VICKSBURG MERCHANT SEEKS HELP FROM A YANKEE GENERAL

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006

An interesting 1 ¼ pp. ALS. , Vicksburg, Ms., September 8, 1863, in which a local merchant asks the help of General JOHN EUGENE SMITH ( 1816 -1897), who signs and dockets the letter on the verso. Apparently the unfortunate Mr. Smith, in an effort to help the public, placed his business at serious risk. In part:"…About the 20th of March last, I issued tickets of 50 and 25 cents for change. It was done by the request of several leading men of this city. At that time there was not change enough in circulation to meet the wants of the community. During the siege a building in the rear of my store was burned…and a lot of the tickets were stolen. One week after the first fire another occurred …a large box of tickets was seen to be taken by a Confederate soldier. Those tickets were put in circulation after the surrender. Persons living in the city were reported to have purchased…my tickets with the intention of Compelling me to redeem them in specie or Federal Money….I feel that it would be wrong to force a redemption in a currency worth, then as now, ten times the value of Confederate Money. " It seems to me that the dishonest citizens of Vicksburg are relying too much on the merchant's "Honor", for in an area occupied by Union troops and now reclaimed as United States Territory it would be impossible to compel someone to accept Confederate Money, let alone an emergency script issued to make change for Confederate Money, made by a small business that has at least partially burned down, with no government or bank to back it ! One cannot help but imagine citizens walking through the charred doors of his business with 500 partially burned fifty-cent tickets. Nonetheless, General Smith attempts to pass the buck! His Autographed and signed Endorsement on the back of the letter reads, in full:"Hd.Qrs. Post, Vicksburg, Sept. 9, 1863. Respectfully forwarded to Dept. 4.d. Qrs [ Fourth Division Headquarters] thru Hd. Qrs. 17th A.C. [ Headquarters 17th Army Corps ] . John Eugene Smith, Brig. Genl." It seems to me that a good solution for the poor merchant would be to print a series of five and ten dollar tickets similar to his smaller ones to exchange for the smaller coupons. Very good.

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