Confederate CDV Collection Owned by Bessie and Thomas Gresham, Incl. Generals, Officers, Post-War Memorials, & More

Lot 100

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6270 Este Ave.
Cincinnati , OH 45232
United States

With offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver, Cowan’s holds over 40 auctions each year, with annual sales exceeding $16M. We reach buyers around the globe, and take pride in our reputation for integrity, customer service and great results. A full-service house, Cowan’s Auctions specializes in Am...Read more

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Price	Bid Increment
$0	$25
$500	$50
$1,000	$100
$2,000	$250
$5,000	$500
$10,000	$1,000
$20,000	$2,500
$50,000	$5,000
$100,000	$10,000

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American History

By Cowan's Auctions

Jun 10, 2016 - Jun 11, 2016

Set Reminder 2016-06-10 10:00:00 2016-06-11 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-1497 Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

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Lot Description

Confederate CDV Collection Owned by Bessie and Thomas Gresham, Incl. Generals, Officers, Post-War Memorials, & More

Lot of 40+ CDVs collected by Bessie and Thomas Gresham, featuring over 20 cartes of Confederate Generals, a few Gresham family photos, and other interesting views. Some are wardate, and others were apparently acquired in Baltimore soon after the war's end. Some CDVs include patriotic inscriptions and quotations written by Bessie on reverse.

The lot includes CDVs of the following CSA Generals, personalities, etc.:

Louis Trevant Wigfall, General commanding the Texas Brigade, United States Senator, "Fire-Eater" Secessionist, and Confederate States Senator, seated portrait with Mathew Brady backmark; CDV of General P.T. Beauregard, Commander at Fort Sumter, First Manassas, Shiloh, Corinth & Petersburg, with early Gallery Illustrated E. Anthony backmark, the front nicely outlined in red; Gen. James Longstreet portrait with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark, written on reverse in pencil: "The War Horse of the South;" dried leaves & sprigs on CDV-size paper labeled "FROM GENL R. E. LEE'S COFFIN;" double-sided CDV with Stonewall Jackson's Gravesite Lexington, VA and a copy of lithographed portrait of him, written in ink: "Ker Boyce Augusta, GA;" Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his wife with "SPECIALITE" label on reverse for Selby & McCauley of Baltimore, MD; General Basil Duke, unmarked; Libby Prison street scene with revenue stamp on reverse; President Jefferson Davis with an Anthony / Brady backmark; CSA first lady Varina Howe Davis portrait with an E. Anthony backmark; William Clarke Quantrill, Missouri guerrilla leader who led the notorious "Quantrill's Raid" on Lawrence, Kansas, with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark, inscribed on reverse in ink: "Quantrill born Cecil Co. Md;" Edmund Ruffin, Virginia planter & "fire-eater" fired the first shot of the war at Fort Sumter, with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; General Jeff M. Thompson, "Swamp Fox of the Confederacy," with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; Washington Monument in Richmond, VA, with Revenue Stamp on reverse and an inscription, "Statue of Washington" "Oh Patria! Oh Ilium! Divum domus et inclyta bello!;" Gen. Benjamin Huger with a "SPECIALITE" Selby & McCauley Baltimore, MD label and revenue stamp on reverse; Gen. Lloyd Tilghman standing portrait with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark, written on reverse of carte in pencil: Lloyd Tilghman, Md; Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley standing portrait with Mathew Brady backmark and revenue stamp on reverse; General Lee and Staff/ The Military Medallion composite photograph with revenue stamp on reverse and written penciled inscription: Lee and Staff; Adm. Franklin Buchanan, CSN, commanded the CSS Virginia, with an E. & H.T. Anthony backmark and revenue stamp on reverse; Gen. Wade Hampton marked on the reverse by by Charles D. Fredricks, NY; Gen. Thomas C. Hindman, US Congressman from Arkansas (1859-1861), commanded "Hindman's Legion," with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; Capt. John Hanson McNeil of McNeill's Partisan Rangers with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; Gen. John Marshall Jones, KIA at the Battle of the Wilderness, with a "SPECIALITE" Selby & McCauley Baltimore, MD label pasted over an E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department, with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; Confederate Dead with label: "SPECIALITE" Selby & McCauley label, Baltimore, MD, written on reverse of cdv in ink: "Far better the grave or the prison, Illumed by one partriot name, Than the trophies of all who have risen, On Liberty's ruins, to fame."/ "Dulce et Decorum est, pro patria mori;" Southern Chiefs composite with photos of 67 identified Confederate Generals, written on reverse of cdv in ink: "Thus the unequal combat raged! Wrongs injurious to redress Honour's(?) war they nobly waged but the Heaven's denied success;" Gen. Mansfield Lovell, surrendered the City of New Orleans to US Navy in 1862, with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; The Heroes of Manassas: Beauregard, Jackson, Johnson, Turner Ashby & Jefferson Davis lithographic CDV by SELDON & CO., Richmond, VA, written in ink on reverse: Ker Boyce Augusta, GA; Stonewall Jackson at New Market lithograph, CDV by W. D. SELDON & CO., Richmond, VA, written in ink on reverse: Ker Boyce Augusta, GA; Gen. Thomas J "Stonewall" Jackson with early E. Anthony copyright; Gen. Joseph Wheeler, senior Cavalry General in the Army of Tennessee, with a "SPECIALITE" Selby & McCauley Baltimore, MD label; Gen. Richard Taylor, son of US President Zachary Taylor, surrendered the last Confederate forces east of the Mississippi, with a "SPECIALITE" Selby & McCauley Baltimore, MD label; Gen. Camdus Marcellus Wilcox, fought at Seven Days Battles, Gettysburg, Fort Gregg, with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; Gen. William D. Hardee, quarreled with Braxton Bragg and John Hood, opposed Sherman in Georgia, with E. & H.T. Anthony backmark; William Lowndes Yancey, fire-eating "Orator of Secession" from Alabama, Confederate diplomat, Confederate States Senator, CDV by Charles D. Fredricks, NY; Gen. Roger Atkinson Pryor, United States Congressman, Confederate Brigadier General, Confederate States Congressman, CDV by Charles D. Fredricks, NY; a young girl, standing with curls with an early Bendann blindstamp; a young girl with straight hair with an early Bendann blindstamp; an identified gentleman, Severn Teackle Wallis (1831-1891), member of the Maryland legislature with an early Bendann Bros. blindstamp; unidentified gentleman, possibly Thomas Baxter Gresham, CDV with M.J. Lunquest, Macon, GA backmark and revenue stamp; CDV of an unidentified woman, possibly Bessie Johnston Gresham, with A.J. Riddle, Macon, GA backmark and revenue stamp.
Refer to cowans.com for further information about the CDVs, and for a detailed look at the contents of the collection, go to: http://www.historybroker.com/collection/gresham/cdvs/12/additional.htm.

