Naval History and Heritage Command

Duke University 
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
Durham, NC 27708-0185

Allen, Weld N.
Papers, 1852-1873

Documents relating to Allen's naval career, including his appointment to Annapolis; orders as Commander of the sloop Oneida and the gunboat New London as part of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, 1863-1864; report of the capture of the schooner Raton del Nilo; orders to serve on naval general courts-martial on Portsmouth, 1863, in Boston, 1869, and in New York, 1872; and an account of Allen's command of a shore detachment in the attack on Fort Fisher at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, December, 1864-January, 1865.

25 items

Anderson Jr., Edwin A.
Papers, 1915-1918

13 items

Ashe, Samuel A.
Papers, 1856-1950

Correspondence with Alfred Thayer Mahan, naval officer and historian. The early letters portray the developing characters of the young men, both educated at the U. S. Naval Academy; later letters comment on naval affairs. Included are photographs of both as young men. In addition the collection contains a biographical sketch of Mahan prepared by Ashe in 1930 and several letters concerning the Samuel A. Ashe Chapter of the Children of the Confederacy, Wadesboro, North Carolina.

96 items

Aulick, John H.
Papers, 1834-1887

Letters from brother to sister, for the most part, dealing with family matters. Two letters, 1834 and 1859, were written by an uncle, John H. Aulick, an officer in the U.S. Navy; one deals with appointments to the United States Naval Academy in 1834.

24 items

Bailey, Theodorus
Papers, 1869

Washington, DC resident and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral. Letter from Bailey to his nephew, T. Bailey Myers, about Admiral Farragut's retraction of his criticism of Bailey's leadership in the Battle of Mobile in 1864.

1 item

Bates Family
Papers, 1850-1890

Letters among members of the Bates family from Cohasset, Massachusetts. The bulk is from sons Adna and Cyrus to their parents while they were serving in the Civil War. Adna was in the United States Navy, while Cyrus was in the 45th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers, Company A. For most of the period Adna was stationed near Charleston, South Carolina, and Cyrus was in New Bern, North Carolina. Of particular note are descriptions by Cyrus of Army life in North Carolina and by Adna of naval operations off the coast of Charleston and a foraging raid to a plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina in 1865. Later letters are chiefly between Lucy and relatives in Princeton, Maine, several relating to the genealogy of the Bates family.

72 items

Beaman, George W.
Papers, 1863-1865

U.S. Navy officer. Official papers of Beaman, a native of Vermont, while assistant paymaster on USS Union, a store ship stationed off Key West, Florida, during the Civil War.

5 items

Blauvelt, James L.B.
Papers, 1862-1867

U.S. Naval officer and Civil War veteran, from New Brunswick, New Jersey. The collection includes personal correspondence concerning Civil War activities around Pensacola Bay, Florida, Mobile Bay, Alabama, and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

5 items 

Bradford, Joseph M.
Papers, 1846-1879

Captain in U.S. Navy; later Inspector of Ordnance at Navy Yard in Washington.  Letters, military orders, and other papers concerning the career of Bradford and other naval officers. The materials chiefly concern promotions, instructions, and charges brought against Bradford several times for disobeying orders, once during the Civil War. One letter refers to a search for a slaver along the coast of Louisiana and Texas. Two letters from 1867 refer to a yellow fever epidemic aboard Bradford's ship, USS Resaca. General Order 120 of the Navy concerns the fixing of ranks of line and staff officers.

46 items

Breese, Samuel L.
Papers, 1823-1878

U.S. Navy commander, from Middletown, Connecticut. The collection includes drafts of letters written by Breese, a journal, two letter books, and an order book. The journal contains accounts of cruises in the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico, including a detailed account of naval operations in the Mexican War. The letter books, 1837-1853 and 1855-1858, discuss routine naval matters; the activities of the various ships Breese commanded; and Breese's activities as military governor of Tuxpan, Mexico.

9 items

Brownlee, John H.
Papers, 1959-1966

Three commendatory letters relating to Brownlee's naval intelligence career and one photograph of him with two other people. One of the two letters, written at his retirement in 1966, is from J. Edgar Hoover.

4 items

Caldwell, Charles H.B.
Papers, 1864

Charles Caldwell served on several ships during the Civil War. While Caldwell was Commander of the U.S. steamship Glaucus in 1864, he was ordered by the Navy Department to transport M. Murillo Toro, newly elected President of the United States of Columbia. The collection includes a letter ordering the aforesaid transport of Murillo and three letters commending Caldwell and his crew for this endeavor. Also contains two clippings, one concerning a fire on Glaucus while Caldwell was on blockade duty off the North Carolina coast, the other relates to Murillo's passage on Glaucus.

