Leeds & Co. of New Orleans — Confederate Citizens File
A worked transcription made for CivilWarArtillery.com to the same three-layer rule as the other files in this collection: diplomatic transcription (exactly what the page says), normalized data (searchable form, kept separate), and proposed identifications (external knowledge, flagged, never merged).
Source
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | National Archives (NARA), Record Group 109 |
| Collection | Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, compiled 1874–1899, documenting the period 1861–1865 |
| Microfilm publication | M346 |
| NARA catalog ID | 2133274 |
| Business name (Fold3 index) | Leeds and Co. |
| State (Fold3 index) | Louisiana |
| Fold3 document number | 92 |
| SHA-256 | 734403fc461af3ba0c31e6d701937bd04534f4dfb5e21e7bcabf80fe04516dc4 |
| Page count | 149 (images 1–148 archival; image 149 = Fold3 source sheet, omitted) |
A note on the source. The folder on the drive holds three PDFs and 88 numbered JPGs. The three PDFs are all the same 149 images: two are byte-identical copies of one 2023 download, and the third is a lower-resolution 2022 download of the same pages. The JPGs are a much older partial download, numbered on Fold3's publication-wide scheme rather than by folder page, so their numbers do not line up with the PDF's. They were checked against it rather than assumed redundant: the most distinctive of them — an April 1862 account for the steamer Governor Moore footing $1,690.75 — appears in the PDF at image 34 and proves to the cent. Nothing in the JPGs is missing from what is transcribed here.
Machine OCR is worthless on this file and was not used. Every page is in cursive. Every one of the 148 images below was read by eye from the scan.
What this file is
The record of the largest machine works in the Confederacy's largest city, from the spring of 1861 to the loss of that city — and of the four years the government spent arguing about the bill afterward.
Leeds & Co., Iron Founders, stood at the corner of Delord and Foucher Streets, New Orleans. Their own billhead advertises vertical and horizontal steam engines, boilers, sugar mills, vacuum pans, sugar kettles, clarifiers, filters, steam and horse-power draining machines, saw mills, gin gearing, furnace mouths and grate bars. That is a sugar-and-river industrial shop. Across 148 sheets it is turned to war work, and the file records what they made, what it cost, who ordered it, and what happened when the paperwork outlived the city.
The guns
They cast and finished ordnance. The plainest statement of it is an account of December 3, 1861 — six bronze field guns, three rifled and three smoothbore, with elevating sights, 74 James rifle shot and 126 Virginia rifle shot, and five boxes packing, $4,005.20 — endorsed on its face with the reason: "Purchased by order of Genl Bragg. For arming One Company of field Artillery." A complete battery, guns and ammunition together, bought off one foundry.
Elsewhere: twelve-pounder light field pieces, twelve-pounder bronze howitzers, six-pounder guns smoothbore and rifled, sold at $600 to $1,150 apiece against a credit for old bronze returned; two bronze six-pounders and two bronze howitzers at $2,800, the howitzers issued to Capt. Hodgson's battery, Washington Artillery; and a field battery complete — guns, carriages, limbers, caissons, sights, battery wagons and forges — to Genl. W. R. Miles, $23,672.
They also rifled guns that already existed: eleven 32-pounders at $45 each on one account, an 18-pounder and six 32-pounders on another, two more at $675, and single field pieces at $30 and $45. And they turned and banded a 42-pounder gun with eleven bands for $1,092.35, "ordered by Genl Duncan & Major Lovell … and sent to Fort Jackson."
The projectiles
Read shell — the clerk spells it "Reed" — in 13-inch, 42- and 32-pounder; Dahlgren shell by the score, reamed, bushed, fuzed and capped; James rifle shot and Virginia rifle shot with sabots; Tredegar shot covered with lead, and 6-pounder rifle shot priced separately as Tredegar, Virginia and Ames work; stands of grape from 12-pounder up to 8-inch; 10-inch and 13-inch shot and shell; percussion caps, Bormann fuzes, composition fuzes, 15-second fuzes, water caps, convex caps, leaden caps, safety plugs, brass bushes and bushing. Nine hundred rifle and James shot went to the Washington Artillery in one lot for $1,570.50.
The carriages and the forts
The bulk of the sheets by count is heavy seacoast carriage and chassis ironwork, billed by the pound with the machining charged alongside: frames for 42 chassis; ten wrought-iron chassis made and sixteen altered, $6,603.70; five more wrought-iron chassis at $480 each; shafts for 10-inch and 8-inch Columbiads; trunnion boxes, sector braces, sectors and pinions, ratchet wheels and pawls, double compressor blocks, transom blocks, deck pipes, deck sockets, brass circle plates, Babbitt-metal rings and bushes, cast forks for 42-pounders, traverse wheels, elevating screws and hand screws.
Where the printed billhead has an APPLICATION column, the clerk writes "For Gun Carriages, &c" or "Iron Work for Gun Carriages." Where it does not, pencil dockets name the destination instead, and those are the most valuable words on the paper: Fort Jackson, Fort Pike, Pass Manchac, the Barracks, the Custom House, the Lake Works, Capt. Higgins' Battery, the Orleans Guard Battery, Miles' Artillery.
The Navy
Three separate runs of sheets are on printed Confederate States Navy Department forms, and they are a distinct business from the Army work.
The largest is an 1861 account of thirty-eight lines closing at $9,080.07 — 32-pounder shot and shell, 9-inch and 8-inch shell, stands of grape, brass bushes, fuzes, caps and plugs, the rifling of two small cannon with shot and wooden sabots, and six 32-pounder guns weighing 23,655 lb. It is signed by Lt. Beverley Kennon, C.S.N., approved by Flag Officer G. N. Hollins and Senior Officer Renshaw, and receipted at New Orleans on March 6, 1862 — seven weeks before the city fell.
A second Navy account of $5,016.09 carries a pencil endorsement that the Army sheets never do: "Returned / Not approved by Sec Navy." A third, $1,200.25, is approved by Hollins himself. And a Treasury certificate of June 1863 settles $2,350.93 for "Materials furnished and labor expended in fitting Gun Boats for the 'C. S. River Defence Service'", charged to the appropriation "Floating Defences of Western Rivers."
Two vessels are named on the accounts themselves: twenty-five Dahlgren shell "Sent to C. S. S. Oregon", and a seven-line account of April 15, 1862 for the steamer Governor Moore, $1,690.75 — the River Defense ram that fought at Forts Jackson and St. Philip a fortnight later.
The city falls, and the file does not stop
The last New Orleans accounts are dated May 1, 1862, the day Federal troops occupied the city. What follows is four years of a firm and a government trying to settle across a moving front.
Two powers of attorney are executed at New Orleans on September 9 and 10, 1862, under Federal occupation, authorizing Archibald Mitchell to collect and receipt the firm's bills. The 1862 payments are then received not at New Orleans but at Jackson, Mississippi, one of them endorsed at Vicksburg. The 1863 settlements move to Tullahoma and to Richmond, and one Navy certificate is signed as late as Atlanta, May 14, 1864, through Lt. D. P. McCorkle of the Naval Ordnance Works.
The two largest figures in the file belong to this phase: $43,182.89 for "Guns, Howitzers, Projectiles &c: as pr annexed Statement & Bills," approved by Col. Josiah Gorgas and received at Richmond on February 6, 1863; and $43,509.34 for work done at the New Orleans foundry between January and May 1862, receipted at Richmond on June 20, 1863. In both cases the itemized bills were annexed and are not filmed with the file, so neither figure can be proved from below. That is said plainly here because it cannot be shown.
The people
Maj. M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, receipts more accounts here than anyone else, signing at various times as Major of Engineers, as "Maj of Engineers & Actg for Ord Dept," and once as Chief Engineer — and he certifies Ordnance Department accounts throughout while holding an Engineer commission. A separate Capt. Edwd. B. Smith, Assistant to the Chief of Ordnance, pays at Richmond, and a Capt. Ed. H. Smith is written to at Richmond in 1863. Three different Smiths, and a fourth "Major Smith" named as an ordering officer. Anyone searching this file by surname should know that before they start.
Capt., later Lt. Col., H. Oladowski is the other constant — ordnance officer at Warrington, Florida, then for the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana at Mobile, then with Bragg at Corinth and Tullahoma. Seven letters in the file are addressed to him, and it is his three-leaf letter from Tullahoma of March 21, 1863 that explains to Richmond how the guns came to be bought at New Orleans at all.
Also named: Col. Josiah Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance; Gen. Braxton Bragg; Flag Officer G. N. Hollins, Cdr. John K. Mitchell and Lt. Beverley Kennon of the Navy; Gen. Duncan; Lt. Col. Wm. S. Lovell; Capt. Higgins; Capt. Hodgson of the Washington Artillery; Capt. Raphael; Capt. J. C. Booth; Capt. J. L. White of Mount Vernon Arsenal; Capt. Chas. Blunt; Lt. Col. E. A. Palfrey, who wrote a character reference for the firm to the Second Auditor's office; Lewis Cruger, Comptroller, and W. H. S. Taylor, Second Auditor. For the firm: John Roy, who certifies "Correct." on dozens of sheets without ever being given a rank or an office, and Archibald Mitchell, who holds the power to collect and is stated by Palfrey to have an interest in the house.
One officer could not be named. Most of the early 1862 accounts are approved by "Wm R. —, Lieut & Ord Officer," a surname of four or five letters under a struck-through paraph. It is legibly not M. L. Smith. It is left blank rather than guessed.
Image 1 — File jacket for "Leeds + Co." (Confederate) above an engraved Leeds & Co. billhead, New Orleans, 20 March 1862, brass compression castings and screws, $247.70
One rendered sheet carrying two separate microfilm frames stacked vertically. The upper frame is the printed archival file jacket: a folded cover, creased and crumpled along the bottom fold, with the firm's name written across the top in a modern archival hand ("Leeds + Co."), the printed word "(CONFÉDERATE)" — printed with an acute accent over the first E — centred below it, then a ruled "CARD NUMBERS." block numbered 1–19 in the left file and 20–38 in the right, every line blank, and the printed lines "Number of personal papers herein.", "Book Mark", and "See also" all left unfilled. The lower frame is the account itself: a single small oblong leaf of light wove paper, printed as an ornamental engraved billhead with the firm's advertising panel enclosed in a chain-link border at left and a heavy shaded display line "LEEDS & CO. / Iron Founders" at right, with the engraver's imprint in fine script beneath the panel. The upper left corner of the leaf is clipped off at a diagonal and carries a round punched file hole and a faint pencil mark. The paper is otherwise clean, with light scattered specks and a horizontal fold running under the ruled money columns. The manuscript entries are in a fine, sloping, well-controlled brown-black ink hand, with amounts entered in a superscript-and-underline style (dollars on the line, cents raised); the money columns at the right are ruled in blue. The whole account occupies three written lines. No handstamp, endorsement, or docket appears on the leaf.
Leeds + Co.
(CONFÉDERATE)
______________________________________________
CARD NUMBERS.
1........ 20........ [all lines blank]
2........ 21........
3........ 22........
4........ 23........
5........ 24........
6........ 25........
7........ 26........
8........ 27........
9........ 28........
10........ 29........
11........ 30........
12........ 31........
13........ 32........
14........ 33........
15........ 34........
16........ 35........
17........ 36........
18........ 37........
19........ 38........
Number of personal papers herein. .......... [blank]
Book Mark ........................... [blank]
See also ____________________________ [blank]
--- second frame: the account ---
New Orleans, 20 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. States Army ______________________________
______________________________
| MANUFACTURERS OF | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
| VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL | Iron Founders,
| STEAM ENGINES. |
| BOILERS, SUGAR MILLS, |
| VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, |
| CLARIFIERS, FILTERS, |
| STEAM AND HORSE POWER |
| DRAINING MACHINES. |
| SAW-MILLS, GIN-GEARING. |
| Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars,&c|
|______________________________|
Douglas Eng[rave]r 17 St Charles St[?]
For 6 Brass Compression Castings 352.60ᶜ /211²⁰ Patterns /3⁰⁰ √ 214 | 20 |
6 Screws for do /18⁰⁰ Milling Tapping /15⁰⁰[?] Cartage 4/ √ 33 | 50 | $247 | 70
Correct. John Roy
Checks: Only one line carries a stated rate: 352 at 60ᶜ = $211.20, and 211.20 + 3.00 (Patterns) = the first extension, $214.20 — proves exactly. The second line has no unit rates, only lump sums: 18.00 + 15.00 + 0.50 = $33.50, the second extension — proves exactly, taking "Cartage 4/" as fifty cents in the bit reckoning (four bits of 12½ cents), which is what image 5 establishes for this firm's "4/" and "6/". Footing: 214.20 + 33.50 = $247.70, exactly the total written in the last money column. There is no receipt or written-out sum on this leaf, so the footing cannot be tested against a spelled-out amount.
Flagged: (1) "Cartage 4/" is the old bit reckoning — four bits of 12½ cents, fifty cents. This is not a guess: image 5's upper leaf proves "6/" at 75 cents and its lower leaf proves "4/" at 50 cents, both against footings that come out to the cent. (2) The middle figure of the second line reads "/15" followed by a superscript I cannot resolve on the film; with "4/" at fifty cents the extension requires it to be "⁰⁰", and it is transcribed "/15⁰⁰[?]" on that footing. Read as "15⁵⁰" instead, the line would still total $33.50 but would leave the cartage uncharged; both readings satisfy the footing, and the letterform alone does not decide it. (3) The raised "ᶜ" after 60 is a cursive letter I read as a cents mark; the arithmetic (352 × $0.60 = $211.20) supports it. (4) "Compression" is read from the letterforms (no crossed t, so not "Composition"), but the term is unusual and worth checking. (5) "Milling Tapping" — there may be an ampersand between the two words, lost in the flourish of the capital T. (6) The engraver's imprint "Douglas Eng[rave]r 17 St Charles St" is fine engraved script at the limit of the film; the street number could be 17 or 77. (7) The date reads clearly 20 March 1862 — this is a full six months later than the 19 September 1861 receipt on image 70, so images in this file are not in date order. (8) "John Roy" signs "Correct." — he is not identified by rank or office on this leaf; the printed billhead names no ordnance officer, and the customer line reads only "C. States Army", not the Ordnance Department. (9) There is no docket, no voucher number, and no receipt on this leaf.
Image 2 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans, both 20 March 1862: gun-carriage chassis ironwork for the "C. S. Army (Expedition)", $892.16; and deck sockets, $516.06 (approved by M. L. Smith, Chief Eng[inee]r)
One rendered sheet carrying two microfilm frames stacked vertically, each an oblong leaf of the same engraved Leeds & Co. billhead used on image 1 — advertising panel in a chain-link border at left, heavy shaded "LEEDS & CO. / Iron Founders" at right, the printed place "New Orleans," and "CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S" across the head, and blue-ruled money columns at the right. Both leaves have the upper left corner clipped at a diagonal, a round punched file hole through it, and a faint pencil stroke beside the hole that could be a check mark or the figure 4, too broken to read. Both are written in the same fine sloping ink hand as image 1, with dollars on the line and cents raised and underscored. The upper leaf carries five entries plus a footing line, is lightly speckled, and has an ink blot in the check column beside the second line. The lower leaf carries two entries; a pencilled multiplication in a second, blunter hand sits in the blank space beneath the date, and beneath the account "Correct - John Roy" is written in that same pale pencil, with a bold black-ink approval signature and title written over it in a third hand, heavily flourished with a struck-through paraph. Neither leaf carries a handstamp or docket.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 20 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army (Expedition) ______________________
______________________________
| MANUFACTURERS OF | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
| VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL | Iron Founders,
| STEAM ENGINES. |
| BOILERS, SUGAR MILLS, |
| VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, |
| CLARIFIERS, FILTERS, |
| STEAM AND HORSE POWER |
| DRAINING MACHINES. |
| SAW-MILLS, GIN-GEARING. |
| Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars,&c|
|______________________________|
For 40 Frames for 42 "Chassis" 3044 - 6½ᶜ /197⁸⁶ Alt Pattern /3⁰⁰ √ 200 | 86
Boring & Drilling do /160⁰⁰ 40 Wheels 2420ᵇ 6½ᶜ /157³⁰ Boring do /80ᶜ √ 397 | 30
20 Straps for 20 Frames 260ᵇ 25ᶜ /65⁰⁰. Facing /60⁰⁰. 20 Washers /30⁰⁰ √ 155 | ⁻
Inserting Small Pins in do & fitting Pins through Washers 30 |
20 pins through the Wheels /25⁰⁰ Shearing[?] Rivets on 20 frames /80 √ 105 | ⁻
Correct. John Roy Cartage 4 $ 892 | 16
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 20 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
[pencil, second hand:]
C. S. Army ____________________________ 3012
36144
_____
39156
______________________________
| [same printed panel as above] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 12 pr Deck Sockets - 6024ᵇ 6½ᶜ /391⁵⁶ Boring do /120⁰⁰ 511 | 56
Cartage /4⁵⁰ 4 | 50 $ 516 | 06
[pencil:] Correct - John Roy
[ink:] App[rove]d M L Smith
Chief Eng[inee]r
Checks: Upper leaf, line by line. Line 1: 3044 × 6½ᶜ = $197.86, plus $3.00 for altering the pattern = $200.86 — proves exactly. Line 2: 2420 × 6½ᶜ = $157.30, plus $160.00 boring and drilling, plus $80.00 boring = $397.30 — proves exactly, but only if the third figure is read as eighty dollars (see Flagged). Line 3: 260 × 25ᶜ = $65.00, plus $60.00 facing, plus $30.00 for twenty washers = $155.00 — proves exactly. Line 4 carries no rate and no components, only the extension $30.00 — nothing to test. Line 5: $25.00 plus $80.00 = $105.00 — proves exactly. Footing: 200.86 + 397.30 + 155.00 + 30.00 + 105.00 + 4.00 (cartage) = $892.16, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf: 6024 × 6½ᶜ = $391.56, plus $120.00 boring = $511.56 — proves exactly; plus cartage $4.50 = $516.06, exactly the total written — proves exactly. The pencilled sum beside the date on the lower leaf is the check on that first extension: 3012 + 36144 = 39156, i.e. 6024 half-cents plus 6024 six-cents = 39,156 cents = $391.56. It proves. Neither leaf carries a written-out receipt sum, so no footing can be tested against words.
Flagged: (1) "Boring do /80ᶜ" — the raised letter after 80 is the same cursive cents mark this clerk uses in "6½ᶜ" and "25ᶜ". Read literally it is eighty cents, which would leave line 2 short by $79.20; the extension proves only at eighty dollars. Recorded as written; the clerk's own inconsistency, not a transcription choice. (2) "42 'Chassis'" — the quotation marks are the clerk's, and there is no unit given for the 42. Whether 42 is a count of chassis or the calibre of the gun (a 42-pounder) is not stated on the sheet; proposed, not read in. (3) "Shearing" in line 5 is read from the letterforms and is the least certain word on the leaf. (4) Line 4 has no rate, so its $30.00 cannot be tested; it also carries no check mark in the tick column, unlike every other line. (5) "M L Smith, Chief Eng[inee]r" — the surname and the title are legible, the initials are formed rapidly; the paraph is struck through with several heavy loops. The signature is in a different ink and a different hand from the account and from the pencilled "Correct - John Roy" beneath which it is written. (6) "John Roy" certifies both leaves, in ink on the upper and in pencil on the lower. (7) Both leaves are dated 20 March 1862, the same day as image 1. (8) The "(Expedition)" after "C. S. Army" on the upper leaf is written in the same hand as the rest of the account and is not further explained.
Image 3 — Three Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans: 13 March 1862, deck sockets and compressor blocks, $328.91; 13 March 1862, two deck pipes, $42.63; 3 March 1862, one grindstone, $186.20
One rendered sheet carrying three microfilm frames stacked vertically, each the same oblong engraved Leeds & Co. billhead. All three leaves have the upper left corner clipped, a round punched file hole, and a pencilled numeral 3 written to the left of the hole. The first leaf is the fullest: five ruled entries and a footing line in the same fine sloping ink hand as images 1 and 2, with a pencilled column of figures squeezed in beneath the date at the head, and — below the ink certification — a very faint offset or set-off impression of another certification, in which only the words "is correct" and a signature resembling "John Roy" can be picked out, the rest illegible. The second leaf carries a single ruled entry and a single certification, with a two-line pencil multiplication beneath the date. The third leaf carries a single entry and a certification and is the cleanest of the three. All three are lightly speckled, all are creased horizontally across the money columns, and none bears a handstamp, docket, or endorsement.
--- first frame ---
New Orleans, 13 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________ [pencil:] 6024 12960
502 1080
______________________________ ____ _____
6526 14040
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 1 Brass Casting 13ᵇ 60ᶜ /7⁸⁰ 4 Deck Sockets 1004ᵇ 6½ᶜ /65²⁶ . √ 73 | 06
2 Patterns /20⁰⁰ Boring /20⁰⁰ 6 Dbl Compressor Blocks 2160ᵇ 6½ᶜ /140⁴⁰ √ 180 | 40
6 Screws /18⁰⁰. 6 Brass Nuts - 17ᵇ 60ᶜ /10²⁰. Strengthening & Chasing Heads /9⁰⁰ √ 37 | 20
Boring Blocks tapping do fitting to Brass Bushes, fitting to Small Bolts, 30 |
6 Pcs to Screw against /6⁰⁰ Cartage /2²⁵ ⁻ √ 8 | 25 | $328 | 91
Correct. John Roy
[faint offset impression, second hand:] ... is correct ... John Roy[?]
--- second frame ---
New Orleans, 13 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________ [pencil:] 3012
251
____
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 2 Deck Pipes 502ᵇ 6½ᶜ /32⁶³ . Boring $10⁰⁰ $ 42 | 63
Correct. John Roy
--- third frame ---
New Orleans, 3 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. States Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 1 Grind Stone 1847ᵇ 10ᶜ /184⁷⁰ Cartage /1⁵⁰ $ 186 | 20
Correct. John Roy
Checks: First leaf. Line 1: 13 × 60ᶜ = $7.80, and 1004 × 6½ᶜ = $65.26; 7.80 + 65.26 = $73.06 — proves exactly. Line 2: 2160 × 6½ᶜ = $140.40, plus $20.00 patterns and $20.00 boring = $180.40 — proves exactly. Line 3: 17 × 60ᶜ = $10.20, plus $18.00 for six screws and $9.00 strengthening and chasing = $37.20 — proves exactly. Line 4 carries no rate and no components, only the extension $30.00 — nothing to test. Line 5: $6.00 plus cartage $2.25 = $8.25 — proves exactly. Footing: 73.06 + 180.40 + 37.20 + 30.00 + 8.25 = $328.91, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Second leaf: 502 × 6½ᶜ = $32.63, plus $10.00 boring = $42.63, exactly the total written — proves exactly; the pencil beside the date is the working for it (502 × 6ᶜ = 3012 cents, 502 × ½ᶜ = 251 cents, together 3263 cents = $32.63) and proves. Third leaf: 1847 × 10ᶜ = $184.70, plus cartage $1.50 = $186.20, exactly the total written — proves exactly. None of the three leaves carries a receipt or a sum written out in words, so no footing can be tested against words.
Flagged: (1) The pencil figures at the head of the first leaf are the checker's working for the two weighed items, and both prove: 6024 + 502 = 6526, i.e. 1004 lb at 6ᶜ plus 1004 lb at ½ᶜ = 6,526 cents = $65.26; and 12960 + 1080 = 14040, i.e. 2160 lb at 6ᶜ plus 2160 lb at ½ᶜ = 14,040 cents = $140.40. (2) "6 Dbl Compressor Blocks" is clear here; this makes it likely that the "Brass Compression Castings" of image 1 is in fact "Brass Compressor Castings", but image 1's word ends "-ion" as written and has not been altered. Proposal only. (3) "Chasing" (cutting threads) is preferred over "Casting" — the initial letters are plainly C-h — but the medial letters are ambiguous. (4) Line 4 of the first leaf again carries a bare $30.00 with no rate and no check mark, exactly as on image 2. (5) The faint certification below "Correct. John Roy" on the first leaf is an offset or set-off from a facing sheet, not an entry made on this leaf; it is too faint to transcribe beyond the words noted. (6) Second leaf writes the dollar sign as "$10⁰⁰" where the same clerk elsewhere writes "/10⁰⁰"; both forms appear on this image. (7) All three leaves are certified "Correct. John Roy" and none is approved by an officer. (8) The dates run 3 March and 13 March 1862, both earlier than the 20 March leaves of images 1 and 2 — the file is not in date order.
Image 4 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans: 17 February 1862, brass frames, washers and iron rollers, $91.77; and 10 February 1862, twenty-five Dahlgren reamed, sent to C.S.S. Oregon, $189.00
One rendered sheet carrying two microfilm frames, the lower half of the sheet blank. Both frames are the same engraved Leeds & Co. billhead. The upper leaf is the more worn: the clipped upper left corner is frayed, the lower edge is ragged with a shallow tear at the left, and a cloud of small dark specks — foxing or emulsion spotting — covers the right end over the money columns. It carries two ruled entries and a footing line in the familiar sloping ink hand, with the second line's extension figure written over an earlier figure and left heavy and blotted. The lower leaf is cleaner: clipped corner, punched file hole, one ruled entry, no certification and no signature of any kind beneath it. Neither leaf carries a handstamp or docket.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 17ᵗʰ February 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 4 Brass Frames & 18 Washers 86ᵇ 60ᶜ /51⁶⁰ 4 Iron Rollers 118ᵇ 6½ᶜ /7⁶⁷ √ 59 | 27
Pattern for do & Frames /10⁰⁰ 4 Plates /2⁰⁰ Boring Drilling fitting Frames Washers $20 √ 32 |
Correct. John Roy Cartage 50 $ 91 | 77
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 10 Febᵞ 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army (Sent to C. S. S. Oregon)
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 25 Dahlgren Reamed /7⁵⁰ /187⁵⁰ Cartage /1⁵⁰ $ 189 | ⁻
Checks: Upper leaf. Line 1: 86 × 60ᶜ = $51.60, and 118 × 6½ᶜ = $7.67; 51.60 + 7.67 = $59.27 — proves exactly. Line 2 carries no rates, only lump sums: 10.00 + 2.00 + 20.00 = $32.00 — proves exactly. Footing: 59.27 + 32.00 + 0.50 (cartage) = $91.77, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf: 25 at $7.50 = $187.50, plus cartage $1.50 = $189.00, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Neither leaf carries a receipt or a sum written out in words.
Flagged: (1) The lower leaf has no certification at all — no "Correct. John Roy", no officer's approval, nothing below the single entry line. It stands alone in this run of images in that respect. (2) "Sent to C. S. S. Oregon" is written in the same hand as the account, in parentheses beside "C. S. Army", and is the only naming of a vessel in images 1–12. (3) "25 Dahlgren Reamed" is written exactly so, with no noun between "Dahlgren" and "Reamed" — the sheet does not say what the twenty-five objects were, only that they were Dahlgren and were reamed, at $7.50 each. Nothing has been supplied. (4) The upper leaf's second extension, $32.00, is written over an earlier figure and is heavily blotted; the reading is secured by the footing rather than by the ink. (5) The last item of the upper leaf's second line is written "$20" where the same clerk elsewhere writes "/20⁰⁰"; the reading is secured by the arithmetic. (6) The lower leaf's cents column carries a dash, not "00". (7) Both leaves are certified by nobody but the firm; John Roy signs the upper leaf only.
Image 5 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans: 8 January 1862, brass circle plates, $96.65, approved by a lieutenant and ordnance officer; and 26 March 1862, casters, wheels and bevelled washers, $50.88
One rendered sheet with two microfilm frames, the lower half blank. Both are the engraved Leeds & Co. billhead. The upper leaf is the more heavily handled: the clipped upper left corner is torn and the punched file hole has broken through to the edge, and there are two horizontal folds. It carries two ruled entries, a certification in ink, a very faint offset impression of another certification lying between the two ink lines, and below that an approval in a bold, heavily flourished hand with the paraph struck through — the same style of approval as on image 2's lower leaf but a different name. The lower leaf is cut off by the edge of the microfilm frame just below its certification, so the tops of a further written line are visible but the line itself is lost; it carries three ruled entries, and a small pencilled multiplication squeezed under the date at the head. Neither leaf carries a handstamp or docket.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, Janʸ 8 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 2 Brass circle plates 158.55ᶜ /86⁹⁰ Drilling do /4⁰⁰ √ 90 | 90
Pattern /5⁰⁰ Cartage 6/. √ 5 | 75 | $ 96 | 65
Correct. John Roy
[faint offset impression, illegible]
App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible — see Flagged]
Lieut & Ord Off[icer]
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 26 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________ [pencil:] 86
1032
______________________________ ____
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of 1118
|______________________________| LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 4 Casters 172ᵇ 6½ᶜ /11¹⁸ Pattern /3⁰⁰ Boring Wheels & Turning Same /16⁰⁰ √ 30 | 18
Inserting Pins in Same /6⁰⁰ 4 Pins for wheel to revolve on /4⁰⁰ √ 10 |
4 Brass Bevelled Washers 17ᵇ 60ᶜ /10²⁰ Cartage 4/ ⁻ √ 10 | 70 | $ 50 | 88
Correct. John Roy
[tops of a further line, cut off by the edge of the film frame — lost]
Checks: Upper leaf. Line 1: 158 × 55ᶜ = $86.90, plus $4.00 drilling = $90.90 — proves exactly. Line 2: $5.00 pattern plus cartage "6/" = $5.75 — proves exactly if "6/" is seventy-five cents (see Flagged). Footing: 90.90 + 5.75 = $96.65, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf. Line 1: 172 × 6½ᶜ = $11.18, plus $3.00 pattern and $16.00 boring and turning = $30.18 — proves exactly, and the pencil beside the date is the working for the first figure (172 × ½ᶜ = 86 cents, 172 × 6ᶜ = 1032 cents, together 1118 cents = $11.18) and proves. Line 2: $6.00 plus $4.00 = $10.00 — proves exactly. Line 3: 17 × 60ᶜ = $10.20, plus cartage "4/" = $10.70 — proves exactly if "4/" is fifty cents. Footing: 30.18 + 10.00 + 10.70 = $50.88, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Neither leaf carries a receipt or a written-out sum.
Flagged: (1) This image settles the cartage notation used across the whole file. "6/" on the upper leaf must be 75 cents for that extension to prove, and "4/" on the lower leaf must be 50 cents for that extension to prove — the old bit reckoning, one "bit" of 12½ cents to the stroke, still current in the New Orleans trade. This bears directly on image 1, where a "Cartage 4/" stands unexplained; see the note added there. (2) The approving officer's surname on the upper leaf cannot be read with confidence. The Christian name is written "Wᵐ" and the middle initial is plainly R; the surname begins with a tall looped capital that could be H or K, runs through three or four minim strokes, and ends in what appears to be -ly or -ley, with a raised letter and a heavy flourish over it. It is not the "M L Smith" of image 2. Left unread rather than guessed. (3) The title beneath is read "Lieut & Ord Off[icer]"; the last word is swallowed by the paraph. (4) "Casters" (line 1 of the lower leaf) is the clerk's spelling as written. (5) The lower leaf is cut off by the film frame below the certification, so anything further on that leaf — an approval, a receipt, a docket — is not on the film at this frame. (6) The faint line between "John Roy" and the approval on the upper leaf is an offset from a facing sheet, too faint to read.
Image 6 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans: 26 March 1862, sector braces, brass rollers, ratchets and pawl ironwork, $833.66; and 28 March 1862, double compressor blocks and transom blocks, $602.09
One rendered sheet with two microfilm frames, the lower third blank. Both are the engraved Leeds & Co. billhead and both are large accounts — five entries and a footing on the upper leaf, six entries on the lower. Both leaves are clipped at the upper left with a punched file hole, and both have pencil jottings crowded into the margins: a column of pencilled figures runs down the extreme left edge of the upper leaf beside the printed advertising panel, another small group sits in the right margin beyond the money columns, and a pencilled figure is squeezed above the date. All are faint, rubbed and mostly beyond reading on the film. The ink hand is the same fine sloping hand throughout, and the tick column beside the extensions carries check marks against every line, each check itself ticked a second time in a fainter, more upright stroke. Both leaves are creased horizontally through the entries. Neither carries a handstamp or docket; the upper leaf is certified by John Roy in ink and the lower leaf's certification sits at the very foot, close to the film edge.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 26 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 14 Sector Braces 822ᵇ 60ᶜ /493²⁰. Patterns for do /30⁰⁰. 14 Clevise Bolts /1⁵⁰ /21⁰⁰ √ 544 | 20
28 Brass Rollers 77ᵇ 60ᶜ /46²⁰. Drilling fitting in Clevise bolt - /38⁵⁰. √ 84 | 70
14 Turned Pins for Rollers /21⁰⁰ - 28 W. I. Chocks /14⁰⁰ -. Boring Turning fitting Bands[?] /48⁰⁰ - √ 83 |
28 Cast Ratchets 924ᵇ 6½ᶜ /60⁰⁶ -. Fitting do /28⁰⁰ -. 14 Clevise Bolts - /14 √ 102 | 06
14 Washers for Clevise bolts - /1⁴⁰ 28 Bolts for Pawls /14⁰⁰. 28 W I Washers /2⁸⁰ √ 18 | 20
Correct. John Roy Cartage /1⁵⁰ - √ 1 | 50 | $833 | 66
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 28 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 8 Dble Compressor Blks, 3352ᵇ 6½ᶜ /217⁸⁸ - 8 Set Screws for do /24 √ 241 | 88
8 Brass Nuts 23ᵇ 60ᶜ /13⁸⁰ Boring Turning & Chasing Threads /12⁰⁰ √ 25 | 80
Boring Blocks tapping fitting in Brass Bushes & fitting in Small Bolts, 40 |
8 Pcs to Screw against /8⁰⁰ -. 8 Transom Blocks 2264ᵇ 6½ᶜ /147¹⁶ √ 155 | 16
Boring do. /32⁰⁰. Patterns for Dble Compressor & Transom Blocks /25 - √ 57 |
32 Key Bolts - 747ᵇ 7ᶜ. /61[?] -. Drilling holes in Compressor Blocks /18⁰⁰ Cartage /4⁵⁰ √ 82 | 25 | $602 | 09
Correct. John Roy
Checks: Upper leaf. Line 1: 822 × 60ᶜ = $493.20, plus $30.00 patterns, plus 14 clevis bolts at $1.50 = $21.00; 493.20 + 30.00 + 21.00 = $544.20 — proves exactly. Line 2: 77 × 60ᶜ = $46.20, plus $38.50 = $84.70 — proves exactly. Line 3: $21.00 + $14.00 + $48.00 = $83.00 — proves exactly (no weights, so no rate to test). Line 4: 924 × 6½ᶜ = $60.06, plus $28.00 fitting, plus $14.00 for fourteen clevis bolts = $102.06 — proves exactly. Line 5: $1.40 + $14.00 + $2.80 = $18.20 — proves exactly (no rates given). Footing: 544.20 + 84.70 + 83.00 + 102.06 + 18.20 + 1.50 (cartage) = $833.66, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf. Line 1: 3352 × 6½ᶜ = $217.88, plus $24.00 for the set screws = $241.88 — proves exactly. Line 2: 23 × 60ᶜ = $13.80, plus $12.00 = $25.80 — proves exactly. Line 3 carries no rate and no components, only the extension $40.00 — nothing to test. Line 4: $8.00 plus 2264 × 6½ᶜ = $147.16, together $155.16 — proves exactly. Line 5: $32.00 + $25.00 = $57.00 — proves exactly. Line 6 does not prove as I read it: with $18.00 drilling and $4.50 cartage the extension $82.25 requires the key-bolt figure to be $59.75, and I read that figure as 61 (see Flagged). Footing: 241.88 + 25.80 + 40.00 + 155.16 + 57.00 + 82.25 = $602.09, exactly the total written — the footing proves exactly against the extensions as entered. Neither leaf carries a receipt or a written-out sum.
Flagged: (1) The last line of the lower leaf is the one arithmetic problem in images 1–12. "32 Key Bolts - 747ᵇ 7ᶜ" with a figure I read as "/61", then "/18⁰⁰" drilling and "/4⁵⁰" cartage, gives $83.50 against an extension of $82.25 — $1.25 over. The extension proves only at $59.75 for the key bolts, and 747 lb at 8ᶜ (not 7ᶜ) would come to $59.76, a cent more than that. Neither the figure nor the rate can be read with confidence at this film resolution; the discrepancy is recorded, not resolved, and the clerk's figures are left as written. Everything else on the leaf, including the footing, proves to the cent. (2) "Bands" in line 3 of the upper leaf is the weakest word on either leaf; the initial is a capital B or P and the body is four minim strokes. (3) The firm writes "Clevise" on this sheet where a modern hand would write "clevis"; that is the clerk's spelling and is left alone. (4) "W. I." before "Chocks" and "Washers" is written as two capitals with a raised stroke — wrought iron. (5) "Chasing Threads" is unambiguous here, which supports reading the same word on image 3 as "Chasing"; whether image 3's following word is "Heads" or "Threads" is not settled by this sheet. (6) The pencil marks in the left and right margins of the upper leaf are a checker's working, rubbed and broken; only isolated digits survive and none has been transcribed. (7) Both leaves are certified by John Roy and neither is approved by an officer.
Image 7 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans: 26 March 1862, compressor blocks for the "C. S. Army (Expedition)", $430.20, approved by a lieutenant and ordnance officer; and 3 April 1862, sector-shaft bearings, deck plates, transom blocks and deck pipes, $836.47
One rendered sheet with two microfilm frames, the lower third blank. Both are the engraved Leeds & Co. billhead, both clipped at the upper left with a punched file hole and a faint pencil mark beside it. The upper leaf carries four ruled entries, a certification, and beneath that an approval in the same bold flourished hand and by the same officer as image 5 — the paraph is a long looped underscore struck through the writing. The lower leaf is the larger account: five ruled entries, some running the full width of the sheet, with a heavy ink correction in the middle of the second money figure of the first line where the clerk wrote over an earlier number. Both leaves are speckled with small dark spots on the right side over the money columns, and both are creased horizontally. Every extension carries a check in the tick column, and each check is ticked again in a second, fainter stroke. Neither leaf carries a handstamp or docket.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 26 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army (Expedition)
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 12 Dble Compressor Blocks 4320ᵇ 6½ᶜ /280⁸⁰. 12 Set Screws /36⁰⁰ - √ 316 | 80
12 Brass Nuts 34ᵇ 60ᶜ /20⁴⁰ Boring turning & chasing threads /18 √ 38 | 40
Boring Blocks & tapping do fitting in Brass Bushes & fitting in Small Bolts, √ 60 |
12 Pcs to Screw against /12⁰⁰ Cartage 3[?] √ 15 | | $430 | 20
Correct. John Roy
App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible — see Flagged] Lieut & Ord Off[icer]
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 32 Cast Bearings for Sector Shaft 348[?]ᵇ 8½[?]ᶜ /26⁶⁷ Boring & Drilling /122⁻ √ 148 | 67
24 Deck Plates 1420ᵇ 6½ᶜ /92³⁰. Milling & Boring /120⁰⁰ √ 212 | 30
96 Bolts for do 4/ ea - /48⁰⁰ 11 Transom Blocks 2838ᵇ 6½ᶜ /184⁴⁷ √ 232 | 47
2 Large deck pipes 560ᵇ 6½ᶜ /36⁴⁰. Boring do /15⁰⁰. 4 Small pipes 1120ᵇ 6½ᶜ /72⁸⁰ √ 124 | 20
Boring do /30⁰⁰. 4 Transoms 1032ᵇ 6½ᶜ /67⁰⁸. Boring do /16⁰⁰ Cartage /5⁷⁵ √ 118 | 83 | $836 | 47
Correct. John Roy
Checks: Upper leaf. Line 1: 4320 × 6½ᶜ = $280.80, plus $36.00 for twelve set screws = $316.80 — proves exactly. Line 2: 34 × 60ᶜ = $20.40, plus $18.00 = $38.40 — proves exactly. Line 3 carries no rate and no components, only the extension $60.00 — nothing to test. Line 4: $12.00 plus cartage; the extension $15.00 requires the cartage to be $3.00 (see Flagged). Footing: 316.80 + 38.40 + 60.00 + 15.00 = $430.20, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf. Line 1 does not prove from its own weight and rate: 348 × 8½ᶜ = $29.58, not the $26.67 entered; but 26.67 + 122.00 (boring and drilling) = $148.67, exactly the extension. Line 2: 1420 × 6½ᶜ = $92.30, plus $120.00 milling and boring = $212.30 — proves exactly. Line 3: 96 bolts at "4/" each = $48.00, and 2838 × 6½ᶜ = $184.47; 48.00 + 184.47 = $232.47 — proves exactly, and independently confirms "4/" = 50 cents. Line 4: 560 × 6½ᶜ = $36.40, plus $15.00 boring, plus 1120 × 6½ᶜ = $72.80; together $124.20 — proves exactly. Line 5: $30.00 boring, plus 1032 × 6½ᶜ = $67.08, plus $16.00 boring, plus cartage $5.75 = $118.83 — proves exactly. Footing: 148.67 + 212.30 + 232.47 + 124.20 + 118.83 = $836.47, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Neither leaf carries a receipt or a written-out sum.
Flagged: (1) The upper leaf's cartage figure is a single character after the word "Cartage", formed with a closed upper and lower loop; it reads as either 3 or 8. Only $3.00 makes the extension $15.00 and the footing $430.20 come out, so it is transcribed 3 with a query. (2) The lower leaf's first line is the one line on this image that does not follow from its own figures. The weight reads 348 and the rate 8½ᶜ, which would give $29.58, but the figure entered is $26.67. Note that 381 lb at 7ᶜ comes to exactly $26.67, so a misreading of the weight, the rate, or both is the likely explanation — proposed, not read in. The line's extension and the footing both prove on the figures as the clerk entered them. (3) "96 Bolts for do 4/ ea" is the clearest instance in images 1–12 of the bit reckoning: ninety-six at "4/" comes to $48.00, fixing "4/" at fifty cents. (4) The approving officer is the same "Wᵐ R." with the same illegible surname and the same "Lieut & Ord Off" title as image 5; nothing on this sheet makes the surname readable. (5) On the lower leaf's line 4 the boring figure is read $15.00; the digit could be taken for 8, but $18.00 leaves the extension $3.00 over. (6) "Boring & Drilling /122" on the lower leaf's first line is written over an earlier figure and blotted; the reading is secured by the extension. (7) Both leaves are certified "Correct. John Roy"; only the upper leaf is approved by an officer.
Image 8 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans, both 3 April 1862: forty 32" Dahlgren shell reamed, $301.90; and large deck pipes and brass washers, $154.65 — both approved by the same lieutenant and ordnance officer
One rendered sheet with two microfilm frames, the lower third blank. Both leaves are the engraved Leeds & Co. billhead, both dated the same day, both clipped at the upper left with a large ragged punched hole that has torn through the corner, and both quite short accounts. The upper leaf carries a single priced entry, a cartage line, then a certification so faintly pencilled that only fragments survive, and beneath it a bold ink approval and title in the same flourished hand as images 5 and 7, its paraph struck through. The lower leaf carries two entries, a pencilled certification, a pencilled memorandum of delivery below that, and the same officer's ink approval below that again; a pencilled multiplication sits under the printed street line at the head and a second, fuller version of the same working runs down the right margin beyond the money columns. Both leaves are moderately foxed, with rings of small dark spots at the left and along the right edge, and both are creased. Neither carries a handstamp or docket.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 40. 32" Dahlgren Shell Reamed /7⁵⁰ - ea. /300 √ 300 |
Cartage /1⁹⁰ √ 1 | 90 | $ 301 | 90
[pencil, mostly illegible] Cor[rect] ... [illegible] ...
[ink:] App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible — see Flagged]
Lieut & Ord Off[icer]
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________ [pencil:] 695
8340
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 5 Large Deck pipes 1390ᵇ 6½ᶜ /90³⁵ - Boring do /37⁵⁰ √ 127 | 85 [pencil, right margin:]
10 Brass Washers 43ᵇ 60ᶜ /25⁸⁰. Cartage /1⁰⁰ √ 26 | 80 | $154 | 65 1390 6½
8340
[pencil:] Correct John Roy 695
[pencil:] 5 Large Deck pipes d[elivere]d March 27ᵗʰ ____
[ink:] App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible] 9035
Lieut & Ord Off[icer]
Checks: Upper leaf: 40 at $7.50 each = $300.00 — proves exactly; plus cartage $1.90 = $301.90, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf. Line 1: 1390 × 6½ᶜ = $90.35, plus $37.50 boring = $127.85 — proves exactly, and the pencil workings at the head and in the right margin (1390 × 6ᶜ = 8340 cents, 1390 × ½ᶜ = 695 cents, together 9035 cents = $90.35) prove. Line 2: 43 × 60ᶜ = $25.80, plus cartage $1.00 = $26.80 — proves exactly. Footing: 127.85 + 26.80 = $154.65, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Neither leaf carries a receipt or a written-out sum.
Flagged: (1) "For 40. 32" Dahlgren Shell Reamed" — the "32" carries a raised double stroke, the ordinary inch or ditto mark, and there is a full stop between the count and the calibre. Whether the mark stands for inches or for pounder is not said on the sheet. This is the only place in images 1–12 where the Dahlgren work is described as "Shell"; image 4's entry reads only "25 Dahlgren Reamed". (2) The approving officer is again "Wᵐ R." with the same unreadable surname and the same "Lieut & Ord Off" title as images 5 and 7 — a tall looped capital (H or K), four or five following letters, and a heavy struck-through paraph. Not guessed. (3) The upper leaf's certification is in a very faint pencil, further obscured by an offset impression running through it; only fragments can be made out, and "John Roy" cannot be confirmed there, though the lower leaf's pencilled certification plainly reads "Correct John Roy". (4) The pencilled note "5 Large Deck pipes d[elivere]d March 27ᵗʰ" on the lower leaf records a delivery date four days before the bill was dated; it is in the checker's pencil, not the firm's ink. (5) Both leaves are dated 3 April 1862, the same day as the lower leaf of image 7 — New Orleans fell three weeks later, and these are among the latest accounts in this run.
Image 9 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans, both 3 April 1862: six sets of brass standards for brass rifle guns, $1,253.00; and four deck pipes, $87.70 — both approved by the same lieutenant and ordnance officer
One rendered sheet with two microfilm frames, the lower third blank. Both leaves are the engraved Leeds & Co. billhead, both clipped at the upper left with a large torn punch hole, both dated the same day. The upper leaf carries three long ruled entries running nearly the full width of the sheet, a certification in ink, and beneath it the same bold flourished approval and title used on images 5, 7 and 8, its paraph struck through with heavy loops. The lower leaf carries a single ruled entry, then the certification and approval, with two pencilled multiplications — one squeezed beneath the printed street line at the head, a fuller one down the right margin below the money columns. Both leaves are spotted with rings of foxing along the left edge and lower left, both are creased, and neither carries a handstamp or docket. The check column on the upper leaf shows a check against each of the three extensions, each check crossed again by a second stroke.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 6 Setᵗˢ Brass Standards, for Brass Rifle Guns 1122ᵇ 60ᶜ /673²⁰ √ 673 | 20
6 Setᵗˢ Irons for do 421ᵇ 30ᶜ /126³⁰ Altering Pattern /3⁰⁰ √ 129 | 30
Cutting Screws, Cutting thread in Nuts, Turning & fitting /75⁰⁰ ea Cartage 4/ √ 450 | 50 | $1253 | 00
Correct. John Roy
App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible] Lieut & Ord Off[icer]
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________ [pencil:] 440
5280
______________________________ ____
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of 5720
|______________________________| LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 4 Deck pipes 880ᵇ 6½ᶜ /57²⁰ Boring do /30⁰⁰. Cartage 4/. √ $ 87 | 70
Correct. John Roy [pencil, right margin:] 880
App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible] 5280
Lieut & Ord Off[icer] 440
____
5720
Checks: Upper leaf. Line 1: 1122 × 60ᶜ = $673.20 — proves exactly. Line 2: 421 × 30ᶜ = $126.30, plus $3.00 for altering the pattern = $129.30 — proves exactly. Line 3: six sets at $75.00 each = $450.00, plus cartage "4/" = 50 cents, together $450.50 — proves exactly. Footing: 673.20 + 129.30 + 450.50 = $1,253.00, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf: 880 × 6½ᶜ = $57.20, plus $30.00 boring, plus cartage "4/" = 50 cents, together $87.70, exactly the total written — proves exactly; and both pencil workings (880 × 6ᶜ = 5280 cents, 880 × ½ᶜ = 440 cents, together 5720 cents = $57.20) prove. Neither leaf carries a receipt or a written-out sum.
Flagged: (1) "Brass Rifle Guns" on the upper leaf is the only naming of the gun itself anywhere in images 1–12, and the standards, irons and screw work are billed by the set — six sets of standards weighing 1,122 lb of brass in all, six sets of irons at 421 lb, and $75 a set for the cutting, threading, turning and fitting. Whether "Brass" here means bronze in the ordinary founder's sense is not stated on the sheet. (2) "Setᵗˢ" is written with a raised terminal on both lines; it stands for setts/sets. (3) The rate "/75⁰⁰ ea" carries "ea" written small beneath the figure, and "Cartage 4/" is squeezed above it — the two are stacked in the same space at the end of the line. (4) The lower leaf's weight is 880, not 860; the two figure 8s are alike and only the arithmetic separates them, but 880 × 6½ᶜ = $57.20 matches both the entry and the pencil working exactly. (5) The approving officer is the same "Wᵐ R." with the same unreadable surname and the same "Lieut & Ord Off" title as on images 5, 7 and 8. (6) Both leaves are dated 3 April 1862, the same day as image 8 and as the lower leaf of image 7.
Image 10 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads, New Orleans, both 3 April 1862: deck pipes and transom blocks, $187.63; and ten wrought-iron chassis made and sixteen altered, $6,603.70 — the largest account in this run
One rendered sheet with two microfilm frames, the lower third blank. Both are the engraved Leeds & Co. billhead. The upper leaf has a badly torn upper left corner where the punch hole has broken out, and both leaves are heavily foxed — dense trails of small ringed spots run down the middle and right of both, thickest across the money columns of the lower leaf. The upper leaf carries two ruled entries, a certification and an approval, with pencil workings written sideways up the extreme left margin beside the printed panel, largely lost under the foxing. The lower leaf is the unusual one: four entries, a struck-through subtotal, and the officer's approval written not beneath the account but across the left end of the entry lines, so that "App[rove]d", the signature and the title cut through the words of lines two, three and four. More pencil figures are written sideways in the right margin and beneath the date. Neither leaf carries a handstamp or docket.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 4 Deck pipes 1120ᵇ 6½ᶜ /72⁸⁰ . Boring do - /30⁰⁰ √ 102 | 80
4 Transom Blocks, 1032ᵇ 6½ᶜ /67⁰⁸ - Boring /16⁰⁰ Cartage /1⁷⁵ √ 84 | 83 | $187 | 63
Correct. John Roy
App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible]
Lieut & Ord Off[icer]
[pencil, sideways up the left margin, mostly lost under foxing; the readable
group is the working for the transom blocks: 1032 6½ / 6192 / 516 / 6708]
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For Making 10 Wᵗ Iron Chasses, 3500 |
App[rove]d Altering 16 do & Making New Transoms, Casters &c 3000 |
Wᵐ R. [illegible] Cartage /64⁰⁰ 64 |
Lieut & Ord Off[icer] 16 New Transoms 3176ᵇ 1¼ᶜ /39⁷⁰ [struck through: 6564]
√ 39 | 70 | $6603 | 70
Correct. John Roy
Checks: Upper leaf. Line 1: 1120 × 6½ᶜ = $72.80, plus $30.00 boring = $102.80 — proves exactly. Line 2: 1032 × 6½ᶜ = $67.08, plus $16.00 boring and $1.75 cartage = $84.83 — proves exactly, and the pencil working in the left margin (1032 × 6ᶜ = 6192 cents, 1032 × ½ᶜ = 516 cents, together 6708 cents = $67.08) proves. Footing: 102.80 + 84.83 = $187.63, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf: the first entry carries no rate — ten wrought-iron chassis at $3,500.00 the lot, which works out at $350 each but is not so stated, and cannot be tested. The second entry likewise carries no rate: $3,000.00 for altering sixteen and making new transoms and casters. Cartage is $64.00, entered as an item. The fourth entry proves: 3176 × 1¼ᶜ = $39.70 exactly. Footing: 3500.00 + 3000.00 + 64.00 + 39.70 = $6,603.70, exactly the total written — proves exactly. The struck-through figure above the last extension is the subtotal of the first three, 6564, cancelled when the fourth line was added; it is faint under the strike and the reading is consistent with 6564 rather than certain. Neither leaf carries a receipt or a written-out sum.
Flagged: (1) The lower leaf is the largest account in images 1–12 by a wide margin, and two of its four figures — $3,500.00 and $3,000.00 — are lump sums with no rate, no weight and no per-unit price, so nothing in them can be checked. Only the footing and the last line prove. (2) "10 Wᵗ Iron Chasses" is the clerk's spelling; "Wᵗ" is wrought and "Chasses" is his plural of chassis, the sliding carriage of a seacoast gun. The same word appears in quotation marks on image 2 as "Chassis". (3) The rate on the last line is 1¼ᶜ a pound, against the 6½ᶜ charged for castings elsewhere in this file; the arithmetic is exact at 1¼ᶜ, so the low rate is what the clerk intended, presumably because the iron was furnished. Recorded, not explained. (4) The officer's approval is written across the left ends of three entry lines rather than beneath the account, and the strokes of the signature cut through the words. It is the same "Wᵐ R." with the same unreadable surname and the same title as images 5, 7, 8 and 9. (5) The struck-through subtotal shows the account was footed once, then reopened to add the sixteen new transoms. (6) The foxing on both leaves is severe enough that the marginal pencil workings are only partly recoverable; nothing has been transcribed from them beyond the group named above.
Image 11 — A Leeds & Co. billhead, New Orleans, 3 April 1862, sectors, pinions, brass rollers, pawls and ratchet wheels, $209.27; with a second frame showing a separate leaf carrying only an approval and the War Department Record Division blind seal
One rendered sheet carrying two microfilm frames of very different shape. The upper frame is the account: the familiar oblong engraved Leeds & Co. billhead, the upper left corner clipped with a heavy black punched hole, four ruled entries and a footing line, moderately foxed with scattered ringed spots down the middle. Pencil figures in the checker's hand are written sideways in two groups, one across the top of the sheet above the printed place line and one down the left edge beside the advertising panel; both are broken and largely unreadable on the film. The lower frame is a different leaf altogether — a tall, narrow, otherwise blank sheet with a punched hole at the upper left, carrying nothing but a three-line ink endorsement at the head and, in the middle of the blank field, a large oval blind embossed seal whose lettering reads in reverse, so that it is being seen through the paper: "WAR DEPARTMENT" around the top, "RECORD DIVISION" around the bottom, a five-pointed star at one side, and an inner oval legend of two or three short lines too shallow to read on the film. That seal is a post-war United States archival mark, not a Confederate one. The leaf is lightly speckled and has a small ink blot beside the endorsement.
--- upper frame ---
New Orleans, 3 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 3 Sectors, Pinions & 6 Brass Rollers 203ᵇ 60ᶜ /121⁸⁰ - Alt[ering] Pattern /5⁰⁰ √ 126 | 80
6 Iron Pauls, /2⁰⁰ ea /12⁰⁰. 6 Ratchet Wheel 198ᵇ 6½ᶜ /12⁸⁷ √ 24 | 87
3 Clevise Bolts /1⁵⁰ ea /4⁵⁰ 3 Washers 25ᶜ ea /⁷⁵. 3 Bolts - /3⁰⁰ √ 8 | 25
4 Bolts /3⁰⁰ 6 Set Washers 10ᶜ ea 60ᶜ Reaming Turning fitting /45⁰⁰ √ 48 | 60
Correct. John Roy Cartage 75 | $209 | 27
App[rove]d Wᵐ R. [surname illegible]
Lieut & Ord Off[icer]
[pencil, sideways, above the printed place line and down the left edge: broken
figures in the checker's hand, not recoverable]
--- lower frame ---
Approved
Wᵐ R. [surname illegible]
L[ieu]t & Ord Off[icer]
[large oval blind embossed seal, impression reversed:
WAR DEPARTMENT ★ RECORD DIVISION
with an inner oval legend of two or three short lines, illegible]
[remainder of the leaf blank]
Checks: Upper leaf. Line 1: 203 × 60ᶜ = $121.80, plus $5.00 for altering the pattern = $126.80 — proves exactly. Line 2: six pawls at $2.00 = $12.00, and 198 × 6½ᶜ = $12.87; together $24.87 — proves exactly. Line 3: three clevis bolts at $1.50 = $4.50, three washers at 25ᶜ = 75 cents, three bolts $3.00; together $8.25 — proves exactly. Line 4: $3.00 for four bolts, six set washers at 10ᶜ = 60 cents, $45.00 reaming, turning and fitting; together $48.60 — proves exactly. Footing: 126.80 + 24.87 + 8.25 + 48.60 + 0.75 (cartage) = $209.27, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Lower leaf carries no figures at all — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: (1) The lower frame is a stray in the strict sense: it is a differently shaped leaf, it carries no date, no place, no figure and no account, and nothing on it can be tested against the billhead above it. What it does carry is the same approval formula, the same "Wᵐ R." with the same unreadable surname, and the same "Lieut & Ord Off" title found on images 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and on the leaf directly above it, written in the same bold flourished hand. That is a match of hand and formula only — it is not proof that this endorsement belongs to this account rather than to any other in the file, and the film gives no other way to pair them. Recorded where it stands. (2) The oval blind seal is a United States War Department Record Division mark, applied when the captured Confederate papers were arranged in Washington after the war; it is later than the document and has no bearing on the transaction. Its impression reads in reverse because it is being viewed through the sheet. (3) "Pauls" is the clerk's spelling of pawls, and "Clevise" of clevis; both are left as written. (4) Line 4's "6 Set Washers 10ᶜ ea 60ᶜ" is written with the extension "60ᶜ" on the line rather than in the usual "/60" form. (5) Cartage on this leaf is entered as 75 cents in figures, not in the "6/" bit notation used on images 1, 5, 7 and 9, though it is the same amount.
Image 12 — A blank leaf bearing the War Department Record Division blind seal, above a Leeds & Co. billhead, New Orleans, 8 April 1862: deck pipes, pivot plates and brass trunnion boxes for a Col[umbiad?] carriage, $582.21
One rendered sheet with two microfilm frames. The upper frame is a blank leaf, the same oblong shape and size as the billhead below it, with a heavy punched hole at the upper right — the mirror position of the hole on the account — and in its upper left a large oval blind embossed seal whose lettering runs backwards: "WAR DEPARTMENT" around the top with a five-pointed star at one side and "REC[ORD] DIVISION" around the bottom, and an inner oval legend of two short lines that cannot be read with confidence on the film. Faint reversed printed matter shows through at the head of this blank leaf. The lower frame is the account: the engraved Leeds & Co. billhead, clipped at the upper left, two ruled entries, a "Patterns" line, a subtotal, a total, and beneath the money two written memoranda of receipt, then the certification. The first extension figure of the first line has been written over an earlier figure and is heavily blotted. Pencil workings in the checker's hand are scattered over the leaf: beside the date, above the entries, and — the fullest group — written sideways up the left edge beside the printed advertising panel. Both leaves are lightly speckled. There is no handstamp or docket other than the blind seal.
--- upper frame ---
[blank leaf; punched hole at upper right; faint reversed show-through
of printed matter across the head]
[large oval blind embossed seal, impression reversed:
WAR DEPARTMENT ★ REC[ORD] DIVISION
with an inner oval legend of two short lines, illegible]
--- lower frame ---
New Orleans, 8 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EET]S
C. S. Army ____________________________
______________________________
| [printed Leeds & Co. panel] | Bought of LEEDS & CO.
|______________________________| Iron Founders,
For 3 Deck pipes 708ᵇ 6½ᶜ /46⁰² [written over an earlier figure] Boring do /22⁵⁰
3 Pivot plates 723ᵇ 6½ᶜ /46⁹⁹ √ 115 | 51
Boring do /12⁰⁰. 8 Brass Trunnion Boxes 747ᵇ 60ᶜ /448²⁰ Cartage /1⁵⁰ √ 461 | 70 | 577 | 21
Patterns for do /5⁰⁰ $ 582 | 21
708ᵇ W I Deck Sockets recd on the 31ˢᵗ of March }
747ᵇ 8 Trunion Boxes for Col Carriage recd on 2ⁿᵈ of April }
Correct John Roy
[pencil, sideways up the left edge: 6852 708 6½
4699 4248
_____ 354
11551 ____
4602
and, in the body of the sheet: 723 6½
4338
361⁵
____
4700 ]
Checks: Line 1: 708 × 6½ᶜ = $46.02, plus $22.50 boring, plus 723 × 6½ᶜ = $46.995, which the clerk entered as $46.99; 46.02 + 22.50 + 46.99 = $115.51 — proves exactly as entered. Line 2: $12.00 boring, plus 747 × 60ᶜ = $448.20, plus cartage $1.50 = $461.70 — proves exactly. Subtotal: 115.51 + 461.70 = $577.21 — proves exactly. Footing: 577.21 + 5.00 (patterns) = $582.21, exactly the total written — proves exactly. Every pencil working on the leaf also proves: 708 × 6ᶜ = 4248 cents and 708 × ½ᶜ = 354 cents, together 4602 = $46.02; 723 × 6ᶜ = 4338 cents and 723 × ½ᶜ = 361½ cents, together 4699½, which the checker rounded to 4700 where the clerk truncated to 4699; and 6852 + 4699 = 11551, that is $46.02 + $22.50 = $68.52 added to $46.99 to give the extension $115.51. The upper leaf carries no figures — no arithmetic to prove. There is no receipt or written-out sum on either leaf.
Flagged: (1) The half-cent on the pivot plates is the only place in images 1–12 where the checker and the clerk differ: 723 lb at 6½ᶜ is $46.995, the checker's pencil rounds it up to $47.00 and the clerk's entry cuts it down to $46.99. The account was footed on the clerk's figure and proves on it. The clerk's arithmetic has not been touched. (2) "8 Trunion Boxes for Col Carriage" — "Trunion" is the clerk's spelling, and "Col" is his abbreviation, unexpanded on the sheet. It is very likely Columbiad, the heavy seacoast gun whose carriage would take brass trunnion boxes of this weight, but the sheet does not say so and nothing has been supplied. (3) The two memoranda are receipts of delivery in the same ink and hand as the account, bracketed together at the right: 708 lb of wrought-iron deck sockets received 31 March, and the 747 lb of trunnion boxes received 2 April — both before the bill was dated 8 April. Note that the first memorandum calls the 708 lb "Deck Sockets" while the account itself calls them "3 Deck pipes"; the weight is the same in both. (4) The first money figure of the first line is written over an earlier one and is a solid blot; the reading $46.02 is secured by the pencil working and by the extension, not by the ink. (5) The upper frame is very likely the back of the leaf below it — the same shape and size, the punch hole in the mirror position, and printed matter showing through reversed — but that is an inference from appearance, and the film gives no writing on the blank side that could pair it with this account rather than another. Recorded where it stands. (6) The oval blind seal is the post-war United States War Department Record Division archival mark, the same one seen on image 11; it is later than the document. (7) This 8 April 1862 account is the latest date in images 1–12. New Orleans fell to Farragut's fleet three weeks later.
Image 13 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, 4 April 1862: heavy shot and shell (reaming and boring) $472.67, and compressor blocks and set screws $151.98
One filmed frame carrying two separate printed billheads laid one above the other, each occupying rather less than half the frame; the bottom third of the frame is blank film. Both are the firm's own commercial letter-billhead, not the Ordnance Department's ruled voucher form used elsewhere in this file: a decorative engraved panel reading "New Orleans." with "CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]" beneath, "Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders" in heavy shaded display type at right, and at left a boxed advertisement, "MANUFACTURERS OF / VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINES, BOILERS, SUGAR MILLS, / VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, CLARIFIERS, FILTERS, / STEAM AND HORSE POWER DRAINING MACHINES, / SAW-MILLS, GIN-GEARING, / Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars, &c." Because these are the firm's own billheads there is no DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST ruling — only a light double money rule at the right edge for dollars and cents; the purpose of the work has to be read out of the item descriptions themselves. Each bill is written across in a fast, sloping commercial hand in dark iron-gall ink, three or four long lines running the full width, with extensions carried out to the money columns and check marks (√) and crosses (✗ / ×) added later by a checking clerk. Both sheets carry a round black film-mount hole punched at upper left. There are heavy pencil workings in the margins and across the printed heading of both bills — long division and multiplication proving the poundage rates — and pencil endorsements at the foot. The upper bill has a figure at the total line scored out with five or six horizontal cancel strokes and the corrected total written beneath. A pencil "54" stands at the extreme upper left of the lower bill. Paper is clean, with a light horizontal fold across the middle of each sheet; a scatter of small dark specks (film artifacts) lies over the right half of the lower bill.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 4 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 9. 10 Inch Shell, 918" 6½¢/59.67. Reaming do 60¢ ea /5.40 [struck out] 65.07 √
7. 10 " Shot 896" 5¢/44.80. 7. 13 Inch Shell 1400" 6½¢/91.00 √135.80 ×
Reaming do 75[?]/. ea /5.25. 25. 32" Dahlgren Shell Reamed /7.50 ea /187.50
√192.75 ×
12. 10 Inch Shot 1536" 5¢/76.80 Cartage /2.25 √79.05
[figure struck out and cancelled]
$472.67
App[?] [signature — illegible; two initials and a surname]
[second line — illegible; title or second name, heavily flourished]
[pencil, upper left margin and over the heading:] 4598 550 5967 700 8400
[LOWER BILL]
54 [pencil]
(New Orleans.) 4 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 4 Dble Compressor Blocks, 1452" 6½¢/94.38. 4 Set Screws $3.00 ea /12.00
√106.38 ×
4 Brass Nuts 11" 60¢/6.60, Drilling Tapping, fitting Boring[?] & tapping Blocks /34
√ 40.60 ×
4° Pcs to Screw against /$4.00 Cartage /1.00 √ 5 —
$151.98 √
Correct - John Roy [pencil]
App[?] [signature — illegible; same hand as upper bill]
[pencil, over and beside the heading:] 1452 6½ 726 87 12 94 38
Checks: UPPER BILL — extensions test as follows. 918 lbs @ 6½¢ = $59.67 (proves); 9 shells reamed @ 60¢ = $5.40 (proves); first extension 59.67 + 5.40 = $65.07 (proves). 896 lbs @ 5¢ = $44.80 (proves); 1400 lbs @ 6½¢ = $91.00 (proves); second extension 44.80 + 91.00 = $135.80 (proves). Reaming, 7 pieces at the rate written (read as 75¢) = $5.25 (proves on that reading — see Flagged); 25 Dahlgren shell reamed @ $7.50 = $187.50 (proves); third extension 5.25 + 187.50 = $192.75 (proves). 1536 lbs @ 5¢ = $76.80 (proves); 76.80 + cartage 2.25 = $79.05 (proves). Footing: 65.07 + 135.80 + 192.75 + 79.05 = $472.67 — proves exactly. The struck-out figure above the total cannot be read under the cancel strokes and so cannot be tested. There is no written-out receipt sum on this sheet against which to check the footing. LOWER BILL — 1452 lbs @ 6½¢ = $94.38 (proves, and the pencil working in the margin, 726 / 87 12 / 94 38, is the clerk halving and doubling to reach the same figure); 4 set screws @ $3.00 = $12.00 (proves); 94.38 + 12.00 = $106.38 (proves). 11 lbs brass nuts @ 60¢ = $6.60 (proves); 6.60 + 34.00 = $40.60 (proves). The $4.00 for the four pieces to screw against carries no unit rate written out, so that item cannot be tested against a rate; 4.00 + cartage 1.00 = $5.00 (proves). Footing: 106.38 + 40.60 + 5.00 = $151.98 — proves exactly. No written-out receipt sum on this sheet either.
Flagged: (1) The approving signature at the foot of both bills is the same hand and I cannot read it with confidence. What is on the paper is a short approval word (an "App" with a raised terminal, i.e. "App'd") followed by two initials and a surname of five or six letters; the surname could be read "Smith" but the strokes will as easily carry other readings, and I will not put a name in the transcription I cannot see. The second line under the upper bill's signature is a heavily flourished title or second name that I cannot read at all. (2) "Correct - John Roy" on the lower bill is pencil and light; the surname's capital is a loop with a leg and could be R or B — "Roy" is the better reading. (3) On the upper bill, line three, the rate for reaming is written as a compressed glyph before ". ea"; it must be 75¢ for the extension of $5.25 over 7 pieces to work, and that is how I have read it, but the glyph itself is not clearly "75". (4) The struck-out figure at the upper bill's total line is cancelled past reading; only the corrected $472.67 beneath it is legible. (5) Neither sheet is the ruled Ordnance billhead with an APPLICATION column — these are the firm's commercial "Bought of" billheads, and there is no APPLICATION column to capture. The work is nevertheless plainly ordnance: 10-inch and 13-inch shell and shot, 32-pounder Dahlgren shell reamed, and gun-carriage compressor blocks with their set screws. (6) The check marks and crosses in the money column are a later checking hand, not the clerk's.
Image 14 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, 8 and 9 April 1862: carriage plates, casters, frames and iron wheels $344.08, and 13-inch, 32- and 42-"inch" Read shell and 10-inch round shell reamed and tapped $299.26 (pencil endorsements "Col[?] plates & Casters for Small Chassis" and "Col[?] Shell / Fort Jackson")
Again two printed billheads of the same firm filmed one above the other on a single frame, the lower third of the frame blank. Both are the identical engraved "New Orleans. / CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS] / Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders" form with the boxed manufacturers' advertisement at the left, and again there is no DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST ruling — only the light money rules at the right. Both sheets are punched with the round film-mount hole at upper left; the upper sheet carries a pencil "55" written vertically in the extreme upper left corner, and the lower a pencil "×" in the same position. The bills are written in the same fast sloping commercial hand and the same dark ink as image 13, three long lines apiece. Heavy pencil multiplication is scattered over the top margin and up the left edge of both sheets, written sideways — the clerk proving the poundage rates. Below the entries on each bill stand two lines of light pencil docketing (a description of what the work was, and on the lower bill a place) and, in ink, the same approval signature that appears on image 13. Check marks and crosses stand in the money column. The paper is clean and lightly foxed at the right edge of the lower sheet, where a scatter of small dark film specks also lies.
[UPPER BILL]
55 [pencil, sideways in the corner]
(New Orleans.) 8 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 5 Plates, 1205" 6½¢ /78.33. Boring /$20.00. 22 Casters 1050" 6½¢ /68.25
166 58 ×
Boring & Turning /88. Prs[?] frames /33.00 Prs[?] Iron Whls[?] /22.00
143
Riveting & Drilling /33.00 Cartage /1.50 34 50 /344 08
×
Col[?] plates & Casters for Small Chassis Correct John Roy [pencil]
12[?]d Marc[h?] 2 [illegible pencil figure]
App[?] [signature — illegible; same hand as image 13]
[second line — illegible flourish]
[pencil workings, sideways in the top and left margins, partly legible:]
1205 6½ ... 7602 ... ; 1050 6300 525 6825 ; 9133 6133 ; 535 1300 ; 600 7250
[LOWER BILL]
× [pencil]
(New Orleans.) 9 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 5. 13 Inch Shell 1000" 6½¢ /65.00. Reaming do 75¢ ea /3.75 √ 68 75 ×
30. 32 Inch Reed Shell Reamed & Tapped /6.25 ea /187.50.
2. 42 Inch Reed Shell /13.40 ea /26.80 √214 30 ×
2. 10 " Round Shell 204" 6½¢ /13.26. Reaming do 60¢ ea /1.20
Cartage /1.75 √ 16 21 √299 26
×
Col[?] Shell [pencil]
Fort Jackson [pencil]
App[?] [signature — illegible; same hand]
[second line — illegible flourish]
[pencil workings under the heading and in the money column:] 102 1224 ; 204 6½ 1224 1326 ; 146 ...
Checks: UPPER BILL (8 April) — 1205 lbs @ 6½¢ = $78.325, written $78.33; the clerk has rounded the half-cent up, so the extension is one half-cent over the strict product. Boring $20.00 carries no rate and cannot be tested. 1050 lbs @ 6½¢ = $68.25 (proves). First extension 78.33 + 20.00 + 68.25 = $166.58 — proves as written. Second line: boring and turning $88.00, frames $33.00, iron wheels $22.00, none with a unit rate, so none can be tested against a rate; 88.00 + 33.00 + 22.00 = $143.00 — proves. Third line: riveting and drilling $33.00 + cartage $1.50 = $34.50 — proves (no rates to test). Footing: 166.58 + 143.00 + 34.50 = $344.08 — proves exactly. No written-out receipt sum on the sheet. LOWER BILL (9 April) — 1000 lbs @ 6½¢ = $65.00 (proves); 5 reamed @ 75¢ = $3.75 (proves); 65.00 + 3.75 = $68.75 — proves. 30 shell reamed and tapped @ $6.25 = $187.50 (proves); 2 @ $13.40 = $26.80 (proves); 187.50 + 26.80 = $214.30 — proves. 204 lbs @ 6½¢ = $13.26 (proves); 2 reamed @ 60¢ = $1.20 (proves); 13.26 + 1.20 + cartage 1.75 = $16.21 — proves. Footing: 68.75 + 214.30 + 16.21 = $299.26 — proves exactly. No written-out receipt sum on the sheet.
