USS Monitor Archive: Letters to Ironclad Inventor John Ericsson, including Thomas Edison, George McLellan, Shipbuilders, and Admirals

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RR Auction: Fine Autographs and Artifacts

By RR Auction

May 15, 2024

Set Reminder 2024-05-15 18:00:00 2024-05-15 18:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : RR Auction: Fine Autographs and Artifacts https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/rr-auction/rr-auction-fine-autographs-and-artifacts-15632
Boasting nearly 800 lots, RR Auction's May Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale is highlighted by a section honoring the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's birth—including important signed photographs, a remarkable Kennedy family-signed book, a knife used to slice his inaugural cake, a page from his pioneering Peace Corps legislation, and scarce teletype reports on his assassination. RR Auction support@rrauction.com

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• Lot Description
  Remarkable and historic archive of letters to the Swedish-American Army engineer Jon Ericsson (1803-1889), who designed and built American Navy's first ironclad warship—the USS Monitor—during the Civil War, plus a few letters by Ericsson, as well as one of his original drawings of an experimental expansion engine. Several letters involve the origins of the USS Monitor in 1861, written by key players in the project; later letters from luminaries like Thomas Edison, Joseph D. Hooker, and George McClellan express thanks for gifts from Ericsson.
  
  
  
  The letters to Ericsson are presented in a scrapbook assembled by his secretary, S. W. Taylor, and include:
  
  
  
  - an ALS by Cornelius Scranton Bushnell (September 11, 1861), arranging a meeting between Ericsson and Gideon Welles, which led to Ericsson's commission to build the ironclad warship: "Mr. Welles will be in Washington on Monday next and be pleased to see your plans—and have the same adopted at once if you can secure the approval of the Board."
  
  
  
  - an ALS by Commander Joseph Smith (October 4, 1861), a member of the board which oversaw the planning, development and construction of the USS Monitor, in reference to plans for the Monitor: "The Secretary has put upon my shoulders the responsibility of the iron-clad batteries, you may imagine how anxious I am that they shall prove successful...When you have the plan prepared for the guns I would like to see it. You will of course prepare every thing but the guns & carriages. I mean the frames or slides on which the guns are to be worked...I propose to put in the turret 2 eleven inch Dahlgren guns, which will be the most effectual...I do not propose to put your battery further from the enemies guns than 500 yards, perhaps nearer, at which range the XI inch are more destructive than the rifled cannon. I hope to have your gun boat in the Potomac 120 days."
  
  
  
  - an ALS by John F. Winslow (October 9, 1861), about the manufacture of armor for the vessel: "Be assured no time shall be lost in getting the material on the ground for the vessel...now that the preliminaries are settled there will be no delinquency or delay in getting the material (at least the iron portion) forward in time: 100 days & they short ones, are few enough to do all that is to be done." An iron manufacturer, Winslow risked his business and reputation by privately financing the construction of the Monitor.
  
  
  
  - two ALSs by John Augustus Griswold (October 24, 1861, and December 17, 1862), the first concerning contracts and estimates for building the ship, and the second regarding his connection with the Monitor as described in a newspaper.
  
  
  
  - an ALS by Isaac Newton (March 29, 1862), who served on the ship in battle, with suggestions for improvements on the design: "Suppose on the Monitor that instead of the wrought iron stanchions which run from the end of the floor timbers to the deck beams, a wrought iron bulkhead be built, fastened at the top and bottom by suitable angle irons...then if the Merrimac with her prow should puncture us no damage would occur."
  
  
  
  - an ALS by botanist and explorer Joseph D. Hooker (October 25, 1875), sending thanks for a gift.
  
  
  
  - an early ALS by famed inventor Thomas Edison (January 18, 1880), in full: "It is with regret that I find a letter of acknowledgment and thanks which I directed sent to you at the time of the receipt of your valuable present, was never sent, I hasten now to say that I am greatly obliged and honored by your selection of me to be the recipient of what can with justice and truth be considered a monument of your untiring industry and the practical character of your work."
  
  
  
  - an ALS by the poet Epes Sargent (May 31, 1877), sending thanks for the gift of a "peerless volume embracing your contributions to the centennial exhibition."
  
  
  
  - an ALS by Bennet Woodcroft (June 21, 1877), a pioneer of marine propulsion as the inventor of a propeller, sending thanks for a gift and commenting on a torpedo.
  
  
  
  - an ALS by George B. McClellan (June 7, 1877), who led the Union Army early on in the Civil War, sending thanks for a gift.
  
  
  
  - an LS by Cyrus W. Field (April 26, 1879), a businessman who laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable, sending thanks for a book.
  
  
  
  Also in the scrapbook are an invitation to the "unveiling of the statue of John Ericsson" in New York City on April 26, 1893, and two letters on Ericsson's death, one by shipbuilder Thomas F. Rowland, builder of the USS Monitor.
  
  
  
  Additionally included are:
  
  
  
  - a rare drawing by Ericsson, headed "Oct. 15/86," described by S. W. Taylor on a memorandum affixed to the reverse as "the original of more elaborate drawings of the Engine subsequently known as the '36 fold Expansion Engine' which was being experimented with at the time of his death"; the drawing is split down the middle, with some chipping to the edges.
  
  
  
  - two ALSs by John Ericsson: one from 1860 regarding the caloric engine, in part: "Astounding news from Cuba...Owing to the force and regularity of the Caloric Mill 33 percent of the cane is saved that means 1/3 more juice is made...Rafael says that Caloric has fairly produced a revolution in Cuba"; and one to a commodore from 1886, regarding torpedos.
  
  
  
  - an ALS by John Lorimer Worden (July 8, 1863), who commanded the Monitor against the Merrimack in the first battle of ironclad ships, to "Stevens," in part: "The 'Mahopac' & 'Manhattan' at Jersey City, and the 'Canonicus' at Boston, are the first of the iron clads to be ready & it is thought they will all be launched within the next three weeks. After launching, it will take from six weeks to two months to fit them for sea—the commanders will probably be ordered to them immediately after launching—there is no difference in any of these vessels of the Monitor class."
  
  
  
  In overall very good to fine condition. The scrapbook and letters are housed in a custom-made blue cloth presentation folder with matching slipcase.
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