The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-04-20
APRIL 20, 1921
THE GREAT SEAL
OF THE coNFEDERACY

James Jones, SAID TO nave Deen d
servant of President Jefferson Davis
of the Confederate States of America
died recently and it was published
throughout the country that he alone
knew where the great seal of the
Confederacy was buried. This was
incorrect, since the seal is in the
Confederate Museum at Richmond.
When the C~onfederacy fell, the seal
was taken from the Confederate cap
ital by the wife Of one of the clerks
in the State department and ~secreted
in Washington. Her husband gave the
seal to Thomas o. Selfridge, then a.
lieutenant in the United States Navy,
now rear admiral, who sold it to GER
tain citizens of Richmond who in.
1912 gave it to the Confederate Mu-
scum. There has been a tradition
around Abbeville, South Carolina that
Secretary of State Judah P. Benja-
min had it with him when he attend
ed the last meeting of the Confeder-
ate CabinetSthere and that he in his
flight from the place dropped it
into the Savannah river, but there is
no foundation in fact for this YER
sion. There is no mystery as to the
whereabouts of the silver symbol Of
the sovereignty of the government
that was.-Greenville Piedmont.
By a joint resolution, approved
April 80, 1868, the Confederate con-
gress adopted a "seal for the Confed-
crate states" This seal was to repre-
sent the equestrian statue Of Wash
ington in the Capitol square and was
to be surrounded by a wreath show
ing the principal agricultural prod
ucts Of the Confederacy. Soon after
the resolution was passed, Judah P
Benjamin. secretary of states, in
structed James M. Mason, Confeder-
ate commissioner to England, to have
the seal cut in silver. Mr.. Mason en-
trusted the work to ]. S. Wyon, max
er of the great seals of England. On
July 6, 1864, Mr.. Mason notified the
state department that the seal was
ready and, with its equipment was
being shipped to Richmond. It passed
the blockade and arrived in Septem-
Der. Here it remained until the time
of the evacuation, when the seal was
carried from Richmond by the wife
of William J. Cromwell, clerk in the
state department Hidden for some
time in q barn near this city, the
seal ultimately was secreted in Wash
ington. In 1872, John J. Pickett act
ed as Mr.. Bromwell's agent in to sell
ing the Unittain archives of the Con-
federate department of state which
Cromwell had removed from Rich
mond at the same time his wife es-
capped with the seal. The agent of the
United States government in negoti-
ating for the sale of the papers was
Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge. As
e "token of appreciation" to Lieuten-
ant Selfridge for his activity in pro-
noting the sale of the papers, Mr..
Pickett gave him the great seal. The
gift was kept secret, however, and
was not known until the personal pa,
pers of Mr.. Pickett had been acquired
by the library Of congress and had
been examined by Galliard Hunt. Ref
erences in the papers indicated the
true facts. Selfridge, who by that
time was a rear-admiral, retired, adj
mitted that he had the seal. Mr.. Hunt
rightly enough thought that such a
treasure should be in Richmond and
communicated the whereabouts of
the treasure to Eppa. Bunton, Jr., of
this city. With William H. White and
Thomas P. Bryan, Mr.. Hunton began
negotiations and purchased the seal
for $4,000, subject to proofs of its
authenticity. J. St. George Bryan
carried the seal in person to England
and showed it to Allen j. Wyon, en-
graver to the king, who had succeed
ed to the business of his uncle, J. S.
Wyon, maker Of the original seal. At
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