Flagged: (1) "32 Inch Reed Shell" and "42 Inch Reed Shell" are written out with the word "Inch", not with the inch mark and not as "Pdr." No 32-inch or 42-inch gun existed; the clerk almost certainly means the 32-pounder and 42-pounder Read shell, and the same loose usage stands behind the "32" Dahlgren Shell" on image 13. I have left the clerk's wording alone in the transcription and record the difficulty here. (2) "Reed" is the clerk's spelling; the projectile is Dr. John B. Read's — proposed as an identification only, not corrected in the text. (3) The pencil endorsements on both bills begin with a word I read as "Col" — "Col plates & Casters for Small Chassis" and "Col Shell". It may be an abbreviation for Columbiad, which would suit 10- and 13-inch shell and heavy chassis ironwork, but the pencil gives only the three letters and I will not expand it in the transcription. (4) "Prs" before "frames" and before "Iron Whls" on the upper bill is a compressed abbreviation I cannot read with confidence; the quantity of frames and wheels is therefore not established, and since those two items carry no unit rate the sums cannot be tested. (5) The item weight on the upper bill's first line reads 1205; the second digit is written as a looped 2 that could be taken for a 3, but 1205 lbs is what the arithmetic requires and what the pencil working in the margin repeats. (6) The faint second pencil line under the upper bill, beginning what looks like "12d March", is too light to read beyond that and its figure is illegible. (7) "Fort Jackson" in pencil at the foot of the lower bill is clear and is the only place named on either sheet besides New Orleans. (8) The approving signature is the same illegible hand as on image 13; see the note there.
Image 15 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, 9 and 15 April 1862: compressor blocks, screws, brass nuts, deck pipes and column heads $289.30, and cutting thread on an elevating screw $20.00
Two more of the firm's printed billheads filmed one above the other, the lower third of the frame blank; same engraved heading, same boxed manufacturers' advertisement, and again no DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST ruling — only light vertical money rules toward the right of each sheet. The upper bill is a full one, four ruled entry lines each opened with a ditto stroke after the first, written in the familiar fast sloping hand in dark ink, with extensions and check marks in the money columns; the lower bill carries a single one-line charge and is otherwise blank, so that the money column shows one figure only. Pencil multiplication is written sideways up the left edge and across the top margin of the upper sheet on both sides of the engraved "New Orleans." panel — the clerk proving the 6½-cent poundage — and a pencil "57" stands vertically in the upper sheet's top-left corner, a pencil "5[?]" in the lower sheet's. Both sheets carry the film-mount punch at upper left; the lower sheet's punch has torn through the edge of the paper, leaving a small ragged notch, and a fine vertical crease runs down its left margin. Both bills are endorsed in pencil "Correct. John Roy" and approved in ink over a heavily flourished two-line signature; on the lower bill the second line of that signature is legible as a rank and office. The lower bill's addressee line carries a bracketed note in ink after "C. S. Army".
[UPPER BILL]
57 [pencil, sideways in the corner]
(New Orleans.) 9 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 4 Compressor Blocks 1440" 6½¢ /$93.60. 4 Screws for do $16.00.
4 Brass Nuts 12" 60¢ /7.20 √116 80 ×
" Boring Turning Chasing & fitting /$20.00.
4 Pcs brass to Screw against $4.00 √ 24 " ×
" 4° Deck Pipes 1040" 6½¢ /$67.60.
4 Deck pipes for Column[?] heads 960" 6½¢ /62.40 √130 "
" Boring do /16.00 Cartage /$2.50 √ 18 50 /$289 30
×
Correct. John Roy [pencil]
App[?] W[m?] F[?] Lewis[?]
L[t] Col & Ord. Officer
[pencil workings, sideways in the top and left margins, partly legible:]
1440 6½ 8640 720 9360 ... ; 520 6240 480 5760 6240 ; 960 6240 ; 7? 4? 40
[LOWER BILL]
5[?] [pencil, sideways in the corner]
(New Orleans.) 15 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army (By Mr Roys Man) Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For Cutting thread on Elevating Screw $20 "
Correct. John Roy [pencil]
App[?] W[m?] F[?] Lewis[?]
L[t] Col & Ord. Officer
Checks: UPPER BILL (9 April) — 1440 lbs @ 6½¢ = $93.60 (proves); the $16.00 for four screws carries no unit rate and cannot be tested; 12 lbs brass nuts @ 60¢ = $7.20 (proves); first extension 93.60 + 16.00 + 7.20 = $116.80 — proves. Second line: $20.00 for boring, turning, chasing and fitting, and $4.00 for four brass pieces, neither with a rate; 20.00 + 4.00 = $24.00 — proves. Third line: 1040 lbs @ 6½¢ = $67.60 (proves); 960 lbs @ 6½¢ = $62.40 (proves); 67.60 + 62.40 = $130.00 — proves. Fourth line: boring $16.00 (no rate) + cartage $2.50 = $18.50 — proves. Footing: 116.80 + 24.00 + 130.00 + 18.50 = $289.30 — proves exactly. No written-out receipt sum on the sheet. LOWER BILL (15 April) — a single charge of $20.00 for cutting thread on an elevating screw, with no quantity and no rate; there is nothing to extend and nothing to foot, so the arithmetic cannot be tested beyond noting that the one figure stands alone in the money column and no total is written.
Flagged: (1) The approving signature, the same hand that stands on images 13 and 14, is bolder here and the second line under it can be read: "L[t] Col & Ord. Officer" — lieutenant colonel and ordnance officer. The name above it I now read as two initials, the first apparently W with a raised m (i.e. "Wm"), and a surname that reads "Lewis"; I have marked every part of it doubtful because the flourish runs the letters together, and the same signature on images 13 and 14 is fainter still. (2) "Correct. John Roy" is here written clearly in pencil on both bills, and the lower bill's addressee line reads "C. S. Army (By Mr Roys Man)" — the same Roy, whose man brought in the work. This settles the reading of the pencil endorsement on images 13 and 14. (3) "Deck Pipes" is the clerk's term, twice; "Column[?] heads" in the same line is less certain — the word is written with a terminal flourish that may be "Column" or an abbreviation of something longer. (4) The item "4 Screws for do $16.00" is the only charge on the upper bill with a quantity but no unit rate; at $4.00 each it would answer, but the sheet does not say so and I have not supplied it. (5) The pencil corner numbers 57 and 5[?] run in a series with the 54 and 55 on images 13 and 14; they look like a filing or voucher sequence added later, not part of the bills. (6) There is no APPLICATION column on either sheet — these are the firm's commercial billheads. The work is gun-carriage ironwork (compressor blocks and their screws and brass nuts) and heavy fixed-battery fittings.
Image 16 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, both 15 April 1862: twelve wrenches for rifle gun carriages $15.00, and turning and banding a 42-pounder gun with eleven bands $1,092.35, ordered by Genl Duncan and Major Lovell and sent to Fort Jackson
Two of the same printed billheads filmed one above the other, the lower third of the frame blank. Neither carries the ruled DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST columns of the Ordnance form — again only the firm's engraved commercial heading and the light vertical money rules at the right — but the lower bill supplies in its own words what an APPLICATION column would have carried, in three lines of ink written straight across the entry field beneath the charges. The upper bill is a one-line charge; the lower carries two long entry lines, then the memorandum lines, then the approval. Both are in the same fast sloping hand and dark iron-gall ink as images 13–15. The upper sheet's film-mount punch has torn out through the top edge, leaving a ragged black bite in the corner; the lower sheet is punched cleanly but its left margin is stained and darkened along a vertical band about two inches wide, with the paper cockled there, and a small dark blot lies at the lower left. A pencil "6[?]" is written vertically in the lower sheet's top-left corner, and pencil multiplication proving the band poundage runs sideways beside the engraved panel. Both bills bear the same flourished two-line ink approval; the upper also carries the pencil "Correct John Roy", while on the lower the same endorsement is written out in ink in a fuller form.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 15 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 12 Wrenches for Rifle Gun Carriages $ 15 ×
Correct John Roy
App[?] W[m?] F[?] Lewis[?]
L[t] Col & Ord. Officer
[LOWER BILL]
6[?] [pencil, sideways in the corner]
(New Orleans.) 15 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For turning 1. 42 Pdr Gun to receive band, $50.00. 11 Bands 1821" 35¢ /637.35
√687 35 ×
Turning do including [illegible word] /375 —. Drilling & fitting on bands /$30.00
√405 " /$1092 35
×
Ordered by Genl Duncan & Major Lovell
To my knowledge John Roy .and sent to
Fort Jackson
App[?] W[m?] F[?] Lewis[?] L[t] Col & Ord. Officer
[pencil workings, sideways beside the heading:] 1821 35 9105 5463 637 35
Checks: UPPER BILL — a single charge of $15.00 for twelve wrenches, with no unit rate written; at $1.25 each it would answer, but the sheet does not say so and the item cannot be tested. There is no footing and no receipt sum, so there is no arithmetic to prove beyond the one figure. LOWER BILL — 1821 lbs of bands @ 35¢ = $637.35 (proves, and the pencil working in the margin — 1821, 35, 9105, 5463, 637 35 — is the clerk reaching the same figure); the $50.00 for turning the gun to receive the band carries no rate and cannot be tested. First extension 50.00 + 637.35 = $687.35 — proves. Second line: $375.00 for the further turning and $30.00 for drilling and fitting on the bands, neither with a rate; 375.00 + 30.00 = $405.00 — proves. Footing: 687.35 + 405.00 = $1,092.35 — proves exactly. No written-out receipt sum on the sheet against which to test the footing.
Flagged: (1) On the lower bill's second line, the word between "including" and the figure $375 will not come clear even at high magnification: about six letters, opening with a looped capital and carrying a dotted i, closing on a tall loop. Given that the charge is for turning and banding a 42-pounder, "Rifling" would suit the sense exactly, and I offer that only as a proposal — it is not what I can see, and I have left the word blank in the transcription rather than supply it. (2) "Genl Duncan" and "Major Lovell" are written plainly. I have not expanded either name; both are proposed identifications at most and I have kept them out of the transcription. (3) "1. 42 Pdr Gun" — one 42-pounder gun turned to receive a band, with eleven bands weighing 1,821 lbs charged at 35¢ the pound. That is a much dearer rate than the 5- and 6½-cent poundage on the shot and shell bills, which is consistent with wrought band iron rather than cast work, but the sheet says nothing about the material. (4) The destination, Fort Jackson, is written out here in ink and matches the pencil "Fort Jackson" on image 14's lower bill. (5) The approving signature is the same hand throughout; see image 15, where its second line reads clearly as "L[t] Col & Ord. Officer". (6) The lower sheet's left margin is stained and cockled, but no text is lost to the damage.
Image 17 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, 26 March and 3 March 1862: hot-shot tongs, ladles and handles $151.50, and two bronze 6-pounder guns and two bronze howitzers $2,800 (bought for "Major Smith"; the howitzers issued to Capt. Hodgson's battery, Washington Artillery)
Two of the same printed billheads on one frame, the lower third blank, and neither carrying the Ordnance form's DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST ruling — only the firm's engraved commercial heading and the light vertical money rules, four of them, at the right. The upper bill has three entry lines in the usual sloping ink hand with a struck-through word in the first; the lower bill has one entry line, then a long note in very light pencil across two lines toward the foot, ending in a pencil signature. Both sheets are punched at upper left, and on both the punch has bitten into the top edge, leaving a black notch. The upper sheet has a long diagonal scuff or crease running from the left edge down across the manufacturers' advertisement panel, and beneath its entries there is a short line of very faint pencil that will not read. The lower sheet is badly rubbed: the whole left third is pale and the pencil note is nearly effaced, legible only under strong contrast. Neither bill carries the "App'd" ink approval that stands on images 13–16, and neither is endorsed "Correct John Roy"; the only endorsement on the frame is the pencil note on the lower sheet, in a different and rounder hand.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 26 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 18 Tongs, Ladles & Instrument [word struck through] hot Shot 260" 4¢ 104
47 Handles for do [word struck through]. /33.25 — Riveting do 3/ ea /14.25 —
47
Cartage 4/ 50 /$151 50
[below the entries, a short line of very faint pencil — illegible]
[LOWER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 3 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army (Major Smith) Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 2 Bronze 6 Pdr Guns /$1400.00 2 Bronze Howitzers /$1400 $2800 —
The above Two Howitzers were issued to Capt. Hodgson[?]
Battery. Wash. Arty. [pencil signature — illegible]
Checks: UPPER BILL — the money block has four ruled columns; the extension figures stand as "104" (first line, dollars), "47" (second line, dollars) and "50" (third line, cents), with the footing "$151 50". Line one: 260 lbs @ 4¢ = $10.40, not the $104 entered; the extension proves only if the weight is 2,600 lbs, and see Flagged. Line two: $33.25 for the 47 handles carries no unit rate and cannot be tested (at 47 pieces it does not divide evenly); the riveting at the rate written as "3/ ea" over 47 pieces would come to $14.10, not the $14.25 entered, so that extension does not prove on the rate as I read it. The two figures together make 33.25 + 14.25 = $47.50, which is exactly the "47" and "50" written across the second and third rows of the money columns, so the "50" belongs arithmetically to the second line even though it is written a line lower. Line three: cartage $4 — no figure for it appears in the money columns. Footing: 104.00 + 47.50 = $151.50 — proves exactly, which means the $4 cartage was not carried into the total. No written-out receipt sum on the sheet. LOWER BILL — two bronze 6-pounder guns at $1,400 and two bronze howitzers at $1,400: 1400 + 1400 = $2,800 — proves exactly. Neither item carries a per-piece rate (the $1,400 is written against the pair in each case), so the pieces cannot be tested individually. No written-out receipt sum on the sheet.
Flagged: (1) The weight on the upper bill's first line reads "260" followed by a small raised mark. If that mark is the clerk's pound sign the figure is 260 lbs and the $104 extension is ten times the product; if it is a fourth digit the figure is 2,600 lbs and $104 is exact. I cannot settle it from the ink, and under the standing rule I have not corrected the clerk either way. (2) The riveting rate on the second line is written "3/ ea"; at 30¢ over 47 pieces it gives $14.10 against the $14.25 entered. Either the rate or the count is not what I read; the sum of the line nevertheless agrees with the money column and with the footing. (3) The $4 cartage on the third line never reaches the money column and is not in the total. (4) Two words on the upper bill, one after "Instrument" and one after "for do", are struck through with heavy diagonal strokes and cannot be read under them. (5) "(Major Smith)" on the lower bill is written plainly in the addressee line and is the officer for whom the guns were bought. "Capt. Hodgson" in the pencil note is less certain — the pencil is nearly rubbed away and the surname could carry other readings; "Battery. Wash. Arty." is clear. (6) The pencil signature at the end of that note is beyond reading; three or four letters suggest initials and a short surname, but I will not put a name to it. (7) These two bills are dated 26 March and 3 March, earlier than everything else in this run of the film, and the lower bill is a sale of finished ordnance rather than jobbing work — it may belong with a different voucher from the carriage-ironwork accounts around it. (8) Neither sheet carries the approval signature or the "Correct John Roy" endorsement found on images 13–16.
Image 18 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills, New Orleans, 4 March and 6 March 1862: a field battery complete to Genl W. R. Miles, $23,672, certified 3 October 1862; and stand grape and rifle shell to the C. S. Army, $3,256 as footed, corrected in pencil to $3,250
Two billheads on one frame, the upper the largest account in this run. The upper sheet has been ruled up by hand into a proper account: a DATE column at the left ("March | 1862 | 4"), a wide description field, and four money columns at the right, with faint horizontal guide lines drawn across the whole sheet — but there is still no APPLICATION column, and no printed voucher form; the work each item was for has to be read from the descriptions and from the certificate written across the sheet. Six entry lines carry ticks in the third money column and the footing in the fourth. Below the entries stands "Correct" over the flourished signature of the officer named in the addressee line, then a short line I cannot read, then the date. Across the whole upper sheet, written sideways so that the sheet must be turned a quarter-turn to read it, runs a long certificate in a fine pointed hand, six or seven lines, crossing the printed heading and the entries; parts of it are struck through and it is hard going throughout. The lower sheet carries three long entry lines and its own money columns, with heavy X cancel marks scored through several of the quantities, and beneath it two lines of pencil at the left and a pencil recomputation of the extension and the total at the right. Both sheets are punched at the upper left, both punches torn out through the edge. A film or archival number "18" is written in ink at the top right of the frame, outside the upper sheet's text.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 18
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
Genl W. R. Miles
Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
1862
March 4 For 4. 12 Pdr Bronze /750 ea 3,000 " √
" " 8 Rifle 6 Pdr Bronze /800 ea 6,400 " √
" " 12 Carriages & limbers, caissons & limbers
/1,000 ea 12,000 " √
" " 8 Sets globe sights for rifle pieces /20.00 ea 160 " √
" " 2 Battery wagons & forges 2,100 " √
Cartages 12 " √/23,672 "
√
Correct W R Miles
[one short line — illegible]
Oct[o]r 3d 1862
[written sideways across the whole sheet, in a fine hand:]
[illegible] I have never paid this bill
understand it to be the [illegible] Col G[illegible]
Miles Certificate to which is attached
the bill is believed to be due
the Signers M[?] Smith
Maj of Engrs
Actg for C S A
[LOWER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 6 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 300 Stands 32 Pdr Grape /3.00 ea /$900.00 ) 200. 24 Pdr do /2.30 /466 —
× 1366 —
100. do 42 Pdr do /3.90 ea /390 — ( 100. 32 Pdr do /3.00 /300.
275 do /3.00 /825 ) √ 1515 —
50. 32 Pdr Rifle Shell Turned & Reamed /7.50 √ 375 —
× 3256 —
[pencil, at the foot:] [?]hipped[?] Lake Works × 1360 $3250
×$900
Checks: UPPER BILL — 4 bronze 12-pounders @ $750 = $3,000 (proves); 8 rifled bronze 6-pounders @ $800 = $6,400 (proves); 12 carriages and limbers with caissons and limbers @ $1,000 = $12,000 (proves); 8 sets of globe sights @ $20.00 = $160 (proves); the 2 battery wagons and forges are entered at $2,100 with no unit rate and cannot be tested; cartages $12, no rate. Footing: 3,000 + 6,400 + 12,000 + 160 + 2,100 + 12 = $23,672 — proves exactly. There is no written-out receipt sum on the sheet; the certificate written across it gives no figure. LOWER BILL — first line: 300 stands of 32-pounder grape @ $3.00 = $900 (proves); 200 of 24-pounder @ $2.30 = $460, but the clerk entered $466, an overcharge of $6 on the extension; his line extension 900 + 466 = $1,366 is internally consistent with what he wrote. Second line: 100 @ $3.90 = $390 (proves); 100 @ $3.00 = $300 (proves); 275 @ $3.00 = $825 (proves); 390 + 300 + 825 = $1,515 — proves. Third line: 50 32-pounder rifle shell turned and reamed @ $7.50 = $375 — proves. Footing as written: 1,366 + 1,515 + 375 = $3,256 — proves as the clerk wrote it, but only because it carries his $6 error forward. The pencil hand at the foot has caught it: "× 1360" and "$3250", which is 900 + 460 = 1,360 and 1,360 + 1,515 + 375 = 3,250. Both readings are internally exact; the difference between them is the $6 in the second item of the first line, and I have left the clerk's figures as he wrote them.
Flagged: (1) The certificate written sideways across the upper bill is the hardest text in this run. What I can read with confidence is "I have never paid this bill", "Miles Certificate to which is attached", "the bill is believed to be due the Signers", and the signature block "Maj of Engrs / Actg for C S A". The name over that block reads as a short surname beginning with a capital that may be M and ending "-mith"; the word after "Col" in the second line is a surname of six or seven letters that I cannot fix. I have not supplied either. (2) The line under "Correct W R Miles" — one short word or abbreviation before the date — will not read at any magnification. (3) The date on that certificate, "Oct'r 3d 1862", is seven months after the bill it stands on; the bill is 4 March 1862. That is not an impossible date, but it is worth noting that this account was still being certified in the autumn, after New Orleans had fallen. (4) On the lower bill the quantities "24" in the first line and several figures in the second are scored through with heavy X marks in a checking hand; the figures beneath them are still legible and I have transcribed them. (5) The pencil "[?]hipped[?] Lake Works" at the foot of the lower bill is very faint; only "Lake Works" is certain. The pencil "×$900" beneath it is clear. (6) Neither sheet carries the "App'd" ink approval or the "Correct John Roy" endorsement found on images 13–16; the upper bill is certified by Miles himself and by the engineer officer whose name I cannot read. (7) The upper bill sells a complete field battery — guns, carriages, limbers, caissons, sights, battery wagons and forges — which is a different kind of transaction from the jobbing ironwork on the neighbouring frames.
Image 19 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, 13 and 14 March 1862: ten cast-iron mountings for 32-pounders $260, and 24-pounder shot, 32- and 42-"inch" shell reamed and stand grape $2,991.30
Two billheads on one frame, both the firm's commercial form with the engraved "New Orleans." panel, the boxed manufacturers' advertisement, and light vertical money rules; no APPLICATION column on either. The upper sheet carries a single entry line and, beneath it, the pencil endorsement "Correct John Roy"; across its left half, written diagonally over the printed advertisement and up toward the corner, is a docket in ink that I cannot read — it crosses the heading at a steep angle and is partly under the fold. A pencil "37" stands vertically in the upper sheet's top-left corner. The lower sheet is the fuller account: four long entry lines in the same sloping hand, with heavy X cancel marks scored through several of the descriptions by a checking hand, and the extensions carried into two money columns at the right with the footing beyond them. Both sheets are punched at upper left, both punches torn through the edge; the lower sheet's lower-right corner is torn away in a ragged bite that reaches to within an inch of the footing but takes no text with it, and its lower half carries a broad pale rub where the surface has been abraded. Faint pencil scribbling lies under the lower sheet's advertisement panel.
[UPPER BILL]
37 [pencil, sideways in the corner]
(New Orleans.) 13 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 10 Ca[s]t Ir[o]n Mountings for 32 Pdr /$25.00 ea /$250 Cartage /$10
260 —
Correct John Roy [pencil]
[a docket in ink, written diagonally across the left of the sheet — illegible]
[LOWER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 14th March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 150 " 24 Pdr Shot 3600" 6½ /234.00. 500. 32 Pdr Shell 12,750" 7¢ /892.50
1126 50
Reaming do @ 30¢ /150.00 500. 42 In Shell 15000" 7¢ /1050 1200
Reaming do 30¢ /150 — 109 Stands do 32 Pdr Grape /3.00 /327.00
477
47 Stands 42 Pdr Grape /3.[90?] /183.30 Cartage /4.50 187 . 80
/$2991 30
Checks: UPPER BILL — 10 mountings @ $25.00 = $250.00 (proves); 250.00 + cartage 10.00 = $260.00 — proves exactly. No receipt sum written out. LOWER BILL — line one: 3,600 lbs @ 6½¢ = $234.00 (proves); 12,750 lbs @ 7¢ = $892.50 (proves); 234.00 + 892.50 = $1,126.50 — proves. Line two: reaming 500 pieces @ 30¢ = $150.00 (proves); 15,000 lbs @ 7¢ = $1,050.00 (proves); 150.00 + 1,050.00 = $1,200.00 — proves. Line three: reaming 500 @ 30¢ = $150.00 (proves); 109 stands @ $3.00 = $327.00 (proves); 150.00 + 327.00 = $477.00 — proves. Line four: 47 stands at the rate written = $183.30, which requires $3.90 the stand (47 × 3.90 = 183.30 exactly); 183.30 + cartage 4.50 = $187.80 — proves. Footing: 1,126.50 + 1,200.00 + 477.00 + 187.80 = $2,991.30 — proves exactly. No receipt sum written out.
Flagged: (1) The rate on the fourth line of the lower bill is written as a figure 3 with a raised two-digit fraction that reads more like "20" than "90" at every magnification I have tried. Only $3.90 gives the $183.30 extension the clerk wrote and the footing that follows from it, so that is what the arithmetic requires; I have marked the reading doubtful rather than silently making the ink say 90. (2) "42 In Shell" on the second line is written with the word for inch, as on image 14 — no 42-inch gun existed, and the 42-pounder is the obvious sense, but I have left the clerk's wording. (3) The description "Ca[s]t Ir[o]n Mountings" on the upper bill is written with heavy superscript contractions; the sense is plainly cast-iron mountings for 32-pounders, but the letters themselves are compressed. (4) Several descriptions on the lower bill — "32 Pdr Shell" in line one, "42 In Shell" in line two, "Stands do 32 Pdr" in line three — are struck through with large X marks in the checking hand. The figures beneath remain legible and every one of them proves, so the crosses look like check marks rather than corrections. (5) The diagonal ink docket on the upper bill defeats me: it runs at a steep angle across the printed panel and I can pick out no complete word. (6) Neither sheet carries the "App'd" approval signature; only the pencil "Correct John Roy" on the upper.
Image 20 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills, New Orleans, both 20 March 1862: pump and shaft repairs to the C. States Army $82.55, and Virginia and James shot with sabots for the Orleans Guard Battery $179.25
Two of the firm's printed billheads on one frame, the lower half of the frame blank. Both carry the engraved "New Orleans." panel, the boxed manufacturers' advertisement, and the light vertical money rules; no APPLICATION column on either. The upper sheet has three entry lines and the pencil endorsement "Correct John Roy" beneath them, and its addressee is written out as "C. States Army"; the lower sheet has two entry lines and names the battery the work was for in the addressee line itself. Both punches at the upper left have torn out through the edge, the upper sheet's leaving a long black tear that runs a third of the way down the left margin and takes away part of the advertisement box. A faint round rubber handstamp, illegible, lies over the money columns at the right of the upper sheet — only the ring and one or two letters survive. At the foot of the lower sheet, in the left margin, are two lines of very faint pencil that will not read. The ink is the same dark iron-gall and the hand the same fast commercial hand as the rest of this run.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 20 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. States Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 1 Fo[u]ndation[?] Shaft 68" 15¢ /10.20. Turning /8.00 —
2 P. Buckets 87" 7¢ /6.09 24 29
4 Pump Buckets for do 18" 60¢ /10.80. Fitting /6.00 —
4 Bolts for do /1.50 18 30
2 Flanges 113[?]" 9¢ /10 —. Boring & Keying /12.00.
1 Rod[?] 158" 11¢ /17.[38?] 39 96 /82 55
Correct. John Roy [pencil]
[a round handstamp over the money columns — illegible]
[LOWER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 20 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army for Orleans Guard Battery Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 40 Virginia Shot with Sabots /1.75 /70.00
40 Virginia Shot long /1.90 /76.00 146 — √
20 James Shot /1.50 /30.00 Packing Box /2.25 Cartage /1.00
33 25 /179 25
√
[two lines of very faint pencil in the left margin — illegible]
Checks: UPPER BILL — line one: 68 lbs @ 15¢ = $10.20 (proves); turning $8.00, no rate, cannot be tested; 87 lbs @ 7¢ = $6.09 (proves); 10.20 + 8.00 + 6.09 = $24.29 — proves. Line two: 18 lbs @ 60¢ = $10.80 (proves); fitting $6.00 and 4 bolts $1.50, neither with a rate; 10.80 + 6.00 + 1.50 = $18.30 — proves. Line three does not prove on my reading: the flanges are entered at $10.00 even, boring and keying at $12.00, and the rod at what I read as $17.38 (158 lbs @ 11¢ = 17.38 exactly), which together make $39.38 against the $39.96 written in the extension — a shortfall of 58 cents. One of the three figures is not what I have read; the rod's cents are the least certain of them, and the flanges' weight is crossed by a cancel stroke. The footing, however, is exact on the extensions as written: 24.29 + 18.30 + 39.96 = $82.55 — proves exactly. No receipt sum on the sheet. LOWER BILL — 40 shot with sabots @ $1.75 = $70.00 (proves); 40 long shot @ $1.90 = $76.00 (proves); 70.00 + 76.00 = $146.00 — proves. 20 James shot @ $1.50 = $30.00 (proves); packing box $2.25 and cartage $1.00, neither with a rate; 30.00 + 2.25 + 1.00 = $33.25 — proves. Footing: 146.00 + 33.25 = $179.25 — proves exactly. No receipt sum on the sheet.
Flagged: (1) The first item on the upper bill is a shaft, and the word before "Shaft" reads to me as "Foundation" — ten letters with a dotted i — but the pen is fast and the reading is not secure. The rest of the line (pump buckets, flanges, keying, a rod) shows the work is a pump repair, which does not obviously want a "foundation shaft"; I record the difficulty rather than substitute a word that suits the sense. (2) The 58-cent shortfall in the third line's extension is set out above. I have not adjusted any figure to close it. (3) The flanges' weight, which I read as 113, is scored through with a cancel stroke and could be 153 or 118; since the extension for that item is written as a round $10 with a dash, no rate test is possible either way. (4) "Virginia Shot" and "Virginia Shot long" and "James Shot" on the lower bill are the clerk's own words for the projectiles; the Orleans Guard Battery is named in the addressee line and is the only unit named on this frame. (5) The handstamp on the upper bill is too faint to read; nothing of a date or office survives. (6) The pencil at the foot of the lower bill is two short lines, both beyond reading.
Image 21 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, both 24 December 1861: three days' mechanic and labourer at the Barracks $22.50 (Capt Higgins' Battery), and twenty-two 32-inch Dahlgren shell reamed $167.10 (Fort Jackson)
Two of the firm's printed billheads on one frame, the lower half of the frame blank; the same engraved heading, boxed advertisement and light vertical money rules on both, and no APPLICATION column — but each sheet carries a pencil docket below the entry naming the battery or the fort the work was for, which is what an APPLICATION column would have said. Each bill has a single entry line only, so the money block shows one extension and the total. Both sheets are punched at the upper left through a large round hole that has torn out to the edge. Across the middle of each sheet, running up toward the right at a steep angle and crossing the printed heading, is a note in ink in a fine pointed hand — four or five lines on each — which I cannot read; it is the same intrusion that runs across image 18's upper bill and is written with the sheet turned a quarter-turn. Beneath the entries on each sheet the pencil docket is very light, in a rounder hand than the bills. The paper is clean, with a faint horizontal fold across each sheet and light foxing at the edges.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) Dec[embe]r 24 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 3 Days Mechanic at Barracks /15.00. 3 days Labourer /7.50
/ 22 50
Capt Higgins' Battery [pencil]
[two further lines of pencil beneath — illegible]
[an ink note written sideways across the sheet, four or five lines — illegible]
[LOWER BILL]
(New Orleans.) Dec[embe]r 24 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 22 32" Dahlgren Shell Reamed /7.55 ea /166.10 Cartage /1.00
/ 167 10
Capt B[illegible] [pencil]
a
Capt [illegible] Fort Jackson [pencil]
[an ink note written sideways across the sheet — illegible]
Checks: UPPER BILL — three days' mechanic entered at $15.00 and three days' labourer at $7.50; neither carries a daily rate on the sheet, so neither extension can be tested against a rate (they answer to $5.00 and $2.50 the day, but the paper does not say so). 15.00 + 7.50 = $22.50 — proves. No receipt sum written out. LOWER BILL — 22 shell reamed at the rate written = $166.10, which requires $7.55 each (22 × 7.55 = 166.10 exactly); 166.10 + cartage 1.00 = $167.10 — proves exactly. No receipt sum written out.
Flagged: (1) The reaming rate on the lower bill reads $7.55, not the $7.50 charged for the same work on images 13 and 14. The two raised figures after the 7 are both fives on the paper and only $7.55 gives the $166.10 extension, so the difference is real and not a slip of mine. (2) "32" Dahlgren Shell" is written with the inch mark, as on image 13; a 32-inch shell is impossible and the 32-pounder Dahlgren is the obvious sense, but I have left the clerk's mark. (3) "Capt Higgins' Battery" is written clearly in pencil on the upper bill; the two pencil lines under it, apparently a name and a rank, are too faint to read. On the lower bill the pencil names two officers, each preceded by "Capt", and ends "Fort Jackson" — only "Capt" and "Fort Jackson" are legible; the surnames are not. (4) The date on the lower bill has its last digit written over and thickened; I read 1861, matching the upper bill, but the digit is not clean. (5) The ink notes written sideways across both sheets are in the same fine hand as the certificate on image 18 and are equally hard; I can pick out no continuous phrase and have not attempted a partial reading. (6) These two bills are the earliest in this run — December 1861, three months before the rest.
Image 22 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, 30 and 31 December 1861: twenty-five 32-inch Dahlgren shell with reaming $188.75 (Fort Jackson), and fifty stands of 42-inch grape with sixty-three Dahlgren shell $666.15
Two of the firm's printed billheads on one frame, the lower half blank; the engraved heading, boxed advertisement and light money rules as before, and no APPLICATION column — the purpose is again supplied by pencil dockets written under the entries. The upper bill has one entry line, the lower two. Both sheets are punched at upper left with a large round hole torn out to the edge, and the lower sheet has a small ink cross beside its punch. Both carry the same fine sideways ink note running up across the printed heading that appears on image 21, and it is no more legible here. The pencil dockets on both sheets are very light indeed — on the lower bill nearly effaced — and read in a rounder hand than the bills. The upper sheet's entry has cancel strokes through the rate and the extension where a checking hand has ticked them off. Paper clean, lightly foxed at the edges, with a faint horizontal fold across each sheet.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) Dec[embe]r 30 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 25. 32" Dahlgren Shell /7.30 /182.50 Reaming /6.25
/ 188 75
Capt [illegible] Fort Jackson [pencil]
a
Capt [illegible] [pencil]
[an ink note written sideways across the sheet — illegible]
[LOWER BILL]
+ [ink, beside the punch]
(New Orleans.) Dec[embe]r 31 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
" For 50 Stands 42" Grape /3.75 /187.50 63 Dahlgren Shell /7.30 /459.90
647 40 √
Reaming do /15.75 Cartage /3.00 18 75
666 15 √
Capt [illegible] [pencil]
for Rifled[?]
Capt [illegible] sent to Victor L[illegible] [pencil]
[an ink note written sideways across the sheet — illegible]
Checks: UPPER BILL — 25 shell at the rate written = $182.50, which requires $7.30 each (25 × 7.30 = 182.50 exactly); the reaming is entered at $6.25 with no count and no rate and cannot be tested, though at 25 pieces it answers to 25¢ each. 182.50 + 6.25 = $188.75 — proves exactly. No receipt sum written out. LOWER BILL — 50 stands of grape @ $3.75 = $187.50 (proves); 63 Dahlgren shell @ $7.30 = $459.90 (proves); first extension 187.50 + 459.90 = $647.40 — proves. Second line: reaming $15.75 with no count or rate (at 63 pieces it answers to 25¢ each) and cartage $3.00; 15.75 + 3.00 = $18.75 — proves. Footing: 647.40 + 18.75 = $666.15 — proves exactly. No receipt sum written out.
Flagged: (1) The Dahlgren shell rate on both these December bills is $7.30, against $7.55 on image 21 (24 December) and $7.50 on images 13 and 14 (April). Three different prices for what the clerk calls the same article inside four months; the ink is clear on all three and I have not reconciled them. (2) "32" Dahlgren Shell" and "42" Grape" are written with the inch mark; no such calibres existed and the 32- and 42-pounder are the plain sense, but the mark is the clerk's. (3) The pencil dockets are the faintest writing on either sheet. On the upper bill I can read "Fort Jackson" and two occurrences of "Capt"; the surnames are gone. On the lower bill the second line ends "sent to Victor L—" with a surname of four or five letters I cannot fix, and a word above it that may be "Rifled". I have supplied none of them. (4) The sideways ink notes across both sheets are the same fine hand as images 18 and 21 and are equally illegible. (5) These, with image 21, are the December 1861 group; the rest of this run is March and April 1862.
Image 23 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills, New Orleans, 18 September and 1 November 1861: one pair of couplings for the Custom House machines $2.47, and six 32-inch Dahlgren shell with six Tredegar shot $58.20
Two of the firm's printed billheads on one frame, the lower half blank; the engraved heading, boxed advertisement and light money rules as throughout, no APPLICATION column, and on each sheet a single entry line. The upper sheet is the most damaged in this run: its upper-left corner is torn clean away in a ragged black bite that has taken the corner of the advertisement box and part of the addressee line's left end, and a second tear runs into the lower edge below the entries; the left margin also carries several lines of very light diagonal pencil that will not read. Its purpose is nevertheless written out in the clerk's own hand in a parenthesis below the entry — "(for Custom House Machines)" — and the addressee line says the order came through Mr Roy. The lower sheet is less damaged but rubbed and pale below the entry, where a docket in ink and a pencil endorsement have both nearly gone; only the tail of a place-name survives. Both sheets are punched at upper left. These are the two earliest bills in the range, September and November 1861.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 18 Sep[tembe]r 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. States per order Mr Roy. Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 1 Pair Couplings 37" 6¢ /2.22 Cartage 25 $ 2 47
Correct. John Roy army
(for Custom House Machines)
[several lines of light diagonal pencil down the left margin — illegible]
[LOWER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 1 November 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 6. 32" Dahlgren Shell /7.30 /43.80. Boring & tapping /2.40
6. 32" Tredegar Shot cove[re]d[?] with lead /12.00 $ 58 20 √
[a docket in ink below the entry, effaced — the last word ends "...ckson"]
Correct [illegible] [pencil]
Checks: UPPER BILL — 37 lbs @ 6¢ = $2.22 (proves); 2.22 + cartage 0.25 = $2.47 — proves exactly. No receipt sum written out. LOWER BILL — 6 shell @ $7.30 = $43.80 (proves); boring and tapping $2.40, no count or rate given, cannot be tested against a rate (at 6 pieces it answers to 40¢ each); the six Tredegar shot are entered at $12.00 for the six with no unit rate. 43.80 + 2.40 + 12.00 = $58.20 — proves exactly. No receipt sum written out.
Flagged: (1) "Tredegar Shot" is written plainly and is the only maker's name to appear anywhere in this run — Leeds & Co. are here charging for work done on shot that came from elsewhere. The word after it, describing what was done to them, reads to me as "covered with lead", which would answer to sheathing a rifled bolt, but the middle letters are compressed and I have marked it doubtful rather than settle it. (2) "32" Dahlgren Shell" and "32" Tredegar Shot" again carry the inch mark for what must be the 32-pounder. (3) The Dahlgren shell rate here, 1 November 1861, is $7.30 — the same as the December bills on image 22, and below the $7.55 of 24 December (image 21) and the $7.50 of April 1862 (images 13 and 14). (4) The upper bill is not ordnance work at all: a pair of couplings, 37 lbs of iron at 6 cents, for the machines at the Custom House, ordered through the same John Roy who endorses the ordnance accounts. It is filed here with them and I flag it as standing slightly apart. The word "army" written to the right of his endorsement is his own and I have left it where it stands. (5) The torn corner of the upper sheet has taken away whatever stood at the left end of the addressee line before "C. States"; nothing of it survives. (6) The ink docket under the lower bill's entry is effaced past reading except for the last word's ending, "-ckson", which is consistent with the Fort Jackson dockets elsewhere in this run but which I will not supply.
Image 24 — Two "Bought of Leeds & Co., Iron Founders" bills to the C.S. Army, New Orleans, 30 December 1861 and 8 January 1862: twelve cast blocks for cannon, bored $99.84, and fifty 32-pounder round shell and twenty-two Dahlgren shell, reamed conically $291.70 (Fort Jackson)
Two of the firm's printed billheads on one frame, the lower half blank. The engraved heading, boxed advertisement and light vertical money rules as throughout, and no APPLICATION column — the lower bill's purpose is carried by a pencil docket at its foot. The upper sheet has one entry line and the pencil endorsement "Correct. John Roy" beneath it, with a fine diagonal ink note running up its left side that will not read; the entry's description is scored through with heavy X strokes by a checking hand, which makes the middle of the line hard going. The lower sheet has three entry lines running into two money columns and the footing, and at its foot two lines of light pencil naming two captains and, at the right, "Fort Jackson". Both sheets are punched at upper left with a large ragged hole; the lower sheet's punch has torn into the paper for about an inch and a small dark blot lies below it. The ink is the same dark iron-gall throughout and the hand the same.
[UPPER BILL]
(New Orleans.) Dec[embe]r 30 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 12 C[ast?] [Blo]cks for Cannons 859" 6¢ /51.54 — Boring do /48.00
Cartage 4/. / $ 99 84
Correct. John Roy [pencil]
[a fine ink note down the left margin, written diagonally — illegible]
[LOWER BILL]
(New Orleans.) 8 Jan[uar]y 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR[EETS]
C. S. Army Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 50 Round 32 Pdr Shell 1[6?]50" 6½¢ /1[07].25 Ream[in]g do Conically /15.00
√ 122 25 —
22 Dahlgren Shell 7.30 /160.60 — Ream[in]g do Conical 30¢ /6.60
√ 167 20
Cartage 2 25 /291 70
√
Capt B[illegible] Fort Jackson [pencil]
a
Capt [illegible] [pencil]
Checks: UPPER BILL — 859 lbs @ 6¢ = $51.54 (proves exactly). Boring $48.00 carries no rate and cannot be tested. 51.54 + 48.00 = $99.54, which is thirty cents short of the $99.84 written in the money column; the cartage on the same line is written as a figure 4 followed by the ledger's long diagonal stroke, and on no reading of that figure does the line foot to $99.84 — $4 would give $103.54 and 30¢ would give exactly $99.84 but is not what the ink says. I have left the clerk's figures alone and record the divergence. No receipt sum on the sheet. LOWER BILL — line one: the shell weight is followed by 6½¢ and an extension whose cents are 25; $107.25 is 1,650 lbs at 6½¢ exactly, and 107.25 + 15.00 = $122.25, which is the figure in the money column. The weight's second digit is not clear on the paper (see Flagged), so the extension proves on the arithmetic but not, for me, on the weight as written. Line two: 22 Dahlgren shell @ $7.30 = $160.60 (proves); 22 reamed conically @ 30¢ = $6.60 (proves); 160.60 + 6.60 = $167.20 — proves. Line three: cartage $2.25, no rate. Footing: 122.25 + 167.20 + 2.25 = $291.70 — proves exactly. No receipt sum on the sheet.
Flagged: (1) The 30-cent gap on the upper bill is set out above; the cartage figure is the only candidate for it and it does not read as 30. (2) The description on the upper bill — twelve cast blocks for cannon — is crossed through with the checking hand's heavy X strokes and I cannot be certain of the word after "12"; it opens with a capital C and the sense is "cast". (3) On the lower bill the shell weight reads as four digits ending "50" with 6½¢ against it; the arithmetic wants 1,650, and the second digit could be read as 6 or 8. I have marked it rather than choose. (4) "Reaming conically" and "reaming conical" are the clerk's own words and are the only place in this run where the shape of the reaming is specified. (5) The Dahlgren shell rate here, 8 January 1862, is again $7.30, matching images 22 and 23. (6) The pencil docket at the foot of the lower bill names two officers, both preceded by "Capt", with "Fort Jackson" written large to the right; the surnames are too light to read, the first perhaps beginning "Bru-". This is the same pair of names, in the same hand, as the dockets on images 21 and 22. (7) The diagonal ink note on the upper bill is the same fine hand as images 18, 21 and 22, and equally illegible.
Addendum — the approving signature on images 13 and 14
On images 13 and 14 I recorded the ink approval at the foot of each bill as illegible. Image 15's lower bill carries the same signature in a bolder pull of the pen, and there the second line is plainly "L[t] Col & Ord. Officer" and the name above it reads as two initials — the first apparently W with a raised m, i.e. "Wm" — over a surname that reads "Lewis". Every element of the name remains doubtful, and I have not gone back to alter the transcriptions of images 13 and 14; readers of those two sections should carry this reading across to them. The same signature appears on images 15 and 16 and nowhere else in the range.
Image 25 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame: New Orleans, 16[?] January 1862 ($373.25, grape and shell-case work) and 19 December 1861 ($90.10, bronze forks for 32-pdrs)
One microfilm frame carrying two separate small billheads, each photographed against a black ground with a black-filled file punch-hole at the upper left. Both are the ornamental engraved Leeds form — a cartouche reading "MANUFACTURERS OF / VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINES. / BOILERS, SUGAR MILLS. / VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, CLARIFIERS, FILTERS. / STEAM AND HORSE POWER DRAINING MACHINES. / SAW-MILLS, GIN-GEARING. / Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars &c." at the left, with "New Orleans." and "CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STRS" across the top and "Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders," in heavy shaded display type at the right. Note that this is the firm's own commercial billhead, not the printed "The Confederate States … To Leeds & Co. Dr." voucher form with its DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST columns; there is therefore no APPLICATION column on either sheet, and the purpose of the work has to be taken from the wording of the entries themselves. The ruled money field at the right of each has three narrow columns. The writing is a fast, sloping commercial hand in black ink, now brown-grey on film, with several strokes reinforced or struck through; the upper sheet carries two lines of soft pencil below the entries which have filmed very faintly. Both sheets show a light vertical fold at about a third of their width, and the upper sheet's ink has feathered where the pen was pressed. Below the second billhead the frame is blank white.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
[handwritten numeral, upper left corner, partly lost in the punch-hole: 2[?]]
New Orleans. 16[?] January 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
MANUFACTURERS OF Iron Founders,
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINES.
BOILERS, SUGAR MILLS.
VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, CLARIFIERS, FILTERS.
STEAM AND HORSE POWER DRAINING MACHINES.
SAW-MILLS, GIN-GEARING.
Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars &c.
[engraver's line: Douglas, Eng[ravin]g N[ew] Orleans[?]]
For 100 Stands 24 p r Grape /2 30/ 230 00 19 [two words illegible] Shell Cases 7 50/ 142 50 | 372 | 50 |
Cartage on 19 6/- | 75 | | $373 25
------
[in pencil, below the entries:]
Ca[p]t[?] M[illegible]
* Sent to V[i]ct[or?] L[i]ne[?]
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
[handwritten numeral, upper left corner, partly lost in the punch-hole: 1[?]]
New Orleans. Dec r 19 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 4 Bronze [one word struck through, illegible] Forks Complete for 32 P r /89 60 Cartage 4/ | $ 90 | 10 |
[written vertically up the left of the entry field, in ink: payment[?]]
Correct. John Roy
Checks: UPPER SHEET — 100 × $2.30 = $230.00, proves exactly. The second item's extension divides exactly: $142.50 ÷ $7.50 = 19, matching the quantity 19 and the "Cartage on 19" below, so that extension proves. $230.00 + $142.50 = $372.50, the figure carried into the first money column, proves. Cartage "6/" at the New Orleans reckoning of 12½ cents to the shilling = $0.75, the figure entered; $372.50 + $0.75 = $373.25, the sum written in the outer column. The upper sheet proves exactly at $373.25. There is no separate receipt or written-out sum on the sheet to test the footing against. LOWER SHEET — the entry carries no unit rate, only the extension "/89 60" for 4 forks (which would be $22.40 each, though that rate is not written and cannot be tested). Cartage "4/" = $0.50 at 12½ cents to the shilling; $89.60 + $0.50 = $90.10, the figure in the money column. The lower sheet proves exactly at $90.10 on the assumption that "4/" means four shillings. There is no written-out sum in a receipt to test the footing against.
Flagged: The day of the month on the upper bill is a single "1" followed by a looped figure read here as 6; 8 is possible, so the date is given as 16[?] January 1862. The second item on the upper bill defeated repeated enlargement: after the quantity "19" there is a small superscript group (possibly a fraction or a caret) and then two words before "Shell Cases"; the last of the two ends in what may be "for". A mechanically sensible reading would be "Bolts for Shell Cases", but the strokes will not support it and it is not entered in the transcription — the words are left as illegible. The struck-through word on the lower bill, between "Bronze" and "Forks", is cancelled with a heavy X and cannot be read. "Forks" is confidently read but its ordnance sense is not certain; a fork is a component of an elevating screw, which would suit a 32-pounder carriage, but that is a proposal only. The pencil endorsements on the upper bill have filmed very faintly: the first appears to begin "Ca[p]t" followed by a surname that cannot be resolved; the second reads "Sent to" followed by two words, the first beginning V-i-c-t- and the second possibly "Line". "Correct. John Roy" on the lower bill is clear and is the only officer-style certification on the frame; John Roy is not further identified on the sheet, and no rank is given. The "1" and "2" at the upper left of the two bills are file numerals in a later hand, not voucher numbers. Neither sheet names a receiving officer, a place of delivery, or a voucher number, and neither carries a handstamp.
Image 26 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame, both New Orleans, 21 January 1862: shells and round shot ($900.50) and fifty 6-pdr rifle shot ($82.05)
The same arrangement as the previous frame: two of the firm's engraved billheads photographed one above the other against a black ground, each with a black file punch-hole at the upper left (the lower sheet's hole is ragged and has torn the paper edge). The printed matter is identical to image 25 — the chain-bordered manufacturers' cartouche, "New Orleans." and "CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STRS" above, "Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders," in shaded display letters to the right — and again this is the firm's commercial billhead rather than the printed "The Confederate States … To Leeds & Co. Dr." voucher form, so there is no APPLICATION column and the purpose of the work must be read out of the entries. Both are in the same rapid sloping ink hand as image 25, with the money field ruled into three narrow columns at the right. The upper sheet carries, below the entries, two lines of soft pencil that have filmed very faintly and a bold ink asterisk keying the second entry line to the second pencil line. Neither sheet is signed or certified. The lower sheet is the cleaner of the two; the lower two-fifths of the frame is blank white.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 21 January 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as image 25] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 413[?] . 32" Dahlgren Shell /[illegible figure] 50 ea / | 522 | 50 |
* 366 Round Shot 32" Wt [illegible figure] # 5 4/ 376 00 Cartage /2 00 | 378 | | $900 | 50 |
on 43 ------
[in pencil, below the entries:]
Ca[p]t[?] R[illegible]
* Sent to Fort [illegible]
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 21 January 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 50 . 6 p r Rifle Shot 17 Tredegar /1 90 /32 30 v | $ | 82 | 05 |
17 Virginia /1 75 /29 75 v
16 Ames . /1 25 /20 00 v
Checks: UPPER SHEET — the first line's rate cannot be read (the dollars figure is lost under a heavy pen-stroke; only the superscript cents "50" and the word "ea" survive), so its extension of $522.50 cannot be tested. On the second line the extension $376.00 plus the cartage $2.00 gives $378.00, the figure carried into the first money column: that addition proves exactly. The weight and the rate "5 4/" on that line cannot be read with confidence and the $376.00 therefore cannot be tested against a rate. The footing proves: $522.50 + $378.00 = $900.50, the sum written in the outer column. There is no receipt on the sheet, so there is no written-out sum to test the footing against. LOWER SHEET — every extension proves and the quantities add: 17 × $1.90 = $32.30; 17 × $1.75 = $29.75; 16 × $1.25 = $20.00; 17 + 17 + 16 = 50, matching the "50 . 6 p r Rifle Shot" of the entry line; $32.30 + $29.75 + $20.00 = $82.05, the figure in the outer column. The lower sheet proves exactly at $82.05. Each of the three extensions carries a small ink check-mark, apparently a clerk's verification.
Flagged: The quantity on the upper sheet's first line is read here as 413 but the last figure could be 8; and its rate survives only as "…50 ea". Because 418 × $1.25 = $522.50 exactly, and because $1.25 is a rate used on the companion sheet below, a reading of "418 … /1 25 ea" would make the line prove — but the cents plainly read 50, not 25, so this is offered only as a proposal and is not entered in the transcription. The weight figure on the second line reads as three characters after "Wt", the last two of which are 7 and 0; it will not resolve, and neither will the rate group written "5 4/". The caliber marks are written with a double prime ("32""), which in this hand may stand for the pounder designation rather than inches; a 32-pounder Dahlgren is a real piece, but a 32-inch one is not, and the point is left to the reader. The pencil endorsements have filmed almost to invisibility: the first begins with what looks like "Ca[p]t" and a surname that will not resolve; the second reads "Sent to Fort" followed by a place-name of six or seven letters that cannot be read — the New Orleans works were Forts Jackson, St. Philip, Pike, Macomb and Livingston, but nothing on the page decides which. The same pair of pencil notes, in the same hand, appears on image 25. The three makers named on the lower sheet — Tredegar (the Tredegar Iron Works, Richmond), Virginia, and Ames — are the sources of the 6-pounder rifle shot being priced, and the rate differs with each; "Virginia" is presumably a second Virginia foundry and "Ames" the Ames works of Chicopee, Massachusetts, but neither is expanded on the sheet. Neither sheet names a receiving officer, carries a signature, a handstamp, or a voucher number.
Image 27 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame: New Orleans, 21 January 1862, screw-thread cutting and a brass nut ($44.50), and 29 January 1862, sixty steel rollers ($604.00)
Again two of the firm's engraved billheads on a single frame, upper and lower, on the same black photographic ground, each with a filled punch-hole at the upper left; the lower sheet's hole is ragged and has taken a bite out of the paper. The printed matter is the standard Leeds form described at image 25 and there is again no APPLICATION column, this being the firm's own billhead rather than the Ordnance Department's printed voucher. Beside the punch-hole of the upper sheet a soft pencil numeral, apparently 25, has been written by a later hand. The ink is a strong black on the entry lines and much lighter — almost grey — in the certification below, which is written with a finer pen. Across the face of the upper sheet there is a large flowing ink flourish belonging to the "C. S. Army" heading, and a word written vertically up the left of the entry field. The lower sheet carries pencil notes below its single entry line: "Sent to" and, under it, "Fort Jackson", together with some diagonal pencil strokes that will not resolve. The bottom third of the frame is blank white.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
[in pencil beside the punch-hole: 25[?]]
New Orleans. 21 January 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as image 25] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For Cutting Thread on Screw /25 00 : 1 Brass Nut for do 20 # 55 c/ 11 00 | 36 | |
Cutting thread on do /8 00 Cartage 4/- | 8 | 50 | $44 50
------
[written vertically up the left of the entry field, in ink: payment[?]]
Correct. John Roy
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 29 January 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 60 Rollers Steel /600 00 Cartage /4 00 | 604 | | $ 604 |
[in pencil, below the entry:]
Sent to
Fort Jackson
Checks: UPPER SHEET — the brass nut proves: 20 lb × 55 cents = $11.00. The first money column is the sum of the first line's two charges, $25.00 + $11.00 = $36.00, which proves. The second money column entry is the second line's charge plus cartage, $8.00 + $0.50 = $8.50; cartage "4/" reckoned at 12½ cents to the shilling is 50 cents, and on that reckoning it proves. The footing $36.00 + $8.50 = $44.50 matches the figure in the outer column. The upper sheet proves exactly at $44.50. The thread-cutting charges of $25.00 and $8.00 are lump sums with no quantity or rate, so they cannot be tested. LOWER SHEET — $600.00 for the sixty rollers plus $4.00 cartage gives $604.00, the figure entered twice at the right. The lower sheet proves exactly at $604.00. No unit rate is written for the rollers; $600.00 over 60 rollers implies $10.00 each, but that rate is not on the sheet and cannot be tested. Neither sheet carries a receipt with a written-out sum against which the footing could be checked.
Flagged: The "55 c/" of the brass-nut line is written with a mark that could be read as a figure 4 rather than a cent sign; the arithmetic (20 × 55¢ = $11.00) settles the value at fifty-five cents but the form of the abbreviation is uncertain. The word written vertically up the left of the upper sheet's entry field appears to be "payment", as on image 25, but it is heavily overwritten by the flourish of the "C. S. Army" heading and cannot be read with confidence. The pencil numeral beside the punch-hole may be 25 or 23; it is a later file mark, not a voucher number. "Correct. John Roy" on the upper sheet is written in a lighter, finer hand than the entries and is the same certification, in the same hand, as the lower sheet of image 25; no rank or office is given for John Roy anywhere on these sheets. The diagonal pencil strokes across the lower sheet's entry field are illegible. "Fort Jackson" written in pencil on the lower sheet is legible and certain, and it bears directly on the fainter "Sent to Fort …" pencil note on image 26, which is in the same hand and the same position: that note may well read "Sent to Fort Jackson" as well, but the ink there is too faint to affirm it and it is left illegible in that entry. Neither sheet names a receiving officer, carries a handstamp, or bears a voucher number.
Image 28 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame: New Orleans, 10 February 1862, shot and shell cases for Miles' Artillery ($1,074.50), and 29 January 1862, 246 32-pdr balls sold by weight ($396.00)
Two of the firm's engraved billheads on one frame, upper and lower, on the black photographic ground, each with the black file punch-hole at the upper left and a small pen mark beside it. The printed matter is the standard Leeds form described at image 25, so again there is no APPLICATION column — this is the firm's commercial billhead, not the Ordnance Department's printed voucher — and the purpose of the goods has to be read out of the entries themselves. The upper sheet is the fullest of the run so far: three lines of entries in a firm black ink, with a bracketed remark carried across the third line and the money field ruled in three narrow columns. Its heading is extended in the same ink beyond "C. S. Army" with the words "for Miles Artillery", written across the ruled line and finished with a long flourish. On both sheets several entries are crossed through with heavy pen strokes in the way of a clerk cancelling a figure he has copied. The lower sheet has one entry line only, with faint pencil below it — a name beginning "Ca[p]t" and, under it, "Sent to / Fort Pike". The lower two-fifths of the frame is blank.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 10 February 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army for Miles Artillery
[engraved cartouche, as image 25] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 200 Virginia Shot /1 90 /380 00 280 Ames Shot /1 50 /420 00 | 800 | |
120 d o d o with Sabots /1 75 /210 00 24 Rifle Shell Cases /1 75 / 42 00 | 252 | |
(9 Iron & Lead Covered with [C]anvas[?]) 30 Boxes /22 50 | 22 | 50 | 1074 | 50 |
-------
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 29 Jan y 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 246 . 32" Balls 7920[?] # . 5 c/ 396 00 | 396 — |
[in pencil, below the entry:]
Ca[p]t[?] R[illegible]
Sent to
Fort Pike
Checks: UPPER SHEET — every extension proves. 200 × $1.90 = $380.00; 280 × $1.50 = $420.00; $380.00 + $420.00 = $800.00, the first money-column figure. 120 × $1.75 = $210.00; 24 × $1.75 = $42.00; $210.00 + $42.00 = $252.00, the second money-column figure. The thirty boxes are entered as a lump extension of $22.50 with no rate, so that figure cannot be tested against a rate (it works out at 75 cents a box). The footing $800.00 + $252.00 + $22.50 = $1,074.50 matches the sum in the outer column. The upper sheet proves exactly at $1,074.50. LOWER SHEET — the weight figure is the difficulty: read as 7,920 lb it gives 7,920 × 5 cents = $396.00, the extension written on the line and repeated in the money column, and on that reading the sheet proves exactly at $396.00; the reading is not certain (see Flagged), so the extension is best described as untested against the weight, while the figure carried to the money column is simply the extension repeated and matches it. Neither sheet carries a receipt with a written-out sum against which the footing could be checked.
Flagged: The weight on the lower sheet is four figures ending in 0, the first of which is 7; the middle two are struck across by a cancelling stroke and will not resolve with certainty. 7,920 is proposed because 7,920 lb at 5 cents a pound is exactly $396.00, and because 7,920 lb over 246 balls is 32.2 lb apiece — precisely the weight of a 32-pounder ball, which is what the entry calls them. That is a proposal from the arithmetic, not a reading of the ink. The rate on that line is written the same way as the "55 c/" of image 27 — a figure followed by a mark that could be taken for a 4 — and is read here as five cents; the same construction, "5 4/", appears on the second line of the upper sheet of image 26, where it should likewise be understood as five cents a pound, which would put the weight there at 7,520 lb for the $376.00 extension. That cross-reference is offered as a proposal and image 26's entry was left unresolved as written. The word after "Covered with" on the upper sheet is buried under a heavy X and is read as "Canvas" only from its length and its first letter. "(9 Iron & Lead …)" is legible but its sense is not: it appears to be a packing note carried across the line above the "30 Boxes" charge. "for Miles Artillery" in the heading is clear and is the only unit named anywhere in this run; W. R. Miles's Louisiana command is the obvious candidate but nothing on the sheet says so. The pencil name on the lower sheet begins "Ca[p]t" and its surname will not resolve — it is the same note, in the same hand, that appears on images 25, 26 and 27. "Fort Pike" is legible and certain, which with the "Fort Jackson" of image 27 shows these billheads being annotated with the destination of each consignment among the New Orleans river and lake defences. Neither sheet is signed, certified, handstamped or given a voucher number.
Image 29 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame: New Orleans, 12 February 1862, five hundred percussion caps ($3.75), and 17 February 1862, four blocks for trunnions ($19.93)
Two of the firm's engraved billheads on one frame, upper and lower, on the black photographic ground, each punched at the upper left and each carrying a single line of entry. The printed matter is the standard Leeds form described at image 25; there is no APPLICATION column on either sheet. Both sheets are lightly written and the ink is thinner than on the preceding frames. The upper sheet is remarkable for what lies beneath the entry: three or four lines of extremely faint writing filling the ruled field, which is an offset or show-through impression from another document rather than writing on this sheet — under strong contrast it resolves into no letters at all and is here recorded simply as a ghost impression. Both sheets carry a bold ink flourish sweeping down from the "C. S. Army" heading across the cartouche. On the lower sheet a word is written vertically up the left margin, and below the entry line, in a lighter and finer pen, is the certification "Correct. John Roy" — the same hand and the same wording found on images 25 and 27. The lower third of the frame is blank.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 12 February 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as image 25] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 500 Water[?] Percussion Caps 6/- | 3 | 75 — |
[beneath the entry line, three or four lines of writing so faint as to be
wholly illegible — a ghost or offset impression, not writing on this sheet]
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 17 February 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 4 Blocks for Trunnions 145 # 6 1/2 c/ 9 43 . Boring[s?] /10 00 — Cartage 4/. | $ | 19 | 93 |
[written vertically up the left margin, in ink: Payment[?]]
Correct. John Roy
Checks: UPPER SHEET — the charge is written as a rate only, "6/", with no extension on the line. Reckoned at 12½ cents to the shilling, 6/ is 75 cents, and five hundred caps at 75 cents the hundred gives 5 × $0.75 = $3.75, the figure in the money column: on that reading the sheet proves exactly at $3.75. The rate's unit (per hundred) is not written on the sheet and is inferred from the arithmetic. LOWER SHEET — 145 lb at 6½ cents is $9.425, and the clerk has entered $9.43, rounding the half cent up; that is his figure and it stands as written. $9.43 + $10.00 (the boring charge) + $0.50 (cartage of 4/ at 12½ cents to the shilling) = $19.93, the sum in the money column. The lower sheet proves exactly at $19.93, the only rounding being the clerk's own half-cent on the first extension. Neither sheet carries a receipt with a written-out sum against which the footing could be checked.
Flagged: The word before "Percussion Caps" on the upper sheet is a single word of five or six letters beginning with a large looped capital and ending in -er; "Water" is the best fit to the strokes, which would make these waterproof percussion caps, but the reading is not secure and the word is marked uncertain. The unit of the "6/" rate — plainly per hundred, since only that makes the $3.75 — is not stated on the sheet. On the lower sheet the word before "/10 00" carries a clear dot over its fourth letter and reads most naturally as "Borings" or "Boring"; "Bright" cannot be ruled out and the reading is marked uncertain. The word written vertically up the lower sheet's left margin appears to be "Payment", as on images 25 and 27, but it is crossed by the heading flourish and cannot be read with confidence. The faint matter filling the upper sheet's entry field defeated every contrast treatment; it is recorded as illegible rather than guessed at. Neither sheet names a receiving officer or a destination, carries a handstamp, or bears a voucher number; "Correct. John Roy" on the lower sheet is the only certification on the frame, and no rank or office is given for him.
Image 30 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame: New Orleans, 17 February 1862, 42-pdr and 32-pdr round shell with reaming ($440.75), and 20 February 1862, seventy-two 32-pdr rifle shell ($540.00)
Two of the firm's engraved billheads on one frame in the usual arrangement, on the black photographic ground, each with a heavy black-filled punch-hole at the upper left. The printed matter is the standard Leeds form of image 25; there is no APPLICATION column. Both sheets carry a very large ink flourish descending from the "C. S. Army" heading, which on the upper sheet falls directly across the rate and extension figures of the first entry line and has made them the hardest reading in this range. The upper sheet has two lines of entry, the second continuing the first ("Reaming d o"), with a single sum in the outer money column; several groups on both sheets are cancelled with heavy X strokes. Below the entries on each sheet are two lines of faint pencil in the same hand as images 25 to 28 — a name beginning "Ca[p]t" — and on the upper sheet a further pencil line above it. The lower two-fifths of the frame is blank white. The lower sheet's paper is creased along a diagonal at the right edge.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 17 February 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as image 25] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 100 . 42" Round Shell 3000 # 6[?] 1/2 c [group cancelled] /100 . 32" Round Shell 2550 # 6 1/2 c /165 75 |
Reaming d o — 40 c ea /80 — | $ | 440 | 75 |
-------
[in pencil, below the entries:]
C[illegible]
Ca[p]t[?] R[illegible]
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 20 February 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 72 . 32" Rifle Shell /7 50 ea | $ 540 — |
[in pencil, below the entry:]
Ca[p]t[?] R[illegible]
Checks: UPPER SHEET — the second shell charge proves exactly: 2,550 lb × 6½ cents = $165.75, the extension written on the line. The reaming charge is entered as a rate of 40 cents each with an extension of $80.00, which implies two hundred pieces reamed — the hundred 42-pounder and the hundred 32-pounder shells of the line above — so the reaming extension proves on that reading, though the quantity 200 is not written. The first shell charge has no legible extension (any figure that stood there has been cancelled and is buried under the heading flourish), so it cannot be tested directly; but the footing can be worked back. $440.75 − $165.75 − $80.00 = $195.00, and 3,000 lb at 6½ cents is exactly $195.00. On the reading of the first rate as 6½ cents the sheet proves exactly at $440.75; at 7½ cents the first extension would be $225.00 and the sheet would foot at $470.75, which is not the figure written. LOWER SHEET — 72 × $7.50 = $540.00, the figure in the money column: proves exactly at $540.00. Neither sheet carries a receipt with a written-out sum against which the footing could be checked.
Flagged: The rate on the upper sheet's first line is the single most doubtful figure in this range. It is a numeral, a fraction ½ and a cent mark, all three struck across by the descending flourish of the "C. S. Army" heading and by a cancelling X; the numeral is either 6 or 7 and the ink will not decide it. It is transcribed as "6[?]" because only 6½ cents makes the sheet's own footing come out, and because the second, closely comparable charge on the same line is plainly 6½ cents — but the reader should understand that this is the arithmetic speaking, not the pen. Whatever extension once stood after that rate has been cancelled and cannot be recovered. The quantity reamed (200) is likewise arithmetic, not writing: the sheet says only "Reaming d o — 40 c ea" and "/80". The pencil endorsements below both entries are the same "Ca[p]t" and surname found on images 25 to 28; the surname is of about eight letters and begins with R, and repeated enlargement produced nothing firmer — it is left illegible rather than guessed. Above it on the upper sheet is a further pencil line of which only the initial C survives. Note that the upper sheet here and the lower sheet of image 29 carry the same date, 17 February 1862, and are separate accounts, not duplicates. Neither sheet is signed, certified, handstamped, given a destination or given a voucher number.
Image 31 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame: New Orleans, 20 February 1862, 24-pdr grape and shot for Fort Jackson ($232.50), and 3 March 1862, two hundred 24-pdr solid shot for Pass Manchac ($240.00)
Two of the firm's engraved billheads on one frame in the usual arrangement, on the black photographic ground. The printed matter is the standard Leeds form of image 25; there is no APPLICATION column. Both sheets are cleanly written, each with a single line of entry and a single sum in the outer money column, and both carry the large ink flourish falling from the "C. S. Army" heading. The upper sheet has lost a small triangular piece from its top-left corner beside the punch-hole, and the lower sheet is torn at the same place, the punch having pulled the edge away; neither loss touches any writing. On both sheets the pencil endorsements are unusually clear for this run: the upper sheet reads "Fort Jackson", the lower "Sent to Pass Manchac" with the "Ca[p]t" name above it. The lower two-fifths of the frame is blank white.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 20 February 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as image 25] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 75 Stands 24" Grape /2 30 — 50 . 24" Shot 1200 5 c/ 60 00 | $ | 232 | 50 |
-------
[in pencil, below the entry:]
Fort Jackson
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 3 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 200 - 24 p r Solid Shot 4800 5 c/ 240 | 240 . — |
[in pencil, below the entry:]
Ca[p]t[?] R[illegible]
Sent to Pass Manchac —
Checks: UPPER SHEET — 75 stands of grape at $2.30 = $172.50; 1,200 lb of shot at 5 cents = $60.00; $172.50 + $60.00 = $232.50, the figure in the money column. Proves exactly at $232.50. The stated weight is internally consistent with the piece: 1,200 lb over 50 shot is 24 lb apiece, the weight of a 24-pounder solid shot, which is what the entry calls them; the first extension, $172.50, is not separately written on the sheet but falls out of the quantity and rate that are. LOWER SHEET — 4,800 lb at 5 cents = $240.00, the figure in the money column, and 4,800 lb over 200 shot is again exactly 24 lb apiece. Proves exactly at $240.00. Neither sheet carries a receipt with a written-out sum against which the footing could be checked.
Flagged: Nothing doubtful in the figures on this frame; both sheets prove without strain, and the weight-per-shot works out exactly right for the calibre named on each, which is the strongest internal confirmation of the "5 c" per pound rate anywhere in this range — it bears directly on the harder readings at images 26, 28 and 30. In the pencil below the lower entry, "Sent to Pass Manchac" is legible, Pass Manchac being the water passage between Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas north of New Orleans; the last letters of "Manchac" are lightly formed and the reading of that word is confident but not absolute. "Fort Jackson" on the upper sheet is legible and certain. The "Ca[p]t" name above the Pass Manchac line is the same unresolved surname found on images 25, 26, 28 and 30. Neither sheet is signed, certified, handstamped or given a voucher number, and no receiving officer is named.
Image 32 — Two Leeds & Co. billheads on one frame: New Orleans, 1 May 1862, 42-pdr and 32-pdr shell sent to Mr J. C. Breckenridge ($395.20), and 20 March 1862, a seven-line machine-shop account ($434.08)
Two of the firm's engraved billheads on one frame, the fullest and best-signed of this range. Both are the standard Leeds form described at image 25 and neither has an APPLICATION column. The upper sheet is badly damaged: the top-left corner is torn away in a ragged bite, taking the punch-hole and part of the border, and a long horizontal tear runs in from the left edge below the entries, its lips separated by a few millimetres. Its heading is extended in ink beyond "C. S. Army" with a bracketed direction naming both the man the goods went to and the officer who ordered them. Below the entries it carries an approval in a second, more flourished hand. The lower sheet is intact except for a torn lower-right corner and a large teardrop of spilled ink at the middle of its entry field, which has run down over the fifth and sixth lines and blotted out two figures; a second, smaller blot sits above the cartouche. Its entry field carries seven lines of close machine-shop work in the ordinary Leeds hand, each extension ticked in the money column with a small check-mark and each cell cross-marked with an X in a different ink — two independent audits. Below it are "Correct. John Roy" in the fine hand seen on images 25, 27 and 29, and then the same flourished approval and rank line as the upper sheet.
--- UPPER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 1 May 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army ( Sent to M r J. C. Breckenridge
per order Capt Rapheal[?] )
[engraved cartouche, as image 25] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 23 . 42" Light R n d Shell /8 40 /193 20 32 . 32" do /[6?] 25 /200 00 | 393 | 20 |
Cartage /2 00 | 2 | | $395 20
-------
App d : [signature, illegible]
L t Col & [illegible] C. S. A.[?]
--- LOWER BILLHEAD ---
New Orleans. 20 March 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S
C. S. Army
[engraved cartouche, as above] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
Iron Founders,
For 6 Shell Compressor Blocks 2160 " 6 1/2 /140 40 — 6 Screws for do /18 00 v | 158 | 40 | X
6 Brass Nuts 17 # 60 c /10 20 Boring Turning & chasing threads /9 00 v | 19 | 20 | X
Boring Blocks tapping do fitting in Brass Washers & fitting in Crank Blocks | 30 | | X
14 Tension Blocks 816 " 6 1/2 c /53 04 Boring do /16 00 v | 69 | 04 | X
8 Cast Iron Frame Rollers & Bevelled Washers [blotted] # 6 1/2 v | 56 | 94 | X
16 W I Pins for do turned & 8 of them Screwed /3[2] 00 v | 32 | | X
Boring & fixing Frames Rollers /40 00 Shearing & fixing[?] Pins
drilling tapping do /24 Cartage /4 50 v | 68 | 50 | $ 434 08
--------
Correct. John Roy
App d : [signature, illegible]
L t Col & [illegible] C. S. A.[?]
Checks: UPPER SHEET — 23 × $8.40 = $193.20, proves. The second charge's extension is $200.00 over 32 shell, which is $6.25 apiece; the cents of the rate read plainly as 25 but the dollars figure is lost under the pen-stroke, so the second extension cannot be tested directly, though $200.00 ÷ 32 is exact at $6.25. $193.20 + $200.00 = $393.20, the first money-column figure, and $393.20 + $2.00 cartage = $395.20, the outer figure. The upper sheet proves exactly at $395.20. LOWER SHEET — every testable extension proves. Line 1: 2,160 lb × 6½ cents = $140.40; $140.40 + $18.00 = $158.40. Line 2: 17 lb × 60 cents = $10.20; $10.20 + $9.00 = $19.20. Line 3 is a lump charge of $30.00 with no quantity or rate and cannot be tested. Line 4: 816 lb × 6½ cents = $53.04; $53.04 + $16.00 = $69.04. Line 5: the weight is under the ink blot, but $56.94 at 6½ cents implies 876 lb, and the visible first figure is 8 — the extension cannot be independently tested. Line 6 is a lump charge of $32.00 and cannot be tested. Line 7: $40.00 + $24.00 + $4.50 cartage = $68.50. The footing: $158.40 + $19.20 + $30.00 + $69.04 + $56.94 + $32.00 + $68.50 = $434.08, the sum in the outer column. The lower sheet proves exactly at $434.08. Every one of the seven money cells carries a check-mark at its left and an X at its right, and the arithmetic vindicates both.
Flagged: The bracketed direction on the upper sheet is the most consequential reading in this range. "Sent to M r J. C. Breckenridge" is clear, including the superscript "r" of "M r" — a civilian style, not a military one, and there is nothing on the sheet to connect it to the Confederate general of that name; the spelling is the clerk's. The officer named after "per order Capt" is read as Rapheal, and if that is right it resolves the pencil "Ca[p]t R…" that runs through images 25, 26, 28, 30 and 31 — the letter-count and the initial agree. The reading is offered with a query because the capital could be an S and the middle letters are lightly formed. The upper sheet's date, 1 May 1862, should be looked at hard: New Orleans surrendered on 25 April 1862 and Federal troops occupied the city on 1 May. The date is written unambiguously — "1 May 1862", with "May" fully formed — but a Confederate ordnance purchase billed at New Orleans on that day is worth a historian's attention, and the possibility that the account was made up after the fact, or the month written in error, cannot be settled from the sheet. The signature approving both sheets is a flourished monogram that will not resolve at any enlargement; the rank line beneath it begins "L t Col &" and ends in what may be "C. S. A.", with the middle illegible. On the lower sheet, the weight on line 5 and the dollars figure of line 6's extension are covered by the ink spill and are supplied here only as "[blotted]" and "3[2]"; the money column gives the sums. The dollars figure of the upper sheet's second rate is likewise lost. The rate marks written "6 1/2" throughout are cents per pound, consistent with images 30 and 31.
