Tag Archives: Arkansas River

Civil War Manuscript and Rare Signal Books Donated to University of Texas Library

The Flag Heritage Foundation has donated a Civil War manuscript with unique flag documentation, and three rare and valuable early signal books, to the Whitney Smith Flag Research Collection at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

The most important of these items is the 1864 Memorandum Book of Matthew M. Yorston, gunnery officer of the Union warship U.S.S. Kenwood.

Kenwood was a sternwheel steamer launched in April 1863. She joined the Mississippi Squadron in June and operated on the Arkansas River in the vicinity of Fort Pillow, participating in the capture of Yazoo City that July. She was then sent to the Port Hudson Division and served as a patrol gunboat at Baton Rouge until 1865. After the war she was sold into the merchant service as the Cumberland; she exploded and sank in 1869.

The Memorandum Book records watch, quarter and station bills, fire bills, signal calls, division rosters, daily routine, weekly and daily rations, and internal regulations of U.S.S. Kenwood. There is also a daily log or journal of about 50 pages, now legible only under black light. Most important for flag research purposes are 14 …
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