MAPLE LEAF
AS A UNION ARMY
TRANSPORT

By James W. Towart and Col. J. V. Witt, USA Ret.
Contact James W. Towart


Endnotes.
 1The description of the sinking is derived from the testimony given at the Board of Survey convened by Brigadier General Jonathan P. Hatch by Special Order No.60, at Jacksonville, Florida, on April 2, 1864, to investigate and report on the loss of the steamer Maple Leaf National Archives, Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, Maple Leaf  Cited as Board of Survey.
 2See Appendix A for the names of the crewmen killed, the Confederate prisoners, other members of the crew and passengers.
 3Board of Survey ,op.cit.
 4Voyage on April 1 from the deck log of the Norwich. A copy located in the St. Johns Archeological Society Archives. Reference:119300.00
 5The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), Cited as ORA. Series I, v 35, Pt. 1, pp 369, 370. Report of Major General Patton Anderson, dated May 24, 1864.
 6lbid Pt. 2, p 397.
 7lbid pt. 2, p381. Report of Captain E. Pliny Bryan, assistant adjutant general, Confederate States Army. April 4, 1864.
 8Attorney General, U.S. Court of Claims, Charles Spear vs. United States. National Archives, Record Group 123, Case No.3705.
 9Gilmore and Black, "The Laws of Admiralty," Chapter XI p 936.
 10Charter Contract is "Exhibit A." National Archives, Record Group 123. Case No.3731.
 11Brief for defendants, filed January 3, 1870, by Thomas H. Talbot, assistant attorney of the U.S. National Archives, Record Group 123, Case No.3731.
 12Lieutenant Colonel C. W. Thomas to Captain W.W. McKim, June 10, 1863. National Archives, Record Group 123.
 13Charles Spear to Captain W.W. McKim, June 15, 1863. National Archives, Record Group 123.
 14Colonel R.E. Clary to Lieutenant Colonel C.W. Thomas, June 22, 1863. National Archives, Record Group 123.
 15Brief of Assistant Attorney General Talhot. National Archives, Record Group 123. See Endnote 11
 16Deposition of Archibald Getty, February 28, 1869. National Archives, Record Group 123.
 17Charter Contract was signed by Charles Spear and Captain W.W. McKim on August 19, 1863, but it was effective as of June 22, 1863.National Archives, Record Group 123.
 18The New York Tribune, June 11, 1863.
 19Julius Giesecke, "Diary of Julius Giesecke, 1863-1865," Oscar Hass, translator and editor, Texas Military History 4 (Spring 1964), pp 30-34; Ai Edgar Asbury, My Experience in the War, 1861 to 1865 (Kansas City, Missouri: Berkowitz & Co., 1894), p 19.
 20The Dix-Hill Cartel, a treaty negotiated by Major General John A. Dix and Major General Daniel Harvey Hill in July 1862, called for the prompt exchange of prisoners, at the designated points of Vicksburg, Mississippi in the West and City Point, Virginia, in the East. The protocol is found in ORA, Series 2, v 3, pp 266-68.
 21Federal commanders had suspended the exchange and parole for several reasons, including the Confederate President's announced policy (which was never implemented) that captured Northern officers found in command of black troops would be turned over to the individual states for trial as persons promoting servile insurrection.
 22John B. Wolf, Confederate Veteran 6 (August 1893), p 386; Washington Evening Star, June 13, 1863.
 23Compiled service record of Lieutenant William Dorsey, 3rd Regiment of Pennsylvania (Heavy) Artillery. Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served During the Civil War. Records of the Adjutant General's Office, Department of War. National Archives, Record Group 94.
 24Brigadier General James Bowen to Major General John Dix, June 2, 1863. ORA, Series 2, v 2, p 730; Major General Nathaniel P. Banks to Major General Ulysses S. Grant, April 23, 1863, ORA, Series 1, v 15, p 303.
 25A.E. Asbury, "The Capture of the Maple Leaf" Confederate Veteran 6 (November 1898), p 529.