Image 33 — Three plain manuscript bills of Leeds & Co. on one frame: New Orleans, April 1862 — 22nd, heavy and light shell ($573.65); 15 April, twenty-one light 32-pdr round shell ($132.00); and 15th, Dahlgren shell, 13-inch and 10-inch shot and shell ($749.65)
Three separate accounts on one frame, each on a slip of blue-ruled writing paper with a faint vertical rule near the right for the money column — not the engraved Leeds billhead used on images 25 to 32, and therefore again with no APPLICATION column. Each is headed in a fine, small, sloping clerk's hand, "New Orleans … 1862 / C. S. Army / Bought of Leeds & Co.", the month standing in the left margin and the day of the month against each entry line in the margin below it. The ink is pale brown and much lighter than on the billheads; the paper has been folded and the film has caught the sheets slightly curled, so the right-hand edge of the top and bottom slips falls away into shadow. The top slip has lost a piece at the upper left around the punch-hole, the middle slip is torn at the same place, and the bottom slip's left edge is ragged. In the blank space at the head of the top slip a later hand has pencilled two figures, 3360 over 2520. Every money-column figure on the top and bottom slips carries a small check-mark, and the top and bottom also carry a second tick to the right — two separate audits, as on image 32. All three are approved below by the same flourished signature and rank line found on image 32.
--- TOP SLIP ---
April New Orleans, 1862
C. S. Army
Bought of Leeds & Co.
22 d 12, 42 heavy R n d Shell $13.40, $160.80; 20 . 32 pdr Light do $6.25 $125.00 | 285.80 v
" 34, 42 Light do @ $8.40 ea $285.60, Cartage $2.25 | 287.85 | 573.65 v
App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
[in pencil at the head of the sheet:] 3360
2520
--- MIDDLE SLIP ---
New Orleans April 15 1862
C. S. Army
Bought of Leeds & Co.
21 light R n d Shell, 32 pdr @ 6.25 , $131.25, Cartage 75 c | $ 132.00 v
App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
--- BOTTOM SLIP ---
C. S. Army New Orleans 1862
Bought of Leeds & Co.
[Ap]ril
[1]5 34 Dahlgren 32 Shell @ $7.50 ea $255.00 | 255.00 v v
12, 32 heavy R n d Shell $10 ea $120 | 120.00 v v
6, 13" Shell 1200 " 6 1/2 c = $78.00; Reaming do $4.50; 22, 10" Shot 2816 " 5 c $140.80 | 223.30 v v
20, 10 i Shell 2040 " 6 1/2 c $132.60, Reaming do 60 c ea $12.00, Cartage 6.75 | 151.35 | 749.65 v v
App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
Checks: TOP SLIP — 12 × $13.40 = $160.80; 20 × $6.25 = $125.00; $160.80 + $125.00 = $285.80, the first money figure. 34 × $8.40 = $285.60; $285.60 + $2.25 cartage = $287.85, the second. $285.80 + $287.85 = $573.65, the sum. Proves exactly at $573.65. MIDDLE SLIP — 21 × $6.25 = $131.25; $131.25 + $0.75 = $132.00. Proves exactly at $132.00. BOTTOM SLIP — 34 × $7.50 = $255.00. 12 × $10.00 = $120.00. 1,200 lb × 6½ cents = $78.00; $78.00 + $4.50 + $140.80 = $223.30, and 2,816 lb × 5 cents = $140.80, so that whole line proves. 2,040 lb × 6½ cents = $132.60; 20 × 60 cents = $12.00; $132.60 + $12.00 + $6.75 = $151.35. The footing $255.00 + $120.00 + $223.30 + $151.35 = $749.65, the sum written. Proves exactly at $749.65. The stated weights are internally right for the pieces named: 1,200 lb over six 13-inch shell is 200 lb apiece, 2,816 lb over twenty-two 10-inch shot is 128 lb apiece, and 2,040 lb over twenty 10-inch shell is 102 lb apiece — all correct for those calibres, which confirms both the weights and the per-pound rates. All three slips prove exactly. None carries a receipt with a written-out sum against which the footing could be checked.
Flagged: The grand total of the bottom slip must be read as 749.65, not 747.65: the third figure carries a descender and is a 9, and only 749.65 balances the four extensions, every one of which proves on its own. The approving signature, common to all three slips and to both sheets of image 32, is a flourished monogram; it reads most nearly as "W m L. Smith" but the capital could be M rather than W and the surname is compressed to a few strokes — it is given with a query and should not be relied on. The rank line under it reads as "Cap t & Ord. Off r" (Captain and Ordnance Officer), though the first word could be "L t Col"; it is the same line on all three slips. The day figure at the head of the bottom slip is partly lost in the torn left edge and is read as 15, matching the middle slip. The pencilled 3360 / 2520 at the head of the top slip is in a different, later hand and belongs to no computation on the sheet. Note that these three slips are plain paper, not the engraved Leeds billhead — the firm appears to have gone over to writing its April 1862 accounts out by hand.
Image 34 — Three plain manuscript bills of Leeds & Co. on one frame: New Orleans, April 1862 — 15th, reamed Dahlgren and light shell ($659.25); 15th, a seven-line account for the steamer Governor Moore ($1,690.75); and 15th and 17th, shot and shell received by Capt. Raphael for Fort Jackson ($793.70 by the columns)
Three more of the plain blue-ruled slips of image 33, on one frame, in the same small sloping clerk's hand and the same pale brown ink, with the month standing in the left margin and the day against each entry line. All three are torn at the upper left where the file punch has pulled the paper, the middle slip worst — a triangular flap hangs loose over the word "C. S." of its heading. The middle slip is the longest account in this whole range, seven entry lines with two money columns and a total, and it has been worked over afterwards by at least two later hands: a bold black pencil "43" written across the third money figure, a fine pencil addition "+ 724.45 / 730.10" beside it, an ink "+ $1690.00" above the total, and a pencil "1689.45" between that and the clerk's own "$1690.75". Every money figure on the middle and bottom slips carries a tick, and most carry a second mark to the right. The bottom slip has a heavy teardrop ink blot in its money column beside the fourth line, and a smaller one above. The direction lines in parentheses on the middle and bottom slips are the most valuable matter on the frame: they name the vessel and the forts the ammunition went to, and the officers who received it.
--- TOP SLIP ---
April New Orleans 1862
C. S. Army
Bought of Leeds & Co.
15 75, 32 Dahlgren Reamed Shell $7.50 ea $562.50; 15, 32 pdr light R n d $93.75 . | 656.25 v
Cartage $ | 3.00 | 659.25 v
App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
--- MIDDLE SLIP ---
April New Orleans 1862
C. S. [Army]
Bought of Leeds & Co.
15 23, 42 pdr R n d shell light $8.40 ea $193.20; 17, 32 pdr do $6.25 ea, $106.25 . | 299.45 v
" 7, 32 heavy do $10 ea $70; 9 . 13 . Shell 1800 " 6 1/2 c $117.00 | 187.00 v
" Reaming do 75 c ea $7.50; 57, 10 in Shot 4736 " at 5 c $236.80 | 244.30 v
730.75
" 100, 32 Solid Shot 3200 5 c $160.00 Cartage $2.25 | 162.25 | 162.25 v
" 75, 32 " Dahlgren Shell Reamed $7.50 ea $562.50 | 562.50 |
" 11 Light R n d Shell at $6.25 $68.75, Cartage $3 | 71.75 | 634.25 v
26, 32 pdr R n d Shell 6.25 $162.50, Cartage $1 | 163.50 | 163.50 v
--------
[in ink:] + $1690.00
[in pencil:] 1689.45
$1690.75
( Gov [?] Moore Steamer ) App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
[pencil, beside the third money figure: a bold "43" written over the figure, and
"+ 724.45 / 730.10" beside it]
--- BOTTOM SLIP ---
C. S. Army New Orleans 1862
Bought of Leeds & Co.
15 5, 13 in Shell 1000 " 6 1/2 c $65.00, Reaming do 75 c ea $3.75 | $68.75 v v
18, 10 in Shot 2304 " 5 c $115.20 | 115.20 | 183.95 v v
( Received by Cap t Raphael for Fort Jackson )
17 26, 42 R n d Shell light 8.40 $218.40 | 218.40 v v
" 2 heavy do $13.40 ea $26.80, 22, 32 light R n d Shell $6.25 ea $137.50 | 164.30 v v
22, 10 in Shot 2816 " 5 c $140.80; 6, 13 Shell 1200 " 6 1/2 c $78.00, Reaming $4.50 | 223.30 v v
( Fort Jackson by Major Lovell[?] ) Cartage | 3.75 | 609.75 v v
--------
$ 793.[6?]0
App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
Checks: TOP SLIP — 75 × $7.50 = $562.50; 15 × $6.25 = $93.75; $562.50 + $93.75 = $656.25; $656.25 + $3.00 cartage = $659.25. Proves exactly at $659.25. MIDDLE SLIP — 23 × $8.40 = $193.20; 17 × $6.25 = $106.25; sum $299.45. 7 × $10.00 = $70.00; 1,800 lb × 6½ cents = $117.00; sum $187.00. 4,736 lb × 5 cents = $236.80; $7.50 + $236.80 = $244.30. $299.45 + $187.00 + $244.30 = $730.75, the subtotal written under the third line. 3,200 lb × 5 cents = $160.00; + $2.25 = $162.25. 75 × $7.50 = $562.50. 11 × $6.25 = $68.75; + $3.00 = $71.75; $71.75 + $562.50 = $634.25. 26 × $6.25 = $162.50; + $1.00 = $163.50. Footing: $730.75 + $162.25 + $634.25 + $163.50 = $1,690.75, the clerk's own final figure. The middle slip proves exactly at $1,690.75. BOTTOM SLIP — 1,000 lb × 6½ cents = $65.00; 5 × 75 cents = $3.75; sum $68.75. 2,304 lb × 5 cents = $115.20; $68.75 + $115.20 = $183.95. 26 × $8.40 = $218.40. 2 × $13.40 = $26.80; 22 × $6.25 = $137.50; sum $164.30. 2,816 lb × 5 cents = $140.80; 1,200 lb × 6½ cents = $78.00; $140.80 + $78.00 + $4.50 = $223.30. $218.40 + $164.30 + $223.30 + $3.75 = $609.75. $183.95 + $609.75 = $793.70 by the columns, but the total as written appears to end in .60 — the first cents figure is written over another and will not resolve, so the divergence is either ten cents or nothing at all. Every other extension and subtotal on the frame proves exactly. Weight-per-piece is right throughout: 200 lb for 13-inch shell, 128 lb for 10-inch shot, 32 lb for 32-pounder solid shot.
Flagged: On the middle slip the reaming charge of $7.50 at 75 cents each implies ten pieces, but the quantity it follows is nine 13-inch shell (9 × 75c = $6.75); that one extension does not prove against the quantity above it, though the $7.50 is what carries into the subtotal of $244.30 and thence into the sheet's correct total. It is the clerk's figure and is left as he wrote it. The bottom slip's total is the only other loose figure on the frame; see Checks. "( Received by Cap t Raphael for Fort Jackson )" on the bottom slip is legible and certain, and it settles the pencil "Ca[p]t R…" that runs through images 25 to 31 and the "per order Capt" of image 32 — the officer is Captain Raphael, spelled thus here. "( Fort Jackson by Major Lovell )" on the same slip is read with a query: the surname is L-o-v-e-l-l to the eye, which would point to Mansfield Lovell, then commanding at New Orleans, but he was a major general in April 1862 and not a major, so the reading and its identification are both left open. "( Gov [?] Moore Steamer )" on the middle slip is read as the steamer Governor Moore, the abbreviation being two or three letters only; the second word is plainly Moore and the third plainly Steamer. The approving signature and rank line are the same illegible monogram found on images 32 and 33 and are given with the same queries. The pencil workings on the middle slip — the bold "43", the "+ 724.45 / 730.10", the "1689.45" — belong to a later auditor and match none of the clerk's figures; they are recorded as they stand and are not corrections to be adopted.
Image 35 — Two plain manuscript bills of Leeds & Co. on one frame: New Orleans, 1 May 1862, 42-pdr heavy and light round shell ($378.70), and 17 April 1862, nine hundred rifle and James shot for the Washington Artillery ($1,570.50)
Two more of the plain blue-ruled slips, in the same small sloping hand and pale brown ink as images 33 and 34, each headed "C. S. Army / New Orleans 1862 / Bought of Leeds & Co." with the month in the left margin and the day against each line. Both are torn at the upper left where the punch has pulled away a piece of the sheet — on the upper slip the loss has taken the first letters of the marginal month, on the lower it has bitten into the blank margin only. The ink is noticeably paler than on the engraved billheads and the film has caught both slips against a black ground, with the lower half of the frame blank white. Every money figure carries a tick and most carry a second mark to the right, the same double audit seen on images 32 to 34. Both are approved below by the same flourished monogram and rank line. The lower slip carries, below its last entry, a bracketed direction naming the battery the ammunition was for; that line and the arithmetic are the substance of the frame.
--- UPPER SLIP ---
[M]ay New Orleans 1862
C. S. Army
Bought of Leeds & Co.
1 20, 42 " heavy R n d shell $13.40 $268.00; 9, 42 " light do $8.40 $75.60 | $343.60 x v
" 4, 42 Light do $8.40 $33.60, Cartage $1.50 | 35.10 | 378.70 v
--------
App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
--- LOWER SLIP ---
April New Orleans . 1862
C. S. Army
Bought of Leeds & Co.
17 300, Rifle shot, $1.90 ea — x | $ 570.00 v
" 300, do . $1.75 ea $525, 300 James Shot $1.50 ea $450.00 x | 975.00 v
" Packing boxes $22.50, Cartage $3 - x | 25.50 | 1570.50 v
--------
( Washington Artillery )
App d : W m [?] L. Smith[?]
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
Checks: UPPER SLIP — 20 × $13.40 = $268.00; 9 × $8.40 = $75.60; $268.00 + $75.60 = $343.60, the first money figure. 4 × $8.40 = $33.60; $33.60 + $1.50 cartage = $35.10, the second. $343.60 + $35.10 = $378.70, the sum. Proves exactly at $378.70. LOWER SLIP — 300 × $1.90 = $570.00; 300 × $1.75 = $525.00; 300 × $1.50 = $450.00; $525.00 + $450.00 = $975.00; $22.50 + $3.00 = $25.50; $570.00 + $975.00 + $25.50 = $1,570.50, the sum. Proves exactly at $1,570.50. Neither slip carries a receipt with a written-out sum against which the footing could be checked.
Flagged: "( Washington Artillery )" is legible and certain — the New Orleans battalion of that name — and the nine hundred rounds it accounts for are the largest single delivery of field-gun ammunition in this range: three hundred rifle shot at $1.90, three hundred more at $1.75, and three hundred James shot at $1.50, with packing boxes and cartage. The James shot is named as such and is a distinct pattern from the "Rifle shot" above it, the difference in price being 25 to 40 cents a round. The upper slip's date, 1 May 1862, falls on the day Federal troops occupied New Orleans, as does the upper billhead of image 32; the marginal month is partly lost in the torn corner but the surviving letters and the position leave no doubt it is May, and the day figure 1 is clear. Whether these last accounts were made up on their stated day or written up afterwards is not something the sheets themselves can settle, and the reader should weigh them accordingly. The approving signature and rank line are the same illegible monogram of images 32 to 34, read tentatively as "W m L. Smith" and "Cap t & Ord. Off r". Neither slip names a receiving officer or carries a handstamp or voucher number.
Image 36 — A full-sheet Leeds & Co. billhead, New Orleans, 22 April to 1 May 1862: twenty-four lines of heavy machine work on column-head shafts, sector gearing and rollers, ending with five wrought-iron chassis at $480 each — $4,301.41
A single large sheet, the biggest document in this range and the only one filmed at full plate size: the engraved Leeds billhead printed across the head — "New Orleans." and "CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STRS" in ornamental letters, the chain-bordered manufacturers' cartouche at the left, and "Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders," in heavy shaded display type filling the right half, with the engraver's line "Douglas, Eng[ravin]g N[ew] Orleans" beneath it. The account below is ruled into a date column, a wide entry field and two money columns, and there is no APPLICATION column, this being the firm's own billhead. Twenty-four entry lines run down the sheet in a fine sloping hand, all in one ink, with the month "April" and the year "1862" in the left margin and the day against each group. The paper has a horizontal fold across the upper third that has cracked and been repaired, and the left edge is torn and chipped in two places; the upper-left corner is ragged. In the upper right corner a later hand has written the file numeral 18. Almost every money figure carries a small check-mark at its left and an X at its right — again two independent audits — and the group subtotals in the second money column have been written over and corrected. Below the last line is the approval: "Appd:" and a bold flourished signature over a rank line.
New Orleans.
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR S 18
Confederate States Army
[engraved cartouche] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
MANUFACTURERS OF Iron Founders,
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINES.
BOILERS, SUGAR MILLS. ... [Douglas, Eng g N[ew] Orleans]
1862
April 22 36 Bearings for Sector Shaft 396 " 6 1/2 c /25 74 Boring /144 00 | 169 | 74 | X
" 23 4 Compressor Blocks 1688 " 6 1/2 c /109 72 4 Screws for do — /16 00 | 125 | 72 | X
" 24 4 Brass Nuts 12 " 60 c /7 20 . Boring turning & chasing /8 00 Fitting on /20 00 | 35 | 20 | X
" " 4 Brass Pieces /4 00 — 3 Screws & Ratchets 243 " 20 c /48 60 | 52 | 60 | X
" " [illegible] & Cutting screws on do at Dep t [?] /110 00 2 Nuts 129 " 6 1/2 /8 39 | 118 | 39 | X
" " Cartage /1 25 | 1 | 25 | | 502 | 90 |
" 3 2 D[ec]k[?] Pipes 570 " 6 1/2 c /37 05 — Boring do /15 00 Cartage 4/. | 52 | 55 | | 52 | 55 |
" " 3 Sectors of Brass Rollers & Pinions 219 " 60 c /131 40 — 3 Clevise[?] Bolt turned finished /15 00 | 146 | 40 | X
" " 3 Turned Washers for do /1 —. 36 Bolts for Rack turned /3 00 30 Nuts 25 c ea /7 50 | 12 | " | X
" " 6 Bolt Washers for do /3 00 — 6 Washers 60 c 6 Iron Ratchet Wheels 200 " 6 1/2 " /13 00 | 16 | 60 | X
" " Boring Broaces[?] turning Rollers & pins, drilling & fitting /45 — Cartage 4/. | 45 | 50 | | 220 | 50 |
" 25 5 Steam Blocks 1746 " 6 1/2 " /1[illegible] Boring do [illegible] 2 Ratchet Wheels 35 " 6 1/2 c /2 25 | 48 | 58[?] | X
" " Drilling do /5 2[?] 3 Bevelled Flanges 2[7?] " 1 1/2 " /4 2[?] Cartage /1 00 | 4 | 76 | | 153 | 44 |
" 28 Lengthening 4 Column head Shafts /50 —. Turning & Straightening do — /40 00 | 90 | " | X
" " 4 Shafts for Pinion of Sectors 216 " 18 c /39 75 . Turning do /40 —. Drilling & [illegible] pins /5 00 | 84 | 75 | X
" " 5 Short eccentric Shafts for Column heads 440 " 7 c /[17 50, struck] Turning do /50 00 | 67 | 50 | X
" " Cutting beds of do for Wrench /20 —. 5 Collars for do 20 " 30 c /6 00 | 26 | " | X
" " Boring & turning do /35 00 . Drilling & Reaming do /10 00 — 5 Brass Bushes & Plates 187 " 60 c /112 20 | 157 | 20 | X
" " Boring & turning do /3[5] 00 Recessing[?] & inserting pin in Shafts /25 00 | 60 | " | X
" " 8 Brass Necks[?] turning & 8 Brass Rollers 540 " 60 c /324 00 Pattern for do /30 00 | 354[?] | | X
" " 8 Bushes /24 00 8 Ratchet Wheels 381 " 6 1/2 c /24 77 Patterns for do /5 00 | 53 | 77 | X
" " Fitting do on Shaft /8 00 — 4 Clevises 5 ea /20 —. 4 Turned Washers /2 00 | 30 | " | X
" " 4 Bolts for Racks 4/ /2 00 — 8 Large Washers 80 c | 2 | 86[?] | X
" " 4 Pins to fix Rough Rollers, Boring, turning & fitting /64 00 | 64 | " | X
" " Cartage /2 00 | 2 | " | X | 972 | 02 |
May 1 Making 5 W. I. Chasses $480 00 ea | 2400 | " |
[ Cartage /1 . . struck through ] [ 40 50 struck through ]
$ 4301 . 41
-----------
App d : W m S. Lovell
Cap t [?] & Ord. Off r
Checks: Line by line, where a rate is written the extension proves: 396 lb × 6½ c = $25.74, and $25.74 + $144.00 = $169.74; 1,688 lb × 6½ c = $109.72, + $16.00 = $125.72; 12 lb × 60 c = $7.20, + $8.00 + $20.00 = $35.20; 243 lb × 20 c = $48.60, + $4.00 = $52.60; 129 lb × 6½ c = $8.385, entered as $8.39 (the clerk's half-cent rounded up), + $110.00 = $118.39; 570 lb × 6½ c = $37.05, + $15.00 + $0.50 cartage (4/) = $52.55; 219 lb × 60 c = $131.40, + $15.00 = $146.40; 200 lb × 6½ c = $13.00, + $3.00 + $0.60 = $16.60; 187 lb × 60 c = $112.20, + $35.00 + $10.00 = $157.20; 540 lb × 60 c = $324.00, + $30.00 = $354.00; 381 lb × 6½ c = $24.765, entered as $24.77, + $24.00 + $5.00 = $53.77; 5 × $480.00 = $2,400.00. The group subtotals in the outer column add exactly to the sheet's total: $502.90 + $52.55 + $220.50 + $153.44 + $972.02 + $2,400.00 = $4,301.41, the sum written. Two groups will not reconcile with their own lines as read here. The 25 April pair reads $48.58 and $4.76, which sum to $53.34 against a written subtotal of $153.44 — those two cells are dotted, faint and crossed by the fold, and the first is certainly misread. The 28 April group's twelve line figures as read sum to $992.08 against a written subtotal of $972.02, a divergence of $20.06; reading the twentieth line's figure as $334.00 rather than $354.00 and the twenty-third as $2.80 rather than $2.86 makes that group come out at exactly $972.02, and both are single-figure ambiguities in a crowded column. Taking the subtotals as the clerk wrote them, the sheet proves exactly at $4,301.41. There is no receipt on the sheet, so the total cannot be checked against a written-out sum.
Flagged: The signature is at last legible on this sheet, and it is the same monogram that approves images 32 to 35: "W m S. Lovell" — the "W" with a superscript "m", the middle initial S, and the surname Lovell written with a long finishing flourish. This resolves the tentative "W m L. Smith" given at those earlier images: the approving officer is Lovell, not Smith, and the reading there should be corrected to match this one. It also bears on the "( Fort Jackson by Major Lovell )" of image 34, though the rank line here reads "Cap t & Ord. Off r" — Captain and Ordnance Officer — with the first word flourished and not beyond doubt. No identification beyond the sheet is offered here. The file numeral 18 in the upper right is a later archival mark, not a voucher number. The work billed is not ordnance stores but heavy machine work — sector shafts, column-head shafts, compressor blocks, tension and steam blocks, brass rollers and bushes, ratchet wheels, clevises and patterns — ending on 1 May 1862 with "Making 5 W. I. Chasses" (wrought-iron chassis) at $480 apiece, which at $2,400 is more than half the sheet. What the shafts, sectors and rollers belonged to is nowhere stated. Several individual figures are beyond recovery: the whole of the twelfth line's first extension, parts of the thirteenth line, and the struck-out figure on the sixteenth. The word after "at" on the fifth line and the word before "turning Rollers" on the eleventh will not resolve. As at image 32, the last line's cartage entry and a figure of $40.50 have been struck through before the total was written.
Image 37 — Printed Leeds & Co. billhead, New Orleans, 15 April 1862, ironwork and machining for the Confederate States Army; footed $1,318.27
A large single leaf (scan 3,856 × 3,496 px) on the firm's own engraved commercial billhead rather than a Government form: "New Orleans, ____ 18__ / CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR!" across the head, a chain-bordered advertising panel at the left listing the firm's manufactures, and the ornamental logotype "Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders." at the right, with a tiny engraver's credit beneath it. Because it is a merchant's billhead there is no ruled DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST field of the kind on the Ordnance Department form at image 70 — one wide description column, then two money columns (extensions, and a right-hand grouping/summary column). Ruled column lines and a single horizontal rule under the letterhead are printed in a pale grey. The writing is in dark iron-gall ink in a fast, sloping commercial hand, with heavy abbreviation and superior letters. Damage: a punched or torn hole about 1 in. from the upper-left corner; a vertical crease running down through the letterhead; and — most seriously — a large ragged loss out of the lower-left quadrant that has carried away the opening words of the ninth, tenth and eleventh entries (the scan renders the loss as solid black). Audit marks are heavy: a tick against every extension, a second tick in the next column, a large "4" in the right margin beside the letterhead, and circled item numbers (7), (8), (9), (10), (11) in the outer margin beside the summary figures.
New Orleans, 15 April 18 62
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STR!
Confederate States Army 4
Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders.
MANUFACTURERS OF
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINES,
BOILERS, SUGAR MILLS,
VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, CLARIFIERS, FILTERS,
STEAM AND HORSE POWER DRAINING MACHINES,
SAW-MILLS, GIN-GEARING,
Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars, &c.
" For 47 Small Castors 564 lb 6½ ¢ /36 66, 94 Pins for do $1 25 ea
/117 50, Turning & Boring Rollers /150 50 √ 304 66 √
" drilling, rivetting & fitting /58 75. 4 Large Castors
336 lb 6½ ¢ /21 84 √ 80 59 √
" 8 Pins /13 00 Boring Rollers & turning frames /20 00
drilling, rivetting & fitting /8 00 Cartage 6/— √ 41 75 √ 427 00 (7)
" 8 Deck Pipes 2272 lb 6½ ¢ /147 68. Boring do /60 00
10 Dbl Compressor Blocks 3850 lb 6½ ¢ /250 25 √ 457 93 √
" 10 Screws for do /40 00 10 Brass Bushes for do
29 lb 60 ¢ /17 40 √ 57 40 √
" Boring, turning & chasing do /20 00 drilling, tapping
& fitting, /50 00 √ 70 — √
" 10 Brass pieces to Screw against /10 00 Cartage /4 50 √ 14 50 √ 599 83 (8)
[ …torn… ] 4 Wheels 108 lb 6½ ¢ /7 02. drilling do 8/ .
Cartage 4/ √ 8 02 √ 8 02 (9)
[ …torn… ] Trunnion bearings 248 lb 60 ¢ /148 80
Cartage 4/ √ 149 30 √
[ …torn… ] do by 248 lb Brass at 20 ¢ √ 49 60 √ 99 70 (11)
[ …torn… ]k Pipes 1988 lb 6½ ¢ /129 22. Boring do /52 50.
Cartage /2 00 √ 183 72 √ 183 72 (10)
$1,318 27 √
Correct. John Roy
App[rove]d W[illia]m [illegible surname]
Capt & Ord. Off[?]
Checks: Quantity × rate proves on every priced line. 564 lb × 6½¢ = $36.66; 94 × $1.25 = $117.50; 336 lb × 6½¢ = $21.84; 2,272 lb × 6½¢ = $147.68; 3,850 lb × 6½¢ = $250.25; 29 lb × 60¢ = $17.40; 108 lb × 6½¢ = $7.02; 248 lb × 60¢ = $148.80; 248 lb × 20¢ = $49.60; 1,988 lb × 6½¢ = $129.22. The shilling-and-bit cartage figures behave as bits at 12½¢: "6/" = 75¢, "8/" = $1.00, "4/" = 50¢. Extensions prove against their own components: 36.66+117.50+150.50 = 304.66 ✓; 58.75+21.84 = 80.59 ✓; 13.00+20.00+8.00+0.75 = 41.75 ✓; 147.68+60.00+250.25 = 457.93 ✓; 40.00+17.40 = 57.40 ✓; 20.00+50.00 = 70.00 ✓; 10.00+4.50 = 14.50 ✓; 148.80+0.50 = 149.30 ✓; 129.22+52.50+2.00 = 183.72 ✓. The eighth line does not prove: 7.02 + 1.00 (drilling do 8/) + 0.50 (Cartage 4/) = $8.52 against an extension of $8.02 — a 50¢ divergence, as though the cartage were not carried in. The summary column groups the extensions as 427.00 (7), 599.83 (8), 8.02 (9), 99.70 (11), 183.72 (10); the first three of those prove (304.66+80.59+41.75 = 427.00; 457.93+57.40+70.00+14.50 = 599.83), and those five summary figures foot exactly to the written total of $1,318.27. But the fourth group does not: the two extensions it covers are $149.30 and $49.60, which come to $198.90, not the $99.70 entered. The sheet therefore does not prove: the eleven extensions total $1,417.47 against a footing of $1,318.27 — a divergence of $99.20, the whole of it arising in that one summary figure. There is no receipt written out in words on this sheet against which to test the footing a second time.
Flagged: (1) The $99.20 divergence above is on the document, not in the reading — the "99 70" is plainly written, has no lost leading digit, and the four other summary figures foot to the total exactly as written. Do not "correct" it. (2) The 50¢ shortfall inside the $8.02 extension is likewise on the sheet. (3) Three entries have lost their opening words to the tear at the lower left; the last of them ends "…k Pipes", almost certainly the same "Deck Pipes" as the fourth entry, but the reading is not recoverable from the image and is left as [ …torn… ]k Pipes. (4) "Deck Pipes" and "Dbl Compressor Blocks" are read with reasonable confidence but the initial capitals are formed loosely; "Dbl" is taken as an abbreviation of "Double". (5) The approving signature on the second line under "Correct. John Roy" is a heavily flourished hand: the forename abbreviation reads "Wᵐ" clearly, but the surname cannot be read with any confidence from this scan and is left illegible rather than guessed. The rank line beneath reads "Capt & Ord. Off." as far as it can be made out; "Ord. Off." is probable but not certain. (6) "John Roy" is written in the same clerkly hand as the account and certifies it "Correct." — he is not identified further on the sheet. (7) A small mark stands above the "For" opening the first entry; it is not a legible character and has been omitted. (8) The circled numbers (7)–(11) in the outer margin are audit references to some other abstract and are not voucher numbers on this sheet; they run out of page order — (11) stands above (10).
Image 38 — Docket (outside of a folded voucher), Leeds & Co., 20 June 1863, $43,509.34; No. 109
The blank outer face of a folded voucher wrapper (scan 3,708 × 3,799 px), badly soiled and worn. The leaf has been folded twice: a strong vertical fold runs down the centre and a horizontal fold across the middle, so the sheet reads as four panels; the endorsement is written on the upper right panel, which is the outside of the folded packet. The whole right-hand edge is ragged and eaten away in a long irregular loss, with smaller nicks along the top; the left half is heavily foxed and grease-stained and carries a ghost of printing from the inside of the sheet showing through in mirror image (nothing on it is legible). The endorsement is in a large, well-formed clerical hand in black ink, four short centred lines. Across the middle of the panel, in violet-black stamping ink, is the oval National Archives / War Department handstamp: RECORD DIVISION, around the top, REBEL ARCHIVES. and WAR DEPARTMENT in the inner oval, a five-pointed star at each side. Beneath the money figure a further figure has been written in soft pencil and is now almost entirely rubbed away.
N o
- 109
Leeds & Co.
[flourish] 20 th June 1863
$ 43,509. 34.
[pencil, largely rubbed away: 4 3 , 5 0 [illegible] [illegible] ]
[oval handstamp:] ★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT ★
Checks: Only one figure on the sheet, $43,509.34, with nothing to prove it against — no arithmetic to test. The rubbed pencil figure beneath it begins "43,50…" and appears to repeat the same sum, but too little of it survives to say so with confidence.
Flagged: (1) This docket does not answer the account on image 37. That account is dated 15 April 1862 at New Orleans and foots at $1,318.27; this docket is dated 20 June 1863 and carries $43,509.34. Neither the date, the place (none is named here) nor the figure agrees, and the sum is more than thirty times the account's. It answers instead the account in the upper frame of image 39, which is receipted at Richmond on 20 June 1863 for exactly $43,509.34 — established after this section was written; it has simply been filmed one frame ahead of the account it belongs to. (2) The mark that opens the date line is a heavily blotted flourish that looks like a "$" struck through; it is very like the "$" that opens the money line below it, and may be a dollar sign begun in error. It is not read as a character. (3) "No. 109" is written as a number on the docket itself, not printed, so it is a genuine voucher or claim number and not a form number. (4) The pencil figure is beyond recovery from this scan; do not reconstruct it. (5) A June 1863 date is nine months after New Orleans passed out of Confederate control, so the transaction this docket covers cannot have been settled in the city; the point is raised here only as an observation on the record, and nothing about it is written on the sheet.
Image 39 — Two frames: (a) Ordnance account/receipt, Leeds & Co., work at the New Orleans foundry Jan.–May 1862, receipted at Richmond 20 June 1863 for $43,509.34; (b) a docket for a different voucher, No. 3, 2d Qr 1862
The rendered page (2,550 × 3,300 px) carries two separate microfilm frames stacked one above the other, and they are two different pieces of paper. The upper frame, shot against a black ground, is a small printed Confederate Ordnance account-and-receipt form, oblong, with the printed heading running "…of America," (the words "The Confederate States" are gone with the paper), a ruled money field and a printed column head "REMARKS." at the right, the printed certificate "I CERTIFY that the above account is correct and just, amounting to ____" across the middle, and the printed receipt line "RECEIVED, ____ 186_, of ____ Dollars ____ Cents, in full of the above account." at the foot. It is in poor condition: the entire left-hand quarter has been torn away in a long ragged diagonal, carrying off the opening words of every manuscript line and the whole of the printed left margin; the top edge is chipped; there is a vertical centre fold and heavy grey soiling and damp-staining across the right half. The manuscript is in a fine, small, sloping hand in black ink, with the approval and the signature of the Chief of Ordnance in a second, blunter hand. The lower frame, shot against white, is a clean, lightly foxed leaf folded in three, bearing a docket written in an extremely florid engrosser's hand with very large looped capitals; the same oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp is struck across its lower left, and there is a scatter of small dark specks (foxing or film dirt) across the upper half.
[UPPER FRAME — account and receipt]
… of America,
To Leeds & Co. Dr
REMARKS.
[ …torn… ] Work done at the Foundry New
[ …torn… ] (Projectiles &c.) from 8 th Jan y 1862
[ …torn… ] May 1862 as per annexed Bills
[ …torn… ] by Lt Col. W m S. Lovell . $43,509.34 √
[ …torn… ]ppr d . the property to be accounted for by Lt. Col. Lovell,
ord c officer –
JGorgas
Col - Chf of Ord
I CERTIFY that the above account is correct and just, amounting to
[blank — never filled in]
[ …torn… ]ved will be accounted for.
RECEIVED, Richmond 20 th June 186 3 , of
[ …torn… ]sst. to Chf: of Ord: Forty Three Thousand Five Hundred
[ …torn… ] four —— Cents, in full of the above account.
Leeds & Co
[LOWER FRAME — docket]
Voucher No 3
2 d Qr 1862
$ 393 [raised cents figure — see Flagged]
Leeds & Co
April 5 th [?] 1862
Ordnance
m [?]
[oval handstamp:] ★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT ★
Checks: Upper frame: a single figure, $43,509.34, is entered in the money column, and the receipt writes the sum out in words — "Forty Three Thousand Five Hundred [and Nine Dollars, Thirty] four —— Cents". The words that survive the tear ("Forty Three Thousand Five Hundred … four Cents") agree with the figure so far as they go; the dollars-units and tens-of-cents words are lost in the tear and cannot be tested. There are no itemised extensions on this sheet — it is a summary against "annexed Bills" — so nothing else can be proved here. The figure proves exactly against the docket on image 38, which reads $43,509.34 and 20 June 1863. The printed certificate blank was left unfilled, so there is no third statement of the sum. Lower frame: one figure, $393 with a raised cents group that cannot be read; it proves against image 40, a Navy Department bill to Leeds & Co. for $393.00 receipted at New Orleans on 5 April 1862.
Flagged: (1) Image 38 is the docket for this upper account and not a stray after all — the sum ($43,509.34), the date (20 June 1863) and the party (Leeds & Co.) agree exactly. The reservation entered under image 38 above should be read with that correction: image 38 belongs to image 39's upper frame, not to image 37. (2) The lower frame of this same image is a different voucher's docket: "Voucher No 3, 2d Qr 1862, $393 …, Leeds & Co, April [5?] 1862, Ordnance". Neither its number, its quarter, its date nor its figure agrees with the account in the upper frame, and it does not agree with image 37 either ($1,318.27, 15 April 1862). It answers the account on image 40 — a Navy Department bill for $393.00 receipted at New Orleans on 5 April 1862 — where "Ordnance" is the head of appropriation the Navy Agent charged it to. (3) The day in the docket's date is written in a heavily flourished hand and reads most like "5th", but "8th" cannot be excluded; it is left uncertain. (4) Correction, made after image 40 was read: the docket's money figure was first taken as "$5393"; against image 40 it is $393, the opening strokes being the "$" itself and not a leading 5. The raised cents group after it is two characters that still will not resolve on this scan — do not reconstruct them. (5) The receipting officer's title on the second receipt line survives only as "…sst. to Chf: of Ord:", i.e. "Assistant to the Chief of Ordnance"; his name and rank are lost with the torn margin. (6) "JGorgas / Col - Chf of Ord" is written as one word in the signer's own blunt hand — Josiah Gorgas, colonel and Chief of Ordnance; the reading is secure. "Lt Col. Wᵐ S. Lovell" appears twice, in the account line and again in the approval; the reading is secure. (7) The small "m"-like mark below "Ordnance" on the docket is a clerk's tick or initial and is not a legible word. (8) The printed word "Voucher" on the docket is written, not printed, and stands with a number, so "Voucher No 3" is a real voucher number.
Image 40 — Confederate States Navy Department bill, New Orleans, October 1861, stands of grape shot; $393.00, receipted 5 April 1862
A tall single leaf (scan 3,812 × 6,302 px), a printed Confederate States Navy Department bill-and-receipt form, faintly blue-ruled across its whole depth and ruled vertically into money columns down the right. The printed matter is in a mixture of blackletter and roman: "New Orleans, ____ 186_" across the head, "Confederate States Navy Department," in heavy blackletter beneath, "Per ____" (left blank), "To ____ Dr." for the creditor, then, far down the sheet, the printed approval "Approved. and Navy Agent W. B. HOWELL will pay the above sum of ____ Dollars and ____ cents." and the printed receipt "Received, New-Orleans, ____ 186_, of W. B. HOWELL, NAVY AGENT, the sum of ____ Dollars and ____ cents, in payment of the above." The word "(Triplicate.)" is printed at the foot. The sheet is clean and virtually undamaged — no tears, no stains beyond a light scatter of small foxing spots down the right margin and one horizontal crease across the middle. Two-thirds of the sheet, between the last entry and the approval, is left blank. The entries and the certificate are in a small, rapid, right-sloping hand in black ink; the four signatures are each in a different hand, Kennon's small and upright, the commandant's large and looping. A pencil mark, an ill-formed letter or two, stands in the upper-left corner and cannot be read.
[pencil, illegible]
New Orleans, October 186 1
Confederate States Navy Department,
Per [blank]
To Leeds & Co Dr.
October 28 30 Stands 8 in Grape / 4 60 138 —
30 Stands 12 " Grape / 1 10 33 "
5 Stands 32 " Grape / 2 50 12 50 183 50
31 45 Stands 8 in Grape / 4 60 207 —
Cartage 2 50 209 50
Beverley Kennon
Lt. C. S. N. 393 "
I hereby certify the above bill correct according to the Books of
Lt. B. Kennon W. H. Roberts [?]
Act g Master in Chg Laboratory
Approved. and Navy Agent W. B. HOWELL will pay
the above sum of Three Hundred & Ninety Three Dollars
and ———————— cents.
Jn o . K. Mitchell
Commandant
Received, New-Orleans, April 5 th 1862 , of W. B. HOWELL, NAVY AGENT,
the sum of Three hundred & ninety three Dollars
and ———————— cents, in payment of the above.
$ 393. Pd.
Leeds & Co.
(Triplicate.)
Checks: Every line carries a rate and proves. 30 × $4.60 = $138.00 ✓; 30 × $1.10 = $33.00 ✓; 5 × $2.50 = $12.50 ✓; those three foot to the subtotal $183.50 ✓. 45 × $4.60 = $207.00 ✓; with cartage $2.50 that subtotal is $209.50 ✓. $183.50 + $209.50 = $393.00, exactly the total written in the money column, exactly the sum written out in words in the printed approval ("Three Hundred & Ninety Three Dollars and ———— cents"), exactly the sum written out again in the receipt ("Three hundred & ninety three Dollars"), and exactly the figure "$393. Pd." entered at the foot. The sheet proves exactly at $393.00 on all four statements of the sum.
Flagged: (1) This account, not image 39's upper frame, is what the docket in the lower frame of image 39 answers. That docket reads "Leeds & Co / April [5] th 1862 / Ordnance / Voucher No 3 / 2d Qr 1862" and its money figure — re-read against this sheet — is $393; the receipt date, the party and the sum all agree, and "Ordnance" there is the head of appropriation the Navy Agent charged it to, not the Ordnance Department. The reading under image 39 has been corrected accordingly. (2) The calibres are written "8 in", then "12 " " and "32 " " with ditto marks standing for the "in" of the first line. Read literally that gives 12-inch and 32-inch grape, which is not credible ordnance; the clerk has almost certainly dittoed the wrong word and means pounders for the second and third lines. The transcription keeps exactly what is written; the difficulty is noted here and nothing has been altered. (3) The certifying signature is read "W. H. Roberts" but neither the middle initial nor the surname is certain — the hand is small and the ink thin; "W. F." and a surname ending "-ins" cannot be excluded. His title, "Actg Master in Chg Laboratory", is clear. (4) "Beverley Kennon, Lt. C. S. N." and "Jno. K. Mitchell, Commandant" are both clearly written and secure. (5) The day in the receipt line, "5", carries a raised contraction that is a flourish rather than legible letters; it is given as "th". (6) The pencil mark in the upper-left corner is not legible and has not been guessed at. (7) The printed "(Triplicate.)" is part of the form and marks this as one of three copies, not a voucher number.
Image 41 — Confederate States Navy Department bill, New Orleans, 21 Oct.–11 Dec. 1861: shell, grape, Bormann fuzes, bushes, caps, plugs and gun rifling; carried to $5,016.09
Two microfilm frames on one rendered page (2,550 × 3,300 px), both shot against a black ground. The upper frame is the first sheet of a long Confederate States Navy Department bill on the same printed form as image 40 — "New Orleans, ____ 186_", "Confederate States Navy Department," in blackletter, "Per ____" left blank, "To ____ Dr." — its whole depth ruled feint horizontally and divided by printed vertical rules into a date column, a wide description column, an extension column, a check column and a summary column. Thirty-eight lines of entries fill the sheet from top to bottom with almost no waste; the hand is very small, very fast and much abbreviated, with the money written as raised cents over a slash, and it crowds two and sometimes three priced items onto a single ruled line. The lower frame is the head of the following sheet, blank except for a four-line continuation carrying the amount forward; on it the printed matter of the form's own head shows through from the other side of the leaf in mirror image. Both leaves are clean, lightly foxed, with a horizontal crease across the upper sheet and some cockling at the edges; every extension carries a tick in the check column and most a second tick beside it, and there are a few pencil dots in the margins. One entry, the sixteenth, has its article struck through with a heavy horizontal stroke of the pen so that the words beneath cannot be recovered.
[UPPER FRAME]
New Orleans, 186 1
Confederate States Navy Department,
Per [blank]
1861 To Leeds & Co. Dr.
October 21 For 25 Stands 8 in Grape /4 60 /115 00 Cartage /1 50 116 50
Nov r 8 " 150. 25 Second Composition Fuzes 70 ¢ 105 "
" 150 Bushes for do 30 ¢ " 45 "
" 150 Small Leaden plugs for Fuzes & 150 Lead Caps 5 ¢ 7 50
" 50 of Rollins [?] Bushes & Screws /50 00 50 "
" 2½ days Mechanic putting in Bushes /5 00 12 50
" Cartage 1 " 221 "
11 " 2 Steel Punches & 1 Brass die for Bormann Fuze 10 "
" Steel Core for Mould 3 50 13 50
21 " 2 Punches for Bormann Fuze 6 "
" Rifling One 18 P r Gun including making head 75 "
29 " 650 Caps for Fuzes 1½ ¢ /9 75 300 Plugs for do 3½ ¢ /10 50 20 25
" 81 Water Caps 25 ¢ ea 20 25
" 50 Bushes & Plugs Rollins [?] Pattern /1 00 50 "
" 200 Caps for Fuzes 1½ ¢ /3 00 124 Plugs. 3½ ¢ /4 34 7 34
- 157 [struck through — illegible] 25 ¢ /39 25 6 Rollins [?] shell
with Brass plugs /10 00 /60 00 99 25
20 Dahlgren shell with 1 Bush & Fuzes /8 70 174 "
60 do do " do do /8 70 522 "
13 Stands 9 in Grape /7 10 92 30
60 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15 309 "
50 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15 257 50
16 Stands 9 in Grape /7 10 /113 60 68 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15 /350 20
463 80
13 Stands 9 in Grape /7 10 /92 30 35 8 in Shell 1750 6 ¢ /105 00
197 30
Boxing & Shipping do 40 ¢ /14 00 35 Bushes & Fuzes for do /1 00 /35 00
49 "
12. 32 P r Dahlgren shell with Bushes & Fuzes /8 70 104 40
7 Stands 9 in Grape /7 10 /49 70 10 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15 /51 50
101 20
30. 8 in shell 1500. 6 ¢ /90 00 Boxing & Shipping 40 ¢ /12 00
102 "
30 Bushes & Fuzes do /1 00 /30 00 Cartage /13 50 43 50 2613 09
30 9 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15 /46 35 7 Stands 9 in Grape /7 10 /49 70
96 05
29. 8 in shell 1450. 6 ¢ /87 00 Boxing & Shipping 40 ¢ /11 60
98 60
29 Bushes & Fuzes /1 00 /29 00 40. 32 P r Dahlgren shell & Bushes
& Fuzes /8 70 /348 00 377 "
1¾ days Mechanic at Laboratory /5 00 /8 75 55 Fuzes 70 ¢ /38 50
47 25
50 Bushes 30 ¢ /15 00 6 Rollins [?] shells /10 00 /60 00
Rifling 6 32 P r Guns /300 00 375 "
68. 8 in shell 3400. 6 ¢ /204 00 Boxing & Shipping do 40 ¢ /27 20
231 20
68. 1 Bushes & Fuzes /1 00 /68 00 42 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15
/216 30 Cartage /3 00 287 30 1512 40
50 Bushes 30 ¢ ea (by M r Jn o Armstrong) 15 —
Dec r 4 75 Bushes 30 ¢ ea do 22 50
" 300 Convex Caps 1½ ¢ ea 4 50
4599 49
[LOWER FRAME — continuation]
1861
December 4 Amount Bro t forward 4599 49
11 130 Bushes for fuzes 30 ¢ (by M r Jn o Armstrong) 39 "
" 23. 32 P r Dahlgren shell with Bushes & fuzes /8 70 200 10
25 Stands 9 in Grape /7 10 177 50 377 60
$ 5016 09
Checks: Every priced line proves. 25 × $4.60 = $115.00, + $1.50 cartage = $116.50 ✓. 150 × 70¢ = $105.00 ✓; 150 × 30¢ = $45.00 ✓; 150 × 5¢ = $7.50 ✓; 2½ days × $5.00 = $12.50 ✓; those six with the $1.00 cartage foot to the summary $221.00 ✓. $10.00 + $3.50 = $13.50 ✓. 650 × 1½¢ = $9.75 and 300 × 3½¢ = $10.50, together $20.25 ✓; 81 × 25¢ = $20.25 ✓; 50 × $1.00 = $50.00 ✓; 200 × 1½¢ = $3.00 and 124 × 3½¢ = $4.34, together $7.34 ✓; 157 × 25¢ = $39.25 and 6 × $10.00 = $60.00, together $99.25 ✓; 20 × $8.70 = $174.00 ✓; 60 × $8.70 = $522.00 ✓; 13 × $7.10 = $92.30 ✓; 60 × $5.15 = $309.00 ✓; 50 × $5.15 = $257.50 ✓; 16 × $7.10 = $113.60 with 68 × $5.15 = $350.20, together $463.80 ✓; 13 × $7.10 = $92.30 with 1,750 lb × 6¢ = $105.00, together $197.30 ✓; 35 × 40¢ = $14.00 with 35 × $1.00 = $35.00, together $49.00 ✓; 12 × $8.70 = $104.40 ✓; 7 × $7.10 = $49.70 with 10 × $5.15 = $51.50, together $101.20 ✓; 1,500 lb × 6¢ = $90.00 with 30 × 40¢ = $12.00, together $102.00 ✓; 30 × $1.00 = $30.00 with $13.50 cartage = $43.50 ✓. Those seventeen extensions foot to the summary figure $2,613.09 exactly ✓. Then 9 × $5.15 = $46.35 with 7 × $7.10 = $49.70, together $96.05 ✓; 1,450 lb × 6¢ = $87.00 with 29 × 40¢ = $11.60, together $98.60 ✓; 29 × $1.00 = $29.00 with 40 × $8.70 = $348.00, together $377.00 ✓; 1¾ days × $5.00 = $8.75 with 55 × 70¢ = $38.50, together $47.25 ✓; $15.00 + $60.00 + $300.00 (6 guns rifled at $50 each) = $375.00 ✓; 3,400 lb × 6¢ = $204.00 with 68 × 40¢ = $27.20, together $231.20 ✓; 68 × $1.00 = $68.00, 42 × $5.15 = $216.30, cartage $3.00, together $287.30 ✓ — and those seven foot to the summary $1,512.40 exactly ✓. 50 × 30¢ = $15.00 ✓; 75 × 30¢ = $22.50 ✓; 300 × 1½¢ = $4.50 ✓. The ten summary figures — 116.50, 221.00, 13.50, 6.00, 75.00, 2,613.09, 1,512.40, 15.00, 22.50, 4.50 — foot to $4,599.49, exactly the total written ✓. On the continuation sheet 130 × 30¢ = $39.00 ✓; 23 × $8.70 = $200.10 ✓; 25 × $7.10 = $177.50 ✓; $200.10 + $177.50 = $377.60 ✓; and $4,599.49 + $39.00 + $377.60 = $5,016.09, exactly the grand total written ✓. The account proves exactly, in every extension, every subtotal and both totals. Two lines carry no rate and cannot be tested on their own — "2 Punches for Bormann Fuze" at $6.00 and "Rifling One 18 Pʳ Gun including making head" at $75.00 — but both are carried straight into the footing and the footing proves.
Flagged: (1) The surname in "Rollins Bushes & Screws", "Rollins Pattern" and "Rollins shell(s)" cannot be settled from this scan: the two ascenders in the middle of the word are formed exactly like the "ll" of "shell" in the same hand, but a "bb" is not excluded, so "Robbins" is equally possible and the reading is marked uncertain at each occurrence. It is written the same way all four times. (2) The article in the sixteenth entry — the "157" at 25¢ — has been struck through with a single heavy horizontal pen stroke and is not recoverable; the quantity, the rate and the extension all survive and prove. (3) The date column runs October 21; November 8, 11, 21, 29, 30; December 4 — and then the continuation sheet repeats December 4 and adds December 11. (4) "Mʳ Jnᵒ Armstrong", named in brackets against three parcels of bushes, is written the same way on both sheets; "Jnᵒ" is the ordinary contraction for John. (5) There is no signature, certificate, approval or receipt on either frame — this is the bill itself, not a completed voucher, and no officer is named on it. (6) The calibres here are naval and internally consistent — 8-inch and 9-inch shell guns, 32-pounder Dahlgren shell, an 18-pounder and six 32-pounders rifled — unlike the doubtful "12-inch" and "32-inch" grape on image 40. (7) "Bormann Fuze", "Water Caps", "Convex Caps", "Composition Fuzes" and "Dahlgren shell" are all read with confidence.
Image 42 — Docket, Voucher No. 121, 1st Qr 1862, Leeds & Co., 6 March 1862, Ordnance, $5,016.09; endorsed "Returned / Not approved by Sec Navy"
The outer face of a folded voucher wrapper (scan 3,296 × 3,819 px), opened out to show two panels. A strong vertical fold divides the leaf down the middle; the left panel is blank apart from heavy grey soiling, foxing spots, a smear of dirt across the lower half, and one indistinct pencil figure near the fold that will not resolve into a character. A thick black ink blot, roughly an inch long and shaped like a footprint, sits directly on the fold at mid-height and has soaked through. The right panel carries the docket, written in a very large, extremely florid engrosser's hand in black ink — the same style of showy capitals and long trailing flourishes as the docket in the lower frame of image 39 — with a heavy underline under the first line and again under the date. Below the ink docket, in soft pencil and now very faint, are two further endorsements in a different, plainer hand. Struck across the lower part of the panel in dark stamping ink is the oval RECORD DIVISION / ★ REBEL ARCHIVES. ★ / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp; beneath the stamp, in ink, stands the abbreviation "La".
Voucher No 121 1 st Qr 1862
————————————
$ 5016 09
Leeds & Co
March 6 1862
——————————
Ordnance
Ck [?]
[pencil:] Refer to Secretary of Navy [illegible]
[pencil:] Returned
N ot [?] approved by
Sec Nav y
[oval handstamp:] ★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT ★
La
Checks: One money figure only, $5,016.09. It proves exactly against the account on image 41, whose continuation sheet foots at $5,016.09 — the same firm, the same Navy Department work, and a March 1862 settlement date consistent with a bill running from 21 October to 11 December 1861. There is no second statement of the sum on this sheet and no arithmetic internal to it.
Flagged: (1) This docket answers image 41 and nothing nearer to it. It agrees to the cent, and the "1st Qr 1862" and "March 6 1862" are the quarter and date of settlement, not of the work. (2) It is written in the same florid hand and to the same pattern as the docket in the lower frame of image 39 (voucher number, quarter, sum, firm, date, head of appropriation), which supports reading that one's figure as $393 to match image 40. (3) The pencil endorsements are faint and partly rubbed. "Refer to Secretary of Navy" is confident as far as it goes; a short word or mark follows "Navy" that cannot be read. The second endorsement reads "Returned / N[o]t approved by / Sec Nav[y]" — the abbreviation "Nᵒᵗ" is written with raised letters and, although "Not" is much the likeliest reading and is what "Returned" above it would lead one to expect, the reading is marked uncertain rather than asserted. (4) The two-letter mark under "Ordnance" is read "Ck" but is heavily flourished and may be a clerk's initials rather than a word. (5) "La" at the foot, in ink and in a different hand from the docket, is the ordinary contraction for Louisiana and is almost certainly an archival filing mark rather than part of the endorsement. (6) The indistinct pencil figure on the left panel — possibly a 4 or a 9 — is not legible and has not been guessed. (7) "Voucher No 121" is a written voucher number, not a printed form number.
Image 43 — Two frames: (a) the certificate, approval and receipt closing the $5,016.09 Navy account, New Orleans, 6 March 1862, with a later certificate signed at Atlanta, 14 May 1864; (b) a docket for a different voucher, No. 120, $1,200.35
Two microfilm frames on one rendered page (2,550 × 3,300 px). The upper frame is the foot of the same printed Confederate States Navy Department form used on images 40 and 41 — feint horizontal ruling throughout, printed vertical money rules, and the printed approval and receipt clauses at the bottom naming "W. B. HOWELL" and "NAVY AGENT" and closing with "(Triplicate.)". The whole upper third of the leaf is blank ruled paper, cancelled by a single long wavy pen stroke drawn down the middle from top to bottom to prevent later interpolation; two horizontal creases cross the sheet and the lower right corner is lightly foxed. Below the cancelling stroke are two manuscript certificates in two quite different hands, then the printed approval filled in and signed, then the printed receipt filled in and signed. The lower frame is a folded voucher wrapper, opened flat, blank but for a docket written on the middle panel in the same very large florid engrosser's hand as images 39 and 42, the oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp struck at the lower left, and the ink abbreviation "La" at the foot. Its paper is grey with soiling and scattered with small foxing spots, with strong vertical and horizontal folds.
[UPPER FRAME]
[long wavy cancelling stroke down the blank ruled space]
I certify that the foregoing account is correct
according [to — struck through] the Books of this Office
D P McCorkle
L t Com g Naval Ord c Works
Atlanta May 14 th 1864 .
I certify that the articles enumerated in the above
account have been received, and [that — struck through] the services
performed, and that the prices charged are just and
reasonable — W. H. [?] Robbins
Approved. and Navy Agent W. B. HOWELL will pay
the above sum of Five thousand & Sixteen —— Dollars
and None ———————— cents.
Jn o . K. Mitchell
Commandant &c
New Orleans march 6. 1862
Received, New-Orleans March 6 th 1862 , of W. B. HOWELL, NAVY AGENT,
the sum of Five thousand sixteen & 09/100 ———— Dollars
and ———————— cents, in payment of the above.
$ 5016. 09/100
(Triplicate.) Leeds & Co.
[LOWER FRAME — docket]
Voucher No 120 1 st Qr 1862
$ 1200 25
Leeds & Co
March 6 th 1862
Ordnance
Ck [?]
[oval handstamp:] ★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT ★
La
Checks: Upper frame: the sum is stated three times and agrees every time — "Five thousand & Sixteen Dollars and None cents" struck out to "Nine" in the approval line reads as $5,016.00 and $0.09; the receipt writes "Five thousand sixteen & 09/100 Dollars"; and the figure at the foot is "$5016. 09/100". All three are $5,016.09, exactly the total footed on image 41 and exactly the figure docketed on image 42. There are no itemised extensions on this leaf, so there is nothing else to prove here. Lower frame: one figure, $1,200 and a raised cents group; nothing on the sheet to prove it against.
Flagged: (1) The two frames do not belong together. The upper frame closes the $5,016.09 account (image 41, docketed at image 42 as Voucher No. 121). The lower frame is the docket of Voucher No. 120, a different voucher for $1,200.35 — the same firm, the same quarter and the same date, 6 March 1862, so plainly a companion voucher settled the same day, but not this account. The account it answers is image 44. (2) Correction, made after image 44 was read: the raised cents on that docket were first taken as "35"; against image 44 — a Navy Department bill to Leeds & Co. footing at exactly $1,200.25 — they are "25", and the docket figure is $1,200.25. (3) The certificate signed "D P McCorkle, Lt Comg Naval Ordᶜ Works, Atlanta May 14th 1864" is dated more than two years after the voucher was paid and more than two years after New Orleans fell — the papers were plainly re-certified from the books after the Naval Ordnance Works had removed to Atlanta. The reading of the name and the date is secure; the fact is recorded here because it is unexpected, not because the reading is doubtful. (4) The second certificate is signed "W. H. Robbins" — the surname is written here with an unmistakable "bb" and settles the reading, so the certifier on image 40, given there as "W. H. Roberts [?]", is this same W. H. Robbins, Acting Master in charge of the Laboratory. The middle initial is a looped capital that may be H or A. (5) Because the name is Robbins, the "Ro__ins Bushes", "Ro__ins Pattern" and "Ro__ins shell" of image 41 are very likely "Robbins" after this officer, and that is offered here as a proposal only — the letterforms in those four places remain ambiguous and the transcription there has not been changed. (6) "according to to the Books" — the clerk wrote "to" twice and struck the first through; "and that the services performed" — "that" struck through. Both cancellations are left visible in the transcription. (7) The words "will pay", "Navy Agent", "W. B. HOWELL" and "(Triplicate.)" are printed form matter, not manuscript.
Image 44 — Confederate States Navy Department bill, New Orleans, 6 November 1861: grape and Dahlgren shell; $1,200.25, approved by Flag Officer Hollins
A tall single leaf (scan 3,820 × 6,314 px) on the printed Confederate States Navy Department bill-and-receipt form — "New-Orleans, ____ 186_" at the head in engraver's script, "Confederate States Navy Department," in heavy blackletter below, "Per ____" left blank, "To ____ Dr." for the creditor, feint horizontal ruling throughout and printed vertical money rules down the right, then far down the sheet the printed approval "Approved. and Navy Agent W. B. HOWELL will pay the above sum of ____ Dollars and ____ cents." and the printed receipt "Received, New-Orleans, ____ 186_, of W. B. HOWELL, NAVY AGENT, the sum of ____ Dollars and ____ cents, in payment of the above." This setting of the form carries no "(Triplicate.)" at the foot, unlike images 40 and 43. The paper is clean and undamaged — no tears, a light scatter of foxing spots down both margins, one soft vertical crease — and more than half its depth, between Kennon's signature and the printed approval, is left blank. The entries are in a small, quick, right-sloping hand; a heavy round ink blot the size of a pea sits in the middle of the approval clause. The signatures are in three hands: Kennon's small and level, Hollins's very large with the initials run together into a monogram, and the firm's own flourished "Leeds & Co."
New-Orleans, November 6 th 1861
Confederate States Navy Department,
Per [blank]
To Leeds & Co: Dr.
For 35 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15 180 25 √
" 55 Stands 32 " Grape /2 80 154 " √
" 55 Stands 32 " Dahlgren shell /7 30 401 50 √
" Boring and tapping 22 " √
" 50. 32 " Dahlgren shell /7 30 365 " √
" Boring & tapping do 20 " √
" 10 Stands 8 in Grape /5 15 51 50 √
" Cartage 6 " $ 1200 25 √
Beverley Kennon L t C. S. N. —
Approved. and Navy Agent W. B. HOWELL will pay
the above sum of Twelve Hundred ———— Dollars
and Twenty five ———— cents.
G [N?] Hollins
Flag Officer
Received, New-Orleans, [blank] 186 [blank] , of
W. B. HOWELL, NAVY AGENT, the sum of Twelve hundred ————
Dollars and Twenty five cents, in payment of the above.
$ 1,200. 25/100
Leeds & Co.
Checks: 35 × $5.15 = $180.25 ✓; 55 × $2.80 = $154.00 ✓; 55 × $7.30 = $401.50 ✓; 50 × $7.30 = $365.00 ✓; 10 × $5.15 = $51.50 ✓. Two lines carry no rate — "Boring and tapping" at $22.00 and "Boring & tapping do" at $20.00 — and their extensions cannot be tested; so too the $6.00 cartage. The eight extensions foot to $180.25 + $154.00 + $401.50 + $22.00 + $365.00 + $20.00 + $51.50 + $6.00 = $1,200.25, exactly the total written in the money column, exactly the sum written out in the approval ("Twelve Hundred Dollars and Twenty five cents"), exactly the sum written out in the receipt, and exactly the figure "$1,200.25/100" entered at the foot. The sheet proves exactly at $1,200.25 on all four statements of the sum.
Flagged: (1) This is the account the docket in the lower frame of image 43 answers. That docket reads "Voucher No 120, 1st Qr 1862, Leeds & Co, March 6th 1862, Ordnance", and its money figure — read against this sheet — is $1,200.25; the raised cents there are "25". The firm, the sum and a March 1862 settlement of a November 1861 bill all agree. The reading under image 43 has been corrected accordingly. (2) The calibre problem of image 40 recurs here: the first entry is written "8 in" and the three that follow carry ditto marks after "32", which read literally as 32 inches. The transcription keeps what is written; the clerk has plainly dittoed the wrong word and means 32-pounder, the ordinary naval calibre, but nothing has been altered on the page. (3) The approving signature is a monogram in which the surname "Hollins" is perfectly clear but the forename initials are run together and cannot be separated with certainty; the title beneath, "Flag Officer", is clear. (4) The receipt is undated — both the day-and-month blank and the last digit of "186" were left empty, although the sum is filled in, signed and receipted. That is on the document. (5) "Beverley Kennon, Lt C. S. N." is clear and is the same hand and signature as on image 40. (6) There is no certificate by W. H. Robbins on this sheet, unlike images 40 and 43. (7) The heavy ink blot in the approval clause obscures no text — it falls on the ruled blank between "Hundred" and "Dollars".
Image 45 — Comptroller's Office opinion on the claim of Leeds & Co. of New Orleans for guns furnished troops, 3 April 1863, signed Lewis Cruger, Comptroller
A large sheet of account paper (scan 5,444 × 3,374 px, landscape) opened flat and photographed whole, ruled all over with close feint vertical lines and lying with a strong vertical centre fold and a second fold to the right of it. The paper is off-white, foxed with small round rust-coloured spots scattered over the whole surface and heavier along the outer edges; the upper left corner is dog-eared and creased over. All the writing is confined to a single narrow column just right of the centre fold, in a rapid, cramped, hard-pressed official hand with a broad nib, running downhill and crowding the lines together at the foot; the caption at the head is separated from the opinion by two long ruled pen-strokes. There are two interlineations and one cancellation in the body, and the signature runs into a very large ornamental paraph that loops back under the whole of the last two lines. Struck on the blank left half of the sheet, well away from the writing, is the oval ★ RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT ★ handstamp. No money figure of any kind appears on the sheet.
Claim of Leeds & Co,
of New Orleans
——————————————————
for Guns furnished Troops
——————————————————
Comptrollers Office
Ap l 3 d 1863
The Claimants are clearly
entitled to be paid upon
the Certificate of the authori-
zed ord ce Officer that the
^ [interlined: ordered by Gen l Bragg ]
cannon were duly delivered
accord g to Contract, & issued
to & used by the troops ^ — The
^ [interlined: & used in the service ]
Claimants should not suffer
on account of the want of the
formal property Receipt —
Nor do I think it just to
charge Col. Oladowski with
the amount as he certifies
they were received & issued by
other officers, when he was
stationed at other points. —
He should however be required to
ascertain & show who received & issued
these field pieces to the Artillery —
or that he will be charged with them —
Lewis Cruger
Comptroller
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. The claim is discussed only in principle; neither the amount claimed nor the number of guns is stated, so nothing here can be tested against the accounts on images 37–44.
Flagged: (1) The interlineations are placed with carets and their exact insertion points are not certain from the page: "ordered by Genl Bragg" is written above the line between "that the" and "cannon", and "& used in the service" above the line at the end of "to & used by the troops". Both are given in the transcription where they stand, marked as interlined, rather than folded silently into the sentence. The second is partly struck through with a horizontal stroke, so it may be a cancelled addition rather than a live one; the stroke is light and the words remain legible. (2) "Col. Oladowski" is read with confidence — the surname is written clearly, with the "-owski" ending unmistakable. So is "Genl Bragg". (3) The signature "Lewis Cruger" and the title "Comptroller" are clear despite the very large paraph. (4) The abbreviation given as "ordᶜᵉ Officer" is written with a raised contraction and stands for "ordnance officer". (5) This sheet is a Treasury opinion, not an account, and it concerns "Guns furnished Troops" — field pieces issued to artillery through Colonel Oladowski under General Bragg's order — which is a different transaction from the Navy Department shell, grape and fuze accounts on images 40, 41, 43 and 44, and from the Ordnance Department carriage ironwork on image 37. It is filed with them because the claimant is the same firm. (6) Its date, 3 April 1863, is a year after the fall of New Orleans; the claim was clearly being adjusted at Richmond long after the work was done. (7) Nothing on the sheet gives a voucher number, a sum, or a date of the underlying contract.
Image 46 — Report of the Second Auditor of the Treasury on the claim of Leeds & Co. for guns furnished February and April 1862; claim $16,610.20; Treasury Department, 3 April 1863
A single leaf of feint blue-ruled letter paper (scan 3,400 × 5,473 px), written on one side only in a large, round, unusually legible official hand in black ink, running the full width of the sheet. The upper left corner is turned over and creased; the paper is otherwise sound, with a light scatter of small round foxing spots over the whole surface, thickening down the left margin, and a slight cockling along the right edge. The four-line caption at the head is written across the top and ruled off from the body by a long horizontal pen-stroke; parts of it — "Report of the Second Auditor" and "Mess. Leeds & Co." — are underlined. The writer uses quotation marks carefully when quoting the certificates and Colonel Oladowski's letter, and underlines two phrases in the quotation for emphasis. At the foot are two blocks: the addressee at the left, closed with a large spiral paraph, and the dateline and signature at the right. There is no handstamp on this sheet.
Report of the Second Auditor of the Treasury on the Claim
of Mess. Leeds & Co. late of New Orleans, for Guns
manufactured and furnished by them for the Confederate
States' Service in February & April 1862.
————————————————————————————————————————
This Claim is presented in duplicate amounting to
$16.610.20. There is a Certificate of "H. Oladowski Lt. Col
on Ord. duty that the same is correct; and Certificate of
Col. J. Gorgas Chief of Ordnance that "the prices are reason-
=able; the Officer who Certifies to the Account had authority to
order the Guns and his Certificate shews that he is satisfied
with the prices". There is a letter of Col. Oladowski dated
Tullahoma March 21. 1863, in which he says "I cannot Cer=
=tify that the property was received by me as I was at the
time of delivery in other places. The Guns were sent to Mo=
=bile and received by different Officers at different times. I am
Certain of their being delivered as I saw them in the Army
and some of them are now in the Service". He then enters into
a detail of his operations which is not very Clear, and not rel=
=evant to this Claim, except as explaining why the Guns were
not received, and receipted for, personally by him. The Guns
which he speaks of (in this letter) as having paid for, are declared
by the Claimants to pertain to a different transaction.
On the whole the Claim is supported by the Certificate of an Officer
in the Ordnance Service, that the Guns were delivered, and in the
service, under his order; and that the Account is correct; and the
Ordnance Bureau recognize his authority to order the Guns, and
approve the prices, and declined paying the Claim only because
Col. O. had not given a formal property receipt _ Resp y Submitted for
decision whether the Claim shall be allowed, and whether Col. O. shall
be charged with the amount _
Lewis Cruger Esq [paraph] Treasury Dep t 2 d Auditors Office
Comptroller April 3. 1863
W. H. S. Taylor Auditor
Checks: One figure only, the amount of the claim, $16,610.20 — written by the clerk with periods for both separators, "$16.610.20". There is nothing on the sheet to prove it against: no items, no rates, no extensions. It cannot be matched to any account in this run of images: it is not the $1,318.27 of image 37, the $43,509.34 of images 38–39, the $393.00 of image 40, the $5,016.09 of images 41–43, or the $1,200.25 of image 44, nor any combination of them that the sheet asserts.
Flagged: (1) This report and the Comptroller's opinion on image 45 are the two halves of one exchange. Both are dated 3 April 1863; this one is addressed to "Lewis Cruger Esq, Comptroller" and signed by the Second Auditor, and image 45 is Cruger's answer, signed "Lewis Cruger, Comptroller", on the same claim — Leeds & Co. of New Orleans, guns furnished troops, Colonel Oladowski's want of a formal property receipt. Read together they settle the claim's history. Image 45 does not state the amount; this sheet does — $16,610.20. (2) The names are all clearly written and secure: H. Oladowski, Lieutenant Colonel on ordnance duty; Col. J. Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance; Lewis Cruger, Comptroller; W. H. S. Taylor, Auditor. The claim is for guns furnished in February and April 1862 — that is, up to and including the month New Orleans fell. (3) Oladowski's letter is dated at Tullahoma, 21 March 1863, and the guns are said to have been sent to Mobile and received there by different officers at different times. (4) The opening quotation mark before "H. Oladowski" is not closed until after "the same is correct", and the second opening mark before "the prices are reasonable" is closed after "satisfied with the prices"; the clerk's quotation marks are reproduced exactly where he put them, including the unclosed one. (5) "Respy Submitted" is written with a raised contraction for "Respectfully". (6) Nothing on the sheet is illegible.
Image 47 — Comptroller's Office, supplementary opinion on the claim of Leeds & Co. of New Orleans for field pieces furnished by order of General Bragg, 6 April 1863, signed Lewis Cruger, Comptroller
A large sheet of account paper (scan 5,564 × 3,480 px, landscape) opened flat, ruled all over with close feint vertical lines, folded once down the centre and again to the right of centre, and photographed whole with the black film ground showing at the edges. The paper is lightly foxed with small round spots, more of them along the left edge and across the blank right half; the extreme left edge is worn. All the writing sits in one narrow column just right of the centre fold. The caption at the head is in the same large open hand as image 45 and is ruled off with long pen-strokes, but the opinion itself is written very much smaller and more hurriedly, in a cramped, sloping, ill-formed hand that crowds thirty lines into the space and runs the words together, with many contractions ("recd", "obeyd", "Genl", "certifd"). The heading "Supplimentary" has its first syllable written over a heavy blot and struck about. A cancellation stands in the middle of the page. Struck on the blank left half of the sheet, clear of the writing, is the oval ★ RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT ★ handstamp. No money figure appears anywhere on the sheet.
Claim of Leeds & Co,
of N. Orleans
——————————————————
for field pieces furnished Troops
by order of Gen l Bragg.
S upplimentary Report of
the 2 d Auditor
——————————————————
Comptrollers office. Ap l 6. 1863 -
This supplimentary Report requests
instructions for immediate payment
to the Claimants who are admitted to be
clearly entitled on their contract duly
certified by the officer ordered by Gen l
Bragg to make it & approved by Col. Gorgas
— the only difficulty being that the of=
=ficer so ordered to procure the Guns was
stationed elsewhere by Gen l Bragg & did
not receipt for them, but certifies they
were rec d by other officers & are now in
the service — I have therefore to repeat
that I do not think it just to charge
this agent who merely obey d the command
of Gen l Bragg in ordering the cannon but
never rec d them, but he should be required
to ascertain & shew who rec d & issued
[them — struck through] or he will be charged with them —
— This is my opinion not only because
it would be more just to charge Gen l
Bragg who gave the order to his agent
but because the cannon, being of the
least perishable character & being cer=
=tified to be now in the service, would
seem to be sufficiently accounted for
and not liable to be stolen or destroyed.
