Portsmouth Family Donates Historical Documents to Naval War College's Civil War Collection

PORTSMOUTH, RI—Portsmouth resident Duncan Ingraham was graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1966 and stationed in Newport as an engineering officer and flag aide to the Naval Base Newport Commanding Officer from 1968 to 1970. He and other family members of U.S. Navy and Confederate navy officer Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham recently donated papers to the War College's Naval Historical Collection.

The gift includes three significant and previously unknown manuscripts.

One was written by a family member, U.S. Navy and Confederate navy officer Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham, and details the cruise of the U.S. Civil War Confederate navy ship CSS Georgia.

Also, a journal from U.S Navy and Confederate navy officer Wilburn Briggs Hall, Naval Academy Class of 1859, depicts his time as a midshipman aboard USS Plymouth.

A sailcloth-wrapped journal was kept by Ferdinand Piper, a sailor who served on the frigate Guerriere and USS Dolphin from 1831 to 1832, along with a first printing of J. Thomas Sharf's “History of the Confederate States of the Navy,” published in 1887. The gift also included a 17th century family bible and a 19th century family history of the Ingrahams of Great Britain.

The collection is an invaluable addition to the NHC and expands its U.S. Civil War and Confederate naval holdings.

Photo Caption: front row: Duncan Ingraham, left, and Dara Baker, head archivist for the Naval Historical Collection (NHC) at U.S. Naval War College; back row: Jeanne Ingraham, left, and MaryAnn (Ingraham) Brenner. Baker recently accepted the donation from the family of U.S. Navy and Confederate navy officer Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham. Family member Anne Hopkins is not pictured.

Photo Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jess Lewis/Released