N.C. Carolina Maritime Museum manager will speak on Henry Sterling Lebby

The Cape Fear Civil War Round Table invites the public to a presentation on the mystery of Henry Sterling Lebby, a South Carolinian hailed by no less an authority than James Sprunt as one of those “celebrated men of nerve and experience” who captained blockade runners in the last year of the Civil War.

The presentation will be held on Thursday, Dec. 12 at the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science at 814 Market St., Wilmington. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a chance to mingle and the meeting starts at 7 p.m.

The ships they captained, like Lebby’s Little Hattie, were expressly built to run the increasingly tight Federal blockade. Little Hattie was built in Scotland and ran the blockade at least four times, once to Charleston, S.C., and three times at Wilmington. In fact, Little Hattie made her last run into Wilmington on December 23, 1864, just ahead of the USS Louisiana, the frivolous “powder ship” that was supposed to destroy Ft. Fisher by means of an off-shore explosion. The only effect of the blast was to wake the garrison of the fort in the middle of the night.

Born on James Island, Charleston, S.C., in 1829, Captain Lebby had a “celebrated” career as a Confederate sea captain but ended up at Sailors’ Snug Harbor (SSH) in Staten Island, N.Y., in his last years. The wealthy New York City family of Revolutionary War patriot Captain Robert Richard Randall dedicated the proceeds of the sale of Randall Manor, several acres of land in lower Manhattan, to endow the home for “worn out and decrepit sailors” on Staten Island.

So, how did the celebrated blockade running captain end up in a home for “worn out and decrepit sailors” in New York City? His application for residence at the home described him as a widower and a merchant sailor.

Lori Sanderlin, manager of the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Southport, will unravel this fascinating mystery for us. Sanderlin is a native of Wilmington and a graduate of UNCW. She earned a masters in Maritime Studies from State University of New York Maritime College in Bronx, N.Y. While conducting research from the admissions logs at Sailors’ Snug Harbor, New York, she found the name of Henry Sterling Lebby. Not only was Lebby not just a “merchant sailor,” he was married to Susan Anne Witter, also of James Island, S.C.

Bill Jayne is president of Cape Fear Civil War Round Table

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