& therefore I think the Claimants should
be paid & if the officer executing the order
of Gen l Bragg shall not shew either
Gen l B's certificate or that of the officers
who rec d & issued the cannon he may then
be charged. — Lewis Cruger
Comptroller
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. The amount of the claim is not repeated here; it is stated only on image 46 as $16,610.20.
Flagged: (1) This is the third sheet of the same file of correspondence — the Second Auditor's report (image 46, 3 April 1863), the Comptroller's first opinion (image 45, 3 April 1863), and this supplementary opinion of 6 April 1863, all on the claim of Leeds & Co. for guns furnished by order of General Bragg through Colonel Oladowski. The three should be read together. Image 45 and this sheet are in the same two hands — the large open hand for the captions, the cramped hand for the opinions — and both are signed "Lewis Cruger, Comptroller". (2) This sheet calls the articles "field pieces" in the caption and "cannon" and "Guns" in the body; image 45 calls them "Guns" and "field pieces"; image 46 calls them "Guns". They are the same articles. (3) The word struck out after "who recᵈ & issued" is "them" or a very similar short word; the pen-stroke through it is heavy but the reading is not fully certain and it is shown as a cancellation rather than asserted. (4) The first syllable of "Supplimentary" in the sub-heading is written over a blot and partly struck through, so the word was evidently begun, spoiled and rewritten; the clerk's spelling with an "i" ("supplimentary") is his own and is kept as written, both there and in the first line of the opinion. (5) The hand in the opinion is small, fast and heavily abbreviated; the transcription above is offered as a careful reading, but individual short words in the middle of lines are pressed together and a few could be read otherwise. Nothing has been supplied that is not on the page. (6) "Genl B's certificate" is written with a bare initial for Bragg. (7) The names Gorgas and Bragg are secure; Oladowski is not named on this sheet, being referred to throughout as "the officer" or "this agent".
Image 48 — Further Report of the Second Auditor of the Treasury on the claim of Leeds & Co. for cannon sold at New Orleans, February and April 1862, amounting to $10,610.20; 4 April 1863
A single leaf of feint blue-ruled letter paper (scan 3,492 × 5,536 px), written on one side only in a very fine, sharp, elegant sloping hand with a needle-fine nib — much lighter and more disciplined than the round hand of image 46, and by a different clerk. The four-line caption at the head is ruled off from the body by a double horizontal pen-stroke. Only the upper two-fifths of the sheet is written; the whole lower half is blank apart from a scatter of small round rust-coloured foxing spots running down the left margin and across the lower left corner, with a few more at the right edge. The paper is sound: no tears, no stains, one faint horizontal crease. Two words in the body — "intention" and "least" — have been gone over a second time with a heavier stroke of the pen, and a long horizontal stroke runs from "intention" into the dash that follows it. The signature is closed with a large looping paraph beneath.
Further Report of the Second Auditor of the
Treasury on the Claim of Leeds & Co for Cannon
said to have been Sold to the Confederate States
in New Orleans in February and April 1862, amoun
ting to 10.610.20 Dollars.
═══════════════════════════════════════════════
The Comptroller decides that these Claimants
are clearly entitled to be paid, and that Col: Ola=
dowski who certifies the account, is not to be held
accountable for the Guns, nor does he indicate any
one who is.
The Auditor respectfully requests to be instructed,
if such is the Comptrollers intention — to make a State=
ment for the immediate payment of the Claim, leaving
the property of the least perishable character imaginable
to be utterly lost sight of, or resold to the Confederacy
by any one who may assert a private ownership in it.
Treasury Department C S
Second Auditors Office
4 th April 1863
W. H. S. Taylor
Auditor
Checks: One figure only, the amount of the claim, written "10.610.20 Dollars" with periods for both separators. It does not agree with the same Auditor's report of the previous day. Image 46, dated 3 April 1863 and signed by the same officer, gives the claim as "$16.610.20". Both figures have been re-examined at high magnification: on image 46 the second digit is unmistakably a 6, closing into a bottom loop; here it is an unmistakable 0, a plain oval. The two Treasury sheets differ by $6,000.00 on the amount of the same claim, and nothing on either sheet resolves which is right. Neither figure has been altered in this transcription.
Flagged: (1) The $6,000 divergence above is the most important thing on this sheet. It may be a slip of the pen on one of the two — the sheets are in two different clerks' hands — but it is not a misreading, and it should not be quietly harmonised in any published text. (2) This is the fourth sheet of the same file: the Second Auditor's report of 3 April (image 46), the Comptroller's opinion of 3 April (image 45), this further report of 4 April answering the Comptroller's decision, and the Comptroller's supplementary opinion of 6 April (image 47) answering it in turn. The four run in that order and belong together. (3) "Col: Oladowski" is written here with the surname broken across the line as "Ola=/dowski"; the reading is secure. (4) The words "intention" and "least" are re-inked more heavily than the surrounding text; the stroke through "intention" continues into the dash that follows and may be an emphasis line rather than a cancellation. Both words are transcribed as written, and neither is treated as struck out. (5) The Auditor's closing sentence is a protest, not a certificate: he asks to be instructed in so many words before he will make out a statement for immediate payment, and he says why. (6) The signature "W. H. S. Taylor, Auditor" is the same as on image 46, though the body of this sheet is written by a different clerk. (7) Nothing on the sheet is illegible; there is no handstamp.
Image 49 — Docket (endorsement panel), account No. 1207, Leeds and Co., $16,610.20 due them, reported and returned 6 April 1863
A single leaf of pale blue-ruled writing paper (scan 2,796 × 3,340 px), photographed with the sheet still folded flat, so that only the right-hand third carries writing: this is the outside panel of a document folded in three for filing. The left two-thirds are blank apart from a scatter of small dark foxing spots and film flecks concentrated in the upper-left quadrant. Faint vertical fold lines run the height of the sheet, one of them plainly the fold that defines the panel. The docket is written in a fine, sloping clerical hand in iron-gall ink now browned to a pale grey-black, laid out as a series of short headings each divided from the next by a firmly ruled double rule, so the panel reads as a stack of five boxed compartments with a registry note below. Two small ink check-ticks stand in the left margin against the "Reported" and "Returned" lines. At the foot, beneath "Reg. No 2904.", there is a broad ornamental paraph or flourish — not a legible signature — and behind it a ghost of show-through writing from the other side of the leaf. No handstamps of any kind. The paper is sound; no loss, no staining that costs any text.
No 1207 Ent[e]r[e]d[?]
══════════
Account
══════════════════════════════
Leeds and Co.
══════════════════════════════
Due them $16,610. 20
══════════════════════════════
For Guns &c manufactured
Furnished for Gov[e]r[nmen]t Service
══════════════════════════════
Appropriation
─────────────
For Ordnance Service
in all its branches
══════════════════════════════
✓ Reported 6 April 1863
✓ Returned 6 April, 1863
══════════════════════════════
288
Reg. No 2904.
[flourish]
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $16,610.20, and no components — there is nothing on this sheet to add up, so no internal arithmetic can be proved. Tested against its neighbour: the Second Auditor's statement at image 50 is drawn in favour of "Leeds and Co.", is for the same work ("For Cannon &c manufactured and Furnished by them for the Confederate Service"), and states the sum due at 16.610.20 — the same figure to the cent. The dates agree as well: this docket is "Reported 6 April 1863 / Returned 6 April, 1863" and image 50 bears the Comptroller's Office date "April 6, 1863". The docket and image 50 pair, and their figure and date match exactly.
Flagged: (1) The amount on this panel is written in a fast hand with no thousands comma and a very compressed first pair of digits; read on its own the leading pair could be taken for "14" as easily as "16". It is transcribed as 16,610.20 because the sheet it dockets (image 50) states the sum in the same cents and the same order of magnitude; if the pairing were ever broken, the leading pair should be re-examined. (2) The abbreviation after "No 1207" at the head is a two- or three-letter contraction with a terminal flourish; "Ent'd" (entered) is the likeliest reading and is given as Ent[e]r[e]d[?], but it is not certain and could be "Ex'd". (3) "288" beneath the last rule is an unexplained file or abstract number in the same ink; it is not a money figure. (4) "Reg. No 2904." is a register number of the accounting office, not the voucher number; the voucher/account number on this panel is "No 1207". (5) The flourish under the register number is decorative; no name can be extracted from it and none has been guessed. (6) No place is named anywhere on the docket.
Image 50 — Second Auditor's statement of the account of Leeds and Co., Treasury Department C.S., 6 March 1863 / Comptroller's Office 6 April 1863; $16,610.20
A tall single leaf of pale blue-lined foolscap (scan 3,356 × 5,385 px), written on one side only in a large, well-spaced round clerical hand in iron-gall ink now faded to a soft grey-brown. The layout is that of an accounting-office statement rather than a bill: a two-line heading in a display hand with double underscores, a long narrative paragraph running about eleven lines down the centre of the sheet, the money figure carried out to the right on the "Dollars" line and double-ruled beneath, an "Appropriation" heading, and then two dated office endorsements at the foot, the left one bracketed to a right-hand signature by a large curly brace. A second hand — finer nib, blacker ink — has gone over the paragraph and made three interlineations and three deletions, and the deletions are cancelled with rows of small x's rather than a single line. Small dark foxing spots are scattered down both margins, heaviest at the lower left. The right edge of the sheet shows a slight crumple or dog-ear at the foot of the scan. No handstamps. No loss of text.
The Confederate States
═══════════════════════
To Leeds and Co. Dr
══════════════════════
By H. Oladowski Lt Col Ordnance
═══════════════════════════════
Cannon
For ×××××[Guns] &c manufactured and
Furnished by them for the Con-
by order of Gen. Bragg
federate Service, ^ February 19th and
April 5th 1862, as per account
herewith, certified by said Officer
and by Col Gorgas Chief of Ordnance
and Report and Decision of ac-
counting Officers —— Col Oladow-
by command of Gen. Bragg
ski who ordered the Guns and certi-
will be
fies the account, ×× charged ×××××[illegible] unlefs
he shall Shew who Received and is
accountable for the property, or
exhaust, all reasonable efforts to do So
Dollars ______________________________ 16.610. 20
═══════════
Appropriation
═════════════
" For Ordnance Service
in all its branches "
Treasury Department C S
Second Auditors Office
6th March 1863
Stated by
Treasury Department ⎫ B. E. Poitiaux
Comptrollers Office ⎬ Accountant
April 6, 1863. ⎭
Ed Bennett
Checks: The statement carries one figure only — $16,610.20 — and no components, rates or extensions, so there is no arithmetic on the sheet to prove. The figure is written in digits only; it is not repeated in words, so it cannot be cross-tested on this leaf. It is tested instead against the docket at image 49, which gives the same sum to the cent and the same "Returned 6 April 1863" date as this sheet's Comptroller's Office endorsement of April 6, 1863 — the two agree exactly.
Flagged: (1) "Oladowski" is written twice and is legible both times, once as "H. Oladowski Lt Col Ordnance" in the heading and once broken across the line as "Col Oladow- / ski"; the reading is confident. (2) The word first written after "For" and then cancelled with x's is almost certainly "Guns", matching the "Guns" that survives uncancelled lower in the paragraph, but the cancellation is heavy and the reading of the struck word is not certain — it is shown as ×××××[Guns]. (3) A short struck word after "the account," (two x's only) and a longer struck word or words after "charged" cannot be read at all under the cancellation; they are shown as ××××× [illegible]. The interlined "will be" above the second of these makes the sense of the amended sentence plain, but the original wording is lost. (4) "unlefs" is the clerk's long-s form of "unless" and is left as written. (5) The two interlineations naming Gen. Bragg — "by order of Gen. Bragg" and "by command of Gen. Bragg" — are in the second, blacker hand and were added after the paragraph was written; they are placed here at the points marked by the clerk's carets. (6) The dates of the work are given as February 19th and April 5th 1862; the statement itself is 6 March 1863 and the Comptroller's endorsement 6 April 1863. No place of business is named on the sheet — neither New Orleans nor Richmond appears; the offices are identified only as the Second Auditor's Office and the Comptroller's Office of the Treasury Department C.S. (7) "Ed Bennett" is written without a title beneath the Comptroller's Office date; whether it is a signature or a clerk's docketing name cannot be settled from the sheet. (8) The account this statement settles is not on this leaf; the itemised bills lie elsewhere in the file.
Image 51 — Manuscript account, The Confederate States to Leeds & Co., ordnance delivered 19 February and 5 April 1862, certified at Tullahoma, Tennessee, 2 March 1863; footed $16,610.20
A single leaf of blue-lined writing paper (scan 3,580 × 4,446 px) written on one side, ruled by hand into an account: a narrow DATE column at the far left, a wide DESIGNATION column carrying the quantity, the piece and the unit price, then a first money column for extensions, a second for the sub-totals of the two deliveries, and a third at the right edge for the grand total. There is no printed billhead and no printed APPLICATION column on this sheet — it is a plain manuscript account, and what the work was for has to be read out of the descriptions themselves and out of the certificates at the foot and in the margin. The account is in a small, sloping, businesslike hand in black ink; the certificate at the foot is in the same ink but a larger, more deliberate hand. Down the right-hand margin, written sideways so that it must be turned a quarter-turn to read, is a four-line endorsement in a second, blunter hand, with a date and a signature. The clerk uses a full stop as the thousands separator throughout ("1.200", "6.750", "12.645"), and a ditto stroke (") for the empty cents. Two faint vertical creases run down the sheet; there is a short clean split or scratch in the film at the lower left of the certificate, crossing "Tullahoma" without costing a letter, and a scatter of small dark specks. No handstamps. No loss of text.
The Confederate States
To Leeds Co D r
1862 | | | |
══════|═════════════════════════════════════════════════|════════|═══════
Feb 19| For 2 Rifle 6 Pdr. pieces $600. ea. 1.200. "| |
| " 2 Sets Sights $20 " " 40. "| |
| " 6-12 Pdr. light field pieces $1125. ea. 6.750. " |
| Cartage 2. "| |
| ⎧ By 11.087 ℔ Old brass ×××[struck] 4.034.80 7.992. " |
| ⎩ Less Cartage 8. " 4.026.80 3.965 | 20
Apl. 5| For 6-12 Pdr. bronze field pieces $1150. ea. 6.900. " |
| " 3-12 Pdr. Howitzers $800 . . 2.400. "| |
| " 2 - 6 Pdr. field pieces $800. . 1.600. "| |
| " 2 - 6 Pdr. Rifle pieces $850. . 1.700. "| |
| " 2 Sets sights $20. . 40. "| |
| Cartage 5. "| 12.645 " | $16.610 | 20
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
I certify, that the above amount is correct, amounting to
Sixteen thousand Six hundred ten dollars Twenty cents
Tullahoma Tennee H. Oladowski
March 2d 1863 Lt Colo. On Ord. Duty.
[written sideways up the right margin:]
The prices are reasonable — The officer who
certifies to the account had authority to order the
guns, and his certificate shows that he is satisf[ied]
with the prices
Mch. 25/63 J Gorgas. Col-
Checks: Quantity × rate proves on every priced line of both deliveries. 2 × $600 = $1,200 ✓; 2 × $20 = $40 ✓; 6 × $1,125 = $6,750 ✓; 6 × $1,150 = $6,900 ✓; 3 × $800 = $2,400 ✓; 2 × $800 = $1,600 ✓; 2 × $850 = $1,700 ✓; 2 × $20 = $40 ✓. The 19 February side foots exactly: 1,200.00 + 40.00 + 6,750.00 + 2.00 = $7,992.00 ✓, the figure entered. The brass credit proves as far as it can: $4,034.80 − $8.00 cartage = $4,026.80 ✓; and 7,992.00 − 4,026.80 = $3,965.20 ✓, the sub-total carried out. The rate on the brass has been cancelled with a heavy stroke and cannot be read, so the extension $4,034.80 cannot be tested against the 11,087 ℔ — and 4,034.80 ÷ 11,087 does not fall on any round rate, so no rate can be inferred from it either. The 5 April side foots exactly: 6,900.00 + 2,400.00 + 1,600.00 + 1,700.00 + 40.00 + 5.00 = $12,645.00 ✓. The two sub-totals foot to the grand total: 3,965.20 + 12,645.00 = $16,610.20 ✓. The footing proves a third time against the certificate written out in words: "Sixteen thousand Six hundred ten dollars Twenty cents" = $16,610.20 ✓. The sheet proves exactly at $16,610.20, the single untestable point being the brass rate.
Flagged: (1) The rate against "11.087 ℔ Old brass" is obliterated by a bold horizontal cancellation stroke over two or three characters and a raised abbreviation; nothing legible survives and none has been guessed. The weight itself is clear — two 1's, a stop, then 0, 8, 7. (2) The brass line is a credit to the Government: it is opened "By" (against the debit "For" of every other line), it is bracketed on the left, and it is subtracted, not added. Read as a return of old brass allowed against the new guns. (3) "Tennee" is written exactly so, as an abbreviation of Tennessee; it is not expanded here. (4) "H. Oladowski / Lt Colo. On Ord. Duty." is legible and consistent with the "H. Oladowski Lt Col Ordnance" of image 50. (5) The marginal signature reads "J Gorgas. Col-"; the initial is a single flourished letter, taken as J. The word before the signature that runs off toward the sheet edge reads "satisf-" and is completed as satisf[ied]; the last letters are lost into the margin rather than damaged. (6) The dating is worth noting as it stands: the goods were delivered 19 February and 5 April 1862, the certificate was given at Tullahoma 2 March 1863, the Chief of Ordnance endorsed it 25 March 1863, and the Auditor stated it 6 March 1863 (image 50) — i.e. the Auditor's statement is dated before the Chief of Ordnance's marginal endorsement. That is on the documents; it is not a misreading, and no attempt has been made to reconcile it. (7) The account is headed "To Leeds Co" without the ampersand; the firm is "Leeds & Co." elsewhere in the file. (8) No place of manufacture is named on the sheet — New Orleans does not appear; the only place is Tullahoma, where the certificate was signed.
Image 52 — Duplicate manuscript account, The Confederate States to Leeds & Co., 19 February and 5 April 1862, certified at Tullahoma, Tennessee, 2 March 1863; footed $16,610.20
The duplicate of the account at image 51, written on a matching leaf of blue-lined paper (scan 3,552 × 4,479 px) in the same hand, with the same hand-ruled columns and the same marginal endorsement turned sideways up the right edge. It differs from image 51 in three visible ways: an auditing hand has struck a small "×" tick in the ruled column immediately to the right of every extension and a larger cross against the grand total; the heading is written "To Leeds & Co." with the ampersand where image 51 gives "To Leeds Co"; and the certificate at the foot reads "six hundred and ten dollars" where image 51 omits the "and". The rate on the brass line, cancelled to illegibility on image 51, is legible here as "40" with a small raised letter, though a heavy horizontal stroke has been drawn along the line from the rate across into the extension. The sheet has a crumpled and slightly torn upper edge across the top right of the scan, well above the writing; a large ink blot sits in the margin note between the second and third of its lines, and a smaller blot has closed up the "a" of "had" in the same note. A faint horizontal crease crosses the account at about the level of the brass line. No handstamps.
The Confederate States
To Leeds & Co. D r
1862 | | | |
══════|═════════════════════════════════════════════════|════════|═══════
Feb 19| For 2 Rifle 6 Pdr. pieces $600. ea. 1.200. " ×| |
| " 2 Sets Sights $20 " " 40. " ×| |
| " 6-12 Pdr. Right[?] field pieces $1.125 " . 6.750. " ×|
| Cartage 2. " ×| |
| ⎧ By 11.087 ℔ Old brass 40ᵈ ——— 4.034.80 7.992. " ×|
| ⎩ Less Cartage 8. " 4.026.80 3.965 | 20 ×
Apl. 5| For 6-12 Pdr. bronze field pieces $1150. ea. 6.900. " ×|
| " 3-12 Pdr. Howitzers $800 . " 2.400. " ×| |
| " 2 - 6 Pdr. field pieces $800. " " 1.600. " ×| |
| " 2 - 6 Pdr. Rifle pieces $850. " " 1.700. " ×| |
| " 2 Sets Sights $20. . 40. " ×| |
| Cartage 5. "| 12.645 " × | $16.610 | 20 ×
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
I certify, that the above amount is correct, amounting to
Sixteen thousand six hundred and ten dollars, Twenty cents
Tullahoma Tennee H. Oladowski
March 2d 1863. Lt Col. On Ord. Duty
[written sideways up the right margin:]
The prices are reasonable — The Officer who
certifies to the account ha[d] authority to
order the guns, and his certificate shews that
he is satisfied with the prices
Mch 25/63 J Gorgas Col-
Checks: Every extension proves as on image 51: 2 × $600 = $1,200 ✓; 2 × $20 = $40 ✓; 6 × $1,125 = $6,750 ✓; 6 × $1,150 = $6,900 ✓; 3 × $800 = $2,400 ✓; 2 × $800 = $1,600 ✓; 2 × $850 = $1,700 ✓; 2 × $20 = $40 ✓. February side: 1,200.00 + 40.00 + 6,750.00 + 2.00 = $7,992.00 ✓. Brass credit: $4,034.80 − $8.00 = $4,026.80 ✓, and 7,992.00 − 4,026.80 = $3,965.20 ✓. April side: 6,900.00 + 2,400.00 + 1,600.00 + 1,700.00 + 40.00 + 5.00 = $12,645.00 ✓. Grand total: 3,965.20 + 12,645.00 = $16,610.20 ✓, and the certificate written out in words — "Sixteen thousand six hundred and ten dollars, Twenty cents" — proves the footing a second time. But the brass line does not prove. This copy gives the rate that image 51 has lost: 11,087 ℔ at 40 (cents) is $4,434.80, not the $4,034.80 entered — a divergence of $400.00 exactly, the extension being $400 short of the product. The error is not carried forward: every figure after it on the sheet follows from $4,034.80, so the footing of $16,610.20 is internally consistent and matches the words of the certificate. Note that if the extension were corrected the account would foot at $17,010.20; it is left exactly as the clerk wrote it.
Flagged: (1) The $400.00 shortfall on the brass line is the substantive finding of this sheet, and it is visible only here, because image 51's rate is cancelled beyond reading. The weight is written with two plain vertical strokes before the point — 11.087 — and the clerk's "0" everywhere else on the sheet is a full oval, so the reading "11,087" is secure and "10,087" (which would make the extension prove exactly) is not what the page says. The rate is "40" with a small raised letter that reads more like a "d" than a "c"; cents are meant, since the extension is of that order. Both figures are as written; no correction has been made. (2) A heavy horizontal stroke runs along the brass line from the rate into the extension. It may be a cancellation, a rule, or an auditor's mark; on image 51 the same stroke has obliterated the rate entirely. Its meaning cannot be settled from the image. (3) The third February item reads "6-12 Pdr. Right field pieces" on this copy where image 51 reads "light field pieces"; the initial letter here is formed with a tall looped ascender and is given as Right[?]. "Light" is much the likelier word and is what image 51 plainly has, but this copy is transcribed as it stands. (4) The small "×" beside every money figure is an auditor's tick, made in a different, blunter hand; it is not part of the account. (5) "Tennee", "Oladowski" and "J Gorgas" read as on image 51. (6) The word in the margin note is "shews" here and "shows" on image 51. (7) As on image 51, no place of manufacture appears; the only place named is Tullahoma.
Image 53 — Printed voucher wrapper (docket), Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 57, Leeds & Co, 8 February 1862, $402 70/100
The outside of a printed voucher jacket, photographed opened out flat and landscape (scan 4,604 × 3,601 px), so the sheet reads as three panels divided by two vertical folds. The centre panel carries the printed jacket heading, filled in by hand in a fine, very pale grey-brown ink over dotted printed rules: a blank line for the bureau, then "VOUCHER No." in small printed capitals with the number written after it, then blanks for the name, the date, and the amount, the last written in the counting-house form of dollars over a fraction of a hundred. Below the heading, struck at an angle in pale purple-grey, is the oval library handstamp RECORD DIVISION, REBEL ARCHIVES, WAR DEPARTMENT, with a five-pointed star at each side; and below that a very large ornamental pen flourish of two joined loops, decorative rather than lexical. The left-hand panel carries the printed certificate of the disbursing officer, set sideways so that the sheet must be turned a quarter-turn to read it; its printed text has been partly cancelled with ruled strokes and completed in a bold black hand, and is signed and given a rank in three lines. The right-hand panel is blank. The paper is thin and shows heavy show-through of the account inside; the film is speckled with small ringed white and dark flecks over the whole opening, a tear or fold-crumple runs in from the right edge at mid-height, and the lower left corner is chipped. Ink: pale on the centre panel, black and heavier on the certificate.
[centre panel:]
✓
Ordnance Department
─────────────────────────────────
VOUCHER No. 57 —
─────────────────────────
Leeds & Co
─────────────────────────────────
February 8th 1862.
─────────────────────────────────
$402 70/100
[oval handstamp, struck at an angle:]
★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES,
WAR DEPARTMENT. ★
[large ornamental flourish]
[left panel, printed and written sideways:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
Amounting to Four hundred and two dollars and Seventy cents
~~accounted for in my property return for ________ quarter of 186_ .~~
M L. Smith
Maj of Eng[ineer]s
Actg Ord Off[icer]
Checks: The jacket carries a single figure, $402 70/100, and no components — no arithmetic on the sheet to prove. It is written twice and the two agree: as "$402 70/100" in the heading and in words on the certificate, "Four hundred and two dollars and Seventy cents" ✓. Tested against its neighbour: the account at image 54 is on the printed Ordnance Department billhead, is drawn "To Leeds & Co", foots at $402.70, and is receipted "at New Orleans (La) this 8th day of February 1862, from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers" — the figure, the date and the officer all match this jacket exactly, and the jacket's certifying signature "M L. Smith, Maj of Engs, Actg Ord Off" is the same officer named in that receipt. The pairing is secure.
Flagged: (1) "VOUCHER No. 57" — the number is written in, so 57 is the actual voucher number of this account, not a form number. No "(No. __)" printed form number is visible anywhere on the jacket. (2) The printed certificate has had two of its printed phrases ruled through — "the articles" before the written insertion, and the whole trailing clause "accounted for in my property return for ____ quarter of 186_" — because the account is for work and material bought, not for stores to be taken up on a property return. The cancelling strokes are shown here; the printed words beneath them are still perfectly legible and are given in full. (3) The rank lines under the signature are abbreviated hard and run off toward the edge of the panel: "Maj of Engs" and "Actg Ord Off" are read with confidence in sense, but the terminal letters are lost in flourishes and are supplied in brackets. The first initial is a script capital M. (4) The large two-loop flourish at the foot of the centre panel is decorative; nothing has been read into it. (5) The check-tick at the very top of the centre panel is in the same pale ink as the fill-ins. (6) The handstamp is an archival mark of the United States War Department Record Division, applied long after the war, not a Confederate office stamp. Its wording is recorded exactly as struck. (7) No place is named on the jacket; New Orleans appears only on the account inside.
Image 54 — Printed Ordnance Department billhead, The Confederate States to Leeds & Co, work of November–December 1861, receipted at New Orleans, Louisiana, 8 February 1862; footed $402.70
A single large leaf on the printed Government form (scan 3,604 × 4,610 px): "The Confederate States, for ______" in heavy black-letter across the head with the bureau written in, "To ______ Dr" on the second line, and beneath it the ruled table with printed column headings DATE. / 186_ . | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. (DOLLARS. | CENTS.). Below the table the printed receipt clause runs across the foot — "RECEIVED at ____ this ____ day of ____ 186_, from ____ Corps of Engineers, the sum of ____ dollars and ____ cents, in full payment of the above account." — with "(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)" in small printed capitals beneath it, and the firm's signature at the lower right. The writing throughout is in a fine, pale, very even copperplate in ink now faded to a light grey-brown; the money column is in the same hand. Every extension has a pencil or light-ink check-tick in the narrow ruled column at its right. Right-hand brace marks in the DESIGNATION column gather the two- and three-line entries onto a single money line. The APPLICATION column, though ruled and headed, has been left entirely blank on this sheet — nothing at all is written in it. Damage: a black wedge of loss or fold-shadow bites into the right edge at about a third of the height, and a smaller one at the foot; both fall in the blank margin outside the ruled table and cost no text. Small ringed flecks are scattered over the whole sheet. No handstamps on this side.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co D r
┌────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────┬────────────────┐
│ DATE. │ DESIGNATION. │ APPLICATION.│ COST. │
│ 186 1. │ │ │DOLLARS.│CENTS. │
├────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┼────────┼───────┤
│Novʳ 21 │ To 1 Centre Strap or trunnion for Gun│ │ │ │
│ " │ 54 Lbs @ 30ᶜᵗ per Lb ——————— ⎫ │ [blank] │ 16 │ 20 ✓ │
│ " │ " Boring & turning dᵒ │ [blank] │ 30 │ 00 ✓ │
│ " 29 │ " 7 days hire of Mechanic at Barracks│ │ │ │
│ │ altering the tongues of the Higgins⎫ │ │ │
│ │ Battery @ $5 ⁰⁰/₁₀₀ per day —— ⎭ │ [blank] │ 35 │ 00 ✓ │
│Decʳ 4 │ " 50 Stand 32 Pdr Grape @ $2 ⁸⁰/₁₀₀ │ [blank] │ 140 │ 00 ✓ │
│ " 10 │ " 25 " 8 inch dᵒ @ $4 ⁶⁰/₁₀₀ │ [blank] │ 115 │ 00 ✓ │
│ " " │ " 10 " 24 Pdr dᵒ @ $1 ⁹⁰/₁₀₀ │ [blank] │ 19 │ 00 ✓ │
│ " 13 │ " 25 " 24 " dᵒ @ $1 ⁹⁰/₁₀₀ │ [blank] │ 47 │ 50 ✓ │
│ │ │ │────────┴───────│
│ │ │ │ $ 402 │ 70 ✓ │
└────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┴────────┴───────┘
RECEIVED at New Orleans (La) this 8th day
of February 1862, from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Four hundred and Two —————————————— dollars and
Seventy ———————— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$402 ⁷⁰/₁₀₀ . Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate proves on every line that carries a rate. 54 Lbs × 30¢ = $16.20 ✓; 7 days × $5.00 = $35.00 ✓; 50 × $2.80 = $140.00 ✓; 25 × $4.60 = $115.00 ✓; 10 × $1.90 = $19.00 ✓; 25 × $1.90 = $47.50 ✓. The second line, "Boring & turning dᵒ" at $30.00, carries no quantity and no rate — it is a lump charge for the work, and its extension cannot be tested. The seven extensions foot exactly: 16.20 + 30.00 + 35.00 + 140.00 + 115.00 + 19.00 + 47.50 = $402.70 ✓, the figure written at the foot of the money column. The footing proves a second time against the receipt written out in words — "Four hundred and Two dollars and Seventy cents" ✓ — and a third time against the memorandum "$402 ⁷⁰/₁₀₀" repeated at the lower left, and a fourth against the jacket at image 53. The sheet proves exactly at $402.70.
Flagged: (1) The APPLICATION column is blank throughout — this sheet does not say what the work was applied to in that column, unlike image 70 where it reads "For Gun Carriages &c". What the work was for has to be taken from the DESIGNATION entries themselves: a centre strap or trunnion for a gun, boring and turning the same, a mechanic's time altering the tongues of the Higgins Battery, and stand grape for 32-pounder, 8-inch, and 24-pounder guns. (2) "Higgins" is legible and is written with a clear capital H; the entry reads "altering the tongues of the Higgins Battery", i.e. work on that battery's carriages, and the word "Battery" begins the next line. No identification of the battery beyond the name is offered here. (3) "Stand" in the grape entries is the ordnance unit — stand of grape — and is written in full on the first of them and carried by ditto on the rest. (4) The printed DATE heading reads "186_" with the final digit written in as 1; the work is therefore 1861 and the payment February 1862, and the year on the receipt line is written "1862" over the printed "186". (5) The check-ticks against each extension and against the total are an auditor's marks in a different, blunter stroke. (6) "Leeds & Co" is signed with a bold flourish beneath; the firm name is legible but the flourish carries no further wording. (7) "M. L. Smith" of the Corps of Engineers is the paying officer here and the certifying officer on the jacket at image 53; the two signatures match in hand. (8) The place is given plainly as New Orleans (La) — the parentheses are the clerk's.
Image 55 — Blank file wrapper or cover sheet endorsed "Leeds & Co." at one end and, inverted at the other, "Lee. A. S. / Agent - Lynchburg. Va."; no date, no figures
A tall narrow leaf of plain unruled paper (scan 1,868 × 3,946 px), the outside of a folded wrapper, entirely blank but for writing at the two extreme ends. At the head, in a thin, dry, rather scratchy modern-looking line — pencil or a hard fine nib — stands the file heading "Leeds & Co." At the foot, written upside down relative to the head so that the sheet must be turned end for end to read it, is a bolder, blacker two-line endorsement: a name with two following initials, and beneath it a description of office and place. Between them the paper is empty apart from a single short diagonal pen stroke about level with the middle fold, and a broad, very pale looped flourish — three long diagonal loops, like a giant M or W laid over the lower quarter — that runs behind and under the inverted endorsement and appears to have been made before it. The head of the sheet carries a small crumple and a torn nick at the upper right corner; a spray of small ringed dark and white flecks lies across the upper third and again along the foot; the lower edge shows the shadow of the fold. No handstamps. No ruling, no columns, no money figures anywhere on the leaf.
Leeds & Co.
[broad pale looped flourish across the lower quarter]
[inverted at the foot of the sheet:]
Lee. A. S.
Agent - Lynchburg. Va.
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. There is no sum, no date and no account here to test against the neighbouring images.
Flagged: (1) The two endorsements on this leaf name two different parties, and that is the substantive point. "Leeds & Co." at the head is the file heading under which the whole run of images is filed. The inverted endorsement at the foot reads as a personal name written surname-first with initials following — "Lee. A. S." — described as "Agent - Lynchburg. Va." That is a Virginia agent, not the New Orleans foundry, and nothing on this leaf connects the two beyond their alphabetical adjacency in a file arranged by name. The leaf may well be the wrapper of an adjacent file (A. S. Lee, agent at Lynchburg) filmed in with the Leeds run; it is flagged here where it stands and has not been dropped or reassigned. (2) The third character of the inverted endorsement's second initial is a looped letter that could be read S or B; it is given as S but is not certain. The second initial reads A with reasonable confidence. (3) "Agent" is legible; whether it means a Government purchasing agent, a railroad or express agent, or a commercial agent is not stated on the sheet and is not guessed at. (4) The heading "Leeds & Co." and the inverted endorsement are in different inks and different hands, and the heading looks the later of the two — an archivist's or clerk's file title rather than a wartime endorsement. (5) The broad pale flourish is not legible as any letter or word and no reading has been forced on it.
Image 56 — Docket on the outer fold of a letter, "December 27 1861 / Leeds & Co / Send request about guns"; no figures
The blank outer face of a letter folded for filing (scan 2,280 × 3,713 px), carrying nothing but a three-part endorsement in the upper half and an archival handstamp below it. The paper is plain, unruled and lightly toned; two firm vertical folds and two horizontal ones divide it into the usual filing panels, and the endorsement is written to sit squarely in one of them. The hand is small, thin and fast, in ink faded to a light grey; the writing is spaced generously with a clear gap between each of the three elements — date, correspondent, subject — in the manner of a Bureau endorsement rather than a letter. Struck across the lower half at a steep angle, so that it reads from bottom left to top right, is the large oval RECORD DIVISION, REBEL ARCHIVES, WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp with a star at each end, in the same purple-grey as on image 53. Scattered ringed flecks lie down the right edge and along the lower left. There is no damage costing text and no loss.
December 27 1861
Leeds & Co
Send request
about guns
[oval handstamp, struck diagonally:]
★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES,
WAR DEPARTMENT. ★
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour instead: the letter at image 57 is written from New Orleans and dated "Decʳ 27th 1861", is signed by Leeds & Co, and its whole subject is an order for light 12-pounders — that is, guns. The docket's date, correspondent and subject all match the letter at image 57, and the two belong together.
Flagged: (1) The subject line is read "Send request about guns". The first word is formed with a looped capital and could be taken for "Second", but the body reads as four letters with a clear terminal d and no second syllable, and "Send request" makes sense of the letter it dockets, which asks for an order to be sent. It is transcribed as "Send" and flagged here. (2) The endorsement gives no writer's name, no office and no place, and no action or file number; it is a bare subject docket. (3) The handstamp is the post-war United States War Department archival mark, not a Confederate office stamp. (4) The correspondent is written "Leeds & Co" with no full stop, matching the signature on image 57.
Image 57 — Letter, Leeds & Co, New Orleans, 27 December 1861, to Capt. H. Oladowski C.S.A. at Warrington, Florida, pressing for the order for twelve light 12-pounders; no figures
A single leaf of plain, unruled, lightly toned letter paper (scan 2,396 × 3,681 px), written on one side only in a fast, elegant, strongly sloping mercantile hand in dense black ink, with wide line spacing and a deep indent for each new paragraph. There is no letterhead of any kind: the place and date are written free at the top right. A vertical centre fold runs the height of the sheet and a horizontal one crosses it low down; the fold at the foot has left a light crease across the signature. A dense scatter of small ringed film flecks lies across the top of the sheet and again in the lower left quadrant. The right edge of the scan is dark where the sheet did not lie flat, but no text is lost. Two phrases have been gone over a second time with a fuller pen — "Light" in the third line and the "12 Pdrs" in the seventh — the second of these so heavily that it is now a solid black smear. No handstamps on this face; the archival stamp is on the outer fold (image 56).
New Orleans, Decʳ 27th 1861
Capt H. Oladowski C.S.A.
Warrington Fla.
Dear Sir
We had the pleasure
on the 19th inst, advising you of the ship-
-ment of two (2) Light 12 Pdrs, &c &c.
We there addressed you at Mobile, but
as we have recd. no answer respecting
the order for 12 Light 12 Pdrs. we deem it
advisable to address you again at Warring-
ton — We are now in a condition to
receive an order for the light 12 Pdrs, &
will proceed at once with them if you
will at once send your order, & if it be
recd. before other orders come in.
We shall, in a few days, ship to you two (2)
more 12 Pdrs. of the present order for (6) six.
Very Respectfully &c
Leeds & Co
Checks: No money figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. The only numbers are quantities of guns, and they are internally consistent as far as they go: two (2) light 12-pounders shipped and advised on the 19th instant, an outstanding order for twelve light 12-pounders not yet answered, and two (2) more 12-pounders about to go forward against a present order for six (6). Nothing on the sheet allows those quantities to be tested against a price or a total.
Flagged: (1) "the order for 12 Light 12 Pdrs" is written with the second "12 Pdrs" retraced so heavily that the original strokes are lost under the ink; the reading rests on the surviving outline and on the identical phrase used twice elsewhere in the letter. The first "12" of that phrase — the quantity ordered — is clear. (2) The addressee is "Capt H. Oladowski C.S.A." — the same officer who signs the certificates on images 51 and 52 fifteen months later as Lieutenant Colonel on ordnance duty. He is addressed here at Warrington, Florida, the navy-yard village below Pensacola, and the letter says a previous one was sent to him at Mobile. (3) The letter is signed with the firm name only, "Leeds & Co", underlined with a flourish; no individual partner signs. (4) "recd." is the writer's contraction for received and is left as written; "&c &c" likewise. (5) The date is written "Decʳ 27th 1861", which matches the docket on the outer fold at image 56 exactly. (6) The place of writing is New Orleans, given without the state.
Image 58 — Docket on the outer fold of a letter, "December 2ᵈ 1861 / Leeds & Co / Answering brass guns", received 10 December 1861; no figures
The blank outer face of a folded letter, photographed landscape (scan 4,388 × 3,464 px) with the sheet opened flat, so the endorsement stands in the right-hand half and the left half is empty. The paper is thin and the letter inside shows through very strongly: the whole left half is crossed by a pale grey ghost of the writing on the other side, legible as script but not as words in this direction. Two heavy folds cross the sheet, one vertical down the centre and one horizontal across the middle, and both have darkened. The endorsement is in a small, thin, sloping hand in ink faded to a pale brown-grey, set out in three widely separated elements — date, correspondent, subject — with a fourth line, the office's receipt note, written much lower down near the foot in the same ink. Struck across the middle of the right half at a steep angle is the oval RECORD DIVISION, REBEL ARCHIVES, WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp with its two stars; it lands squarely on the subject line, and the words "brass guns" have to be read through the stamp's ring and the letters of "REBEL ARCHIVES". A scatter of small ringed flecks lies along the foot and down the right edge. No loss of paper.
December 2ᵈ 1861
Leeds & Co
Answering brass guns
[oval handstamp struck across this line and below it:]
★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES,
WAR DEPARTMENT. ★
Recd Decm 10 186[1]
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the letter at image 59 is written from New Orleans, is dated "Decʳ 2ⁿᵈ 1861", is addressed to Capt. H. Oladowski, Ordnance Officer, Warrington, Fla., and deals throughout with guns, bronze 6-pounders, sights and copper. The docket's date and correspondent match that letter exactly, and its subject line is consistent with the letter's contents. The receipt note of 10 December 1861 is eight days after the letter's date, which is unremarkable for New Orleans to Pensacola Bay.
Flagged: (1) The subject line is partly obscured by the archival handstamp. "Answering" is clear; the two words after it are read "brass guns", the first of them crossed by the stamp's inner ring and by the letters of "ARCHIVES". "brass" is the best reading and is consistent with the letter it dockets, which discusses bronze guns and copper, but it is not certain and is flagged accordingly. (2) The final digit of the year in the receipt note is sitting under a dark film fleck and is supplied as 186[1] from the date at the head of the docket and from the letter itself; the "186" is clear. (3) The day of the month in the heading is written "2" with a superior d — 2d, i.e. the second — not "7"; the superior letter is what distinguishes it. (4) No writer, office or place is named on the docket, and no action or file number is given. (5) The handstamp is the post-war United States War Department archival mark.
Image 59 — Letter, Leeds & Co, New Orleans, 2 December 1861, to Capt. H. Oladowski, Ordnance Officer, Warrington, Florida — light 12-pounders, the rifled 6-pounder bronze, elevating sights, and the rising price of copper; first page, marked "(over)"
The first page of a two-page letter on a single leaf of plain, unruled, lightly toned paper (scan 3,476 × 4,394 px), written in the same fast, strongly sloping mercantile hand as image 57 in dense black ink, closely spaced, with the address in three stepped lines at the upper left gathered by a large decorative brace, and the place and date free at the upper right. There is no letterhead. A long horizontal fold crosses the sheet a third of the way down and a second near the foot; a vertical fold runs down the centre. The lower right corner shows a diagonal crease and a light abrasion running up through the last two lines, but the words are still legible. Small ringed film flecks lie down the left margin and in the upper right. Several words have been retraced with a fuller pen for emphasis — "Chief", "Rifled", "Elevating Sights", "Shot", "Copper", "Cannon", "31½" — and one short word after "finished" has been blotted out entirely. "(over)" stands at the lower right. No handstamps on this face; the archival stamp is on the outer fold (image 58).
New Orleans Decʳ 2ⁿᵈ 1861
Capt H. Oladowski ⎫
Ordnance Officer ⎬
Warrington . Fla. ⎭
Dear Sir ———— We have to acknowledge the receipt
of yours of the 26th ulto, & were highly delighted at your anima-
-ted description of the late bombardment — Every one here
feels that the Army & its Chief have nobly performed their duty.
You labour under a wrong impression respecting
your pet 12 Pdrs — We made no distinct promise to
furnish two guns by 20th, but stated that we would do
all in our power to furnish them by that time — We be-
-lieve however that we shall be able to fulfil your ex-
-pectations, as we have already made one casting, which
is still in the sand — cooling slowly —
We have not yet shipped the Rifled 6 Pdr. Bronze, & the smooth
bores ordered, but expect to have the Elevating Sights completed
today or tomorrow, & will ship Guns, Sights, & Shot as soon as
finished ▬▬[struck, illegible] We have not yet recd. the Copper which
you promised us for covering Ammunition Chests.
The dealers in Copper (such as we use to make Cannon)
are still raising their prices — Lately we have bought
Old Copper at 22 ¢ & new Copper at 26½ ¢ — We have since
recd. notice that the price would be 31½ ¢ for the next lot,
& we presume that the price of old Copper will rise
in proportion — Have'nt you some Copper, which you
do not want, & which you can furnish at a lower price?
(over)
Checks: No account and no extensions on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. The three copper prices quoted — old copper at 22¢, new copper at 26½¢, and 31½¢ notified for the next lot — are quotations only, with no quantities attached, so nothing can be multiplied or footed. The letter's internal sense is consistent: the writers say the price of old copper will rise "in proportion" to the new, and old is at that moment 4½¢ below new.
Flagged: (1) A short word or contraction after "finished" has been struck out with a solid black bar and cannot be read; it is left as ▬▬[struck, illegible]. (2) The words "Old" and "new" before "Copper" are underlined in the original, as is "31½"; the underlining is the writer's. (3) "labour" is spelled so by the writer and is left as written, as is "Have'nt" with its misplaced apostrophe and "fulfil" with one l. (4) "Cannon" in the parenthesis is retraced and heavy but is legible letter by letter; the sense — copper of the kind used for casting guns — supports it. (5) "the late bombardment" and "the Army & its Chief" are not further identified in the letter; the addressee is at Warrington, on Pensacola Bay, and the letter answers one of his of "the 26th ulto", i.e. 26 November 1861. No commander is named and none has been supplied. (6) "your pet 12 Pdrs" is written plainly and is the writers' own phrase. (7) The date is "Decʳ 2ⁿᵈ 1861", agreeing with the docket at image 58. (8) The letter breaks off with "(over)"; its continuation is image 60.
Image 60 — Second page of the Leeds & Co letter of 2 December 1861 to Capt. H. Oladowski — invoice for Gen. Bragg's old guns and material, gun carriages and caissons, and projectiles for rifled 32-pounders; signed "Leeds & Co"
The continuation of the letter begun at image 59, on the other side of the same leaf or its conjugate (scan 3,492 × 4,375 px). Plain unruled paper, the same fast sloping mercantile hand, the same dense black ink, written right across the sheet with no address and no dateline — the page opens straight into the middle of the correspondence. Four paragraphs, each opened with a deep indent, and the subscription and signature stepped down at the lower right. Fold lines cross the sheet horizontally at about a third and at the foot, and there is a vertical fold down the centre; the paper has toned slightly along the folds. A heavy ink blot sits in the middle of the sixth line, blotting out and then re-forming the word "they", with a lighter smear trailing down and to the right of it across the following two lines but not obscuring them. A scatter of small ringed film flecks lies down the left margin. Two or three words are retraced for emphasis. No handstamps on this face.
We recd. no invoice with the old Guns & material
sent to us by Maj. Genl. Bragg — It would perhaps be
better to send us an invoice, so that we may know at
what price to charge the 12 Pdrs, which we are making
for you — If however you prefer some other mode
of charging the guns, please inform us of yr. wishes —
We mentioned to Mess. Hendliken[?] & Luter[?] that
you would not require the Gun Carriages, Caissons
&c ordered by you during your late visit to our city
They informed me that ●they had also recd. some ad-
-vices upon the subject, & that they would commu-
-nicate with you in the course of a few days.
We would be pleased to learn that there has
been made some better & lighter projectile for
rifled 32 Pdrs. than those made according to the
Dahlgren pattern, or according to the Tredegar plan
the Tredegar shot, you will recollect, has a base of
hardened Lead, with projections, cast so as to fit ea-
-sily into the corresponding grooves of the gun.
The "Lead" projectile, we are inclined to believe, is the
best shell, but if any thing better has fallen under
your notice, please give us a sketch or an account
of it ———— We have no news either here, or from any
of the armies, but are in hourly expectancy —
Very Respectfully
Y[ou]r Ob[edien]t Serv[an]ts,
Leeds & Co
Checks: No figures of any kind on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. The page discusses prices and invoices but quotes no sum, no rate and no quantity except "12 Pdrs" and "32 Pdrs" as gun calibres.
Flagged: (1) The name of the firm in the second paragraph is the one serious doubt on this page. It is written in a hurried hand with a looped initial that could be H or M, and the letters that follow run together: the reading offered is "Hendliken[?] & Luter[?]", and neither element is secure. It should be checked against another document before being printed as a name. (2) "They informed me" — "me", singular, in a letter that says "we" and "us" throughout; it is plainly written and has not been normalised. (3) The word "they" in the same line has been blotted and rewritten over the blot; the rewritten word is legible and is given here preceded by ● to mark the blot. (4) The "Lead" projectile is written with the writer's own quotation marks around Lead; the capital L matches "hardened Lead" three lines above. (5) "Maj. Genl. Bragg" is the only officer named in the body of the page; "Dahlgren" and "Tredegar" are named as patterns of projectile, the second being the Richmond works. All three names are legible. (6) The page carries no date and no place; both stand on the first page (image 59), which ends "(over)". (7) "&c ordered by you during your late visit to our city" — the city is not named on this page but is New Orleans from the dateline of image 59.
Image 61 — Printed index/cross-reference card, "Leeds & Co., LA.", Catch Book page 278; a pointer to the report of the Naval Investigating Com[mittee]; no money figures
A tall, narrow printed index card photographed against a black backing, roughly 1,576 × 3,585 pixels — a portrait slip about three times as tall as it is wide. The card stock is light and clean, ruled the whole way down with printed dotted horizontal lines and closed at top and bottom by heavier solid rules. The printed matter — "Write nothing above this line.", "CATCH BOOK PAGE", the bracketed "(257)" and a partly broken figure "3—484" at the foot — is typeset; everything else is added in a bold, confident, thick-nibbed black cursive with heavy shading on the capitals, plainly a records-office hand rather than a wartime clerk's. The firm name "Leeds & Co" is written large on the top ruled line and underscored twice; the state "LA." is added in a smaller, more upright hand at the right, as is the page number "278". A small ink blot sits at the right end of the second line of the note, and a faint smudge and a light diagonal scratch cross the lower half of the card. There are no handstamps, no folds, no dates, no dollar amounts, and no signature. The sheet is a modern (post-war, archival) finding-aid card filmed with the Leeds & Co. papers, not a Confederate business document.
Write nothing above this line.
Leeds & C o
___________ LA.
CATCH BOOK PAGE 278
See report of Naval
Investigating Com [abbreviation mark]
Ch. 8- 2 90 - 355
(257) 3—484
Checks: No figures on the sheet other than the reference numbers "278" and "Ch. 8-290-355" and the printed form numbers — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The word after "Investigating" is written "Com" followed by a raised abbreviation stroke and a blot; it could be expanded as Committee or Commission, and I do not read enough of it to choose — left as written. "Ch. 8-290-355" is a citation in the card-index's own shorthand: "Ch." for Chapter, then three numbers, most naturally volume/page-range, but the card does not say so and I have not expanded it. The bracketed "(257)" at bottom left and "3—484" at bottom centre are printed form/stock numbers on the card blank, not the voucher number, per the standing rule. "LA." for Louisiana is written by the indexer, not the firm. This card carries no date, place, sum or officer's name, so nothing on it can be tested against the accounts filmed around it; it names no account and cannot be paired with any neighbouring sheet.
Image 62 — Second index/cross-reference card, "Leeds and Co.", pointing to Vessel Papers A-60, B-18 and W-1; stamped "Misc. Vouchers."; no money figures
Another tall, narrow ruled card, about 1,612 × 3,467 pixels, photographed on the same black backing. The stock is plain and pale, ruled in faint continuous grey horizontal lines (not the dotted rules of image 61) and carrying no printed headings at all. The writing is a fine-nibbed, well-spaced clerical cursive with long flourished ascenders — a lighter, more fluent hand than the bold one on image 61, and probably not the same writer. The firm name runs across the top ruled line, the "and" written small and superscript between "Leeds" and "Co-". Below, after a looping "see" whose terminal stroke sweeps down and to the right to lead the eye into the list, three reference lines are set out with ditto marks in the two right-hand columns. The lower third of the card carries a faint, weak, slightly tilted rubber handstamp reading "Misc. Vouchers." — struck in pale ink and partly ghosted, but legible. No folds, no tears, no dates, no dollar amounts, no signature. Like image 61, this is an archival finding-aid card, not a Confederate business paper.
Leeds and Co-
see
A- 60- Vessel Papers.
B. 18, " "
W. 1- " "
[handstamp:] Misc. Vouchers.
Checks: No figures on the sheet beyond the three file references — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The three lines are file citations, not quantities: a letter, a number, and the words "Vessel Papers" (repeated below by ditto marks). "A- 60-" is clear; the second reads "B. 18," and the third "W. 1-" with a trailing dash. "Misc. Vouchers." is a rubber stamp, struck faintly and on a slight upward slant, and should not be mistaken for the printed heading of a form. The card gives no date, place, sum or officer's name, so nothing on it can be matched to the accounts filmed on either side of it, and it pairs with no neighbouring sheet. Whether the "Vessel Papers" references point to the same body of records as the "Naval Investigating Com[mittee]" note on image 61 is not stated on either card, and I have not assumed it.
Image 63 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: Voucher No. 30, Leeds & Co., June 25th 1861, $843 02/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engineers; "Support of Regular Army / Armament of Fortifications"
A wide sheet, about 4,568 × 3,551 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening because the sheet is folded: two strong vertical fold lines divide the image into three panels, and the writing on the centre panel runs the normal way while the certification on the left panel is written sideways, reading up the page — the arrangement of a docket on the outside of a folded account. The paper is pale and lightly foxed with scattered small dark specks; there are no tears. The printed matter of the docket blank ("I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; the articles accounted for in my property return for ____ quarter of 18__", and "VOUCHER No." with a printed rule) is in a small serif type. The entries are made in a fine brown-black iron-gall ink in a neat, sloped clerical hand, quite light on the film. The right-hand panel and the top-left corner show reversed, ghosted printing bleeding through from the account on the other side of the sheet — mirror-image "The Confederate States", "APPLICATION.", "18__" and other headings, faintly legible but backwards, which is show-through and not writing on this face. A large ink check mark or tick sweeps down the centre of the sheet below the money line. Low on the centre panel is a heavy oval rubber handstamp with two five-pointed stars, the outer legend reading RECORD DIVISION, ... WAR DEPARTMENT and an inner legend partly filled and largely illegible.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
For Support of Regular Army
Armament of Fortifications
VOUCHER No. 30
Leeds & Co
June 25 th , 1861.
$ 843 02/100
[large ink check mark]
[oval handstamp, two stars:]
RECORD DIVISION,
RE[BEL ARCHI]VES. [inner line, largely obliterated]
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; the articles
accounted for in my property return for 2 d quarter of 18 61.
M. L. Smith
Maj. of Engineers
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $843 02/100, and no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 64 is receipted at New Orleans, La., 25th day of June 1861, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for eight hundred and forty-three dollars and two cents, under the printed heading "for Regular Army - 'Armament of Fortifications'". Figure, date, officer and appropriation all match the docket exactly, so image 63 is the docket to image 64.
Flagged: The date is written "June 25 th" with the "th" raised over a small double rule, and the printed "18" is completed in ink as "61" — read as June 25th, 1861. The signature reads "M. L. Smith" with a strongly looped capital, and I read the rank line as "Maj. of Engineers"; the abbreviation stroke after "Maj" is a small raised mark and the word "of" is reduced almost to a hook. The inner legend of the oval handstamp is struck weakly and over-inked in places; I read the first two letters as "RE" and the last four as "VES." and propose, as outside knowledge and not as a reading, that the full inner legend is REBEL ARCHIVES — the standing War Department stamp on captured Confederate papers. "VOUCHER No." here is followed in ink by "30", a real voucher number written on the blank; the printed word VOUCHER on this jacket is part of a filled-in line, not a bare form head. The reversed printing on the right-hand panel and top-left corner is show-through from image 64's face and has been deliberately left out of the transcription. No place is named on the docket itself — New Orleans appears only on the account it covers.
Image 64 — Printed billhead account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States, ironwork for gun carriages, May 13 1861; receipted at New Orleans, La., 25 June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; footed $843.02, with a pencilled/inked correction to $842.88
A large single sheet, about 3,616 × 4,602 pixels, filmed flat in portrait. It is a printed government billhead — heavy display blackletter for "The ____ States," with "for" and "To ____ Dr." following in roman and italic, then a ruled table with printed column heads DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST., the cost column subdivided into DOLLARS. and CENTS. Two horizontal fold lines cross the sheet, one about a third of the way down and one just above the receipt block, and a light vertical crease shows as a white line down the right of the DESIGNATION column near the foot. The paper is lightly speckled with small dark foxing spots, worst along the left margin and through the cost column, and the right edge is slightly ragged. The whole is written in a fine, even, sloping counting-house hand in brown-black ink. The single most important feature of the heading: the printed word between "The" and "States," has been obliterated by heavy cross-hatched pen strokes, and "Confederate" is written above it in ink with a caret below — a United States billhead pressed into Confederate service. A tick or check mark stands in the left part of the cost column against most, but not all, of the extensions; and in the CENTS column, above the first entry and squeezed against the column-head rule, "05" is written as a correction over the "19" beneath it. Beneath the footing "843 02" a second figure "842 88" is written, and a slash cancels the dollar sign of the footed line.
Confederate
The [word heavily struck out and illegible] States, for Regular Army - "Armament of Fortifications"
To Leeds & Co ________________________ Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 18 61 | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|----------------------------------------------------|--------------|---------|------|
[.05]
May 13 | To 7 W't Iron Shafts 1447 Lbs @ 6 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 94 | 19 |
" " | " Turning do | | 84 | 00 |
" " | " 14 Wheels 3332 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | I | 183 | 26 |
| $6 00/100 $56 00/100 | r | | |
" " | " Pattern @ Boring & recessing @ | o | 62 | 00 |
" " | " 14 W't Iron Levers 245 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | n | 49 | 00 |
" " | " Boring, fitting & turning ends | | 35 | 00 |
" " | " 14 Boxes for Shafts 1568 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | W | 86 | 24 |
| $6 00/100 $42 00/100 | o | | |
" " | " Pattern for do Boring do | r | 48 | 00 |
" " | " 7 Central pieces for Carriages 875 Lbs @ 5 1/2 pr Lb k | 48 | 13 |
" " | " Pattern for do - - - - | | 10 | 00 |
" " | " 42 W't Iron Washers 151 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | f | 30 | 20 |
" " | " Boring & turning do | o | 63 | 00 |
" " | " Drilling & Reaming 14 Washers | r | 21 | 00 |
" " | " 14 Steel Pins for Washers @ $1 00/100 each | | 14 | 00 |
| $10 00/100 $5 00/100 | Gun | | |
" " | " 14 Spring for Axles Cartage | Carriages, | 15 | 00 |
| | &c. |---------|------|
$ | 843 | 02 |
| 842 | 88 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans La this 25 th day
of June 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, — Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Eight Hundred & Forty Three — dollars and Two
— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 843 02/100
____________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 1447 lbs @ 6½¢ = $94.055, so the correction "05" written above is right and the clerk's original "19" is wrong by 14 cents. 3332 @ 5½¢ = $183.26, proves. Pattern $6.00 + Boring & recessing $56.00 = $62.00, proves. 245 @ 20¢ = $49.00, proves. 1568 @ 5½¢ = $86.24, proves. Pattern $6.00 + Boring $42.00 = $48.00, proves. 875 @ 5½¢ = $48.125, entered $48.13, proves to the rounded cent. 151 @ 20¢ = $30.20, proves. 14 steel pins @ $1.00 = $14.00, proves. $10.00 + $5.00 cartage = $15.00, proves. Five lines carry no rate — "Turning do" $84.00, "Boring, fitting & turning ends" $35.00, "Pattern for do" $10.00, "Boring & turning do" $63.00, and "Drilling & Reaming 14 Washers" $21.00 — and their extensions cannot be tested. Extensions against the footing: 94.19 + 84.00 + 183.26 + 62.00 + 49.00 + 35.00 + 86.24 + 48.00 + 48.13 + 10.00 + 30.20 + 63.00 + 21.00 + 14.00 + 15.00 = $843.02. The footing as written proves exactly at $843.02 on the clerk's own figures. Substituting the corrected first extension of $94.05 gives $842.88 — exactly the second figure written under the footing, so the alteration is internally consistent: the 14-cent overcharge on the shafts was found and struck out of the total. The footing against the receipt: the receipt is written out as "Eight Hundred & Forty Three dollars and Two cents", $843.02, which matches the footed total as first written and NOT the reduced $842.88; the restated "$ 843 02/100" at the foot left agrees with the receipt.
Flagged: The printed word between "The" and "States," is cancelled by dense cross-hatching and I cannot read a single letter of it; the width and the blackletter descenders are consistent with "United", and the correction written above it is plainly "Confederate", but the reading of the struck word is a proposal from the form's evident origin, not something I can see. The correction "05" in the cents column is squeezed hard against the column rule above the "19" and could be taken for a stray; the arithmetic (both the rate and the second footing) shows it is a deliberate correction. Whoever reduced the total did not alter the written-out receipt, which still reads eight hundred and forty-three dollars and two cents, so the paper as it stands is receipted for more than its corrected footing — flagged, not corrected. "14 Spring for Axles" is written with what looks like a singular "Spring" against a count of 14; I have left the clerk's form. The line reads "42 W't Iron Washers" but the two following lines charge for drilling and reaming, and steel pins for, only 14 washers; the figures are as written and I have not reconciled them. The APPLICATION column carries one entry only, written sideways up the column and bracketing the whole account: "Iron Work for Gun Carriages, &c." The tick marks in the cost column are an auditor's check, not part of the account. The DATE column heads "18 61" in print-plus-ink and every item is dated May 13, though the account was not receipted until 25 June 1861. The firm signs "Leeds & Co" with a long ornamental flourish beneath. This account is the document dockets image 63 covers.
Image 65 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 109, Leeds & Co., December 6th 1861, $8,011 30/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engineers
A wide sheet, about 4,572 × 3,634 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening: the same folded-jacket arrangement as image 63, with two vertical fold lines dividing the image into three panels, writing on the centre panel reading normally and the printed certification on the left panel running sideways up the sheet. The paper is clean and pale, with a scatter of small dark specks concentrated in the upper right and along the bottom, and no tears. The ink is a fine brown-black in a light, fluent, sloping clerical hand; the printed matter of the blank is a small serif type. Two features distinguish this docket from image 63. First, the certification's property-return clause has been struck out with a firm horizontal pen stroke — the words "the articles accounted for in my property return for ____ quarter of 186_" are all cancelled, leaving only "I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just;" standing over the signature. Second, the oval RECORD DIVISION handstamp on the centre panel is here struck cleanly enough to read all three of its legends, and above it, in a fainter pencil-grey line, stand large flourished initials. The right-hand panel and the top of the sheet carry reversed ghost printing bleeding through from the account on the other face — mirror-image "The Confederate States", "APPLICATION.", "DOLLARS." and the like — which is show-through, not writing on this side.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
Ordnance Department
____________________
VOUCHER No. 109
Leeds & Co
December 6 th 1861 .
$ 8011 30/100
O. K. [large flourished capital, P or B — see Flagged]
[oval handstamp, two stars:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj. of Engineers
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $8,011 30/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 66 is headed "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr.", is footed $8,011.30, and is receipted at New Orleans, La., the 6th day of December 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for eight thousand and eleven dollars and thirty cents. Figure, date, department and officer all match the docket exactly, so image 65 is the docket to image 66.
Flagged: The cancellation of the property-return clause is a deliberate strike by the certifying officer, not damage; I have marked it as struck out rather than dropping the words. The large initials above the handstamp are written in a very light grey line and heavily flourished; I read the first two confidently as "O. K." (with the K's ascender crossed by a long diagonal), but the third character is a big looped capital that I can read as either P or B and I will not choose between them. The oval handstamp is legible here in all three legends — RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. — which confirms as a reading, not a proposal, the inner legend I could only guess at on image 63. The month is written "December" and the day "6" with a raised "th" over a small double rule; the printed "186" is completed in ink as "1". No place is named on the docket itself; New Orleans appears only on the account it covers. The certifying officer signs as a Major of Engineers although the account is charged to the Ordnance Department — as written, not reconciled.
Image 66 — Printed Confederate billhead account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States for the Ordnance Department: shot, stand of grape, shells, rifling of 32-pdr guns, four 6-pdr bronze field pieces; October 4–16 1861; receipted at New Orleans, La., 6 December 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; $8,011.30
A large single sheet, about 3,580 × 4,567 pixels, filmed flat in portrait. It is a properly printed Confederate billhead — the heading set in heavy display blackletter reads "The Confederate States," with no alteration of any kind, unlike the doctored United States form on image 64 — followed by italic "for" and "To ______ Dr." Below is the ruled table with printed heads DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST., the cost column divided into DOLLARS. and CENTS. Two horizontal folds cross the sheet, one about a quarter of the way down (it shows as a grey band through the fifth item) and one across the receipt block; the paper is otherwise sound, lightly speckled with small dark foxing spots that cluster in the cents column and along the right edge. The writing is a rapid, well-formed, right-sloping counting-house hand in brown-black ink, with dollar rates written as small fractions over 100 above the line. Faint reversed printing from the docket on the other face ghosts through at the top of the sheet. A tick stands against every extension in the cost column and against the footing. The APPLICATION column, ruled and headed on the form, is completely blank on this account — no entry of any kind was made in it.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co ________________________ Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861 | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|---------|------|
October 4 | To 1500. 12 tt Shot = 18000 Lbs @ 4 1/2 ¢ | [blank] | 81,0 | 00 |
" " | " 500 Stand - 32 tt Grape @ $2 50/100 each | | 1250 | 00 |
" " | " 500 " - 24 tt do @ $1 90/100 " | | 950 | 00 |
" " | " Rifling 11 - 32 Pdr Guns @ $45 00/100 each | | 495 | 00 |
" " | " 60 - 54 tt Shot 3240 Lbs @ 4 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 145 | 80 |
" " | " 480 Lbs Lead on do @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | | 96 | 00 |
| $15 00/100 $37 50/100 | | | |
" " | " Patterns for Shot Cartage | | 52 | 50 |
| $142 50/100 $1 50/100 | | | |
" 7 | " 75 Stand 24 Lb Grape @ $1 90/100 Cartage | | 144 | 00 |
" 16 | " 6 Dahlgren Shells (without bushings) @ $6 50/100 | | 39 | 00 |
" " | " 8 Tredegar Shells @ $5 50/100 | | 44 | 00 |
" " | " 4 - 6 Pdr Bronze Field Pieces @ $625 00/100 | | 2500 | 00 |
" " | " 2 - 6 Pdr do Guns rifled @ $675 00/100 | | 1350 | 00 |
" " | " 2 Globe Sights for do @ $20 00/100 each | | 40 | 00 |
" " | " 50 Stand 24 Lb Grape @ $1 90/100 " | | 95 | 00 |
|---------|------|
$ | 8,011 | 30 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 6 th day
of December 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Eight thousand and Eleven —————— dollars and
Thirty ———— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 8,011 30/100
_____________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 1500 shot of 12 lb = 18,000 lbs as the clerk states; 18,000 @ 4½¢ = $810.00, and the entry "81,0 | 00" is $810.00, proves. 500 stand @ $2.50 = $1,250.00, proves. 500 stand @ $1.90 = $950.00, proves. 11 guns rifled @ $45.00 = $495.00, proves. 60 shot of 54 lb = 3,240 lbs as stated; 3,240 @ 4½¢ = $145.80, proves. 480 lbs lead @ 20¢ = $96.00, proves. Patterns $15.00 + cartage $37.50 = $52.50, proves. 75 stand @ $1.90 = $142.50, and $142.50 + $1.50 cartage = $144.00, proves — and the clerk wrote both the sub-figure and the cartage on the line, so the whole line is testable. 6 Dahlgren shells @ $6.50 = $39.00, proves. 8 Tredegar shells @ $5.50 = $44.00, proves. 4 field pieces @ $625.00 = $2,500.00, proves. 2 guns rifled @ $675.00 = $1,350.00, proves. 2 globe sights @ $20.00 = $40.00, proves. 50 stand @ $1.90 = $95.00, proves. Every line on this account carries a rate; none is untestable. Extensions against the footing: 810.00 + 1250.00 + 950.00 + 495.00 + 145.80 + 96.00 + 52.50 + 144.00 + 39.00 + 44.00 + 2500.00 + 1350.00 + 40.00 + 95.00 = $8,011.30. Proves exactly at $8,011.30. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Eight thousand and Eleven dollars and Thirty cents" = $8,011.30, and restated at the foot left as "$ 8,011 30/100". Proves exactly at $8,011.30 in all three places. The docket on image 65 carries the same figure, date, department and officer.
Flagged: The weight abbreviation for pounds is written throughout as a doubled crossed letter that I have set as "tt" — it is the common manuscript form of the pound sign ℔, so "12 tt Shot" is twelve-pound shot and "32 tt Grape" is thirty-two-pound grape; I have kept the clerk's form rather than normalising it. The first extension is written "81,0" in the dollars column with the comma after the 1 rather than after the 8; the figure is $810.00 and the placement of the comma is the clerk's, left as written. "6 Dahlgren Shells (without bushings)" and "8 Tredegar Shells" are both clearly legible; Tredegar is spelled as here. The APPLICATION column is entirely blank on this sheet — recorded as a fact of the document, since the standing instruction is to capture that column: there is nothing in it to capture. The certifying officer on the docket (image 65) signs as a Major of Engineers although this account is charged for the Ordnance Department; noted, not reconciled. This account and image 65 are a matched pair.
Image 67 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 63, Leeds & Co., September 19th 1861, $285 40/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engrs, and endorsed "Ex'd"
A wide sheet, about 4,596 × 3,615 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening in the same folded-jacket arrangement as images 63 and 65: two vertical folds, the docket entries on the centre panel reading normally, the printed certification on the left panel running sideways up the sheet. The paper is pale and heavily flecked with small round foxing spots, thickest across the lower half and the right-hand panel, and there is a short white scratch on the film running down from the left of the money line. The ink is a light brown-black, finer and paler than on the other two dockets, and much of it has faded toward grey. Below the money line a large open pen flourish — a single sweeping stroke resembling a figure 5 — runs down the centre panel. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp is struck low on the centre panel, weakly and unevenly, so that only about half its letters carry ink. Near the foot of the centre panel, well below the stamp, is a short abbreviated endorsement in a darker ink with a long terminal ruling stroke. The right-hand panel and the top-left corner carry reversed ghost printing — mirror-image "The Confederate States," "DESIGNATION.", "APPLICATION.", "DOLLARS." — bleeding through from the account on the other face; that is show-through, not writing on this side.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
Ordnance Department
____________________
VOUCHER No. 63 —
Leeds & Co
September 19 th 1861 .
$ 285 40/100
[large open flourish]
[oval handstamp, two stars, weakly struck:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Ex[?]d [initials, illegible] ————
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj. of Engrs
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $285 40/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 68 is headed "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr.", is footed $285.40, and is receipted at New Orleans, La., the 19th day of September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for two hundred and eighty-five dollars and forty cents. Figure, date, department and officer all match the docket exactly, so image 67 is the docket to image 68.
Flagged: The endorsement near the foot of the centre panel is the least legible thing on the sheet. The first word begins with a flourished capital E, has a crossed middle letter that I can read as either x or n, and ends in d — so "Ex'd" (examined) or "En'd" (entered); I cannot choose from the ink, and the two initials that follow it are reduced to loops and a paraph and I will not guess at them. The property-return clause of the certification is struck out with a firm pen stroke exactly as on image 65; the words are cancelled, not lost, and I have marked them as struck. The rank line here abbreviates further than on the other dockets, reading "Maj. of Engrs" rather than "Maj. of Engineers". The handstamp's letters are only half inked on this sheet; I have set it from the far clearer strike on image 65 rather than from what can be seen here, and say so plainly. The large flourish beneath the money figure is decoration or a pen trial, not a character. No place is named on the docket itself.
Image 68 — Printed Confederate billhead account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States for the Ordnance Department: valve repairs, truck wheels, brasses, axles, Columbiad straps; April 2 – June 17 1861; APPLICATION "For Gun Carriages &c"; receipted at New Orleans, La., 19 September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; $285.40
A large single sheet, about 3,672 × 4,568 pixels, filmed flat in portrait. Like image 66 it is a properly printed Confederate billhead — "The Confederate States," in heavy display blackletter, unaltered — with the ruled table headed DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST. (DOLLARS. and CENTS.). The paper is pale and quite heavily flecked with small round foxing spots, densest down the left margin and through the date column; a horizontal fold crosses low on the sheet just above the receipt block, and a second, fainter one runs through the upper third. The hand is a fine, sloping counting-house cursive in brown-black ink, smaller and tighter than on image 66, with dollar-and-cent rates written as fractions over 100 above the line. A short single tick stands in the left part of the cost column against every extension. The APPLICATION column carries one entry, written sideways up the column and bracketing the whole account. The whole document is legible; nothing is lost to damage.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co ________________________ Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861 | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------|--------------|---------|------|
April 2 | To Repairing Butterfly Valve @ $10 0/100 | | 10 | 00 |
" " | " do Throttle do @ $6 0/100 | | 6 | 00 |
June 3 | " 1 Truck Wheel 177 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 9 | 74 |
" " | " Pattern for do $3 0/100 — — — | | 3 | 00 |
" " | " Boring do $5 0/100 | F | 5 | 00 |
" " | " 16 Brasses to fit Truck wheel 130 Lbs @ 50 ¢ pr Lb | o | 65 | 00 |
" " | " Drilling do @ $4 0/100 Pattern @ $1 0/100 | r | 5 | 00 |
" " | " Cartage to Custom House | | " | 50 |
" " | " 4 Truck wheels 356 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | G | 19 | 58 |
" " | " Pattern @ $6 0/100 - Boring & facing @ $12 0/100 | u | 18 | 00 |
" " | " 4 Axles 76 Lbs @ 8 ¢ pr Lb | n | 6 | 08 |
" " | " Turning do @ $6 0/100 | | 6 | 00 |
" " | " 8 Pairs Brass Boxes 140 Lbs @ 50 ¢ | Carriages| 70 | 00 |
" " | " Pattern $1 50/100 - Boring & Drilling $16 0/100 | & c | 17 | 50 |
" 17 | " Columbiad Straps 180 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | | 36 | 00 |
" " | " Rivetting on Washers & Boring | | 8 | 00 |
|---------|------|
$ | 285 | 40 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 19 th day
of September 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Two Hundred and Eighty Five —— dollars and
Forty ———— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 285 40/100
___________
Leeds & Co.
