Autograph letter signed by John Taylor Wood, Commander of the Confederate States Army Prov Navy. Cape Fear River, North Carolina, 11 July 1864. 1 page, 8 ¾ x 9 ¾ in. Docketing to verso. 

John Taylor Wood, a commander for the Confederate Navy, wrote this letter to his wife while waiting to set sail — he discusses being delayed to set out, comically writing at the head of the letter that he is aboard the “C.S. Steamer ‘Let her be.’” After expressing his frustration he assuredly writes, “I hardly think the Yankees have learned our destination.” 

Wood was a prominent Confederate seaman, as well as the grandson of President Zachary Taylor and the nephew of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. He served on the CSS Virginia and the CSS Tallahassee, the latter of which he was commander. Wood participated in the Battle of Hampton Roads, where he was wounded, and became a blockade runner while commanding the Tallahassee. He was briefly taken prisoner with Davis, but Wood escaped to Cuba and eventually Nova Scotia. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Navy, Naval History, Brown Water Navy, David Glasgow Farragut, David Dixon Porter, Battle of Mobile Bay, Battle of New Orleans, Blockade, Confederate Blockade]

Two small stains.