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Memoir
Title
Memoir, [ca. 1890?].
Physical Description
1 item (ca. 250 leaves) ; 32 cm.
Language
English
Notes
Some leaves include text on versos.
Provenance
Purchased on the Frederick W. & Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 1970.
Access and use
This material is open for research.
Biographical / Historical Note
John C. Tidball graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1848 and served as an artillery officer in Florida and New Mexico Territory, 1848-1853. In 1853-1854, he led a military escort accompanying Amiel Weeks Whipple's transcontinental railroad survey, which explored a route on the 35th parallel later used by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company. After this expedition, Tidball was appointed to the United States Coast Survey, Washington, D.C., where he was an assistant to Henry Washington Benham, 1854-1859. He served as an artillery officer in the Civil War, and he continued to receive appointments as an officer and military educator until his retirement in 1889. Tidball was the author of the Manual of Heavy Artillery Service (1880).
Summary
Memoir, holograph, mostly concerning Tidball's experiences in the Southwest as a member of Amiel Weeks Whipple's expedition and in Washington, D. C., while employed by the United States Coast Survey. Tidball briefly discusses his early life in West Virginia and Ohio and summarizes his experiences as a student at the United States Military Academy and as an army officer in Florida. After his appointment to the Second Artillery Regiment in 1853, Tidball went to Fort Defiance, New Mexico Territory. He describes travel from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Defiance, in the company of officers and civilians involved in organizing the territorial government.
On his appointment to the Whipple expedition, Tidball led an escort party from Fort Defiance to Zuni, New Mexico Territory, joining Whipple on the Little Colorado River. He discusses his impressions of Whipple's party and contributions of individual members, including Lieutenant J. C. Ives, J. M. Bigelow, Jules Marcou, Caleb Burwell Rowan Kennerly, A. H. Campbell, Balduin Möllhausen, and Antoine LeRoux. He describes in detail the progress of the expedition; encounters with American Indians, particularly Zuni and Mohave; and topography, plants, and animals. In describing the route followed through Arizona, California, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, he also briefly refers to a rail trip on the same route made by him in 1883. Affixed to many pages of this section of the memoir are pencil drawings by Tidball and lithographic illustrations made from drawings by him, picturing members of the expedition, Indians, natural features, and camp scenes.
The memoir continues with Tidball's arrival at San Diego and his impressions of San Francisco; accounts of Acapulco, Mexico, and Panama made during his return to the East; and a second overland journey to Fort Defiance, during which he was recalled to Washington, D. C., to begin work with the Coast Survey.
Tidball's duties at the Coast Survey included office management, relations with the public and Congress, and preparation of publications. He gives his impressions of Henry Washington Benham, Superintendent A. D. Bache, other officers of the Survey, and of Washington society, politics, and government. He also briefly discusses his employment as an illustrator by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft during this period. The remainder of the memoir concerns Tidball's impressions of events leading to the Civil War, including discussion of politics, political parties, Southern society, and the Army and War Department under Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. Also present is a list of distances travelled by Tidball, 1829-1889.
Format
Archives or Manuscripts
Added to Catalog
June 01, 2002
References
John C. Tidball, Memoir. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Cite as
John C. Tidball, Memoir. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Subjects
Subjects (Local Yale)
Genre/Form
Drawings (visual works) - Southwestern States - 19th century.
Memoirs - United States - 19th century.
Occupation
Soldiers United States 19th century.
Bookmark As
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