6 items

Calhoun, James E.
Papers, 1817-1829

Logbook covering the cruises of USS Congress in the West Indies and South America, 1817, and in South America, 1817-1818; USS Constitution from the United States to Gibraltar, 1824; USS Actressfrom Gibraltar to the United States, 1824-1825; USS Macedonian in South America, 1826-1827; and USS Boston in South America, 1827-1829. Included are reports on the weather, location, and course, and descriptions of places visited.

1 item

Clark Family
Papers, 1764-1890

Correspondence of the Clark family of Albemarle County, Virginia, and of related families in Virginia and Georgia. The early letters from Virginia deal with family matters, social life, farming, commerce, politics, and the Revolution. Anderson family letters refer to religion and include letters from a soldier in the War of 1812 describing the American blockade of the British in Alexandria, Virginia, and life at Camp Mitchell near Richmond. The papers of the Clarks in Georgia begin in 1840 and concern social and plantation life, land transactions, migrations, slave sales and purchases, and Emory College. There are several Civil War letters from various branches of the family, including those from soldiers, one of which concerns the construction of the ironclad, CSS Virginia, at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The collection also contains the account books of a family distillery business in Campbell County, Virginia and the medical accounts of Dr. Samuel B. Clark of Brothersville, Georgia.

177 items

Dahlgren, John A.
Papers, 1848-1870

Professional and family correspondence especially during the 1860s, chiefly relating to naval and military matters during and after the Civil War, but also referring to depredations and hardships suffered by those at home, freedmen in Georgetown, South Carolina, and to daughter Eva Dahlgren's travels in Europe, especially Italy.

89 items

Daniels, Josephus
Papers, 1904-1954

The papers of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Ambassador to Mexico, and editor of the Raleigh News and Observer.

22,300 items

Dobbin, James C.
Papers, 1821-1856

Papers and letters including a power of attorney from John Moore Dobbin to John R. Buie to act in a slave sale; a legal comment on inheritance laws; letters from David Lowry Swain and Peter Force concerning the collection of documents on the history of North Carolina; and routine correspondence from Dobbin's term as Secretary of the Navy.

16 items

Duc, Henry A.
Papers, 1840-1909

Business and family correspondence of Henry A. Duc, Sr., and of his son, Henry, Jr., both tinsmiths, including many invoices, 1840-1859, from a New York dealer in uncut tin and sheet iron; descriptions of latest tinworking machinery in New York in 1870; information on young Duc's inventions (a marine engine and an elastic fluid engine); personal letters from widely dispersed relatives concerning Nebraska sod houses, 1874; St. Augustine, Florida, and orange crops, 1878; and student life at the United States Naval Academy, and activities on USS Charleston. Included also is an undated manuscript entitled "Literature in Charleston," and a ledger, 1843-1856.

248 items

Duncan, William P.S.
Papers, 1847-1868

7 items

Eltinge-Lord Family
Papers, 1856-1871

Correspondence of Peter Eltinge, an officer in the 156th New York Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, relating to his service in the Department of the Gulf, Maryland and Virginia, and Georgia and the Carolinas, participation in the occupation of Georgia; and operation of a grocery store in Memphis, Tennessee, and speculation in cotton after the war. Topics include politics, temperance, economic conditions, blacks in the Union Army, and black agricultural labor during Reconstruction. Also, naval records and other papers of George P. Lord of Camden, Delaware, brother-in-law of Peter Eltinge, chiefly relating to his duty as a naval officer on ironclads of the Mississippi Squadron, including USS Chillicothe, Ozark, and Osage. Topics include the Red River Expedition of 1864 and the regulation of commerce on the Mississippi River. Also known as the Peter Eltinge papers.

2,245 items

Emmerson, Arthur
Papers, 1793-1906

Personal and business papers of Emmerson and his family concerning the sale of timber to the U.S. Navy, 1830s; the administration of schools in Franklin County, North Carolina; the operations of the Confederate commissary department in western Virginia and life in Portsmouth, Virginia, during the occupation by Federal troops, 1864.

320 items

Forbes, Edwin F.
Papers, 1861-1865

American seaman with the Indian Naval Brigade; native of East Dixmont, Maine. The collection includes a journal and letter book recording Forbes' life on the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean as a member of the Indian Naval Brigade. Topics include the British prison establishment and the Andamanese population. The second half of the volume is the journal, 1870-1876, of William Bellamy, a farmer and sea captain of Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

1 volume

Gibbon, Lardner
Papers, 1843-1848

The collection includes a diary, chiefly from period when Gibbon was off the coast of South America on board USS Boston while the Navy was protecting U.S. interests during the conflict between Uruguay and Argentina. Also daily accounts given during part of the siege at Vera Cruz, Mexico.

