Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Safe |
Catalog Number |
0985.13.00073 |
Description |
Large combination safe; believed to be iron. Two metal hinges attach to door, which swings open on right side. Shelf with slots for papers across top; various other shelves inside. Hole drilled in back. Once had a combination lock; now has a regular key lock (key stored on top of safe). |
Material |
Metal/Wood |
Event |
Evacuation of Richmond, April 2-3, 1865 |
Provenance |
Safe used by the Confederate States Post Office and Confederate States Treasury, it survived the evacuation fire in Richmond in April 1865. "This famous safe was originally the property of the United States government, then became the property of the Confederate States of America and as such was used for three years or more by Mr. Davis, and in it he stored for safekeeping from time to time some of the most important documents that bore upon the story of the rise, life and fall of the Southern Confederacy. When Richmond became part of the Confederacy, the newly established government took immediate possession of all the property and assets of the United States government to be found in the borders of Virginia. Among other things found in the Federal building of this city were six iron safes of the make of that early day. Five of these were very old-fashioned…. One of them, however, had what was then the very latest improvement in safe manufacture, a combination lock. This combination lock-safe was placed in the office of the President of the Southern Confederacy for his private and official use. Only three persons knew the combination, Mr. Davis, his private secretary, and Mr. Mann S. Quarles, of this city, who was then teller in the Confederate States Treasury. The safe was in Mr. Davis's executive office in the post office building, and was used by him until the morning of April 2, 1865, when he left Richmond for Danville and the South…. After the war this combination safe…was turned over to the postmaster, and it has been used in the post office ever since, and there it has been known as the"Jeff Davis safe." (unknown) Mann S. Quarles, teller in Confederate Treasury, later wrote that the safe was last locked by him on April 2, 1865. "You will notice my notes refer to a combination safe,' but the dial of combination has been taken off and it has been since used with key. This is the only change in the safe since I knew it in 1865. Before leaving the Treasury Building [in April 1865] I locked the five or six safes which had old fashioned keys that were inserted in a slot. These keys I placed in the only combination safe we had, and threw the combination, but not until each safe was cleaned of all contents.... Soon after my return to Richmond I was standing in front of the Spottswood Hotel and was approached by a Federal officer who, to my surprise, called me by name. He soon made know his mission, and asked me if I could not save the trouble of beaking open the safes, which I readily consented to do. The old combination worked as well as before, and throwing open its doors handed him the keys to the five other safes. All of them I think to their disgust, were without contents. This was my last experience in the Confederate Treasury and a few days later was made Teller in a National Bank." (letter from Mann Quarles, 5/29/1906) |
People |
Davis, Jefferson Quarles, Mann S. |
Search Terms |
Confederate States Treasury Confederate States Post Office Richmond, Virginia capture and occupation of Richmond, Virginia, 1865-1870 Evacuation of Richmond, April 2-3, 1865 |
Subjects |
Post offices |