About
Southern District of New York Admiralty Prize Case Files, Civil War
NARA Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 – 2009
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. 1814- https://catalog.archives.gov/id/620244
Scope and Content: Prize law is that part of international law which concerns the capture of enemy property by a belligerent at sea during war. In the United States the Judiciary Act of 1789 and the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of “Glass v. The Sloop Betsey,” (3 Dall. 6) in 1794 conferred all the powers of a court of admiralty “both instance and prize” on the district courts of the United States. The prize jurisdiction was expressly sanctioned by Congress in the Prize Act of June 26, 1812 (2 Stat. 759), which regulated the issue of commissions and letters of marque to private armed vessels of the United States and provided for the adjudication of prizes in the Federal district courts.
This database is an index to letters that were confiscated in the Civil War Prize Cases. The letters are of a personal and business nature (many between Southern and Northern family members) that were captured on ships trying to run the Union blockade of Southern ports. The database contains the names of the writer and recipient; date; place of origin; ship; and a summary of the letter’s content. What’s especially interesting is that these letters were never delivered. Many of them tell of personal mishaps and deaths in the family that were never received by the intended party.
To find out what information may be available, and how to obtain it, contact:
National Archives at New York
One Bowling Green, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10004
Phone: 212-401-1620
Fax: 212-401-1638
This database contains an index to letters confiscated during the Civil War.
Below you can search for the names of the writer and recipient, date, place of origin, ship, or the letter’s content.
NOTE: Words to Search for can be surnames, ship names, or any other words. Individual words can be partial words ending with an * (asterisk) as a wildcard. It will NOT work if the asterisk begins a word, only if it’s at the end of one. A phrase can be something like “Bill of Exchange” or “This letter is”.
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Rosemary Addarich * Shari Aldous * John Allen * Karen Almeida * Wendy Almeleh * Trish Andersen * Gloria Anderson * Carla Andrews * Patricia Angeli * Daria Anuszkiewicz Rose Mary Arditty * Marie Arena * Hazel Arnold * Chris Asmann * Meg Assip * Harold Atkins * Brenda Aubert * Paul Auerbach * Katherine Auernheimer * Rosa Avolio * Joyce Bailey * Anne Baker * Pamela Baker * Lorraine Baltusis * Michelle Barnea * Darrellan Barnes * Laura Basile * Joe Battagliese * Kate Baum * Richie Baum * Joan Beck * Marie Bell * Joan Belonzi * Priscilla Benato * Gail Bender * Shelby Bennett * Kathleen Benson * Scott Benz * Cheryl Mauro Berg * Audrey Berghaus * Kirsten Berlin * Robert Bernard Richard Bernhard * Jillian Beroza * Michelle Beroza * Lucille Bertram * Ana Maria Betancourt * Emily Biegel * Dawn Bielemeier * Richard Black * Bill Bliss * Karen Bliss * Lynn Blumenau * Dave Blumenstetter * Robert Boeckle * Bonnie Boeger * Jan Bohne * Ronald Bonafede * Marie Bonafonte * Penny Bonnar * Bernadette Bono * Dr. Warren L Bosch * David Botticello, Jr. * Carla Bourg * Palma Bourgoin * Cynthia Boyle * Tom Brady * Erin Brannagan * Sandy Brass * Sharon Brearey * Jim Breslin * Serena Brochu Elaine Bronner * John Brook * Nancy Brower * Barbara Brown * Ken Brown * Anthony Bruscino * Mary Bryksinski * Sarah Buchanan * Ethel Buebendorf * Richard Buehring Eileen Buesing * Donna