Ironclad Captain: Seth Ledyard Phelps and the U.S. Navy, 1841-1864

Seth Ledyard Phelps was of the Old Navy and the New.  As a midshipman and junior officer he served under sail off West Africa, in the War with Mexico, and in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.  As a senior office in the river squadrons of the Civil War he saw combat at its closest.

Phelps, a native of Chardon, Ohio, was a prolific and observant correspondent.  His private letters, to his wife, his father, and to political patrons and other naval officers, are among the most compelling an…