This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Size | 1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 90 items) |
Abstract | George Beall Balch (1821-1908) of Tennessee received an appointment in 1837 from Alabama as midshipman in the U.S. Navy. On the Princeton and the Falcon he took part in the Mexican War. As a lieutenant on the Plymouth he was a member of the Perry expedition to Japan. Balch remained in the Navy through the Civil War, commanding the Pocahontas and the Pawnee in operations along the east coast from Jacksonville, Fla. to Georgetown, S.C. After the war, Balch held a series of posts with the Navy, retiring as a rear admiral in 1883. This collection contains official orders, reports, correspondence, and other records of the naval service of George Beall Balch. The collection includes a log of the U.S.S. Cyane in the Mediterranean, 1838-1840; a few papers pertaining to service in Latin American waters and the Perry expedition to Japan in the 1850s; order and letter books of the U.S.S. Pawnee, 1862-1865, commanded by Balch in South Carolina coastal operations, and other Civil War papers; scattered postwar papers related to various duties and to personal affairs at Baltimore, Md.; clippings about and a few brief writings by Balch; and a manuscript novel about the Naval Academy. |
Creator | Balch, George Beall, 1821-1908. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Adam Fielding, Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, September 2010
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
George Beall Balch (1821-1908) of Tennessee received an appointment in 1837 from Alabama as midshipman in the U.S. Navy. On the Princeton and the Falcon he took part in the Mexican War. As a lieutenant on the Plymouth he was a member of the Perry expedition to Japan. Balch remained in the Navy through the Civil War, commanding the Pocahontas and the Pawnee in operations along the East coast from Jacksonville, Fla. to Georgetown, S.C. After the war, Balch held a series of posts with the Navy, retiring as a rear admiral in 1883 and living in Baltimore, Md. Admiral Balch was twice married: to Julia Grace Vinson in 1844, and to Mary Ellen Booth in 1865.
Back to TopThis collection contains official orders, reports, correspondence, and other records of the naval service of George Beall Balch (1821-1908). The collection includes a log of the U.S.S. Cyane in the Mediterranean, 1838-1840; a few papers pertaining to service in Latin American waters and the Perry expedition to Japan in the 1850s; order and letter books of the U.S.S. Pawnee, 1862-1865, commanded by Balch in South Carolina coastal operations, and other Civil War papers; scattered postwar papers related to various duties and to personal affairs at Baltimore; clippings about and a few brief writings by Balch; and a manuscript novel about the Naval Academy.
Back to TopFolder 1a |
Original finding aid |
Folder 1 |
1830-1849Includes orders assigning Balch to various ships, recommendations to the examining board by various people under whom Balch had served, and copies of correspondence about the prize ship Merchant. |
Folder 2 |
1850-1859Includes orders regarding assignments at sea, including the Perry expedition. |
Folder 3 |
1860-March 1864Includes a letter regarding the sinking of the Payano commanded by Lt. Balch, off the Mexican Coast, an account of the accident written by Balch in later years, reports of the activities of the Pocahontas including a report of the successful blockading of Maffitt's Channel, Charleston, S.C. in 1862, and a report of an engagement of the Pawnee and the Marblehead in the Stono River with a Confederate battery near Legareville, S.C. |
Folder 4 |
April 1864-1869Includes orders appointing Balch to the Navy Department at Washington, D.C., and Balch's marriage license and certificate with Mary Ellen Booth. |
Folder 5 |
1870-1874Includes order appointing Balch Governor of the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, Pa. |
Folder 6 |
1875-1879Includes orders to duty as a member of the Lighthouse Board, to the Naval Examining Board, and to the superintendency of the Naval Academy, and Balch's appointment as rear admiral. |
Folder 7 |
1880-1889Includes a letter of thanks from the Japanese Minister on behalf of the Japanese cadets graduated from the Naval Academy in 1881, and correspondence and a report about the rescue of Japanese sailors by ship. |
Folder 8 |
1890-1898Includes personal correspondence. |
Folder 9 |
1900-1924Includes correspondence regarding Balch's death, and a manuscript, "Remininscences of Commodore Perry's Japan Expedition," written by H.P. Goddard, as told to him by Balch. |
Folder 10 |
UndatedIncludes clippings chiefly about Balch's career. |
Folder 11-12
Folder 11Folder 12 |
GenealogyIncludes genealogical letters from 1880-1959. |
Folder 13 |
ClippingsMiscellaneous clippings about Balch's career. |
Folder 14 |
Volume 1Journal and other records of the U.S.S. Cyane, 1838-1840. |
Folder 15 |
Volume 2Order book for U.S.S. Pawnee, 1862-1865. |
Folder 16 |
Volume 3Lettercopy book, 1863-1865. |
Folder 17 |
Volume 4Notebook of various correspondence, reports, clippings, and genealogical information. |
Folder 18 |
Volume 5Notebook with clippings and copies of letters and reports. |
Folder 19 |
Volume 6Manuscript of a novel written by Balch, Old Naval Academy Days. |
Folder 20 |
Volume 7Copy of letter from James Booth (1789-1855) to his father James Booth. |
Image Folder PF-1591/1-2
PF-1591/1PF-1591/2 |
Photographs |