Series 3. John Sanford Barnes (1822-1915)
Scope and Content
The collection includes Barnes' journals as a midshipman and later in his naval career, manuscripts on naval engagements, tactics, prizes for salvage operations during the Civil War blockades, correspondence and clippings, condolence notes to his widow, a family genealogy he prepared, organizational membership certificates and Army and Navy commissions issued to him and other family members, his handwritten list of the latter documents, and two scrapbooks documenting naval and family-related topics. The genealogy includes mention of a Sanford relative, Henrietta Emmerson, who was the owner of Dred Scott, the decision in whose case determined that African-Americans were not citizens and which negated the Missouri Compromise. Because Emmerson was a minor at the time, Scott's suit in 1857 was brought against her uncle, John Francis Alexander Sanford.
The 1908 printed Foreword to a collection of Barnes's letters to his wife includes details of his life and naval service; the letter collection is not included in the series.
Barnes's father General James Barnes's commissions are signed by Presidents Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and Abraham Lincoln; his own by Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan; his father-in-law Thomas Hayes's by William Henry Harrison; and his uncle Henry Bainbridge's by James Monroe, James Polk, Andrew Jackson, and Millard Fillmore. His autobiography is handwritten and was privately produced; it is inscribed from Mrs. John Sanford Barnes to the Barnes's daughter Charlotte Adams Barnes (Mrs. Edward Shelton Martin), who presented it to the New-York Historical Society in 1961.
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
The son of General James Barnes (see Series 2), John S. Barnes was born at West Point, NY, in 1836. He entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis at age 14, serving after his graduation on Preble, and under Commodore Stewart on San Jacinto in Europe and the West Indies, and on Saratoga. He was aboard Arctic when it participated in the first survey for the original Atlantic cable in 1856. The following year, aged 21, he was appointed assistant professor of ethics at the Naval Academy, and after a subsequent year in private business he was appointed master of Jamestown. In 1858 he resigned his commission and attended law school in Albany, New York, practicing until 1861. During the Civil War, he served initially as navigator of Wabash, and later as commander of Dawn, Paul Jones, Lenape, and Bat. In 1863 he married Susan Bainbridge Hayes, granddaughter of Commodore William Bainbridge (see Series 1) and great-grandniece of Admiral John Barry (see Series 5). After the War, he served as commander of the Naval Academy's practice ships Marblehead and Savannah, as an instructor at the Academy, and wrote "Submarine Warfare": the first major work on the use of torpedoes.
From 1869 to 1880 he was in private business and began devoting time to collecting memorabilia of the Navy during the Revolution and War of 1812. He served as the first President of the Naval History Society and edited the first volume of its publications, "The Log Books of the Serapis, Alliance, and Ariel," before his death in 1911. His manuscript collections and library formed the basis of the Naval History Society's collections, and were donated to the Society in 1915, by his son Col. James Barnes (see Series 4).