shop that does photo re-construction. The enhanced images will be ready for me to pick up mid week and then I can translate the entire letter, and there will be much more information to follow. The letter then gets sent to it's rightful heir who is looking forward to receiving it.
I leave y'all with this, since I can't find the answer online:
Why is Issac Bradbury listed as "acting Ensign" but later a Captain of his own 80' Tug doing blockade work in the Gulf Of Mexico in 1865? Was it common during that time for the Navy to use an acting Ensign as a Captain?
I'm just a retired civil service worker now living in East Tennessee. Born in Atlanta and raised in a NOLA suburb. My family fought on both sides of the Civil War which has always held a mild fascination to me. I read a lot, from fiction to history & I guess my favorites are just simple western paperbacks & American military history. I share the dime paperbacks(most written in the 50, 60 and 70's) on the American West with family and friends. My father in law up in Manitoba gives me a box or two of the books to take home every item I visit. Friends here in Tennessee have also given me bags or boxes of books & others I pick up at auctions or used book stores. In the same manner, I give all my 'read' books away. The cycle has been going on for over 20 years.
So one night I was reading, and I don't remember the title or what bag or box this particular book came from, but when I got to the middle I found something. I though it was a book mark since finding all manners of scrap paper in these books was common. Casually turning over the paper I noticed it had a stamp on it, and it was not just a piece of paper, it was a letter, and the letter looked old. This is what I saw(sorry for the crappy cell photo):
Inside was one page, but it was folded four times to make it a four page letter. The cursive was faded in places and against the tan background difficult to read. The stationary however was astounding:
I have rotated this photo, re-shot it, save it, edited it, but the dang thing just wants to be upside down. If anyone can fix it for me, please do so
The letter is dated Nov 1861, and it from James Bradbury who was serving in Company C, Maine 6th Infantry to his brother Captain Issac Bradbury, Boston Mass(who was currently serving in the US Navy just prior to being posted aboard the USS Cambridge).
I stuck the letter in my safe, and life got in the way and it sat for a few years(I know, I know...but I had good intentions, but I'm on 100 ac and the 2do list endless). Fall of last year, my wife and I are planning our first ever trip to Ireland. Since I'm a third Irish on my fathers side(both great grandparents came over on a famine ship in 1860) I joined Ancestry.com and started digging. When I got exhausted down that rabbit hole, "The Letter" popped into my pea brain. So I got it out and scanned it so I could attempt to read it without causing anymore damage.
I then dove down the rabbit hole following James and Issac and their story is most interesting and tragic. All of the sudden I have this compulsion to write their story, and no, I am not a writer, nor have I ever written anything lengthy other than arrest reports. This little treasure of American history contains so many unanswered questions. Questions that deserve attention and investigation.
In the mean time, I tracked down the only surviving member of the Bradbury family and contacted him. Turns out, he had asked his step mom to research his genealogy for him(she is a bit of a sleuth) and he knew all about Issac(who is his direct ancestor), and James. So, the "letter" is currently being scanned on a high definition scanner at a photography shop that does photo re-construction. The enhanced images will be ready for me to pick up mid week and then I can translate the entire letter, and there will be much more information to follow. The letter then gets sent to it's rightful heir who is looking forward to receiving it.
I leave y'all with this, since I can't find the answer online:
Why is Issac Bradbury listed as "acting Ensign" but later a Captain of his own 80' Tug doing blockade work in the Gulf Of Mexico in 1865? Was it common during that time for the Navy to use an acting Ensign as a Captain?
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