Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1892-05-19
CONFEDERATE TREASURY.
LincoIn's Brother-in-Law Tells
How the Last 500, 900 Was
Divided. ~

LlhSO4h - 'oIOtucEslusLdH lcllS
How the Last 100000 Was
i Divided. ~
DR.. G. R. G: Todd, of Barnwell,
S. c., a distinguished surgeon of
the Confederate army and q
brother-in-law of Abraham
Lincoln, as we'll as a connection
by marriage with the Breckinridge
family of Kentucky, during his
days was often thrown with
Abraham Lincoln, who married
his sister. Thus, by family ties
and by association, he is closely
connected with Breckenridge and
Lincoln, who were both Presid-
ential candidates in, 1860.
DR. Todd was in charge of the
Confederate hospital at Charleston
under Gen Hardee, and was
with the party of the fugitive
Confederate Cabinet when it dis
banded. He describes the
division of the last money Of the
Confederate treasury, a matter
much discussed in the newspapers
a few years ago.
ga great deal has been said
about it," said he, "but, so far as I
know, no description of it is on
record. I.was there in the room
when the money was paid out, and
saw the whole proceeding. Indeed,
lam partly responsible for the
division of it at the time. 7 had.
been with the soldiers coming
down, and 1 heard the Kentucky
and Virginia troops saying they
were going to have some of the
money or have blood. I told
Breckenridge, who was the
Secretary of War, what I had
heard, and said that there might
be rioting and bloodshed.
"'There may be rioting,' said he,
but no bloodshed.' l.. then
suggested to him the propriety of
a division of the money among
the soldiers, and he replied; We
will see about it, In the party
were the Confederate Cabinet and
the officers ofthe four brigades; of
troops which were with us when
we crossed the Savannah River.
We had the last mo ons ths;
Conf ederate treasury eco in.
gold and silver, besides some gold
belongingto the Bank of Rich
mond. The money was in charge
of Col Morgan, a brother of the
famous John Morgan. We crossed
the Savannah River on pontoons
and went on the road toward
Washington. Ga. Went we had
gone two miles from the river the
we stopped at a log cabin on sthe
south side of the road. and there
the $40, 600 was paid out. MI.
Davis had gone on about four
miles ahead of uswith his staff.
SIN the cabin were John C.
Breckenridge, Secretary of.War;
Judah P. Benjamin, who looked
as scared as the devil and appeared
to be pane stricken; Gen Bragg,
commaded of the four brigsdes,
aud Col Morgan, who had charge
Of the money.
"The division was made by a
cencus of the men. Those present
were Vaughn's, Dibrell's Basil.
Dukes and Humphrey Marshall's
brigades. Marshall was then
under arrest, and his brigade was
in charge of Col w. G. P.
Breckenridge. The census Of the
soldiers was the reverse Of Porter's.
Some of the brigades returned
fictitious names in order to get
more money. The division was
$26 25 for each man, officers and
common soldiers faring alik..
Some of them, by stuffing the cen.
sus, got as much as $36 a head.
Divide: $4,000 by 2e4 and you
will see how many (2,e66 men)
were returned by the census of
the four brigades. In the paying
out we finally came to a keg of
silver ingots-pieces three by
four inches square.
"They opened a box of gold
belonging to the Bank of Rich
mond. 1t was about eighteen
inches long and ten or twelve
inches wide, and contained purses
of gold. They made q rough
estimate of the value of that gold
and of the keg of silver and
exchanged them. In that way I
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