Bullaro * Mari Jayne Burke * Alice Burns * Cindy Burns * Gloria Burton * Karen Buxton * Thomas P Byrnes * George Cabat * Alissa Cabrera * John Califano * Dan Callaghan * Kristin Campbell * Linda Cantor * Georgia Capobianco * Shanna Cardita * Jay Carollo * Debra Carpentieri * Lawrence Carroll * Patricia Carter * Carol Caruana * Suzanne Carver * Cathleen Cassidy * Anna Caulfield * David Cazalet * Ray Cefola * Mary Anne Cella * Michele Chabot * Cathy Champion * Blythe Chase * Hope Chontofalsky * Joanne Chubb * Anne Ciochetto * Ruth Cipko * Daniel Claffey * Robert Clancy * Anne-Marie Clanton * Patricia Clark * Janice Clauer * Helen Clifford * Holly Cochrane * Kim Cohen * Lois Ann Colaianni * Jim Colbert * John Colbert * Mary Colbert * Lisa Cole * Kim Coleman * Lori Coles * Chris Collinge * Patricia Connor * Lorraine Conroy * Janet Corcillo * Janice M Corcoran * Barbara Coughlin * Blanche Craton * Judith Cruse * John Cullen * Paula Curran * Ronald Curti Isabel Cymerman * Kathleen Daniel * Fred Danner * Belinda Dapice * Mary Haas Davis * Holly Dawson * Margaret DeAcetis * Michelle DeAmelio * Giacomo DeAnnuntis * Linda DeBenedictis * Dolores DeBetta * Donna DeBetta * Kim DeFalco * Mary J Dehner * Dianne Delitto * Jason Dell’Aquila * Karen Delmarco * Evelyn DeLuna * Ruth Dennis * Barbara DeOliveira * Flora Dering * Linda Desmond * Patricia DeTiberiis * Ellen Diener * Ed Dietz * Rosemary Dikeman * Anthony DiMarino * Maureen Doane * Vickie Doddman * Ellen Donohoe * Anne Donovan * Kelly Doroban * Georgiana Dorr * Stewart Driller * John Driscoll * Mary Duet * Jeanne Durney * Carol Earnhart * Donna Ebert * Patricia Eckardt * Don Eckerle Melanie Egan * Robin Ehlich Kristin Elkinton * Betty English * Andrea Eppie * Tom Erickson * Terri Fabiano * Mike Falabella * Joan Falk * Patricia Farrell * Carolyn Fennell * Bill Fenton * Theresa Fernstrom * Frances Fields * Linda Figliola * Linda Fine * Nora FitzGerald * Maureen Fitzpatrick * Terry Fleming * Lee Folino * Doreen Forrest * Bill Forshay Suzanne Forte * Eve Fowler * Michelle Frager * Carolyn Franchi * Dolores Frank * Diane Frankel * Jane Fraser * Stefan M Freed * Linda French * Michael Friedman * Dawn Fulton * Gaye Funk * Richard Furtaw * Marianne Gaertner * Jeannine Gannon * Emily Garber * Eric Gatti * Patty Gault * Donna Gaviola * Shari Gee * Ina Getzoff * Sherry Gevarter * Juliette Gibbs * Donna Gilliotti * Maria Giovine * Jean Giuliante * Marge Goldin * Charles Gordon * Estelle Gordon * Janice Graef * Patti Graney * Carol Granville Sharon Gray * Ann Green * Elizabeth Green * Joyce Green * Dorothy Gregg * Marilyn Grosbeck * Teresa Guidice * Ed Guinness * David Gula * Doris Gulotta * Margaret Gundacker * Sister Joan Hackett * Bill Hackmack * Sandi Hamilton * Patricia Hammock * Cheryl Hannan * Colin Harlingten * Audrey Harmse * Chris Harmse * John Harvey Susan Harvey * Frederick Hazen * Elisabeth Helfrich * Linda Hendricks * Kathleen Hendrickson * Sharon Henn * Brenda Hensley * Clare Herrick * Barbara Hershey * Patricia Hervey * Laura Hescock * Florence Hess * Len Hickey * Roberta Hirsch * Christine Hoff * Chris Hoffman * Ann Holland * Catherine Hollister * Barbara Holmes * Susan Hoppe Bobbe Horton * Barbara Hossbach * Stephanie House * June Howard * Gary Hunt * Joan Hydo * Sue Hyer * Marie Inglee * Sue Irvine * Jeanne Jain * Linda Jarczewski Jeanette Johnson * Mary Ellen Johnson * John Jonaitis * Michelle Jones * Cheryl Kalt * Beverly Kane * Stephen Kane * Peggy Kanstroom * Rochelle Kaplan * Barbara Karwowski * Darlene Katanic * Walter Kehoe * Virginia Keller * Judy Kelly * Donner Kemmer * Ken Kennedy * Emily Kenzik * Richard 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