1 item

Goldsborough, Louis M.
Papers, 1827-1877

Family and official correspondence, chiefly relating to Goldsborough's naval career. Letters pertain to life in Richmond, the Battle of Tuxpan, Paraguay in 1860, naval affairs in the Civil War and wartime conditions in Williamsburg and Norfolk, Virginia, and other matters.

524 items

Graham, William A.
Papers, 1841-1896

William Alexander Graham was Secretary of the Navy from 1850 to 1852.

58 items

Great Britain
Collection, 1730-1914

This collection of military and naval papers includes documents relating to the British Navy in the American Revolution and naval activities during the Napoleonic Wars.

1,079 items

Hall, Thomas W.
Papers, 1809-1894

Letters concerning investments in midwestern railroads, particularly the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad. Early papers are those of John Wood, a merchant of Baltimore, including a description of the first gaslights in the city, 1817, and legal papers of Joshua and Thomas Gilpin relating to their business, the Delaware Brandywine Paper Mills. The collection also contains the papers of William Maxwell Wood, including the manuscript of his book, Fankwei, describing his voyage to the Far East, 1855-[1858?], as ship's doctor on board USS San Jacinto and giving an account of the Second Opium War; and a journal chiefly concerned with William M. Wood's career in the Civil War as fleet surgeon of the North Atlantic blockade and inspector of hospitals in North Carolina, 1863.

125 items

Henry, Isaac
Papers, 1794-1841

Papers of Surgeon Isaac Henry.

59 items

Hill, James D.
Papers, 1861-1864

Miscellaneous letters and papers relating to Hill's service as an officer in the Confederate Army. The collection includes orders, reports on supplies and enemy troop movements, letters recommending Hill for promotion, and a letter, 1864, from a Louisiana planter to Admiral David Dixon Porter of the United States Navy seeking compensation for goods confiscated by Federal soldiers.

15 items

Iredell, James
Papers, 1724-1890

Statesman and U.S. Supreme Court justice; of Edenton, North Carolina Correspondence, and business, political, family, and other papers of Iredell, of his son, James Iredell, Jr., Governor and U.S. Senator from North Carolina, and of the Iredell family.  Papers of James Iredell, Jr., pertain mostly to his legal career. Other topics include his student activities at Yale, national and North Carolina politics, naval appointments,

1,055 items

Johnson, Robert E.
Papers, 1804-1866

Papers of R. E. Johnson, the Johnson family, and the family of Joseph Gales of Raleigh, North Carolina, concerning social life; Weston Gales' duties as editor of the Raleigh Register, 1824; the presidential election of 1824; the visit of General Lafayette to Fayetteville, North Carolina, 1825; and the naval career of R. E. Johnson. R. E. Johnson's papers contain letters, 1825-1826, while he was a student at Middletown Military Academy, Middletown, Connecticut; a letter, 1824, describing social life in Paris, France; and letters, 1828-1839, and an excerpt from a journal concerning naval cruises in the Pacific.

57 items

Kell, John McI.
Papers, 1785-1921

Family correspondence consisting of letters from Kell to his mother, Marjory Spalding (Baillie) Kell; his wife, Julia Blanche (Munroe) Kell; and his sisters. Beginning in 1841, Kell's letters cover the period of his service in the U.S. Navy. After 1860, Kell's letters concern his duties with the Confederate Navy, including running the blockade on board CSS Sumter and the subsequent abandonment of the ship.

The collection also includes family and business papers of Nathan Campbell Munroe of Macon, Georgia, his wife Tabitha Easter (Napier) Munroe, their daughter Julia Blanche (Munroe) Kell, and other members of the Munroe, McIntosh, and Napier families. Topics include Georgia and national politics, Henry Clay and the Bank of the United States; railroad construction in Georgia; Christ Church Episcopal Parish in Macon; Montpelier Institute, Salem Female Academy, and other educational institutions; temperance; the duel between Thomas Butler King, U.S. Representative from Georgia, and Charles Spalding; town-gown relations at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa; riverboat transportation in Alabama; and the fight between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia as described by a Confederate naval officer. Volumes in the collection include general orders and general watch and quarter bills of the U.S. frigate Savannah, 1843-1847; and logs kept by Kell as midshipman on board USS Falmouth, 1841-1843, and on board Savannah and Shark, 1843-1847. There is also an unpublished manuscript by Kell's wife, entitled "The Life and Letters of John McIntosh Kell," ca. 1908, and a scrapbook of clippings about noted Confederate leaders pasted in the journal of an unidentified commission merchant.

