Artifacts from a Civil War Shipwreck

Artifacts from a Civil War Shipwreck

By Ephriam D. Dickson III
Deputy Chief, Field Museums Branch, U.S. Army Center of Military History

In the wee hours of the morning of April 1, 1864, a
steamer known as the Maple Leaf was quietly moving up the
St. Johns River in northern Florida, about twelve miles south
of Jacksonville. Built in 1850, this 173-foot-long sidewheel
steamer was one of hundreds of similar ships contracted by
the U.S. Army to move men and equipage during the Civil
War. On this particular night, Maple Leaf was returning to
deliver the baggage for three infantry regiments and a brigade
headquarters, packed tightly in boxes and barrels in the fore
and aft cargo holds.
Suddenly, a thunderous explosion from a submerged
Confederate mine ripped a 30-foot-long gash through the
hull. Within minutes, as the dazed passengers and ship’s crew
scrambled to the lifeboats, the Maple Leaf sank to the muddy
river bottom, taking with her all the ship’s cargo. While
several attempts were made to salvage the ship in the days
that followed, most of the equipage was given up as lost. That
is, until the shipwreck was rediscovered in 1984.
After four years of planning, a small sample was carefully
brought up from this Civil War time capsule and conserved.
A portion of the more than 3,000 recovered artifacts were
later turned over to the U.S. Army and have recently been
transferred from Florida to the Museum Support Center at
Fort Belvoir, Va. where they are currently being cataloged
and preserved. Several of these artifacts have already been
designated for exhibition at the National Museum of the
U.S. Army.
Among the remarkable finds from the Maple Leaf are over
440 artifacts related to Army tents, a type of equipage that
has rarely survived from the Civil War. While no examples
of the actual canvas were found, a number of the upright and
ridge poles were recovered. Also found were large wooden
beads used to hold the knotted ends of tent ropes and wooden
slips for tightening the ropes. Sixteen examples of the oak
pegs (or “pins” as the Army called them) for staking down
the tents were also found, revealing that their design was
virtually identical to those used by Soldiers through World
War II. These examples are just a small sample of the many
remarkable artifacts from the Maple Leaf, providing historians
and enthusiasts with a new window into this important period
in Army history.