GETTYSBURG

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Side-wheel Steamer Built 1858 by Robert Napier and Sons in Glasgow, Scotland Launched 28 April 1858 RMS DOUGLAS (Passenger-Cargo Ship) Owned by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and operated as a Royal Mail Ship (RMS) DOUGLAS (Confederate States of America) Sold in 1862 to Cunard, Wilson and Company — who were clandestinely acting as brokers for the Confederate States of America Ownership listed as Charleston Import and Export Company and used as a blockade runner MARGARET AND JESSIE (Confederate States of America) Renamed 1863 Captured by U.S. Navy on November 5 1863 Purchased from the New York Prize Court by the U.S. Navy USS GETTYSBURG (Side-wheel Steamer) Commissioned May 2 1864 - Decommissioned June 23 1865 Recommissioned December 3 1866 - Decommissioned March 1 1867 Recommissioned March 3 1868 - Decommissioned October 8 1869 Recommissioned November 6 1873 - Decommissioned April 9 1875 Recommissioned September 21 1875 - Decommissioned June 26 1876 Recommissioned September 20 1876 - Decommissioned May 6 1879 Sold May 8 1879 at Genoa, Italy Fate unknown

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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6th Commissioning September 20 1876 to May 6 1879

 

New York NY Duplex

1877-02-18 to 1877-03-05

Cover mailed to a Lieutenant Colvocoresses in USS GETTYSBURG, in care of B.F. Stevens, Esq., Despatch Agent, in London. Postmarked in New York on February 18th and marked as received by the agent (red marking) on March 5th, 1877. (Note: The spelling of "despatch" is still acceptable, but "dispatch" is more common in current usage.)
Research and cover courtesy of Glenn Smith.

 

New York NY Duplex #22

1878-01-22 to 1878-02-04

No Image

Cover mailed to a Lieutenant Colvocoresses in USS GETTYSBURG, in care of B.F. Stevens, Esq., Despatch Agent, in London. Postmarked in New York on January 22th and marked as received by the agent (red marking) on February 4th, 1878. (Note: The spelling of "despatch" is still acceptable, but "dispatch" is more common in current usage.)
Research and cover courtesy of Glenn Smith.

 

New Jersey CDS

1878-10-16 to 1878-10-31

Cover mailed to a Lieutenant Colvocoresses in USS GETTYSBURG, in care of B.F. Stevens, Esq., Despatch Agent, in London.

 

New York NY Duplex

1878-10-29 to 1878-11-15

No Image

Cover mailed to a Lieutenant Colvocoresses in USS GETTYSBURG, in care of B.F. Stevens, Esq., Despatch Agent, in London.

 

Hudson NY Duplex

1878-11-22 to 1878-12-05

No Image

Cover mailed to a Lieutenant Colvocoresses in USS GETTYSBURG, in care of B.F. Stevens, Esq., Despatch Agent, in London. Postmarked from Hudson NY on November 22th 1878 and marked as received by the agent (red marking) on December 5th, 1878. Cover also bears a London PAID marking dated December 3 1878.
Cover courtesy of George DeKornfeld.

 

Other Information

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Civil War Medal

NAMESAKE - Named for a Pennsylvania town, and site of important battle in American Civil War

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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