Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Seal |
Catalog Number |
0985.14.00077 |
Description |
The seal consists of a turned wood handle attached to a small metal head disc with a design in reverse, which is believed to read "CST". |
Material |
Wood/Metal |
Dimensions |
L-3.25 inches |
Event |
evacuation of Richmond, April 2-3, 1865 |
Provenance |
Mann S. Quarles, teller in the Confederate States Treasury, used this seal on Sunday, April 2, 1865 - "This seal has been in my possession since the evacuation of Richmond April 3, 1865 - On Sunday Apl 2/65 I with this seal sealed every package leaving Confederate States Treasury when it became necessary to open a box of pkge I resealed same." "For the past week the Treasury Department had been ordering wooden boxes for shipping its papers. Mann Quarles, the youngest teller in the department, had stayed at his office at night helping perform a sort of triage on the documents, some to save, some to abandon, some to burn. On Sunday afternoon Quarles and a few others began the task of boxing the coin and bullion. When he noticed that in their haste they were not making an account of what was in each box, he devised a system on the spot. He folded several sheets of brown paper into a makeshift booklet and on each of the pages wrote a description of the contents of each box and of the markings on the outside of the box. When the box was full, he sealed it and kept the seal in his pants pocket." ("Richmond Burning," by Nelson Lankford, page 72) |
People |
Quarles, Mann S. |
Search Terms |
Evacuation of Richmond, April 2-3, 1865 Confederate States Treasury Department Richmond, Virginia capture and occupation of Richmond, Virginia, 1865-1870 |