2023-03 HCA Auctions
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/7/2023
The broadside, 8" x 13", displays appealing color calligraphic lettering, advertising "Union Aquatic Theatre, On Board U.S. Steam Gun Boat, Port Royal, Harbor of Apalachicola, Monday Jan. 12, 1863." There are three separate performance, His Last Legs; Make Your Wills; and The House Dog. The broadside was created by John A. Stammers who enlisted in the Union Navy in 1861. In October 1862 he shipped out of the Washington Naval Yard in Washington D.C. aboard the USS Port Royal. Stammers puts himself in all three performances. Accompanying the broadside is Stammer's 4pp letter. Datelined; U.S. Gunboat Port Royal, Appalachicola Bay, March 16, 1863. In part, "I am in very good health ... and have a very good time among the theatrical folks here. I showed this letter to the yeoman and he was pleased to hear that you took so much interest in the playbill. ... We have no trouble here, only expecting to the Chattahoochee every day. ..." In early April 1863 the Chattahoochee sailed down the river to visit the gun batteries along the river (although not as far as the Narrows), and then took up station at the town of Chattahoochee, Florida, where the Chattahoochee River joined with the Flint River to form the Apalachicola River. In late May the U.S. Navy learned that a blockade runner, the Fashion, was loading cotton at a landing north of the city of Apalachicola. Lieutenant Commander George H. Morris, of the USS Port Royal sent three boats which seized the Fashion and took her back to the Port Royal. Lt. Guthrie received word of the Union move, and sailed the Chattahoochee down river to aid the Fashion. The Chattahoochee was stopped at a sand bar near the present-day site of Blountstown, where the water was only 7.5 feet deep, too shallow for her 8 feet (2.4 m) draft. While waiting to see if the river would rise enough to allow the Chattahoochee to cross the bar, Guthrie learned that the Fashion had been captured and removed from the river, and decided to return to Chattahoochee the next day, May 27.
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