"Abstract Log of 'USS Wyoming' maintained by Ensign Walter Pearce" [manuscript title].

A fascinating Civil War naval log maintained by an ensign during service aboard the USS Wyoming, incorporating his eyewitness account of the action in the Shimonoseki Straits on 16 July 1863, the first clash between the US Navy and Japanese vessels. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the Wyoming, a wooden-hulled screw sloop, lay at anchor in San Francisco. After early service along the California coast protecting Union whaling interests from Confederate threats, she cruised in South American waters during the first half of 1862 before being ordered to the Far East to hunt Confederate commerce raiders, notably the CSS Alabama, which eluded her. The mission soon brought the Wyoming into collision with the isolationist policies of the Japanese emperor. "In accordance with the Emperor Komei's 'Order to expel barbarians' [11 March 1863], the Shimonoseki-based Choshu clan under Lord Mori began to attack western shipping in the Shimonoseki Straits. During June and early July, Lord Mori's warships and coastal artillery fired on US, French, and Dutch vessels. The USS Wyoming was then sent into the straits and was also attacked. It retaliated by bombarding shore batteries, sinking two Japanese warships and damaging another" (Encyclopaedia of Warfare). Pearce's journal begins on 26 October 1861 with his appointment as acting master mate, reporting for duty at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In early November he shipped out for the Far East, adding to his log extensive detail of supplies and munitions garnered for the voyage. Sailing via Honolulu, Manila and the Ladrones (present-day Mariana Islands), the Wyoming patrolled the Pacific for the rest of 1862 and into the first half of 1863. For most of May, June, and July 1863, the Wyoming lay at anchor off Yokohama. On 25 June 1863 the American merchant steamer Pembroke was fired on by Japanese ships and shore batteries while anchored off Shimonoseki. The Wyoming left Yokohama on 13 July and by the 16th was in action, Pearce giving a gripping account of the brief engagement: "At 5:10 got underway & steamed toward the Straits of Simona Saki. At 9 went to general quarters, loaded the pivot guns with shell, and cleared ship for action. At 10:45 am entered the Simona Saki Straits & beat to quarters. On entering 3 signal guns were fired from the batteries on shore on the starboard hand, immediately two shots were fired at us from the 1st battery. upon which we hoisted our color & opened fire in return with 11 in shell from Pivot guns & solid shot from our Broadside guns, the starbd. In passing thro' the straits we engaged 4 batteries. One steamer, one bark, & one brig (all flying the Japanese colors at the peak & flag of Prince Choshoe [Choshu] at the fore) were lying in the straits, they also opened fire on us which we returned. After passing all the batteries & vessels, we returned & engaged them a second time. At 12:10 stopped firing and steamed out of the straits having been one hour & 10 minutes under fire." The Wyoming put into Yokohama, "nursing damage to her funnel and rigging, having plugged the damage from the eleven Choshu shots that had pierced her hull" (Denney, p. 156). The log concludes with the return to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in July 1864, the Wyoming having completed a circumnavigation of the globe. Pearce later transferred to the Union ironclad New Ironsides, then regarded as the most powerful ship in the US Navy. In a vivid 16-page autograph letter on blue paper (split along the horizontal fold) to "My own dearest Rose", he offers a meticulous account of the First Battle of Fort Fisher (23-27 December 1864), accompanied by a small blue-pencil sketch map of the Confederate batteries. The log also contains an original pen-and-ink map of the engagement at Shimonoseki (180 × 230 mm, mounted and tipped in), marking Japanese batteries and the positions and movements of the ships involved. The entry for 15 July is illustrated with two coloured-pencil sketches of flags flown by vessels of.…