Guide to the Marcus M. Whipple Papers, 1862-1864

Marcus M. Whipple was born on August 27, 1840 to Mr. and Mrs. James Whipple. Whipple, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, enlisted in the Union Navy on September 30, 1862 for one year. After training aboard U.S.S. Santee (frigate) and a nearly month-long stay aboard the receiving ship U.S.S. Ohio (ship-of-the-line), Whipple was transferred to U.S.S. Colorado (screw frigate) of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, where he served for the remainder of his enlistment. Aboard Colorado, Whipple served as a fireman, before ultimately being promoted to oiler, a position he held until Colorado's decommissioning in February 1864.

The Marcus Whipple Papers span two years, from 1862 to 1864, including fifteen months of Whipple's service in the Union Navy, from September 1862 to January 1864. The papers (two diaries and four letters) focus on Whipple's time aboard U.S.S. Colorado as a fireman and oiler.

The Whipple Papers are arranged alphabetically by document type into a single series with no subdivisions. The two diaries, spanning from January 1862 to January 1864, consist of brief, daily, handwritten entries. Prior to his enlistment in the Navy, Whipple's diaries allude primarily to hours of work performed, recreational activities, and personal finances. The remainder of the diary entries are the product of Whipple's Navy service, and include brief mentions of weather, ports of call, purchases, ships encountered, visits by flag officers, and shipboard duties and events, such as watch keeping, cleaning, coaling, and engine repair. The letters, three of which were written by Whipple (two addressed to his mother, one to his brother Fred), make mention of his training as an oiler, conditions at home, other correspondents, the monotony of blockade duty, and his desire for the war to come to an end. The fourth letter, a letter of transmittal from Fred Whipple, conveys one of Marcus' letters to their mother.

The Marcus M. Whipple Papers, while offering few specifics pertaining to Whipple's duties and opinions, reflect the general nature, and often tedium, of blockade duty during the Civil War.