Beschreibung:

Lot of 2. Heavily trimmed albumen photograph, 6.5 x 4 in., featuring a group six uniformed naval medical officers with another in civilian dress. Uncredited, n.d. Period ink caption along left margin reads, "Fleet Surgeon & Staff (ship) Red Rover." Subjects identified, including two (Brown Water) Navy Medical Directors, thanks to an identical photograph found in the Collection of the U.S. Naval Historical Center. Oval albumen photograph, 5 x 7.25 in., mounted to 9 x 12 in., featuring the uniformed "Dr. Bixby Fleet Surgeon." Uncredited, n.d. Identified in period ink beneath portrait. The medical officer in both photographs is Acting Assistant Surgeon George H. Bixby, USN who served with the Mississippi Squadron for the duration of the war. Dr. Bixby had been sent out from Boston by a wealthy benefactor of the Western Sanitary Commission as senior medical officer with the temporary rank of acting assistant surgeon to staff the newly reconditioned floating hospital ship Red Rover, a vessel funded by the Commission. When Red Rover later passed to Navy control, Bixby was formally commissioned acting assistant surgeon, dated November 7, 1862. One source has Bixby appointed Assistant Surgeon although this is not confirmed in the tabular Navy List. Nonetheless, he remained in charge of the medical staff aboard the Hospital Ship Red Rover for the duration. Youthful for an officer of flag rank with administrative responsibilities of a "Fleet Surgeon," this title, if indeed formal, cannot be confirmed in any narrative. Dr. Bixby was not discharged until September 26, 1865. Further details of Bixby's service afloat are unknown. The same group shot in CDV format held by the Naval Historical Center is fortuitously captioned with numbers corresponding to names so that the identity of the other wartime officers is known. Top row standing from left: Acting Assistant Surgeon Jacob T. Field (discharged 10/13/65); Acting Assistant Paymaster Alexander W. Pearson (m/o 2/24/66); presumably Assistant Paymaster George Lawrence in civilian attire (resigned 10/7/64). Bottom row seated from left: "Fleet Surgeon" George H. Bixby; Acting Assistant Surgeon James S. Knight (retired as Surgeon 6/21/84); (Fleet) Surgeon Ninian Pinkney (died in service 12/15/77 as Medical Director); Assistant Surgeon Michael Bradley was a long serving officer who rose to top of the Navy Medical Department becoming Medical Inspector 12/6/79, Medical Director 6/19/88, Retired List 3/29/95. The Richard B. Cohen Civil War Collection Lots 133-162 Cowan's is pleased to offer the first contingent of an unparalleled assembly of Brown Water Navy images archived over a lifetime of study by consummate collector Richard B. Cohen, a familiar name to many in the field of Civil War photography. To those who knew him best, Richard B. Cohen will be remembered as a "disciplined collector who maintained a relatively narrow focus having built an important, perhaps unsurpassed collection in his area of specialization." Richard was particularly well read and his historical knowledge informed his collecting as reflected by the photography that follows. The array of carte-de-visites and albumen photographs gathered here include a number of identified naval officers - both famous and obscure - along with a handful of enlisted sailors and Mississippi Marine Brigade images, and, significantly, many views of unique Brown Water Navy sidewheel and sternwheel warships - no two vessels looking exactly the same. Subjectively, the most appealing aspect of the Cohen Collection are the photographs of these gunboats, transports, and impressed vessels quickly converted at St. Louis, Cairo, and Cincinnati for duty on the waters of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The gamut of improvised warships range from the earliest types of steam powered vessels first taken up by the Army to create a small timberclad flotilla, to the several purpose-built War Department Ellet rams, and later, the more numerous classes