 26"Prison Life and Escape of Col. Green," Confederate Veteran 7 (January 1898), p 57.
 27Wolf, Confederate Veteran 6, op. cit., p 6.
 28The New York Times, June 12,1863.
 29Asbury., op. cit., p 529.
 30Service records of Lieutenant Dorsey, op. cit.
 31Major General Dix to Major General Halleck, June 11, 1863, ORA, Series 1, v 27, pt 2, p 786.
 32"Prison Life and Escape of Col Green," op. cit.
 33The Richmond Enquirer, June 23 and 26, 1863.
 34Service records of Lieutenant Dorsey, op.
 35The value of five cents in 1863 can be estimated by a tariff of prices established by the military on St. Simons Island, Georgia, in July 1862; a quart of milk, four cents; a dozen eggs, 12 cents; a chicken, 12 cents; a dozen ears of corn, five cents; a large fish, two cents a pound. Macolm Bell, Major Butler's Legacy (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987), pp 362-3.
 36William L. Hyde, History of the 112th Regiment, New York Volunteers (Fredonia, N.Y.: McKinistry & Co., 1866), pp 47, 48.
 37Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in The War of Rebellion (ORN), South Atlantic Squadron from October 1, 1863, to September 30,1864. Series 1,v 15,pp280, 281.
 38The New York Times. February, 20, 1864.
 39Board of Survey, op. cit.
 40Colonel W.B. Barton to Captain P.R. Chadwick, March 10, 1864. ORA, V35, Pt 2, p17.
 41Board of Survey, op. cit. Captain Dale testified that he was ordered to Pawnee Landing to load "the camp and garrison equipment of Foster's and Ames' Brigades." First Lieutenant George W. Roder, the assistant quartermaster in the 13th Indiana Regiment, testified that he had supervised the loading of the garrison equipage and baggage of Foster's Brigade onto the Maple Leaf . The New York Times on April 13, 1864, reported that the cargo was "the camps and garrison equipage of three regiments of Gen. Foster's Brigade, and also the personal baggage of officers." Documentary evidence of the property of General Ames' Brigade has not been found during research by the writer of this article.
 42The New York Times, April 13, 1864.
 43Hyde, op. cit., p71.
 44lbid.
 45First Lieutenant R.M. Hall to Captain C.E. Wallbridge, March 14, 1864. National Archives, Record Group 123.
 46Board of Survey. Description of the voyage of the Maple Leaf from March 26 to April 1, 1864.
 470RA,V35,pt2,p47.
 480RA, V35, pt 2, p 123.
 49The Florida Times-Union, September 20, 1870.
 50U.S. Army Engineers. National Archives, Record Group 77.
 51Ibid.
 52Ibid.
 53J. H. B. Lang had assigned his interest in the Maple Leaf to Charles Spear.
 54National Archives, Record Group 123, Case No.3731.
 55National Archives, Record Group 123, Case No.3705.
 56National Archives, Record Group 123, May 17, 1870.
 57National Archives, Record Group 92.
 58Ibid.
 59Report of Captain E. Pliny Bryan, assistant adjutant general in the C.S.A. to Major General Patton Anderson, April 4, 1864.ORA, V35, Pt 1, p 381. The soldiers mentioned in this report were Lieutenant J.D. O'Hern, Corporal John Brantley, Private Musco Crenshaw and Private William Taylor, all in Company F; and Private John Frisbee in Company B.
 60Board of Survey, op. cit.
 61Deposition of Captain Henry Dale, June 21, 1869. National Archives, Record Group 123.
 62 Commander George B. Balch to Commodore S.C. Rowan, April 17, 1864. ORN, p314.
 63 Brigadier General Jonathan P. Hatch to Col. E.D. Townsend, May 12, 1864. ORA V35, Pt 1, p392.
 64 Charles 0. Boutelle to Professor A.D. Bache, May 11, 1864. ORN, pp 426,427,428.