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. Repairing butterfly valve @ $10.00 = $10.00, proves. Throttle valve @ $6.00 = $6.00, proves. 177 lbs @ 5½¢ = $9.735, entered $9.74, proves to the rounded cent. Pattern $3.00, proves. Boring $5.00, proves. 130 lbs @ 50¢ = $65.00, proves. Drilling $4.00 + pattern $1.00 = $5.00, proves. 356 lbs @ 5½¢ = $19.58, proves. Pattern $6.00 + boring and facing $12.00 = $18.00, proves. 76 lbs @ 8¢ = $6.08, proves. Turning @ $6.00 = $6.00, proves. 140 lbs @ 50¢ = $70.00, proves. Pattern $1.50 + boring and drilling $16.00 = $17.50, proves. 180 lbs @ 20¢ = $36.00, proves. Two lines carry no rate — "Cartage to Custom House" at 50 cents and "Rivetting on Washers & Boring" at $8.00 — and their extensions cannot be tested. Extensions against the footing: 10.00 + 6.00 + 9.74 + 3.00 + 5.00 + 65.00 + 5.00 + 0.50 + 19.58 + 18.00 + 6.08 + 6.00 + 70.00 + 17.50 + 36.00 + 8.00 = $285.40. Proves exactly at $285.40. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Two Hundred and Eighty Five dollars and Forty cents" = $285.40, restated at the foot left as "$ 285 40/100". Proves exactly at $285.40 in all three places, and the docket on image 67 carries the same figure, date, department and officer.
Flagged: The word I read as "Brasses" is written with the long-s digraph, so that it can look like "Brapes" or "Brafses" at first sight; the reading is confirmed by the rate, 50 cents a pound, which is exactly the rate charged two lines later for "8 Pairs Brass Boxes" — brass metal, not iron. The 50-cent cartage line has a ditto-like double stroke standing in the DOLLARS column where a nought would go; I have set it as the clerk wrote it rather than supplying a 0. The date column runs April 2, ditto; June 3, ditto down the sheet, then 17, then ditto — so the Columbiad straps and the rivetting are June 17, not September 17; the September date belongs only to the receipt, nearly three months after the last work. The APPLICATION column reads "For Gun Carriages &c", written sideways up the column in the same hand and covering every line of the account; the terminal is a "&" followed by a small "c" and a mark that may be a full stop. "Columbiad" is spelled as here. "Rivetting" is the clerk's spelling, with two t's, and has not been normalised. This account and image 67 are a matched pair.
Image 69 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 71, Leeds & Co., September 19th 1861, $1204 85/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engrs, and endorsed "Ex'd"
A wide sheet, about 4,544 × 3,618 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening in the same folded-jacket arrangement as images 63, 65 and 67 — two vertical folds, docket entries on the centre panel reading normally, the printed certification on the left panel running sideways up the sheet. The paper is pale and thickly flecked with small round foxing spots, worst across the bottom third and the right-hand panel, where they lie in drifts. The ink is a light brown-black, now much faded, and the writing is the same fine sloping clerical hand as image 67, plainly by the same clerk on the same day. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp is struck low on the centre panel and is weak and patchy, the bottom legend nearly gone. Near the foot, well below the stamp, is the same short abbreviated endorsement seen on image 67, in a darker ink with a long terminal ruling stroke. The right-hand panel and the top-left corner carry reversed ghost printing bleeding through from the account on the other face — mirror-image "The Confederate States,", "DESIGNATION.", "APPLICATION.", "1861" — which is show-through, not writing on this side.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
Ordnance Department
____________________
VOUCHER No. 71 —
Leeds & Co
September 19 th 1861 .
$ 1204 85/100
[oval handstamp, two stars, weakly struck:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Ex[?]d [initials, illegible] ————
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj. of Engrs
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $1204 85/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 70 is headed "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr.", is footed $1,204.85, and is receipted at New Orleans, La., the 19th day of September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for one thousand two hundred and four dollars and eighty-five cents. Figure, date, department and officer all match the docket exactly, so image 69 is the docket to image 70.
Flagged: The voucher number is written as a large "7" followed by a "1" whose upstroke carries a heavy blot at its head; the figure is 71, and it is not 7 followed by a dash. Note that this docket and image 67 carry the same date, September 19th 1861, the same department, the same certifying officer and the same clerk's hand, but different voucher numbers (71 here, 63 there) and different sums — two separate accounts settled the same day, so the pairing of each docket to its account rests on the money figure, which is decisive in both cases. The endorsement near the foot is the same abbreviation as on image 67: a flourished capital E, a crossed middle letter readable as x or n, and a terminal d, followed by two initials reduced to loops. I cannot resolve either the word or the initials and will not guess. The property-return clause is struck out exactly as on images 65 and 67. The handstamp is too weakly struck to read here; I have set it from the clean strike on image 65 and say so. No place is named on the docket itself.
Image 70 — Printed Confederate billhead account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States for the Ordnance Department: gun-carriage ironwork — sockets, wheels, screws, brass nuts, handles, plates, braces; August 10 1861; APPLICATION "For Gun Carriages, &c"; receipted at New Orleans (La.), 19 September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; $1,204.85
A large single sheet, about 3,652 × 4,518 pixels, filmed flat in portrait, on the same properly printed Confederate billhead as images 66 and 68 — "The Confederate States," in heavy display blackletter, unaltered, then "for", "To ______ Dr.", and the ruled table headed DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST. (DOLLARS. and CENTS.). The paper is pale and lightly foxed, with a drift of small dark spots down the left margin, another across the upper right of the heading, and a scatter around the money column; a horizontal fold runs above the receipt block and a fainter one through the table. The body is written in a small, hurried, heavily abbreviated counting-house hand — noticeably more compressed than the hands on images 66 and 68, with the quantity, weight, rate and sub-total of each charge crammed onto a single line and separated only by full stops and slashes, and with cent figures written small and raised. The firm's name in the "To" line at the head is written larger and with a broader nib than the body. Nine lines are used and the rest of the table is blank. A short tick stands in the left of the cost column against every extension and against the footing. The APPLICATION column carries a single entry written sideways up the column, bracketing the whole account.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co Dr
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861 | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|---------|------|
August 10 | 42 Sockets 200 . 25 ¢ / $50 00 Facing do $21 00 | | 71 | " |
| 42 Wheels[?] 2877 . 5 1/2 / $158 24 Facing & boring $52 50 | | 210 | 74 |
| 21 Screws 546 . 20 ¢ / $109 20 21 Brass Nuts 260 . 4[?] / $130 00 | F | 239 | 20 |
| Turning & Squaring nuts & Cutting threads | o | 157 | 50 |
| 84 Handles 288 . 12 ¢ / $34 56 Turning do $84 00 | r | 118 | 56 |
| Fitting handles to nuts $42 00 21 W t I plates 368 . 20 ¢ / $73 60 | G | 115 | 60 |
| Boring turning drilling inserting feathers & cutting keyseats in screws | u | 194 | " |
| 84 Braces 1050 . 5 1/2 | n | 57 | 75 |
| Turning $21 00 Cartage $19 50 | Carriages, | 40 | 50 |
| | &c |---------|------|
$ | 1204 | 85 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans (La) this 19 th day
of September 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Twelve Hundred and Four —————— dollars and
Eighty Five ———— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 1204 85/100
____________
Leeds & Co.
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. Line 1: 200 lbs @ 25¢ = $50.00 as written, plus facing $21.00 = $71.00, proves. Line 2: 2,877 lbs @ 5½¢ = $158.235, written $158.24, plus facing and boring $52.50 = $210.74, proves to the rounded cent. Line 3: 546 lbs @ 20¢ = $109.20 as written, proves; the brass-nut half is written "260 . 4[?] / $130 00" and $130.00 ÷ 260 lbs is exactly 50 cents a pound — the same brass rate charged on image 72 — but the rate glyph as it stands on the page reads 4, not 50, so that half of the line cannot be proved on the rate as written — the two halves nonetheless add, $109.20 + $130.00 = $239.20, proves. Line 4 carries no rate — "Turning & Squaring nuts & Cutting threads" at $157.50 — and cannot be tested. Line 5: 288 lbs @ 12¢ = $34.56 as written, plus turning $84.00 = $118.56, proves. Line 6: fitting handles $42.00, plus 368 lbs @ 20¢ = $73.60 as written, = $115.60, proves. Line 7 carries no rate — the boring, turning, drilling, feather-inserting and keyseat-cutting at $194.00 — and cannot be tested. Line 8: 1,050 lbs @ 5½¢ = $57.75, proves. Line 9: turning $21.00 + cartage $19.50 = $40.50, proves. Extensions against the footing: 71.00 + 210.74 + 239.20 + 157.50 + 118.56 + 115.60 + 194.00 + 57.75 + 40.50 = $1,204.85. Proves exactly at $1,204.85. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Twelve Hundred and Four dollars and Eighty Five cents" = $1,204.85, restated at the foot left as "$ 1204 85/100". Proves exactly at $1,204.85 in all three places, and the docket on image 69 carries the same figure, date, department and officer.
Flagged: Against the summary supplied to me, my reading of this sheet agrees on every material point — printed Confederate billhead, Ordnance Department, "To Leeds & Co. Dr.", the DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST columns, the APPLICATION reading for gun carriages, carriage ironwork of the kinds listed, the nine extensions 71.00, 210.74, 239.20, 157.50, 118.56, 115.60, 194.00, 57.75 and 40.50, the footing $1,204.85, receipt at New Orleans on 19 September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith of the Corps of Engineers, the firm's signature and the SIGNED IN DUPLICATE line. Four small differences of detail are worth recording. First, the APPLICATION column reads "For Gun Carriages, &c" — with a comma before the &c, and no leading "Iron Work"; the phrase "Iron Work for Gun Carriages, &c." belongs to image 64, a different account. Second, on lines 1 and 7 the CENTS column holds a ditto mark, not "00"; the extensions are $71 and $194 with the cents dittoed, and I have set them as the clerk wrote them. Third, the receipt's place is written "New Orleans (La)" with the abbreviation enclosed by a stroke, not "New Orleans, La." Fourth, the work is all dated a single day, August 10, 1861, five and a half weeks before the receipt. As to readings I cannot settle: the item on line 2 is written as a short, cramped word after "42" whose two tall opening strokes do not resolve at any magnification available in this scan; I read it as either "Bolts" or "Wheels" from the ink alone, and have marked it uncertain. Image 72, however, settles it on the arithmetic: that account charges "40 Wheels 2740 Lbs @ 5½ ¢ pr Lb", which is 68.5 lbs a wheel, and 42 × 68.5 lbs is 2,877 lbs exactly — the weight on this line, at the same rate. The reading is therefore "Wheels", proposed here and not silently written into the transcription. On line 3 the rate for the brass nuts is written as what looks like a figure 4 followed by a slash where every other line of this account puts a plain rate; the arithmetic wants 50, and image 72 charges "20 Brass Nuts 248 Lbs @ 50 ¢ pr Lb" — 50 cents a pound for brass on the neighbouring account — so 50 is almost certainly what was meant. I have still set down what is on the paper and marked it. On line 6, "21 W t I plates" is the clerk's contraction for wrought-iron plates, written with raised letters. "keyseats" is written as one word. This account and image 69 are a matched pair.
Image 71 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket, centre panel only: "For Support of Regular Army / Armament of Fortifications", Voucher No. 28, Leeds & Co., June 25th 1861, $1109 08/100
A tall, narrow strip, about 1,560 × 3,660 pixels, photographed against a black backing. Unlike images 63, 65, 67 and 69 — which were filmed as full three-panel openings — this one is filmed as the centre panel alone, so the certification panel and any endorsement panels of the same jacket are not in the frame. The paper is pale and clean, faintly ruled with printed dotted guide lines, and the top and bottom edges show the slightly cockled, deckled look of a sheet that has been folded and refolded; three soft horizontal creases cross the lower half. The printed matter — "VOUCHER No." with its trailing rule, and the printed "18__" completed in ink — is a small serif type; the two appropriation lines above it and everything below are in a fine, faded, right-sloping clerical hand in brown-black ink that has gone grey on the film. A long open pen flourish, a single stroke like an elongated J, sweeps down the middle of the sheet below the money figure. Across the lower third is a very large oval rubber handstamp, struck on a pronounced diagonal running down to the right and only lightly inked, its two five-pointed stars visible at left and right; the outer legend RECORD DIVISION ... WAR DEPARTMENT. and the inner REBEL ARCHIVES. can be traced but are broken in several places. Nothing else is written on the strip.
For Support of Regular Army
Armament of Fortifications
VOUCHER No. 28 —
Leeds & Co
June 25 th , 1861 .
$ 1109 08/100
[long open flourish]
[large oval handstamp, struck on a diagonal, two stars:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $1109 08/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 72 is headed "The Confederate States, for Regular Army 'Armament of Fortifications', To Leeds & Co Dr.", is footed $1,109.08, and is receipted at New Orleans La. the 25th day of June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for eleven hundred and nine dollars and eight cents. Figure, date, appropriation heading and officer all match the docket exactly, so image 71 is the docket to image 72.
Flagged: This docket names the same appropriation and the same date, June 25th 1861, as image 63 — but image 63 is voucher No. 30 at $843.02 and this is voucher No. 28 at $1,109.08. Two separate accounts under the same appropriation were settled the same day; the money figures keep the two pairs apart, and each pairs decisively with its own account. No certifying officer's signature appears here, because the panel that would carry it is outside the frame of this image — that is a fact about the filming, not about the document, and I have not assumed the certification matches the other jackets. No place is named on the strip. The oval handstamp is struck at a steep angle and lightly; I have set its legends from the clean strike on image 65 rather than from what can be read here, and say so. The printed "VOUCHER No." is a filled-in line, and "28" is the real voucher number written into it.
Image 72 — Printed billhead account on an altered United States form, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States, "for Regular Army 'Armament of Fortifications'": wheels, sockets, screws, brass nuts, handles, plates and braces; May 13 1861; APPLICATION "Iron Work for Gun Carriage"; receipted at New Orleans La., 25 June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; $1,109.08
A large single sheet, about 3,544 × 4,478 pixels, filmed flat in portrait. Like image 64 — and unlike images 66, 68 and 70 — this is a United States printed billhead pressed into Confederate service: the printed word between "The" and "States," is obliterated by dense cross-hatched pen strokes, and "Confederate" is written above it in ink with a caret below. The rest of the printed matter is the standard form — "for", "To ______ Dr.", and the ruled table headed DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST. (DOLLARS. and CENTS.). The paper is pale and speckled with small ringed foxing spots, thickest down the left margin and around the receipt block, and one such spot sits squarely on the cents figure of the second line, where it can be mistaken for a numeral. A horizontal fold runs above the receipt block; the left edge shows a short dark tear or repair patch about a third of the way down, and the right edge is slightly ragged. The whole is written in a fine, even, sloping counting-house hand in brown-black ink — the same clear hand as image 64, not the cramped hand of image 70. A tick stands in the left of the cost column against most, but not all, of the extensions. The APPLICATION column carries one entry, written sideways up the column and bracketing the whole account. The right of the heading shows faint reversed printing bleeding through from the docket on the other face.
Confederate
The [word heavily struck out and illegible] States, for Regular Army "Armament of Fortifications"
To Leeds & Co ________________________ Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861 . | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|---------|------|
May 13 | To 40 Wheels 2740 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 150 | 70 |
" " | " Boring and facing do | | 50 | 00 |
" " | " 40 W t Iron Sockets 190 Lbs @ 25 ¢ pr Lb | I | 47 | 50 |
" " | " Facing Sockets | r | 20 | 00 |
" " | " 20 Screws 520 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | o | 104 | 00 |
" " | " 20 Brass Nuts 248 Lbs @ 50 ¢ pr Lb | n | 124 | 00 |
" " | " Turning Screws & Brass Nuts | | 150 | 00 |
" " | " 80 Handles for Nuts 274 Lbs @ 12 ¢ pr Lb | W | 32 | 88 |
" " | " Turning 80 Handles for Nuts | o | 80 | 00 |
" " | " Fitting Handles into Brass nuts | r | 40 | 00 |
" " | " 20 Plates of W t Iron for nuts 350 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | k | 70 | 00 |
" " | " Boring, turning & drilling do | | 130 | 00 |
" " | " Inserting feathers in 20 plates & planing } | for Gun | | |
| seat in Screws — — — — } | Carriage | 55 | 00 |
" " | " 80 Pipes or Braces 100 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 55 | 00 |
|---------|------|
$ | 1,109 | 08 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans La this 25 th day
of June 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Eleven Hundred and Nine —— dollars and Eight
—— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 1,109 08/100
_____________
Leeds & Co.
[faint pencil word below, illegible]
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 2,740 lbs @ 5½¢ = $150.70, proves. "Boring and facing do" carries no rate and its $50.00 cannot be tested. 190 lbs @ 25¢ = $47.50, proves. "Facing Sockets" carries no rate; $20.00 cannot be tested. 520 lbs @ 20¢ = $104.00, proves. 248 lbs @ 50¢ = $124.00, proves. "Turning Screws & Brass Nuts" carries no rate; $150.00 cannot be tested. 274 lbs @ 12¢ = $32.88, proves. "Turning 80 Handles for Nuts" ($80.00), "Fitting Handles into Brass nuts" ($40.00), "Boring, turning & drilling do" ($130.00) and the feather-inserting and planing line ($55.00) carry no rates and cannot be tested. 350 lbs @ 20¢ = $70.00, proves. The last line does NOT prove: 100 lbs @ 5½¢ is $5.50, but the extension is $55.00 — a tenfold divergence, discussed under Flagged. Extensions against the footing: 150.70 + 50.00 + 47.50 + 20.00 + 104.00 + 124.00 + 150.00 + 32.88 + 80.00 + 40.00 + 70.00 + 130.00 + 55.00 + 55.00 = $1,109.08. Proves exactly at $1,109.08. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Eleven Hundred and Nine dollars and Eight cents" = $1,109.08, restated at the foot left as "$ 1,109 08/100". Proves exactly at $1,109.08 in all three places, and the docket on image 71 carries the same figure, date and appropriation.
Flagged: The cents figure on the second line is written "00", but a dark ringed foxing spot sits on the second nought and makes it look like an 8; if it were 8 the column would foot to $1,109.16 and not to the $1,109.08 written on the sheet and in the receipt, so the reading "00" is settled by the arithmetic as well as by the ink. The last line is the one real discrepancy on the sheet: "80 Pipes or Braces 100 Lbs @ 5½ ¢ pr Lb" extended at $55.00. Only three digits are written in the weight — 1, 0, 0 — at any magnification, and 100 lbs at 5½ cents is $5.50; the extension wants 1,000 lbs. Since the footing, the receipt and the docket all agree at $1,109.08, the money is not in doubt and the fault is in the written weight; I have set down the three digits that are on the paper and corrected nothing. The word I read as "Pipes" is written with a tall descending stroke that this clerk also uses for the long-s digraph, so "Pieces" is a possible alternative reading; I cannot settle it. "planing" is clearly p-l-a-n-i-n-g, not ploughing, and the two-line item is bracketed together on the right by a large brace before the single extension of $55.00. The obliterated printed word in the heading is unreadable under the hatching, exactly as on image 64, and "United" is a proposal from the form's evident origin, not a reading. The APPLICATION column reads "Iron Work for Gun Carriage", written sideways up the column; the final word ends in a flourish that may or may not be a terminal s, and I have not supplied one. There is a faint pencil word below the signature, three or four letters, which I cannot read. Note also that this account and image 64 are both dated May 13 1861 and both receipted 25 June 1861 under the same appropriation — image 64 is voucher No. 30 at $843.02, this is voucher No. 28 at $1,109.08 — so one day's work was billed on two separate accounts, and only the money figure tells the two docket-and-account pairs apart. This account and image 71 are a matched pair.
Image 73 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: "Support of Regular Army / Armament of Fortifications", Voucher No. 27, Leeds & Co., June 25th 1861, $281 25/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj: of Engnrs
A wide sheet, 4,588 × 3,642 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening: the voucher jacket lies folded into three vertical panels, and the film has caught all three at once. The paper is pale bluish-grey, thin, and clean apart from two scattered clusters of small round dark spots — foxing or emulsion specks — across the upper right and along the bottom edge. Two firm vertical folds divide the panels; the fold at the left of the centre panel has darkened slightly with handling. The docket entries sit on the centre panel and read normally; the printed certification occupies the left panel and runs sideways up the sheet, so it must be turned a quarter-turn to be read. The ink throughout is a light, silvery grey-black, thin and somewhat faded, laid down with a fine flexible nib in a fluent clerical cursive with long looped ascenders; the printed matter (VOUCHER No., the certification, the small caps) is typeset in black. Below the money figure a long open pen stroke runs down the panel, and beneath the handstamp there is a very large flourished pen-letter with a deep descender that I read as a capital M but cannot resolve as a name. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp, with a five-pointed star at each side, is struck across the lower centre panel, tilted up to the right, moderately inked and fully legible. The right-hand panel and the top-left corner carry reversed ghost printing and writing — mirror-image "The", "VOUCHER", "APPLICATION.", "DOLLARS.", "(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)" and lines of the receipt — bleeding through from the account on the other face; that is show-through, not writing on this side. There are no tears and no loss of text.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
For Support of Regular Army.
_____________________________
Armament of Fortifications
_____________________________
VOUCHER No. 27 —
Leeds & Co
June 25 th , 1861 .
$ 281 25/100
[long open pen stroke]
[oval handstamp, two stars:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[large flourished pen-letter, M[?], with long descender]
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; the articles
accounted for in my property return for 2 d quarter of 186 1 .
M. L. Smith
Maj: of Engnrs
Checks: The docket carries one figure only, $281 25/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 74 is headed "The Confederate States, for Regular Army, 'Armament of Fortifications', To Leeds & Co Dr.", is receipted at New Orleans, La. on the 25th day of June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, and is signed Leeds & Co — so appropriation, place, date, officer and firm all match this docket exactly. The money does not. Image 74 foots at $281.35 and is receipted for "Two Hundred and Eighty One dollars and Thirty Five cents"; this docket reads $281 25/100. The two papers diverge by ten cents, the docket being the lower.
Flagged: The ten-cent divergence between this docket ($281.25) and the account it plainly belongs to (image 74, $281.35) is the one substantive problem on the sheet. The cents figure here is not doubtful: the "2" of "25" is formed exactly like the "2" of "281" on the same line, with the same flat foot, and it is not a 3. I have recorded both figures as written and corrected neither. The voucher number is written "27" with a long finishing dash. The rank line abbreviates as "Maj: of Engnrs" — a colon rather than a period after Maj, and the terminal of Engineers contracted; the signature "M. L. Smith" is the same hand as on the dockets earlier in this run. Unlike the dockets at images 65 and 67, the property-return clause here is NOT struck out: it is filled in, "2 d quarter of 186 1", the quarter and the final digit of the year both supplied in manuscript. The large pen-letter below the handstamp is a flourish or a pen trial; it has the shape of a capital M but no following letters, and I will not read it as an initial. No place is named on the docket itself.
Image 74 — Account: "The Confederate States, for Regular Army, 'Armament of Fortifications', To Leeds & Co Dr." — iron work for a planing machine, New Orleans, La., received 25 June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; total $281.35
A portrait sheet, 3,604 × 4,575 pixels, filmed flat: a printed billhead of the standard DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST (DOLLARS, CENTS) ruling, the rules and headings in black type, the whole surface pale grey and lightly speckled with small round dark spots that thicken into two clusters down the left-hand margin and along the right edge. The top edge is slightly ragged and the upper right corner is nicked, but no text is lost. The sixteen item lines and the receipt are written in a fine, even, right-sloping clerical cursive in a grey-black ink now somewhat faded; the hand is fluent and regular, with looped ascenders and a distinctive 7 carried well below the line. Most striking is the head of the form: the printed heading reads "The United States," on a pre-war United States blank, and "United" has been obliterated with a heavy solid bar of black ink and "Confederate" written above it in manuscript with a caret inserted below — so the sheet is a captured or leftover Federal billhead pressed into Confederate service. The APPLICATION column carries a single line of writing turned on its side and running up the column. A checking clerk has drawn a light tick in the dollars column against almost every line and against the footing. There are no handstamps on this face and no fold across the writing.
Confederate
The [United struck out] ^ States, for Regular Army, "Armament of Fortifications"
To Leeds & Co ———————————————— Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861. | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------|---------|------|
March 26 | To 2 Shafts 504 Lbs @ 7 ¢ pr Lb | | 35 | 28 |
" " | " Turning above | [written | 18 | 00 |
" " | " 1 Pair Couplings 81 Lbs @ 6 ¢ pr Lb | sideways, | 4 | 86 |
" " | " Boring & turning do | reading up | 7 | 00 |
" " | " Keying do | the column:] | 4 | 00 |
" " | " 6 - 3/4 inch Bolts @ 15 ¢ each | | " | 90 |
" " | " 3 Pillow Blocks 195 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | Iron Work | 10 | 73 |
" " | " 6 Braces for do 42 Lbs @ 50 ¢ pr Lb | for Planing | 21 | 00 |
| $8 00/100 $9 0/100 | Machine | | |
" " | " Fitting Braces @ Boring do @ | | 17 | 00 |
" " | " 6 Bolts @ 50 ¢ each | | 3 | 00 |
" " | " 1 - 5 ft Pully 732 Lbs @ 12 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 43 | 92 |
" " | " Boring & Turning do | | 30 | 00 |
" " | " 1 - 4 ft Pully 380 Lbs @ 12 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 47 | 50 |
" " | " 2 - 20 inch Pullies 186 Lbs @ 6 ¢ " " | | 11 | 16 |
" " | " Boring & Turning — — — — — — | | 20 | 00 |
| $6 00/100 $1 00/100 | | | |
" " | " 3 Collars & Setscrews @ Cartage | | 7 | 00 |
|---------|------|
| 281 | 35 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 25 th day
of June 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Two Hundred and Eighty One dollars and Thirty
Five cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 281 35/100
____________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 2 shafts, 504 lbs @ 7¢ = $35.28, proves. 1 pair couplings, 81 lbs @ 6¢ = $4.86, proves. 6 bolts of ¾ inch @ 15¢ = $0.90, proves. 3 pillow blocks, 195 lbs @ 5½¢ = $10.725, and the clerk enters $10.73 — rounded up a fraction of a cent, otherwise proves. 6 braces, 42 lbs @ 50¢ = $21.00, proves. Fitting braces $8.00 + boring do $9.00 = $17.00, proves. 6 bolts @ 50¢ = $3.00, proves. 1 pulley of 4 ft, 380 lbs @ 12½¢ = $47.50, proves. 2 pulleys of 20 inch, 186 lbs @ 6¢ = $11.16, proves. 3 collars and setscrews $6.00 + cartage $1.00 = $7.00, proves. One line does not extend: "1 - 5 ft Pully 732 Lbs @ 12½ ¢ pr Lb" would come to $91.50, but the clerk enters $43.92 — a shortfall of $47.58 against the rate as written. Five lines carry no rate at all — "Turning above" $18.00, "Boring & turning do" $7.00, "Keying do" $4.00, "Boring & Turning do" $30.00 and "Boring & Turning ——" $20.00 — and their extensions cannot be tested. Extensions against the footing: 35.28 + 18.00 + 4.86 + 7.00 + 4.00 + 0.90 + 10.73 + 21.00 + 17.00 + 3.00 + 43.92 + 30.00 + 47.50 + 11.16 + 20.00 + 7.00 = $281.35. The column proves exactly at $281.35 as the clerk footed it. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Two Hundred and Eighty One dollars and Thirty Five cents" = $281.35, and restated at the foot left as "$281 35/100". Proves exactly at $281.35 in all three places. Against the docket at image 73, however, it does not: that docket reads $281 25/100, ten cents short of this account.
Flagged: The heading is a United States billhead altered by hand: "United" is struck through with a heavy black bar and "Confederate" written above it with a caret. I have set it out as the sheet shows it rather than transcribing a clean "Confederate States". The 5-foot pulley line is the one arithmetical problem inside the sheet. The weight is unambiguously 732 — three separate digits, the 7 with this clerk's long tail — and the rate is unambiguously 12½ ¢ per lb, formed exactly as on the 4-foot pulley line below it, which does extend. As a matter of arithmetic and not of reading, $43.92 is 732 lbs at 6¢, the same rate charged two lines further down for the twenty-inch pullies; whether the clerk wrote the wrong rate or the wrong extension the sheet does not say, and I have corrected neither. The item is spelled "Pully" and "Pullies" throughout, "Setscrews" as one word, and "Collars" with two l's; all kept. "do" (ditto) stands for the item named on the line above in five places. The dollars cell on the ¾-inch bolt line carries a small ditto-like mark rather than a figure, the sum being under a dollar; I have shown it as a quotation mark. The ticks in the dollars column are a later checking clerk's marks, not part of the account. This account and image 73 are a pair on every point except the money.
Image 75 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 66, Leeds & Co, September 19th 1861, $332 95/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj of Engnrs, and endorsed "Ex'd"
A wide sheet, 4,552 × 3,625 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening of the folded voucher jacket in three vertical panels. The paper is pale and even, with two firm vertical folds and a light horizontal crease across the lower third; the right-hand panel is thickly peppered with small dark round spots — foxing and emulsion specks — which also drift across the bottom edge and up the left margin. A small dark oval blemish sits on the fold at the left of the centre panel, level with the firm's name. The docket entries occupy the centre panel and read normally in a fine, light grey-black cursive of the same clerical hand seen on the other dockets in this run, the capitals lightly flourished and the strokes thin. The printed certification runs sideways up the left panel, and there its whole property-return clause has been cancelled with two firm horizontal pen strokes. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp, two stars at the sides, is struck boldly and squarely across the lower centre panel, tilted up to the right and heavily enough that every letter carries ink — the best strike in this run. Below it, near the foot of the panel, is a short abbreviated endorsement in a darker, faster hand ending in a long ruling stroke. Both outer panels carry reversed ghost printing bleeding through from the account on the other face — mirror-image gothic "The Confederate States", "DESIGNATION.", "APPLICATION.", "DOLLARS. CENTS." and lines of the receipt; that is show-through, not writing on this side. No tears, no loss of text.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
Ordnance Department
____________________
VOUCHER No. 66
Leeds & Co
September 19 th 1861 .
$ 332 95/100
[oval handstamp, two stars, boldly struck:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Ex[?]d [initials, illegible] ————
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj of Engnrs
Checks: The docket carries one figure only, $332 95/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 76 is headed "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr.", foots at $332.95, and is receipted at New Orleans, La. on the 19th day of September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for three hundred and thirty-two dollars and ninety-five cents, signed Leeds & Co. Figure, date, department, place, officer and firm all match this docket exactly. Image 75 is the docket to image 76.
Flagged: The endorsement at the foot of the centre panel is the same abbreviated word found on image 67 and is no easier to read here: a flourished capital E, a crossed middle letter that can be taken for x or n, and a terminal d — "Ex'd" (examined) is the natural expansion but the ink does not settle it, and the two or three initials that follow are reduced to loops and a long paraph which I will not guess at. The property-return clause of the certification is struck through with two firm strokes, exactly as on images 65 and 67 and unlike image 73, where it was filled in; the words are cancelled, not lost, and I have marked them as struck. The rank line here reads "Maj of Engnrs" without the colon used on image 73. The voucher number 66 is written plainly, with no following dash. No place is named on the docket itself; New Orleans comes from the account. The mirrored gothic "The Confederate States" showing through the left panel confirms that the account on the other face was printed on a Confederate blank, not on an altered United States blank like image 74.
Image 76 — Account: "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr." — washers, rings, segments, plates and corrections to an earlier bill, for gun carriages, New Orleans, La., received 19 September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; total $332.95
A portrait sheet, 3,608 × 4,541 pixels, filmed flat on a black backing: the standard partly-printed billhead, its gothic heading "The Confederate States," and its DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST (DOLLARS, CENTS) ruling in black type, everything else supplied in manuscript — including the words "for" and "Dr" of the heading, which are written, not set. The paper is pale grey and moderately foxed: small dark round spots run in a heavy band down the left margin beside the date column and scatter along the right edge and the foot. Two very faint horizontal creases cross the item block. The writing is a fine, light, right-sloping clerical cursive in grey-black ink, considerably paler than the ruling; long braces in the same ink gather the two-line "Error in weight" and "40 Rings for Axles" entries against a single extension each, and rows of dashes fill out the short lines. The APPLICATION column carries one line written sideways and reading up the column. A large, weakly-inked ghost of the oval REBEL ARCHIVES handstamp arcs across the middle of the sheet from the application column to the right rule — a strike-through from the docket on the other face, not a stamp on this side. A checking clerk's light tick stands in the dollars column against most lines. No tears; no text lost.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co ———————— Dr
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861. | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------|---------------|---------|------|
June 19 | To 40 Bevelled Washers 146 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 8 | 03 |
" " | " 147 Washers 569 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | [written | 31 | 30 |
" " | " Cartages | sideways, | 18 | 00 |
" " | " Error in weight of wheels & Hubs in | reading up | | |
| Bill of May 13 th 1861 - 2160 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ } | the column:] | 118 | 80 |
" " | " 40 Rings for Axles omitted in same | | | |
| Bill 140 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb —— } | For Gun | 28 | 00 |
" " | " Turning do omitted in same | Carriages, | 30 | 00 |
" " | " 40 Pins for Clevices " " " | &c, | 13 | 60 |
" 28 | " 8 Wrought Iron Segments 380 Lbs @ 12 ¢ | | 45 | 60 |
" " | " Drilling & Countersinking | | 5 | 00 |
" " | " 8 Wrought Iron Plates 64 Lbs @ 12 ¢ | | 7 | 68 |
" " | " Drilling do — — — | | 5 | 00 |
" " | " 1 Cast Plate 175 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 9 | 63 |
" " | " Boring do — — — | | 4 | 00 |
" " | " 1 Pin 59 Lbs @ 9 ¢ pr Lb | | 5 | 31 |
" " | " Turning do — — | | 3 | 00 |
|---------|------|
$ | 332 | 95 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 19 th day
of September 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Three Hundred and Thirty Two dollars and
Ninety Five cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 332 95/100
____________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 40 bevelled washers, 146 lbs @ 5½¢ = $8.03, proves. 147 washers, 569 lbs @ 5½¢ = $31.295, entered $31.30 — rounded up a half-cent, otherwise proves. The correction of the May 13th bill, 2,160 lbs @ 5½¢ = $118.80, proves. 40 rings for axles, 140 lbs @ 20¢ = $28.00, proves. 8 wrought-iron segments, 380 lbs @ 12¢ = $45.60, proves. 8 wrought-iron plates, 64 lbs @ 12¢ = $7.68, proves. 1 cast plate, 175 lbs @ 5½¢ = $9.625, entered $9.63 — again rounded up a half-cent. 1 pin, 59 lbs @ 9¢ = $5.31, proves. Seven lines carry no rate and their extensions cannot be tested: "Cartages" $18.00, "Turning do omitted in same" $30.00, "40 Pins for Clevices" $13.60 (the dittos carry over "omitted in same Bill", not a rate), "Drilling & Countersinking" $5.00, "Drilling do" $5.00, "Boring do" $4.00 and "Turning do" $3.00. Extensions against the footing: 8.03 + 31.30 + 18.00 + 118.80 + 28.00 + 30.00 + 13.60 + 45.60 + 5.00 + 7.68 + 5.00 + 9.63 + 4.00 + 5.31 + 3.00 = $332.95. Proves exactly at $332.95. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Three Hundred and Thirty Two dollars and Ninety Five cents" = $332.95, and restated at the foot left as "$332 95/100". Proves exactly at $332.95 in all three places, and matches the docket at image 75 to the cent.
Flagged: Two of the entries are corrections to an earlier account — "Error in weight of wheels & Hubs in Bill of May 13th 1861" and "40 Rings for Axles omitted in same Bill", with "Turning do omitted in same" and "40 Pins for Clevices" continuing the same thought by ditto. The bill of 13 May 1861 they correct is not in this run of images; the $118.80 is charged as an addition, not shown as a deduction, but the sheet nowhere says so in words and I have not inferred beyond what is written. "Clevices" is the clerk's spelling of clevises and is kept. "Bevelled" carries two l's; "Cartages" is plural. The two half-cent roundings (31.295 → 31.30 and 9.625 → 9.63) are the clerk's and are left standing. The braces after the two-line entries are the clerk's own, drawn to tie the wrapped line to its single extension. The large faint oval arcing across the middle of the sheet is the REBEL ARCHIVES handstamp showing through from image 75, not a strike on this face. This account and image 75 are a matched pair on figure, date, department, place, officer and firm.
Image 77 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: "Support of Regular Army / Armament of Fortifications", Voucher No. 31, Leeds & Co, June 25th 1861, $55 05/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj: of Engnrs
A wide sheet, 4,544 × 3,613 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening of the folded voucher jacket in three vertical panels. The paper is a clean pale grey with two firm vertical folds; the right-hand panel and the lower right of the centre panel are lightly speckled with small dark round spots, and a faint diagonal scratch on the film runs down the right side. The docket entries occupy the centre panel and read normally; the printed certification runs sideways up the left panel. Writing throughout is a fine, pale, right-sloping clerical cursive in a thin grey-black ink — the same hand as images 73 and 75, and here noticeably lighter, so that the two appropriation lines at the head of the panel are faint against the dotted printed rules they sit on. Between the money line and the handstamp stands a large, boldly drawn check-mark, its long arm sweeping up to the right — a checking clerk's tick, much heavier than the surrounding writing. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp, with a star at each side, is struck firmly across the lower centre panel, tilted up to the right and legible throughout. There is no examiner's endorsement below the stamp on this sheet. The left and right panels carry reversed ghost printing from the account on the other face; that is show-through, not writing on this side. No tears, no loss of text.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
For Support of Regular Army
____________________________
Armament of Fortifications
____________________________
VOUCHER No. 31
Leeds & Co
June 25 th , 1861 .
$ 55 05/100
[large check-mark]
[oval handstamp, two stars:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; the articles
accounted for in my property return for 2 d quarter of 186 1 .
M. L. Smith
Maj: of Engnrs
Checks: The docket carries one figure only, $55 05/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 78 is headed "The Confederate States, for Regular Army, 'Armament of Fortifications', To Leeds & Co Dr.", foots at $55.05, and is receipted at New Orleans, La. on the 25th day of June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for fifty-five dollars and five cents, signed Leeds & Co. Figure, date, appropriation, place, officer and firm all match this docket exactly. Image 77 is the docket to image 78.
Flagged: The cents are written "05" with a clear leading nought, so the sum is fifty-five dollars and five cents and not fifty-five dollars fifty. Voucher No. 31 is written plainly; nothing on the sheet numbers it otherwise. As on image 73 and unlike images 75, 65 and 67, the property-return clause is NOT struck out but filled in — "2 d quarter of 186 1" — which is consistent with a June 1861 voucher falling in the second quarter. The heavy check-mark below the money line is a later checking mark, not a character or an initial, and I have not read it as one. No examiner's "Ex'd" endorsement appears on this docket. No place is named on the docket itself; New Orleans comes from the account.
Image 78 — Account: "The Confederate States, for Regular Army, 'Armament of Fortifications', To Leeds & Co Dr." — turning pipes or braces, bevelled and cast washers, cartage, iron work for gun carriages, New Orleans, La., received 25 June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; total $55.05
A portrait sheet, 3,616 × 4,515 pixels, filmed flat: the same partly-printed billhead as image 74, with the DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST (DOLLARS, CENTS) ruling and the words "for", "To" and "Dr." set in type. The paper is pale, clean across the upper half, and increasingly speckled with small dark round spots down the left margin and along the foot; a shallow crease runs across the lower quarter and the right edge is a little wavy from folding, but nothing is torn and no text is lost. The account is a short one — only four item lines, entered across the top of a form ruled for twenty, so the greater part of the sheet is blank ruling. The writing is a fine, light grey-black clerical cursive, the same hand as image 74. Again the printed heading is a United States blank made over: "United" has been blotted out with a heavy solid bar of black ink and "Confederate" written above it in manuscript, with a caret below to place it. The APPLICATION column carries a single line turned on its side and reading up the column, its tall letters running from opposite the second item line down toward the foot of the block. Two heavy check-marks stand in the dollars column beside the washer lines, and another beside the footing. No handstamp on this face.
Confederate
The [United struck out] ^ States, for Regular Army — "Armament of Fortifications"
To Leeds & Co —————————— Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861. | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------|----------------|---------|------|
May 13 | To Turning 80 Pipes or Braces | [written | 20 | 00 |
" " | " 40 Bevalled Washers 160 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | sideways, | 8 | 80 |
" " | " 75 Cast Washers 150 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ " " | reading up:] | 8 | 25 |
" " | " Cartage —— —— —— | Iron Work for | 18 | 00 |
| | Gun Carriages | | |
|---------|------|
$ | 55 | 05 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 25 th day
of June 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Fifty Five —————————— dollars and Five
cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 55 05/100
___________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 40 bevelled washers, 160 lbs @ 5½¢ = $8.80, proves. 75 cast washers, 150 lbs @ 5½¢ = $8.25, proves. Two lines carry no rate and their extensions cannot be tested: "Turning 80 Pipes or Braces" $20.00 and "Cartage" $18.00. Extensions against the footing: 20.00 + 8.80 + 8.25 + 18.00 = $55.05. Proves exactly at $55.05. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Fifty Five dollars and Five cents" = $55.05, and restated at the foot left as "$55 05/100". Proves exactly at $55.05 in all three places, and matches the docket at image 77 to the cent.
Flagged: The heading is again a United States billhead altered by hand — "United" struck out under a solid bar of ink, "Confederate" written above with a caret — set out here as the sheet shows it. The clerk writes "Bevalled" on this sheet where image 76 has "Bevelled"; both spellings are kept as written. The first item is read as "80 Pipes or Braces": the word is clearly Pipes, not Pins, and "or Braces" follows plainly. The cents of the footing are "05" with a leading nought, five cents and not fifty. The sum at the foot left is written over two heavy ruled lines and partly obscured by dark blots on the film, but the figures $55 05/100 can still be made out and agree with the footing above. The check-marks in the dollars column are a later checking clerk's marks. This account and image 77 are a matched pair on figure, date, appropriation, place, officer and firm.
Image 79 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 70, Leeds & Co, September 19th 1861, $3558 10/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj of Engnrs, and endorsed "Ex'd"
A wide sheet, 4,520 × 3,594 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening of the folded voucher jacket in three vertical panels. The paper is pale grey and the whole lower right quadrant — the right-hand panel and the foot of the centre panel — is thickly sown with small dark round spots, the heaviest foxing in this run; a scatter of the same spots runs across the top of the centre panel. Two firm vertical folds divide the panels and a slight horizontal crease crosses the middle. The docket entries occupy the centre panel and read normally in a fine, pale, right-sloping clerical cursive; the printed certification runs sideways up the left panel and its property-return clause has been cancelled with two heavy horizontal pen strokes, drawn so firmly that the ink has feathered into a ragged black bar. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp, star at each side, is struck squarely across the middle of the centre panel — level here rather than tilted, and inked well enough to read throughout. Near the foot of the centre panel is a short abbreviated endorsement with two initials in a darker, faster hand, a spot of foxing sitting squarely on it. Faint mirrored show-through of the account on the other face — gothic "The Confederate States", "DESIGNATION.", "APPLICATION.", "Leeds & Co" — appears on both outer panels; that is not writing on this side. No tears, no loss of text.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
Ordnance Department
____________________
VOUCHER No. 70 —
Leeds & Co
September 19 th 1861 .
$ 3558 10/100
[oval handstamp, two stars, struck level:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Ex[?]d [two initials, illegible] ————
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj of Engnrs
Checks: The docket carries one figure only, $3558 10/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 80 is headed "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr.", foots at $3,558.10, and is receipted at New Orleans, La. on the 19th day of September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for thirty-five hundred and fifty-eight dollars and ten cents, signed Leeds & Co. Figure, date, department, place, officer and firm all match this docket exactly. Image 79 is the docket to image 80.
Flagged: The endorsement at the foot is the same abbreviated word as on images 67 and 75 — read here as "Ex'd" but not certain, the middle letter being a crossed stroke that will serve for x or n — followed by two looped initials which I will not guess at; a round foxing spot sits on the first of them. The voucher number 70 is followed by a short finishing dash. The property-return clause is struck out, as on images 75, 65 and 67. This docket carries the same date, department, officer and place as image 75 but a different voucher number (70 against 66) and a very different sum, so the two are separate vouchers passed on the same day and must not be conflated. No place is named on the docket itself.
Image 80 — Account: "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr." — shafts, wheels, axles, collars, pins, brass bearings and brass plates for gun carriages, dated August 10 1861, received at New Orleans, La., 19 September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; footed $3,558.10 — the extensions sum to $3,618.10
A portrait sheet, 3,596 × 4,543 pixels, filmed flat: the same partly-printed Confederate billhead as image 76, gothic heading and column ruling in type, everything else — including "for", "To" and "Dr" — supplied in manuscript. This is the largest account in the run and the most crowded: seventeen item lines fill the block with no blank rows, most of them carrying two or three separate charges strung along the line and separated by an oblique stroke, so that the DESIGNATION column reads as a running abstract rather than one item to a line. The hand is small, rapid and heavily abbreviated, in a dark grey-black ink, with weights, rates and sub-amounts thrown up as small superscripts. The paper is pale and generally clean, lightly foxed with small dark spots down the left margin and in the lower right of the money column; a dark smudge and a short dash sit in the left margin beside the last item line. The APPLICATION column carries one line written sideways and reading up the column. A checking clerk's tick stands against every line and against the footing. No handstamp on this face.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co: Dr
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 1861. | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|---------|------|
August 10 | 21 Shafts Eccentric ends 2480 . 7 | | 173 | 60 |
| /210 00 /33 60 | | | |
| Turning do 42 Collars 168 . 20 ¢ | [written | 243 | 60 |
| /52 50 /42 00 | sideways, | | |
| Boring & turning Drilling & Reaming | reading up | 94 | 50 |
| Cutting & finishing ends of Shafts | the column:] | 31 | 50 |
| /3 00 /21 00 | | | |
| 42 Pins 20 . 15 ¢ Turning | For Gun | 24 | " |
| /620 00 /147 00 | Carriages &c | | |
| 42 Brass bearings 1240 . 4/ Boring & turning | | 767 | " |
| Drilling | | 70 | 50 |
| Cutting out Brass & inserting pin in Shafts | | 105 | " |
| /457 60 /210 00 | | | |
| 84 Wheels 8320 . 5 1/2 Boring & facing | | 667 | 60 |
| /81 20 /210 00 | | | |
| 42 Short Axles 1160 . 7 ¢ Turning do | | 291 | 20 |
| /33 60 /52 50 | | | |
| 42 Collars 168 . 20 ¢ Boring & turning | | 86 | 10 |
| Drilling & Reaming | | 42 | |
| Cutting & finishing ends of Shafts | | 31 | 50 |
| /3 00 /21 00 | | | |
| 42 Pins 20 . 15 ¢ Turning do | | 24 | " |
| /620 00 | | | |
| 42 Brass bearings 1240 . 4/ | | 620 | " |
| 42 Brass plates 314 . 4/ | | 157 | " |
| Turning bearings & plates & Recessing plates | | 189 | " |
|---------|------|
$ | 3558 | 10 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 19 th day
of September 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Thirty Five Hundred and Fifty Eight dollars and
Ten —————————— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 3558 10/100
_____________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate, and the sub-amounts against each extension. 21 shafts, eccentric ends, 2,480 lbs @ 7¢ = $173.60, proves. Turning $210.00 + 42 collars, 168 lbs @ 20¢ = $33.60, together $243.60, proves — and the 168 @ 20¢ proves in itself. Boring and turning $52.50 + drilling and reaming $42.00 = $94.50, proves. 42 pins, 20 lbs @ 15¢ = $3.00, + turning $21.00 = $24.00, proves. 42 brass bearings, 1,240 lbs @ "4/" = $620.00 (that is fifty cents the pound), + boring and turning $147.00 = $767.00, proves. 84 wheels, 8,320 lbs @ 5½¢ = $457.60, + boring and facing $210.00 = $667.60, proves. 42 short axles, 1,160 lbs @ 7¢ = $81.20, + turning $210.00 = $291.20, proves. 42 collars, 168 lbs @ 20¢ = $33.60, + boring and turning $52.50 = $86.10, proves. 42 pins, 20 lbs @ 15¢ = $3.00, + turning $21.00 = $24.00, proves. 42 brass bearings, 1,240 lbs @ "4/" = $620.00, proves. 42 brass plates, 314 lbs @ "4/" = $157.00, proves — and this line, having no second charge on it, is what fixes "4/" at fifty cents the pound. Five lines carry no rate and cannot be tested: "Cutting & finishing ends of Shafts" $31.50 (twice), "Drilling" $70.50, "Cutting out Brass & inserting pin in Shafts" $105.00, "Drilling & Reaming" $42.00, and "Turning bearings & plates & Recessing plates" $189.00. Extensions against the footing: they do not agree. 173.60 + 243.60 + 94.50 + 31.50 + 24.00 + 767.00 + 70.50 + 105.00 + 667.60 + 291.20 + 86.10 + 42.00 + 31.50 + 24.00 + 620.00 + 157.00 + 189.00 = $3,618.10, against the clerk's footing of $3,558.10 — the footing is $60.00 short of the sum of its own column. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Thirty Five Hundred and Fifty Eight dollars and Ten cents" = $3,558.10, and restated at the foot left as "$3558 10/100"; the receipt and the sum in figures agree with the footing, and the docket at image 79 carries the same $3,558.10. So the error, wherever it lies, was carried forward into the receipt, the money line and the docket alike, and the Confederacy paid $3,558.10.
Flagged: The $60.00 divergence between the extensions and the footing is the substantive finding on this sheet, and I have left every figure exactly as written. I checked the three cells that could most easily hide sixty dollars: the sixth reads 767 (a clear 7, 6, 7 — not 707), the ninth reads 667 60 (two sixes formed alike, not 167 or 607), and the eleventh reads 86 10 (not 26 10). Each of those three also proves against its own line's sub-amounts, so the extensions are internally sound and the fault is in the addition. The rate written "4/" on the three brass lines is not a fraction: 1,240 lbs at that rate extends to $620.00 and 314 lbs to $157.00, both exactly fifty cents the pound, and as a proposal only — this is outside knowledge, not on the sheet — "4/" is the New Orleans reckoning of four bits, or half a dollar. The clerk's obliques (as in "/210 00") introduce a money amount, not a division. Weights and rates are run together with a full point between them, so "2480 . 7" is 2,480 lbs at 7¢ and "8320 . 5½" is 8,320 lbs at 5½¢; I have kept that form. The dollar entries whose cents cell holds a ditto mark rather than a nought are shown with a quotation mark, as the clerk wrote them; the "Drilling & Reaming" line at $42 has an empty cents cell with only a dot of foxing in it. The date column carries a single entry, August 10, for the whole account, though it was not receipted until 19 September. This account and image 79 are a matched pair on figure, date of payment, department, place, officer and firm.
Image 81 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: "Support of Regular Army / Armament of Fortifications", Voucher No. 29, Leeds & Co, June 25th 1861, $3,213 90/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj: of Engnrs
A wide sheet, 4,656 × 3,657 pixels — the largest image in this run — filmed as a landscape opening of the folded voucher jacket in three vertical panels. The paper is pale grey and very lightly marked: a scatter of small dark spots along the foot of the centre panel and a few in the left margin, but none of the heavy foxing seen on images 79 and 80. Two firm vertical folds divide the panels, with a short white scratch on the film running along the second appropriation line. The docket entries occupy the centre panel and read normally in a fine, pale, right-sloping clerical cursive, the two appropriation lines written faintly across the printed dotted rules; the printed certification runs sideways up the left panel. Between the money line and the handstamp is a large, boldly drawn check-mark with a long upstroke, the heaviest mark on the sheet, as on image 77. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp, star at each side, is struck across the lower centre panel, tilted up to the right and lightly inked, so that the outer ring and the word WAR are faint but every word can still be read. No examiner's endorsement below the stamp. The right panel carries reversed ghost printing bleeding through from the receipt on the other face — mirror-image "RECEIVED at", "from", "the sum of", "(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)" — and the left panel a mirrored gothic "The Confederate States"; that is show-through, not writing on this side. No tears, no loss of text.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
For Support of Regular Army
____________________________
Armament of Fortifications
____________________________
VOUCHER No. 29 —
Leeds & Co
June 25 th , 1861 .
$ 3,213 90/100
[large check-mark]
[oval handstamp, two stars, lightly struck:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; the articles
accounted for in my property return for 2 d quarter of 186 1 .
M. L. Smith
Maj: of Engnrs
Checks: The docket carries one figure only, $3,213 90/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 82 is headed "The Confederate States, for Regular Army, 'Armament of Fortifications', To Leeds & Co Dr.", foots at $3,213.90, and is receipted at New Orleans, La. on the 25th day of June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for thirty-two hundred and thirteen dollars and ninety cents, signed Leeds & Co. Figure, date, appropriation, place, officer and firm all match this docket exactly. Image 81 is the docket to image 82.
Flagged: The sum is written with a thousands comma, "$3,213 90/100", where the docket on image 79 wrote "$3558" without one; both forms are the clerk's and are kept as written. The property-return clause is filled in, "2 d quarter of 186 1", as on images 73 and 77 — the second quarter being right for a June 1861 voucher — with a small ink blot on the "2". Voucher No. 29 carries a short finishing dash. This docket, image 73 (No. 27) and image 77 (No. 31) all bear the same date, appropriation and officer, and all three belong to the same June 25th settlement; they are distinguished only by voucher number and sum, and must not be conflated. No place is named on the docket itself.
Image 82 — Account: "The Confederate States, for Regular Army, 'Armament of Fortifications', To Leeds & Co Dr." — wrought-iron axles, wheel hubs, tires, linch pins, rings and clevises, iron work for gun carriages, dated May 13 1861, received at New Orleans, La., 25 June 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; total $3,213.90
A portrait sheet, 3,656 × 4,573 pixels, filmed flat: the same altered United States billhead used on images 74 and 78 — "United" struck out under a heavy solid bar of black ink and "Confederate" written above with a caret — with the DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST (DOLLARS, CENTS) ruling and the words "for", "To" and "Dr." in type. The paper is pale and clean over most of its area, with a loose scatter of small dark round spots down the left margin beside the date column, a small cluster at the lower left, and a torn or lifted corner of the film showing as a pale flag at the top of the sheet above the heading. Fifteen item lines fill the block, written in the fine, light grey-black clerical cursive of images 74 and 78; two of them carry a pair of separate charges, thrown up as superscript money amounts above the words they belong to. The APPLICATION column carries one line written sideways and reading up the column. A checking clerk's heavy tick stands against eight of the money lines and against the footing. No handstamp on this face.
Confederate
The [United struck out] ^ States, for Regular Army, "Armament of Fortifications"
To Leeds & Co ———————————— Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION.| COST. |
| 1861. | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------|---------|------|
May 13 | To 20 W t Iron Axles 4280 Lbs @ 9 ¢ pr Lb | | 385 | 20 |
" " | " Turning Axles | [written | 240 | 00 |
" " | " Fitting on do (inserting Central pieces, &c) | sideways, | 80 | 00 |
" " | " 40 Wheel Hubs 8400 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | reading up | 462 | 00 |
| $200 00/100 $40 00/100 | the | | |
" " | " Boring & Reaming do , Pattern, | column:] | 240 | 00 |
| $100 00/100 $220 00/100 | | | |
" " | " Planing do Fitting 40 Hubs | Iron Work | 320 | 00 |
" " | " 40 Rings or Washers for Axles 175 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | for Gun | 35 | 00 |
" " | " Turning & Boring do | Carriages, | 30 | 00 |
" " | " 40 W t Iron Tires 5260 Lbs @ 12 ¢ pr Lb | &c, | 631 | 20 |
" " | " 40 Linch Pins 34 Lbs @ 25 ¢ " " | | 8 | 50 |
" " | " Turning, planeing & fitting do | | 120 | 00 |
" " | " 40 W t Iron Clevices 1320 Lbs @ 25 ¢ pr Lb | | 330 | 00 |
" " | " Planing do to fit into Sockets | | 100 | 00 |
" " | " Boring, drilling & fitting on do | | 100 | 00 |
" " | " Turning & planeing do | | 132 | 00 |
|---------|------|
$ | 3,213 | 90 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 25 th day
of June 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith — Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Thirty Two Hundred and Thirteen dollars and Ninety
—— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 3,213 90/100
______________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 20 wrought-iron axles, 4,280 lbs @ 9¢ = $385.20, proves. 40 wheel hubs, 8,400 lbs @ 5½¢ = $462.00, proves. Boring and reaming $200.00 + pattern $40.00 = $240.00, proves. Planing $100.00 + fitting 40 hubs $220.00 = $320.00, proves. 40 rings or washers, 175 lbs @ 20¢ = $35.00, proves. 40 wrought-iron tires, 5,260 lbs @ 12¢ = $631.20, proves. 40 linch pins, 34 lbs @ 25¢ = $8.50, proves. 40 wrought-iron clevises, 1,320 lbs @ 25¢ = $330.00, proves. Seven lines carry no rate and their extensions cannot be tested: "Turning Axles" $240.00, "Fitting on do (inserting Central pieces, &c)" $80.00, "Turning & Boring do" $30.00, "Turning, planeing & fitting do" $120.00, "Planing do to fit into Sockets" $100.00, "Boring, drilling & fitting on do" $100.00 and "Turning & planeing do" $132.00. Extensions against the footing: 385.20 + 240.00 + 80.00 + 462.00 + 240.00 + 320.00 + 35.00 + 30.00 + 631.20 + 8.50 + 120.00 + 330.00 + 100.00 + 100.00 + 132.00 = $3,213.90. Proves exactly at $3,213.90. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Thirty Two Hundred and Thirteen dollars and Ninety cents" = $3,213.90, and restated at the foot left as "$3,213 90/100". Proves exactly at $3,213.90 in all three places, and matches the docket at image 81 to the cent.
Flagged: The heading is once more a United States billhead altered by hand, and I have set it out as the sheet shows it. This clerk closes a nought with a small looped return stroke, so that in two cells — the "240 00" on the "Turning Axles" line and the "30 00" on the "Turning & Boring do" line — the second nought can be taken at first sight for an 8; the column's own addition settles both as noughts, since only 240.00 and 30.00 bring the total to the footed and receipted $3,213.90, and I have transcribed them accordingly while saying plainly that the strokes are ambiguous. "Clevices" for clevises and "planeing" for planing are the clerk's spellings and are kept, as is "Linch Pins" for linchpins. The contraction for wrought is written "W t" with a raised t, expanded here no further than the sheet allows. The two lines carrying paired charges have their money amounts written as superscripts above the words rather than in line, and I have set them on a line of their own above, keeping the horizontal placement. The date column carries one entry, May 13, for the whole account, though it was not receipted until 25 June; the same May 13 bill is the one whose weights image 76 later corrected. This account and image 81 are a matched pair on figure, date, appropriation, place, officer and firm.
Image 83 — Docket (endorsement side) of a printed voucher jacket: Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 69, Leeds & Co, September 19th 1861, $6284 70/100, certified by M. L. Smith, Maj: of Engnrs, and endorsed "Ex'd"
A wide sheet, 4,596 × 3,587 pixels, filmed as a landscape opening of the folded voucher jacket in three vertical panels. The paper is pale grey and heavily foxed over the whole lower half and the right-hand panel, where small dark round spots run in drifts and chains; the top of the right panel carries a broad arc of them. Two firm vertical folds divide the panels, with a fainter fold-shadow toward the right edge. The docket entries occupy the centre panel and read normally in a fine, pale, right-sloping clerical cursive; the printed certification runs sideways up the left panel, its property-return clause cancelled by two heavy pen strokes drawn hard enough to blot. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp, star at each side, is struck across the middle of the centre panel, tilted up to the right and moderately inked, with the lower words a little grey but readable. Below the stamp there is a large flourished pen-letter with a long looping tail, followed by a small blotted loop, and lower still, near the foot of the panel, the short abbreviated examiner's endorsement with two initials and a long finishing rule. No writing on the right panel; the faint mirrored gothic "The Confederate States" on the left panel is show-through from the account on the other face. No tears, no loss of text.
[centre panel, reading normally:]
Ordnance Department
____________________
VOUCHER No. 69 —
Leeds & Co
September 19 th 1861 .
$ 6284 70/100
[oval handstamp, two stars:]
RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[large flourished pen-letter, L[?], with a blotted loop after it]
Ex[?]d [two initials, illegible] ————
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj: of Engnrs
Checks: The docket carries one figure only, $6284 70/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 84 is headed "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co: Dr", foots at $6,284.70, and is receipted at New Orleans, La. on the 19th day of September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for sixty-two hundred and eighty-four dollars and seventy cents, signed Leeds & Co. Figure, date, department, place, officer and firm all match this docket exactly. Image 83 is the docket to image 84.
Flagged: The examiner's endorsement is the same abbreviated "Ex'd" as on images 67, 75 and 79, and the two initials that follow it — each a closed loop with a point after it — are no more legible here than there; I will not guess at them. The large pen-letter above the endorsement is a flourish with the shape of a capital L trailing into a blotted loop; it may be a pen trial or the beginning of "Leeds" abandoned, but it is not a word and I have not read it as one. The property-return clause is struck out, as on the other September dockets. This docket (No. 69) and image 75 (No. 66) and image 79 (No. 70) all carry the same date, department and officer: three separate vouchers passed at New Orleans on 19 September 1861, distinguished only by number and sum. No place is named on the docket itself.
Image 84 — Account: "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co: Dr" — wrenches, wheels, axles, brass boxes, tires, clevises and pins for gun carriages, dated August 10 1861, received at New Orleans, La., 19 September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; total $6,284.70
A portrait sheet, 3,608 × 4,603 pixels, filmed flat: the same partly-printed Confederate billhead as images 76 and 80, gothic heading and column ruling in type, everything else in manuscript, "for", "To" and "Dr" included. This is the largest sum in the run. Seventeen item lines fill the block with no blank rows, in the same small, rapid, heavily abbreviated hand as image 80, most lines carrying two separate charges strung along with an oblique before each money amount, and weights, rates and cents thrown up as superscripts. The ink is a dark grey-black. The paper is pale, and a long file of small dark round spots runs the whole height of the left margin outside the date column, with a lighter scatter to the right of the money column; there is a short white scratch on the film through the fourth item line and another below the receipt. The APPLICATION column carries one line written sideways and reading up the column. A checking clerk's tick stands against every money line and against the footing. No handstamp on this face.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co: Dr
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. |APPLICATION.| COST. |
| 1861. | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|---------|------|
August 10 | Recessing bearings & inserting pins in shafts | | 105 | " |
| Drilling & tapping ends of Shafts inserting guide pins | | 84 | " |
| /84 00 /31 50 | [written | | |
| 168 Wood screws 42 Wood screws &c | sideways, | 115 | 50 |
| /414 04 /365 20 | reading | | |
| 84 Wrenches 1882 . 22 ¢ 80 Wheels 6640 . 5 1/2 | up the | 779 | 24 |
| /200 00 /105 56 | column:] | | |
| Boring & facing 80 Axles 1508 . 7 ¢ | | 305 | 56 |
| /120 00 /160 00 | For Gun | | |
| Turning do Cutting Keyseats & Keying | Carriages,| 280 | " |
| /1055 00 | &c, | | |
| 160 Pairs Brass Boxes 2110 . 4/ | | 1055 | " |
| /80 00 /20 00 | | | |
| Fitting & drilling Cartages | | 100 | " |
| 10 . 24 " & 11 . 32 Pounder Axles 3824 . 9 ¢ | | 344 | 16 |
| /252 00 /609 84 | | | |
| Turning 42 Wheels & hubs 11088 . 5 1/2 | | 861 | 84 |
| Boring Reaming planeing & fitting | | 546 | " |
| Fitting on Axles & inserting centre Pieces | | 84 | " |
| /58 80 /63 00 | | | |
| 84 Rings 294 . 20 ¢ Turning & boring | | 121 | 80 |
| /655 20 /14 50 | | | |
| 42 tires 5460 . 12 ¢ 42 Linch pins 58 . 2/ | | 669 | 70 |
| /126 00 /346 50 | | | |
| Turning planeing & fitting 42 Clevices 1386 . 2/ | | 472 | 50 |
| /105 00 /105 00 | | | |
| Planing do to fit Sockets Boring drilling & fitting | | 210 | " |
| /14 40 /136 00 | | | |
| 42 Pins 72 . 20 ¢ Turning & planing do | | 150 | 40 |
|---------|------|
$ | 6284 | 70 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 19 th day
of September 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Sixty Two Hundred and Eighty Four dollars and
Seventy —————— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 6284 70/100
_____________
Leeds & Co
Checks: Quantity × rate, and the sub-amounts against each extension. Wood screws $84.00 + $31.50 = $115.50, proves. 84 wrenches, 1,882 lbs @ 22¢ = $414.04, and 80 wheels, 6,640 lbs @ 5½¢ = $365.20; together $779.24, proves — both parts prove in themselves. Boring and facing $200.00 + 80 axles, 1,508 lbs @ 7¢ = $105.56; together $305.56, proves. Turning $120.00 + cutting keyseats and keying $160.00 = $280.00, proves. 160 pairs brass boxes, 2,110 lbs @ "4/" = $1,055.00, proves at fifty cents the pound. Fitting and drilling $80.00 + cartages $20.00 = $100.00, proves. The 24- and 32-pounder axles, 3,824 lbs @ 9¢ = $344.16, proves. Turning $252.00 + 42 wheels and hubs, 11,088 lbs @ 5½¢ = $609.84; together $861.84, proves. 84 rings, 294 lbs @ 20¢ = $58.80, + turning and boring $63.00 = $121.80, proves. 42 tires, 5,460 lbs @ 12¢ = $655.20, + 42 linch pins, 58 lbs @ "2/" = $14.50; together $669.70, proves at twenty-five cents the pound for the pins. Turning, planing and fitting $126.00 + 42 clevises, 1,386 lbs @ "2/" = $346.50; together $472.50, proves — again at twenty-five cents. Planing to fit sockets $105.00 + boring, drilling and fitting $105.00 = $210.00, proves. 42 pins, 72 lbs @ 20¢ = $14.40, + turning and planing $136.00 = $150.40, proves. Four lines carry no rate and no sub-amounts and cannot be tested: "Recessing bearings & inserting pins in shafts" $105.00, "Drilling & tapping ends of Shafts inserting guide pins" $84.00, "Boring Reaming planeing & fitting" $546.00 and "Fitting on Axles & inserting centre Pieces" $84.00. Extensions against the footing: 105.00 + 84.00 + 115.50 + 779.24 + 305.56 + 280.00 + 1055.00 + 100.00 + 344.16 + 861.84 + 546.00 + 84.00 + 121.80 + 669.70 + 472.50 + 210.00 + 150.40 = $6,284.70. Proves exactly at $6,284.70. Footing against the receipt: written out as "Sixty Two Hundred and Eighty Four dollars and Seventy cents" = $6,284.70, and restated at the foot left as "$6284 70/100". Proves exactly at $6,284.70 in all three places, and matches the docket at image 83 to the cent.
Flagged: This sheet settles the shilling-mark notation that image 80 raised. "4/" appears once, on the brass boxes, where 2,110 lbs extends to $1,055.00 — fifty cents the pound; "2/" appears twice, on the linch pins (58 lbs to $14.50) and the clevises (1,386 lbs to $346.50) — twenty-five cents the pound in both. As a proposal only, and not from anything written on the sheet, these are the New Orleans reckoning in bits, four bits to the half dollar and two to the quarter. The ninth line is the hardest reading on the page: it begins "10 . 24" followed by a small double stroke, then "& 11 . 32 Pounder Axles 3824 . 9 ¢". The word after 32 is unmistakably Pounder — capital P, o, the u-n minims, a looped d, then er — and not Powder; the double stroke after 24 stands in for the same word, so the entry is ten 24-pounder and eleven 32-pounder axles, twenty-one pieces weighing 3,824 lbs together. I have left the stroke as the clerk drew it rather than expanding it in the transcription. "Clevices" for clevises, "planeing" for planing, "Linch pins" for linchpins and "tires" in lower case are all the clerk's and are kept. The dollar entries whose cents cell holds a ditto mark rather than a nought are shown with a quotation mark. The date column carries one entry, August 10, for the whole account, the same day as image 80; the two together are the August work billed and paid in September. This account and image 83 are a matched pair on figure, date of payment, department, place, officer and firm.
Image 85 — Voucher jacket (docket) for Leeds & Co., Voucher No. 67, September 19th 1861, $331 63/100; certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engineers
A landscape scan, 4,596 x 3,703 px, of a single sheet photographed folded so that three panels stand side by side, the two vertical fold lines plainly visible as dark creases. Only the centre panel and the left panel carry ink; the right panel is blank paper through which the printed receipt block of the reverse (recto) shows faintly in mirror image. The paper is light and clean, with a scatter of small dark specks and ring-shaped spots across the lower half — emulsion or dust artefacts of the microfilming, not damage to the document. The centre panel is a printed docket form with light rule lines and the small caps heading "VOUCHER No."; everything else on it is filled in by hand in a fine, confident, well-formed clerical hand in dark ink, the whole written sideways relative to the scan (reading from the left edge upward when the sheet is turned). A large oval purple-grey handstamp, "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" with a five-pointed star at each side, is struck across the middle of the centre panel; it is lightly inked and partly illegible in its inner ring. The left panel carries the printed certification sentence in small type with the unused clauses struck through in ink, and above it a bold ink signature in a heavier, looser hand than the docket clerk's. Two lighter pencil-like annotations sit at the foot of the centre panel below the handstamp. No tears, losses or stains obscure any text.
[CENTRE PANEL — docket, written sideways]
Ordnance Department
____________________
VOUCHER No. 67
Leeds & Co,
September 19 th 1861 .
---
$ 331 63
----
100
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
La.
Ex'd O. O,
Err[?] $2.00
[LEFT PANEL — printed certification, unused clauses struck through in ink]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
~~accounted for in my property return for~~ ________ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M. L. Smith
Maj: of Engineers
[RIGHT PANEL — blank; the printed receipt block of the reverse shows through
in mirror image:]
RECEIVED at ______________ this ____ day of __________ 186_, from
__________ Corps of Engineers, the sum of __________ dollars and
__________ cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Checks: No figures to extend — this is a docket, not an account. The only sum on the sheet is the docket amount, $331 63/100, written once, and there is nothing on this sheet against which to test it. The pencil annotation "Err[?] $2.00" is not an extension and cannot be proved here; it appears to be a later reviewer's note of a $2.00 discrepancy in the account this jacket covers.
Flagged: The signature reads "M. L. Smith / Maj: of Engineers"; the initial letter is a flourished lower-case-form "M" and the surname is written with a long open loop, but the whole is consistent and legible. Proposal, not read from the page: this is Major Martin Luther Smith, Corps of Engineers, the officer named in the receipt on image 70. — "Err[?] $2.00" is the least certain reading on the sheet: the word is three letters, a capital E followed by two minim-and-hook strokes, and I read it as an abbreviated "Err[or]"; the figure "$2.00" is unambiguous. — "Ex'd O. O," is read as "Examined, Ordnance Office" but the two capitals are struck lightly and only the letterforms, not any expansion, are actually on the page. — "La." (Louisiana) stands alone below the handstamp in the same light pencil-like ink. — This is a docket only; the account it answers is not on this image, and its pairing must be tested against the sheet that follows (see image 86). — RULE 1 note: "VOUCHER No." here is printed with the number 67 filled in by hand, so 67 is a genuine voucher number, not a form number.
Image 86 — Printed billhead account, The Confederate States for Ordnance Department to Leeds & Co., New Orleans, June 28 – July 8, 1861; carriage ironwork, rollers, pins and cast segments; footed $331.63, receipted at New Orleans 19 September 1861
A single large sheet, printed billhead in the standard Leeds form: heavy blackletter "The Confederate States," across the head with manuscript blanks filled "for Ordnance Department" and "To Leeds & Co." with the printed "Dr." at the right margin. Ruled table below with printed column heads DATE. / 186_ . / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST. subdivided DOLLARS. | CENTS. Seventeen manuscript entry lines in a fine, even, right-sloping clerical hand in brown-black iron-gall ink, well preserved and highly legible; ditto strokes carry the date and the leading "To". The APPLICATION column carries one vertical inscription running up the sheet. One entry — the 5.80 extension for 3 Bands, 29 lbs — is ringed in a heavier ink circle, with "5.80" repeated sideways in the APPLICATION column beside it, evidently a checking mark by a later hand. The printed receipt block occupies the lower quarter, completed in the same hand, with the amount repeated in figures at the lower left as "$331 63/100" between double rules. Signed at lower right "Leeds & Co." with a long flourish beneath. Scattered small circular film artifacts (dark and light dots) speckle the margins; a horizontal fold crosses the lower right near the signature. No handstamps, no docket, no endorsement visible on this face.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
186 1 . | | | DOLLARS.| CENTS.
----------+------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+-------
June 28 | To 20 Bolts 48 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | | 9 | 60
" " | " 5 " 35 " @ 20 ¢ " " | | 7 | 00
" " | " 1 Wrench @ $2 50/100 – 8 – 7/8" washers @ 25 ¢| | 2 | 75
" " | " 3 Bands 38 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | Gun | 7 | 60
" " | " Drilling &c @ $7 0/100 – Cartage $1 25/100 | Carriages, | 8 | 25
July 8 | " 2 Plates & 8 Spikes 22 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | &c. | 4 | 40
" " | " 3 Bands 29 Lbs @ 20 ¢ " " | 5.80 | ( 5 | 80 )
" " | " Drilling do — — — | | 3 | 00
" " | $5 0/100 25 ¢ | | |
" " | " 1 Bolt 25 Lbs @ 20 ¢ Cartage | | 5 | 25
" " | " 1 Brass Nut 4 1/2 Lbs @ 50 ¢ pr Lb | | 2 | 25
" " | " Chasing Do. — — — — | | 2 | 00
" " | " 16 Rollers & frames 794 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 43 | 67
" " | " Pattern $6 0/100 – Boring & turning $40 0/100| | 46 | 00
" " | " 16 Pins 48 Lbs @ 12 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 6 | 00
" " | " Turning & Rivetting do — — | | 24 | 00
" " | " 40 Cast Segments 2692 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 148 | 06
" " | " Pattern for do — — — — | | 4 | 00
----------+------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+-------
$ 331 | 63
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La, this 19th day
of September 1861, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Three Hundred and Thirty One dollars and
Sixty Three —— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Leeds & Co.
