American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Grant writes instructions to telegrapher: “Operator will please ask operator at Newport News if steamer Martin has left there.” On verso in red is the notation, “No date,” below which is a rubber stamp of “War Records 1861 – 1865,” indicating that this note has been copied for government files.

The U.S.S. Martin was a steamer built in Albany, purchased by the Navy on 16 June 1864, and commissioned later that month. Under the command of Acting Ensign Rudolph S. Sommers, the Martin was equipped as a torpedo boat and joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron on picket and convoy duties. Operating out of the North Carolina sounds through 1864, she assisted in the capture of Confederate conscriptors. She was refitted in the Norfolk Navy Yard in early 1865, soon returning to North Carolina by late February, continuing tug and picket duties before she was decommissioned and sold at the end of the war.