Three Panoramic CDVs of Riverine Vessels, Incl. USS General Lyon

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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. Compelling view of four vessels secured side by side, identified in period ink beneath photograph, "Gen'l Lyon, New National, Black Hawk & Abraham/off M(ound) City." Uncredited: n.d. The steamboat General Lyon was a chartered vessel used as a troop transport. The identification may be incorrect as there is no record of the General Lyon serving on the Mississippi. The transport foundered off Cape Hatteras on March 31, 1865 after an engine room fire resulting in nearly 500 men (including a large contingent of the 56th Illinois) lost. The New National was seized by the Navy at Memphis and used as a transport, supply, and receiving ship having participated in the capture of Yazoo City in July 1863. The paddle wheeler steamboat USS Black Hawk was commissioned in December 1862 and subsequently served as flagship of the Mississippi Squadron under Admiral Porter, Captain Pennock, and Admiral Lee, involved in all of the major operations undertaken by the Brown Water Navy between 1862 and 1864 including Vicksburg and the Red River Campaign. Black Hawk accidentally burned and sank three miles above Cairo on April 22, 1865. USS Abraham was a former Confederate vessel that entered service with the US Navy in October 1862 acting as an inspection boat, transport, and store ship. Permanently anchored at Mound City in April 1864, with the end of the war she was laid up there before being sold out of service in September 1865. 
  
  CDV capturing group of three transports side by side pulled up close to shore at an unknown river location. Uncredited: n.d. The steamboat at center bears a canvas banner that reads, "?, Cairo & Memphis." The vessel furthest from view is off-loading supplies to the shore where a large number of barrels and casks are stacked. Visible behind and around the cache of supplies are a number of log structures and framed wooden storehouses suggesting something impromptu about the supply depot. The steamboat closest to the camera reveals a handful of soldiers standing against the rail.  
  
  CDV showing two smaller sailing vessels tied off to the shore, with a penciled annotation on verso that reads, "A river view from the Water/Battery at Baton Rouge looking/south." McPherson & Oliver: Baton Rouge, LA, n.d. On the beach are a number of sundry horse-drawn wagons and carts, some loaded with supplies from the ships nearby. The pair of former Confederate large bore coastal guns appear to sit derelict amongst the shattered brick masonry. 
  
  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

  First view of four vessels photographed at some distance but smaller size (2.75" x 2.0" albumen) surprisingly detailed, with toning and soiling, dented corners, G+.  Supply ship CDV exhibits sharp detail (an overcast day) with strong corners, near EXC.  Water Battery carte with strong clarity, near EXC. 
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