2020-09 Putnal
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/26/2020
A great Civil War Confederate naval relic being a six-sided rosewood die, approximate 2 1/2" square with a highly extravagant inlayed design star design inlayed upon the one face followed by carved old English "of the" and "West" followed by a fancy "C. S. A." in a ribbon on corresponding to honor the USS Star of the West which was renamed the CSS St. Philip after its capture by the Confederacy in April, 1861. The Star of the West was a noted passenger steamer which operated between New York and the California coast before the war. In January 1861 the Federal government chartered the vessel to relieve Anderson's beleaguered forces at Fort Sumter. The opening shots of the Civil War were fired at her to prevent her from completing her mission. She was again chartered by the government to aid in the removal of Federal troops from Texas in April, 1861, but was captured and renamed the CSS St. Philip. but her old name persisted throughout Confederate service in use in defense of New Orleans and the Mississippi river. With the fall of New Orleans her fate was doomed and in March, 1863 was scuttled to obstruct the channel of the Tallahatchie river to prevent Union Admiral David Porter from outflanking Vicksburg via the Yazoo Pass. No doubt, this relic is a memento of that tragic event and would greatly enhance any Confederate naval historian's collection. Ex Norm Flayderman.
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