Correspondence, diaries, journals, writings, orders to duty, scrapbooks, printed matter, photographs, memorabilia, and other papers relating to Sargent's service as a naval officer. Documents his years as a student at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; tours aboard the USS Alaska (Screw gunboat) in 1873 and the USS Lancaster (Sloop of war) in 1884; service in the Spanish-American War; command of the USS Scorpion (Gunboat) and USS Machias (Gunboat) for the purpose of transporting an expedition to the coast of the Isthmus of Darien (Panama); command of the USS Baltimore (Cruiser); and duty as a member of the General Board. Correspondents include John Burns, Mortimer E. Cooley, George Dewey, Mildred McLean Hazen Dewey, William H. Emory, David Jayne Hill, Cyrus E. Lothrop, Sidney Augustus Staunton, and John Grimes Walker.