Sep 28, 2017 - Sale 2455

Sale 2455 - Lot 181

Price Realized: $ 2,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(NAVY.) Archive of Slidell family letters relating to their distinguished naval service. 13 manuscript letters, various sizes, condition generally strong but a few with separations at folds and one with dampstaining. Vp, 1820-29
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Additional Details

The Slidells were a remarkable naval family--two sons served with distinction, and daughter Jane married Commodore Matthew C. Perry. The central figures in this archive are John Slidell Jr. (1793-1871), who later served as a United States Senator for Louisiana and then joined the Confederacy; his brother Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (1803-1848), who changed his last name to receive an inheritance from his grandfather, and became a naval commander best known for controversially executing three mutineers in 1842; and their brother William Johnson Slidell, who died in naval service in 1828.
These letters were sent among various members of the extended Slidell family, and most relate to their naval service. Three were written by Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, and two by John Slidell Jr. In the first of these letters, John Slidell Sr. writes to young midshipman Alexander in 1820 to discuss the death of Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr.: "Commander Decatur fell a victim to the accursed practice of Duelling. It may with truth be said that he committed Suicide, for he goaded Commodore Baron on till at length he consented to become his murderer." Two letters from Alexander Slidell Mackenzie describe his visit to Washington, 25 February and 1 March 1829, describing it as "a detestable hole, the very ugliest city I have ever seen." He attended sessions of Congress and the Supreme Court, pronouncing Vice President Calhoun "a thin-legged starved-looking politician with little in his appearance to recommend him," while Chief Justice John Marshall had "not a very pleasing countenance, yet he looks healthy and unbroken." He also describes at length Samuel A. Talcott, a former New York attorney general who was attempting to defeat a drinking problem: "He looks as though he had been sick, or as if sudden abstinence from spirits had made him fall away. At table he drinks nothing but water . . . and looks around as if afraid of recognition."
Seven of these letters relate to William J. Slidell and his premature death in 1828. They begin with a letter from William dated 10 March 1828, discussing the sudden death of New York governor DeWitt Clinton: "He has left behind his Erie Canal, and whilst its walls can be traced through our state, his name will be familiar with the lowest of his country." William's boat capsized in Norfolk, VA during a training exercise on 7 April, and three of the men drowned, also including the son of Commodore John Rodgers. This lot includes a letter from Commodore Rodgers to Commodore Matthew Perry, 21 April 1828, calling the incident "the most distressing of my whole life" and describing the search for the three bodies. The next week, Alexander wrote to sister Jane Slidell Perry: "The remains of our dear William, with that of his two young friends and companions in that fatal disaster, were recovered on Saturday last. . . . Commodore Rodgers was present aiding the party employed on this melancholy service" (28 April 1828). Two undated letters from John Slidell Jr. in New Orleans to his parents attest to his own grief: "The fateful intelligence reached me without any preparation. I first saw it in a newspaper which I had accidentally taken up. . . . My own grief was almost forgotten in the idea of the sorrow that has overwhelmed you all." On 21 May, sister Caroline Slidell announced the birth of the latest addition to the extended family, Commodore Perry's son William Frederick Perry: "He is to be called by a name which as yet I cannot hear pronounced without pain."
Also included in the lot are an 1843 pamphlet on Mackenzie, "Inquiries into the Somers Mutiny: with a full account of the Execution of Spencer, Cromwell and Small"; and two later newspaper clippings on the family. A full listing of this family archive is available upon request.