THE GREAT SEAL
OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.
by Thomas J. Pickett, Ex-Confederate States Commissioner to Mexico.
With a desire to correct an erroneous popular impression that the late Confederate States Government never had a Great Seal, the emblem of sovereignty, I have prepared the following paper, in which is given a brief history of that seal. It was engraved in solid silver in London, and received into the possession of the Confederate States Government, at Richmond, in the spring of 1865. It is yet in existence, and I have caused to be made electrotype copies of it in gold, silver and bronze, for a purpose hereafter mentioned.
At the third session of the first Congress1 of the Confederate States of America, the necessary legislation was had for the establishing of a seal, as follows:
“Joint resolution to establish a seal for the Confederate States.
“Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, That the seal of the Confederate States shall consist of a device representing an equestrian portrait of Washington, (after the statue which surmounts his monument in the capitol square at Richmond), surrounded with a wreath composed of the principal agricultural products of the Confederacy, (cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, corn, wheat and rice), and having around its margin the words: “The Confederate States of America, twenty-second February, eighteen hundred and sixty-two,” with the following motto: “Deo vindice.”
APPROVED, April 30, 1863. [C. S. Statutes at Large.]
And thus we have a succinct and accurate description of that which symbolized the once formidable but ephemeral Confederacy.
1. It must be borne in mind that the previous and original Congress was provisional; the permanent government of the Confederate States not having been established until February 22d, 1862.
Accordingly the Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State of the Confederate States, in his dispatch of May 20, 1863, to the Hon. James M. Mason, Commissioner of the Confederate States near the government of Great Britain, expresses the will of Congress with regard to the proposed seal in the following manner:
Department of State,
“Richmond, May 20, 1863.
“Hon. James M. Mason,
London.
Sir:
“Congress has passed a law establishing a seal for the Confederate States. I have concluded to get the work executed in England, and request that you will do me the favor to supervise it. You will receive herewith a copy of the act of Congress describing the seal, and a photographic view of the statue of Washington. The photograph represents the horse as standing on the summit of an obelisk, but in the seal the base ought to be the earth, as the representation is to be of a horseman and not of a statue. The size desired for the seal is the circle on the back of the photograph. The outer margin will give space for the words ‘The Confederate States of America, 22d February 1862.’ I do not think it necessary that the date should be expressed in words, the figures 22, 1862, being a sufficient compliance with the requirement of the law. Indeed, I know that in the drawing submitted to the committee that devised the seal, the date was in figures and not in words. There is not room for the date in words on the circumference of the seal without reducing the size of the letters so much as to injure the effect. In regard to the wreath and the motto, they must be placed as your taste and that of the artist shall suggest, but it is not deemed imperative, under the words of the act, that all the agricultural products (cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, corn, wheat and rice) should find place in the wreath. They are stated rather as examples. I am inclined to think that in so small a space as the wreath must necessarily occupy, it will be impossible to include all these products with good effect, and in that event I would suggest that cotton, rice and tobacco, being distinctive products of the southern, middle and northern States of the Confederacy, ought to be retained, while wheat and corn being produced in equal abundance in the United States as in the Confederacy, and therefore less distinctive than the other products named, may better be omitted, if omission is found necessary. It is not desired that the work be executed by any but the best artist that can be found, and the difference of expense between a poor and a fine specimen of art in the engraving is too small a matter to be taken into consideration in a work that we fondly hope will be required for generations yet unborn.
“Pray give your best attention to this, and let me know about what the cost will be and when I may expect the work to be finished.”
Monographic as I nave designed this paper to be, I cannot refrain from transcribing the remainder of this dispatch of Mr. Benjamin, affording, as it does, a vivid picture of those times, as well as of its writer's hopeful and somewhat credulous nature, and of his ardent devotion to the now Lost Cause.1
1. The present writer is not of those who expect to go to Mr. Benjamin when he dies, and although having regarded at the time and still regarding the undue influence which he (Mr. B.) exercised over Mr. Davis as a great calamity to ‘The Cause,’ justice requires that he should be vindicated from the suspicion of unfaithfulness to the Confederacy.
“I am happy to apprise you that the information from all parts of the Confederacy is most encouraging as regards the growing crops. In the more southern portions of our country they are just beginning to gather the wheat harvest, and no complaint is heard from any part of the country of rust or other injury. The production of wheat and other small grain will be very large this year, while that of corn will be enormous, probably enough for two years' consumption, unless some very unexpected and unusual calamity shall occur. Our enemies must find some other instrumentality than starvation before they succeed in breaking the proud spirit of this noble people. How it makes one's heart swell with emotion, to witness the calm, heroic, unconquerable determination to be free, that fills the breast of all ages, sexes and conditions!
“What effect may be produced in Europe by the repulse at Charleston and the defeat of Hooker is not now even the subject of speculation among the people. It is the evident purpose of foreign governments to accord or refuse recognition according to the dictates of their own interests or fears, without the slightest reference to right or justice, and we have thus learned, at heavy cost, a lesson that will, I trust, remain profitable to our statesmen in all future time.
“We have now, by our system of taxation, so arranged our financial affairs as to be entirely confident of the ability to resist, for an indefinite period, the execrable savages who are now murdering and plundering our people, and no prospect of peace is perceptible from any other source than the growing conviction among all classes in the United States that they are waging a war as ruinous in the present as it is hopeless in the future.”
I have been unable to find anything among the Confederate archives, from Mr. Mason, in reply to the foregoing instructions as to the seal, until his dispatch to Mr. Benjamin, dated London, February 18, 1864, wherein occurs the following passage:
“In regard to the seal, too, I have now a report from Mr. Foley, who, it seems, has been some time absent from London. He says that the artisan, Mr. Wyon, employed to engrave it, informs him that it will yet require six weeks or two months to finish it, as he is very anxious to bestow upon it all the pains so important a work demands. He is executing it in silver (the metal the state seals of England are executed in), which offers the advantage of proof against rust so often destructive to seals executed in steel.
