Navy records show Capt. Robert Townsend fought in the Civil War and died on an 1866 mission to hunt down an elusive confederate raider in China.But how the New York-native’s belongings wound up in Colorado Springs remains a bit of a mystery.When antique dealers Mike and Gretchen Graham arrived at a Broadmoor neighborhood estate sale February 11, they found Townsend’s sea trunk, a naval sword, and his epaulets in their original tin box. They bought the collection that same day and dove into researching the gunboat captain’s intriguing history.According to Navy records, Townsend entered the service in 1837 as a midshipman and quit in 1851, only a year after making lieutenant. In 1861, he was back in uniform, fighting for the Union in a number of battles aboard ships such as the USS Miami and USS Essex. Townsend proved successful in his navy career, making Commander in 1862 and Captain in 1866.His extensive career included efforts to shut down Confederate traffic on the Mississippi River and later an ill-fated attempt to chase down a confederate ship that was raiding commerce operations, the CSS Shenandoah. Townsend pursued other raiders and pirates in Chinese waters aboard the USS Wachusett, sailing up the Yangtze with his crew, but he did not live to see the end of this mission. Townsend died of heatstroke in Chinese waters August 15, 1866, still in pursuit.Townsend’s name is carved on to the top of the sea chest, accompanied by his address, which the Grahams proudly note makes it one of few such trunks to be directly traceable to a single individual — particularly such a high ranking one, according to the Civil War expert of the auctioneer the Grahams contacted. Other records show that Townsend’s family had a long history in America. His great-grandfather ran the Stirling Iron Works, one of America’s first iron works, which forged The Great Chain that blocked British transit across the Hudson River during the Revolutionary War.Much of the Graham’s information comes from independent research they did. Their curiosity piqued by the family tree included with the collection, they dug into tax records and even looked into the history of the company that created Townsend’s sword, W.H. Horstmann & Sons, filling a box with books and sheaves of paper related to the collection.“Be interesting to find out why they bought there,” said Graham, explaining his plans to discover the reasons that the Townsends left New York for Colorado. “You don’t expect to find something like that (chest) in Colorado! We buy and sell cowboy type stuff — it’s more available here.”The Grahams even discussed plans to travel up to New York and view the monuments commemorating other blockades on the Hudson River during the Revolution.It’s not difficult to understand their interest.  Commander Townsend’s personality jumps off the page in what Gretchen refers to as a “Q&A with his wife,” Harriet Munroe, in which he answers her questions about topics such as his favorite poet, historical figure, and trait.Replying to a question about his favorite epithet, Townsend joked in a footnote about a common misinterpretation of the word: “Looking over the replies given by others, I find that ‘epithet’ is — incorrectly, I beg leave to say — understood, as meaning phrase, or expletive. I believe my favorite expletive — when I happen to forget myself — is ‘Damn it.’”The next step was to decide what to do with Townsend’s belongings.“We were looking for the right way to sell it,” said Graham. “The best plan is to sell back where it came from.”Luckily for the Grahams, the perfect opportunity came up: the third annual West Point auction, held in a Hotel Thayer on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,. N.Y.  They were contacted about the opportunity by Louis J. Dianni, an auctioneer who handles antique marine art.The Grahams plan to ship Townsend’s belongings to Dianni in preparation for the August auction.  While Dianni takes a cut, they will be looking to make a good sale.“We’re hoping this is going to be the right place to sell it and get it in front of the right people,” said Graham, noting that when it comes to auctions you can never be entirely sure.But even having arranged to sell the collection, Mike and Gretchen are still fascinated by the history, personal and national, that the Civil War collection represents.Gretchen flips through Harriet’s correspondence book, pointing out some of Townsend’s responses, while her husband takes out the naval sword to display the etchings on the blade.“It’s such a piece of American history,” Mike said.

Mike Graham poses Saturday, May 26, 2012, with the Civil War era trunk and items found in it recently at an Estate Sale in the Broadmoor area. Graham is sending the trunk and it’s contents to an auction to be held in West Point in August. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette Photo by MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE

MARK REIS