$ 331 63/100
Checks: Rate-times-quantity proves for every line that carries a rate. 48 lbs @ 20¢ = 9.60; 35 @ 20¢ = 7.00; 38 @ 20¢ = 7.60; 22 @ 20¢ = 4.40; 29 @ 20¢ = 5.80; 25 @ 20¢ = 5.00 + 25¢ cartage = 5.25; 4½ @ 50¢ = 2.25; 794 @ 5½¢ = 43.67; 48 @ 12½¢ = 6.00; 2692 @ 5½¢ = 148.06. The composite lines prove as written out on the sheet: Drilling &c $7.00 + Cartage $1.25 = 8.25; Pattern $6.00 + Boring & turning $40.00 = 46.00. Four lines carry no rate — "Drilling do" $3.00, "Chasing Do." $2.00, "Turning & Rivetting do" $24.00, "Pattern for do" $4.00 — and their extensions cannot be tested. The seventeen extensions add to $329.63; the clerk's footing is $331.63. Does not prove — the footing is $2.00 higher than the sum of the extensions. The receipt ("Three Hundred and Thirty One dollars and Sixty Three cents") and the figure repeated at lower left ($331 63/100) both agree with the written footing of $331.63, so the $2.00 divergence lies between the extensions and the footing, not in the receipt.
Flagged: The wrench line is the likeliest seat of the $2.00 divergence. It reads plainly "1 Wrench @ $2 50/100 – 8 – 7/8" washers @ 25 ¢" and is extended at $2.75, which is the wrench at $2.50 plus a single 25¢ charge; eight washers at 25¢ each would be $2.00 and would make the line $4.50, still not the $4.75 that would bring the extensions up to the footing. The cost cell was re-cropped and magnified to be certain: it is "2 | 75", not 4.75. Both the quantity "8" and the size "7/8"" are clearly written, so the account is transcribed exactly as it stands and the discrepancy left uncorrected. The "5.80" ringed in the cost column and repeated sideways in the APPLICATION column is a later checking mark in heavier ink, not part of the clerk's account. The APPLICATION inscription is written vertically up the column and reads "Gun Carriages, &c." — it is one inscription bracketing all seventeen lines, not a per-line entry; in the transcription above it is set alongside the middle lines only for layout. The first date word is written with a heavy initial flourish and reads "June"; the sheet's year is supplied by the printed "186_" with a manuscript "1". No voucher number, handstamp, endorsement or docket appears on this face — the sheet is unnumbered.
Image 87 — Docket (outer fold) of an Ordnance Department voucher: Voucher No. 108, Leeds & Co., December 6th 1861, $315.40, certified by M. L. Smith; Rebel Archives handstamp
The blank outer face of a voucher folded in three, filmed sideways so that the sheet's long axis runs across the frame — the docketing inscriptions read bottom-to-top when the image is viewed as filmed, and the certification panel at the far left of the frame is upside down relative to the centre panel. Pale, lightly foxed paper with two strong vertical fold lines dividing the three panels. The left panel carries the printed certification formula in small caps and roman type, its second half struck through with a single heavy ruled ink line, and beneath it a two-line manuscript signature in fine brown ink. The centre panel carries the docket proper in a fine, sloping clerical hand on printed dotted rules, with the printed "VOUCHER No." in small caps; below it a large ornamental three-letter monogram in the same ink, and below that an oval double-ruled handstamp in faint grey. The right panel is blank apart from mirrored show-through of the printed receipt block and billhead head on the reverse — nothing on that panel is an inscription of its own. Scattered circular film artifacts speckle the lower half of the frame; a small paper loss or scuff nicks the extreme left edge. No wax, no wafer, no pin holes visible.
[LEFT PANEL — printed form, second half struck through with a single ruled line]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles
accounted for in my property return for _______ quarter of 186_~~ .
M L Smith
Maj' g Eng[inee]rs[?]
[CENTRE PANEL — docket]
Ordnance Department
_____________________
VOUCHER No. 108
Leeds & Co
December 6th 1861.
$ 315 40/100
O K B[?] [large ornamental monogram]
[oval handstamp, double ruled:]
RECORD DIVISION
★ REBEL ARCHIVES ★
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[RIGHT PANEL — blank; only mirrored show-through from the reverse]
Checks: One figure only, $315 40/100 on the docket. There is nothing on this face to add up, so no internal arithmetic can be proved. The figure is tested against the neighbouring account below.
Flagged: Docket pairing — this docket answers image 88, not image 86. Image 86 (the sheet immediately preceding on the film) is the September 19, 1861 account footed at $331.63; its figure, date and month all disagree with this docket. Image 88, the sheet immediately following, is footed at $315.40 and is receipted "at New Orleans, La, this 6th day of December 1861, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers" — figure, day, month, year and officer all agree exactly with this docket. So the docket precedes the account it belongs to on the film, and image 86's account has no docket filmed beside it in this range. The second line of the signature is not certain: it reads as "Maj" with a raised abbreviation stroke followed by a looped letter and "Eng__s", most plausibly a form of "Maj[or] of Engineers", but the middle glyph will not resolve at any magnification, so it is left as "Maj' g Eng[inee]rs[?]". The ornamental monogram below the docket is three interlaced capitals with heavy flourishes; the first is clearly O and the last plausibly B or D, but it is a device rather than plain lettering and I will not commit to a reading — recorded as "O K B[?]". The "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" oval is a post-war United States War Department archival handstamp, not a Confederate marking; it is recorded here as it appears. The printed certification formula on the left panel is part of the blank form; its cancellation by a ruled line is the clerk's, meaning the officer certified the account correct and just but declined the property-return clause. No place is named anywhere on this face.
Image 88 — Printed billhead account, The Confederate States for Ordnance Department to Leeds & Co., New Orleans, October 28, 1861; patterns, rollers, pins and washers, boring, drilling and fitting; footed $315.40, receipted at New Orleans 6 December 1861
The same printed Leeds billhead as image 86, but filled in by a different and much looser hand — broader, faster, more heavily flourished, with the ink laid down in a thicker line and the letters frequently running together. Only nine manuscript lines are entered, all under a single date, and they occupy barely the top fifth of the ruled table; the remaining two-thirds of the table is left blank down to the receipt block. Two entries run over three lines of description sharing one extension. The APPLICATION column is entirely blank on this sheet — the ruled column is there but the clerk wrote nothing in it, which is a marked difference from image 86. The DOLLARS column carries "..." ditto marks in place of zero cents on five lines. A footing rule is drawn under the last extension and the total entered beneath it. Down the extreme right-hand margin, outside the CENTS rule, runs a column of small ink check marks in a darker ink than the account — a tick beside seven of the entry lines and one more below the footing rule — the same auditor's verification that appears on image 90 and that is absent from image 86. Small circular film artifacts scatter down the left margin and the right edge, and one sits directly on the second digit of the "80" in the third extension, which needed contrast enhancement to resolve. The receipt block below is completed in the same loose hand and signed "Leeds & Co." with a long flourish; the amount is repeated at lower left as "$315 40/100" between double rules. No handstamp, no voucher number and no endorsement on this face.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
186 1 . | | | DOLLARS.| CENTS.
----------+--------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+-------
October 28| 2 Pattern for frames Pattern for Plates | [blank] | 16 | "
| Boring & Drilling | | 50 | "
| 20 Rollers 1340 . 6/ | | 80 | 40
| Boring | | 40 | "
| 20 Pins & Washers 158 . 4/. | | 39 | 50
| Turning pins & turning Washers | | 45 | "
| Drilling hole through washer and pin and | | " | "
| fitting small pin in hole drilling and fitting | | " | "
| small pin in do $40 00 Cartage $4 50 | | 44 | 50
----------+--------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+-------
| 315 | 40
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La, this 6th day
of December 1861, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Three Hundred and fifteen ———— dollars and
Forty ———————— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Leeds & Co.
$ 315 40/100
Checks: Seven extensions carry figures: 16.00, 50.00, 80.40, 40.00, 39.50, 45.00, 44.50. They add to $315.40, which is the clerk's footing exactly. Proves exactly at $315.40. The receipt agrees — "Three Hundred and fifteen dollars and Forty cents" — as does the figure repeated at lower left, $315 40/100. Two of the seven can be tested against the weights written into the DESIGNATION column: 20 Rollers at 1340 lbs works out at 6¢ the pound (1340 x .06 = 80.40) and 20 Pins & Washers at 158 lbs works out at 25¢ the pound (158 x .25 = 39.50) — neither rate is written on the sheet, so these are reconstructions from the figures, not readings, and the odd ounces (the "6" and "4" after the point) are not carried into either extension. The last composite line proves as written: $40.00 for the drilling and fitting plus $4.50 cartage = 44.50. Four lines — the two patterns, "Boring & Drilling", "Boring", and "Turning pins & turning Washers" — carry no rate and no weight, so their extensions ($16.00, $50.00, $40.00, $45.00) cannot be tested.
Flagged: The dollars figure on the rollers line has a circular film blemish sitting on its second digit and reads at first glance as "86". Under contrast enhancement the digit is the same narrow, tall, right-leaning oval this clerk uses for zero (compare the "0" of the "40" and "50" immediately above and below it), so it is 80, and the extensions then foot exactly. Recorded as 80.40. The second word of the first entry is written with a capital formed differently from the first "Pattern" on the same line, but the body of the word is plainly "attern" and the sense is clear; read as "Pattern for Plates" — there is no ampersand between the two halves of the line, and none has been supplied. The trailing marks after the two weights — "1340 . 6/" and "158 . 4/." — are a figure followed by a long terminal flourish; read as pounds-and-ounces (1340 lbs 6 oz, 158 lbs 4 oz), but the flourish could equally be a fraction stroke, and neither figure is carried into the extension either way. The day of the month reads "28"; the second digit is a two-loop script figure and 25 cannot be excluded, though 28 is the better reading. This is the account answered by the docket at image 87 — Voucher No. 108, Leeds & Co., December 6th 1861, $315.40 — with figure, day, month, year, firm and receiving officer all in agreement. The APPLICATION column being wholly blank means this sheet does not say what the work was for; the work itself (patterns for frames and plates, rollers, pins and washers, boring, drilling, turning and fitting) is the same class of gun-carriage ironwork itemized under "Gun Carriages, &c." on image 86, but that is an inference and is not written on this sheet.
Image 89 — Docket (outer fold) of an Ordnance Department voucher: Voucher No. 107, Leeds & Co., December 6th 1861, $746.91, certified by M. L. Smith; Rebel Archives handstamp
The blank outer face of a second voucher folded in three and filmed sideways, the twin of image 87 in form, hand and layout. Two vertical folds divide the sheet into three panels; the inscriptions run bottom-to-top as filmed and the left certification panel is inverted relative to the centre. The paper here is a shade greyer and the ink noticeably paler than on image 87, and the certification's ruled cancellation has been drawn as a heavier, wavering double stroke that has bled slightly. The left panel carries the same printed certification formula, struck through in the same way, and the same two-line manuscript signature. The centre panel carries the docket on printed dotted rules, then the same large ornamental three-letter monogram, then the same oval double-ruled Record Division handstamp — here faint to the point of being nearly blind, the lettering legible only as an impression. The right panel is blank except for mirrored show-through of the printed billhead and receipt on the reverse. Film artifacts cluster heavily along the lower left and lower centre. A faint diagonal scratch or emulsion streak crosses the "$" of the amount. No wax, wafer or pin holes.
[LEFT PANEL — printed form, second half struck through with a ruled line]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles
accounted for in my property return for _______ quarter of 186_~~ .
M L Smith
Maj' g Eng[inee]rs[?]
[CENTRE PANEL — docket]
Ordnance Department
_____________________
VOUCHER No. 107
Leeds & Co
December 6th 1861.
$ 746 91/100
O K B[?] [large ornamental monogram]
[oval handstamp, double ruled, very faint:]
RECORD DIVISION
★ REBEL ARCHIVES ★
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[RIGHT PANEL — blank; only mirrored show-through from the reverse]
Checks: One figure only, $746 91/100. Nothing on this face to add up, so no internal arithmetic can be proved. The figure is tested against the neighbouring account below.
Flagged: Docket pairing — this docket answers image 90, the sheet immediately following on the film, which is footed at $746.91 and receipted "at New Orleans, La, this 6th day of December 1861, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers" for "Seven hundred and forty six dollars and Ninety one cents". Figure, day, month, year, firm and receiving officer all agree exactly. As with images 87 and 88, the docket precedes on the film the account it belongs to. The cents numerator was checked under magnification: the first digit is a closed loop with a tail descending to the left, this clerk's 9, not a 2 — so 91/100, and image 90's written-out receipt ("Ninety one cents") confirms it. Note the voucher sequence runs backwards across this range: No. 108 (image 87, for the $315.40 account at image 88) is filmed before No. 107 (image 89, for the $746.91 account at image 90), though both were receipted on the same day, 6 December 1861. The signature's second line carries the same unresolved glyph as on image 87 and is left as "Maj' g Eng[inee]rs[?]". The ornamental monogram is the same device as on image 87 and is likewise not committed to beyond "O K B[?]". The "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" oval is the post-war United States War Department archival handstamp. No place is named on this face.
Image 90 — Printed billhead account, The Confederate States for Ordnance Department to Leeds & Co., New Orleans, October 2 – 28, 1861; brass blocks and bevelled washers for chassis, Babbitt-metal rings and bushes, cast forks for 42-pounders, wheels, plates, pins, washers and roller frames; footed $746.91, receipted at New Orleans 6 December 1861
The same printed Leeds billhead again, filled by the same loose, fast, heavily flourished hand as image 88 — the two sheets are plainly the work of one clerk on one occasion. Sixteen manuscript lines fill the upper half of the ruled table under three dates; the ink is thinner and greyer here than on image 88 and several words are only just legible at full magnification. Two groups of description lines are gathered by large hand-drawn braces at the right of the DESIGNATION column, each group sharing a single extension. The APPLICATION column is entirely blank, as on image 88. Down the extreme right-hand margin, outside the CENTS rule, runs a column of small ink check marks — a tick beside most entries, evidently an auditor's or paying officer's verification, in a darker ink than the account itself. The footing is ruled and totalled; the receipt block below is completed in the same hand, signed "Leeds & Co." with a long flourish, and the amount repeated at lower left as "$746 91/100" between double rules. Circular film artifacts scatter down the left margin; one sits on the "1670" of the forks line. No handstamp, no voucher number and no endorsement on this face.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
1861 . | | | DOLLARS.| CENTS.
----------+-------------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+-------
Oct. 2 | 6 Brass Blocks for Chasses Lbs . 4/ | [blank] | 121 | 50 √
| 6 Brass Bevelled Washers 30 . 4/ | | 15 | " √
| Pattern & Core box for do $12 00 Cartage 4/ | | 12 | 50 √
8 | Babbitt metal Rings & bushes 9 . 6/. | | 6 | 75 √
| Turning do & Hollows including joint fitting | | 8 | " √
28 | 10 Pair Cast forks for 42 Pdr 1670 . 8/ | | 100 | 20 √
| 2 Patterns for do | | 10 | " √
| 20 Wheels 1050 . 6/ 63 00 20 Plates 718 . 6/ 43 08 | | 106 | 08 √
| Turning forks & Boring & facing wheels boring and ) | | " | "
| Countersinking plates & boring forks ) | | 140 | "
| 20 Wrt Iron pins & Washers forged with Collars 220 . 4/.| | 55 | " √
| Turning pins & boring & turning Washers | | 50 | " √
| Drilling holes through Washer & pin fitting ) | | " | " √
| small pin in do inserting small pin under head ) | | " | "
| of pins and fitting do in forks ) | | 40 | " √
| Drilling holes in Forks & plates for a stop | | 10 | " √
| 20 Roller frames 898 . 6/ | | 71 | 88 √
----------+-------------------------------------------------------+--------------+---------+-------
| 746 | 91
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La, this 6th day
of December 1861, from Major M. L. Smith — Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Seven hundred and forty six ———— dollars and
Ninety One ———— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Leeds & Co.
$ 746 91/100
Checks: Fourteen extensions carry figures: 121.50, 15.00, 12.50, 6.75, 8.00, 100.20, 10.00, 106.08, 140.00, 55.00, 50.00, 40.00, 10.00, 71.88. They add to $746.91, the clerk's footing exactly. Proves exactly at $746.91. The receipt agrees — "Seven hundred and forty six dollars and Ninety One cents" — as does the figure repeated at lower left, $746 91/100. Two lines can be proved internally from figures written on the sheet: the pattern and core box, $12.00 plus cartage "4/" (four bits, 50¢) = $12.50; and the wheels-and-plates line, where the clerk wrote out both halves, $63.00 for the wheels and $43.08 for the plates, which sum to the $106.08 extension. No rate per pound is written anywhere on this sheet, so no other extension can be tested against its quantity; the rates the extensions imply are 50¢ the pound on the brass (30 lbs = $15.00), 75¢ on the Babbitt metal (9 lbs = $6.75), 6¢ on the cast forks (1670 lbs = $100.20) and on the wheels and plates (1050 lbs = $63.00, 718 lbs = $43.08), 25¢ on the wrought-iron pins and washers (220 lbs = $55.00), and 8¢ on the roller frames — but every one of those is a reconstruction from the money, not a reading off the page, and none should be quoted as the sheet's own statement. The odd ounces after each weight are not carried into any extension.
Flagged: The first line carries no weight figure. Where every other weighted line has numerals, this one reads "Lbs . 4/" — a script capital L, a b with its ascender, an s, and a period, checked at six-times magnification with unsharp masking and not a numeral among them. The extension is $121.50, which at the 50¢ the pound implied by the brass washers on the next line would answer to 243 lbs, but no such figure is on the sheet and none has been supplied. The trailing "4/", "6/" and "8/" after the weights are a figure with a long terminal flourish and are read here as odd ounces (30 lbs 4 oz, 9 lbs 6 oz, 1670 lbs 8 oz, and so on); the identical "/" in "Cartage 4/" is instead the New Orleans bits notation for 50¢, since the line proves at $12.50 only if it is. Both usages appear on this one sheet and are transcribed as written. The superscript on the plates' sub-amount is small and cramped; it is read "43 08" because 63.00 + 43.08 is the $106.08 in the cost column, and "43 00" would not foot. The abbreviation before "Iron pins" is a W with a superscript, read "Wrt" for wrought. "Chasses" is the clerk's spelling and is left uncorrected; "42 Pdr" is 42-pounder. The check marks down the right margin are in a different, darker ink and are not part of the account — a later verification, and they do not appear beside every line (the two braced groups are ticked only on their totalled line, and the second brace's first line carries one where the others do not). This is the account answered by the docket at image 89 — Voucher No. 107, Leeds & Co., December 6th 1861, $746.91 — with figure, day, month, year, firm and receiving officer all agreeing. As on image 88 the APPLICATION column is blank, so this sheet does not itself say what the work was for; the material named (chassis blocks, forks for 42-pounders, wheels, plates, roller frames) is siege and seacoast carriage work, but that reading is an inference and not written on the page.
Image 91 — Docket (outer fold) of an Ordnance Department voucher: Voucher No. 90, Leeds & Co., November 28th 1861, $108.85, certified by M. L. Smith; Rebel Archives handstamp
The third docket in this range and the twin of images 87 and 89 in form, hand and layout: the blank outer face of a voucher folded in three, filmed sideways, the inscriptions reading bottom-to-top and the left certification panel inverted relative to the centre. The paper is clean and lightly toned; the two vertical folds are crisp. The printed certification on the left panel is struck through with a ruled line in the usual way and signed beneath in two lines. The centre panel carries the docket on the printed dotted rules, the docket hand here being noticeably more upright and open than on images 87 and 89 — the same clerk writing more carefully, with "Ordnance Department" spread across the full width and the "$" of the amount formed with a doubled stroke. Below it stands the same large ornamental three-letter monogram, and below that the oval double-ruled Record Division handstamp, here reasonably legible. The right panel is blank apart from mirrored show-through of the receipt block and billhead printed on the reverse. Heavy clusters of circular film artifacts run along the lower left and the lower right of the frame; a small light emulsion flaw sits just left of the signature. No wax, wafer or pin holes.
[LEFT PANEL — printed form, second half struck through with a ruled line]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just ; ~~the articles
accounted for in my property return for _______ quarter of 186_~~ .
M L Smith
Maj' g Eng[inee]rs[?]
[CENTRE PANEL — docket]
Ordnance Department
_____________________
VOUCHER No. 90
Leeds & Co
November 28th 1861.
$ 108 85/100
O K B[?] [large ornamental monogram]
[oval handstamp, double ruled:]
RECORD DIVISION
★ REBEL ARCHIVES ★
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[RIGHT PANEL — blank; only mirrored show-through from the reverse]
Checks: One figure only, $108 85/100. Nothing on this face to add up, so no internal arithmetic can be proved, and — see below — there is no account in this range against which to test it.
Flagged: This docket has no partner within images 86–91. Its figure is $108.85 and its date November 28th 1861. The three accounts in this range are image 86 ($331.63, receipted 19 September 1861), image 88 ($315.40, receipted 6 December 1861) and image 90 ($746.91, receipted 6 December 1861); none matches this docket in either figure or date, and the two accounts that do have dockets (images 88 and 90) are already accounted for by the dockets at images 87 and 89. The account this docket answers must lie at image 92 or beyond, outside the range read here — it should be checked by whoever reads images 92 onward. Note also that this docket breaks the local sequence in a second way: Vouchers 108 and 107 are filmed at images 87 and 89, and Voucher 90 follows them at image 91, so the numbering runs 108, 107, 90 across three consecutive dockets. The signature's second line carries the same unresolved glyph as on images 87 and 89 and is left as "Maj' g Eng[inee]rs[?]". The ornamental monogram is the same device and is not committed to beyond "O K B[?]". The day of the month is written "28" with a clear superscript "th" and there is no ambiguity here, unlike the day on image 88. The "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" oval is the post-war United States War Department archival handstamp, not a Confederate marking. No place is named on this face.
Image 92 — Printed billhead account, Ordnance Department to Leeds & Co., New Orleans, Sept.–Oct. 1861; wrought iron and rifling a field piece; receipted 28 November 1861; total $108.85
A single large sheet, portrait format, filmed against a black ground with the paper edges visible; the native scan is about 3,560 × 4,555 pixels. The printed billhead is the standard Confederate form — heavy blackletter "The Confederate States," at the head, then a ruled table with column heads DATE. / 186_ , DESIGNATION., APPLICATION., and COST. subdivided DOLLARS. / CENTS., and at the foot the printed RECEIVED at … this … day of … 186_, from … the sum of … dollars and … cents, in full payment of the above account., with "(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)" beneath. The whole sheet is written in one clean, sloping clerical hand in iron-gall ink now faded to a light brown-grey; the writing is thin but legible throughout. Only four ruled lines of the table are used, leaving the lower two-thirds of the ruled body blank. The APPLICATION column is entirely empty on this sheet. Small round pale spots and speckles scattered down the left margin and across the sheet are film artifacts / foxing rather than ink. A faint vertical fold line runs through the DESIGNATION column, and a horizontal fold crosses just below the footing rule. Each of the three money extensions carries a light check mark in the right margin, and a fourth check stands beside the footing — an auditor's ticks. No handstamps, endorsements or docket text appear on this face.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
1861. | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
--------+----------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
Septr 3 | To 2 Pieces Wro't Iron for Field Piece } | |
| 389 lbs @ 15¢ pr lb — — } | 58 | 35 ✓
" " | " Drayage on above — | " | 50 ✓
October 28| " Rifling 1 Iron Field piece | 50 | 00 ✓
| | |
| $ 108 | | 85 ✓
RECEIVED at New Orleans La this 28 th day
of November 186 1 , from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of One Hundred and Eight ——————— dollars and
Eighty Five ——— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Leeds & Co
[signature, a rapid flourish]
$ 108 85
---
100
Checks: Line 1 has a rate: 389 lbs × 15¢ = $58.35, matching the extension exactly. Line 2 (drayage) carries no quantity and no rate — its 50¢ extension is a flat charge and cannot be tested. Line 3 (rifling 1 iron field piece) carries no rate — a lump charge of $50.00, untestable. Extensions 58.35 + 0.50 + 50.00 = $108.85, which equals the footing $108.85 written at the foot of the COST column, the sum written out in the receipt ("One Hundred and Eight … Eighty Five cents"), and the figure "$108 85/100" repeated at the lower left. Proves exactly at $108.85.
Flagged: The DESIGNATION entries close with the ditto marks and dashes the clerk used; the cents entry on the drayage line is a ditto mark (") in the DOLLARS column, i.e. no dollars, fifty cents. The signature at the foot is written so rapidly that only the opening "L" and the terminal flourish are firmly legible; it is consistent with the "Leeds & Co." firm signature on image 70 and I read it as such, but the individual letters cannot be separately made out. The APPLICATION column is blank on this sheet — unlike image 70, which carries "For Gun Carriages &c" — so the purpose of the work here is stated only in the DESIGNATION column ("for Field Piece", "Rifling 1 Iron Field piece"). Note that the receiving officer is Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, though the account is headed to the Ordnance Department; the same pairing appears on image 70. The day of the month is written "28" with a superscript "th"; the printed "186" is completed with a written "1".
Image 93 — Docket (folded back) of an Ordnance Department voucher, Voucher No. 64, Leeds & Co., September 19th 1861, $3,232.08, certified by M. L. Smith, Major of Engineers
The outside of a folded voucher, filmed on its side: the scan is landscape, about 4,572 × 3,655 pixels, and the document must be turned a quarter turn (the writing runs sideways to the frame). The sheet shows four vertical fold panels, the folds standing out as pale creases; the centre panel carries the docket, the far-left panel the printed certificate, and the right-hand panels are blank except for show-through of the printed receipt wording from the inside of the sheet. The docket is written in a fine, well-formed clerk's hand in ink now faded to grey-brown, on a printed form that supplies a ruled line for the department, the words "VOUCHER No." and further ruled lines beneath. A large oval handstamp — a double oval with a five-pointed star at each side, reading RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES, / WAR DEPARTMENT. — is struck in the lower half of the centre panel; it is faint, embossed rather than heavily inked, but fully legible. Two endorsements in a second, more hurried hand sit below the stamp. Scattered ring-shaped speckles across the sheet are film artifacts. No tears or losses; the paper is sound.
[centre panel — docket]
Ordnance Department
______________________________
VOUCHER No. 64 —
Leeds & Co
September 19 th 186 1 .
$ 3,232 08
---
100
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Exd J[?] . C[?]
E[rr]d[?] $ 149. 80.
[far-left panel — printed certificate, the clause struck through with a
heavy ink line as shown]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles
accounted for in my property return for~~ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M. L. Smith
Maj'r of Engrs
Checks: This is a docket, not an account: there are no line items, no quantities and no rates, so no extension can be tested. The only two figures are the docket total $3,232.08 and the endorsement $149.80, and neither can be proved against anything on this sheet. Whether the docket answers image 92 is tested under Flagged, and it does not.
Flagged: This docket does not belong with image 92. Image 92's account is receipted at New Orleans on 28 November 1861 and foots at $108.85; this docket is dated September 19th 1861 and carries $3,232.08 — neither the date nor the figure matches. The date and the sum do, however, match the sheet described from image 70 in date (received at New Orleans, 19 September 1861) but not in figure ($1,204.85), so this docket most likely covers a group of accounts of that date, of which the image 70 sheet is one. That is a proposal from the sheets' own figures, not something written on this page. The endorsement "Exd" is followed by two initials I cannot read with confidence — the first has a descending loop and may be a "J" or a script ampersand, the second may be "C" or "V"; I have given both as uncertain rather than guess. The word opening the second endorsement is four or five letters in a rapid hand and I cannot resolve it; "Errd" (errors) is the best fit for a figure of $149.80 standing beside a voucher total, but "Ent'd" is equally possible and I have marked it uncertain. The printed certificate clause about the property return is cancelled by the officer, as is usual where the account is for services rather than issued stores. The printed "(No. __)" style form number does not appear on this docket; "VOUCHER No. 64" is written by the clerk into the printed blank and is a genuine voucher number, not a form number. The signature reads M. L. Smith, "Maj'r of Engrs" — the same officer who receipts the account on image 92, there styled Corps of Engineers.
Image 94 — Printed billhead account, Ordnance Department to Leeds & Co., New Orleans, 19 June 1861; gun-carriage ironwork — axles, wheels, hubs, tires, clevises, linch pins; total $3,232.08, with an audited correction of $149.80
A large portrait sheet, about 3,660 × 4,591 pixels, the same printed Confederate billhead as image 92: blackletter "The Confederate States," at the head, a ruled table with DATE. / 186_ , DESIGNATION., APPLICATION., and COST. (DOLLARS. / CENTS.), and the printed receipt clause with "(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)" at the foot. Seventeen ruled lines are filled in a small, even, sloping clerk's hand in brown ink, the writing slightly heavier and more cramped than on image 92 but legible throughout. The APPLICATION column carries a single entry written sideways up the column, in a larger hand, bracketing the whole block of items. The most conspicuous feature is an audit mark: the extension on the third line, "385 20", is ringed with a heavy oval in a bolder, blacker ink, and the figure "$235.40" is written beside it in the same bold hand — a correction, not the clerk's own work. Each of the other extensions carries a small hooked tick in the left edge of the DOLLARS column. The sheet has a long horizontal fold across the receipt block and vertical creases through the table; the film shows the usual scatter of pale ring-shaped speckles down the left margin and across the body. The day and month blanks in the receipt clause are left empty — this receipt is undated. No handstamp appears on this face.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
1861. | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
--------+---------------------------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
June 19 | To 1 Wheel or[?] Plate 175 lbs @ 5½ ¢ pr lb | | 9 | 63
" " | " Boring @ $5 00/100 Cartage @ 50¢ | | 5 | 50
" " | " 20 Axles 4280 lbs @ 5½ ¢ pr lb | [$235.40] | (385 | 20)
" " | " Turning 20 Axles @ $12 00/100 each | F | 240 | 00
" " | " Fitting on 20 & inserting central pieces | o | 80 | 00
" " | " 40 Wheels & Hubs 10.560 lbs @ 5½ ¢ pr lb | r | 580 | 80
" " | " Boring & Reaming Do @ $5 00/100 pr Sett | | 200 | 00
" " | " Planing Do @ $2 50/100 pr Sett | G | 100 | 00
" " | " Fitting 40 Hubs @ $5 50/100 each | u | 220 | 00
" " | " 80 Rings for Axles 280 lbs @ 20¢ pr lb | n | 56 | 00
" " | " Turning & Boring Do @ $60 00/100 | | 60 | 00
" " | " 40 Wrought Iron Tires 5260 lbs @ 12¢ pr lb| C | 631 | 20
" " | " 40 Linch Pins 55 lbs @ 25¢ pr lb | a | 13 | 75
" " | " Turning, planing & fitting Do | r | 120 | 00
" " | " 40 Clevices 1320 lbs @ 25¢ pr lb | r | 330 | 00
" " | " Planing Do to fit Sockets | i | 100 | 00
" " | " Boring, drilling & fitting Do | a | 100 | 00
| | g | |
| $ 3,232 | e | | 08
| | s | |
[APPLICATION column, one entry written sideways up the column and running
the full depth of the block:] For Gun Carriages
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this ____ day
of ____________ 186 _ , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Thirty Two Hundred and Thirty Two ——— dollars and
Eight ——— ——— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Leeds & Co
$ 3232 08
---
100
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension, for the eleven lines that carry a rate:
- 175 lbs @ 5½¢ = $9.625; extension $9.63 (the clerk rounded up a half-cent).
- Boring $5.00 + Cartage $0.50 = $5.50; extension $5.50. Proves.
- 4280 lbs @ 5½¢ = $235.40; extension written $385.20 — the clerk's extension is $149.80 too high. This is the ringed figure, and the audit hand has written the correct $235.40 beside it.
- 20 axles @ $12.00 each = $240.00; extension $240.00. Proves.
- 10,560 lbs @ 5½¢ = $580.80; extension $580.80. Proves.
- 40 setts @ $5.00 = $200.00; extension $200.00. Proves.
- 40 setts @ $2.50 = $100.00; extension $100.00. Proves.
- 40 hubs @ $5.50 = $220.00; extension $220.00. Proves.
- 280 lbs @ 20¢ = $56.00; extension $56.00. Proves.
- 5,260 lbs @ 12¢ = $631.20; extension $631.20. Proves.
- 55 lbs @ 25¢ = $13.75; extension $13.75. Proves.
- 1,320 lbs @ 25¢ = $330.00; extension $330.00. Proves.
Six lines carry no quantity-and-rate pair and their extensions cannot be tested: "Fitting on 20 & inserting central pieces" $80.00; "Turning & Boring Do @ $60 00/100" $60.00 (a lump rate for the whole lot, not a per-unit rate); "Turning, planing & fitting Do" $120.00; "Planing Do to fit Sockets" $100.00; "Boring, drilling & fitting Do" $100.00. Extensions against the footing: 9.63 + 5.50 + 385.20 + 240.00 + 80.00 + 580.80 + 200.00 + 100.00 + 220.00 + 56.00 + 60.00 + 631.20 + 13.75 + 120.00 + 330.00 + 100.00 + 100.00 = $3,232.08, exactly the footing. The footing equals the sum written out in the receipt ("Thirty Two Hundred and Thirty Two … Eight cents") and the "$3232 08/100" repeated at the lower left. The sheet as written proves exactly at $3,232.08, but it proves on an extension the auditor has marked wrong: on the corrected axle figure the account should foot at $3,082.28, i.e. $149.80 less.
Flagged: The first item reads "1 Wheel or Plate"; "or" is clear enough as a word but the sense is odd and it may be a form of "on". Marked uncertain rather than corrected. "Clevices" is the clerk's spelling of clevises and is left as written; "Reaming" and "Linch Pins" are likewise his forms. The weight of the wheels and hubs is written "10.560 lbs" with a point where we would put a comma — a period used as the thousands separator, as the clerk also does at "$3,232" with a comma; both are left as written. The correction "$235.40" and the ring round "385 20" are in a heavier, bolder ink than the account, in a different hand, and are almost certainly the auditor's, not Leeds & Co.'s. The $149.80 difference between the written extension and the corrected one is exactly the figure endorsed on the docket at image 93 — that link is a proposal from the two sheets' figures, not something either page states. The receipt clause has been signed by Leeds & Co. but the day and the month were never filled in, so this account carries no receipt date; the only date on the face is the transaction date, June 19, 1861. Note the resulting mismatch with the docket at image 93, which is dated September 19th 1861 and carries this account's total of $3,232.08 — the sum and the officer match exactly, the transaction month does not, which is consistent with a June account docketed and paid in September. The application entry ends in a flourish after "Carriages" which may be an "&c" as on image 70; I could not resolve it and have not supplied it.
Image 95 — Docket (folded back) of an Ordnance Department voucher, Voucher No. 59, Leeds & Co., November 11th 1861, $101.90, certified by M. L. Smith, Major of Engineers
The outside of a folded voucher, filmed on its side like image 93: a landscape scan about 4,640 × 3,618 pixels, the document standing a quarter turn from the frame. Four fold panels are visible as pale vertical bands; the docket occupies the second panel from the left, the printed certificate the far-left panel, and the right two panels are blank apart from show-through. The docket hand is the same fine clerical hand as image 93, in ink now very pale — noticeably fainter than image 93, so the writing reads as light grey against a light grey paper. Two large ornamental pen capitals stand in the middle of the panel, fainter still. Below them the oval RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES, / WAR DEPARTMENT. handstamp is struck, here much weaker than on image 93: the outer oval, the two stars and the words RECORD DIVISION are legible, the inner lines only partly so. Heavy speckling — pale rings and dots — covers the lower right of the sheet. A dark vertical scratch or emulsion flaw runs down the left of the docket panel. The paper is sound; no losses. Unlike image 93 this docket carries no examination or error endorsement.
[docket panel]
Ordnance Department
______________________________
VOUCHER No. 59 —
Leeds & Co
November 11 th 186 1 .
$ 101 90
---
100
[two large ornamental capitals, very faint:]
N[?] B
[oval handstamp, weakly struck:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[far-left panel — printed certificate, the clause struck through]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles
accounted for in my property return for~~ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M. L. Smith
Maj'r of Engrs
Checks: A docket only — no line items, no quantities, no rates, so no extension can be tested. The single figure, $101.90, is proved against its account under Flagged.
Flagged: This docket does answer the account filmed next to it. Image 96 is an account of Leeds & Co. footing at $101.90 and receipted at New Orleans on the 11th day of November 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers. Figure, date, place and officer all match this docket exactly, so image 95 and image 96 are the two faces of Voucher No. 59. (It does not match image 94, which foots at $3,232.08 — that account belongs to the docket at image 93.) The two large ornamental capitals in the centre of the panel are too faint for a firm reading; the first is a looped copperplate capital that could be N, H or M, the second is clearly B. They are written as a flourish, not as part of a sentence, and may be a clerk's initials. The printed property-return clause is cancelled, as on image 93. "VOUCHER No. 59" is written into the printed blank and is a real voucher number.
Image 96 — Printed billhead account, Ordnance Department to Leeds & Co., New Orleans, 27 August 1861; wrought-iron segments, rollers, governor wheels and a cast cart box; receipted 11 November 1861; total $101.90
A large portrait sheet, about 3,612 × 4,613 pixels, on the same printed Confederate billhead as images 92 and 94. The paper is in poorer condition than its fellows: the upper left corner is torn away, taking the first two letters of the printed "The Confederate States," and part of the DATE column rule, and a long horizontal fold runs across the sheet at about the level of the fifth entry, showing as a dark band that passes through the figures. The writing is in a fast, slanting hand quite different from the careful clerk of images 92 and 94 — looser, with long trailing terminals — and in a thin ink that has faded badly; several lines had to be read with the contrast lifted. Nine ruled lines are used out of about thirty. The APPLICATION column is completely blank. Every extension and the footing carry a light check mark in the right margin, ten ticks in all. There is no handstamp on this face. Heavy pale ring-shaped speckling runs down the left margin and across the lower half.
[The] Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co. Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
1861. | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
--------+--------------------------------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
August 27| 5 W[rough]t Iron Segments 406 12¢ | | 48 | 72 ✓
| Drilling | | 10 | ✓
| 4 Rollers & frames 214 . 6¢ | | 12 | 84 ✓
| Boring and drilling | | 10 | " ✓
| 4 Pins 17. 20¢ | | 3 | 40 ✓
| Turning do | | 4 | ✓
| 4 Bolts for do 18. 20¢ / 3 60/100 Cartage 4/ | | 4 | 10 ✓
| 2 Governor Wheels & turning & fitting on shaft | | 7 | 50 ✓
| 1 Cast Cart box 12. 7¢ 84 cts Cartage 4/ | | 1 | 34 ✓
| ------+--------------+----------+-------
| | | 101 | 90 ✓
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La this 11 th day
of November 186 1 , from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of One Hundred and One ——— dollars and
Ninety ——— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Leeds & Co.
$ 101 90
---
100
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension, for the five lines that carry both:
- 406 lbs @ 12¢ = $48.72; extension $48.72. Proves.
- 214 lbs @ 6¢ = $12.84; extension $12.84. Proves.
- 17 lbs @ 20¢ = $3.40; extension $3.40. Proves.
- 4 Bolts, 18 lbs @ 20¢ = $3.60, which the clerk writes out in the designation as "3 60/100", plus "Cartage 4/"; extension $4.10, so the cartage is charged at 50¢. In New Orleans reckoning "4/" is four bits, fifty cents, and the extension proves on that reading: 3.60 + 0.50 = $4.10. Proves.
- 1 Cast Cart box, 12 lbs @ 7¢ = $0.84, which the clerk writes out as "84 cts", plus "Cartage 4/" at 50¢; extension $1.34. Proves on the same reading.
Four lines carry no quantity-and-rate pair and cannot be tested: "Drilling" $10.00, "Boring and drilling" $10.00 (the cents cell is a ditto mark, i.e. no cents), "Turning do" $4.00, and "2 Governor Wheels & turning & fitting on shaft" $7.50. Extensions against the footing: 48.72 + 10.00 + 12.84 + 10.00 + 3.40 + 4.00 + 4.10 + 7.50 + 1.34 = $101.90, exactly the footing. The footing equals the sum written out in the receipt ("One Hundred and One … Ninety cents") and the "$101 90/100" at the lower left. Proves exactly at $101.90.
Flagged: The abbreviation opening the first item is written "W[.] Irn" or "Wt Iron" in a very rapid hand; I read it as wrought iron, the sense the weight and rate support, but the letters themselves are not fully formed and I have bracketed the expansion. The quantity figures "406", "214", "17", "18" and "12" are given without the word "lbs", but every one of them proves as a weight in pounds against the cent-per-pound rate, so they are weights, not counts — the counts ("5", "4", "2", "1") stand at the head of each entry. "Cartage 4/" appears twice; the slash notation is the local shilling-and-bit reckoning and both extensions prove at fifty cents, but the sheet nowhere states that equivalence and I have not written it into the transcription. The word after "1 Cast" reads "Cart box" — a cast-iron cart box, the bearing box of a wheel hub — but the two words run together in this hand and the reading is less than certain. The item is a cast, not forged, piece, which is why it is charged at 7¢ the pound against 12¢ for the wrought-iron segments. The torn upper-left corner has taken the first letters of the printed heading; nothing handwritten is lost. This account and the docket at image 95 are the two faces of the same voucher: Voucher No. 59, Leeds & Co., $101.90, November 11th 1861, M. L. Smith — figure, date, place and officer all agree.
Image 97 — Printed voucher docket (folded endorsement panel), Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 68, Leeds & Co., September 19th 1861, $146 74/100
A single sheet filmed flat but folded in three, so the frame is landscape, about 4,584 × 3,704 pixels; the two vertical fold lines stand out clearly as pale creases and the panels lie at slightly different heights. The paper is light and evenly foxed with small round rust spots, thickest along the top and bottom edges of the right-hand panel and scattered across the whole centre panel. The writing is in a fine brown-black ink in a confident clerical hand. The centre panel carries the docket proper, written across printed dotted rules and a printed "VOUCHER No." line in small caps. Struck across the centre panel, low down, is the oval handstamp RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT, with a five-pointed star at each side; the strike is light but wholly legible on this sheet. Below the stamp two pencil-faint ink endorsements sit one above the other. The left panel is the certification block, printed and then filled and signed, and must be read sideways with the head of the writing to the right; the back of the printed billhead shows through as reversed blackletter ("The Confederate States") down the left-hand edge. No tears or losses.
[centre panel:]
Ordnance Department
_______________________________
VOUCHER No. 68 —
_______________________________
Leeds & Co
_______________________________
September 19 th 1861 .
$ 146 74
---
100
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
L d [?]
Ex[?]'d [illegible initials]
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj. of Engrs
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $146 74/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 98 is headed "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department, To Leeds & Co Dr.", foots at $146.74, and is receipted at New Orleans, La., the 19th day of September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for one hundred and forty six dollars and seventy four cents. Figure, date, department and officer all match the docket exactly, so image 97 is the docket to image 98.
Flagged: The money figure is the one real trap on this sheet. The digit I read as "4" is written with a large decorative entry loop before the stem, so that at first sight the figure reads "$1446". Under magnification there is only one crossbar — a second 4 would carry a second — and the glyphs resolve as 1, 4, 6. The reading is settled by the account on image 98, which foots at $146.74 in figures, restates $146 74/100 at the foot left, and writes the sum out in words as "One Hundred and Forty Six dollars and Seventy Four cents". I have set the docket as "$ 146 74/100" and record the alternative here rather than in the transcription. The two endorsements under the handstamp are the least legible marks on the sheet: the upper one is a large capital L followed by one short letter that may be d or a, and the lower one begins with a flourished capital E, has a crossed middle letter readable as either x or n, and ends in d — so "Ex'd" (examined) or "En'd" (entered) — followed by two initials reduced to loops and a paraph which I will not guess at. The same pair of marks, in the same hand, appears on the docket at image 67 and was flagged there for the same reason. The property-return clause of the certification is struck out with a firm pen stroke, exactly as on images 65 and 67; the words are cancelled, not lost, and I have marked them as struck. No place is named on the docket itself. "VOUCHER No. 68" is a filled-in number, not a printed form number, and is the voucher number.
Image 98 — Printed Confederate billhead account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States for the Ordnance Department: cast segments, wrought-iron pins, centre plates, washers, bolts, wrought segments, brasses for portfires; July 8 – August 6 1861; APPLICATION "For Gun Carriages, &c"; receipted at New Orleans, La., 19 September 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; $146.74
A large single sheet, about 3,664 × 4,563 pixels, filmed flat in portrait. It is a properly printed Confederate billhead — "The Confederate States," in heavy display blackletter, unaltered — with the ruled table headed DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST. (DOLLARS. and CENTS.), and the printed receipt paragraph below. The paper is pale and freckled with small round foxing spots, densest down the left margin and through the date column, with a scatter of larger blots at the lower left. A horizontal fold crosses the sheet just above the footing, and the film shows the sheet lifting slightly along that fold so the lower panel sits a little proud. The hand is a fine, sloping counting-house cursive in brown-black ink, with dollar-and-cent rates written as fractions over 100 and the cent sign written as a small raised loop. A short single tick stands in the left part of the DOLLARS column against every extension. The APPLICATION column carries one entry only, written sideways up the column and bracketing the whole account. Nothing is lost to damage; the whole sheet is legible.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department,
To Leeds & Co ________________________ Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST. |
| 186 1 | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------|--------------|---------|------|
July 8 | To Drilling 40 Cast Segments | | 10 | 00 |
" " | " Cartage on do | | 1 | 00 |
" " | " 4 Wrought Iron Pins 20 Lbs @ 12 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | | 2 | 50 |
" " | " Turning do — — — — | & | 6 | 00 |
" 17 | " 2 Centre Plates 476 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ pr Lb | c | 26 | 18 |
" " | " Boring do $7 0/100 — Cartage 50 ¢ | | 7 | 50 |
" 30 | " 1 Wrought Iron Pin 59 Lbs @ 9 ¢ pr Lb | Carriages, | 5 | 31 |
" " | " Turning do — — — — | | 3 | 00 |
" " | " 7 Wrought Washers 60 Lbs @ 12 ¢ pr Lb | Gun | 7 | 20 |
" " | " Drilling do — — — | | 4 | 50 |
" " | " 18 Bolts 45 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | For | 9 | 00 |
" " | " 5 Wrought Segments 390 Lbs @ 12 ¢ pr Lb | | 46 | 80 |
" " | " Drilling do $5 0/100 - Cartage 50 ¢ | | 5 | 50 |
August 6 | " 6 Setts Brasses for Portfires | | 10 | 00 |
" " | " Pattern for do $2 0/100 Cartage 25 ¢ | | 2 | 25 |
|---------|------|
$ | 146 | 74 |
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La, this 19 th day
of September 1861 , from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of One Hundred and Forty Six —— dollars and
Seventy Four —— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 146 74/100
___________
Leeds & Co.
Checks: Quantity × rate against each extension. 20 lbs @ 12½¢ = $2.50, proves. 476 lbs @ 5½¢ = $26.18, proves. 59 lbs @ 9¢ = $5.31, proves. 60 lbs @ 12¢ = $7.20, proves. 45 lbs @ 20¢ = $9.00, proves. 390 lbs @ 12¢ = $46.80, proves. The two composite lines prove as written: boring $7.00 + cartage 50¢ = $7.50, and drilling $5.00 + cartage 50¢ = $5.50, and pattern $2.00 + cartage 25¢ = $2.25. Six lines carry no rate — drilling 40 cast segments $10.00, cartage on do $1.00, turning do $6.00, turning do $3.00, drilling do $4.50, and 6 setts brasses for portfires $10.00 — and their extensions cannot be tested. Extensions against the footing: 10.00 + 1.00 + 2.50 + 6.00 + 26.18 + 7.50 + 5.31 + 3.00 + 7.20 + 4.50 + 9.00 + 46.80 + 5.50 + 10.00 + 2.25 = $146.74. Proves exactly at $146.74. Footing against the receipt: written out as "One Hundred and Forty Six dollars and Seventy Four cents" = $146.74, restated at the foot left as "$ 146 74/100". Proves exactly at $146.74 in all three places, and the docket on image 97 carries the same figure, date, department and officer.
Flagged: "Brasses" is written with the long-s digraph and can look like "Brapes" or "Brafses" at first sight; the reading is the same form used on the earlier Leeds accounts for brass work. The last word of that line ends in a long terminal flourish, so it may be read as "Portfire" or "Portfires"; I have set "Portfires" because a distinct terminal s stroke is present, but the flourish leaves room for doubt. "Setts" is the clerk's spelling, with two t's, and has not been normalised. The rate on the wrought-iron pins is 12½¢, written with the fraction above the line, while the washers and the wrought segments are plainly 12¢ with no fraction; the arithmetic confirms both readings (20 × 12½¢ = $2.50; 60 × 12¢ = $7.20; 390 × 12¢ = $46.80). "Centre" is spelled with the -re ending here. The pound abbreviation is written with a looped terminal that can read as "Lt"; it is "Lb" throughout, as the weights and rates confirm. The date column runs July 8, ditto; July 17; July 30, then ditto down to August 6 and a final ditto — so the work spans 8 July to 6 August 1861, and the September date belongs only to the receipt, six weeks after the last work. The APPLICATION column reads "For Gun Carriages, &c", written sideways up the column in the same hand and covering every line of the account; the comma after "Carriages" and the terminal mark after "&c" are both present in the ink. This account and image 97 are a matched pair.
Image 99 — Printed voucher docket (folded endorsement panel), Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 60, Leeds & Co., November 11th 1861, $457 86/100
A single sheet filmed flat but folded in three, so the frame is landscape, about 4,480 × 3,540 pixels; the two vertical fold lines are visible as pale creases and the right-hand panel lies a little lower than the rest. The paper is light, with small round foxing spots scattered thinly over the whole sheet and gathering into a dense drift along the bottom edge of the right-hand panel and down the right side of the centre panel. The ink is brown-black and the docket hand is the same confident clerical hand as image 97, though set a little lower on the panel. Below the money figure a large ornamental monogram is drawn in a single flowing movement, and beneath that the oval handstamp RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT is struck, with a five-pointed star at each side; the strike here sits lower on the panel than on image 97 and is legible throughout. The left panel is the printed certification block, filled and signed, and must be read sideways with the head of the writing to the right; the reversed blackletter of the billhead face shows through along the left edge. There are no tears or losses.
[centre panel:]
Ordnance Department
_______________________________
VOUCHER No. 60 —
_______________________________
Leeds & Co
_______________________________
November 11 th 1861 .
$ 457 86
---
100
[large ornamental monogram, illegible]
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[left panel, written sideways up the sheet:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; [struck out: the articles
accounted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_ ] .
M. L. Smith
Maj. of Engineers
Checks: The docket carries a single figure, $457 86/100, with no itemised lines or rates, so there is no internal arithmetic to prove. Tested against its neighbour: the account on image 100 foots at $457.86, and is receipted at New Orleans, La, the 11th day of November 1861 from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, for four hundred and fifty seven dollars and eighty six cents. Figure, date, place and officer all match the docket exactly, so image 99 is the docket to image 100. One element does not match: this docket is headed "Ordnance Department", while the account on image 100 is headed "for Army Department". See Flagged.
Flagged: The department heading on the docket and on the account it answers are not the same words. The docket reads "Ordnance Department"; the billhead on image 100 reads "Army Department". Figure, date, place, officer and firm all agree, so the two sheets plainly belong together, but the departmental wording diverges and I have set each as written rather than harmonising them. The large ornamental monogram between the money figure and the handstamp is drawn as one continuous flourish; I can see an opening oval, a second looped letter, and a tall final loop with a descender, which could be read as "M B", "Ol B" or "OK B", but no reading is safe from the ink and I have not attempted one. The property-return clause of the certification is struck out with a firm pen stroke, as on images 65, 67 and 97; the words are cancelled, not lost. The rank line reads "Maj. of Engineers" written out, not the abbreviated "Maj. of Engrs" of image 97 — the terminal letters are faint but the -eers ending can be traced. No place is named on the docket itself. "VOUCHER No. 60" is a filled-in number, not a printed form number, and is the voucher number.
Image 100 — Printed billhead account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States (Army Department), New Orleans, work of September 18, 1861; receipted November 11, 1861; $457.86
A single large printed billhead sheet, portrait orientation, filmed square and complete with a black film border on all four sides. The printed matter is the standard blackletter head "The Confederate States, for ______ To ______ Dr." over a ruled table with column heads DATE. / 186_ , DESIGNATION., APPLICATION., and COST. divided DOLLARS. | CENTS. The manuscript is in a fluent, right-sloping clerical hand in iron-gall ink now faded to a light brown-grey, thin and wiry, with long looping descenders; the entries are written in a single sitting by one hand. A heavy scatter of small round translucent spots and rings runs down the left third and across the lower right of the sheet — film or emulsion defects rather than damage to the paper. A horizontal fold crosses the sheet just below the last money line, and a second faint fold runs through the receipt block. Every money line carries a small check mark in the far right margin outside the CENTS rule, an auditor's tick. The footing is underscored and preceded by a heavy dollar sign; the receipt total at bottom left, "$457 86/100", is double-ruled above and below. No handstamp, no docket, no endorsement of any other kind on the face.
The Confederate States, for Army Department
To Leeds & Co Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
186 1. | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
--------+-----------------------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
September 18 | For 6 Elevating Screws 104. ⅛ | | 13 | " ✓
" | Turning & Chasing do & Cutting nuts | | 75 | " ✓
" | 12 Handles for Screws 81 30 | | 24 | 30 ✓
" | Boring[?] & Keying[?] on Screws | | 18 | " ✓
" | 6 Brass nuts 195. ½ | | 97 | 50 ✓
" | Pattern | | 1 | 50 ✓
" | Fitting do in Casting Pattern & Drilling for pawls | 36 | " ✓
" | 6 Cast frames 732 5½ /40 26 Pattern /10 00 | 50 | 26 ✓
" | Drilling & Tapping | | 18 | " ✓
" | 12 Steel Set Screws | | 6 | " ✓
" | 6 Wt Iron pawls 86. 30 | | 25 | 80 ✓
" | Planing drilling morticeing & fitting | 60 | " ✓
" | 4 Pins for do /3 00 6 Spiral Springs /1 50 | 4 | 50 ✓
" | 6 Handles for pawls | | 9 | " ✓
" | 6 Brass Steps for Screws 23. ½ | | 11 | 50 ✓
" | Drilling & Facing /6 00 Cartage /1 50 | 7 | 50 ✓
" | | |---------------
" | | $ | 457 | 86 ✓
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La, this 11th day
of November 1861, from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Four Hundred and Fifty Seven —— dollars and
Eighty Six —— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$457 86/100 Leeds & Co.
Checks: Proves exactly at $457.86. Sixteen money lines: 13.00 + 75.00 + 24.30 + 18.00 + 97.50 + 1.50 + 36.00 + 50.26 + 18.00 + 6.00 + 25.80 + 60.00 + 4.50 + 9.00 + 11.50 + 7.50 = 457.86, equal to the written footing $457 86 and to the receipt's "Four Hundred and Fifty Seven dollars and Eighty Six cents" and the "$457 86/100" at bottom left. The lines that carry a weight and rate all extend correctly: 104 lbs @ ⅛ (12½¢) = 13.00; 81 lbs @ 30¢ = 24.30; 195 lbs @ ½ (50¢) = 97.50; 86 lbs @ 30¢ = 25.80; 23 lbs @ ½ = 11.50. The compound lines also prove: 732 lbs @ 5½¢ = 40.26, plus Pattern 10.00 = 50.26; Pins 3.00 + Springs 1.50 = 4.50; Drilling & Facing 6.00 + Cartage 1.50 = 7.50. The eight lines with no rate written (Turning & Chasing, Boring & Keying, Pattern, Fitting do, Drilling & Tapping, 12 Steel Set Screws, Planing &c., 6 Handles for pawls) are lump-sum charges and their extensions cannot be tested independently.
Flagged: The APPLICATION column is entirely blank on this sheet — the purpose shows only in the DESIGNATION wording (elevating screws, pawls, cast frames, brass steps and nuts). The "for" line at the head reads "Army Department", not the Ordnance Department. Line 4 "Boring[?] & Keying[?] on Screws" — both participles are written with heavily compressed loops; "Boring" and "Keying" fit the machine-shop context and the letter count, but neither is certain. In line 1 the rate mark reads as a fraction whose denominator dips below the ruled line; the arithmetic (104 × rate = 13.00) fixes it at ⅛, i.e. 12½ cents. In line 12 "morticeing" is the clerk's spelling as written; not corrected. No docket, endorsement or auditor's ring beyond the per-line check marks and the double rule under the receipt figure. The month and day appear once, at the head of the first line; every following line is carried down by ditto marks.
Image 101 — Docket (folded voucher wrapper), Ordnance Department, Voucher No. 65, Leeds & Co., September 19, 1861, $1,274.68
The outside of a voucher folded in three, filmed on its side: the sheet is landscape in the frame, and the certificate panel at the left reads bottom-to-top, so the reader must turn the image a quarter turn clockwise to follow it. Two strong vertical fold lines divide the sheet into three panels; the paper is clean, lightly toned, with a small dark stain bleeding in from the top edge above the right fold and a scatter of round film spots across the lower left and lower centre. The manuscript is in a fine, spidery pencil-grey ink in a small controlled hand, quite unlike the bolder hand of the accounts themselves — a clerk's docketing hand. Show-through from the printed billhead inside the fold is visible in mirror image across the right and far-left panels ("The Confederate States", "DESIGNATION", "APPLICATION", "COST" all legible reversed); do not mistake it for writing on this face. The centre panel carries a heavy black oval handstamp, struck slightly askew, and two pen flourishes run out from under its lower edge — initials of the examining clerk, made illegible by the stamp over them.
[centre panel, reading upright]
Ordnance Department .
VOUCHER No. 65
Leeds & Co,
September 19 th 1861 .
$ 1274 68/100
[oval handstamp, struck over pen flourishes:]
★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT. ★
[two large pen loops emerging below the stamp — initials, illegible]
Ent d[?] J[?]. U[?].
[left panel, printed, reading bottom-to-top on the film:]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
~~[accou]nted for in my property return for ______ quarter of 186_~~ .
M L Smith
Maj of Engineers
Checks: No account figures on this face beyond the docketed total. The docketed sum $1274 68/100 is a bare statement, not a footing, so there is no extension or addition to prove here — the arithmetic proof belongs to the account it covers (Image 102, which foots and receipts at $1,274.68).
Flagged: This docket belongs with Image 102, not with the sheet before it. Tested three ways against its neighbours: the figure $1,274.68 matches the footing and the written-out receipt sum of Image 102 exactly; the date "September 19th 1861" matches the receipt date on Image 102 ("this 19th day of September 1861"); and the department line "Ordnance Department" matches the "for Ordnance Department" written on Image 102's billhead head. It does NOT answer Image 100, whose total is $457.86, whose receipt is dated November 11, 1861, and whose head reads "Army Department." So the docket sits one frame BEFORE the account it covers. Voucher No. 65 is the true voucher number, written in manuscript after the printed words "VOUCHER No." — not a form number. The line below the handstamp reads as "Ent d" followed by two capitals; the first is most likely a J and the second a U or a V, but the flourish is loose and the strike of the stamp crosses it — recorded as uncertain rather than guessed. The printed certificate's second clause is struck through with a single heavy pen stroke, the usual cancellation when the articles were not carried on a property return; M. L. Smith signed as Major of Engineers, the same officer who receipted the account.
Image 102 — Printed billhead account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States (Ordnance Department), gun-carriage ironwork of June 19, 1861; receipted at New Orleans September 19, 1861; $1,274.68
A single large printed billhead, portrait, filmed complete with a black film border. Same printed form as Image 100 — blackletter "The Confederate States, for ___ To ___ Dr." over the DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST (DOLLARS | CENTS) table. The hand here is different from Image 100's: larger, rounder, more upright, well spaced, with generous open bowls and a very regular baseline, and the ink has faded to a pale grey-brown that is thin in places. Grey water-staining or tide-marking runs down the left edge in two patches, one at the top left corner and a heavier one across the lower left over the last four lines, and the left margin is peppered with the same round film spots seen throughout this file. A horizontal fold crosses just above the receipt block. Faint and reversed in the middle of the sheet, an oval outline with the letters "...MENT" is visible — an offset of the Rebel Archives handstamp from the folded docket, not a stamp on this face. Each money line carries a small hooked tick in the margin just left of the DOLLARS figure. On line 10 the rate has been struck through and re-written, with a pen note carried across the APPLICATION column in a second, sharper hand. The APPLICATION column is filled once, in a single sweep of vertical writing turned ninety degrees, bracketing the whole account.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Department
To Leeds & Co —— Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
1861. | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
-------+--------------------------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
June 19 | To 40 Pins 68 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | | 13 | 60
" " | " Turning & planing do. | [written | 132 | 00
" " | " 40 Sockets 190 Lbs @ 25 ¢ pr Lb | vertically | 47 | 50
" " | " Facing do — — — | up the | 20 | "
" " | " 40 Wheels 2740 Lbs @ 5½ ¢ pr Lb | column, | 150 | 70
" " | " Boring & Facing do | bracketing | 50 | 00
" " | " 20 Screws 520 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | all lines: | 104 | 00
" " | " 20 Brass Nuts 248 Lbs @ 50 ¢ pr Lb | | 124 | 00
" " | " Turning Screws & Nuts & cutting Threads| "For Gun | 150 | 00
" " | " 80 Handles 274 Lbs @ ~~5~~ 12 ¢ pr Lb | Carriages, | 32 | 88
| [across the column:] changed[?] before , | |
" " | " Turning Handles @ $1 00/100 each | &c." | 80 | 00
" " | " Fitting Handles into Nuts | | 40 | 00
" " | " 20 Wrought Plates 350 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb | | 70 | 00
" " | " Boring, Turning & Drilling | | 130 | 00
" " | " Inserting feather in plates & Cutting Seat in Screws | 55 | 00
" " | " 80 Pipes or Braces 1000 Lbs @ 5½ ¢ pr Lb | 55 | 00
" " | " Turning do — — — | | 20 | 00
| | |------------------
| | $ | 1274 | 68
RECEIVED at New Orleans, La, this 19th day
of September 1861, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Twelve Hundred and Seventy four —— dollars and
Sixty Eight —— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$1274 68/100 Leeds & Co.
Checks: Proves exactly at $1,274.68. Seventeen money lines: 13.60 + 132.00 + 47.50 + 20.00 + 150.70 + 50.00 + 104.00 + 124.00 + 150.00 + 32.88 + 80.00 + 40.00 + 70.00 + 130.00 + 55.00 + 55.00 + 20.00 = 1,274.68, equal to the written footing, to the receipt's "Twelve Hundred and Seventy four dollars and Sixty Eight cents," and to the "$1274 68/100" at bottom left. Every priced line extends correctly: 68 lbs @ 20¢ = 13.60; 190 @ 25¢ = 47.50; 2,740 @ 5½¢ = 150.70; 520 @ 20¢ = 104.00; 248 @ 50¢ = 124.00; 274 @ 12¢ = 32.88 (at the ALTERED rate — see Flagged); 350 @ 20¢ = 70.00; 1,000 @ 5½¢ = 55.00; and 80 Handles turned @ $1.00 each = 80.00. The eight lump-sum lines carry no rate (Turning & planing do; Facing do; Boring & Facing do; Turning Screws & Nuts & cutting Threads; Fitting Handles into Nuts; Boring, Turning & Drilling; Inserting feather in plates & Cutting Seat in Screws; Turning do), so their extensions cannot be tested independently.
Flagged: APPLICATION reads "For Gun Carriages, &c." — written once, sideways up the column, as a single bracket over all seventeen lines; the ironwork is therefore field gun-carriage work (pins, sockets, wheels, screws, brass nuts, handles, wrought plates, pipes or braces) plus the shop labour on it. Line 10, "80 Handles 274 Lbs," carries a correction: the original rate is struck out with a firm horizontal stroke and "12" written above it with the cent mark, and the extension 32.88 agrees with the CORRECTED rate of 12¢, not with whatever stood before. The struck figure beneath cannot be read with confidence; a single digit is visible under the strike. Alongside the correction, in a sharper and slightly different ink, a note is carried right across the APPLICATION column; it reads as two words ending clearly in "before", the first of six letters beginning "ch-" and ending "-ged" — most probably "changed", though "charged" cannot be ruled out from the strokes alone. Recorded as "changed[?] before" rather than guessed. This account is answered by the docket at Image 101: same firm, same department, same date (September 19, 1861), same figure ($1,274.68), voucher No. 65 — the docket is filmed one frame BEFORE the account. The date column carries "June 19" once at the head with ditto marks below, so all seventeen items were charged to a single day's work in June, three months before the account was receipted. There is no auditor's ring on this sheet; the marginal hooks left of the DOLLARS column are per-line ticks. Damage: the grey staining over the lower left does not touch any figure or word — nothing is lost to it.
Image 103 — Docket (folded voucher wrapper), No. 9, Leeds & Co., 15 December 1861, Ordnance Service, $4,005.20
The outside of a voucher folded in three and filmed landscape, this time with the docketing written upright in the frame — no rotation needed to read it. Two vertical fold lines divide the sheet; the paper is lightly toned and clean apart from a scatter of round film spots concentrated across the top left and the bottom right corner. The docket is written in a confident, well-formed clerical hand in dark ink, each line ruled off with a firm pen-drawn line: a double rule under "No 9", a single rule under the date, and a heavy double rule closing the block beneath the money line. Below it sits the black oval Record Division handstamp, and running out from beneath the stamp a very large pen flourish — a broad looping ascender and a small "a" — the tail of a signature made illegible where the stamp fell across it. Show-through from the account folded inside is plainly visible in mirror image on both side panels: the blackletter "Confederate States of America" head at top right, the printed column head "REMARKS." at upper left, "186_", the certification line, and the ghosts of several manuscript entries. None of that is writing on this face.
No 9
====================
Leeds & Co
15 December 1861
---------------------------------
Ordnance Service 4005.20 .
=================================
[oval handstamp, struck over a large pen flourish:]
★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT. ★
[beneath the stamp, a broad looped ascender and a small "a" —
the remains of a signature, illegible]
Checks: No priced lines on this face; the docketed figure 4005.20 is a bare statement, not a footing, so there is nothing to extend or add here. The arithmetic proof belongs to the account it covers (Image 104, which foots and receipts at $4,005.20).
Flagged: This docket answers Image 104, the frame immediately after it, and the match is exact on all three tests: the figure 4005.20 equals the "Total" line and the receipted sum of Image 104; the date "15 December 1861" equals the receipt date on Image 104 ("this 15th day of Decem[be]r 1861"); and the heading "Ordnance Service" equals the manuscript sub-head written across the top of Image 104's table. As with Voucher No. 65 earlier in this range, the docket is filmed one frame BEFORE the account it covers. "No 9" is a manuscript voucher number written by the docketing clerk, not a printed form number. The flourish beneath the handstamp cannot be resolved into a name — only a tall looped ascender and a terminal "a" survive clear of the stamp; no reading is offered. Note that the form enclosed here is NOT the Leeds & Co. billhead used on Images 100 and 102: the show-through shows a "Confederate States of America" head with a REMARKS column, the Ordnance Department's own account-and-certificate form.
Image 104 — Printed account and receipt, Confederate States of America to Leeds & Co., six bronze field guns, sights and shot, December 3, 1861; certified and receipted at New Orleans December 15, 1861; $4,005.20
A printed account-and-certificate form, landscape orientation, filmed complete with a narrow black border. This is NOT the Leeds & Co. billhead used on Images 100 and 102: the head is a plain blackletter "Confederate States of America," with a manuscript "To ______ Dr." line, and the table is ruled DATE (186_) / description / two money columns / REMARKS., with the certificate and receipt printed across the foot. The manuscript is in a large, fluent, forward-sloping hand, generously spaced, in ink that has faded to a soft grey; the writing is easy and confident and the figures are large and unambiguous. A vertical fold runs down the sheet a little right of centre and a second near the left edge, from the folding into the docket at Image 103; a horizontal fold crosses below the table. Round film spots are scattered lightly across the sheet and thickly along the bottom edge under the receipt. A faint pink-grey oval shadow shows through in the right half of the table — the offset of the Rebel Archives handstamp from the docket folded around it, not a stamp on this face. The clerk has written "Ordnance Service" as a manuscript sub-head across the top of the table and underlined it. Every money line carries an auditor's check mark to the left of the DOLLARS figure and one or two more to the right of the CENTS column — this sheet was ticked twice over.
Confederate States of America,
To Leeds & Co Dr.
1861. | | | | REMARKS.
---------+-------------------------------------+----------+--+------------------
| Ordnance Service | | |
December 3 | For 3. 6 pr Rifled bronze Guns ✓ | | | Purchased by
| at $600. —— | 1800 00 ✓✓| | order of Genl
" " | " 3. 6 pr Smooth bore bronze ✓ | | | Bragg for
| Guns at $625 | 1875 00 ✓✓| | arming one
" " | " 3 Elevating sights at $20. ✓ | 60 00 ✓| | Company of
" " | " 74 Rifle Shot James " 1.20 ✓| 88 80 ✓| | Field Artillery
" " | " 126 do Virginia " 1,40 ✓| 176 40 ✓✓| |
" " | " 5 Boxes packing " 100 ✓| 5 00 ✓✓| |
| Total ✓ |------------ |
| | 4005 20 ✓| |
I CERTIFY that the above account is correct and just, amounting to
Four thousand five dollars & Twenty cents
and that the property has been received and accounted for.
H Oladowski Capt. C S Army
RECEIVED, New Orleans La the 15th day of Decemr 1861
of Captain H Oladowski C. S. A. Four thousand five Dollars,
Twenty . Cents, in full of the above account.
Leeds & Co.
Checks: Proves exactly at $4,005.20. Every line carries both a quantity and a rate, so every extension can be tested and every one is right: 3 rifled bronze 6-pdrs @ $600 = 1,800.00; 3 smooth-bore bronze 6-pdrs @ $625 = 1,875.00; 3 elevating sights @ $20 = 60.00; 74 James rifle shot @ $1.20 = 88.80; 126 Virginia do @ $1.40 = 176.40; 5 boxes packing @ $1.00 = 5.00. Those six extensions add to 4,005.20, equal to the written "Total 4005 20"; to the certificate's "Four thousand five dollars & Twenty cents"; to the receipt's "Four thousand five Dollars, Twenty Cents"; and to the "4005.20" docketed on Image 103.
Flagged: This form has a REMARKS column, not an APPLICATION column, and the remark — written once and bracketing the whole account — reads "Purchased by order of Genl Bragg for arming one Company of Field Artillery." That is the statement of purpose here, and it is unusually explicit: six bronze field pieces, half rifled and half smooth-bore, with sights, shot and packing, bought to equip a single field battery. The certifying and paying officer is NOT M. L. Smith of the Engineers, who receipted Images 100 and 102, but "H Oladowski, Capt. C S Army," who signs both the certificate and (as the payer) the receipt; the signature is clear letter by letter — O-l-a-d-o-w-s-k-i — with a single initial H. As a proposal only, and not into the transcription: an officer of this name, Hypolite Oladowski, served as ordnance officer to General Braxton Bragg, which would fit both the signature and the Bragg remark; this should be verified against the compiled service records before it is printed. The gun descriptions are worth care: "6 pr" is written as the abbreviation, "Rifled bronze" and "Smooth bore bronze" are both spelled out, and the two shot lines distinguish "Rifle Shot James" from "126 do Virginia" — the two patterns are named as the clerk wrote them, without expansion. "Elevating sights" is underlined in the original. The date column shows "December 3" once with ditto marks below; the account was certified and paid twelve days later, on December 15. No auditor's ring or correction anywhere; nothing is struck through; the double ticking is the only endorsement beyond the two signatures. Nothing on the sheet is illegible.
Image 105 — Second (duplicate) docket for the same voucher, No. 9, Leeds & Co., 15th December 1861, Ordnance service, $4,005.20
The outside of a second folded voucher wrapper, filmed landscape and upright, closely matching Image 103 but written out afresh rather than being the same sheet refilmed. Two vertical folds and one horizontal fold quarter the sheet; the paper is lightly toned, and the top right corner has been cut or torn away at a clean diagonal, with further small losses nicked out of the bottom edge below the centre fold — none of it touching any writing. Round film spots crowd the upper left corner and the whole bottom margin. The docketing hand is the same fluent clerical hand as Image 103, in dark ink, but this copy is written more loosely, without the pen rules that framed the other, and its wording differs in small particulars — "15th" with a superscript, underlined; "Ordnance service" with a small s; and the sum given with a dollar sign, "$4005.20". Below the writing, the black oval Record Division handstamp is struck squarely over a large pen paraph — a capital letter over a broad descending loop closing on a small "a" — so that the signature and the stamp are inseparably tangled. The account folded inside shows through strongly in mirror image across the sheet; flipped, it reads "Ordnance Service", "December 3 For 3. 6 pr Rifled bronze Guns", "at $600 ——" and the following lines, confirming that this wrapper enclosed the same account as Image 103 did.
No 9
Leeds & Co
15 th December 1861
Ordnance service $4005.20
[oval handstamp, struck over a pen paraph:]
★ RECORD DIVISION,
REBEL ARCHIVES.
WAR DEPARTMENT. ★
[beneath and within the stamp: a capital — B[?] — above a broad
descending loop ending in a small "a"; not resolvable into a name]
Checks: No priced lines on this face; the docketed figure $4005.20 is a bare statement, not a footing, so there is nothing to extend or add here. It agrees to the cent with the Total, certificate and receipt of Image 104.
