Research Catalog

USS Constellation on the Dismal Coast : Willie Leonard's journal,1859-1861

Title
USS Constellation on the Dismal Coast : Willie Leonard's journal,1859-1861 / edited by C. Herbert Gilliland.
Author
Leonard, William Ambrose, 1837-1889.
Publication
Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, [2013]

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFE 15-1111Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Additional Authors
Gilliland, C. Herbert
Description
xii, 413 pages; 24 cm.
Summary
"Today the twenty-gun sloop USS Constellation is a floating museum in Baltimore Harbor; in 1859 it was an emblem of the global power of the American sailing navy. When young William E. Leonard boarded the Constellation as a seaman for what proved to be a twenty-month voyage to the African coast, he began to compose a remarkable journal. Sailing from Boston, the Constellation, flagship of the U.S. African Squadron, was charged with the interception and capture of slave-trading vessels illegally en route from Africa to the Americas. During the Constellation's deployment, the squadron captured a record number of these ships, liberating their human cargo and holding the captains and crews for criminal prosecution. At the same time, tensions at home and in the squadron increased as the American Civil War approached and erupted in April 1861. Leonard recorded not only historic events but also fascinating details about his daily life as one of the nearly 400-member crew. He saw himself as not just a diarist, but a reporter, making special efforts to seek out and record information about individual crewmen, shipboard practices, recreation and daily routine--from deck swabbing and standing watch to courts martial and dramatic performances by the Constellation Dramatic Society. This good-humored gaze into the lives and fortunes of so many men stationed aboard a distinguished American warship makes Gilliland's edition of Willie Leonard's journal a significant work of maritime history"--
Series Statement
Studies in maritime history
Uniform Title
Studies in maritime history.
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Call Number
JFE 15-1111
ISBN
  • 9781611172898 (hardback)
  • 1611172896 (hardback)
  • 9781611172904 (e-book) (canceled/invalid)
LCCN
2013019618
OCLC
854956875
Author
Leonard, William Ambrose, 1837-1889.
Title
USS Constellation on the Dismal Coast : Willie Leonard's journal,1859-1861 / edited by C. Herbert Gilliland.
Publisher
Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, [2013]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
Studies in maritime history
Studies in maritime history.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Added Author
Gilliland, C. Herbert, editor.
Research Call Number
JFE 15-1111
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