125

Papers of Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith.

Various places, 1861-1864 and 1888
20 items, condition varies; some items with ring binder holes, tape repairs, and/or mount remnants.  

Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith (1825-1864) was a career naval officer from New Jersey; during the war he served in the Mississippi River Squadron. This family archive includes: 

Salt print photograph, 3¼ x 3 inches, mounted on paper; inscribed with Smith's name on mount.  

5 Letters Signed by David Dixon Porter, 1862-1863, most notably a 2-page "Night Orders for the Yazoo River" (full separation at fold): "The ironclads in the Yazoo will keep a bright lookout in front or up river, and show no lights. They will open fire with solid shot on any steamer they may see coming down, supposed to be an enemy. . . . If the enemy should get past the ironclads (which I deem impossibly), the rams will run into them with all their force." 23 January 1863.

Letters Signed with orders signed by officers Andrew Hull Foote (one from April 1861), Brigadier General Leonard F. Ross (2 from March 1863 as commander of Yazoo Expedition), Major General Nathaniel P. Banks (2 from 1864, concerning the danger of rising waters to the Mississippi Squadron, and ordering a patrol of the Atchafalaya); and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (one from 1864). 

Condolence letter from Captain Kidder Randolph Breese to Smith's niece Miss Ashmore, upon Smith's death. Flag ship Malvern, 28 December 1864.

Autograph Letter Signed from Watson Smith to A.R. Langthorne of the steamer Cricket.  Helena, AR, 15 February 1863.

"List of Officers of the Mortar Flotilla, Commander D.D. Porter." 3 pages, circa January 1862

"Regulations for the Uniform of the United States Navy." 10 printed pages, 1864. 

Farewell order from Admiral David Dixon Porter to the Mississippi Squadron, 4 printed pages. One in OCLC, among Porter's papers at Ohio History Connection. Mound City, IL, 28 September 1864.

"Life of Watson Smith, Lieutenant-Commander in the United States Navy." 2 volumes. 59; 15, [55] manuscript pages. 4to, cloth backed boards, minor wear, coming disbound. Consists largely of transcriptions of letters and diaries found among Smith's personal papers after his death. Written in 1887 and 1888 by Smith's teenaged grand-nephew Henry Watson Armstrong (1875-1960), who later became an Episcopalian minister. Armstrong's grandmother Catherine Lalor Smith Ashmore (1816-1901) was Watson Smith's older sister, which explains why she had Watson Smith's papers after he died. 

More detailed inventory available upon request. See lot 61 for a sketch of a Baffin Bay iceberg and other papers from Smith's earlier career. 

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