Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Louis J. Sands Papers #5180-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Historical Collectible Auctions of Graham, N.C., in September 2004 (Acc. 99905).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Jesse Brown, November 2004

Encoded by: Jesse Brown, November 2004

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2021

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Cables, submarine--Atlantic Ocean--History.
• Family--New York (State)--Social life and customs.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations.
• Port Royal (S.C.) Expedition, 1861.
• Sailors--United States--Correspondence.
• Sailors--United States--History--19th century.
• Sands family.
• Sands, Louis J., b. 1836.
• South Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Photographs.
• United States. Navy--History--19th century.
• United States. Navy--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• United States. Navy--Officers.
• United States. Navy--Sea life.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations.

Louis J. Sands was originally from New York state. A lieutenant in the United States Navy, in 1856 he was appointed clerk to his great-uncle, Captain Joshua R. Sands, who had seen service in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War and was a commodore during the Civil War. They served aboard the steam frigate USS Susquehanna, undertaking voyages to the Caribbean Sea, South America, and the Mediterranean Sea. With the start of the Civil War, Louis J. Sands was assigned to the sloop of war USS Seminole, as part of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Later on, he served on the tin-clad ram, USS Shamrock, and the tug, USS Bazely.

The collection includes a scrapbook of letters, loose letters, newspaper clippings, and pictures relating to Louis J. Sands. There are approximately 90 letters between Sands and others, including Sands's brother, Arthur Sands, and his cousin, Ned Prince. Early letters discuss his experiences in the United States Navy as a clerk on the USS Susquehanna and the USS Congress before the United States Civil War, including a failed attempt at laying the first transcontinental telegram cable across the Atlantic, and voyages to Montevideo, Uruguay, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Letters written during the Civil War refer to naval battles in which Sands participated while serving on the USS Seminole and the USS Shamrock, including the battle of Port Royal, S.C., and the captures of Norfolk, Va.; Plymouth, N.C.; and Murfreesboro, N.C. Some of the loose letters are from the Civil War years and deal with the same subjects as the scrapbook letters. Other loose letters date from 1903 and appear to be related to attempts by Sands to learn more about the his family history. Newspaper clippings consist of a biography of Samuel Francis du Pont, commander of the United States Navy attack on Port Royal, S.C., and obituaries of Colonel S. Van Rensselaer Cruger, a relative of Sands. Two photographs, 1863, are of Sands in his United States Navy uniform. Also included is a picture by an unknown artist of the sinking of the USS Bazely on 9 December 1864 by a Confederate torpedo on the Roanoke River in North Carolina. Sands was commanding the ship at the time of its sinking.

Items separated include a scrapbook (SV-5180/1) and pictures (P-5180).