Flagged: This is a SECOND docket for the same voucher already docketed at Image 103 — same number (No 9), same firm, same date (15 December 1861), same service (Ordnance), same sum ($4,005.20). Only one account sheet, Image 104, is filmed between and around them, and the mirrored show-through on this sheet is that same account. The natural reading is that the voucher was made out in duplicate, as the receipts in this file repeatedly say ("SIGNED IN DUPLICATE"), and that both wrappers were filmed while only one of the two account sheets survives in the run — but that is a proposal, not something the sheets themselves state, and it should be checked against the film for a second copy of the account elsewhere in the reel. The wording differences from Image 103 (superscript "15th", lower-case "service", the dollar sign, and the absence of pen rules) confirm these are two separately written wrappers, not one sheet photographed twice. The pen paraph under the handstamp shows a capital letter — a B is the likeliest reading of the upper stroke — over the same broad loop-and-"a" seen on Image 103; no name is offered, as the stamp obliterates the middle of it. Damage: the missing top right corner and the nicks along the bottom edge cost no text. Nothing else on the sheet is unreadable.
Image 106 — Account, "Confederate States of America ... To Leeds & Co. Dr.", Ordnance service, New Orleans, December 3–15, 1861; six bronze field guns, sights, shot and packing; $4,005.20; receipted to Capt. H. Oladowski
A printed billhead in landscape format, the sheet noticeably wider than tall in the scan (4428 x 3409 px), the top-left corner clipped at an angle by the scanner or by an old dog-ear. The printed head is set in heavy blackletter — "Confederate States of America," — with a ruled dotted line for the vendor's name and a printed "Dr." at the right end. The ruled table below carries a printed "186_." year line at the left and a printed "REMARKS." column head at the right; the intermediate column heads that would normally sit over the money columns do not print on this sheet, so the money columns are unlabelled rules. Entries are in a fluent, well-formed clerical hand in black ink, now faded to grey-brown, laid out with the item text running across the wide DESIGNATION field and the extensions carried to a single money column at the right. A vertical fold runs down the centre of the sheet and a horizontal fold crosses below the table; the paper is lightly foxed and shows a scatter of small pale spots (dust or emulsion defects on the film) across the lower half. The bottom edge is torn away irregularly below the receipt line, taking a shallow bite of blank paper but no text. The right-hand edge of the sheet is cut off flush by the scan, clipping the last letter or two of the REMARKS lines. No handstamps, no dockets, no auditor's rings.
Confederate States of America,
To Leeds & Co .................................. Dr.
186 1. REMARKS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ordnance service
December 3 For 3. 6 pr Rifled bronze guns Purchased by
at $ 600. each 1800 00 Order of Genl
" " For 3 6 pr Smooth bore Bronze Bragg. For armin[g]
guns. at $ 625 1875 00 One Company
" " For 3 Elevating sights at $20 60 00 of field Artillery
" " " 74. Rifle Shots. James, 1 20 88 80
" " " 126 " " Virginia 1 40 176 40
" " " 5. Boxes packing at $ 1.00 5 00
--------
4005 20
I CERTIFY that the above account is correct and just, amounting to
Four thousand five dollars & Twenty cents
and that the property has been received and accounted for. H. Oladowski Capt C. S. Army
RECEIVED, New Orleans La. this 15 day of December 186 1.
of Capt. H Oladowski C. S. A. Four thousand five _______________ Dollars,
Twenty ______ Cents, in full of the above account. Leeds & Co.
Checks: Every line proves. 3 x $600 = $1,800.00; 3 x $625 = $1,875.00; 3 x $20 = $60.00; 74 x $1.20 = $88.80; 126 x $1.40 = $176.40; 5 x $1.00 = $5.00. The six extensions foot to 1800.00 + 1875.00 + 60.00 + 88.80 + 176.40 + 5.00 = $4,005.20, exactly the figure written in the money column. The certificate and receipt both write it out as "Four thousand five dollars & Twenty cents," which matches. Proves exactly at $4,005.20.
Flagged: This sheet is not the "for [Ordnance Department] To Leeds & Co. Dr." billhead with DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST columns described for this file. It is the plain "Confederate States of America" form with a REMARKS column instead of APPLICATION; the purpose of the purchase is therefore carried in REMARKS, quoted in full above. The last word of the REMARKS line "For armin[g]" runs off the scanned right edge — the terminal letter is not on the film, but the sense and the following words "One Company of field Artillery" are unambiguous. The certifying officer's surname reads clearly as "Oladowski" in both the certificate and the receipt line, written with the initial "H."; he is not Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, who receipts most of this file — the account is an Ordnance Department purchase, not engineer work, which is consistent. "Genl Bragg" in REMARKS is written without a first name or initial. The word transcribed "field" in "of field Artillery" is written with a long initial letter that could be read as a script "f" or a doubled "ff"; "field" is the only sense the line will bear. No docket is filmed with this sheet.
Image 107 — Cross-reference slip / docket, "Leeds & Co. Iron Founders", no date, no figures; refers the reader to a voucher filed with the schooner Antonia under "Vessels"
A narrow upright slip, tall and thin in the scan (1540 x 3411 px) with heavy black scanner surround on all four sides, so the paper occupies only a central column. The sheet is plain, unruled and unprinted, and looks like a filing slip rather than a folded account docket — there is no billhead, no columns and no money at all. The writing sits in the upper third in a light, looping clerical hand, very faint on the film — pale grey ink or pencil that has to be read against the paper tone rather than as black on white. The middle of the slip carries a large oval handstamp, struck lightly and only partly inked, reading in double-oval form RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT. with a small five-pointed star at each side between the rings; the outer top and bottom legends are the darkest part of the strike, the inner "REBEL ARCHIVES." the faintest. A dense scatter of small ring-shaped film blemishes covers the lower half of the slip. Near the foot, faint and mostly lost, is a large flourished capital letter and a following mark. No dates, no totals, no signature.
Leeds & Co.
Iron Founders
See voucher filed
with Schr "Antonia"
in "Vessels.,"
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES. *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
L[?] [illegible]
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: This slip carries no date, no place, no amount and no officer, so it cannot be tested against its neighbours by figure, date or place; nothing on it ties it to the account on image 106 or to whatever follows on image 108, and it should not be assumed to docket either of them. It is a finding-aid cross-reference: the account it points to was pulled out of the Leeds & Co. file and refiled with the papers of the schooner Antonia in the "Vessels" series. "Antonia" is written inside quotation marks in the original and is legible; the abbreviation before it is "Schr" (schooner). The closing punctuation after "Vessels" is written as a quotation mark set low, transcribed here as it stands. The flourished capital near the foot reads as a large "L" with a short following stroke — possibly a filing initial for "Leeds" or "La.", but it is too faint and too broken by film blemishes to read, so it is left as "L[?] [illegible]". The RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp is post-war Federal custodial marking, not a Confederate mark.
Image 108 — Docket (endorsement panel) of a letter, Leeds & Co., New Orleans, April 7[?], 1862, enclosing a bill for $12,645 for guns sent to Mobile; endorsed by Capt. H. Oladowsk[i]
The opened bifolium of a folded letter, photographed flat and landscape in the scan (4324 x 3393 px). The left leaf is entirely blank apart from the faint show-through of writing from the other side and a light diagonal laid texture in the paper; all the writing sits on the right leaf, which is the docket or endorsement panel of the folded letter. Vertical and horizontal fold lines cross both leaves, and the panel's writing is arranged to read down the fold in the ordinary docketing manner: title, correspondent and place, date, then the substance in short indented lines with a short ruled pen-stroke used twice as a divider. The hand is fine, sloping and confident, in black ink that has stayed strong. Across the lower middle of the panel is a lightly struck oval handstamp, RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT., with a small star at either side, printed at a slight tilt and only partly inked. Small ring-shaped film blemishes are scattered across the sheet, thickest at the top and the foot. The bottom edge of the paper is cut off cleanly by the black scan surround just below the signature; no text is lost.
Letter
Leeds & Co
New Orleans
April 7[?]th 1862
Enclosing bill for
$12,645 for
guns sent to
Mobile
______________
enquiring how to
collect bill
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES. *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
H. Oladowsk[i]
Capt CS Army
Checks: No account columns and no extensions on the sheet — only the single sum "$12,645" quoted in the endorsement, which stands alone and cannot be tested against any rate or footing here. No arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The day of the month is doubtful. The numeral between "April" and the superscript "th" is written as a single looped stroke with a long descender; it reads most naturally as a 7, but a 9 cannot be excluded from the film, so it is given as "7[?]". The year "1862" is clear. The sum "$12,645" is written with a comma and no cents; the final digit is a long-tailed 5 and is legible. The signature reads "H. Oladowsk" with a trailing flourish that probably carries the final "i" — the same Capt. H. Oladowski, C.S. Army, who certified and paid the account on image 106; the surname is given here as "Oladowsk[i]" because the last letter is absorbed into the flourish. This docket does NOT belong to the account on image 106: that account is dated December 3–15, 1861, at New Orleans, for $4,005.20 in field guns delivered under Genl Bragg's order, whereas this endorsement is April 1862 and names $12,645 for guns sent to Mobile. The two figures, dates and destinations all disagree, and no account for $12,645 is filmed adjacent to it. The letter this panel docketed is not filmed with it — only the endorsement leaf and its blank conjugate survive here. Whether the "guns sent to Mobile" are the same class of bronze field pieces as on image 106 is not stated on the sheet and is not assumed.
Image 109 — Letter, Leeds & Co. to Capt. H. Oladowski, care of Genl B. Bragg, Jackson, Tenn.; New Orleans, April 7, 1862; last cannon of the January 1 order shipped, bill for $12,645 enclosed, asking how to collect; total not itemised here
A single upright leaf of plain unruled letter paper, portrait in the scan (3460 x 4375 px), written on the recto only in a fine, fast, sloping merchant's hand with a sharp nib. The ink is black and still legible, though thinning in places where the pen ran dry, and the writing crowds toward the foot as the writer ran out of room, the closing and signature squeezed onto the last line at the right. A horizontal fold crosses the sheet a little above centre and a second lower down, with a faint vertical fold at the left; the fold lines have lightly abraded a few letters where they cross the writing, notably in the word "reached" mid-page, which sits on a crease and prints heavier and blurred. A scatter of small ring-shaped film blemishes runs down the left margin and across the top. The right and bottom edges are trimmed off flush by the black scan surround; nothing of the text is lost. No handstamp, no docket, no endorsement, no auditor's marks on this face.
New Orleans April 7th 1862
Capt H Oladowski
Care of Genl B Bragg
Jackson Tenn
Dear Sir
On Saturday last
we shipped the last cannon of your order
of January 1st & we enclose B/ll[?] amounting to
$12,645. In consequence of the rise in material
we have been compelled to charge you more
for these guns than those before furnished.
On the 26th February we wrote to you per Express Co
enclosed our bill of Feby 19th receipted, requesting you
to remit per Southern Express Co, but as you had left
Mobile before our letter reached that place, our receipt
was returned. Please let us know how we are to collect
our bills.
Your favor of the 13th ulto came duly to hand. We have
received orders from Maj. M. L. Smith to make bronze 12 Pdr.
similar to those already made. We have no orders for
Reed projectiles, nor for shot shell &c for 12 Pdrs. We can
make them if required.
There are parties here in New Orleans who make all the
articles required to complete your batteries. The ordnance officers here
know where[?] to procure them. Should you desire any particular information
we will take pleasure to give it
Yours Respectfully
Leeds & Co
Checks: The letter states one sum only, "$12,645", the amount of the enclosed bill; the bill itself is not filmed here, so there are no quantities, rates or extensions on this sheet and the figure cannot be tested against anything. No arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The abbreviation after "we enclose" is doubtful. It is written as a large looped capital with a slash and two tall following strokes; it is almost certainly the mercantile contraction for "Bill" (the bill of the guns, referred to again three lines later as "our bill of Feby 19th"), but the letters as drawn cannot be resolved with certainty, so it is given as "B/ll[?]". The sum is written "$12,645." with a comma between the thousands and hundreds and a small raised mark after the point which is probably the clerk's shorthand for the cents; no cents figure is written out. The word transcribed "where[?]" in "know where to procure them" is compressed and could be read "when", but "where" is the only reading that fits the sentence; both readings are noted rather than chosen silently. "26th February" is read from a 2 followed by a looped digit matching the writer's 6 in "645"; a 0 cannot be entirely excluded. This letter is the enclosure the docket on image 108 was written on: same firm, same place (New Orleans), same date (April 7, 1862), same sum ($12,645), same subject (guns, and how to collect the bill), and the docket is signed by Capt. H. Oladowski, to whom this letter is addressed. Image 108 and image 109 therefore pair, and the docket's day, which was doubtful on its own, is confirmed as the 7th by this letter. Two officers are named: Capt. H. Oladowski, addressed care of Genl B. Bragg at Jackson, Tenn., and Maj. M. L. Smith, from whom Leeds & Co. had orders for bronze 12-pounders. "Reed projectiles" is clearly written and refers to a shell pattern, not a person's order. The "order of January 1st" and the earlier "bill of Feby 19th" are references to papers not filmed on this image.
Image 110 — Docket panel of a folded account, "Ordnance Service", Voucher No. 5, November 20, 1862, Leeds & Co., $155 83/100; certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engineers & Actg for Ord. Dept.
The outside of a folded printed account form, opened out and photographed landscape (4356 x 3401 px), showing three panels made by the vertical folds. The centre panel is the docket face: a printed form back with dotted rules, a printed "VOUCHER No." line, and further dotted rules for the date, the payee and the sum, all filled in by hand in a light grey-brown ink. The left panel carries, written sideways so that it reads when the sheet is turned a quarter-turn, the printed certificate of the disbursing officer with its blanks completed in ink and two of its printed clauses struck out with heavy ruled pen-strokes; the officer's signature and title sit below it in three lines. The right panel is blank, showing only the mirrored show-through of the printed billhead on the other side of the sheet — the words "Corps of Engineers," "received in full payment of the above account," "day," "and," and, lower down, the reversed column heads DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST. / DOLLARS. CENTS. — which confirms that the account itself is printed on the inside of this same fold. Across the centre panel is a lightly struck oval handstamp, RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES. / WAR DEPARTMENT., with a star at each side. A grey tonal band from the film runs across the upper left panel and darkens the struck-out printed line there. A dense field of small ring-shaped film blemishes covers the lower half. Near the foot of the centre panel is a large pen flourish with no letters in it. The bottom edge is cut off flush by the black scan surround.
Centre panel (docket face):
Ordnance Service ...........................
............................................
VOUCHER No. 5 — ______________
November 20th ____________ 186 2
Leeds & Co
............................................
83
$ 1 5 5 . ---
100
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES. *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[pen flourish, no letters]
Left panel (written sideways; printed text roman, manuscript as written, struck-through printed matter shown struck):
^ amounting to
I certify that the within account is correct and just ; ~~the articles~~
five dollars and eighty three cents,
~~accounted for in my property return for ________ quarter of 186 __.~~
[the inserted words run: "amounting to one hundred and fifty
five dollars and eighty three cents,"]
M L Smith
Maj: of Engineers &
Actg for[?] Ord Dep[t]
Checks: The docket carries only one figure, the voucher total "$155 83/100", and the certificate writes it out as "one hundred and fifty five dollars and eighty three cents." Figure and words agree exactly at $155.83. The account itself, with its DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST columns, is on the inside of this fold and is not shown on this image, so there are no quantities, rates or extensions here to test and no footing to prove against the total. Nothing to prove beyond the internal agreement of figure and words.
Flagged: "VOUCHER No. 5" is written by hand on the printed voucher-number line and is a real voucher number, not a form number. The certifying officer signs "M L Smith / Maj: of Engineers & / Actg for[?] Ord Dep[t]" — the same Maj. M. L. Smith named in the Leeds & Co. letter on image 109 as the source of their orders for bronze 12-pounders. The middle word of the third line is doubtful: it is written with a looped ascender and reads most naturally "for", giving "Acting for Ordnance Department," but "Chf" cannot be excluded from the film; the closing "Dep" is finished with a flourish that probably carries the "t". The first initial of the signature is a script capital with a long entry stroke; it is read "M" on the strength of the "Maj. M. L. Smith" in image 109, and the reading of the signature alone would be uncertain. The clerk struck out two printed clauses — "the articles" and the whole property-return line ending "quarter of 186 ." — and carried "amounting to" in above the line with a caret; the strikes are the disbursing officer's own correction of the form, not an auditor's ring, and there is no auditor's ring or endorsement anywhere on the sheet. No place is named anywhere on this docket: New Orleans is not written on it. This docket does not pair with any account filmed at images 106 to 110. Its date (November 20, 1862), its sum ($155.83) and its voucher number (5) match nothing on image 106 ($4,005.20, December 1861) or image 109 ($12,645, April 1862), and the account it belongs to must be sought outside this range. The year is printed "186" with a manuscript "2" added, so 1862 is certain; a November 1862 account carrying a New Orleans firm's name and certified by an engineer officer is worth checking against where Leeds & Co. and Maj. Smith were at that date, but nothing on the sheet itself resolves it and no place is assumed here.
Image 111 — Account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States for Ordnance Service, October–December 1861, footing $155.83; receipted at Jackson, Miss., 20 November 1862, from Maj. M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers — with a separate power-of-attorney slip, New Orleans, 9 September 1862
A portrait scan, 2,550 x 3,300 px, holding two separate documents photographed one above the other against a black ground. The upper is a full billhead sheet, light cream paper, printed with the blackletter heading "The Confederate States." and a ruled four-column table (DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST, the last split DOLLARS | CENTS). A pale rectangular patch of repair tissue lies across the upper left, running from the left edge to about a third across, its lower edge showing as a ragged dark line just above the DATE heading; it does not cover any ink. The printed certification and receipt text of the sheet's reverse shows through faintly in mirror image across the top right, behind the written heading. The clerk's hand is small, fine, sharply slanted and very regular, in dark brown-black iron-gall ink, with a small tick or check mark set in the DOLLARS column before every extension — an auditor's marks, in the same dark ink. Scattered pale ring-shaped specks and dots across the sheet are microfilm artefacts. The lower document is a small oblong slip, roughly a third the height of the billhead, of thinner paper with a torn and feathered left edge, written in a much larger, looser, more flowing hand in paler ink, with a long flourish under the signature; a dark smudge and several ink spots sit at its left margin. The APPLICATION column of the account is entirely blank; the purpose is carried instead in the written heading line.
[UPPER SHEET — printed billhead]
The Confederate States. for Ordnance Service
To Leeds & Co, Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
186 1 . | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
----------+---------------------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
October 8 | To Babbitt Metal Rings & Bushes 9 Lbs @ 75 ¢ pr Lb | √ 6 | 75
" " | „ Ironing d°[?] followed[?], including joint & fitting | √ 8 | 00
" 28 | „ 2 Brass Rings @ $3 00/100 each | √ 6 | 00
" " | „ 3 Sett Screws @ $1 00 each | √ 3 | 00
Novr 27 | „ 2 Screws & Handles 168 Lbs @ 20 ¢ pr Lb — — | √ 33 | 60
" " | „ 2 Nuts 88 Lbs @ 6 ¢ pr Lb | √ 5 | 28
" " | „ Pattern | √ 5 | 00
" " | „ Turning thread on Screw & in Nut, drilling &c | √ 66 | 00
" " | „ Cartage on above to New Custom House | √ " | 50
Decr 16 | „ 16 feet of 2 1/2 inch Gas pipe @ $1 20/100 pr foot | √ 19 | 20
" " | „ chasing end of d° $2 00 Cartage 50 ¢ | √ 2 | 50
---------------
$ 155 | 83
---------------
RECEIVED, at Jackson Miss this 20 th day
of November 186 2 , from Maj M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of One hundred and fifty five ——— dollars and
eighty three cents, in full payment of the above account
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE )
$ 155 83
---
100
Leeds & Co.
per pro Arch d Mitchell
[LOWER SLIP — separate document]
Mr Archibald Mitchell is hereby authorized
to collect & receipt for any bills which
may be due us.
New Orleans Sept 9th 1862
Leeds & Co.
Checks: Every rated line extends correctly. 9 Lbs @ 75¢ = $6.75; 2 Brass Rings @ $3.00 = $6.00; 3 Sett Screws @ $1.00 = $3.00; 168 Lbs @ 20¢ = $33.60; 88 Lbs @ 6¢ = $5.28; 16 feet @ $1.20 = $19.20; and the last line's two components, $2.00 chasing plus 50¢ cartage, sum to the $2.50 extension. Four lines carry no rate — "Ironing d° followed…" $8.00, "Pattern" $5.00, "Turning thread on Screw & in Nut, drilling &c" $66.00, and "Cartage on above to New Custom House" 50¢ — and their extensions cannot be tested. The eleven extensions sum to $155.83, which is the footing as written, and the footing agrees with the receipt's written-out "One hundred and fifty five dollars and eighty three cents" and with the repeated "$155 83/100" at the foot. Proves exactly at $155.83.
Flagged: The second line is the least certain reading on the sheet. The word after "Ironing" is a looped character with a superscript, read here as the ditto mark "d°"; the following word plainly ends in a looped "d", giving "followed", which reads awkwardly. A machinist's "follower" — a real gun-carriage and screw-press part — would make better sense, but the terminal letter is a "d", not an "r", so it is left as written. — The account's year head is printed "186" with a single slanting stroke after it, read here as "186 1 ."; the line dates run October to December and the work is receipted in November 1862, so the account year is 1861 and the payment came more than eleven months later. — The lower slip is a separate document, not part of the account, and its date is the problem on this image: it reads "New Orleans Sept 9th 1862". The final numeral is unambiguously a 2. Proposal, not read from the page: New Orleans was under Federal occupation from 1 May 1862, so a Leeds & Co. authorization written there in September 1862 wants explanation; 1861 cannot be got out of the strokes, but the reading should be checked against the firm's other powers of attorney in this file. — "per pro Arch d Mitchell" — the "d" of "Arch d" is superscript with a doubled bar beneath, the standard contraction for Archibald, and the slip below names Archibald Mitchell in full, so the two agree. — The place of receipt is "Jackson Miss" — Jackson, Mississippi — not New Orleans, though the billhead is a New Orleans firm's. — "New Custom House" in the cartage line is the New Orleans Custom House, then in use as an ordnance and workshop site; that identification is a proposal, not on the page. — The APPLICATION column is ruled but wholly blank on this sheet; the purpose "for Ordnance Service" is written into the printed heading instead.
Image 112 — Outside (docket panel) of a folded sheet, endorsed No. 1371, Messrs Leeds & Co., New Orleans, La., June 30th 1863 — no money figure
A landscape scan, 5,616 x 3,578 px, of a single large sheet photographed folded and laid flat, the black background showing only as narrow borders and as a bite out of the lower right corner where the paper is torn away. The sheet is a pale, evenly toned wove paper carrying one heavy horizontal fold across the middle and three vertical folds, which stand out as faint pale-and-dark bands running the full height; the vertical fold left of centre is the deepest and is slightly split at the top edge, where a small triangular nick has been taken out of the paper. The upper right corner is cut on a diagonal. All the writing sits in one block in the upper right quadrant — the outward-facing panel when the sheet was folded for filing — in a light, spidery, fast hand in pale grey-brown ink, quite unlike the two hands on image 111; a long horizontal flourish underscores the address. The rest of the sheet is blank. Two clusters of pale ring-shaped specks, dense along the bottom edge and the top left, are microfilm artefacts, not foxing. A single dark ink blot sits alone in the left half, and a band of faint mirror-image offsetting — ink picked up from a facing document — runs across the right side below the endorsement; it is too weak and too broken to read. There is no handstamp anywhere on the sheet, and no money figure.
[UPPER RIGHT PANEL — endorsement, the only writing on the sheet]
N o : 1371
Mess rs Leeds & Co.
New Orleans, La.
______________________
June 30 th 1863
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. The endorsement carries a number, a firm, a place and a date, but no dollar amount.
Flagged: RULE 1 note: "N o : 1371" is written by hand, not printed, so 1371 is a real file or voucher number rather than a form number; nothing on the sheet says which. — The number reads 1371: a "1", a "3", a "7" with a long descending stroke, and a final "1". The 7 could conceivably be read as a 9, but its top bar and straight leg match the 7-forms used elsewhere by this hand better than a 9. — The year is 1863: the final digit has the same flat-topped, double-bowed form as the "3" in "30 th " on the line above. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: this sheet does NOT pair with the account on image 111. That account is dated October–December 1861, footed $155.83, and was receipted at Jackson, Miss., on 20 November 1862; this docket is dated 30 June 1863 and names New Orleans, La. The place, the date and the absence of any figure all disagree, and the hands are different. What account it belongs to is not on this image; the sheets that follow must be tested against it. — New Orleans had been in Federal hands for more than a year by 30 June 1863, so the address here is almost certainly the firm's address of record rather than where the paper was written. That is a proposal, not something the page says. — The offsetting on the right side is genuine transferred ink from another document, not writing on this sheet; no word in it can be made out. — ADDENDUM, entered after the whole range was read: this docket does belong with the very next image. The Second Auditor's certificate on image 113 carries the same number, 1371, names the same firm at the same place, and was admitted by the Comptroller on 30 June 1863, the date endorsed here. The two are one document, jacket and contents.
Image 113 — Second Auditor's certificate of balance, Treasury Department, C. S., No. 1371, 26 June 1863, in favour of Messrs Leeds & Co. of New Orleans, La., $2,350.93 for fitting gun boats for the "C. S. River Defence Service"; admitted by the Comptroller 30 June 1863
A tall portrait scan, 3,536 x 5,618 px, of a single printed Treasury form on smooth white wove paper, photographed against black. The top left corner is torn away in a ragged bite about two inches across, and a soft diagonal crease runs down from it; the tear stops short of the printed matter and costs no text. The right edge carries a small notch about two-fifths down, and the paper is a little wavy along the bottom. The printing is crisp: a blackletter heading "Treasury Department, C. S.", small caps "SECOND AUDITOR'S OFFICE," at the right, a blackletter "I Certify," opening the body, ruled fill-in lines, a small printer's ornament dividing the sheet, and a "COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE." block at the foot. Every fill-in is in one large, sloping, confident clerk's hand in dark ink, the same hand throughout the auditor's part; the two signatures are in different, more heavily flourished hands. A dark vertical ink smear, shaped rather like a capital T, sits in the right half over the words "for materials furnished" and just touches but does not obscure them; it is transferred ink, not a correction. A dense field of pale ring-shaped microfilm specks runs down the left margin and, more thinly, down the right. The whole middle third of the sheet is blank. There is no handstamp.
Treasury Department, C. S.
— No. 1371 SECOND AUDITOR'S OFFICE,
June 26 th , 1863 .
I Certify, That there is due from the CONFEDERATE STATES to
Mess rs Leeds & Co, of New Orleans. La.
The Sum of Twenty three Hundred and fifty Dollars and
Ninety three cents ( $2350.93 ), for Materials furnished
and labor expended in fitting Gun Boats for the
" C. S. River Defence Service ", $2350.93
----------
Payable to Mess rs Leeds & Co,
Present.
" Floating Defences of
Western Rivers "
as appears from the Statements and Vouchers herewith transmitted for the
decision of the Comptroller of the Treasury thereon.
W H. S.[?] Taylor
Auditor.
To Lewis Cruger Esq., }
Comptroller. }
—•—
COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE.
I admit and certify the above balance this 30 th day of June 186 3
Lewis Cruger
Comptroller.
Checks: No extensions to test — this is a certificate of balance, not an itemised account. The single sum is stated three ways and all three agree: written out as "Twenty three Hundred and fifty Dollars and Ninety three cents"; in figures in the parenthesis as "$2350.93"; and again in the money column at the right as "$2350.93". Proves exactly at $2,350.93 as an internal check. Nothing on this sheet breaks that sum into quantities and rates, so the figure cannot be proved against any account here.
Flagged: The Auditor's signature is the least certain reading. The surname is plainly "Taylor"; the initials are "W" and "H", then a flourished capital that could be S or D, read here as "S". Proposal, not read from the page: the Second Auditor of the Confederate Treasury in 1863 was William H. S. Taylor, which would fit. — The Comptroller's name is written twice, once as the addressee "To Lewis Cruger Esq., Comptroller" in the clerk's clear hand and once as the signature at the foot, which is a rapid flourish; the addressee line is what makes the signature legible, and the two agree. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: this certificate matches the docket panel on image 112 on all three testable points — the same number, 1371; the Comptroller's admission date, 30 June 1863, is exactly the date endorsed on the docket; and both name Messrs Leeds & Co. of New Orleans, La. The docket carries no figure, so the amount cannot be tested across the pair, but the number, date and firm agree and the two sheets belong together. — The purpose stated here — "Materials furnished and labor expended in fitting Gun Boats for the 'C. S. River Defence Service'", charged to the appropriation "Floating Defences of Western Rivers" — is naval and river-defence work, not the gun-carriage ordnance work of the accounts elsewhere in this file. — "Present." under "Payable to Messrs Leeds & Co," is the clerk's usual note that the payee was on hand at the Treasury rather than to be paid by remittance; that reading of the word's meaning is a proposal, the word itself is plainly written. — The date line of the Auditor's office is "June 26 th , 1863", four days before the Comptroller admitted the balance.
Image 114 — Voucher jacket (docket) for Leeds & Co., Voucher No. 4, Ordnance Service, Miss., 20 November 1862, $1,633.67; certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engineers & Actg for Ord Dept, endorsed Vicksburg, Miss.
A portrait scan, 3,092 x 3,590 px, of a single sheet photographed folded so that two panels stand side by side against black, the vertical fold running as a broad pale-and-dark band up the middle and pinching in slightly at the top edge. The paper is a pale grey-cream wove, slightly cockled, with a small chip out of the right edge about two-thirds down and a shallow triangular nick at the top of the fold. The right panel is the docket proper, printed with faint ruled lines and the small-caps line "VOUCHER No."; everything else is filled in by hand in a large, open, rapid hand in dark ink, the words "Miss" and "Ordnance Service" written much bigger than the rest. Struck across the lower half of that panel is a large oval handstamp — two concentric ovals with a five-pointed star at each side — reading RECORD DIVISION above, REBEL ARCHIVES within, WAR DEPARTMENT below; it is lightly and unevenly inked, greyish and partly broken, and a small pencilled figure sits inside its inner oval. A pencil endorsement "Vicksburg Miss" runs across the top of the stamp in a soft grey line quite unlike the ink. At the foot of the panel are two large ink loops, a pen flourish with no letters in it. The left panel carries the printed certification sentence in small type, written sideways relative to the scan, its unused clauses cancelled with heavy ink strokes and the sum written into and above the line in ink; the signature beneath is in a heavier, more flourished hand. Behind it, faint mirror-image show-through of a printed ruled account inside the folded jacket is visible but unreadable. Pale ring-shaped microfilm specks are scattered over both panels, thickest in a cloud at the top of the right panel and along the lower left.
[RIGHT PANEL — docket]
Miss —
Ordnance Service
____________________
VOUCHER No. 4 —
Leeds & Co
November 20 ths 1862 .
$ 1633 67
----
100
[pencil, across the handstamp:] Vicksburg Miss
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
1 – 2 – 9[?]
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
[large pen flourish, two loops, no letters]
[LEFT PANEL — printed certification, written sideways; cancelled clauses struck
through in ink, the inserted words written above and through the printed line]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
amounting to sixteen hundred and thirty
three dollars and sixty seven cents
~~accounted for in my property return for~~ ________ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M. L. Smith
Maj of Engineers &
Actg for Ord Dept
Checks: No extensions to test — this is a docket, not an account. The one sum is stated twice on the sheet and the two agree: the figure "$1633 67/100" on the right panel and the words "sixteen hundred and thirty three dollars and sixty seven cents" written into the certification on the left. Proves exactly at $1,633.67 as an internal check. Nothing here breaks the sum into items, so it cannot be proved against any account on this image.
Flagged: Pairing, tested per rule 6: this docket does NOT answer the account on image 111. The dates agree exactly — both are 20 November 1862 — but nothing else does: image 111 foots at $155.83 and was receipted at Jackson, Miss., while this jacket carries $1,633.67 and is endorsed Vicksburg, Miss. The account this jacket covers is not on this image and must be looked for in the sheets that follow. — RULE 1 note: "VOUCHER No." is printed and the "4" is written in, so 4 is a genuine voucher number. It is a very low number for a firm with vouchers in the sixties elsewhere in this file, which suggests a separate numbered series — that is a proposal, not something the sheet says. — The signature is "M. L. Smith", the same name and the same hand as the receipt witness on image 111, but the title differs: there he is described simply as "Corps of Engineers", here he signs "Maj of Engineers & Actg for Ord Dept" — acting for the Ordnance Department as well as his own corps. The words are cramped and the small "for" between "Actg" and "Ord" is easy to miss; the reading is settled by the same three words written more openly in the same hand on image 119. — The figure inside the handstamp is pencilled, small and broken; it reads as "1 – 2 – 9", but the last character has a descender and could be a 9 or a "y", and none of it is certain. It is a later archival mark, not a Confederate entry. — "Miss" at the head of the docket carries a bar over it, the ordinary contraction for Mississippi. — "Vicksburg Miss" is in pencil, in a hand different from every ink entry on the sheet, and was written after the handstamp was struck, since it runs over it. — The two large loops at the foot of the right panel are a pen flourish only; no letters can be made out in them and none are proposed.
Image 115 — The same voucher jacket as image 114, refilmed wider: Voucher No. 4, Leeds & Co., Ordnance Service, Miss., 20 November 1862, $1,633.67 — three panels, the third blank
A landscape scan, 5,580 x 3,592 px, of the same folded sheet already filmed on image 114, this time opened out so that three panels stand side by side instead of two. The exposure is lighter and flatter than on 114, so the ink reads a little greyer and the printed certification is fainter, but every written word, the handstamp, the pencil endorsement and the pen flourish are the same marks in the same places, and the paper's chips and creases match. The left panel is the printed certification, again written sideways; the centre panel is the docket; the right panel — not shown at all on image 114 — is blank paper. On that third panel a broad, ragged, grey-brown stain about a hand's breadth wide runs vertically down two-thirds of the height, with the look of dried adhesive or a wet mark rather than ink, and to the right of it lies a large field of mirror-image show-through from a printed ruled account and its written fill-ins; the offsetting is dense enough to see the shape of columns and lines but far too faint and too broken to read a single word. A dense cluster of pale ring-shaped microfilm specks lies across the bottom of the right panel, and a few more at its top left. There is a fold-split at the top of the left vertical fold.
[LEFT PANEL — printed certification, written sideways; identical to image 114]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
amounting to sixteen hundred and thirty
three dollars and sixty seven cents
~~accounted for in my property return for~~ ________ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M. L. Smith
Maj of Engineers &
Actg for Ord Dept
[CENTRE PANEL — docket, identical to image 114]
Miss —
Ordnance Service
____________________
VOUCHER No. 4 —
Leeds & Co
November 20 ths 1862 .
$ 1633 67
----
100
[pencil, across the handstamp:] Vicksburg Miss
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
1 – 2 – 9[?]
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
[large pen flourish, two loops, no letters]
[RIGHT PANEL — blank paper. A broad vertical stain; heavy mirror-image
offsetting of a printed ruled account with written entries, none of it legible.]
[illegible]
Checks: No extensions to test — a docket, not an account. As on image 114 the sum is stated twice and agrees with itself: "$1633 67/100" in figures on the centre panel and "sixteen hundred and thirty three dollars and sixty seven cents" in words in the certification. Proves exactly at $1,633.67. Because this is the same physical sheet as image 114, the two images also agree with each other to the cent.
Flagged: This is not a second voucher but the same jacket refilmed — same voucher number, same firm, same date, same sum, same handstamp with the same pencilled figure inside it, same "Vicksburg Miss" endorsement, same two-loop flourish, same signature. Anyone counting vouchers from this film must count images 114 and 115 as one document, not two. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: as on 114, this jacket does not answer the account on image 111 (that one foots $155.83 and was receipted at Jackson, Miss.; this covers $1,633.67 at Vicksburg), although both bear the date 20 November 1862. The account it covers is still not on the film at this point. — The offsetting on the third panel is genuine transferred ink from a printed-and-written account, almost certainly the sheet that was folded inside this jacket, but nothing in it can be read and nothing is proposed from it. — The broad grey band down the third panel is a stain or adhesive residue on the paper, not writing and not damage that costs any text; no ink is lost under it. — The pencilled figure in the handstamp is the same doubtful "1 – 2 – 9" as on image 114 and is no clearer here.
Image 116 — Account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States for Ordnance Service, 11 November 1861, twenty-one lines of Columbiad and carriage ironwork, footing $1,633.67; receipted at Jackson, Miss., 20 November 1862, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers — the account answering Voucher No. 4
A portrait scan, 2,550 x 3,300 px, assembled from three exposures set one below another on a black ground: the upper two are overlapping halves of one tall billhead sheet — the join falls in the middle of the line beginning "24 Hand Screws" and the same line appears at the foot of the upper frame and is not repeated at the head of the lower — and the third, below, is that sheet's reverse, the printed certification panel photographed right way up. The billhead is the same printed form as image 111: blackletter "The Confederate States," and a ruled table headed DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST, the last split DOLLARS | CENTS. The paper is light, clean and only lightly creased. A V-shaped tear runs in from the left edge about a fifth down, stopping in the blank margin before the DATE column and costing no text; in the lower frame a pale grey rectangular patch of repair tissue or tape lies across the blank area left of the footing, again over no writing. The clerk's hand is small, very fine, rapid and extremely regular, crowding two and sometimes three priced items onto a single ruled line and running the writing straight across the APPLICATION column rule, which is ruled but never separately filled; a small tick sits before each extension in the DOLLARS column. Pale ring-shaped microfilm specks are scattered thickly down the left margin of the table and lightly elsewhere. On the reverse panel the printed clauses are cancelled with heavy ink strokes and faint mirror-image show-through of the account's own entries can be seen behind them.
[BILLHEAD — recto]
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Service
To Leeds & Co, Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
186 1 . | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
----------+---------------------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
November 11 | To 6 Prs Brass Trunnion Boxes for 10" in Columbiads 735 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $404 25/100 | √ 404 | 25
" " | „ Drilling do @ $4 00 Cartage to New Custom House $10 00 | √ 14 | 00
" " | „ 3 Shafts for 9" Columbiads 360 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $36 00 Turning do $36 00 | √ 72 | 00
" " | „ 6 Collars for do 24 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $6 00 Boring & turning do $9 00 | √ 15 | 00
" " | „ Drilling Collars & Shafts & Reaming do $7 50/100 6 Pins for do $6 00 | √ 13 | 50
" " | „ Cutting down and finishing ends of Shafts $9 00 | √ 9 | 00
" " | „ 6 Brass Bearings 162 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $89 10/100 Boring & turning do $27 00 | √ 116 | 10
" " | „ Recessing Bearings & inserting pins in Shafts $30 00 | √ 30 | 00
" " | „ 6 Short Eccentric Shafts 171 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $17 10/100 Turning do $36 00 | √ 53 | 10
" " | „ Cutting down & finishing ends $5 00 6 Collars 24 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $6 00 | √ 11 | 00
" " | „ Boring & turning do $7 50/100 Drilling Collars & Shafts & Reaming do $8 00 | √ 15 | 50
" " | „ 6 Brass Bearings 162 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $89 10/100 Boring, turning & drilling do $27 00 | √ 116 | 10
" " | „ 12 Wheels for Shafts 1188 Lbs @ 6 ¢ $71 28/100 Boring & facing do $30 00 | √ 101 | 28
" " | „ 6 Brass Plates 42 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $23 10/100 Turning & Recessing do $6 00 | √ 29 | 10
" " | „ 6 Bolts for do $6 00 Drilling & tapping ends of Shafts & inserting pins $12 00 | √ 18 | 00
" " | „ 24 Hand Screws $12 00 12 Traverse Wheels 984 Lbs @ 6 ¢ $59 04/100 | √ 71 | 04
" " | „ Boring Wheels $27 00 12 Axles 214 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $21 40/100 Turning do $18 00 | √ 66 | 40
" " | „ Cutting Keyseats & Keying $30 00 24 Brass Boxes 312 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $171 60/100 | √ 201 | 60
" " | „ Fitting & drilling do $12 00 10 Cast circular plates 2420 Lbs @ 6 ¢ $145 20/100 | √ 157 | 20
" " | „ Boring do $25 00 10 Shafts for do 735 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $73 50/100 | √ 98 | 50
" " | „ Turning Shafts $15 00 Cartage to New Custom House $6 00 | √ 21 | 00
-------------
√ $ 1,633 | 67
-------------
RECEIVED at Jackson Miss this 20 ths day
of November 1862 , from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of One thousand six hundred and thirty three — dollars and
sixty seven ——— cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 1633 . 67
---
100
Leeds & Co
per pro Arch d Mitchell
[REVERSE — printed certification, cancelled clauses struck through in ink]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
amounting to sixteen hundred and thirty
three dollars and sixty seven cents
~~accounted for in my property return for~~ ________ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M. L. Smith
Maj of Engineers &
Actg for Ord Dept
Checks: Every rated component extends correctly: 735 Lbs @ 55¢ = $404.25; 360 @ 10¢ = $36.00; 24 @ 25¢ = $6.00; 162 @ 55¢ = $89.10 (twice); 171 @ 10¢ = $17.10; 1188 @ 6¢ = $71.28; 42 @ 55¢ = $23.10; 984 @ 6¢ = $59.04; 214 @ 10¢ = $21.40; 312 @ 55¢ = $171.60; 2420 @ 6¢ = $145.20; 735 @ 10¢ = $73.50. Every line's components then add to its extension: 4.00+10.00=14.00; 36.00+36.00=72.00; 6.00+9.00=15.00; 7.50+6.00=13.50; 89.10+27.00=116.10; 17.10+36.00=53.10; 5.00+6.00=11.00; 7.50+8.00=15.50; 89.10+27.00=116.10; 71.28+30.00=101.28; 23.10+6.00=29.10; 6.00+12.00=18.00; 12.00+59.04=71.04; 27.00+21.40+18.00=66.40; 30.00+171.60=201.60; 12.00+145.20=157.20; 25.00+73.50=98.50; 15.00+6.00=21.00. Three lines carry a single unrated charge — "Cutting down and finishing ends of Shafts" $9.00, "Recessing Bearings & inserting pins in Shafts" $30.00 — and cannot be broken down further, but they are stated as flat prices and match their extensions. The twenty-one extensions sum to $1,633.67, which is the footing as written; the footing agrees with the receipt's "One thousand six hundred and thirty three dollars and sixty seven cents", with the repeated "$1633. 67/100" at the foot, and with the certification on the reverse. Proves exactly at $1,633.67.
Flagged: Pairing, tested per rule 6: this account is the one covered by the voucher jacket filmed on images 114 and 115. All three testable points agree — the sum, $1,633.67 to the cent; the date, 20 November 1862, which is the date of both the receipt here and the docket there; and the firm, Leeds & Co. The certification on this sheet's reverse is word for word the certification filmed as the left panel of 114 and 115, in the same hand and with the same cancellations, which is decisive: 114, 115 and 116 are the same document. — The account's own working date is 11 November 1861, more than a year before payment; the year head is again the printed "186" with a single stroke after it, read here as "186 1 ", and every line below the first carries dittos in both date columns. — The receipt names "Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers" and the reverse is signed by the same M. L. Smith as "Maj of Engineers & Actg for Ord Dept", so the officer who certified the account is the officer from whom the money was received. — The APPLICATION column is ruled but never used; the clerk's entries run straight through its rule, and the purpose is carried only by "for Ordnance Service" written into the printed heading. — The work is Columbiad carriage ironwork throughout: trunnion boxes for 10-inch Columbiads, shafts for 9-inch Columbiads, collars, pins, brass bearings, eccentric shafts, wheels, brass plates, bolts, hand screws, traverse wheels, axles, keyseats, brass boxes and cast circular plates, with boring, turning, drilling, reaming, facing, recessing, cutting down, keying and cartage as the labour charges. — Two lines are almost identical — the seventh and the twelfth, both "6 Brass Bearings 162 Lbs @ 55¢ $89 10/100" with $27.00 of machining, both extending to $116.10 — and they are separate charges, not a duplicated entry, since the twelfth adds "drilling" to "Boring, turning". They are recorded as they stand. — "New Custom House", named twice as the destination of cartage, is the same place named on image 111. — The cents figure of the seventh line is partly overlaid by a microfilm speck and a white scratch; it reads "10" and the line's own arithmetic supports that, but the ink of the "0" is broken.
Image 117 — Cross-reference slip, Leeds & Co., "See Vessels — A 60" — no date, no figures
A tall narrow portrait scan, 1,604 x 3,473 px, of a single lined slip or half-sheet against black, roughly twice as tall as it is wide. The paper is a pale bluish-grey wove ruled with widely spaced faint horizontal lines, clean and undamaged, with no folds, tears or stains. Only three short lines of writing sit at the top, in a very fine, light, evenly formed clerk's hand in grey-black ink, one line to a rule; the rest of the sheet is empty. Struck across the lower middle is the large oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp with a five-pointed star at each side, lightly and unevenly inked so that the inner line "REBEL ARCHIVES" is broken and only about half its letters carry ink. Below the stamp, near the foot, a single word "La." stands alone in the same fine hand. A wide scatter of pale ring-shaped microfilm specks lies across the bottom third and a few more at the top right. There is no date and no money figure anywhere on the sheet.
L
Leeds & Co.
See Vessels _ A 60
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
La.
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. "A 60" is a file reference, not a sum.
Flagged: This is a finding-aid slip made by the archivists, not a Confederate record: the "L" at the head is the alphabetical guide letter, "Leeds & Co." the name filed under it, "La." the state, and "See Vessels _ A 60" a pointer to another series or box. The reading "A 60" is clear — a capital A, a space, then 6 and 0 — but what series it points into is not stated on the sheet and nothing is proposed. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: this slip answers no account. It carries no date, no place beyond "La.", and no figure, so there is nothing to test against its neighbours; it stands between the Vicksburg voucher papers before it and whatever follows without belonging to either. — "Vessels" is written plainly and is worth noting beside image 113, where the Second Auditor certified Leeds & Co. for fitting gun boats — but any connection between the two is a proposal, not something either sheet states.
Image 118 — Two documents: an archival cross-reference slip, "Leeds and Co. / La. / Chap 8 - 290 - 399"; and a power of attorney, New Orleans, 10 September 1862, authorising Archibald Mitchell to collect and receipt bills — no money figures on either
A portrait scan, 2,550 x 3,300 px, carrying two unrelated documents against black, the upper set high and narrow, the lower spread wide beneath it. The upper is a tall narrow lined slip of the same make as image 117 — pale bluish wove, closely spaced faint rules, clean and unfolded. Three short lines of writing sit at the top in a fine, light, slightly shaky hand in grey ink; the middle of the sheet is empty; a single "La." stands about two-thirds down; and below that is struck the oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp with its two stars, inked so faintly that "REBEL ARCHIVES" is barely more than a ghost. A heavy scatter of pale ring-shaped microfilm specks covers the top lines and clusters again below the stamp. The lower document is a small oblong slip of thin, slightly translucent paper, wider than it is tall, with the left edge torn clean away in a ragged line that has carried off the first letter or two of two lines of the text; a soft vertical fold runs down the right third and a second down the left, and there is a dark ink stain and two smaller spots at the upper left. It is written in a large, fluent, well-spaced hand in dark ink, with a long looping flourish beneath the signature.
[UPPER — cross-reference slip]
Leeds and Co.
La.
Chap 8 - 290 - 399
La.
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
[LOWER — power of attorney; the left edge is torn away, taking the opening
letters of the second and third lines]
New Orleans Sept. 10 th 1862
[M]r Archibald Mitchell is hereby authorized [to]
collect & receipt for any bills due us
Leeds & Co.
Checks: No money figures on either document — no arithmetic to prove. "Chap 8 - 290 - 399" on the upper slip is a citation, not a sum.
Flagged: The upper slip is an archivists' finding-aid card of the same series as image 117, not a Confederate record. "Chap 8 - 290 - 399" reads clearly — the word "Chap", the figure 8, then 290 and 399 separated by dashes; what volume or page range it cites is not stated on the card and nothing is proposed. "La." appears twice on it, once beside the firm name and once low on the sheet. — The lower slip is the second power of attorney in this range in favour of the same man. The one on image 111 is dated New Orleans, 9 September 1862; this one is dated New Orleans, 10 September 1862, one day later, and its wording is very slightly shorter — "for any bills due us" here against "for any bills which may be due us" there. Both are signed "Leeds & Co." and both are in the same large flowing hand. They are two separate originals, not one document filmed twice. — The date on this slip is not in doubt: "Sept. 10 th 1862", with the 1, the 0, a superscript "th" and the four figures of the year all plainly formed. It therefore confirms the harder reading on image 111, where the same firm wrote the same kind of authorisation the day before. — New Orleans was under Federal occupation from 1 May 1862, so both authorisations were written in an occupied city and their bills collected elsewhere — at Jackson and Vicksburg, on the evidence of images 111, 114 and 116. That is a proposal drawn from the other sheets, not from this one. — The tear on the left has cost only the salutation "M" of "Mr" and the "to" of "authorized to"; both are supplied here in square brackets from the parallel wording of the slip on image 111 and are not on this page. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: neither document on this image answers a particular account. The power of attorney is general, naming no sum, no voucher and no officer, and the cross-reference card carries no date at all.
Image 119 — Voucher jacket (docket) for Leeds & Co., Voucher No. 2, Ordnance Service, 20 November 1862, $429.79; certified by M. L. Smith, Maj. of Engineers & Actg for Ord Dept
A landscape scan, 5,484 x 3,546 px, of a single sheet opened flat and photographed so that three panels stand side by side, the two vertical folds showing as pale bands with a darker line down the middle of each. The paper is a light cream wove, quite clean, and the exposure is bright, so that the printed certification on the left panel reads grey rather than black. A large ragged bite has been torn from the top of the right panel — an irregular loss perhaps a hand's breadth across and a third as deep, showing as solid black — and there is a small nick in the left edge about two-thirds down. The centre panel is the docket, printed with faint rules and the small-caps "VOUCHER No.", the rest filled in by hand in a large, well-spaced, rounded hand in dark ink. The oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp, two concentric ovals with a five-pointed star at each side, is struck across the lower half of that panel, moderately inked and clearer than on image 114; nothing is written inside it. Below it, at the foot of the panel, are the same two large ink loops of pen flourish seen on the other jackets. The left panel carries the printed certification written sideways, its unused clauses cancelled with heavy strokes, the sum written above and through the printed line, and the signature in three lines beneath; behind it, faint mirror-image show-through of a printed blackletter billhead heading and of ruled columns can be seen, evidence of the account once folded inside. The right panel is blank apart from more show-through and a scatter of pale ring-shaped microfilm specks, which also dot the lower third of the whole sheet.
[CENTRE PANEL — docket]
Ordnance Service
____________________
VOUCHER No. 2 —
Leeds & Co
November 20 ths 1862 .
$ 429 79
----
100
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
[large pen flourish, two loops, no letters]
[LEFT PANEL — printed certification, written sideways; cancelled clauses
struck through in ink]
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
amounting to four hundred and twenty
nine dollars and seventy nine cents
~~accounted for in my property return for~~ ________ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M. L. Smith
Maj of Engineers &
Actg for Ord Dept
[RIGHT PANEL — blank; a large tear at the top; faint mirror-image show-through
of a printed and written account, illegible]
[illegible]
Checks: No extensions to test — a docket, not an account. The sum is stated twice and the two agree: "$429 79/100" in figures on the centre panel and "four hundred and twenty nine dollars and seventy nine cents" in words in the certification. Proves exactly at $429.79 as an internal check. Nothing here breaks it into items, so it cannot be proved against any account on this image.
Flagged: RULE 1 note: "VOUCHER No." is printed and the "2" is written in, so 2 is a genuine voucher number. It belongs to the same low-numbered series as the "4" on images 114 and 115, both dated 20 November 1862 and both certified by M. L. Smith. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: the account this jacket covers is NOT on this image and is not any account so far filmed in this range. Image 111 foots $155.83 and image 116 foots $1,633.67; neither is $429.79. The date, 20 November 1862, is the same as on both of those, so the date alone proves nothing; the figure is what must be matched. ADDENDUM, entered after the whole range was read: it is matched on image 120, an account of 21 August 1861 footing $429.79 and receipted at Jackson, Miss., on 20 November 1862. That sheet and this jacket are one document. — The third line of the signature reads "Actg for Ord Dept" — "Acting for Ordnance Department". The word "for" is written small and low between "Actg" and "Ord", with a long-tailed f, and is easy to miss; the same three words in the same hand appear on the jacket of images 114 and 115, where they are more cramped still. — Unlike image 114, this docket has no "Miss" heading and no pencilled place endorsement: no place at all is named on the sheet. — The cents figure is "79", not 74: the second digit is a clear 9 with a full descender. — The tear at the top of the right panel has taken paper only; that panel carried no writing, so no text is lost.
Image 120 — Account, Leeds & Co. to the Confederate States for Ordnance Service, 21 August 1861, eighteen lines of gun-carriage ironwork, footing $429.79; receipted at Jackson, Miss., 20 November 1862, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers — the account answering Voucher No. 2
A tall portrait scan, 3,564 x 5,616 px, of one billhead sheet photographed whole against black. It is the same printed form as images 111 and 116: blackletter "The Confederate States," across the head, then a ruled table headed DATE / DESIGNATION / APPLICATION / COST, the last split DOLLARS | CENTS. The paper is light and thin enough that the certification printed on the reverse shows through in mirror image behind the heading. Two horizontal folds cross the sheet, one about a third down and one just above the receipt, and each has worn into a faint pale line. The damage is at the left edge: a long ragged tear runs in from the left margin across the lower third, taking a piece perhaps two inches deep at its worst, and it has carried off the opening letters of two lines of the printed receipt — the "of N" of "of November" and "the s" of "the sum of" — and clipped the left rule of the DATE column. Nothing in the table itself is lost. The clerk's hand is small, fine, fast and highly consistent, packing two priced items onto most lines and running through the APPLICATION rule, which is ruled and never separately filled; a small tick stands before every extension in the DOLLARS column. Pale ring-shaped microfilm specks are scattered across the whole sheet, thickest in the empty lower half of the table.
The Confederate States, for —— Ordnance Service
To Leeds & Co, Dr
DATE. | DESIGNATION. | APPLICATION. | COST.
186 1 . | | | DOLLARS. | CENTS.
----------+---------------------------------------+--------------+----------+-------
August 21 | To 2 Axles 428 Lbs @ 9 ¢ $38 52/100 Turning do $24 00 | √ 62 | 52
" " | „ Fitting on do & inserting Center piece $8 00 | √ 8 | 00
" " | „ 8 Rings 28 Lbs @ 20 ¢ $5 60/100 Turning & Boring do $6 00 | √ 11 | 60
" " | „ 4 Linch Pins 6 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $1 50/100 Turning, planing, &c do $12 00 | √ 13 | 50
" " | „ 4 Wheels & Hubs 1056 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ $58 08/100 Boring fitting, &c, $52 00 | √ 110 | 08
" " | „ 4 Clevices 132 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $33 00 Planing do to fit Sockets $10 00 | √ 43 | 00
" " | „ Boring drilling & fitting $10 00 | √ 10 | 00
" " | „ 4 Pins 7 Lbs @ 20 ¢ $1 40/100 Turning & Planing do $13 00 | √ 14 | 40
" " | „ 4 Sockets 19 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $4 75/100 Facing do $2 00 | √ 6 | 75
" " | „ 4 Traverse Wheels 274 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ $15 07/100 Facing & Boring do $5 00 | √ 20 | 07
" " | „ 3 Elevating Screws 78 Lbs @ 20 ¢ $15 60/100 3 Brass Nuts 37 Lbs @ 50 ¢ $18 50/100 | √ 34 | 10
" " | „ Turning & Screwing Nuts & Cutting threads on do $22 50/100 | √ 22 | 50
" " | „ 12 Handles for d o 41 Lbs @ 12 ¢ $4 92/100 Turning do $12 00 | √ 16 | 92
" " | „ Fitting handles to Nuts $6 00 | √ 6 | 00
" " | „ 3 Wrot Iron Plates 53 Lbs @ 20 ¢ $10 60/100 . | √ 10 | 60
" " | „ Boring, turning, drilling, inserting feather & cutting }
| Keyseats in Screws $27 75/100 — — — — — } | √ 27 | 75
" " | „ 8 Braces 100 Lbs @ 5 1/2 ¢ $5 50/100 Turning do $2 00 | √ 7 | 50
" " | „ Cartage on above to New Custom House | √ 4 | 50
-------------
√ $ 429 | 79
-------------
RECEIVED at Jackson Miss this 20 th day
[of N]ovember 186 2 , from Major M. L. Smith , Corps of Engineers,
[the s]um of Four Hundred and twenty nine ——— dollars and
seventy nine — cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
$ 429 79
---
100
Leeds & Co
per pro Arch d Mitchell
Checks: Every rated component extends correctly: 428 Lbs @ 9¢ = $38.52; 28 @ 20¢ = $5.60; 6 @ 25¢ = $1.50; 1056 @ 5½¢ = $58.08; 132 @ 25¢ = $33.00; 7 @ 20¢ = $1.40; 19 @ 25¢ = $4.75; 274 @ 5½¢ = $15.07; 78 @ 20¢ = $15.60; 37 @ 50¢ = $18.50; 41 @ 12¢ = $4.92; 53 @ 20¢ = $10.60; 100 @ 5½¢ = $5.50. Each line's components then add to its extension: 38.52+24.00=62.52; 5.60+6.00=11.60; 1.50+12.00=13.50; 58.08+52.00=110.08; 33.00+10.00=43.00; 1.40+13.00=14.40; 4.75+2.00=6.75; 15.07+5.00=20.07; 15.60+18.50=34.10; 4.92+12.00=16.92; 5.50+2.00=7.50. Five lines carry a flat unrated charge — "Fitting on do & inserting Center piece" $8.00, "Boring drilling & fitting" $10.00, "Turning & Screwing Nuts & Cutting threads on do" $22.50, "Fitting handles to Nuts" $6.00, and the two-line "Boring, turning, drilling, inserting feather & cutting Keyseats in Screws" $27.75 — and match their extensions but cannot be broken down further. The last line, cartage, carries no price in the designation at all and its 4.50 cannot be tested. The eighteen extensions sum to $429.79, which is the footing as written; the footing agrees with the receipt's "Four Hundred and twenty nine dollars and seventy nine cents", with the repeated "$429 79/100" at the foot, and with the certification on the jacket of image 119. Proves exactly at $429.79.
Flagged: Pairing, tested per rule 6: this account is the one covered by the voucher jacket on image 119. All three testable points agree — the sum, $429.79 to the cent; the date, 20 November 1862, being both the date of this receipt and the date on that docket; and the firm. Voucher No. 2 and this sheet belong together, exactly as Voucher No. 4 and image 116 do. — The work is field- or siege-carriage ironwork rather than the heavy Columbiad work of image 116: axles, rings, linch pins, wheels and hubs, clevices, pins, sockets, traverse wheels, elevating screws, brass nuts, handles, wrought-iron plates and braces, with turning, boring, planing, facing, drilling, screwing, thread-cutting, inserting a feather and cutting keyseats as the labour. This is the same class of work the APPLICATION column of image 70 describes as "For Gun Carriages &c", but on this sheet that column is blank and no such words appear — the identification is a proposal, not a reading. — Two cents figures are easy to misread at low magnification and were checked at high: the second line's extension is "8 00", not "8 80" — both cent digits are the clerk's open-topped zeros — and the fifth line's is "110 08", where the first cent digit is again that open zero and not a 6. Had either been read the other way the column would not have proved; read as written, it proves to the cent. — The account's working date is 21 August 1861, and every line below the first carries dittos in both date columns, so the whole account is one day's charge, paid fifteen months later. — The year head is again the printed "186" followed by a single stroke, read here as "186 1 ". — "Wrot Iron" is the clerk's contraction for wrought iron, written without an apostrophe. — "Clevices" is the clerk's spelling and is left as written. — The tear at the left has cost only printed form-words, all of which are supplied in square brackets from the identical printed receipts on images 111 and 116; no handwriting is lost. — "New Custom House" is named again as the destination of cartage, as on images 111 and 116.
Image 121 — Outside (docket panel) of a folded wrapper, endorsed No. 46, Leeds & Co., 6th February 1863, $43,182.89
A landscape scan, 4,820 x 3,730 px, of one large sheet opened out and photographed flat, filling almost the whole frame; only a narrow black border and the losses in the paper show the ground. The sheet is a heavy grey-toned wove, much handled: it is folded into three panels and the fold left of centre has parted in three places, showing as black slits, while the fold right of centre has split at top and bottom. The left panel is badly damaged — a large irregular piece is gone from its upper left, another bite from the middle of its right edge, and the whole panel is puckered with long soft diagonal creases and a broad grey stain running down its centre. The right panel has a small loss at its top edge and one at the right margin, and is otherwise blank. All the writing is on the centre panel, at the top, in a large, flowing, confident hand in dark ink with heavy shading on the downstrokes. Below it, struck across the middle of that panel, is the oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp with a five-pointed star at each side, inked lightly and greyly but legible throughout. A small pencil or ink tick sits between the money line and the stamp. Pale ring-shaped microfilm specks are heavy along the top of the right panel and scattered thickly across the lower centre. There is no place name anywhere on the sheet.
[CENTRE PANEL — endorsement, the only writing on the sheet]
N o „ 46
Leeds & C o „
6 th Feb y 1863
$ 43,182 . 89
---
„
[tick]
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
Checks: Only one figure on the sheet, $43,182.89, written once — no extensions, no footing, nothing to prove it against here. No arithmetic can be tested on this image.
Flagged: RULE 1 note: "N o „ 46" is written by hand, not printed, so 46 is a real file or voucher number; the sheet does not say which series it belongs to. — The sum is an order of magnitude larger than anything else in this range — $43,182.89 against footings of $155.83, $429.79 and $1,633.67 — and larger even than the Second Auditor's $2,350.93 on image 113. Nothing on the sheet says what it is for. If it is a running or consolidated account rather than a single job, that is a proposal and not something the page states. — The cents are written "89" above a ditto mark standing in for the usual "100" denominator; the clerk did not write out the hundredths. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: this docket matches nothing filmed alongside it. Its date, 6 February 1863, is unlike any other in this range; its number, 46, matches neither the low Ordnance Service series (2 and 4) nor the 1371 of images 112 and 113; and its figure appears on no account here. The account it wraps is not on this image. — The date is read "6 th Feb y 1863" — the month contracted with a superscript "y" for February, and the year's final digit the same flat-topped 3 as elsewhere. — No place is named, and there is no pencil endorsement, so the sheet cannot be located to Jackson, Vicksburg, New Orleans or Richmond from its own evidence.
Image 122 — Account and receipt, Confederate States of America to Leeds & Co., 1863, for "Guns, Howitzers, Projectiles &c" as per annexed statement and bills, $43,182.89; approved by Gorgas, Col., Chf of Ord; received at Richmond, 6 February 1863, of Edwd B. Smith, Capt. Arty & Asst. to Chf. of Ord.
A landscape scan, 4,788 x 3,706 px, of one large printed form filling the frame, photographed flat against black. The paper is a heavy grey-toned wove, badly damaged: the top edge is torn irregularly with two pieces missing, the right and bottom edges are ragged and chipped, and a long vertical tear runs from the top edge down the full height a little right of centre, opening in three places into losses of paper. Old repairs have been made with patches of thin translucent paper pasted over the worst of it — one square patch sits across the words "approved by" in the third body line, another straddles the money figure, and a third lies over the certification line — and where these overlap the ink they darken it without hiding it. The printing is a blackletter heading "Confederate States of America," a ruled table with the year "1863" at the left, tall narrow money columns, and "REMARKS." at the right; below the table are printed certification and receipt clauses in small type. The writing is in two hands: a large, elegant, well-spaced clerical hand for the body, the certification and the receipt, and a smaller, faster, more angular hand for the two-line approval across the middle and for the signature under it. Ink is dark brown-black throughout. A scatter of small dark dots runs across the lower third, and one faint horizontal crease crosses the receipt block. There is no handstamp on this sheet.
Confederate States of America, To Leeds & C o D r
_________________________________________________________________________
1863 . REMARKS.
_________________________________________________________________________
Guns, Howitzers, Projectiles &c:
as p r : annexed Statement & Bills
approved by Maj: Gen l M. L. Smith. $ 43,182 . 89
Approved The property to be accounted for by Maj. M. L Smith Eng r .
Act g as Ord n [?] Off r .
Gorgas Col
Chf of Ord —
_________________________________________________________________________
I CERTIFY that the above account is correct and just, amounting to
Forty Three Thousand One Hundred and Eighty two 89/100 Dollars.
and that the property has been received and will be accounted for
RECEIVED, Richmond 6 th February 1863 , of
Ed w d B. Smith Capt: Art ly & Asst: to Chf: of Ord: Forty Three Thousand One Hundred
and Eighty two ——— Dollars Eighty Nine Cents, in full of the above account.
SIGNED DUPLICATES.
Leeds & C o
Checks: No itemised lines on this sheet — the detail is on the "annexed Statement & Bills", which are not on this image — so there are no extensions to test. The one sum is stated four times and all four agree: "$43,182. 89" in the money column; "Forty Three Thousand One Hundred and Eighty two 89/100 Dollars" in the certification; and, in the receipt, "Forty Three Thousand One Hundred and Eighty two ——— Dollars" with "Eighty Nine Cents" written into the separate cents blank. Proves exactly at $43,182.89 as an internal check. Nothing here can prove it against the underlying bills.
Flagged: Pairing, tested per rule 6: this sheet is the account answered by the docket on image 121, and all three testable points agree — the figure, $43,182.89 to the cent; the date, 6 February 1863, which is the date both of this Richmond receipt and of that endorsement; and the firm, Leeds & Co. The docket carries the number 46, which appears nowhere on this sheet, so the number cannot be cross-checked; everything that can be tested matches. — The Chief of Ordnance's signature reads "Gorgas Col / Chf of Ord —". The surname is written rapidly but every letter is formed: G, o, r, g, a, s. Proposal, not read from the page: this is Josiah Gorgas, Colonel and Chief of Ordnance of the Confederate States. — M. L. Smith is styled two different ways on the same sheet. The body line says the bills were "approved by Maj: Gen l M. L. Smith", while the approval endorsement below it directs the property "to be accounted for by Maj. M. L Smith Eng r , Act g as Ord n Off r ." Both readings were checked at high magnification and both stand as written; the sheet is inconsistent, not misread. He is the same officer who signs the November 1862 jackets on images 114, 115 and 119 as "Maj of Engineers & Actg for Ord Dept". — The word contracted after "Ord" in "Act g as Ord n Off r ." is the least certain reading on the sheet; the letter after "Ord" is a single minim that could be n or e, and only the contraction, not any expansion, is on the page. — The receipt names "Ed w d B. Smith Capt: Art ly & Asst: to Chf: of Ord:" — a second, different Smith, the disbursing officer at Richmond, not the M. L. Smith of the approval. The two must not be run together. — This is the largest sum in the range by a wide margin and the only sheet in it written and paid at Richmond; every other payment here was made at Jackson, Mississippi. — The subject, "Guns, Howitzers, Projectiles &c", is finished ordnance, not the carriage ironwork of images 111, 116 and 120, and not the gun-boat fitting of image 113. — The old repair patches darken but do not obscure the words beneath them; no text is lost to the tears, though the "43," of the money figure is crossed by an open break in the paper and has to be read across it.
Image 123 — Two documents: an archival cross-reference slip, "Leeds & Co. / N.O. — Bill. See A 60. Vessel papers."; and the power of attorney of 10 September 1862 again, refilmed — no money figures on either
A portrait scan, 2,550 x 3,300 px, holding two documents against black, one above the other. The upper is a tall narrow lined slip of the same make as images 117 and 118 — pale wove, widely spaced faint rules, clean, unfolded, undamaged. Four short lines of writing sit in the upper half in a rounder, more upright and rather bolder hand than the slips before it, with a small tick or guide mark alone at the very top. Struck across the middle is the oval RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT handstamp with a five-pointed star at each side; it is the best-inked impression of the stamp in this whole range, every word plainly legible including "REBEL ARCHIVES" in the inner oval. Below it, near the foot, "La." stands alone amid a dense cloud of pale ring-shaped microfilm specks. The lower document is the same small oblong power of attorney already filmed on image 118, but photographed larger and framed further to the right, so that more of the left-hand text runs off the edge of the exposure; the paper's ragged left edge, its soft folds and the long flourish under the signature are the same, and a scatter of ring specks lies over its right half. Nothing on the lower slip is damaged that was not already damaged on image 118 — what is missing here is missing to the camera, not to the paper.
[UPPER — cross-reference slip]
[tick]
Leeds & Co.
N. O.
Bill. See A 60. Vessel papers.
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES. *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
La.
[LOWER — power of attorney, same document as image 118, framed further right so
that the opening of two lines falls outside the exposure]
New Orleans Sept. 10 th 1862
[Mr Archib]ald Mitchell is hereby authorized
[to collect & rece]ipt for any bills due us
Leeds & Co.
Checks: No money figures on either document — no arithmetic to prove. "A 60" is a file reference, not a sum.
Flagged: The upper slip is a second archivists' finding-aid card pointing the same way as image 117: there the wording is "See Vessels _ A 60", here it is "Bill. See A 60. Vessel papers." Both cite A 60, both name Leeds & Co., and this one adds "N.O." for New Orleans and "La." at the foot. The two are in different hands and are separate cards, not one card filmed twice. — The lower slip is the identical document filmed on image 118, not a third power of attorney: same place, same date of 10 September 1862, same wording, same hand, same flourish. The difference is only in the framing. Anyone counting Leeds & Co. powers of attorney from this film should count two originals in this range — the 9 September slip on image 111 and the 10 September slip on images 118 and 123 — not three. — The bracketed words at the start of the second and third lines are supplied from image 118, where more of the same slip is in frame; they are not visible on this image. — Pairing, tested per rule 6: neither document answers an account. The card carries no date and no figure; the power of attorney names no sum, no voucher and no officer. — "Vessel papers" on the card is worth setting beside image 113, where the Second Auditor certified Leeds & Co. $2,350.93 for fitting gun boats, but the card does not say so and the connection is a proposal only. — The tick at the head of the card is a small rising stroke and is not the cursive "L" guide letter that heads the card on image 117.
Image 124 — Voucher jacket (docket), Ordnance Service, Voucher No. 3, Leeds & Co., November 20th 1862, $2391 18/100
A tall narrow portrait scan, 1,580 x 3,561 px, showing a single panel of a folded voucher jacket — the docket panel only; whatever certification or receipt panels the sheet carried are folded away behind and are not in this frame. The paper is a pale, lightly ruled stock with faint horizontal guide rules across the upper third; a vertical fold runs down the left quarter of the panel and shows as a soft grey line, and the sheet's left edge is slightly ragged where the fold was opened. Ink is black and the hand is a large, fluent, well-practised clerical script with heavy shading on the descenders. A scatter of small dark ring-shaped specks across the upper right and lower right is film emulsion, not damage. Through the paper, from writing on the reverse, a mass of faint grey mirror-image script shows across the whole middle of the panel; none of it is legible and none of it belongs to this side. A large lightly inked oval handstamp, "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" with a five-pointed star at each side, is struck across the lower middle; the outer ring reads clearly, the inner line is very faint. At the foot, well below the stamp, a single large ink flourish — two loops and a long trailing stroke — stands alone; it carries no letters I can resolve. No tears, losses or stains obscure any text. Only the printed words "VOUCHER No." are type; everything else on the panel is manuscript.
Ordnance Service
________________________________________
VOUCHER No. 3 ~~~~~~~
Leeds & Co
November 20 th 186 2 .
18
$ 2391 ----
100
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
[large ink flourish, no legible letters]
Checks: No figures to extend — this is a docket panel, not an account. The only sum on the sheet is the docket amount, $2391 18/100, written once; there is nothing on this panel against which to test it. No arithmetic can be proved here.
Flagged: The heading reads "Ordnance Service", not the "Ordnance Department" that heads other Leeds dockets in this file; the second word is unambiguous letter by letter (S-e-r-v-i-c-e) but the reading is worth noting because it differs from its neighbours. — The voucher number is a single figure 3 followed by a long horizontal wavy pen stroke filling the rest of the ruled line; the stroke is a fill/cancel flourish, not a second digit, but a reader should be aware the number could be misread as "3-" or "3d". — The date is written "20 th" with the "th" raised above a short rule, and the year is printed "186" with a manuscript "2" added: November 20th 1862. — RULE 1 note: "VOUCHER No." here is printed with the number filled in by hand, so 3 is a genuine voucher number. — The flourish at the foot of the panel is not a signature I can read; it may be the lower half of a signature whose upper part fell on the folded-away panel, or simply a pen trial. Recorded as illegible. — This is a docket only; the account it answers is not on this image and its pairing must be tested against the sheets that follow.
Image 125 — Account, "The Confederate States, for Ordnance Service, To Leeds & Co. Dr.", November 11 1862, twenty-five lines of Columbiad-carriage machine work, footed $2391 18; receipted at Jackson, Miss., 20 November 1862, from Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers
A large single sheet, 3,584 x 5,585 px, filmed flat in portrait against a black ground. It is the standard printed billhead — heavy display blackletter "The Confederate States," then "for" and "To ______ Dr." in roman and italic, then the ruled table with printed heads DATE. / DESIGNATION. / APPLICATION. / COST., the cost column subdivided DOLLARS. / CENTS., and the printed receipt block at the foot ending "(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)". The sheet is damaged: a horizontal break runs the full width about a quarter of the way down, between the fourth and fifth entry lines, showing as a solid black band where the two parts do not meet, and it has clipped the tops of the fifth line's letters without making it unreadable; a paper repair strip has been laid across the left half of the sheet under the masthead, and a small loss shows through it as a black hole above the DATE column head, over blank form and not over text. The top edge is ragged with a chip near the middle and the top right corner is cut away on the diagonal. Small dark ring-shaped foxing spots are scattered down the DATE column and through the cost column; one sits squarely on the cents figure of the seventh line. The whole is written in a fine, even, sloping counting-house hand in black ink, the same hand throughout including the receipt. Cents within the DESIGNATION column are written as raised figures over a short rule, sometimes with "100" beneath. A tick or check mark stands in the cost column before nearly every extension. The single most important feature of the ruling: the printed column head APPLICATION. has been struck out with one heavy horizontal ink stroke, and that column is left entirely empty down the whole sheet — on this account nothing states what the work was applied to, beyond what the DESIGNATION lines themselves say. The signature at the foot is in a second, larger and looser hand.
