CDVs of Brown Water Navy Gunboats, USS Essex, Huntress, and Queen City

About Auction

Live

American Historical Ephemera and Photography

By Cowan's Auctions

Nov 19, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-11-19 10:00:00 2020-11-19 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American Historical Ephemera and Photography https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-historical-ephemera-and-photography-5894
Cowan’s Auctions, a Hindman Company, is pleased to present the November 19 Fall Auction, featuring over 400 lots of historically significant photography, manuscript material, artwork, and other ephemera dating from the 18th through the early 20th century, including the Civil War. Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

View Full Catalog (414)

• Lot Description
  A profile view of "USS Essex." J.W. Taft: Memphis, TN, n.d. A ship's boat painted white with the stars and stripes aft has come along side. See Lot 88 for the story of the fighting Essex.
  
  CDV ink signed "USS Huntress No. 58/Miss Sqd./I. Ackley/Astg. 2nd Asst. Engr/USN." Uncredited: n.d. Isaac Ackley became Acting Assistant engineer 5/12/64 and resigned 6/19/65. The sternwheeler USS Huntress, gunboat N. 58, was a civilian conversion commissioned in June 1864 and armed with 6 guns. She was assigned to patrol duty on the upper Mississippi between Memphis and Columbus, KY, maintaining a routine necessary to suppress the flow of contraband cotton and interdict surreptitious rebel cross river traffic. The gunboats might occasionally flush out bands of roving guerrilla and snipers who preyed on river traffic. Huntress was decommissioned in August 1865 and returned to civilian trade. 
  
  CDV, period copy shot with modern pencil notation that reads, "USS Queen City/sunk June 24, 1864 at Clarendon, Arkansas by General Shelby's Cavalry." Uncredited: n.d. The ill-starred Queen City was a converted sternwheeler commissioned in April 1863 as tinclad No. 26.  She patrolled the Mississippi protecting lines of supply and searching for civilian contraband and rebel supplies. On June 24, 1864 the unfortunate vessel was forced to beach after being hit by rebel artillery and attacked by large force of Joe Shelby's cavalry. She was captured after her commanding officer opted to surrender. When the USS Tyler came up to intervene, the Confederates fired Queen City and blew her up.
  
  The Richard B. Cohen Civil War Collection 
  
  Lots 37, 69-98, 295 
  
  Cowan's enthusiastically presents the second installment of collector Richard B. Cohen's matchless archive of Civil War Brown Water Navy photography. Richard was known to many in the field - indeed some of these images may resonate from a bygone transaction or "show and tell' - but to those who knew him best he'll be remembered as a "disciplined collector who maintained a relatively narrow focus having built an important, perhaps unsurpassed collection in his area of specialization." This catalogued portion of the core collection is a seamless continuation of high quality photography highlighted by an array of Brown Water Navy warships in desirable carte-de-visite format. We counted no fewer than 22 different Mississippi River vessels, some battle-weary and familiar, others obscure, but all identified with many named in period ink. Research confirmed that several of these CDVs were signed by an officer who had served aboard the ship conveying the historic connection and spirit of "wooden ships and iron men." The last of the larger format albumen warships are also included - the USS Blackhawk, Eastport, and Louisville. A fine quartet of lots feature sought-after enlisted sailors. We proceed with eight additional lots of multiple identified officer cartes, the myriad of navy rank insignia during the Civil War both complex and instructive. We think it opportune to quote a comment from a previous buyer who emailed that, "...I draw inspiration from their BWN service when known, and when not offering (him) the opportunity to reconstruct an aspect of overlooked Civil War naval history." Now comes the time to further disperse Richard B. Cohen's collection and recycle the photography to the care of the next generation, and in so doing we salute a lifelong endeavor unlikely ever to be duplicated.
  
  Provenence: The Richard B. Cohen Civil War Collection

  Condition

  All three CDVs with minor soiling, wear and dented corners, near VG. 
• Shipping Info

  • Buyers are required to pay for all packing, shipping and insurance charges. Overseas duty charges are the responsibility of the successful Bidder. Be aware that for larger and/or valuable items, shipping charges can be substantial. - If there is no shipping amount on listed your invoice, you will need to make arrangements to pick up or ship your purchase through an alternative shipping company. Our shipping department can be contacted at 513.871.1670 (ext. 219) or email shipping@cowans.com. - Shipping charges include insurance for your order while in transit. If you have private insurance we will adjust your charge to include only packing and shipping. - Please allow 14 – 21 days after payment to package and ship your purchase as carefully as possible.

• Buyer's Premium

  • Hammer Price	Premium (%)
    $0	28.00
    $250,001	23.00
    $3,000,001	15.00