The Tyson collection comprises a group of five letters, with dated content ranging from 24 February to 5 May 1865, written by the 22-year-old lieutenant to his brother, Carroll Sargent Tyson, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. At the time the letters were written Tyson was serving as navigator on the Connecticut, a side-wheel steamer of 1725 tons. The letters total 36 pages (18 leaves) on 11 individual sheets, mostly folded. The leaves are numbered 1-6 and 8-19; leaf 7 is missing. Taken together, Tyson's letters provide a nearly continuous account of the Connecticut's movements in the Caribbean during these months.

The letters are overwhelmingly given over to descriptions of the islands and their ports, and to the many social engagements that grew out of Tyson's trips ashore (he was generally responsible for meeting with the American consul in the Connecticut's ports of call). Among the locations described at greatest length are St. George (Bermuda); Cape Haitien (Haiti); Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic); San Juan (Puerto Rico); Charlotte Amalie and Frederiksted (Virgin Islands); Basseterre (St. Kitts); and Fort Royal (Martinique). Tyson's description of the incident at the British colony of Barbados — the Barbadan governor's effective refusal to allow the Connecticut to spend more than the conventional 24 hours in port — is consistent with the account in the naval Official Records (Series I, Vol. 3, pp. 492-3).