Mar 25, 2021 - Sale 2562

Sale 2562 - Lot 331

Price Realized: $ 875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(RECONSTRUCTION.) Military circular urging the Colored Troops to deposit money in the doomed Freedman's Bank. One page, 8 1/4 x 5 inches, signed in type by D.D. Wheeler; folds, minimal wear. "In the field," Texas, 18 January 1866
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This order offers a formal endorsement of the ill-fated Freedman's Savings and Trust Company. The Adjutant General of the Bureau of Colored Troops, C.W. Foster, had issued the original order back on 26 June 1865: "Officers of Colored Troops, beyond doubt, promote the interests of their Commands by explaining to them the advantages of depositing . . . such portions of their pay as may not be needed for current daily expenses." This present order was issued at the command of Major General Godfrey Weitzel in command of the 25th Army Corps in Texas, in which his own officers are "cordially recommended to aid the Company in carrying out its work."

The bank went bankrupt in 1874, wiping out the hard-earned savings of tens of thousands of freedmen.