Call Number:

C1307

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.4 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); (Collection Title), Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1852-1885 (bulk) and 1852-1957 (inclusive)

Creator:

Lane, Moses A.

Form:

Diaries -- 19th century, Letters -- 19th century., Manuscript maps -- 19th century., Orders (military records) -- 19th century., and Watercolors (paintings) -- 19th century

Abstract:

Consists of selected papers of Moses A. Lane, a nineteenth-century career serviceman in the U.S. Navy, serving most of his time as a gunner. Much of the material relates to a tour (1852-1855) in the Mediterranean aboard the sloop of war St. Louis.

Moses A. Lane was a nineteenth-century career serviceman in the U.S. Navy, serving most of his time as a gunner. He joined the Navy on January 28, 1852. During the Civil War, he was attached to the Cimarron, a double-ended steam gunboat, was primarily assigned to blockade duty with the Atlantic Blockading Squadron. While the Cimarron's primary duty was blockading off South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, the ship also took part in the attack on Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor in late August 1863. Lane was placed on the retired list on January 11, 1885, and died on October 31, 1888.

The collection consists of selected papers of Moses A. Lane. Included are a manuscript journal (1852-1855) maintained by Lane during his trip aboard the U.S.S. St. Louis in the Mediterranean, which contains a full-page watercolor drawing of the sloop of war; a typed transcription (151 pp.) of the journal; manuscript maps of the eastern Mediterranean and the coast of Turkey and Holy Land; 20 holograph letters (1852-1861) by Lane to family members, describing stops along the Mediterranean coast, such as Greece, Constantinople, and Turkey, with a full-page pencil drawing of the ship; orders from the Navy Dept., letters from the Treasury Dept., related legal papers, including Lane's initial naval appointment as "acting gunner" (28 January 1852), with typed transcriptions; a copy of Daring Diplomacy (1957) by Andor Klay, subtitled "The Case of the First American Ultimatum," which chronicles the story of Hungarian "freedom fighter" Martin Koszta and the role played by the St. Louis in achieving his release from imprisonment aboard an Austrian warship in Smyrna Bay (Turkey).