4,325 items

Kershner, Edward
Papers, 1861-1902

Correspondence, orders, sick reports, hospital supply reports, inventories of medicines, and other papers concerning Kershner's medical career in the Navy. Includes material relating to his criticism of the Navy's attack on Charleston, his supposed disrespect to superior officers, his court-martial, and his later reinstatement to rank and position in 1902.

377 items

Lavallette, Elie A.F.
Papers, 1826-1928

Correspondence, journals (1833-1835), logbook and diary (1820-1822), logbook for the frigate Congress, general order book, biographical sketch, and other papers, largely relating to La Vallette's career, and concerning his administration of Mazatlán, Mexico; the capture of an American seaman by natives of an African island; the Jaffa Affair; and other matters.

568 items

MacGill, Charles
Papers, 1793-1906

Correspondence and other papers of MacGill and his family. The papers pertain to MacGill's political activities, especially as an elector for Martin Van Buren, naval activities at Vera Cruz, McGill’s professional activities, his Confederate sympathies and his imprisonment for them, his tobacco business in Richmond after the war, and his trial by the Richmond Academy of Medicine for a minor breach in professional ethics. Includes correspondence with Francis Thomas, Maryland legislator and governor, relating to politics and to Thomas' marital troubles.

1,038 items

MacRae Family
Papers, 1817-1943

Correspondence, diary, account books, ledgers, bills, receipts, business records, legal papers, and other material. Alexander MacRae's papers concern Florida plantations and their management, the Seminole Indian War (1842), and settlements in southern Florida. Papers of his son, Archibald MacRae, deal with his life on board ship as a U. S. naval officer, and with his trips to the Azores, Italy, Sicily, Hawaii, South America, and California during the Mexican War. Other papers pertain to railroad construction and management, North Carolina militia (1832, 1839), a general commission business, life in the Confederacy and Confederate Army during the Civil War, postwar business and industrial development in the Wilmington, North Carolina, area, and a variety of business enterprises with which the MacRae family was connected.

4,270 items

Maury, Matthew F.
Papers, 1829-1871

Family and professional correspondence, much of it written by Confederate refugees in Mexico and from the Virginia Military Institute. Many of the letters addressed to Maury are from his cousin, Rutson Maury, and relate to family matters. Includes a copy of a letter from Dabney Herndon Maury.

166 items

McGowan, Samuel
Papers, 1910-1935

Chiefly personal correspondence, relating to maintenance of a cemetery, South Carolina highways, Josephus Daniels, and South Carolina politics. Includes material concerning McGowan's naval experiences, and articles by McGowan concerning the prevention of war, submitted in a magazine contest. Correspondents include Bernard Baruch, Josephus Daniels, George Dewey, Thomas A. Edison, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt.

228 items

McKethan, Alfred A.
Papers, 1860-1927

Correspondence and other papers relating to McKethan's carriage and buggy manufacturing business. Includes letters from his grandson, also Alfred Augustus McKethan, while a midshipman at Annapolis, while stationed in Honolulu, and while cruising on the ships Alliance and Philadelphia.

513 items 

Moses, Thomas F.
Papers, 1908

Medical doctor from Bath, Maine; surgeon during Civil War; son of prominent shipbuilding family from Bath, Maine Chiefly handwritten memoirs (131 pp.) documenting Moses' activities between 1861, the year he graduated from medical college, and 1864. The memoirs, written ca. 1908, consist of narratives; excerpts from letters to his sister, Sarah, and friend, Dr. Thomas W. Coe; and diary entries. The writer describes in detail his travels abroad in Germany, Switzerland, England, and France. Moses went abroad in 1861 to continue his medical studies in Paris. Some information on French society and medical practices are included. Upon return to the United States in 1862, Moses entered the Navy as a medical officer, and a significant portion of the memoirs describe his service as the Surgeon in Charge of a Navy transport that carried patients between Alexandria, Virginia, and Newport, Rhode Island. Concluding the memoirs, Moses writes about his service in Washington, DC, and Alexandria, Virginia hospitals, and describes Washington and Alexandria. Also included are clippings from The Finley Hospital Weekly as well as an article, "'Story of the Moses' - Famed as Shipbuilders," accompanied by a bank advertisement.

