Series 47. John Ancrum Winslow (1842-1875)
Scope and Content
The series consists of Winslow's letters to his wife Katherine A. Winslow before and after Kearsarge's defeat of CSS Alabama under his command, an early letter from Raphael Semmes and the challenge sent by him as commander of Alabama, copies of orders received, letters received by Winslow from various dignitaries after the victory and some sent to Mrs. Winslow after her husband's death, and a 20th century newspaper clipping describing the discovery of Alabama's wreck.
Some letters to Mrs. Winslow have been redacted in another hand and/or have had portions excised; some appear to have been previously mounted or stored in an album. A few of the earlier letters to her are fragments and have penciled on them the date "April 25, 1962". One letter (December 13, 1861) is from the Winslows' son Chilton relating his father's injuries and includes a penciled note from his father.
These materials formed the basis for John M. Ellicott's "The life of John Ancrum Winslow, Rear-Admiral, United States Navy, who commanded the U.S. Steamer "Kearsarge" in her action with the Confederate Cruiser "Alabama"," published in 1902 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. Portions of this collection relating to the Civil War have been digitized and are available to on-site researchers and to users affiliated with subscribing institutions via EBSCOhost.
Biographical Note
John Ancrum Winslow (1811-1873) was appointed midshipman in 1827, served in the Mexican War, and was commissioned commander in 1855. During the Civil War, he first served on the upper Mississippi River. Promoted to captain in 1862, he commanded Kearsarge (1863-1864) in pursuit of Confederate cruisers in Europe. On June 19, 1864, in a celebrated naval engagement, Kearsarge sank the Confederate raider Alabama off Cherbourg, France, where it sank. For his victory Winslow was promoted to commodore and received the thanks of Congress. He later commanded the Gulf Squadron (1866-67), was made rear admiral (1870), and commanded the Pacific Squadron (1870-72).
Arrangement
Various letters were previously individually housed and described, with date, sender, and abstracts of or quotations from their contents. Those are individually housed and described here; the previous wrappers and descriptions from the collection are grouped together at the end of the series.