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Finding Aid for the Thomas Crosby Lancey Papers, 1846-1855
103
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Title: Thomas Crosby Lancey Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1846-1855
Collection number: 103
Creator:
Lancey, Thomas Crosby, 1824-1885
Extent:
8 boxes (4 linear ft.)
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: Thomas Crosby Lancey (1824-1885) joined the U.S. Navy (1846) serving as baggage master on the
North Carolina before being transferred to the U.S. Sloop of War
Dale as captain's coxswain. He kept a journal of daily occurrences which formed the basis of the three volume manuscript,
The Cruise of the Dale, some of which Hubert Howe Bancroft used in preparing his
History of California. After his discharge from the U.S. Navy (1849), Lancey kept a store for Hoyt and Smith near Sacramento and ran the first
stage to the gold mines while continuing to collect clippings from newspapers and information from his fellow veterans. The
collection consists of historical notes, loose papers, clippings and ephemera chiefly concerning the American conquest of
California (1846-1849), with particular emphasis on naval operations.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Language:
English.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including
copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds
the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
Additional Physical Form Available
A copy of the original version of this online finding aid is available at the UCLA Department of Special Collections for in-house
consultation and may be obtained for a fee. Please contact:
- Public Services Division
- UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
- Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
- Box 951575
- Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
- Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
- Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
- Gift of Robert E. Cowan, 1945.
- The collection was in the possession of the Martel family until purchased by Robert E. Cowan from Adele Martel in 1922. It came to UCLA Special Collections as part of the Robert E. Cowan Collection.
[Identification of item], Thomas Crosby Lancey Papers (Collection 103). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
1973053
Lancey was born in 1824, and was a native of Dover, Maine; entered merchant service at an early age and served on voyages
to Havana, the Netherlands, France and China; entered the U.S. Navy on April 26, 1846 as baggage master on the North Carolina,
serving until July 3, when he was transferred to the U.S. Sloop of War Dale as captain's coxswain; the Dale sailed from the
Brooklyn Navy Yard on June 6, 1846 to take re-enforcements to Commodore Sloat's Pacific squadron; Lancey served on board while
taking in the action of Muleje, Lower California and the bombardment of Guaymas, Mexico; he kept a journal of daily occurrences
which formed the basis of the three volume manuscript,
The Cruise of the Dale, some of which Hubert Howe Bancroft used in preparing his history of California; after his discharge from the U.S. Navy on
March 13, 1849, Lancey kept a store for Hoyt and Smith near Sacramento, and ran the first stage to the gold mines; in 1851
he settled in San Francisco, where he became a painter and mining agent; he continued to collect clippings from newspapers
and information from his fellow veterans; he died in 1885.
Extended Biographical Narrative
The Thomas Crosby Lancey Papers contain bound volumes, loose papers, notes and clippings pertaining to the American conquest
of California during the Mexican War with particular reference to the American naval operations. These papers are the rough
notes and journals of Thomas C. Lancey, who served on the U.S. Sloop of War
Dale from 1846 to 1849.
Lancey, a native of Dover, Maine, was born in 1824. At an early age he entered the merchant service and shipped as an able
seaman on voyages to Havana, the Netherlands, France and China. He entered the U.S. Navy April 26, 1846 as baggage master
on the old
North Carolina and served until June 3rd of that year, when he was transferred to the U.S. Sloop of War
Dale as captain's coxswain.
The Dale sailed from Brooklyn Navy Yard on June 6, 1846 to take much needed re-enforcements to Commodore Sloat's Pacific Squadron
and remained on the Pacific coast until March 14, 1849. During this time Lancey served on board taking part in the action
of Muleje, Lower California and the bombardment of Guaymas, Mexico.
Lancey kept a journal of daily occurences which it is believed he later supplemented with additional recollections to form
the three volume holograph manuscript known as
The Cruise of the Dale. This manuscript is the gem of his papers. An earlier version appeared serially in the
San Jose Pioneer and the installments were assembled by the historian Hubert Howe Bancroft in scrapbook form. Bancroft used Lancey's narrative
as well as other materials from his collection in the preparation of the
California History, and spoke of it as the most complete collection extant of data on the conquest of California. Lancey also received praise
from
Bancroft for his indefatigable zeal and marked ability in his researches. There is no question that Lancey possessed many
of the instincts of a true historian. Certainly he did realize keenly his responsibility as a witness and participant in the
Mexican War in the Pacific to gather and perserve material conerning it.
