Rasp
Senior Editor
27
Confederate cash seals deal for Sherman papers
Confederate cash seals deal for Sherman papers
ATLANTA --After all of these years, it is ironic to be able to use wads of Confederate currency to buy something so valuable from the Union side.
The paper money, worthless after the Civil War, was found by chance in a bundle of trash atop an abandoned bank vault in Roswell. Now, it has been used to clinch a deal worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy fifty field orders handwritten by Gen. William T. Sherman and two penned by his aides. After months of negotiations, the Atlanta History Center has finally acquired the orders. They will go on display by September, 2006, which will be the 142nd anniversary of the city's surrender on Sept. 18,
r
1864, said Jim Bruns, president of the history center.
"Sherman surrendered," said Bruns, who relishes the thought of Sherman's orders returning to the city the general intended to ruin.
The orders are so valuable because they "show Sherman's intentions, the deliberateness of his movements," Bruns said. "They make it clear that he wasn't going to camp here, and he wasn't going to garrison the city. So he had to destroy the city."
Twelve orders already are at the history center. They illustrate Sherman's ruthlessness in pursuing the campaign, including instructions to his generals to shoot Union soldiers if they are found to be "shirking, skulking and straggling behind in [a] time of danger."
Sherman wrote: "The only proper fate of such miscreants is that they be shot, as common Enemies to their profession & country, and all officers & patrols sent to arrest them will shoot them without mercy on the slightes
t i
mpudence or resistance."
The deal for Sherman's 52 field orders was clinched in part by the contribution of a stash of about 3,0
00 promissory notes from the Confederate States of America discovered by developer Dick Myrick. Now largely retired, Myrick has kept the notes in a brown briefcase for the past 33 years. He decided last summer to donate them to the cause of acquiring the fateful orders. Myrick could not be reached for comment.
"It really was the Confederate currency that got it started," said Seth Kaller, the historic documents dealer who holds Sherman's orders. "Dick's contribution was one of the first that was significant enough for us to know the Atlanta History Center was going to be able to acquire Sherman's orders."
Kaller, based in White Plains, N.Y., said he bought the orders from a collector about a year ago and wanted them to go to Atlanta. Other offers came forward, but Kaller held them off last summer to give the history
center
additional time to raise money to acquire the orders. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Bruns said it represents several hundred thousand dollars.
"I just thought
it was a perfect fit for Atlanta because of the controversy, because of how much Sherman is still hated down there," Kaller said. "It's definitely a place where people will come see them."
Kaller said the collector, whom he did not identify, bought the orders in the 1940s and never took any papers out of the collection. Kaller suspects the orders originated with one of Sherman's aides, whose family passed them down through the generations until they were sold.
"One contains a note from Sherman to his aide about making a collection for the records, the aide responds, and the document ends with something back from Sherman," Kaller said. "The last person we have touching this is one of Sherman's aides."
Kaller is on a quest to help tell both sides of
the story o
f the Civil War through old documents. He has acquired letters of soldiers and generals and is actively looking for more documents.
So is Bruns, who dreams of adding a counterpoint to the future display of Sherman's orders. While the
papers are his priority at the moment, he has big dreams for the future.
"The only thing greater than having Sherman's orders would be to have Johnston's and Hood's, to see the chess match that was going on," Bruns said, referring to Confederate Gens. Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood.
Those leaders could not withstand Sherman's attacks, which led to the fall of Atlanta and a wartime victory that helped Abraham Lincoln win the 1864 election.
"These orders caused the fall of Atlanta, which assured Lincoln's re-election and the continuation of the war. Had Lincoln been defeated, we don't know what would have happened to the Civil War," Bruns said.
"I think Atlanta will enjoy see
ing these paper
s. They certainly don't belong in another city." :confed:
Confederate cash seals deal for Sherman papers
Confederate cash seals deal for Sherman papers
ATLANTA --After all of these years, it is ironic to be able to use wads of Confederate currency to buy something so valuable from the Union side.
The paper money, worthless after the Civil War, was found by chance in a bundle of trash atop an abandoned bank vault in Roswell. Now, it has been used to clinch a deal worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy fifty field orders handwritten by Gen. William T. Sherman and two penned by his aides. After months of negotiations, the Atlanta History Center has finally acquired the orders. They will go on display by September, 2006, which will be the 142nd anniversary of the city's surrender on Sept. 18,
r
1864, said Jim Bruns, president of the history center.
"Sherman surrendered," said Bruns, who relishes the thought of Sherman's orders returning to the city the general intended to ruin.
The orders are so valuable because they "show Sherman's intentions, the deliberateness of his movements," Bruns said. "They make it clear that he wasn't going to camp here, and he wasn't going to garrison the city. So he had to destroy the city."
Twelve orders already are at the history center. They illustrate Sherman's ruthlessness in pursuing the campaign, including instructions to his generals to shoot Union soldiers if they are found to be "shirking, skulking and straggling behind in [a] time of danger."
Sherman wrote: "The only proper fate of such miscreants is that they be shot, as common Enemies to their profession & country, and all officers & patrols sent to arrest them will shoot them without mercy on the slightes
t i
mpudence or resistance."
The deal for Sherman's 52 field orders was clinched in part by the contribution of a stash of about 3,0
00 promissory notes from the Confederate States of America discovered by developer Dick Myrick. Now largely retired, Myrick has kept the notes in a brown briefcase for the past 33 years. He decided last summer to donate them to the cause of acquiring the fateful orders. Myrick could not be reached for comment.
"It really was the Confederate currency that got it started," said Seth Kaller, the historic documents dealer who holds Sherman's orders. "Dick's contribution was one of the first that was significant enough for us to know the Atlanta History Center was going to be able to acquire Sherman's orders."
Kaller, based in White Plains, N.Y., said he bought the orders from a collector about a year ago and wanted them to go to Atlanta. Other offers came forward, but Kaller held them off last summer to give the history
center
additional time to raise money to acquire the orders. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Bruns said it represents several hundred thousand dollars.
"I just thought
it was a perfect fit for Atlanta because of the controversy, because of how much Sherman is still hated down there," Kaller said. "It's definitely a place where people will come see them."
Kaller said the collector, whom he did not identify, bought the orders in the 1940s and never took any papers out of the collection. Kaller suspects the orders originated with one of Sherman's aides, whose family passed them down through the generations until they were sold.
"One contains a note from Sherman to his aide about making a collection for the records, the aide responds, and the document ends with something back from Sherman," Kaller said. "The last person we have touching this is one of Sherman's aides."
Kaller is on a quest to help tell both sides of
the story o
f the Civil War through old documents. He has acquired letters of soldiers and generals and is actively looking for more documents.
So is Bruns, who dreams of adding a counterpoint to the future display of Sherman's orders. While the
papers are his priority at the moment, he has big dreams for the future.
"The only thing greater than having Sherman's orders would be to have Johnston's and Hood's, to see the chess match that was going on," Bruns said, referring to Confederate Gens. Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood.
Those leaders could not withstand Sherman's attacks, which led to the fall of Atlanta and a wartime victory that helped Abraham Lincoln win the 1864 election.
"These orders caused the fall of Atlanta, which assured Lincoln's re-election and the continuation of the war. Had Lincoln been defeated, we don't know what would have happened to the Civil War," Bruns said.
"I think Atlanta will enjoy see
ing these paper
s. They certainly don't belong in another city." :confed:
