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Semmes, Paul Jones, 1815-1863 [Contract with Robert P. Parrott to buy 16 rifle cannons for Georgia]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00474 Author/Creator: Semmes, Paul Jones, 1815-1863 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph manuscript Date: December 19, 1860 Pagination: 11 p. : docket Height: 32 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy

Unsigned copy, written on one side. Contract to buy cannons, guns, and ammunition from Colt, Dupont, Ames, etc. to prepare Georgia for war. Semmes acted as agent for Georgia in preparation for the Civil War. Docket in Semmes' hand. "... This Contract made and entered into... That the said Robert P. Parrat hereby covenants and agrees to manufacture furnish and deliver on board Steamer in the Port of New York and bound for Savannah Georgia suitably prepared and packed for safe transportation within sixty days from the date just above written... (16) Sixteen Rifle Cannons..." New York was a center for arms deals by Southern states in preparation for secession. Semmes, a Georgia banker and plantation owner, was serving as agent for Georgia as that state prepared for Civil War. Parrott was the inventor of a superior rifled cannon known as the "Parrott Gun." Two dockets; one on verso of page six, the other on the last page.

Semmes, Paul Jones, 1815-1863
Parrott, R. P. (Robert Parker), 1804-1877

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