Research has uncovered new material on personalities involved with the history of the "Maple Leaf, An Extraordinary American Civil War Shipwreck" in 1993.

    The first group of personalities were all on board the Maple Leaf on April 1, 1864 when it was sunk by the explosion of a Confederate mine.

    Frank A. Dale was Second Mate of the Maple leaf, was  also the 19 year old son of the ship's Captain Henry W. Dale. It might appear that young Frank in this position was conveniently avoiding conscription into the Union Army, but in fact he was an experienced seaman. His descendants ¹ have Frank's "Seaman's Journal" which is a book that contains his records of two long voyages on sailing ships.

    The first voyage was on the barque Florence which sailed from Boston in December 1861. Frank, who was sixteen at the time, apparently was serving as an officer - apprentice and kept his journal as part of his training. The ship sailed around Cape Horn to Valparaiso, Chile and returned the same way to Cork, Ireland and then back to Boston on October 3, 1862. Frank joined his father on the Maple Leaf after this voyage. Frank's journal is written in beautiful script and details the events of each day of the voyage. His entries include navigational data, weather and sea conditions, crew duties, sickness and injuries among the crew, fish and birds seen and caught, and a record of passing ships.

    After the sinking of the Maple Leaf Frank again took to the sea on board the California which sailed from New York in June 1864 on a round the world voyage which took him to San Francisco, Manila, and Cork where the voyage ended in July 1865.

    Census data for North Chelsea, Mass. for 1860 and 1880 give us a look at the Dale household:

(1) Louise Addison, 25 Crabtree Lane, Northampton, Mass. 01060
 

    There were four Floridians on board the Maple leaf on the night it was sunk. While Captain Henry Dale described them as "three rebel prisoners of war" they were far from the fearsome fighters that description implies. However that was the basis for his decision to leave them on the wreck after the sinking while the crew and passengers pulled away for Jacksonville in the lifeboats. They were safe enough perched on the hurricane deck, which was well above the water, and were picked up the next day by the union gunboat  Norwich.

    The four men were Asa Emanuel and his son Amos, Barry Justice and William Leeman. They were on board the Confederate steamship General Sumpter when it was captured by the Union gunboat Columbine on Lake George on March 13, 1864. The following letter from the local Provost Marshal (Chief of Military Police) to Captain Peter R. Chadwick, Adjutant to the Commanding General (Chadwick had resigned his commission on April 2, 1864) summarizes the situation of these four men:

Office of the Provost Marshal
District of Florida, Dept. of the South
Jacksonville, April 9, 1864

To Capt. P. R. Chadwick

    Asa Emanuel, Amos Emanuel, Barry Justice, and William Leeman were all taken on the steamboat Sumter (sic General Sumpter) on the 12th of March last. The first two were simply passengers on the boat. They live in Volusia County east of the St. Johns. The last two were employed in some duty connected with the boat. They live in Putnam County. Leeman near Pilatka, Justice some 20 miles to the west of Pilatka. They have all taken the oath of allegiance to the U. S. and by direction of General Seymour I furnished them with passes to Pilatka; the first to be allowed to go to their houses in Volusia County, the others to be allowed to go their homes when the military condition of affairs at Pilatka would justify giving them that privilege. For some cause, they were all sent back and were all on board the Maple Leaf at the time she was destroyed. They are entirely destitute, having lost the small remnant of their clothing and other personal property on the Maple Leaf. The two Emanuels, father and son, now ask to be allowed to return home, either via Pilatka or across the country from this place. The others wish to go to Pilatka, and remain there until it is thought proper to allow them to return to their homes. All these parties are exempt from military service on account of old age and disease.

    I respectfully submit the facts in this case of these men for the consideration of the Brig. Gen. Commanding the District.

            Very Respectfully,

            T. A. Henderson
            Lt. Col. Provost Marshal

    This letter was found in the National Archives by Jerry V. Witt on April 29, 1993. It was in the General Hatch file which was a very large record book containing handwritten copies of correspondence dispatched from Jacksonville, it could not be photocopied

    Also on board the night of the sinking were three Union officers whose presence there appears odd from this distance in time. One possibility is that they were taking advantage of the Maple Leaf's diversion to Palatka to make an overnight excursion. The three were Captain Peter R. Chadwick and Captain Langdon, both officers on the Commanding General's staff in Jacksonville (the general was away from Jacksonville at the time) and Major Sigourney Wales who was stationed at Folly Island, S. C. Captain Chadwick was accompanied on the Maple Leaf by his wife and daughter.

    Peter Chadwick was first enrolled in the 100th New York Infantry as a First Lieutenant in December 1861. He fell ill with typhoid fever and resigned his commission because of it in October 1862. In may 1863 he accepted another appointment as a Captain and Assistant Adjutant General (staff officer). Capt. Chadwick resigned his commission for the second time on April 2, 1864 the day after the Maple Leaf sank. This was apparently a surprise because there is a letter in the Archives written to Capt. Chadwick by another officer in Jacksonville dated April 9 who evidently didn't know Chadwick was gone.

    Sigourney Wales enlisted as a private in the 13th Massachusetts Regiment in July 1861. He was promoted to the rank of major in the 55th Massachusetts Regiment (colored) in November 1863. There were no units of the 55th Mass. at Palatka so it is not clear what he was doing on the Maple Leaf that night. A possible reason for Major Wales presence in Jacksonville was a detachment of the 55th Mass. posted at Yellow Bluff near the mouth of the St. Johns River. Four companies of the 55th were loaded on the steam propeller Sentinal on April 17, 1864 bound for Folly Island, S. C. ¹ Major Wales' presence on the Maple Leaf is known from a notation in the letter book of Major John W. M. Appleton. ² Appleton was an officer in the 54th Mass. (colored) and was also on the Board of Survey which investigated the loss of the Maple Leaf.

    Major Wales' record shows that in February 1864 he was arrested at his post at Folly Island, S. C. for failing to produce three swords entrusted to him. On April 30, 1864 he was again place under arrest at Folly Island for a reason unknown to us. Wales resigned and was discharged in November 1864. After the war, in 1891 Wales filed for a government disability pension for deafness which he attributed to standing close by the monster artillery piece named "the Swamp angel" when it exploded on Morris Island, S. C. on August 23, 1863. The pension was not granted. He died in Sept. 1895. In Dec. 1899, his wife, Harriet also applied for a pension based on his wartime deafness.

    Another passenger on board the Maple Leaf on April 1, 1864 was Sergeant Milon J. Brown of Company K of the 112th New York Vol. Infantry. Sgt. Brown was place on board the Maple Leaf at Jacksonville on the evening of March 30, 1864 as commander of the 10 Man baggage guard protecting the property of Foster's Brigade which was in the ships holds.¹

     Brown enrolled in the 112th NYV at Villanova, New York to serve three years. He was mustered in as a musician on Sept. 2, 1862, and promoted to Sergeant on Sept. 3, 1862. He was promoted to First Sergeant on Sept. 1, 1864 and then 2nd Lieut. of Company E on Jan. 5, 1865, and then 1st. Lieut. of Company C on Jan. 6, 1865. He was transferred to the 3d New York Vol. Inf. on June 13, 1865. ²