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- Folded letter by US Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards
Folded letter by US Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards
Object Details
- Description
- The letter was sent unpaid and the Pensacola postmaster marked it in the upper right corner for 25 cents postage due at destination, the correct rate for a single sheet letter going a distance more than 400 miles.
- In David Shelton Edwards' last letter to his wife, Harriet, before her trip to see him at the Navy Yard in Pensacola, Florida, he warns her to take care of her health and asks her to write him when she knows more specifics of her trip. He fears that everything they put aboard the Andrew Jackson is lost because he has not heard any news of the ship. He finishes with, "I have already written so many things for you to attend to that I am ashamed to write any more."
- This letter is part of the correspondence of David Shelton Edwards between the years 1835 and 1848. The 48 letters from this period held by the National Postal Museum are primarily addressed to Edward's wife Harriet; in 1830, Edwards married Harriet Eliza Henry and they had two children, William and Harriet. They kept up a frequent correspondence when his naval service kept them separated. Between 1835 and 1848, Edwards served as a Surgeon at the hospital in the Pensacola Navy Yard, Florida; Fleet Surgeon to the West Indies Squadron; and Surgeon aboard many vessels engaged in the Mexican-American War. His naval career spanned from 1818 to 1861 and his last sea cruise ended in October of 1859 after which he retired to his family home in Connecticut except for a brief time spent at New Bedford, Massachusetts recruiting for the Union Navy during the Civil War. He died in Trumbull, Connecticut on March 18, 1874.
- Reference:
- National Museum of American History, Naval History Archives. David Shelton Edwards Papers. Accession Number: 1978.0652.
- New York Public Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division. "David S. Edwards papers, 1818-1865."
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- September 22, 1835
- Object number
- 1978.0652.16
- Writer
- David Shelton Edwards, American, died 1874
- Type
- Covers & Associated Letters
- Medium
- paper; ink / handwritten
- Dimensions
- 39.7 x 24.8 cm (15 5/8 x 9 3/4 in.)
- Place of Origin
- Florida
- Place of Destination
- New York
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Topic
- American Expansion (1800-1860)
- Covers & Letters
- Record ID
- npm_1978.0652.16
- Usage
- CC0
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