3 items

Murphy, J. A.
Papers, 1877-1880

The collection includes the diary of J.A. Murphy, a sailor in the U.S. Navy, on USS Ashuelot during a cruise in the Far East. Ports visited include several in China and one in Japan: Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Chefoo, Tientsin, Shanghai, and Nagasaki. Two loose items are a uniform circular and an address for Amy Robertson.

3 items

Nalle, Thomas B.
Papers, 1805-1905

Correspondence, account book, circulars, and other papers, concerning Nalle's activities as a purser (1848-1875), a member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1875-1877), and operator of Rose Hill farm (1878-1887).

642 items

Nicholson, Thomas A.
Papers, 1829-1905

Papers concern Nicholson's experiences as a surgeon in the U.S. Navy during cruises along the east and west coasts of the United States, and to South Africa, China, Japan, and other places in the Far East, 1852-1860; and Nicholson's service as regimental surgeon to the Oregon Mounted Volunteers during an Indian uprising in Oregon, 1855, and with the Confederate Army, 2nd Virginia Regiment, 1861-1862. Letters of other members of Nicholson's family concern politics and social life in Washington, DC, 1852. Letters to Sister Mary Bernard Doll of the Monastery of the Visitation, Wilmington, Delaware, pertain to religious matters generally, but contain comments on the coal strike of 1902 and the attitude of President Theodore Roosevelt toward Roman Catholics.

112 items

Norris, George E.
Papers, 1861-1865

Family letters of George E. and Jeremiah Norris and letters to Jeremiah Norris from friends in the Union Army, concerning life in the army and the opinions of Southern girls toward "Yankees." George was third assistant engineer on the Federal gunboat Azalia.

176 items

O'Neil, John
Papers, 1862

2 items

Page, Elizabeth N.
Papers, 1802-1846

Family letters concerning the Page and Nelson families. Included are letters from her son, Thomas Jefferson Page, U. S. naval explorer and Confederate naval commander, concerning his voyage to the West Indies and his activities as a coastal surveyor.

34 items

Page, Richard L.
Papers, 1857-1860

U. S. and Confederate naval commander, from Norfolk, Virginia. The collection includes a log of USS Germantown, a sloop-of-war in the East Indies Squadron under Page's command. The log records weather and navigational information about the voyage from Norfolk, Virginia, to the Far East via Madeira Island, Cape Town (South Africa), Ceylon, Bombay (India), and Malaya; and describes stops at ports in China, the Philippine Islands, and Japan; sightings of sea life, other ships and meteors; and the maintenance of the ship and crew, desertion, and courts-martial.

1 item

Page, Thomas J.
Papers, 1875

Page's autobiography covers the first sixty years of his life and gives an account of his family, of his early naval experiences, of his expedition to South America, 1853-1860, of his experiences as commander of the Confederate cruiser Stonewall, and of his life in Argentina as a rancher and adviser to the Argentine Navy. Also included are fourteen pictures.

17 items

Parrott, Enoch G.
Papers, 1851-1929

Official and personal correspondence, primarily 1851-1874. Includes routine correspondence covering Parrott's involvement in a naval investigation with Joshua Ratoon Sands, his command of a ship on secret duty trying to limit the illegal importation of African slaves, his Civil War service commanding ships blockading the South Carolina shore, and his command of the Asiatic Squadron.

435 items

Patterson, John E.
Papers, 1825-1869

Physician from Ohio who served on various hospital ships and in various hospitals during the Civil War.  The collection consists mainly of correspondence to Patterson from members of his family. Also included is a diary describing his experiences at Vicksburg and health conditions during the war. The correspondence includes discussions of the Presbyterian church and politics in Ohio.

120 items

Perry, Oliver H.
Papers, 1808-1813

Three letters, two engravings of Perry, and an announcement of a public dinner given by the citizens of Washington, DC in honor of Perry's victory on Lake Erie in 1813. The letters, two of which are facsimiles, are written by Perry to Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy, and General William Henry Harrison, and chiefly concern his military victory on Lake Erie, the delivery of prisoners following that event, and a recommendation that a William Prant Smith be given a midshipman's warrant.

6 items

Pinkham, Andrew
Papers, 1814-1880

Family letters of Pinkham, including letters of his sons Reuben and Alex during the War of 1812, a letter of 1817 from his son Thomas studying medicine at the College of William and Mary and describing taverns and bowling in Williamsburg, and letters to Thomas from V. T. West, 1839-1858, in medical practice in Union, Indiana. Letters were written from the captured HMS Queen Charlotte, 1814; USSHornet, 1817; USS Franklin, 1824; and USS Constellation, 1819.

