American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography, including The Larry Ness Collection of Native American Photography

7 CDV engravings of Union warships including 4 with Theo Lilienthal's New Orleans imprint on versos (2 are pictorial imprints, 2 are oval stamps).

The image featuring the USS Osage bears ink inscription providing details about the ship on verso, reading "From Miss Fleet - now in Mobbile Bay March 25th 1865, Two 11 in. guns, Built at St. Louis, U. S. Steamer Osage One Turrett Monitor." The Osage was commissioned in July of 1863 and operated in the Mississippi River area through 1864, participating in expeditions up the Black and Ouachita Rivers in February and March, and the Red River thereafter. It was transferred to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in early 1865, where it was employed in Mobile Bay. The Osage struck a Confederate torpedo and sank in the Blakely River on 29 March 1865.

Other featured steamers include the coastal monitor USS Passaic, and the stern-wheel casemate gunboat USS Cincinnati.

The Passaic joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in 1863, bombarding Confederate fortifications including Fort Wagner. The ship was decommissioned in 1865 after the war's end.

The Cincinnati was commissioned in January 1862 and shortly thereafter took part in the capture of Fort Henry, TN. The ship was sunk in shallow water when ships from the Confederate River Defense Fleet rammed it while in action near Fort Pillow on 10 May. Having been repaired, the ship engaged on the Yazoo River, took part in the White River campaign, and combat at Vicksburg in May of 1863 where it was sank again by enemy shore batteries. Repaired one last time, the ship spent much of the remainder of the war patrolling the Mississippi and nearby rivers.