Two Confederate Veteran Medals

Lot 115

About Seller

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

Bid Increments

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

About Auction

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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

Two Confederate Veteran Medals

Lot of 2, featuring a Southern Cross of Honor from the Daughters of the Confederacy awarded to Thomas Baxter Gresham, nicely engraved along the bar at top: THOS. B. GRESHAM. CO. B 2ND GA. BATT. 1.5 x 2 in.

Attractive medal from the 1887 Macon Georgia United Confederate Veterans Reunion with original ribbon showing a bust portrait on obverse of JEFFERSON DAVIS EX PRESIDENT CSA 1861-65.
Inscribed on the reverse, REUNION OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS 1887 - MACON, GA. - OCT. 26TH. 1.5 in. dia., 3 in. long including ribbon.

Thomas Baxter Gresham (1844-1933) served with Company B, 2nd Georgia Battalion in 1863, before transferring to the Engineer Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia and being assigned special detail duty in Macon in 1864. After the war, Thomas studied law at the University of Virginia and practiced in Macon before moving to Baltimore in 1887.

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

Both medals in very good condition.
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