Rare Ordinance of Secession 1861 Document

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Mar 26, 2017 - Mar 27, 2017

Set Reminder 2017-03-26 11:00:00 2017-03-27 11:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Art, Oriental & Antiques Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/sarasota-estate/fine-art-oriental-antiques-auction-2218
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• Lot Description
  Ordinance of Secession, 1861. An exceedingly rare and important Civil War document. The Ordinance of Secession was a document drafted and ratified by the Southern states at the beginning of the Civil War and let the states formally secede from the Union. Each state ratified its own Ordinance of Secession, and this document is just one of a handful that exist from the state of Virginia. It’s also known as the Virginia Act of Secession. The Ordinance was adopted by Virginia at a convention held on April 17, 1861, and voters from Virginia ratified the Ordinance in a referendum held on May 23, 1861. Virginia originally ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788, and this document repealed that ratification and set the stage for Virginia leaving the Union and becoming part of the Confederacy. The document is rare. There is one copy at the Library of Virginia, a copy at the Virginia Historical Society, and a few in Special Collections at universities or museums around the country. This is the only known copy in private hands. The history of the piece tells a lot about the history of the Civil War. Initially Virginia voted against secession. The first convention about seceding from the Union was held on April 4, 1861 and the proposal was rejected because a majority of delegates from the Blue Ridge Mountain area wanted to remain part of the United States. There weren’t many plantation owners or slaves in the Blue Ridge area, so delegates voted down the proposal. But after Fort Sumter was attacked and President Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion in South Carolina, many Virginians who opposed secession changed their minds, and another convention was held on April 17, 1861. This time Virginia voted to secede from the Union. 92 members of the convention signed the first copy of the Ordinance of Secession and a referendum was held in May to see if residents of Virginia would support the resolution. The referendum passed by nearly 100,000 votes. William Flegenheimer was a teacher residing in Richmond who later became an attorney in the city. Once the Ordinance was passed, convention members went looking for a professional penman to put the Ordinance on paper while the convention was in recess. Flegenheimer was hired, and he completed the design of the parchment paper by May 28. His name is imprinted in small letters just below the fancy scrollwork at the top. (“Written by William Flegenheimer, Prof. of Penmanship, Richmond, Va”) The second session of the convention was held in June, and members began signing the ceremonial copy on June 14. Several members did not attend the second session and signed it at the third session in November, as did newer delegates who were elected to replace signers who had died, resigned, or been expelled for taking part in the Wheeling Convention (a pro-Union movement). 142 delegates signed the document, and it has the signature of Convention Secretary John L. Eubank at the bottom left and the signature of the President of the Convention, John Janney, at the top of the column of names on the right. This copy has 142 signatures and the signatures of Eubank and Janney. Note: the western part of Virginia was against the secession movement. The Wheeling Convention established a government that was loyal to the Union, and Wheeling served as the provisional capital of Virginia from 1861 to 1863. This “Restored Government” was recognized by the United States as the legitimate government of Virginia, and eventually the western part of the state seceded from Virginia, which led to the formation of West Virginia. The person who owned the document was Major L Curtis Brackett, a captain in the Union army who was promoted to Brevet Major for gallantry near the end of the Civil War. According to war records, he served in the Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts Volunteers and fought in Virginia at the Battle of Fort Stedmen (March 25, 1865) and the Third Battle of Petersburg (April 2, 1865). There’s a plaque at the bottom of the document which says that Brackett was in the 28th Massachusetts Infantry. It’s not clear if Brackett transferred from one regiment to the other, or if the 57th group was part of the 28th, but the 28th Regiment was present for Lee’s surrender at Appomattox (April 9, 1865). The plaque reads: “Virginia Secession Ordinance, April, 1861 An Ordinance to repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under the Constitution. The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution …. 25, June 1788, having declared that the powers granted …. must be resumed whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury and oppression and the Federal Government having perverted said powers …. that the Union between the State of Virginia and the other States …. is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is …. a free and independent state ….” Richmond: Simons & Keiningham Virginia’s Act of Secession, one of two extant copies; the sole copy in private hands, the other copy of this Simons & Keiningham lithograph is at the Virginia Historical Society…. This copy was owned by Union Brevet Major L. Curtis Brackett (1841 - 1919), 28th Massachusetts infantry, who was in Virginia in 1865” Simons & Keiningham were lithographers from Richmond. There are numbers and notes on the document, apparently in Major Brackett’s handwriting. The numbers are in parentheses next to the names of nine delegates who signed the Ordinance; at the bottom of the document there are notes in pencil which correspond to the numbers and give highlights about the delegates: (1) Jas M Speed Died in Washington Lynchburg Since the War (2) Henry A Wise - Ex Gov. of Va (3) Jubal A. Early - The General who was thrashed by Sheridan and who now refused to be “reconstructed” (4) John Tyler - Ex Presdt of U.S. (5) R E Scott murdered by the Yankees (?) (6) Wms C Wickham 2d Vice Presdt of Chesapeake & Ohio RR (7) Effa Hunton now Member of Congress (8) John Q Marr First man killed in the war on the Southern side few days after signing this (9) J B Young Lawyer in Richmond Run against Genl Joe E Johnston for Congress and defeated There’s another pencil note at the bottom of the document which says “March 1877 Three fourths of [ ] have died”. If the notes were written by Major Brackett, he probably added the notes in 1877. Important signers: Jubal Early was a Confederate general during the Civil War; he served as a division commander under Stonewall Jackson and Richard Ewell. Originally he opposed secession at the convention, but decided to sign the document after Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion in the South. John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States, from 1841 to 1845. He was a slaveholder and strong supporter of states’ rights, and if he lived today, his signing the document might have been considered an act of treason, but the country was very divided at the time of the Civil War. John Quincy Marr was a delegate from Fauquier County who was absent when the convention adopted the text of the Ordinance on April 17. Initially he opposed secession, but ultimately came around and signed the preliminary copy of the Ordinance before the first session adjourned on May 1. He was a captain in the Virginia militia and has a place in history because he was the first Confederate soldier to be killed in combat in the Civil War. (He was killed at the Battle of Fairfax Court House on June 1, 1861.) On June 14, 1861, the second session of the convention authorized copying Marr’s signature from the April document onto the parchment copies to be lithographed by Simons & Kleiningham. That’s how Marr’s signature got on the copy which was signed in June, even though he had been killed beforehand. The document is framed and under glass. It measures 33 1/2” X 24 1/2” (image size) and the frame measures 58 1/2” X 39 1/2”. The document has two vertical folds and ten horizontal folds.
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