Appendix A
Passengers and Crew Aboard the Maple Leaf
at the Time of Explosion on April 1, 1864.

By James W. Towart


The probable number of people on board : 66 based on the Board of Survey report of 58 loaded into lifeboats, and eight left on the wreck, four crew killed and four Confederate prisoners.

Maple Leaf crew1  31
Pilot: Romeo Murray  1
Passengers3
     Capt. Langon, Gen'l Hatch's staff
     Capt. Chadwick, Gen'l Hatch's staff4
     Mrs. Chadwick
     Chadwick child
     George Garrison
     Major Wales, 55th Mass. Inf. Regt.
  6
Confederate prisoners5
     Asa Emanuel
     Amos Emanuel
     Barry Justice
     William Leeman		 4
Baggage guard6
     Sgt. Milton Brown, 112th NY Inf. Regt. plus 10 men		  
11
   
Total known 53
Total not known 13
Total on board 66
   
Killed were: Deckhands, Simeon Field, Eli Foster
Firemen, Benjamin Wiggin, Charles Summer2		  


Commentary.

Provost Marshal's Guard: Standing orders for transports on the St. Johns River at the time of the sinking required a ten-man guard to be on board.8

It is possible that the ten-man baggage guard detail from the 112th Regiment also served as the Provost Guard.

In testimony given by Captain Dale in 1869, he said, "there were 63 people on board, crew, a few troops and two ladies."9 This is at variance with his testimony on April 2, 1864 at the Board of Survey hearing.

As to the question of as to whether Mrs. Dale was on board, The New York Times reported on April 13, 1864:

    The Captain's wife and sister-in-law, who have lived on the boat for several months, happened to be in Beaufort on Friday (April 1)10

 


Endnotes.
1Board of Survey, Crew list for the Maple Leaf National Archives, Record Group 92.  Also shown on Pg. 56 of "The Maple Leaf, an Extraordinary Civil War Shipwreck".
2The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 13, 1864, article datelined Jacksonville, Florida, April 1,1864.
3lbid. For Langdon and the Chadwicks. Garrison and Wales from Lewis G. Schmidt, The Civil War in Florida, Vol.1, Part 2, (Allentown, PA.: Schmidt, 1991), p 905
4Letter addressed to Captain P.R. Chadwick, Assistant Adjutant General, District of Florida. The letter confirms that Chadwick was on General Hatch's staff. ORA, v 35, Pt 2, p 17.
5Log of the Norwich. Note that both Captain Dale and Engineer Johnson testified at the Board of Survey that three Confederate prisoners were left on board when the ship was evacuated, which was incorrect.
6History of the 112th New York Regiment.
7Maple Leaf crew list. National Archives, Record Group 92. (this reference deleted in revision)
8First Lieutenant R.M. Hall to Captain Walbridge, Chief Quartermaster, District of Florida, March 14, 1864. National Archives, Record Group 92.
9Deposition of Captain Henry Dale, June 21, 1869, National Archives, RG. 123.
10The New York Times, April 13, 1864. 

Revised: August 27, 2000