Beschreibung:

Scrapbook, ca 1853-1908. Henry C. Barrows (d. December 25, 1910) served in both the Army and the Navy in the Civil War, and then served in the US Revenue Cutter Service (a precursor to the US Coast Guard) for 37 years, from 1871 to his retirement in 1908. Barrows learned mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute in New York City, and served an apprenticeship at a nearby New Jersey steel mill. He enlisted as corporal with his brother in the 93rd New York National Guard (a 100-day regiment) in July of 1864, serving in guard duty until November 1864. The next March, he enlisted as Engineer 3rd Class in the US Navy, serving on the USS Gertrude, a converted blockade-runner on blockade duty in the Gulf of Mexico. He was present at the surrender of Galveston, TX, and went on to serve on a total of 11 Navy ships during his five years of service, including three years in the Asiatic Squadron. Mustering out of the Navy, he was employed as an engineer on supply ships for the US Lighthouse Board for a year, before his appointment to the US Revenue Cutter Service. Barrows would serve for 37 years in the USRCS, rising to the rank of Chief Engineer in 1896 until his retirement in 1908. While in the Revenue Cutter Service, he served on 18 different vessels on duty stations from Maine to the Aleutians, and from the Great Lakes to Key West. This archive includes both loose and tipped-in letters and documents in a very large hardcover ledger. The label on the front of the ledger says Henry C. Barrows 1853 to 1880, but it contains documents as late as 1908. Included in the book is every assignment order Barrows received in the Navy, Lighthouse Service, and Revenue Cutter Service, from 1865 to 1908. He also made a table that describes every ship he served on. One of the items that stands out is an 8pp book-sized newspaper dated March 4, 1869, from the U.S. Consulate in Hiogo (Kobe), Japan, packed with information. Barrows obtained this while on duty on USS Aroostook at Hiogo. The Aroostook was part of the Asiatic Squadron in 1868, present at the opening of the port of Hiogo (Kobe,) Japan to Western ships. Barrows spent many years on duty in Savannah Georgia, in command of the steam launch based out of the Customs House. Correspondence from that period includes having to explain that a runaway barge destroyed the brand-new longboat while the launch was docked at the Custom House. Some veteran-related items are a large blue ribbon with eagle clasp from the Veterans’ Association dedication of the Army and Navy Monument in Boston, an 1896 Decoration Day flyer from Sitka, Alaska, showing the statue of a Union soldier there, and an 1881 newsletter from the Army and Navy Club. One item in the archive that causes one to wonder is a letter-sized sheet of paper with full color 1899 United Confederate Veterans reunion in Charleston, South Carolina letterhead, with a printed list of members that runs down the whole left side. There is also a long, hand-written autobiography, recalling the joys of growing up in Brooklyn in the mid-1800s, losing their home in the Great New York Fire of 1853, going to school at the Polytechnic Institute, and serving in the Civil War. A 1908 letter from a fellow chief engineer congratulates him on his retirement, and suggests a tin boat with alcohol boiler to play with in the tub if he starts missing sea duty.