Scope and Content Note
The papers of John C. Watson (1842-1923) span the years 1844-1960, with the bulk of the material falling in the period 1884-1923. The collection consists of family and general correspondence, official orders, a subject file, and miscellaneous documents. Included are the papers of his sons, Edward H. Watson and James T. Watson, also military officers.
The family correspondence consists mainly of letters written to Watson’s wife and children about his cruises, places of interest he visited, and official receptions in foreign lands. The general correspondence is composed mainly of letters from friends and naval officers. Among the correspondents are Willard H. Brownson, Silas Casey, George Dewey, David Glasgow Farragut, William T. Meredith, David D. Porter, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Watson’s official orders date from his appointment as midshipman in 1860 to his special assignment in Europe in 1904. They detail his service in the Civil War, particularly his participation in the bombardment and passage of Forts Jackson, St. Philip, and the Chalmette batteries in April 1862; passage of Vicksburg batteries, June and July 1862; and the Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 Aug. 1864, while aboard Farragut’s flagship, the USS Hartford. The orders also illustrate his postwar duty with the European Squadron, 1867-1878, and his later command of the USS Wyoming, which conveyed the United States exhibit to the Paris Exposition in 1878.
Of interest in the subject file is the controversy between Secretary of the Navy William E. Chandler and Watson as the equipment officer at the Brooklyn Navy Yard over the dismissal of civilian employees in 1883. There are letters to Nicholas Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilkerson Call, and others concerning these dismissals which resulted in Watson’s detachment to other duty. The subject file also includes material on Watson’s command of the Asiatic station from 1899-1900. Letters from the secretary of state, secretary of the navy, naval officers, proclamations, official orders, and telegrams document the problems and daily activities of the fleet and the casualties of the Philippine American War.
There are also letters, telegrams, and notes from which James T. Watson, his son, prepared for the judge advocate cases concerning the indebtedness of an army officer and the theft of United States Army surplus medical property.
The papers of Edward H. Watson document the Honda Point disaster, which occurred on the night of 8 September 1923, when a squadron of nine destroyers commanded by him went aground at Point Honda, California, resulting in the death of twenty-three men, and the loss of eight destroyers. The papers concern the ensuing court of inquiry and show Watson’s willingness to assume full responsibility.
The remainder of the collection consists of two scrapbooks, one made by Rear Admiral Watson on the USS Baltimore, and the other compiled by his son, Edward H. Watson, during his duty as aide to his father in 1902 at the coronation of King Edward VII of England.