(CIVIL WAR CONFEDERATE) Hunter T Letter negotiating large s

Sale 2486 - Lot 252

Price Realized: $ 531

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Hunter, T. Letter negotiating large sales of Colt weapons to Virginia a year before the Civil War. Autograph Letter Signed to John B. Barkley of the Colt Arms Company in Hartford, CT. 3 pages, 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches, on one folding sheet; folds, minimal wear. Fredericksburg, VA, 25 January 1860

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Colt's Manufacturing Company controversially produced weapons for both the southern and northern states in large quantities right up until the outbreak of war. This letter was apparently written by a Virginian agent for the company, attempting to head off the state's efforts to produce their own weapons, and to secure payment for weapons already purchased. The author may have been Taliaferro Hunter, a cousin of Senator Richard Hunter. He writes in part: "I am sorry to say the Legislature has determined that the state shall become a manufacturer of arms at all risks. . . . I learned that the expenses incurred in the Harper's Ferry affair had been referred by the Legislature . . . and payment will follow immediately. . . . I urged the Governor as a matter of the highest importance . . . they should visit your establishment at Hartford. I explained my decided conviction that you alone can put their factory to work as it should be started. . . . One hundred and fifty thousand dollars have been appropriated to purchase arms in advance of the supply to be made. I have done my best to secure you at least a full share, if not the entire amount." This letter was published in Mitchell, Colt: A Collection of Letters and Photographs, page 92-93.