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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

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Topic
  • Disasters and Phenomena
Document Type
  • Manuscript
  • Primary Source Document
  • Letter
Wars & Conflicts
  • Civil War 1861-1865
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Location of Archival Materials

Rear Admiral John C. Howell, USN
A Register of His Papers in the Navy Department Library


Table of Contents

Overview of the Collection

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents

Arrangement

Detailed Description of the Collection

Restrictions

Index Terms

Administrative Information

 

 

   

Overview of the Collection

Repository: Navy Department Library
Creator: John C. Howell, 1819-1892
Title: Rear Admiral John C. Howell Collection
Dates: 1837-1898 (inclusive)
Dates: 1844-1877 (bulk)
Quantity: 3 boxes
Abstract: Documents, correspondence and orders collected by Rear Admiral John C. Howell concerning his service in the Civil War. Also included is a small collection of documents relating to the French Spoliations and materials relating to the accident of USS Princeton in 1844.
Language: The records are in English.

 

 

Biographical Note

Rear Admiral John C. Howell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 24 November 1819. He was appointed midshipman on 9 June 1836 and served in various squadrons, including those in the Mediterranean and East India. During the Civil War, he served on USS Minnesota at the Battle of Hatteras Inlet and was actively employed in the East Gulf and North Atlantic Blockading Squadrons serving on the USS Tahoma and as Commander of the USS Nereus. He was Chief to the Bureau of Yards and Docks, 1875-1878, commanded the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Squadrons in 1877, 1878-81, and served as acting Secretary of the Navy at various times from 1874 to 1878. He was appointed rear admiral on 15 April 1877. He died at Folkstone, England on 12 September 1892.

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Scope and Contents

The collection contains official correspondence, orders, and documents relating to Admiral Howell's naval career. The bulk of this material relates to his service during the Civil War. Also includes a log book of the gunboat USS Tahoma, and a nearly complete collection of general orders and circulars issued by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, as well as those issued by RADM S.P. Lee, commanding the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and RADM David D. Porter, commanding the North Atlantic Squadron.

 The collection also contains a three folders of material relating to the explosion of the large gun on board USS Princeton, a collection of reports from the US House of Representatives concerning the French Spoliations. In addition, a deconstructed letterbook filed into 7 folders. These folders primarily contain letters and documents spanning from 1846 to 1881.

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Arrangement

The collection is arranged chronologically by subject matter in 22 folders housed in two archival boxes. Box 3 houses deconstructed letterbook, filed in 7 folders.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

                       

 

Box

 

Folder

 

 

1

 

1

French Spoliations, 1832-1846
      Including:
      Letter [printed] signed by James H. Caustens concerning a law for the relief of the sufferers of French Spoliations, dated 18 June 1832 at Washington City.
      "French Spoliations Prior to 1800: ", 23rd Cong., 2nd Sess. February 21, 1835
      "French Spoliations (To Accompany Bill H.R. No. 449), January 20, 1838, Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs."
      "Report, French Spoliations Prior to 1800," (House Committee on Foreign Affairs)
      "Speech of John M. Clayton of Delaware, on French Spoliations. Delivered in the Senate of the U.S., April 23 and 24, 1846."
 

 

2

"Report No. 479, Accident on Steam-Ship Princeton, May 15, " (28th Cong. 2nd Sess.) Subtitled: "Report of Captain Robert F. Stockton's 212 pound Wrought Iron Gun Oregon and of Experiments Made by Him From 1840-1844 With a Memoir of the United States Steam Ship Princeton, 1844."
 

 

3

"Accident of the Steamship Princeton," Chapters 1-9
      Untitled hand written manuscript about the accidental explosion of the large gun on board USS Princeton in 1844.
 

 

4

"Accident of the Steamship Princeton," Part 2 with Tables
      Continuation of hand written manuscript with extensive tables containing data obtained from ordnance testing of naval guns.
 

 

5

"Accident of the Steam Ship Princeton," Dedication and Miscellaneous Correspondence
 

 

6

Folio on Steamship USS Princeton
      Original folio containing materials about the accident on USS Princeton.
 

 

7

Official Correspondence, 1837-1870 [Relocated from the John C. Howell file in the ZB files collection]
 

 

8

Official Correspondence, 1846-1865
 

 

9

Official Correspondence, USS Nereus, 20 April 1861 to 19 April 1865
 

 

10

Log Book, USS Gunboat Tahoma, 20 December 1861 to 30 September 1862

 

2

 

1

General Orders and Circulars Issued by Gideon Welles, Secretary Of the Navy, 18 August 1862 to 27 January 1865
 

 

2

General Orders and Circulars Issued by RADM (acting) S.P. Lee, North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 20 December 1862 to 28 November 1864
 

 

3

General Orders and Circulars Issued by RADM David D. Porter, Commander, North Atlantic Squadron, 1864-1865
 

 

4

Miscellaneous Proclamations, Regulations, etc., 1 February 1862 to 28 April 1877
 

 

5

Official Orders and Correspondence, 1866-1878
 

 

6

Miscellaneous Signals, Receipts and Notes, circa 1866-1874
 

 

7

Personal Correspondence, circa 1873
 

 

8

Board of Examination of the Claims of Mr. Fayetter A. Harvey, 1875
 

 

9

Letter to Chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, House of Representatives, 11 March 1876
 

 

10

Range Tables for Parrott Guns
 

 

11

Boudinok, Wm. B., Appointed Clerk to Captain of European Squadron, 1869
 

 

12

Letter From J.K.[?] Howell to the Superintendent of Naval War Records of 26 February 1898

 

Restrictions

Restrictions on Use

Manuscripts are unavailable for loan and must be consulted in the library. Photocopying of manuscripts is generally prohibited, though the use of digital cameras by researchers to reproduce non-copyrighted materials is permitted. Permission to photocopy a limited number of pages may be granted by the reference staff, contingent upon the physical state of items. All photocopying of materials shall be done by the reference staff, or under their close supervision. The use of personal scanners by non-library staff personnel must be approved by the reference staff on a document-by-document basis (Reference: Naval History and Heritage Command Instruction [NAVHISTCENTINST] 5070.1C.).

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Index Terms

This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Personal subject:

 

Howell, John C.

Lee, S. P.

Porter, David D.

Welles, Gideon

 

Corporate subject:

 

Nereus (screw steamer)

Princeton (screw steamer)

Tahoma (gunboat)

 

Subject term:

 

Civil War, 1861-1864--Naval operations

French Spoliation Claims

United States Navy--Officers

 

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Historical Manuscripts, Navy Department Library, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington DC, RADM John C. Howell Collection.

Processing Information

The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Thomas Wildenberg in April 2004.

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Published: Mon Mar 04 13:06:38 EST 2024