After his discharge from the U.S. Navy at San Francisco on March 13, 1849, he kept a store near Sacramento for Messrs. Hoyt
and Smith and ran the first stage to the gold mines. In 1851 he settled in San Francisco permanently taking up employment
as a painter and mining agent.
Lancey did not long lay aside his research, but continued to collect data from newspapers and from fellow veterans who had
settled in San Francisco. He was assisted in his work by a number of old shipmates from the
Dale, particularly James Louis Martel, who had become a real estate broker in San Francisco. Even during the last years of his
life when he was almost constantly bedridden he continued his work with the hope that these rough notes may in after years
assist the true historian to give his people a true chronicle of the achievements of Fremont, Sloat, Stockton and their compatriots
in arms.
Upon his death without direct heir, Lancey's notes and papers passed to his close friend and former shipmate in the
Dale, James Louis Martel. They remained in the possession of the Martel family until 1922, when they were purchased from Adele
Martel by the late Robert E. Cowan and now form a significant unit in the Robert Ernest Cowan Collection of Californiana in
the Library of the University of California at Los Angeles.
Collection consists of historical notes, loose papers, clippings and ephemera of seaman Thomas Lacey, chiefly concerning the
American conquest of California, 1846-1849, with particular emphasis on naval operations. Includes his original holograph
journal kept while stationed aboard the U.S. Sloop of War Dale, some of his correspondence, personal papers and biographical
data. Contains common place books, lists of ship passengers to California, lists of military officers, and biographical information
of California pioneers.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Lancey, Thomas Crosby, 1824-1885--Archives.
Mexican War, 1846-1848.
Diaries.
Apollo (Bark)
Box 6,
folder 3.
The Associated Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, New York
Box 6,
folder 3
The Associated Veterans of the Mexican War, San Francisco
Box 1,
folder 2;
Box 6,
folder 3
Bear Flag Revolt
Box 6,
folder 7
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
Box 6,
folder 3
California--Governors
Box 3,
folder 2
California, Lower
Box 8
California (Steamship)
Box 2,
folder 4
Clark, Francis D.
Box 1,
folder 1
Columbus (U.S. Ship)
Box 8
Congress (U.S. Frigate)
Box 8
Cortes, Hernando
Box 8
Cyane (U.S. Ship)
Box 8
Dale (U.S. Sloop of War)
Box 7
Box 5,
folder 3;
Box 5,
folder 4.
Erie (U.S. Steamship)
Box 8
Fremont's Battalion of Mounted Rifles (California Battalion)
Box 6,
folder 2
Guaymas, Mexico
Box 1,
folder 3.
Independence (U.S. Ship)
Box 8
Jesuits In Lower California
Box 8
Lancey, Thomas Crosby (1824-1885)
passim
LANCEY, THOMAS CROSBY
Box 1
Levent (U.S. Sloop of War)
Box 8
Lexington (U.S. Ship)
Box 3,
folder 1
Box 8
Martel, James Louis
Box 1,
folder 1
Mechanics Institute, San Francisco
Box 6,
folder 3.
Mexicans in California
Box 5,
folder 1,
2.
Missions--California, Lower
Box 8
Montauk (Clipper Ship)
Box 2,
folder 1,
2.
Monterey, California
Box 3,
folder 1
New York Infantry, 1st Regiment (1846-1848)
Box 5,
folder 8,
9.
Oregon (Steamship)
Box 2,
folder 5,
6.
Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Box 2,
folder 4,
5,
6.
Panama (Steamship)
Box 2,
folder 6.
Pioneers--California, 1814-1849
Box 2,
folder 4,
5;
Box 6,
folder 3.
Portola, Gaspar De
Box 3,
folder 2
Portsmouth (U.S. Sloop of War)
Box 2,
folder 3.
Powell, Lawrence Clark
Box 1,
folder 4
Preble (U.S. Sloop of War)
Box 8
Riley, Bennett
Box 3,
folder 2
Rudd, John
Box 1,
folder 1
San Jose Pioneer
Box 1,
folder 2
Selfridge, Thomas Oliver
Box 6,
folder 3
Shark (U.S. Schooner)
Box 1,
folder 5
Ships--Pacific Coast
Box 1,
folder 5
Spaniards in California
Box 5,
folder 1,
2.
Stevenson, Jonathan Drake
Box 5,
folder 8,
9.
Stevenson's Regiment (New York Volunteers)
see New York Infantry, 1st Regiment (1846-1848)
Territorial Pioneers of California
Box 1,
folder 2;
Box 6,
folder 3
U.S. Army. 3rd Artillery, Company F
Box 3,
folder 1
Warren (U.S. Ship)
Box 8
Williams, George
Box 1,
folder 1