[Rarebooks] FS: Scarce Civil War/Supreme Court brief

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Cowley, Charles. No. 187. Supreme Court of the United States. In Prize. Nov. 1st 1871. Brief of Argument in Behalf of the Officers and Crews of the United States Ships of War Monadnock, Kaatskill, Nantucket, Canonicus, Mahopac, Sangamon, et. al, Appellants. vs. The United States, on Appeal from the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. By Charles Cowley, Proctor for Appellants. Lowell, Mass.: Stone & Huse, Printers, Vox Populi Office, 21 Central Street, 1871. 8vo, original self-wrappers, 10 pp. In excellent condition, and quite scarce: OCLC lists only two copies, at UMass Lowell and the University of Rochester. 



On February 18, 1865, under pressure from the naval blockade at Charleston Harbor and upon the evacuation of that town, the rebel supply ship Siren was abandoned and boarded by the crew of the U.S. Naval Steamer Gladiolus. The appellants moved in District court to have one moiety of the proceeds of the prize distributed among the captors (i.e., the participants in the blockade), but the District Court refused the request on the grounds that “no public vessel of the United States is entitled to share in the prize.” One third of the prize was granted to the Gladiolus as salvage, and the remaining two-thirds was to be paid into the U.S. Treasury. 



Cowley’s argument against the District Court’s decision involved the doctrine of joint capture (although Sherman’s army was in the vicinity, it was argued that the army did not contribute to the evacuation of Charleston); the idea that the capture was not in inland waters, the harbor having direct access to the open sea; the principle of Droit of Admiralty (the Siren was abandoned by the action of the blockade, not voluntarily, so the prize should not revert to the government); and the notion of “distributable prizes” as set forth in the Prize Act of June 30, 1864. 



Apparently the appellants lost the case before the Supreme Court at the December term, for in a postscript Cowley says, “It is now the duty of Congress to recognize in a generous spirit the invaluable services of the officers and men who so long blockaded the port of Charleston. More than that, considering the inadequacy of the pay of the navy during the war, the slowness of promotion, the slenderness of the chance to win prize money, and the tediousness and hardship of the service, especially on board the ironclads off Charleston, it is the duty of Congress to make a liberal appropriation for every officer and for every man thus engaged.” 



Cowley served as Judge-Advocate on the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron under Admiral Dahlgren (whose reports played a major role in Cowley’s argument) and published a book about his experiences, Leaves from a Lawyer’s Life Afloat and Ashore (Lowell, 1879). 





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