Date Original
1862
Description
This collection contains a letter written by Dabney Scales, serving aboard the CSS Arkansas, near Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 31, 1862 to his father.
Biographical/Historical Note
Dabney Minor Scales was born on June 1, 1841, near Holly Springs, Mississippi. He attended the United States Naval Academy but withdrew once hostilities began during the Civil War and joined the Confederate States Navy. He served aboard the Confederate Steamer Arkansas in 1862 at Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. Nearing Baton Rouge on August 6, 1862, engine failure caused its collapse. Scales helped set fire to the ship and it sank. He went on to serve aboard the Shenandoah, which sailed as a cruiser in Atlantic and Pacific waters during the last year of the war. After some time in Mexico, he settled in Memphis, Tennessee where he began to practice law in 1869. He married Susan B. Winchester Powell, the daughter of George W. Winchester. Scales would serve in the Tennessee legislature and also served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during the Spanish American War. He died May 26, 1920.
Physical Description
Document, 8.5" x 11"
Geographical Area
Mississippi
Language
English
Identifier
SMC.055.038
Resource Type
Text
Collection
Letter from aboard the Confederate Steamer Arkansas, SMC.055.038
Publisher
Arkansas State Archives
Contributing Entity
Arkansas State Archives
Recommended Citation
Letter from aboard the Confederate Steamer Arkansas, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rights
Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.
Disciplines
United States History
