Three CDVs of Identified Brown Water Navy Officers, Incl. Ezra Bassett, USS Narcissus

Lot 72

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6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States

With offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver, Cowan’s holds over 40 auctions each year, with annual sales exceeding $16M. We reach buyers around the globe, and take pride in our reputation for integrity, customer service and great results. A full-service house, Cowan’s Auctions specializes in Am...Read more

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About Auction

American Historical Ephemera and Photography by Cowan's Auctions

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

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Lot Description

Lot of 3 CDVs, all with Brown Water Navy imprints. CDV of officer standing with sword. E. Jacobs: New Orleans, LA, n.d. Identified in pencil on verso, "William Cox." The only William (R.) Cox with Civil War service: mate 1/8/62, acting ensign 11/10/64, discharged 12/16/65.

CDV featuring Ezra Bassett. J.A. Sheldon: New Orleans, LA, n.d. Ink signed on verso "Mr. Bassett Ensign / Narcissus." The only so-named officer as ensign was Ezra Bassett: acting ensign 6/1/64, discharged 10/28/65. The USS Naricissus was a small steam gunboat commissioned in February 1864. She immediately took up station with the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and patrolled the Mississippi Sound. On August 24 she captured a sloop in Biloxi Bay and was later ordered to Mobile Bay in the wake of Farragut's signal victory. On December 7, 1864, Narcissus struck a Confederate torpedo (mine) in heavy weather and "sank within 15 minutes without loss of life." She was later re-floated, repaired, and put back into service as a dispatch boat for the duration of the war.

CDV of a casually posed officer. J.B. Leonard: Mound City, IL, n.d. Ink inscription on verso, "Respectfully Yours / A. T. Bisel USN / Flag Ship Tempest / Miss Squadron / Lock Haven / Penna" with orange two-cent revenue stamp. Amos T. Bisel: mate 2/14/64, acting ensign 3/30/65, discharged 4/22/66. "A.T. Bisel" is found in decklog entries of USS Benton during the Red River Campaign March-May 1864. USS Tempest was not commissioned into the Navy until April 1865.

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

Cox CDV somewhat light with average clarity and uniform wear, G. Bassett carte with strong clarity but overall wear and dented corners, G. Bisel image sharp, about EXC.
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