Guide to the John H. Knowles Papers, 1864-1914

John H. Knowles was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island on August 30, 1830. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1855. During the Civil War, he served as a quartermaster aboard the U.S.S. Hartford (screw sloop-of-war), the flagship of David G. Farragut, commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. At the Battle of Mobile Bay, when Farragut climbed the Hartford's rigging to obtain a better view, Captain Percival Drayton became concerned that his commanding officer might be wounded or lose his balance and fall. Knowles is the man Drayton reputedly sent aloft to lash Farragut to the rigging. Knowles spent his latter years at the U.S. Naval Academy, serving aboard the academy's training vessels. He died in Annapolis on April 9, 1895.

The collection spans the dates 1864 to 1914, and consists mostly of Knowles' discharge papers and documents relating to a widow's pension for Mary A.E. Knowles. With the exception of the U.S.S. Hartford, all the ships mentioned were training ships at the U.S. Naval Academy. Four items relate to Knowles' attempt to claim bounty money for vessels destroyed at New Orleans during the Civil War.

Knowles' discharge from the U.S.S. Phlox (side wheel steamer) on March 17, 1874 describes his numerous tattoos. In a letter dated November 1, 1895 to Mary A.E. Knowles concerning her widow's pension, Captain John Crittenden Watson writes, "Your husband was an honored shipmate of mine and one of the heroes of the Civil War." Watson served aboard the Hartford at the Battle of Mobile Bay and retired with the rank of rear admiral.

Included among the documents is a cabinet card of Knowles preparing to repel boarders and the decorative metal clasp for a ribbon or medal.