Bessie E. Johnston Gresham Collection of Confederate Manuscripts, Photographs, & Relics

Lots 89-115

Bessie E. Johnston Gresham was born in Baltimore, MD in 1848 in a home sympathetic to the Southern cause. Union forces imprisoned one of her brothers for aiding the South, and her brother Elliott was a Confederate officer who lost a leg at the battle of Antietam. She became an ardent and unreconstructed Confederate, and, in 1887, she married Thomas Baxter Gresham, a Confederate veteran from Macon, GA. She was actively involved in the Baltimore chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and amassed a notable collection of Confederate manuscripts, photographs, and relics at the Gresham home at 815 Park Avenue in Baltimore. Most of her items were left to the Museum of the Confederacy, the Maryland Historical Society, and other institutions. This important collection of Johnston-Gresham family and Confederate-related material, was passed down through Bessie Johnston Gresham’s step-son, Leroy Gresham, before it was acquired by the consignor.

The collection features over 50 CDVs accumulated by Bessie and Thomas Gresham, offered as Lots 89-100. Some are wardate, and others were apparently acquired in Baltimore soon after the war's end. Some CDVs include patriotic inscriptions and quotations written by Bessie on reverse, which showcase her deep feeling of love and devotion to the Southern Cause.

In a June 1862 letter delivered through the Union blockade, Elliott Johnston, serving as aide-de-camp to CSA General Richard B. Garnett, mentioned collecting photos of CSA generals for his then 14-year-old sister Bessie.

In a 1926 issue of Confederate Veteran magazine, a memorial essay described Bessie's girlhood during the war:

"One of her brothers, who was on General Ewell’s staff, suffered the loss of a leg at the battle of Sharpsburg; her two other brothers were active Southern sympathizers and were under constant surveillance by Federal authorities for giving all possible aid to the Confederacy; her home was a center from which radiated help."

"Reared in this atmosphere of deep love for our ‘cause,’ she became an ardent and unreconstructed Confederate."

During her girlhood, Bessie was acquainted with many Southern generals and received from them letters, photographs, and autographs, as well as a number of gifts.

Condition

All items are in very good condition with some cases of toning and minor scattered foxing on only some.
Shipping Info
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