71 items

Porter, David D.
Papers, 1847-1877

Letters and diary of David D. Porter. The 337-page "Diary of Secret Service" gives an account of Porter's secret mission to Haiti as a government agent in 1847-1848. He comments in detail on the people, the geography, the mineral deposits, etc., of the island. He also discusses the government, people, and commerce of the city of Santo Domingo. Also in the collection are letters written by Porter as Commander of the Mississippi Squadron, U.S. Navy, requesting commissions, and supplies for families along the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers, and issuing orders for patrolling the rivers; and a letter, 1864, to Porter from D. F. Reiley, requesting that a gunboat be assigned to Bayou Sara, Louisiana, to protect the businesses of Union men.

14 items

Quackenbush, Stephen P.
Papers, 1867-1868

2 items

Quinn, Clifton
Papers, 1917-1919

Typescript of a diary kept by Quinn while on board USS Surveyor, based at Gibraltar during World War I, describing daily life on board; the ship's officers; war experiences; convoy duty in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean; liberty experiences in various ports; the progress of the war; submarines; the port of Gibraltar; USS Prometheus, Parker, Sardinia, Venetia, San Diego, Gregory, Whipple, and Shearwater; operations off the Spanish and French coasts; the sinking of the French ship Susette Fraissenette; torpedoing celebration at the end of the war; the return trip across the Atlantic and demobilization in Virginia. Included also are copies of papers concerning Quinn's discharge.

1 item

Read, Will
Papers, 1864-1865

Letters concerning Read's service in the U.S. Navy on board USS Wabash, Connecticut, and Pontoosuc, discussing routine duties on board ship; an attack on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, 1864; a visit to Panama, 1865; and the appearance of the Confederate ram Stonewall, in Havana, Cuba. The collection also contains the itinerary of USS Connecticut, February 24, 1865-May 15, 1865.

16 items

Roane, William H.
Papers, 1838-1839

Letters from Roane including one recommending the appointment of B. T. Archer for a midshipman's warrant in the U.S. Navy, and the other apparently concerning Roane's departure from Richmond for Washington at the opening of Congress.

2 items

Remey, George C.
Papers, 1939

1 volume

Rhodes, Hilary H.
Papers, 1819-1844

16 items

Robinson, Horatio G.
Papers, 1864-1865

Transcription of letters written by Robinson to his mother, during the Civil War. From evidence within the letters, Robinson was apparently a resident of Boston, Massachusetts These letters are informative about the patrols of the U.S. Steamship Osceola on the James River and its battle engagements off the North Carolina coast. Of particular interest are Robinson's accounts of searching for Confederate torpedoes, life on board Osceola, and engagements with Confederate cavalry and infantry units. A lengthy letter describing the naval aspects of General Benjamin F. Butler's Army-Navy expedition on Ft. Fisher, North Carolina and Osceola's duty during the expedition is included.

17 items

Rochelle, James H.
Papers, 1811-1907

Correspondence and other papers of Rochelle and of his father, James Rochelle, court clerk of Courtland, Virginia. The papers of the elder Rochelle concern U.S. politics during the early 19th century, Rochelle's agricultural activities, and life in Virginia at the time. J. H. Rochelle's papers relate to his early naval training, his duties on various vessels and in the Confederate Navy, his service in and around Charleston harbor, and family affairs. Includes papers relating to Rochelle's work on the Hydrographical Commission of the Amazon, organized ca. 1871 to explore and survey that part of the Amazon River lying in Peru.

965 items

Rodgers, Raymond P.
Papers, 1876-1879

Rodger's diary describing the voyage of USS Pensacola in 1876 from the United States to join the Pacific Fleet in Panama, and the movements of the fleet, 1877-1879. Entries are frequently routine, but there are notations concerning riots against the importation of Chinese into San Francisco, 1877; descriptions of numerous ports in Mexico, Central America, and South America; discussion of a diplomatic incident between the United States and Mexico at Acapulco, 1877; report of the shipwreck of City of San Francisco, 1877; discussion of Chilean naval operations against the Bolivian coast, 1879; and Rodgers' opinion of HMS Shah, flagship of Britain's Pacific Fleet. There is also a roughly drawn map of the eastern tip of Oahu Island in the Hawaiian Islands, visited by Rodgers in 1878-1879.