“The above is from Mr. Foley's note of the l0th instant, from Dublin, to me at Paris. He tells me, further, that the cost of engraving the seal, including the press for working it, will be eighty guineas, and that it is customary in England to receive one-half the amount on commencing the work. He advises that I should conform, as it will at least prevent excuse for delay, and which I will do as soon as I can obtain the address of Mr. Wyon.”
We next hear from Mr. Mason, on the subject of the seal, under date of Paris, April 12, 1864.
Mr. Mason to Mr. Benjamin:
“Before I left London I called on Mr. Wyon, the artist employed to make the Confederate seal referred to in my No. 4, and paid him forty guineas, equal to fortytwo pounds, one-half the cost of the seal, in advance, and arranged that when it was ready it should be carefully packed, with the press, &c., in a box lined with tin, and put in charge of Mr. Hotze until it could be sent over. He promised it should be ready by the middle of May.”
The official and pecuniary history of the seal ends with the following dispatch from Mr. Mason to Mr. Benjamin, and its appendix — being the bill of the engraver, amounting to 122 pounds 10 shillings. Other appendices, being “directions for using the Great Seal of the Confederate States,” we omit, as they relate to a purely mechanical subject:
Mr. Mason to Mr. Benjamin, and its appendix— being the bill of the engraver, amounting to 122 pounds 10 shillings. Other appendices, being “directions for using the Great Seal of the Confederate States,” we omit, as they relate to a purely mechanical subject:
“London, July 6, 1864,
“24. Upper Seymour Street,
“Portman Square.
“Hon. J. P. Benjamin,
Secretary of State.
“I have the pleasure to inform you that I send by Lieutenant Chapman, C. S. A., who bears this, the seal of the Confederate States, at last completed. It is much admired by all who have seen it here, and I hope you will approve it as a fine work of art.
“The seal is carefully put up in a separate small box, and Lieutenant Chapman is charged, under no circumstances, to run the risk of its being captured. He takes the route to Bermuda, via Halifax, to sail on Saturday, 9th instant, and I ship through Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., by the steamer that takes him to Halifax, two boxes containing the iron press, with a full supply of wax and other materials for the use of the seal. Although not expressly ordered, in the difficulty of obtaining these in the Confederacy at present, at least of approved quality, I have thought it best to have them supplied here, all which I hope you will approve.
“The enclosed duplicate bill will furnish a list of those materials, with the prices. The original I have paid and retain.
“I have requested Lieutenant Chapman to take charge of the boxes at Bermuda, and to see to their safe delivery. To relieve him of expenses on the route, I have further requested Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., here, if they can do so, to pay the freight all the way to Bermuda, and write to Major Walker at Bermuda to pay the freight thence to the Confederacy, should they not go in a Government ship.
“Still it is possible that some part of this may not be done, and I have accordingly told Lieutenant Chapman, should any expenses in the transportation devolve on him, it should be paid promptly at the Department of State, which oblige me by having attended to.
“I have the honor to be, &c., &c., &c.,
“J. M. Mason.”
J. M. MASON, ESQ.,
To Joseph S. Wyon
Chief Engraver to Her Majesty's Seals,
&c.,
287 Regent Street, London, W.
1864.
| July 2. — Silver Seal for the Confederate States of American with ivory handle, box with spring lock and screw press.… | £84 |
| 3000 wafers.… | 4 10 |
| 1000 seal papers.… | 7 |
| 1000 strips of parchment | 18 |
| 100 brass boxes . . | 16 5 |
| 100 cakes of wax . . | 7 |
| 100 silk cords | 6 5 |
| 1 perforator | 5 |
| 3 packing cases lined with tin.… | 7 |
| £122 10 |
By cash, 21 March, £42.
Settled by cheque for balance, 6th July, 1864.1
My object in the reproduction of the seal has been two-fold: first, to afford to those who feel a deep interest in the Cause of which it is a memento, and second, to use the proceeds of the sale of copies, less the bare cost of them with the cases, &c., in the relief of as many as possible of the needy and afflicted of the South, whose name, alas! is legion. No copies will be offered for mere speculative purposes. The number executed is limited. They may be ordered from Messrs. M. W. Gait, Brother & Co., jewellers, No. 1107 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington City, D. C. I have also prepared, in pamphlet form, a more detailed account of the seal, for distribution, with the electrotype copies of it.
1. In consequence of false and ungenerous statements which have appeared concerning the copies of the seal which I have caused to be made, charging that they are not genuine, I have procured the following certificate from the successors of the late Mr. Wyon, the engraver of the seal:
287 Regent Street, London, W.
6th March, 1874.
To all whom it may concern.
Having received from John T. Pickett, Esq., Counsellor-at-Law, of Washington City, in the United States of America, a certain impression of the Great Seal of the Confederate States of America, obtained by the electrotype process, we hereby certify that the said impression is a faithful reproduction of the identical seal engraved in 1864, by our predecessor, the late Joseph S. Wyon, Esq., for James M. Mason, Esq., who was at that time in London, representing the interests of the Confederate States, of which the seal referred to was designed as the symbolical emblem of sovereignty.
We may add that it has been the invariable practice of our house to preserve proof impressions of all important seal-work executed by us, and on a comparison of the impression now sent us with the proof impressions retained by us, we have no hesitation in asserting that so perfect an impression could not have been produced, except from the original seal. We have never made any duplicate of the seal in question.
Witness our hands, the date above given.
J. S. & A. B. Wyon.
The several styles of the electrotype copies now before the writer, are very beautiful specimens of the art —[Ed. Record.]