Recent Reads: From Hampton Roads to Tokyo Bay in the 1850s

A Review of To My Dearest Wife, Lide: Letters from George B. Gideon Jr. during Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan, 1853-1855

M. Patrick Sauer & David A. Ranzan, Eds., Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2019

Commodore Matthew C. Perry, USN, landing at Yokohama, Japan on March 8, 1854, with 500 men, amid pomp and ceremony to receive the answer to President Millard Fillmore's letter which he has personally delivered earlier. (Artist: W. Peters. Lithograph by Sarony & Co., New York. Naval History and Heritage Command image)

By A.J. Orlikoff
Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator

Historians, scholars, and interested individuals owe a great debt to authors who toil to bring to life previously inaccessible or obscure primary sources. Patrick M. Sauer and David A. Ranzan are two such individuals who accomplish just that through their work in To My Dearest Wife, Lide: Letters from George B. Gideon Jr. during Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan, 1853-1855. Sauer and Ranzan’s editorialization of the correspondence of Second Assistant Engineer George B. Gideon Jr. to his wife Eliza (Lide) Ward that occurred during Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s auspicious expedition to Japan stand as an example of important, relevant, and superlative historical scholarship.

Gideon, through recently uncovered correspondence, provides a rare first-person account of Perry’s Expedition to Japan, which normalized trade relations between the isolated island nation and the United States. Perry’s Expedition stands as an important chapter in the Opening of Japan, during which the Japanese ended their relative seclusion from the international world and began their rapid transformation from an insular island nation to a world power that threatened to dominate the Pacific 75 years later.  As such, Sauer and Ranzan add texture and enrich the historical knowledge base on this important event through their work in To My Dearest Wife, Lide.

Gideon witnessed a remarkable amount of notable world events during his nearly three-year voyage aboard the USS Powhatan, a sidewheel steam-powered frigate, which left Hampton Roads bound for Japan on February 13, 1853.  Gideon comes through as relatively pensive through his correspondences to Lide and he choose to include accounts and ruminations on occurrences both mundane and momentous such as the Taiping Rebellion in China, steam engineering, the quality of food, the leadership abilities of officers, the Crimean War, and life at sea. Of particular interest to many scholars will likely be Gideon’s account of the signing of the Convention of Kanegawa and his interactions with the Japanese people.

Gideon witnessed remarkable events such as the first burial of an American in Japanese soil, a ceremonial sumo wrestling match, and the aftermath of a devastating tsunami. Of equal interest to many individuals will be the insight into the Victorian world provided by Gideon’s letters as they reveal much about the social nature of the Antebellum American Navy and the gender dynamics of Victorian marriages.  Interestingly, Gideon, despite witnessing sights not seen by any American, was often far more preoccupied with declaring his love and affection for Lide or offering commentary on a particular shipmate or officer.  All in all, the information included in To My Dearest Wife, Lide is a wealth of knowledge on a variety of topics.

The scholarship and methodology employed by Sauer and Ranzan is appropriate and logically sound. The authors endeavored to transcribe as much of Gideon’s original wording and phrasing as possible and only editorializing where necessary. Many of their changes do little to alter the original text such as changing Gideon’s quotation marks for ship names to italics or providing a correct date in brackets where Gideon errs. In addition, the authors dutifully include a multitude of endnote citations that provide convenient and welcome clarifications on events, individuals, ships, and occurrences that Gideon mentions in his letters. However, the authors notably omit an unknown number of passages which the editors deem “…do not contribute to the overall story.” While space concerns are important, especially with a writer as prolific as Gideon, the voice of Gideon is somewhat muted by the necessary editing of his letters. To be fair, this is no fault of the editors and is merely a product of the realities of print scholarship. For the vast majority of readers, the text included in To My Dearest Wife, Lide is more than an adequate portrait of Gideon’s voyage.

Overall, To My Dearest Wife, Lide is an excellent primary source relating to Perry’s Expedition. Sauer and Ranzan provide a window into a Victorian Era world of discovery, intrigue, violence, innovation, and romance. Scholars and anyone interested in a primary source relating to Perry’s Expedition, Victorian era social dynamics, naval engineering, gender, and the Antebellum Navy will find To My Dearest Wife, Lide a stimulating, useful, and fascinating read. Sauer and Ranzan should be credited as exemplars of editing and publishing a primary source account for their astute methodology and attention to capturing the original voice of the author.