2 items

Rodgers, Robert S.
Papers, 1827-1897

Chiefly Civil War military papers including military correspondence; telegrams; muster rolls; rosters of officers and staff; lists of deserters, recruits, reenlistments, and voluntary enlistments; reports of sick, wounded, and convalescents; inventories of personal effects of the deceased; hospital and army paroles; morning reports; ordnance returns, invoices, requisitions, issues, and transfers; quartermaster papers; letter book containing routine military correspondence; and general and special orders. There is also a fragmentary account of the regiment's war experiences concerning the actions in Maryland in 1862 and 1863, including the battle between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia, and in Virginia and West Virginia in 1864. Scattered papers relate to other members of the Rodgers family, and include personal correspondence, letters relating to naval matters, estate papers, bills and receipts, and legal papers concerning land deeds and the manumission of slaves. Also included are materials for the study of navigation and a navigational logbook.

1,389 items

Saunders, Hubert
Papers, 1862-1865

Primarily letters describing Saunders' service on board the gunboat Peosta of the Mississippi Squadron on the Tennessee River and at the Union base in Paducah, Illinois; the defense of Paducah, 1864; the capture of Fort Pillow, 1864; operations against Confederate raiders; and contacts with local citizens.

75 items

Scales, Dabney M.
Papers, 1862-1863

Daily entries while Scales served aboard the Confederate ironclad Atlanta, stationed near Savannah, Georgia, from December 1862 to April 1863, containing comments about the weather, supplies, ship life, the Savannah River blockade, and various Confederate ships; sketches; descriptions of ordnance; and a history and description of CSS Atlanta. Included are pen sketches of portions of the vessel, ordnance, and other items of the ship's equipment.

1 item

Schriver, Albert S.
Papers, 1867

1 item

Smith, Florence M.
Papers, 1916-1973

Chiefly correspondence between Ms. Smith and her husband, Lieutenant Frank Ferrell Smith, during World War II when he was in the Navy. Some correspondence to her parents dates from her undergraduate years at Duke University, 1928-1932, as well as her employment at Duke, in particular as Director of Religious Activities on the Woman's College Campus from 1938 to 1941. Includes correspondence with her son, Captain Howard W. Smith, some while he served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971; other relatives and friends; and letters from her two brothers to Florence's parents during the 1930s and 1940s. Also a few photographs and other miscellaneous items.

3,840 items

Smith, Franklin E.
Papers, 1818-1890

Correspondence and other papers of Smith and his family, concerning among other things Smith's various sea voyages, his marriage to Mary Carolina Trainer, his service in the Mexican War, his blockading activities on board USS Bienville during the Civil War, other events of the Civil War period, Smith's post-war life, and his conversion to Catholicism.

939 items

Spalding, Lyman G.
Papers, 1835-1889

Chiefly correspondence of Lyman G. Spalding, concerning his naval service, including his position as clerk to his uncle, Enoch Greenleafe Parrott, taking part in the siege of Beaufort, South Carolina, and the blockade of Charleston, South Carolina, life at the U.S. Naval Academy, and descriptions of China, Japan, and the Dutch East Indies while serving in the Asiatic Squadron.

237 items

Steedman, Charles
Papers, 1835-1905

Correspondence, journals of European travel, and other personal and professional papers relating to Steedman's naval career and his decision to stay with the Union forces, with detailed accounts of the bombardment of Fort Fisher (North Carolina), operations in the Chesapeake Bay, and other Union naval operations. There is also information concerning Steedman's command of the U.S. naval forces in Panama during the 1870s and relations between Chile, Bolivia, and the U.S. during the 1880s. The early letters are by Steedman's father, John Steedman, and concern family affairs and economic conditions in Charleston, South Carolina. The travel journals include one kept by Steedman's wife during a trip to Europe, 1878-1879. The later correspondence relates to Charles Steedman's retirement.

172 items

Sterling, Alan T.
Papers, 1944-1946

Primarily letters posted from USS LST-501 by Sterling to his parents and sister in Schenectady, New York, during the latter part of World War II and 1946. Topics include daily life on board LST-501, Sterling's tasks as a radioman, and his activities while on shore leave or liberty. The correspondence documents LST-501's voyage from Davisville, Rhode Island, to Tokyo Bay, where it anchored after the Japanese surrender, and its voyages in the Pacific during the Allied occupation. Of particular interest are Sterling's observations on both the Japanese with whom he became acquainted and on Japanese society in general during the occupation.

67 items

Stevens, Thomas H.
Papers, 1823-1895

Chiefly letters received by Stevens concerning naval affairs including problems of blockading the Confederate coastline during the Civil War and naval expeditions in the pre-Civil War period.

