Rear Admiral Edward Simpson, Sr’s. Grouping (1824 – 1888) SOLD

Rear Admiral Edward Simpson, Sr’s. Grouping (1824 – 1888).  This grouping is part of the larger group belonging to Rear Admiral Simpson’s son, listed on this site in a few groupings. This lot consists of:

• Admiral’s chapeau, in excellent condition, sold by Schuyler, Hartley, & Graham, and maintained in a card-board box from Shannon, Miller & Crane. (Either the admiral or the family mixed hats with boxes).
• Cased set of English made epaulets, marked to Bullmore & Patrick, London. and having pre-Civil War buttons made by Jennens & Co. London.  (Albert’s NA 107). The epaulets are lacking the initial rank and insignia from the Mexican War- Pre Civil War era.  The tin case is worn, but in good condition.  The epaulets are in excellent condition and have the entire attaching strings.
• The leather belt with one piece buckle is post Civil War, and made by Joseph Starkey, London.  The snap swivels were removed at some point. Fine condition.
• Letter from Navy Dept., 1 June, 1863, ordering Simpson detached from the Naval Academy and report to Rear Admiral Foote, Chief of Bureau of Equipment & Recruiting.  Signed by Gideon Welles, (Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy), and Admiral Foote.  Signed on the docket by a Commander Blake.
• Letter from Navy Dept., 4 June, 1863, ordering Simpson to report  to Admiral Foote for command of the U.S. Steam Frigate Wabash. This is signed by the same as above.  Stamped with red ink recording mileage payment.
• Letter from Navy Dept., 22 June, 1863, revoking command of Wabash, and to report to Admiral Paulding for command of the U.S. Iron-Clad Steamer, Passaic.  Signed by the Sec. of the Navy, Gideon Welles, and Commodore William Radford.  Written on the docket by Simpson, “New York, June 22nd 1863…(assuming the following added a few days latter)..Foote dead!  Hopes for Charleston dead also!!  detached from Wabash and ordered to Passaic at New York.”  Admiral A.H. Foote died on his way to take command of the South Atlantic Squadron on June 26, 1863.
•  Letter & Free Franked Cover from Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox.  Dated May 1, 1863 from Washington, D.C. “My dear Simpson, I have your note of the 27th inst.  We will endeavor to do what will be according to your wishes after the Summers cruise. Truly yrs, G.V. Fox.”  The cover is on official Navy cover and signed by Fox, with a black circle date stamp from Washington, May 2, 1863. (some paper loss on upper right edge.     On August 1, 1861, Lincoln appointed Fox, as Navy Sec., an office which he held until the close of the Civil War. In 1866,  sent on a special mission to Russia; to  convey congratulations of the President Andrew Johnson to Tsar Alexander II, upon his escape from assassination. Fox made his trip on the monitor USS Miantonomoh, which was the first vessel of this class to cross the Atlantic.
• Photograph of Simpson as a junior officer; most likely taken from a Daguerreotype or Ambrotype.
• Pen drawing, a study of the “Straits of Magellan supplied by R. Admirl. Nunez Impl. M.de Espagna (Imperial Marine of Spain),  Monte Video, Jany 14th, 1867.” This was written on the back by Simpson, where he must have met Nunez at Uruguay, while commanding the USS Mohican heading to join the Pacific Fleet.  The Straits of Magellan was then the best way to go from Atlantic to Pacific ocean.  Great workmanship.
• A large manila envelope sent from Washington, D.C. in February of 1884 from Navy Department that contained “Grand father Simpson’s Commissions.”  The commissions and more of both father and son were sold at auction in 1983, and the commissions along with some other items went different ways, to answer the question you may have been wondering about.
• Some copied reference material on Admiral Simpson’s career.