- Home
- Collections
- Search the Collection
- Folded letter by US Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards
Folded letter by US Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards
Object Details
- Description
- In 1835 the letter probably would have traveled overland or by steamboat to Mobile, Alabama, where it joined the Great Mail route north using combinations of horse, coach, steamboat and train. The rate for a single letter (one sheet of paper) traveling more than 400 miles was 25 cents. The absence of the word "Paid" indicates that the letter was sent unpaid and 25 cents was collected from the addressee.
- In response to a letter received from his wife Harriet, David Shelton Edwards reassures her that her preparations for visiting him in Pensacola, Florida, and the journey itself, will be successful. He tells her to hire a servant girl between the ages of 10 and 12 because it "is of no use to bring out a girl grown up to young womanhood." He concludes the missive with advice as a practicing naval surgeon, and gives her suggestions for combating sea-sickness on the voyage, which include wearing dark dresses and drinking mint juleps.
- Traveling from New York City to Pensacola, Florida was a major undertaking for Harriet. She had to organize all of their household affairs including the rental of their home and care for their two children for a year and a half. Several months of planning were necessary for her to spend any time with her husband, and this was only possible because of his relatively high status at the Navy Yard and their financial stability. Lower ranking sailors and men who did not have substantial savings would not have been able to bring their wives for such a lengthy visit. In anticipation, Edwards bought her a mocking bird as a gift and writes about how he goes and visits it every day, thinking of her when he does.
- 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:
- Alt, Betty Sowers and Bonnie Demrose Stone. Campfollowing: A History of the Military Wife. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- May 10-13, 1835
- Object number
- 1978.0652.3
- Writer
- David Shelton Edwards, American, died 1874
- Type
- Covers & Associated Letters
- Medium
- paper; ink / handwritten
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 12 3/8 × 15 1/2 in. (31.43 × 39.37 cm)
- Place of Origin
- Florida
- Place of Destination
- New York, New York
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Topic
- American Expansion (1800-1860)
- Covers & Letters
- Record ID
- npm_1978.0652.3
- Usage
- CC0
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.