144 items

Stewart, Robert R.
Papers, 1814

Two letters from Stewart, one to his grandfather and the other to Captain Geissinger, U.S. Navy, with a manuscript account pertaining to the capture of the British brig Atlanta and the sinking of the British Sloop of War Avon by the U.S. Sloop of War Wasp during the War of 1812. It is evident from Stewart's letter to his grandfather that he was returning from business in Europe and was aboard Wasp when it engaged Atlanta and Avon off the coast of Spain. Included is a typed transcription of the manuscript account.

4 items 

Stuart, James H.
Papers, 1853

Stationed on board the U. S. brig Porpoise, Stuart relates in diary format his activities in the areas of Cape Town and Simon's Bay (Simon's Town), South Africa. He comments on his trips ashore, geography, plants, animals, birds, and local customs.

1 item

Swanson, Claude A.
Papers, 1867-1935

Governor, U.S. Senator from Virginia, and Secretary of the Navy. Correspondence and other items, mostly dealing with Virginia post office appointments and Swanson's efforts to build up a loyal political following in Virginia. Includes scattered references to state and national politics.

64 items

Swift, William
Papers, 1894-1902

Two typewritten letterbooks containing official correspondence of Rear Admiral William Swift before he was selected for flag rank. Topics concern the ships under his command, USS New York, Prairie, and Yorktown; naval drills; personnel shortages and other personnel issues; management of equipment; expense and procurement of ship's supplies; the Naval War College and its purpose; Swift's duties as Inspector of Ordnance at the New York Navy Yard; a fire in Port of Spain; the Spanish-American War; reduction in the naval fleet; relations with important Japanese political and military leaders; establishment of a naval base in Olongapo, the Philippines, rather than Cavite; and cholera in the Philippines.

2 volumes

Thompson-Gamble Family
Papers, 1795-1852

Primarily correspondence between members of the Thompson and Gamble families. Chief correspondent is U.S. Navy Commander Thomas Gamble. Other correspondents include: David Thompson, Gamble's brother-in-law; Seth Hunt, a land agent; and Stephen Kemble, who wrote to Gamble about his English uncle, Thomas Gamble. Other topics concern the recovery of land in West Florida, a former British possession; family misfortunes; estates and land claims; and the embargo of 1807-1809. Includes biographical sketches of Thomas Gamble, who died in Pisa in 1818, letters concerning his estate, and an engraving of Gamble.

111 items

Townshend, Francis J.
Papers, 1853-1895

Francis J. Townshend was an apothecary serving on board USS Gettysburg and Enterprise. The collection consists chiefly of family correspondence of Townshend describing personal matters and his travels. Included are letters from a student at Charlotte Hall School, Charlotte Hall, Maryland; letters of Professor William Fletcher Perrie, Austin College, Huntsville, Texas; a copy of a bill passed in 1878 giving apothecaries the U.S. Navy rank of warrant officers with equivalent pay; and a letter from a doctor giving the details of a cure for pneumonia.

84 items

Ward, John D.
Papers, 1836-1863

Letter book chiefly dealing with routine business or personal matters. There are also letters, 1840-1844, to various U.S. Navy and governmental officials making suggestions for improvements in naval supplies systems and advocating the use of steam-powered vessels and government control over the construction of steam engines; letters, 1844-1863, pertaining to efforts to secure an adequate water supply for Jersey City, New Jersey; and letters, 1856, dealing with legislative matters for the state of New Jersey. Calendar finding aid available for letter book.

5 items

Wilkes, Charles
Papers, 1816-1876

Family correspondence, chiefly relating to naval cruises of Wilkes and his son, John Wilkes; the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842, to Antarctica, the Pacific Islands, and the Northwest coast of the U.S., including preliminary planning, the voyage itself with detailed descriptions of places visited, and publishing the results; gold mining and milling in North Carolina; the Civil War; and Wilkes family business ventures in North Carolina; together with legal and financial papers, writings, printed material, clippings, and other papers. Includes correspondence, 1848-1849, with James Renwick and others.

4,566 items

Woodbury, Levi
Papers, 1830-1843

U.S. Secretary of the Navy, 1831-1834, and Secretary of the Treasury, 1834-1841.  Papers of Levi Woodbury concerning the appointment of James M. Bankhead as a midshipman; the dismissal of Joseph L. Kuhn, paymaster of the Marine Corps; reports to Woodbury on the value of the monetary units of Brazil, England, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Saint Croix; the views and directions of President Martin Van Buren on the issuance of land patents; and payments to a government revenue inspector.

25 items