Scope and Content Note
The papers of Edmund Ross Colhoun (1821-1897), spanning the years from his appointment as a midshipman in 1839 to 1888, are organized into four series: Journals, Letterbooks, Letterpress Books, and Notebooks; Correspondence; Asiatic Station Official Records; and Miscellany.
The bulk of the Journals series relates to when Colhoun was stationed in the Pacific as commander of the Asiatic Squadron. Journals, notebooks, and letterpress books from his flagship Hartford account for most of the material from this period. Also part of the series are journals, logbooks, and rosters relating to Colhoun's service on the Congress, Albany, and St. Lawrence before the Civil War and his command of the Ladona and Saugus during the war.
The Correspondence is almost all official and includes Colhoun's orders to duty and reports on battles and operations during the Civil War. Letters in the Correspondence and in the Asiatic Station Official Records document Colhoun's interest in maintaining American prestige in China and Japan. The fleet records of the Asiatic Station Official Records also provide insight into the everyday needs, requirements, and activities of the Asiatic Squadron. With the Correspondence, they document diplomatic and consular activities reflecting the interest of the American navy in the territorial and diplomatic affairs of the American community in the Far East.
The Miscellany series includes copies of the general orders originated and issued by Colhoun as commander of the Asiatic fleet, his commissions and appointments, mathematical problems on which he worked, and a few items of printed matter mainly concerned with the Civil War years.