Sexual Indiscretion on the CSS Florida.

by Terry Foenander.

A few documentary records still survive giving an account of shipboard life on Confederate Naval vessels during the Civil War.

Court Martial proceedings account for a minute number of these documents, and the National Archives holds some papers detailing a number of Court Martial cases convened aboard the CSS Florida in mid-September of 1864, less than three weeks before the vessel was seized by the USS Wachusett in the Bay of San Salvador, Brazil.

Most of these cases are typical of sailor indiscretions such as mutinous conduct and insubordination, and even the case of one or more seamen who had composed a mutinous and threatening, anonymous letter to the commander of the vessel, and then secretly left it in his cabin. One of the main persons involved in the writing of this letter was recommended for discharge. However, the most interesting case was that of Ordinary Seaman Guizeppi Mastreli, who had attempted to commit an act of sodomy on a fellow sailor.

This particular Court Martial case was convened aboard the CSS Florida, at sea, on September 19, 1864, with the charges preferred by the vessel's commander, Lieutenant Charles M. Morris, with First Lieutenant Thomas K. Porter as its senior member, Second Lieutenant Sardine G. Stone and Lieutenant Samuel Barron, Jr., as members, and Assistant Paymaster Richard Taylor as recorder. Because the accused was proficient mainly in the Italian language, First Class Fireman George Florian was sworn in as interpreter.

At the commencement of the hearing Paymaster Taylor read the order convening the court and enquired of Mastreli if he had any objections against any member of the court, to which he replied in the negative. Taylor then read the charges and specifications against the accused who answered by pleading 'not guilty.' Taylor's handwritten transcript of the proceedings then goes on to state:

Thomas George [Seaman], a witness on the part of the prosecution was duly sworn and stated that on the 23rd August, about 10.30 P.M. after coming off the lookout he laid himself down on a plank stretched across the smoke stack guys in the port gangway, that N.B. Pryde was in his hammock swung from the guys just inside of him and that the accused was laying in the hammock netting abreast of, and on the outside of him. That the accused soon after he had laid down commenced feeling his person and whispered 'Salvatori, Salvatori,' supposing he thought that he, Thomas George, was B. Salvatori; that he then wishing to find out what the accused intended doing said nothing; when the accused threw a blanket over him and then attempted to commit the act of sodomy on his person; that he immediately jumped up, seizing the penis of the accused and attempted to drag him on deck, but lost his hold and that C.P. Johnson [First Class Fireman Charles Peter Johnson, a native of Sweden] witnessed the affair.

[An entry dated February 1, 1864, in the Medical Journal of the CSS Florida, notes that Salvatori, a Seaman was being treated with magnesium sulphate, zinc sulphate and aqua for gonorrhoea.]

Mastreli was then asked if he wished to question the witness, to which he replied in the negative. Another witness, Charles P. Johnson, was then called up and questioned about what he had seen. He replied that he had indeed seen Thomas George laying on a plank stretched across the smoke stack guys in the port gangway, and had seen him jump up with his pants down, having hold of the penis of some person laying in the hammock nettings. Johnson added that George then called to Mastreli to come out, as he intended reporting him at the mast, to which Mastreli submitted. At the end of this testimony, Mastreli was once again asked if he wished to question the witness, to which he replied no.

The testimony was then read to Mastreli who said that it was correct, and that he had no defence to make. Finally the court was cleared for deliberation, and after having considered the evidence, the court found the accused guilty of the charges. Mastreli was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged with a loss of three months' pay, which was approved by the ship's commander, Lieutenant Morris.

At the time of the seizure of the vessel off Bahia, Brazil, on October 7, at least one of the other crew members who had been Court Martialled for a separate incident, and had also been sentenced to be discharged, was still aboard, and was one of those captured with the vessel. The list of those captured then, prepared by their Union captors, includes the name of one Eugene Mastrello, an Ordinary Seaman, who may or may not have been the same person charged with sodomy. His first name may have been transcribed as Eugene in error.

Finally, this author is of the opinion that, with the long periods away from land, and female company, more such incidents would most certainly have occurred aboard some of the vessels of both Navies. These sexual incidents would have happened with or without the consent of the other party involved. A victim of such an incident who had been forcefully preyed upon would keep the episode to himself, because of the shame he would have felt, especially in the case of the many young boys who were enlisted in the Navy.

Sources:

The Court Martial transcripts for cases held aboard the CSS Florida in September, 1864, can be found at the National Archives in Record Group 76, microfilm T716, volume 3, which also includes some records of the Engineering and Medical Sections of the vessel. Some additional information can be found on pages 252-288, Series 1, Volume 3 of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.

Copyright, Terry Foenander.

September, 2000.
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