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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

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Topic
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  • Manuscript
  • Letter
Wars & Conflicts
  • Civil War 1861-1865
  • Spanish-American War 1898
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Passed Engineer Robert Salmond Talbot, 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

Related Collections

Administrative Information

 

 

 

     

Overview of the Collection

  Creator: Robert Salmond Talbot, 1838-1911
  Title: Papers of Robert Salmond Talbot
  Dates: 1859-1904 (1859-1957 inclusive)
  Quantity: 1 Box (14 folders)

 

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Biographical Note

Robert SalmondTalbot entered the US Navy in 1861 as a third assistant engineer. During the Civil War he served on USS Chippewa, USS Unadilla, and USS Shawmut. He resigned from the Navy in 1868. He remained out of the service until the Spanish-American War began when he gave up his private business and again entered the Navy, serving in the capacity of past assistant engineer. He was serving on battleship USS Indiana when that ship participated in the Battle of Santiago. Other ships that Talbot served on during the Spanish-American War were USS Terror, USS Lancaster, and USS Marcellus. Talbot mustered out of the Navy on 28 December 1898.

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Scope and Contents

The bulk of the collection consists of official documents, orders and correspondence during Talbot's naval service in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. Also in the collection are four letters written to his wife between June and July of 1898 while Talbot was stationed on USS Indiana. Additional correspondence concerns his retirement status after leaving the Navy in 1898.

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Arrangement

The collection is organized into thirteen folders arranged chronologically by subject and one folder containing oversized documents relating to Talbot's naval service during the Spanish-American War.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

Folder Contents
1 Family Genealogy, 1686-1957
Contains a family tree prepared by later relatives, as well as a family crest.
2 Personal Correspondence, 1859
A letter addressed to his uncle, Samuel Salmond.
3 Orders and Official Correspondence From the Civil War, 1860-1864
Arranged chronologically.
Commission as Asistant Engineer, 7 Dec 1864, Map drawer #3
4 Extracts From Logbook; USS Shawmut, 20 July 1865
Typewritten extract describing Chief Engineer R. S. Talbot's actions in removing percussion caps from enemy torpedoes and rescuing two men that had been blown overboard while trying to clear same.
5 Orders and Official Correspondence, 1866-1868
Arranged chronologically.
6 Orders and Official Correspondence From the Spanish-American War, 1898
Arranged chronologically.
7 Roster Book: Engineering Department of USS Terror, 28 May 1898
Roster book containing a list of men assigned to the ship's engineering department along with their ratings and pay rates.
8 Letters to Talbot's Wife, June-July 1898
Letters written before and just after the Battle of Santiago while Talbot was serving on board USS Indiana.
9 Photograph of the Officers of USS Marcellus, Brooklyn Navy Yard, 18 November 1898
Copy of photograph No. NH64843 showing Lieutenant Talbot front row, far right.
10 Claim for Prize Money Correspondence, 1898-1904
Arranged chronologically.
11 Invoice for Steam Engineering Stores, USS Marcellus, 3 January 1899
One original document as described above.
12 Correspondence Concerning Retirement Status, 1900-1904
Arranged chronologically.
13 Spanish-American War Campaign Medal Correspondence, 1903
Arranged chronologically.
14 Spanish-American War Commission and Honorable Discharge
Original documents (oversized) as described above.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

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 collection is indexed under the following headings in the Navy Department Library catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
   
  Personal subject:
    Talbot, Robert S.
   
  Corporate subject:
   
    Indiana (battleship)
    Marcellus (collier)
    Terror (screw tug)
    Shawmut (steam gunboat)
   
  Subject term:
    Civil War, 1861-1864--naval operations
    Spanish-American War, 1898--naval operations
    Santiago, Battle of, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, 1898
   

 

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Related Collections

The original photograph (No. NH64843) of Lieutenant Talbot and the other officers of USS Marcellus taken at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 18 November 1898 is located in the Photographic Section, Naval History and Heritage Command.

See the collection of 20th Century Biographies for service records of Frank R. Talbot, Frank R. Talbot, Jr., and James Talbot.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Historical Manuscripts, Navy Department Library, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, DC, Robert S. Talbot Papers.

Acquisition Information

The collection was acquired as a scrapbook donated to the Navy Department Library by the Naval Historical Foundation. The original donor is believed to have been a member of the Talbot family.

Processing Information

The scrapbook was disassembled for preservation purposes in the 1990s. Disassembled items were arranged and a finding aid written by Thomas Wildenberg in April, 2004.

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Published: Thu Jan 04 16:09:52 EST 2018