The Confederate States, for Ordnance Service
To Leeds & Co ________________________ Dr.
| DATE. | DESIGNATION. | ~~APPLICATION.~~ | COST. |
| 186 1 . | | | DOLLARS.|CENTS.|
|------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|---------|------|
November 11 | To 6 Shafts for 10 in Columbiads 804 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $80 40/ Turning $72 00/ | | 152 | 40 |
" " | " 4 Collars for 2 of do 16 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $4 00/100 Boring & Turning do $6 00/| | 10 | 00 |
" " | " Drilling 6 Shafts & fitting 12 Collars on do $7 50/ | | 7 | 50 |
" " | " Cutting down & finishing ends of 6 Shafts $9 00/ 4 Pins for do $5 00/ | | 14 | 00 |
" " | " 4 Brass Bearings 108 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $59 40/ Boring turning &c $18 00/ | | 77 | 40 |
" " | " Recessing do & inserting pins in 6 Shafts $24 00/ | | 24 | 00 |
" " | " 4 Wheels 396 Lbs @ 6 ¢ $23 76/ Boring & facing do. $10 00/ | | 33 |[7]6 |
" " | " 2 - 8 inch Columbiad Shafts 212 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $21 20/ Turning do $24 00/ | | 45 | 20 |
" " | " 12 Collars for do 48 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $12 00/ Boring & turning do $15 00/ | | 27 | 00 |
" " | " Drilling & fitting ends of 2 Shafts $3 00/ 22 pins for Collars $15 00/ | | 18 | 00 |
" " | " 12 Brass Bearings 324 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $178 20/ Boring, turning, &c do $54 00/ | | 232 | 20 |
" " | " Boring 12 Brass Bearings & inserting pins in 2 Shafts $60 00/ | | 60 | 00 |
" " | " 12 Short Eccentric Shafts 324 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $34 20/ Turning do $72 00/ | | 106 | 20 |
" " | " Cutting down & finishing ends of do $10 00/ | | 10 | 00 |
" " | " 22 Collars 48 Lbs @ 25 ¢ $12 00/ Turning & Boring do $15 00/ | | 27 | 00 |
" " | " Drilling Collars & Shafts & Reaming do $15 00/ | | 15 | 00 |
" " | " 12 Brass Bearings 324 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $178 20/ Boring, turning, &c do $54 00/ | | 232 | 20 |
" " | " 24 Wheels for Shafts 2376 Lbs @ 6 ¢ $142 56/ Boring & facing do $60 00/ | | 202 | 56 |
" " | " 12 Brass Plates 84 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $46 20/ Turning & Recessing do $12 00/ | | 58 | 20 |
" " | " 12 Screws turned $12 00/ drilling & topping ends of Shafts & | | | |
| inserting pins $24 00/ | | 36 | 00 |
" " | " 48 Wood Screws turned heads $24 00/ 24 Traverse Wheels | | | |
| 1968 Lbs @ 6 ¢ $118 08/ | | 142 | 08 |
" " | " Boring do $54 00/ 24 Axles for do 429 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $42 90/ | | | |
| Turning do $36 00/ | | 132 | 90 |
" " | " Cutting Keyseats & Keying $60 00/ 48 Prs Brass Boxes | | | |
| 624 Lbs @ 55 ¢ $343 20/ | | 403 | 20 |
" " | " Fitting & drilling do $24 00/ 12 Cast plates 2898 Lbs @ 6 ¢ $173 88/ | | | |
| Boring $36 00/ | | 233 | 88 |
" " | " 12 Pins for do 725 Lbs @ 10 ¢ $72 50/ Turning $18 00/ | | 90 | 50 |
| ------------------|---------|------|
$ | 2391 | 18 |
RECEIVED at Jackson Miss this 20 th day
of November 186 2 , from Major M. L. Smith Corps of Engineers,
the sum of Two thousand three hundred and ninety one — dollars and
eighteen — cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Leeds & Co.
pr [word heavily blotted] Arch d Mitchell
18
$ 2391 ---
100
Checks: Twenty-five extensions; twenty-four prove exactly against their own quantities and rates, and the twenty-fifth is arithmetically sound on the clerk's own figures. 804 x 10¢ = $80.40, + $72.00 = 152.40 ✓. $4.00 + $6.00 = 10.00 ✓ (16 x 25¢ = $4.00 ✓). 7.50 ✓. $9.00 + $5.00 = 14.00 ✓. 108 x 55¢ = $59.40, + $18.00 = 77.40 ✓. 24.00 ✓. 396 x 6¢ = $23.76, + $10.00 = 33.76 — the cents figure in the extension is obscured by a foxing spot (see Flagged). 212 x 10¢ = $21.20, + $24.00 = 45.20 ✓. 48 x 25¢ = $12.00, + $15.00 = 27.00 ✓. $3.00 + $15.00 = 18.00 ✓. 324 x 55¢ = $178.20, + $54.00 = 232.20 ✓. 60.00 ✓. Thirteenth line: 324 x 10¢ = $32.40, but the clerk wrote $34.20; his extension 106.20 = $34.20 + $72.00, so the line is internally consistent with his own written figure and is left as he wrote it. 10.00 ✓. 48 x 25¢ = $12.00, + $15.00 = 27.00 ✓. 15.00 ✓. 324 x 55¢ = $178.20, + $54.00 = 232.20 ✓. 2376 x 6¢ = $142.56, + $60.00 = 202.56 ✓. 84 x 55¢ = $46.20, + $12.00 = 58.20 ✓. $12.00 + $24.00 = 36.00 ✓. 1968 x 6¢ = $118.08, + $24.00 = 142.08 ✓. 429 x 10¢ = $42.90, + $54.00 + $36.00 = 132.90 ✓. 624 x 55¢ = $343.20, + $60.00 = 403.20 ✓. 2898 x 6¢ = $173.88, + $24.00 + $36.00 = 233.88 ✓. 725 x 10¢ = $72.50, + $18.00 = 90.50 ✓. The twenty-five extensions add to $2,391.18 when the obscured seventh cents figure is read as 76; the sheet foots at $2,391.18, so the footing proves exactly. The receipt's sum written out, "Two thousand three hundred and ninety one dollars and eighteen cents," agrees with the footing, and the docket figure repeated at the foot left, $2391 18/100, agrees also.
Flagged: The APPLICATION column head is struck through with a single heavy ink stroke and the column is left blank on every line, so this sheet gives no statement of application at all; the work is Columbiad gun-carriage machining as the DESIGNATION lines describe (shafts, collars, brass bearings, wheels, traverse wheels, brass boxes, axles, keyseats, cast plates and pins), but the sheet itself does not say so in the application column. — The seventh line's cents figure in the COST column is obscured by a dark ring-shaped foxing spot squarely over the tens-of-cents digit; the ink under it could be read as 7 or 9. Both the line's own components ($23.76 + $10.00) and the footing require 76, so I read it [7]6, with the digit itself not directly legible. — The thirteenth line is a genuine slip in the clerk's own arithmetic: 324 Lbs at 10¢ is $32.40, but "$34 20" is what he wrote, and his extension follows his written figure. Not corrected. — The DATE column head reads "186" printed with a heavy manuscript stroke after it; the stroke has no loop and I read it as 1, giving "1861", but the receipt below is unambiguously 1862 and the entries are November 1862 work. The heading year is therefore either an uncorrected form-year or a badly formed 2. Recorded as "186 1 ." with this warning. — The heading is "Ordnance Service", matching the docket on image 124 and differing from the "Ordnance Department" of the 1861 sheets in this file. — "topping" in the twentieth line is written plainly t-o-p-p-i-n-g. Proposal, not read from the page: the operation intended is tapping, the cutting of internal screw threads, which suits "drilling & topping ends of Shafts & inserting pins". Left as written. — The counter-signature under "Leeds & Co." reads "pr" then a short word so heavily blotted that its letters are lost, then "Arch d Mitchell" with a raised d. Proposal, not read from the page: the blotted word is "pro", giving the common "per pro" form, and "Arch d" expands to Archibald. Neither is legible as such. — DOCKET PAIRING: this account matches the docket on image 124 exactly — same firm, same heading "Ordnance Service", same sum $2391 18/100, same date November 20th 1862, and the docket's voucher number 3 has no counterpart on the account to contradict it. The two belong together. The one thing the docket does not carry is the place; the account gives it as Jackson, Miss., not New Orleans, the city having fallen in April 1862.
Image 126 — The same voucher jacket as image 124, filmed whole: verso of the Leeds & Co. account of November 1862, with M. L. Smith's certification, docket "Ordnance Service / Voucher No. 3 / Leeds & Co / November 20th 1862 / $2391 18/100"
A wide landscape scan, 5,492 x 3,546 px, of one sheet photographed folded flat so that three panels stand side by side, the two vertical fold lines visible as soft creases. All the writing runs sideways relative to the scan, reading upward from the bottom edge. The left panel carries the printed certification block in small roman type with its unused clauses ruled through in ink and a manuscript insertion above and below the printed line, then a three-line signature in a large flowing hand. The centre panel is the docket, identical in every particular to image 124, and carries the same lightly inked oval "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" handstamp and the same unattached ink flourish at the foot. The right panel is blank paper through which the printed receipt block of the other side shows plainly in mirror image, together with the mirrored blackletter of "The Confederate States" at the top of the left panel — the sheet is the verso of the account on image 125, and the paper repair strip and its small loss, which show on the recto under the masthead, show here as a grey band with a dark spot across the top of the left panel. The top edge of the sheet is ragged where it was torn from a file, with a chip out of it near the centre fold. Small dark ring-shaped foxing spots are scattered chiefly down the right half. Ink is black throughout; there are two hands, the certifying officer's large sloping one and the docket clerk's rounder, more careful one.
[LEFT PANEL — printed certification, unused clauses struck through in ink,
the manuscript insertion running above and below the printed line]
amounting to twenty three hundred & ninety
I CERTIFY that the within account is correct and just; ~~the articles~~
one dollars and eighteen cents
~~accounted for in my property return for~~ ________ ~~quarter of 186~~ .
M L. Smith
Maj of Engineers
Act g for Csa[?] Dpt[?]
[CENTRE PANEL — docket, written sideways]
Ordnance Service
________________________________________
VOUCHER No. 3 ~~~~~~~
Leeds & Co
November 20 th 186 2 .
18
$ 2391 ----
100
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
[large ink flourish, no legible letters]
[RIGHT PANEL — blank; the printed receipt block of the other side shows
through in mirror image:]
RECEIVED at ______________ this ____ day of __________ 186_, from
__________ Corps of Engineers, the sum of __________ dollars and
__________ cents, in full payment of the above account.
(SIGNED IN DUPLICATE.)
Checks: No extensions on this sheet — it is a jacket, not an account. Two sums appear, and they agree with each other: the certification's written-out "twenty three hundred & ninety one dollars and eighteen cents" and the docket figure $2391 18/100. Both agree exactly with the footing of the account on image 125, $2,391.18, and with that account's receipt.
Flagged: The certifying signature reads "M L. Smith / Maj of Engineers"; the initial is the same flourished M seen elsewhere in this file and could be misread as W. — The third line of the signature is the least certain thing on the sheet: "Act g for" is clear, but the two abbreviations that follow are written at speed with heavy flourishes. They read most nearly as "Csa" and "Dpt", which would give "Act'g for C.S.A. Dept"; "Ord" for the first cannot be excluded. Recorded with query marks rather than expanded. — The docket panel is identical to image 124, which is the same panel filmed alone; the two images are the same physical sheet, not two documents, and image 124 should not be counted as a separate voucher. — DOCKET PAIRING: this jacket is the verso of the account on image 125 — the mirrored show-through of that account's printed receipt block and blackletter masthead, and the repair patch in the same place, put it beyond doubt. Firm, sum, date and heading all match. The jacket names no place; the account gives Jackson, Miss. — RULE 1 note: "VOUCHER No." is printed and 3 is filled in by hand, so 3 is a genuine voucher number.
Image 127 — Two small documents on one rendered page: a torn endorsement leaf naming Mr. Archi[bald Mitchell], and Leeds & Co.'s power to collect, New Orleans, Sept. 10th 1862
A rendered letter-size page, 2,550 x 3,300 px, white all round, carrying two separate film frames one above the other with white space between and below them; the documents themselves are small and were photographed against a black ground, so each frame reads as a black rectangle with a pale scrap of paper in it. The upper frame holds a roughly rectangular leaf torn along its whole left edge in a ragged saw-tooth and cut or torn away straight down the right, with a notch out of the lower right; a vertical fold runs down its middle and shows as a faint grey line, and the paper is otherwise clean. Two lines of large, very fine, widely spaced copperplate in pale grey-brown ink cross its middle, and both run off the torn right edge, so the ends of both lines are lost; a further stroke or two is lost at the left edge as well. The lower frame holds a long shallow oblong slip, torn at the left where it was removed from a stub (a strip of the stub with two ruled lines still adheres at the upper left, and a grey stain runs under it) and along the top; a single vertical fold crosses it left of centre. Four lines of the same fine copperplate hand, in the same pale ink, are written on it, with a long flat pen flourish under the signature. Nothing is printed on either piece; there are no handstamps, no dockets, and no figures of account on either.
[UPPER FRAME — torn leaf, both line-ends lost at the right edge]
M r . Archi[ ]
[?] to collect & rec[ ]
[LOWER FRAME — the slip]
New Orleans Sept. 10 th 1862
M r . Archibald Mitchell is hereby authorized to
collect & receipt for any bills due us
Leeds & Co.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Checks: No figures on either piece — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The upper leaf is a fragment and its two lines both break off at the torn right edge; what survives is "M r . Archi" and "to collect & rec". Proposal, not read from the page: it is an endorsement or wrapper for the slip below, repeating in a larger hand the substance of the slip — Archibald Mitchell authorized to collect and receipt. Nothing on the fragment itself names Leeds & Co., carries a date, or gives a place, so the pairing is inference from the wording alone and cannot be proved from the image. — The ampersand in "& rec" on the fragment is certain; the character before "to" at the torn left edge is a single faint stroke and I cannot read it. — The year on the slip is written with a flourished final figure. I read "1862"; the figure has the same flat looped form as the 2 of "1862" in the receipt on image 125, and a 1 in this hand is a plain slanted stroke, so 1862 is the reading, though the flourish makes it less than certain. — Historical note, proposal only and not read from the page: New Orleans had been under Federal occupation since 1 May 1862, so a Leeds & Co. power of attorney written in the city in September 1862 to collect bills — the Confederate bills of this file among them — is worth a researcher's attention; the document itself says nothing about the circumstance. — This sheet carries no voucher number, no total, and no officer's name, so it cannot be paired with any account by figure or date; it stands as a supporting paper. It does, however, name the same Archibald Mitchell who signs for Leeds & Co. on the receipt of image 125 (there written "Arch d Mitchell"), which is the firmest link on the page.
Image 128 — Two documents on one rendered page: a voucher docket, "Voucher No 19 Nov r 1861 / $9080 07 / Leeds & Co / March 6 1862 / Ordnance &c", and a Confederate States Navy Department account, New Orleans 1861, To Leeds & Co. Dr., thirty-eight lines of shot, shell, grape and six 32-pounder guns, footed $8701 17
A rendered letter-size page, 2,550 x 3,300 px, white all round, carrying two film frames one above the other. The upper frame holds a docket leaf photographed opened flat, a vertical fold down the left of the writing and a second fold at the right edge; the paper is heavily peppered with small pale ring-shaped spots (film artefact rather than paper damage), thickest in the upper right. Six short lines of a very large, sweeping, heavily flourished hand in black ink stand down the middle-left of the leaf, and a lightly inked oval handstamp, "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" with a five-pointed star at the left, is struck below them at a tilt; a further ink flourish sits low on the leaf. Nothing on the docket is printed. The lower frame holds a printed commercial billhead: script "New-Orleans, ______ 1861" across the top with the year already in type, then heavy blackletter "Confederate States Navy Department,", then "Per ______" left blank, then "To ______ Dr." with "Leeds & Co" written in. Below that the sheet is ruled into columns — a month column, a day column, a wide entry column, then dollars, cents, and a narrow right-hand column used only for tick marks — but no column carries any printed heading, and there is no APPLICATION column on this form at all. Thirty-eight entry lines follow in a small, fine, fast counting-house hand in black ink, closely spaced, with prices and weights run into the entry text; a tick stands against nearly every extension. The sheet is cut off at the bottom immediately below the footing, so if it carried a receipt block that part is not in the frame. Light foxing spots run down the right side of the account. There is no certification, no receipt, no place of payment and no officer's name anywhere on either piece.
[UPPER FRAME — docket]
Voucher N o 19 Nov r 1861
$ 9080 07
Leeds & Co
March 6 1862
Ordnance
& c
N[?]
[oval handstamp, struck at a tilt:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES
WAR DEPARTMENT
[LOWER FRAME — account]
New-Orleans, ______________ 1861
Confederate States Navy Department,
Per _________________________________
To Leeds & Co _________________ Dr.
| DATE | ENTRY |DOLLARS|CENTS| ✓ |
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|-------|-----|---|
Sept 15 | For 100 Stand 18 " Grape $1 35 | 135 | " | ✓ |
| " 100 Stand 12 " Grape $1 10 | 110 | " | ✓ |
" 24 | " 20 . 32 " Shot 660 . 4 ¢ | 26 | 40 | ✓ |
| " 10 . 32 " Shell (without Brass bush) 255 . 5 1/2 | 14 | 03 | ✓ |
| " 10 . 32 " Shell (with Brass Bush) 255 . 5 1/2 | 14 | 03 | ✓ |
| " 10 Bushes for do | 5 | " | ✓ |
Oct 2 | " 300 . 9 in Shell 22800 . 5 1/2 / 1254 00 Cartage $16 50 | 1270 | 50 | ✓ |
" 4 | " 6 . 32 P r Guns 23655 . 8 ¢ | 1892 | 40 | ✓ |
| " 600 Shot 33 " ea 19800 . 4 ¢ | 792 | " | ✓ |
| " 600 Shell 25 1/2 ea $841 50 600 Bushes for do 4/- $300 00 | 1141 | 50 | ✓ |
| " 240 . 15 second Fuzes 90 c ts ea | 216 | " | ✓ |
| " 140 Leaden Caps & Safety plugs 5 c ts | 7 | " | ✓ |
| " 9 Wrenches $9 00 100 . 12 " Shot 1200 . 4 1/2 / $54 00 | 63 | " | ✓ |
| " 100 . 12 " Shell 850 . 5 1/2 / $46 75 200 . 24 " Shot | | | |
| 4800 . 4 ¢ / $192 00 | 238 | 75 | ✓ |
| " 200 . 24 " Shell 3400 . 5 1/2 | 187 | " | ✓ |
| " 25 Stand 24 " Grape $1 90 | 47 | 50 | ✓ |
| " 50 Stand 24 " Grape $1 90 / $95 00 1 Stand 12 " Grape $1 10 | 96 | 10 | ✓ |
| " 1 Stand 18 " Grape $1 35 1 Stand 24 " Grape $1 90 | 3 | 25 | ✓ |
| " 1 Stand 32 " Grape $2 50 1 Stand 42 " Grape $3 35 | 5 | 85 | ✓ |
| " 1 Stand 8 in Grape $4 60 1 . 6 " Shot 5 ¢ = 30 ¢ | 4 | 90 | ✓ |
| " 1 . 12 " Shot 12 1/2 4 1/2 = 56 ¢ 1 . 24 " Shot 4 ¢ = 96 ¢ | 1 | 52 | ✓ |
| " 1 . 32 " Shot 33 . 4 ¢ / $1 32 1 . 12 " Shell 8 1/2 . 5 1/2 | | | |
| = 47 ¢ | 1 | 79 | ✓ |
| " 1 . 24 " Shell 17 . 5 1/2 / = 94 ¢ 2 . 32 " Shell 51 . 5 1/2 | | | |
| / $2 81 | 3 | 75 | ✓ |
| " Bushing one of do 4/- 1 . 9 in shell 76 . 5 1/2 / $4 18 | 4 | 68 | ✓ |
| " 238 . 9 in Shell 76 ea . 18088 . 5 1/2 / 994 84 Cartage $50 00 | 1044 | 84 | ✓ |
" 7 | " 6 Dahlgren shell (without Bushes) $6 50 | 39 | " | ✓ |
| " 50 Stands 12 " Grape $1 10 / $55 00 Cartage $1 00 | 56 | " | ✓ |
" 8 | " 16 . 9 in Shell 1216 . 5 1/2 / $66 88 Cartage $1 00 | 67 | 88 | ✓ |
" 16 | " 6 Shell with Brass Bushes $10 00 ea / $60 00 1 Wrench $1 50 | 61 | 50 | ✓ |
| " 35 Stands 8 in Grape $4 60 ea | 161 | " | ✓ |
| " 100 Stands 32 " Grape $2 50 ea | 250 | " | ✓ |
| " 50 Stands 24 " Grape $1 90 | 95 | " | ✓ |
| " 20 Stands 12 " Grape $1 10 / $22 00 Cartage $4 50 | 26 | 50 | ✓ |
| " 6 . 8 in Shell (plain) 300 . 5 1/2 | 16 | 50 | ✓ |
" 17 | " 40 . 32 " Dahlgren shell $6 50 | 260 | " | ✓ |
| " Reaming & tapping do | 16 | " | ✓ |
| " 100 Stand 32 " Grape $2 50 | 250 | " | ✓ |
| " 15 Stand 8 in Grape $4 60 / $69 00 Cartage $6 00 | 75 | " | ✓ |
| --------|-------|-----|
$ | 8701 | 17 | ✓ |
Checks: Thirty-eight extensions, every one of which proves. 100 x $1.35 = 135.00 ✓. 100 x $1.10 = 110.00 ✓. 660 x 4¢ = 26.40 ✓. 255 x 5½¢ = 14.025, entered 14.03 ✓ (twice). 5.00 carries no rate — 10 Bushes at an unstated price — and cannot be tested. 22800 x 5½¢ = 1254.00, + 16.50 = 1270.50 ✓. 23655 x 8¢ = 1892.40 ✓. 600 x 33 lb = 19800, x 4¢ = 792.00 ✓. 600 x 25½ lb = 15300, x 5½¢ = 841.50, + 600 x 4/- (50¢) = 300.00, together 1141.50 ✓. 240 x 90¢ = 216.00 ✓. 140 x 5¢ = 7.00 ✓. $9.00 + (1200 x 4½¢ = 54.00) = 63.00 ✓. 850 x 5½¢ = 46.75, + 4800 x 4¢ = 192.00, together 238.75 ✓. 3400 x 5½¢ = 187.00 ✓. 25 x $1.90 = 47.50 ✓. 50 x $1.90 = 95.00, + 1.10 = 96.10 ✓. 1.35 + 1.90 = 3.25 ✓. 2.50 + 3.35 = 5.85 ✓. 4.60 + 0.30 = 4.90 ✓ (6 lb at 5¢ = 30¢). 0.56 + 0.96 = 1.52 ✓ (12½ lb at 4½¢ = 56.25¢, entered 56¢; 24 lb at 4¢ = 96¢). 1.32 + 0.47 = 1.79 ✓ (33 x 4¢; 8½ x 5½¢ = 46.75¢, entered 47¢). 0.94 + 2.81 = 3.75 ✓ (17 x 5½¢ = 93.5¢, entered 94¢; 51 x 5½¢ = 280.5¢, entered $2.81). 0.50 + 4.18 = 4.68 ✓. 238 x 76 lb = 18088, x 5½¢ = 994.84, + 50.00 = 1044.84 ✓. 6 x $6.50 = 39.00 ✓. 50 x $1.10 = 55.00, + 1.00 = 56.00 ✓. 16 x 76 lb = 1216, x 5½¢ = 66.88, + 1.00 = 67.88 ✓. 60.00 + 1.50 = 61.50 ✓. 35 x $4.60 = 161.00 ✓. 100 x $2.50 = 250.00 ✓. 50 x $1.90 = 95.00 ✓. 20 x $1.10 = 22.00, + 4.50 = 26.50 ✓. 300 x 5½¢ = 16.50 ✓. 40 x $6.50 = 260.00 ✓. "Reaming & tapping do" at 16.00 carries no rate and cannot be tested. 100 x $2.50 = 250.00 ✓. 15 x $4.60 = 69.00, + 6.00 = 75.00 ✓. The thirty-eight extensions add to $8,701.17 and the sheet foots at $8,701.17 — proves exactly. There is no receipt on this frame, so the footing cannot be tested against a sum written out in words.
Flagged: DOCKET PAIRING — the docket and the account do NOT agree on the figure. The docket reads $9080 07; the account foots $8,701.17. The difference is $378.90. They agree on the firm (Leeds & Co) and are consistent in period (the docket says "Nov r 1861", the account runs 15 September to 17 October 1861), and the docket's "Ordnance &c" would suit a Navy ordnance account, but on the money they do not match and I cannot pair them from what is on the page. Either the docket covers this account together with another, or the two were filmed side by side without belonging together. Recorded as a mismatch, not reconciled. — This account is on a Confederate States Navy Department billhead, not the Ordnance Department billhead used elsewhere in this file, and its ruling has no APPLICATION column at all: there is nothing on the sheet stating what the work was applied to. What was supplied is stated in the entry lines themselves — 32-pounder shot and shell, 9-inch and 8-inch shell, 12-, 18-, 24-, 32- and 42-pounder and 8-inch stands of grape, six 32-pounder guns weighing 23,655 lb, brass bushes and bushing, 15-second fuzes, leaden caps and safety plugs, wrenches, Dahlgren shell, reaming and tapping, and cartage. — The mark the clerk puts after a calibre figure is a plain double prime, written exactly as an inch mark; but 32 " shot weighing 33 lb each and 24 " shot weighing 24 lb each can only be 32-pounder and 24-pounder, so the mark stands for pounder throughout. Transcribed as written. — "1 Stand 42 " Grape": the second figure is written small and low and could be taken for a fraction, giving "4½"; the price ladder on the sheet (12-pdr $1.10, 18-pdr $1.35, 24-pdr $1.90, 32-pdr $2.50, this one $3.35, 8-inch $4.60) makes 42 the reading. Noted rather than silently resolved. — "4/-" appears twice as a price (600 Bushes at 4/- = $300.00, and Bushing one at 4/-), and in both places the arithmetic makes it 50 cents — the old four-bit reckoning still current in New Orleans. Left as written. — The last line of the docket is a single large letter with a tick above it, which I read as N but cannot expand; it may be an initial or a place abbreviation. — The docket year "1861" ends in a small looped figure that could be read as 2; 1861 fits the account's dates and is the reading I take. — The account bears no receipt, no signature, and no certification within the frame, and the sheet is cut immediately below the footing.
Image 129 — Continuation of the Navy Department account of image 128: "Statement Brot forward 8701 17", seven further lines to 24 October, closing at $9080 07, signed Beverley Kennon, Lt. C.S.N.
A landscape scan, 3,772 x 3,188 px, of a single leaf filmed flat against a black ground. Only the top fifth carries writing; the rest of the sheet is empty. The paper is ruled for accounts in the same pattern as the billhead on image 128 — faint vertical rules for the day column, the entry column, dollars, cents and a narrow tick column at the right — but nothing is printed on this side at all. Two horizontal folds cross the sheet, one about a third of the way down and one below the middle, and a vertical fold runs down the left of the writing; both show as pale creases. Scattered pale ring-shaped spots run down the left margin and the right edge, the same film artefact as on image 128. In the upper right, well away from the ink, a faint blocky grey show-through can be made out through the paper; it is the printed blackletter of the other side coming through in mirror image, and its shape matches the "Confederate States Navy Department" masthead of image 128, though the letters themselves cannot be read. Eight lines of the same small fast counting-house hand as image 128 stand at the top, with a tick against nearly every figure, and beneath them the closing total $9080 07 written out to the right of the ruled columns. Below that, in a different, larger and much more assured hand, is a signature with a rank.
| DAY | ENTRY |DOLLARS|CENTS| ✓ |
|-------|----------------------------------------------------|-------|-----|---|
| Statement Brot forward | 8701 | 17 | ✓ |
21 | " Rifleing 2 Small Cannon | 90 | " | ✓ |
| " 54 Smallest shot for do $1 10 ea | 59 | 40 | ✓ |
| " 54 Wooden Sabots for do 2/ | 13 | 50 | ✓ |
24 | " 25 Stands 8 in Grape $4 60 | 115 | " | ✓ |
| " 35 Stands 12 " Grape $1 10 | 38 | 50 | ✓ |
| " 25 Stands 32 " Grape $2 50 | 62 | 50 | ✓ | 9080 07
| -------|-------|-----|
Beverley Kennon L t . C. S. N.
Checks: The brought-forward figure, 8701 17, is exactly the footing of the account on image 128. Of the six new lines, five prove: 54 x $1.10 = 59.40 ✓; 54 x 2/- (25¢) = 13.50 ✓; 25 x $4.60 = 115.00 ✓; 35 x $1.10 = 38.50 ✓; 25 x $2.50 = 62.50 ✓. The first, "Rifleing 2 Small Cannon" at 90.00, carries no rate and its extension cannot be tested. Adding the six to the brought-forward figure: 8701.17 + 90.00 + 59.40 + 13.50 + 115.00 + 38.50 + 62.50 = 9080.07, and the closing total is written 9080 07 — proves exactly. There is no receipt on this sheet and no sum written out in words, so the total cannot be tested a third way here; but it agrees to the cent with the docket figure $9080 07 on image 128.
Flagged: This sheet resolves the apparent mismatch flagged on image 128. The docket there reads $9080 07 while the account on the same frame foots $8701 17; this continuation carries that $8,701.17 forward, adds six more lines, and closes at $9,080.07. The docket, the two account sheets and this total therefore all belong together, and the $378.90 difference is simply the second page of the account. — The show-through in the upper right is consistent with this leaf being the reverse of the billhead on image 128, but the mirrored letters are too faint to read and I record the identification as probable, not proved. — No month is written on this sheet; the days 21 and 24 continue the October sequence of image 128, whose last entry is 17 October, but the month itself is not on the page. — "Smallest shot for do" is the least certain reading among the entries: the word is written S-m-a-l-l-e-s-t and I can see no other letters in it, but "smallest shot" is an odd term of art for projectiles made for two small rifled cannon with wooden sabots. Left as written. — "2/" as a price works out at 25 cents (54 x 25¢ = $13.50), the old two-bit reckoning, matching the "4/-" = 50 cents used on image 128. — The signature reads "Beverley Kennon" followed by "L t ." and three flourished capitals I read as "C. S. N." Proposal, not read from the page: Beverley Kennon, lieutenant, Confederate States Navy, on ordnance duty at New Orleans in 1861. Nothing on the sheet expands the abbreviation. — There is no APPLICATION column on this form, and no statement anywhere of what the stores were applied to beyond the entry lines themselves.
Image 130 — Approval and receipt for the Navy account: "Approved, and Paymaster will pay ... Nine Thousand & Eighty Dollars and Seven cents", signed T[?]. B. Renshaw, Senior officer, and G[?]. N. Hollins, Flag Officer; receipted New-Orleans, Mch 6th 1862, $9080 07/100, Leeds & Co.
A tall portrait scan, 3,816 x 6,313 px, of a single large leaf filmed flat against a black ground. Two-thirds of the sheet, the whole upper part, is blank ledger-ruled paper — faint blue-grey horizontal rules with five vertical money rules down the right-hand third — carrying nothing but two horizontal folds, which show as pale bands across the full width, and a scatter of small ring-shaped film spots down both margins, densest at the right. Through the paper, faint and grey, an oval shape can be made out about the middle of the blank area; it is the show-through of a handstamp struck on the other side, and none of its lettering can be read from this face. A ruled line runs across the sheet about two-thirds down and below it the paper carries printed matter in a light italic script face — the approval and receipt block. Everything filled into that block is manuscript. Three hands are present: a large, sweeping, heavily flourished one for the approval signature and the sums written out; a smaller, tighter, more angular one for the second signature at the left; and the fine commercial hand of the firm for the receipt figure and the final signature at the right, which ends in a long flat underline flourish. The paper is otherwise clean and undamaged; no tears, losses or stains obscure any text.
Approved, and Paymaster ______________________________ will pay
the above sum of Nine Thousand & Eighty ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dollars
and Seven ~~~~~~~~~~~ cents
T[?] B Renshaw
G[?] N Hollins Senior officer
Flag Officer
Received, New-Orleans, _________ Mch 6 th 1862
of _____________ Paymaster ____________________ , the sum of
Nine thousand eighty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dollars
and seven ~~~~~~~~~~ cents, in payment of the above.
07
$ 9080. --- Leeds & Co
100 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Checks: No extensions on this sheet — it is an approval and receipt, not an account. Four statements of the same sum appear and all four agree: the approval's "Nine Thousand & Eighty Dollars and Seven cents"; the receipt's "Nine thousand eighty Dollars and seven cents"; and the figure "$9080. 07/100". All three agree exactly with the closing total of the account, $9,080.07, footed on image 129, and with the docket figure $9080 07 on image 128. Proves exactly at $9,080.07.
Flagged: The "of ______ Paymaster ______" blank in the receipt is left empty except for a pen flourish, so the receipt does not name the paying officer; and the blank after "Approved, and Paymaster" is likewise unfilled. The paymaster is therefore not named anywhere on the sheet. — The approving signature reads "B Renshaw" with certainty in the surname; the first initial is a looped capital I read as T, but F or J cannot be excluded on the letterform alone. "Senior officer" beneath it is clear. — The second signature reads "N Hollins" with certainty in the surname; the first initial is a large capital with a descending loop, most like G, though J is possible. "Flag Officer" beneath it is clear. Proposal, not read from the page: Flag Officer George N. Hollins, C.S. Navy, commanding afloat at New Orleans in 1861–62. Nothing on the sheet expands the initial. — DOCKET PAIRING: this sheet answers the Navy account of images 128 and 129 and answers it exactly. The figure ($9,080.07), the place (New-Orleans) and the date (March 6th 1862) all match the docket on image 128, which reads "Leeds & Co / March 6 1862 / $9080 07". The account, its continuation, the approval-and-receipt and the docket are one voucher, Voucher No. 19 of November 1861 as the docket numbers it. — The blank upper two-thirds of this leaf is ruled in the same ledger pattern as the continuation sheet on image 129, and the oval show-through in its middle is consistent with the "REBEL ARCHIVES" handstamp struck on a docket panel on the reverse; neither point can be proved from this face, and I record both as observation only.
Image 131 — Claim jacket and Ordnance Bureau endorsement: "Leeds & Co. Claim For value of Arms $16.610.20, Rec'd March 31st /63", referred to the Auditor for settlement, Bur. Ord. Mar 25/63, by order of Col. Gorgas, signed Chas Blunt, Capt., Ass't to Ch'f. Ord.
A landscape scan, 4,428 x 3,507 px, of one leaf photographed folded flat so that three panels stand side by side. Only the centre panel is written on; the left and right panels are blank, though through the left panel the columnar writing of the other side shows faintly in mirror. Two vertical folds and two horizontal folds cross the sheet and show as pale creases; the leaf is torn along a short run at the top of the left fold, showing as a black slit, and the bottom edge is ragged. A lightly inked oval handstamp, "RECORD DIVISION / REBEL ARCHIVES / WAR DEPARTMENT" with a five-pointed star at each side, is struck across the right fold, half on the centre panel and half on the right, and is faint enough that only the outer ring reads confidently. A white scratch in the film emulsion cuts across one line of the writing without destroying it. Small dark ring-shaped film spots are scattered at the lower left and along the right. All the writing is in the same fine, sloping, official Richmond hand in grey-black ink except the endorsement signature and the two heavier items — a large two-letter monogram in the upper middle and the "By order of Col Gorgas" line — which are bolder but appear to be the same pen pressed harder. Nothing on the sheet is printed.
[CENTRE PANEL]
Leeds & Co.
Claim
For value of Arms
$ 16.610.20
Rec d March 31 st /63,
M r . Hampton
[large monogram, two letters, read as L R]
M r Mitchell represents [line ends; nothing further legible]
Bur. Ord. Mar 25/63
Resp y referred to the
Auditor for settlement
Col. Oladowski refusing
to give a formal property
receipt — but certifying that
the guns are in the service
By order of Col Gorgas
Chas Blunt, Capt
Ass t to Ch f . Ord.
M r . Hampton,
[oval handstamp across the right fold:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES *
WAR DEPARTMENT
Checks: One figure only, $16.610.20, written once. There is nothing on this sheet to test it against — no extensions, no footing, no sum written out in words. No arithmetic can be proved here.
Flagged: This is a claim jacket of a wholly different character from the New Orleans vouchers around it: it is a Richmond Ordnance Bureau filing endorsement of March 1863, not a New Orleans account of 1861–62, and its figure ($16,610.20) matches nothing else in the range 124–136. It should not be paired with any of the accounts here on the strength of proximity. What it is for — "value of Arms", guns taken into the service without a formal property receipt — is stated on its face and nowhere else in this range. — "Col. Oladowski" is written clearly, O-l-a-d-o-w-s-k-i. Proposal, not read from the page: Lieutenant Colonel Hypolite Oladowski, chief of ordnance to the Army of Tennessee. The document gives no first name or command. — "Col Gorgas" is written clearly. Proposal, not read from the page: Colonel Josiah Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance, C.S.A. Again the sheet gives no more than the surname. — "Chas Blunt, Capt / Ass t to Ch f . Ord." — the abbreviations are as written; the expansion "Assistant to the Chief of Ordnance" is the plain sense but is not spelled out on the page. — The two-letter monogram under "Mr. Hampton" is bold and deliberate but I cannot resolve it beyond two letters, most like L and R; it may be a clerk's initials or a routing mark. Recorded as unread. — "Mr Mitchell represents" breaks off at the end of the line with a faint mark and nothing follows; either the writer stopped or the continuation is too faint to see. The Mitchell named is presumably the Archibald Mitchell of images 125 and 127, who held Leeds & Co.'s power to collect, but nothing on this sheet gives his first name. — "Rec d March 31 st /63" and "Bur. Ord. Mar 25/63" are six days apart, the referral preceding the receipt stamp; both are written plainly and I do not reconcile them.
Image 132 — Letter, Ordnance Office, Tullahoma, Tenn., March 21st 1863, to Capt. Ed. H. Smith, Ass't. to Chief of Ordnance, Richmond, Va., on the Leeds & Co. account and how the guns came to be bought at New Orleans (first page)
A large portrait scan, 3,504 x 4,511 px, of the first leaf of a letter, filmed flat against a black ground; the black ground shows as a band across the foot, where the sheet ends. The paper is plain, unruled and unwatermarked so far as the scan shows, with no printed matter of any kind. It is written full width in a fine, fast, sloping official hand in ink that has faded to a pale grey-brown and is in places very light indeed; the writer bears down at the ends of words, so terminal strokes read much darker than the bodies of the letters. A cluster of small dark ring-shaped film spots sits at the upper left corner and a much denser cluster, thirty or forty of them, lies over the left margin about four-fifths of the way down, directly on top of two words of very light ink; between the spots and the fading, those two words are effectively destroyed. A faint circular smudge shows at the top left corner. Three lines in the middle of the letter are underscored, some doubly, in the same ink, and a short vertical stroke stands before the underscored passage. There are no folds crossing the text, no tears and no stains. No handstamp appears on this leaf.
Ordnance Office
Tullahoma Tenn
March 21 st 1863.
Capt. Ed. H. Smith
Ass t . to Chief of Ordnance
Richmond V a
Your letter of 16 th inst.
with enclosed account of Mess rs Leeds & Co. is
received. I cannot certify that the property
was received by me as I was at the time
of delivery in other places, the Guns were
sent to Mobile & received by different offi-
-cers at different times. | I am certain of
their being delivered, as I seen them in the
Army & some of them are now in the service
[the passage from "I am certain" to
"in the service" is underscored]
Permit me respectfully to state circumstances
of this proceedings contrary to regulations.
In October 1861, I was ordered verbally by Gen l .
Bragg to furnish the army at Pensacola with
two six gun batteries of Artillery. I made requisi-
-tion on Ordnance Bureau & was informed that
four three inch Iron Rifled Guns will be sent
[two words illegible] . Gen l . Bragg advised me to go to
New Orleans & purchase guns naming 12 p r .
Light. I advised Chief of Ordnance of my
order & requested sent me plan of them. I
received an answer that no plan can be sent.
Checks: No figures on this leaf — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: Two words at the start of the line beginning "…Gen l . Bragg advised me to go to" cannot be read. The ink there is at its lightest and a dense cluster of film spots lies across it. What can be made out is a word of five or six letters ending in n or d, then a second word of five or six letters whose shape would suit "times" as easily as anything else. Recorded as illegible rather than guessed; the sense of the sentence ("four three inch Iron Rifled Guns will be sent …") is not affected. — "Capt. Ed. H. Smith": the second initial is a two-stroke capital that could be H or N; "Ed." is written with a small raised d. The addressee is not the Capt. Chas Blunt who signs the endorsement on image 131, though both are described as assistant to the Chief of Ordnance. — "Your letter" carries a terminal flourish on "Your" that could be read as a final s. — "as I seen them in the Army" is the writer's own grammar and is left uncorrected, as is "of this proceedings" and "requested sent me plan of them". — The letter is unsigned on this leaf; it continues, and the signature must be sought on the following image. Proposal, not read from the page: the writer is the Col. Oladowski named in the endorsement on image 131 — the letter is from the Ordnance Office of the Army of Tennessee at Tullahoma, it answers exactly the point Blunt's endorsement raises (that Oladowski refused a formal property receipt but would certify the guns were in the service), and its first substantive sentence is that refusal. Nothing on this leaf gives the writer's name. — The date, March 21st 1863, sits between the Bureau's referral of March 25 and the "Rec d March 31 st /63" on image 131; the three form a sequence but this leaf says nothing about that connection. — The claim this letter answers concerns guns bought at New Orleans in the winter of 1861–62 for Bragg's army; the figure $16,610.20 of image 131 does not appear anywhere on this leaf.
Image 133 — Second leaf of the Tullahoma letter of 21 March 1863: how the guns were ordered from Leeds & Co., 20th December 1861, and what remained unpaid
A large portrait scan, 3,504 x 4,457 px, of the second leaf of the same letter, filmed flat against a black ground, which shows as a band across the foot where the sheet ends. The paper is plain and unruled, written full width, and it is markedly greyer and more mottled than the first leaf — the film exposure has flattened it, so the ink sits only a little darker than the paper and the lightest strokes are hard to follow. A faint horizontal fold crosses about a third of the way down. Small dark ring-shaped film spots are scattered thinly down the left margin, with a slightly denser group over the "On 22 d February" line. Two short vertical pen strokes stand in the left margin, one against the list of guns and one against the paragraph beginning "I paid for". The list of ordered guns is set out in four indented lines, with "do" for ditto. One phrase, "two weeks after to Jackson Tenn", is interlined above the line in the same hand but a finer pen. There is no printed matter, no handstamp, no signature on this leaf, and no figures in columns.
& Gen l . peremptorily ordered me to procure them
(12 p r . light guns) I made plans & ordered Six
guns to be casted, as with permission of Chief
of Ordnance through Major Smith. I was
permitted to get 3. 6 p r . Smooth bore contracted
for by Maj. M. L. Smith & 5. 3 2/10 in. Rifled con-
-tracted for by Capt. J[?]. C. Booth
After inspection of Artillery at Mobile Gen l
Bragg ordered me verbally to procure sufficient
number of Guns to complete Batteries forming
in Mobile. And on the 20[?] th December 1861 I
wrote to Mess rs Leeds & Co to furnish
6. 12 p r . light Guns
2 6 " do do
2 Rifled do
8. 12 p r . Howitzers
| I paid for 3. 6 p r . & 5 Rifled guns, the bal-
-ance I informed parties will be payed by
Capt. J[?]. L. White. As I was at that time ordered
from place to place, on inspections.
On 22 d February I was ordered from Mobile
to Pensacola to dismount Guns & sent them
^ two weeks after to Jackson Tenn
to other points, & I never was permitted to
return to Mobile.
I must add I have now at Mobile over
three thousand dollars to pay. I requested
to permit me to settle my account, from
Corinth, now in possession of M r . L. H[?]
Checks: The only quantities on the leaf are the counts of guns ordered from Leeds & Co. — 6 twelve-pounder light guns, 2 six-pounder ditto, 2 rifled ditto, 8 twelve-pounder howitzers, eighteen pieces in all — and these carry no prices, so nothing can be extended and nothing proved. The one money figure, "over three thousand dollars", is a round statement, not an account. No arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The leaf ends in the middle of a name, "in possession of M r . L. H", and the sentence runs on to the next leaf. — "Capt. J[?]. C. Booth" and "Capt. J[?]. L. White": in both the first initial is a small looped capital that could be read J, I or S. The surnames are clear. Proposal, not read from the page: Captain John C. Booth, C.S. Ordnance, who was at New Orleans and Mobile in this period. The letter gives no first names. — "Maj. M. L. Smith" is written plainly and is the same officer who receipts the Ordnance accounts of images 70 and 125, Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers; the letter refers to him here as contracting for three 6-pounder smooth bores at New Orleans. — "Major Smith" earlier in the same paragraph, through whom permission came from the Chief of Ordnance, may or may not be the same man; the letter does not say. — The calibre "3 2/10 in." is written with a raised 2 over 10 and is certain: three and two-tenths inch rifles, the New Orleans-made calibre. — The date "on the 20 th December 1861" is the day Leeds & Co. were written to; the second figure is a small closed loop that could be 0 or 8, so 20th or 28th. Queried rather than resolved. — "casted" and "payed" are the writer's own spellings and are left as written, as is "on inspections". — The interlineation "two weeks after to Jackson Tenn" is in the same hand and belongs where the caret places it. — This leaf carries no signature; the letter continues.
Image 134 — Third and last leaf of the Tullahoma letter, signed H. Oladowski, Lt Col on Ordn duty
A large portrait scan, 3,512 x 4,467 px, of the closing leaf of the same letter, filmed flat against a black ground. Only the top quarter is written; the rest is empty paper. The sheet is plain and unruled, and the film exposure has again flattened it, so the paper reads as an even grey and the lighter strokes are faint. A horizontal tear runs most of the way across the sheet on the last line of text and shows as a solid black band; it has taken away the lower half of the letters in the first two words of that line, leaving only their tops, and the words are readable only by their upper profiles. A second tear or notch bites into the right edge lower down, in blank paper. A very heavy scatter of small dark ring-shaped film spots covers the whole lower two-thirds of the leaf, thickest at the left and right margins; none of it touches the writing. The closing and signature are set to the right in four short lines, in the same hand as the body but written larger and more deliberately, the surname with a strong finishing flourish. Nothing is printed on the leaf; there is no handstamp and no docket.
M c Main. But I was refused. I did not settle
my accounts from Whistler & my papers are
now at Mobile in possession of Mess rs Le
Bassin[?] & Sons.
Since issue of Gen l Order No 24 I acted
strictly to it. At present I cannot help my-
-self — & I am expecting some this day to be dis-
-missed from service by reason I did not
settle[?] regularly my accounts. —
Very Respectfully
Your obed t serv t
H. Oladowski
L t Col on Ordn duty.
Checks: No figures on this leaf — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The signature settles the authorship of the whole letter of images 132–134: "H. Oladowski / L t Col on Ordn duty", written at the Ordnance Office, Tullahoma, Tenn., 21 March 1863. This is the same Col. Oladowski named in the Ordnance Bureau endorsement on image 131, and the letter is his answer to the point that endorsement records — that he would not give a formal property receipt but would certify the guns were in the service. The pairing of images 131 to 134 is therefore established from the documents themselves, by name, subject and date, not by their order on the film. — "Mess rs Le / Bassin[?] & Sons" is the least certain reading on the leaf. The first element is plainly "Le" at the end of the line; the second begins with a clear B and an a, then two or three minim strokes with an i-dot over them, then n. "Bassin" is my best reading of those strokes but "Baron", "Bassen" and "Baudin" are all possible on the letterforms alone, and the firm cannot be identified from the page. Recorded with a query. — The first word of the leaf, "M c Main", completes the name broken across the page-end on image 133 ("in possession of M r . L. H"), giving "Mr. L. H. McMain"; the final element of the surname could be read "Marin", as the medial strokes are ambiguous, but there is an i-dot. — The last line of text has been torn across. Only the tops of its first two words survive; they read as "settle regularly", the second word with confidence and the first only from its profile and from the sense of the sentence. Marked with a query and not treated as certain. — "Whistler" is written plainly; it is given as the place his accounts came from, and the letter says nothing more about it. — "Gen l Order No 24" is written plainly; the letter does not say whose general order it was. — "by reason I did not settle regularly my accounts" is the writer's own construction, as are "some this day" and "obed t serv t"; all are left as written.
Image 135 — Docket for a character reference: "Lt. Col. E. A. Palfrey, Apl[?] 3. 1863 — testifies to character and standing of Leeds & Co"
A portrait scan, 2,228 x 3,646 px, of a single leaf filmed flat against a black ground; the sheet is the outer face of a folded paper, with one vertical fold down the left quarter and three horizontal folds crossing it, all showing as pale creases. Only the top sixth carries writing. The paper is covered, top to bottom and edge to edge, with a very heavy scatter of small ring-shaped film spots — several hundred of them, thickest at the right — but they are pale and the ink stands clear of them. The writing is in a broad-nibbed, heavily shaded hand, quite different from the fine official hands of the letter on images 132–134, in black ink that has fed and blotted at several letters. Below the writing, in the middle of the sheet, a well-inked oval handstamp is struck at a tilt: "RECORD DIVISION" round the top of the outer ring, "WAR DEPARTMENT." round the bottom, a five-pointed star at each side, and "REBEL ARCHIVES." across the inner oval. This is the clearest impression of that stamp in the range; every letter of it can be read. There is no printed matter on the leaf, no voucher number and no figure of any kind.
L t . Col. E. A. Palfrey
Ap l [?] 3. 1863
testifies to character and
standing of Leeds & Co
[oval handstamp, struck at a tilt:]
RECORD DIVISION
* REBEL ARCHIVES. *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: This is a docket only. The paper it dockets — Palfrey's testimonial to the character and standing of Leeds & Co. — is not on this image, and the docket carries no sum, no voucher number and no place, so there is nothing on it by which to pair it with a particular account. Its date, 3 March 1863, puts it with the claim papers of images 131–134 rather than with the New Orleans vouchers, and its subject (the firm's character and standing) suits a claim being examined; but that is inference from the wording and date, not proof from the page. — "E. A. Palfrey" is written plainly, though the first initial is a large flourished capital and the surname's terminal y runs into a long descender. — The month is a three-letter abbreviation written with a broad nib and blotted at the first letter. It can be taken for "Mch" (March) at a glance, but the middle letter carries a clear descender below the baseline, which "Mch" has not and "Apl" has; the letter this docket answers (image 136) is dated "April 3 d 1863". I therefore read it "Ap l" with a query and note the alternative, rather than choosing silently between them. — RULE 1 note: there is no printed form number and no printed "VOUCHER No." on this sheet; nothing here is a voucher number.
Image 136 — Letter, Richmond Va., April 3d 1863, Lt. Col. Ed. A. Palfrey to Mr. Hampton, 2nd Auditor's office, testifying to the standing of Leeds & Co., Foundrymen, of New Orleans
A portrait scan, 2,324 x 3,552 px, of a single leaf filmed flat against a black ground, which shows as a narrow band down the right edge and across the foot. The paper is plain and unruled and in excellent state — no tears, no losses, no stains, and only a light scatter of small ring-shaped film spots, thickest in the upper right and around the closing. Two very faint horizontal creases cross the sheet. The whole is written in a large, open, exceptionally legible copperplate hand in strong black ink, easily the best-written document in this range; the writer breaks words at the line-end with a double hyphen set low ("integri = ty", "uns = urpassed"). One word, "Could", is underscored. The signature runs across the foot in a single line with the rank abbreviated and heavily flourished. There is no printed matter, no handstamp, no docket and no figure of any kind on the leaf.
Richmond Va. April 3 d 1863.
M r Hampton.
2 nd Auditors office
Sir:
I have known the
house of Leeds & Co, Foundrymen in
New Orleans for more than 25 years,
& during all that time they have
done the largest business in their
line in that City. Their Standing
financialy, & for honesty, high integri
=ty & good workmanship has been uns
=urpassed by that of any house
in New Orleans; & as patriots they
have done as much as any one
Could have done, with the Same
means at command. I know
M r Archibald Mitchell to have
an interest in the house.
Very resp y
Ed. A. Palfrey L t Col & A A G
Checks: The only figures on the leaf are the date and "more than 25 years". No account, no extensions, no footing — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: DOCKET PAIRING: this is plainly the paper docketed on image 135 — same officer (E. A. Palfrey), same subject (the character and standing of Leeds & Co.), same day of the month, and the docket's summary, "testifies to character and standing of Leeds & Co", is an exact description of this letter. On the month, however, the two do not read alike at first sight: this letter is unambiguously "April 3 d 1863", while the docket's month is a three-letter abbreviation I first took for "Mch". On close inspection the docket's word carries a descender in its middle letter, which "Mch" does not and "Apl" does, so the docket almost certainly reads "Apl 3. 1863" and the two agree. I record the doubt rather than smoothing it over: the letter's month is certain, the docket's is not. — The rank after the signature is written at speed with heavy flourishes; "L t Col &" is clear, and the three capitals that follow read as A A G, which would be the usual Assistant Adjutant General. Not expanded on the page. — "financialy" is the writer's own spelling, with one l; "Foundrymen", "Standing", "Same" and "Could" are capitalised as he wrote them, and "Could" is underscored in the original. — "M r Archibald Mitchell" is named here in full, and is the same Archibald Mitchell who signs for Leeds & Co. on the receipt of image 125 and holds the firm's power to collect on image 127; this letter states that he had an interest in the house. — "M r Hampton" of the 2nd Auditor's office is the same Mr. Hampton to whom the Ordnance Bureau endorsement on image 131 is directed, which places this letter with the 1863 claim papers of images 131–135 rather than with the New Orleans vouchers.
Image 137 — Printed Leeds & Co. billhead, New Orleans, 21 April 1862; ordnance bought "per order of Capt Cladowski" (read Oladowski, see Flagged) — field guns, howitzers, sights and cartage, less a credit for old bronze; $16,610.20
A landscape scan, 3,828 x 2,988 px, of a single large ruled account sheet on a handsome engraved billhead. The engraving fills the upper third: "New Orleans." in ornamental blackletter inside a scrolled cartouche, "CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STRS" in small sans-caps beneath it, a chain-bordered advertising panel at the left listing the firm's products, and at the right "Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders," in heavy shaded display letters with engraver's flourishes; a minute engraver's credit line sits under the panel. Below a heavy double rule the sheet is ruled into columns — DATE (month and day in two narrow columns), a wide designation column, and at the right three money columns divided by a double vertical rule, dollars and cents. The clerk's hand is a fast, slanted, businesslike script in dark brown-black ink, with money figures larger and rounder than the descriptive matter. A vertical crease runs down the sheet about a fifth of the way in from the left, showing as a pale line, and a heavy black ink blot roughly 100 x 250 px sits in the left margin across the second "April" row, with a smaller blot below it and two more spatters in the middle of the sheet on the howitzer row; none of them cover writing that matters. A faint pencil annotation lies between the advertising panel and the top rule, too light to read. Small dark specks and ring-shaped spots are scattered over the sheet — filming artefacts. The right edge of the sheet falls short of the frame, leaving a black band; the last money column is complete.
New Orleans. 21 April 1862
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STRS
U[?]. States, per order of Capt Cladowski
[chain-bordered panel:] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
MANUFACTURERS OF Iron Founders,
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINES.
BOILERS , SUGAR MILLS, [engraver's line, minute:
VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, CLARIFIERS, FILTERS, Douglas Eng[?] 19 St Charles S[t] ]
STEAM AND HORSE POWER DRAINING MACHINES.
SAW-MILLS , GIN-GEARING.
Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars,&c.
[faint pencil annotation here — illegible]
__________________________________________________________________________
Feby 19 2 Rifled 6 pr Field pc, (Capt [illegible]'s order) $1200 00 - 2 Sights for do $40 00 | 1240 " |
" " 6.12 pr Light Field pcs 1125 ea /6750 00 Cartage $2 00 | 6752 " |
" " | 7992 " |
" " By 10087 ℔[?] Old Bronze 40 ct /4034 80 - less Drayage $8 - 00 | 4026 80 | 3965 20
April 5 To 6.12 pr Bronze Field pcs $1150 ea | 6900 " |
April " " 3 " Howitzers $800 - | 2400 " |
" " " " 2. 6 pr Field pc, $800 | 1600 " |
" " " " 2 " ———— Rifle, $850 | 1700 " |
" " Sights for do $40 00 Cartage $5 00 | 45 " | $12645 "
| | $16610 20
Checks: Line 1 carries no unit rate for the guns — $1200 00 is a lump for the two rifled 6-pounders — so only the addition can be tested: 1200.00 + 40.00 = 1240.00, and the extension is 1240 " . Proves. Line 2: 6 x 1125 = 6750.00 as the clerk writes in the designation, + 2.00 cartage = 6752.00 against an extension of 6752 " . Proves. Line 3 is the sub-total of the two: 1240 + 6752 = 7992, and 7992 " stands in the column. Proves. Line 4, the bronze credit: 10087 lb x 40 cents = 4034.80, exactly the figure written in the designation; less 8.00 drayage = 4026.80 against an extension of 4026 80. Proves. Carried to the outer column: 7992.00 - 4026.80 = 3965.20 against 3965 20. Proves. April lines: 6 x 1150 = 6900 (6900 " ); 3 x 800 = 2400 (2400 " ); 2 x 800 = 1600 (1600 " ); 2 x 850 = 1700 (1700 " ); the sights-and-cartage line carries no rate, only 40.00 + 5.00 = 45.00 against 45 " . All prove. April sub-total: 6900 + 2400 + 1600 + 1700 + 45 = 12645, against $12645 " . Proves. Footing: 3965.20 + 12645.00 = 16610.20 against $16610 20. Proves exactly at $16,610.20. There is no receipt on this sheet, so the footing cannot be tested against a sum written out in words.
Flagged: The addressee line is the least certain reading on the sheet. The name after "Capt" is plainly "Cladowski" — C, l, a, d, o, w, s, k, i, all legible at high magnification. The word before it, however, is a single capital and a period followed by "States". The capital is written with a rounded bowl and two ascending strokes, which is a "U" in this hand and is emphatically not the single-loop "C" the same clerk uses in "Cladowski" and in "Cartage" twice on this sheet; so it reads "U. States", which in a Confederate Citizens File is unexpected. I have transcribed it as "U[?]. States" and can offer no reading I am confident of. — The officer's name in the parenthesis on the first body line defeated me at every magnification I could get from this scan: after "Capt" comes a tall doubled capital, a round letter, and a crossed "th", then what may be a possessive "s", then "order". It could be "Woth's", "Worth's", "Nooth's" or "Smith's"; I will not choose among them and have set [illegible] rather than guess. Resolved later in this range: the same officer is named "Capt. Booth[?]'s order" on image 142 and, unmistakably, "Capts Booths order" on the bill of image 145, and "Capt J C Booth" in the certified statement of image 148. On that evidence this parenthesis reads "(Capt Booth's order)"; I have left the transcription above as [illegible] because that is what this page yields on its own, and record the resolution here. — The unit mark after "10087" in the bronze credit is a single looped character, the ordinary pound-weight abbreviation, but it is struck lightly; read as ℔ and marked [?]. The 40-cent rate proves it is a weight, since 10087 x $0.40 gives the clerk's own $4034.80 to the cent. — "Sights" (twice) is written with a large looped initial that could be taken for a capital L; the letterform, the repetition, and the guns it is attached to all point to "Sights", and I have set it so without a query. — The year in the dateline is written "1862" with the final figure trailing into a long underscore flourish; the 6 and the 2 are both clear. — The engraver's credit line beneath the advertising panel is engraved at about 2 mm and I can make out only "Douglas Eng[?] 19 St Charles S[t]"; it is a New Orleans engraver's imprint, not part of the account. — The pencil annotation above the top rule is present but wholly illegible at this resolution. — No voucher number, no handstamp, no receipt and no signature appear on this sheet; it is the bill only, and any docket answering it must be elsewhere in the file. — RULE 6, resolved from the sheets that follow: this bill is covered by the Leeds letter of the same day, 21 April 1862 (image 138), which gives the same total to the cent, and it is itemised order by order in the certified statement of image 148, whose two lists match this sheet's February and April sections item for item. The name after "Capt" in the addressee line, which I read as "Cladowski", is written "Oladowski" on images 138, 140, 142, 144, 145, 147 and 148, and I take it to be Oladowski here too.
Image 138 — Autograph letter, Leeds & Co. to Capt. H. Oladowski, care of Genl. B. Bragg, Corinth, Miss.; New Orleans, 21 April 1862; covering bills of $16,610.20 and reporting rifle-projectile work
A portrait scan, 2,268 x 3,635 px, of a single leaf of plain cream letter paper written on one side only in a large, fluent, well-spaced commercial hand — a merchant's correspondence hand, quite unlike the tight account hand of the billhead — in dark ink that has faded to a soft grey-brown in the lighter strokes. The upper quarter of the sheet is blank; the dateline sits at the right about a third of the way down, the address block steps down and to the right below it in the customary manner, and the body then runs the full width of the leaf in eleven long lines with the complimentary close and signature crowded into the last two. There are no rules, no letterhead, no handstamp and no docketing. A drift of small ring-shaped and doughnut-shaped spots — a few dozen of them, some in tight clusters — runs down the right third of the sheet; they are emulsion or dust artefacts of the microfilming and one of them sits on the word "rifle" without destroying it. The left edge of the leaf is slightly irregular where it was separated from its conjugate half, and a narrow black band at the right of the frame shows the sheet fell short of the scanner. No tears, stains or losses.
New Orleans April 21st 1862
Capt. H. Oladowski
Care Genl. B Bragg
Corinth Miss
Dear Sir
Yours of the 15th inst
has been received & we have to-day written
to Capt. J. L. White enclosing our bills
amtg to $16.610.20 which we presume he
will pay when duly arranged.
We have received samples of rifle
projectiles from Skates & Co of Mobile
sent by your order, for which please accept
our thanks. As yet we have no order,
for any projectiles of that kind, for
field guns. We are making great numbers
of similar projectiles for 32 & 42 Pdr rifles.
We enclose statement of work made
by your order, which you can put in proper
shape for governmental purposes. Very Respectfully
Leeds &Co
Checks: The only figure on the sheet is $16.610.20, written once, so there is nothing to extend and no footing to prove. It can, however, be tested against its neighbour: it agrees to the cent with the footing of the billhead on image 137, $16,610.20, and the letter's date, 21 April 1862, is the same date as that billhead's. The two belong together — this letter is the covering note for that account.
Flagged: The surname of the addressee is written with a large open loop followed by a tall "l" — "Oladowski". The identical letter-group opens the name on image 137, where I read it "Cladowski"; on this sheet, written large and unhurried, the loop is plainly an O and not a C, and I now take the image 137 reading to be "Oladowski" as well. Proposal, not read from either page: Captain Hypolite Oladowski, chief of ordnance to General Braxton Bragg, which fits the address "Care Genl. B Bragg / Corinth Miss" exactly. — "Genl. B Bragg" carries no period after the B and no second initial. — "Skates & Co of Mobile" is clear; the initial "Sk" is unambiguous. — "Capt. J. L. White" — the first initial is a looped capital that could be read J or I; I have set J. — The signature is a flourished firm signature reading "Leeds &Co", with the "&Co" run together into the terminal flourish; it is the firm's hand, not an individual's, and no personal name is given. — "amtg" (for "amounting") is the writer's own contraction, with the "g" raised. — The letter says bills, plural, were enclosed to Capt. White, but names only the one total; whether more than one account made up the $16,610.20 cannot be told from this sheet. — It also says a "statement of work made by your order" was enclosed, which is a separate document from the bill of image 137 and may be one of the sheets that follow.
Image 139 — Blank verso / endorsement panel of a Leeds & Co. letter, undated: "From Leeds / about Proj[?]"; two REBEL ARCHIVES handstamps
A landscape scan, 4,352 x 3,446 px, of a large sheet of the same plain cream paper as image 138, photographed flat and blank but for two handstamps and a two-word endorsement. Two vertical fold creases divide the sheet into three roughly equal panels, showing as pale lines about a third and two-thirds of the way across; a fainter horizontal crease crosses the left panel. Nothing is written on the left or right panels. The endorsement stands in the upper half of the centre panel in a small, quick, rather scratchy hand in ink that has faded to grey. Two large oval handstamps — "RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES, / WAR DEPARTMENT." with a five-pointed star at each side — are struck in pale grey ink, one across the left panel at a steep angle and one across the centre panel just below the endorsement, the second one overlapping and partly obscuring the endorsement's second line. The paper is clean; there are no tears, stains or losses. Rings, doughnuts and specks of filming dirt are scattered thickly along the top and bottom edges and down the left side. Faint show-through of writing on the other side is visible in a few places but nothing of it can be read.
[LEFT PANEL — blank but for handstamp]
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[CENTRE PANEL]
From Leeds
about Proj[?]
[oval handstamp, struck over the second line:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[RIGHT PANEL — blank]
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: "Proj[?]" is the one doubtful word. The initial is a large open-looped capital P, followed by r, o, and a letter with a descender that I take for j, then a long terminal flourish of the kind used to mark an abbreviation. The second oval handstamp is struck across the bottom of these letters and takes some of them with it. Proposal, not read from the page: it abbreviates "Projectiles", which is what the Leeds letter of 21 April 1862 (image 138) is largely about. I will not extend it silently. — This sheet carries no date, no place, no figure and no voucher number, so RULE 6 can only be answered in part: it endorses a letter "From Leeds", it is the same paper and the same fold pattern as image 138, and it sits immediately after it in the filming, but there is nothing on it — no sum, no date — that can be tested against that letter. It is very probably the blank outer leaf of the 21 April 1862 letter, and I record that as a probability, not a proof. — The endorsement hand is not the hand of the Leeds letter; it is a filing hand, presumably an ordnance clerk's. — Both handstamps are lightly inked and the inner lines are legible only because the same stamp appears more heavily struck elsewhere in this file.
Image 140 — Autograph letter, Leeds & Co. to Capt. H. Oladowski, C.S.A., Ordnance Officer, Warrington, Fla.; New Orleans, 10 December 1861; recommending G. T. Raoul of Independence, La., as a maker of gun carriages; no figures
A portrait scan, 3,384 x 4,308 px, of a single large leaf of plain cream writing paper, written on one side in a fine-nibbed, sloping, rapid commercial hand — a different and smaller hand than the April 1862 letter of image 138, laying down about twenty-four lines that run nearly the full width of the sheet with a very narrow left margin. The ink is dark where the pen was freshly charged and fades to pale grey through each line, so that whole phrases in the lower third — "response", the line about the 2nd and 4th instant, and much of "Any communication addressed to Mr Raoul" — are ghostly and had to be read at high magnification. The dateline stands at the upper right, the address block steps down at the left, and the complimentary close and firm signature are crowded into the bottom right corner, the signature's terminal flourish running out to the edge of the sheet. There is no letterhead, no rule, no handstamp and no docket. A vertical crease runs down the left quarter of the sheet, showing as a pale line that breaks the ink of several lines, and a short diagonal crease crosses the upper left corner. Rings and specks of filming dirt lie along the left margin and scattered over the lower half. The sheet falls short of the frame at the right, leaving a black band; no text is lost to it.
New Orleans, Decr. 10th 1861
Capt. H. Oladowski C.S.A.
Ordnance officer
Warrington Fla
Dear Sir
Enclosed we send you a card of Mr. G.
T. Raoul of Independence, La., who has a large establish-
-ment on the Jackson Rail Road, & who is known to us
as a skillful mechanic, & an honourable man
Mr Raoul has just completed a large order for "Barbette"
Gun Carriages which he has been making for Maj: Smith
of this Department - He is now anxious to obtain orders
for any Carriages which you may require, whether Barbette
or Field Carriages, Caissons, &c - For Barbette Carriages he
would require no drawings, but for Field Carriages he
would be compelled to obtain the necessary details, either
from you, or from the Ordnance Book at Baton Rouge
He would also undertake to furnish the Battery Wagons
&[?] Forges, or whatever carriage you may require -
Any communication addressed to Mr Raoul, either at
Independence, La. or to our care will meet with a prompt
response -
We wrote to you on both the 2nd & 4th inst, & trust
that you have already recd. our communications -
We are anxiously awaiting the Copper, promised by you, to
cover Ammunition Chests. Very Respectfy &c
Leeds &Co
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The addressee is written here in a clear, unhurried hand as "Capt. H. Oladowski C.S.A." — capital O, then l, then adowski — which settles the letterform question raised by images 137 and 138. — "Maj: Smith of this Department" is written with a colon after Maj and no initials. Proposal, not read from the page: this is very likely the same Major M. L. Smith, Corps of Engineers, who receipted the Leeds account of 19 September 1861 elsewhere in this file; but the page gives no initials and I have not supplied any. — The character opening the line "&[?] Forges" is the faintest mark on the sheet: an ampersand or a capital F carrying a superscript, run together with the following word. The word "Forges" itself is legible in context and in outline; the character before it is not, and I have flagged it rather than choose. — "2nd & 4th inst" is written with the ordinal endings raised over small double underscores; the "2" is faint but its shape is consistent and the sense — two earlier letters of that month — is plain. — "recd." is the writer's contraction for "received", with the "d" raised. — "Respectfy" is the writer's own contraction for "Respectfully"; I have not expanded it. — The firm signature is the same flourished "Leeds &Co" as on image 138, with no personal name. — Warrington, Florida, is the navy-yard town beside Pensacola; the letter is addressed to an ordnance officer there in December 1861, four months before the Corinth letter of image 138, which shows Oladowski moving with his general. That is context, not a reading. — Nothing on this sheet ties it to any account in this range: it names no sum, no voucher and no invoice.
Image 141 — Endorsement panel of a folded Leeds & Co. letter, "December 30", concerning the casting of guns; one REBEL ARCHIVES handstamp
A portrait scan, 2,244 x 3,656 px, of the outer panel of a folded letter, blank except for a three-part filing endorsement and one handstamp. A vertical fold crease runs down the sheet about a fifth of the way in from the left, and two horizontal creases cross it at roughly a third and two-thirds of the height, so the leaf was folded into six. The endorsement is written in the right two-thirds in a light, thin, unhurried hand in ink now faded to pale grey-brown, in three widely separated groups reading downward: a date, the firm's name, and a subject line of two lines. A large oval handstamp — "RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES, / WAR DEPARTMENT." with a five-pointed star at each side — is struck at a steep angle across the lower middle, in grey ink, its outer ring cut by the left fold. The sheet is heavily speckled: several hundred small dark and light dots, rings and doughnuts lie over the whole surface and are thickest on the left half; they are filming artefacts, not damage, but they sit on the endorsement's second line and make it harder to read than its size would suggest. A small pale scuff and a short ink stroke show at the left edge about a third of the way down. The top corners are slightly grey with what appears to be a shadow of the film, not staining. No tears or losses.
December 30
Leeds & Co
concerning casting
guns
[oval handstamp, struck at an angle:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: The endorsement gives "December 30" with no year, so the sheet cannot be dated from its own face. The Leeds letters that flank it in this filming are dated 10 December 1861 (image 140) and 21 April 1862 (image 138); a 30 December falling between those would be 30 December 1861, but that is a proposal from position alone and I record it as such, not as a reading. — Applying RULE 6: this docket names no sum, no voucher number and no place, so the only tests available are date and subject. It does not answer image 140 — that letter is dated 10 December and is about gun carriages, not the casting of guns. It does answer image 142, the Leeds letter written at New Orleans on "Decr 30/61" and largely taken up with the casting and completion of guns: day, month and subject all agree, and no other sheet in this range is dated 30 December. Neither carries a sum, so no figure can be tested; on the tests available they match, and I take this to be the outer panel of the letter on image 142, filmed one frame before it. — "concerning casting guns" is written across two lines with no punctuation; "casting" is legible letter by letter despite the speckling. — "Leeds & Co" uses the figure-8 form of the ampersand and is in the same hand as the rest of the endorsement, which is a filing clerk's hand, not the firm's.
Image 142 — Autograph letter, Leeds & Co. to Capt. H. Oladowski, C.S.A., Ordnance Officer, Dept. Ala. Miss. & Fla., Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans, 30 December 1861; on an order for 13 bronze guns and the progress of guns already in hand; no figures
A portrait scan, 2,316 x 3,612 px, of a single leaf of plain cream writing paper, written on one side only in the same fine, sloping, fast commercial hand as image 140, in ink that runs from black at the start of each line to pale grey at its end. Twenty-two lines fill the sheet from top to bottom with a narrow left margin and almost no right margin — several lines run out to the very edge of the paper, and the last body line ends in the black band at the right of the frame, where the sheet stops short of the scanner. There is no letterhead, rule, handstamp or docket. A vertical crease runs down the sheet a little left of centre, visible as a pale line that lifts the ink in a few places; two horizontal creases cross the upper third. One correction is conspicuous: near the foot the writer has scored a word out with a thick horizontal blot and written "two" over it. A scatter of ring-shaped filming spots lies across the lower third and along the top edge. The paper is otherwise clean, with no tears, stains or losses. The bottom edge of the sheet is slightly irregular and the sheet ends immediately below the signature.
New Orleans, Decr 30/61
Capt. H. Oladowski C.S.A.
Ordnance Officer Dept. Ala. Miss & Fla
Mobile Ala. - Dear Sir
We have to acknowl-
-edge receipt of yrs of the 25[?]th inst, covering
order for 13 Bronze Guns of various calibres
which will have our early & careful attention
We prefer not to name a definite time for the
delivery of these Guns, but beg of you to rely
upon our extreme desire to furnish them at
the earliest possible moment - We shall,
unless otherwise instructed, ship them to you
as the Guns are completed -
Two more of the Light 12 Pdrs of the original
order are very nearly completed, & will be shipped
in a few days - The two Rifled guns (to complete
Capt. Booth[?]'s order) are completed with the exception
of the Elevating Sights - We expect to ship these two
guns with ~~[word blotted out]~~ two (2) of the Light 12 Pdrs. mentioned above
We have not yet seen Genl. Miles[?] in reference to his gun[s?]
Very Respectfy &c Leeds &Co
Checks: No figures on the sheet other than counts of guns — 13 bronze guns ordered, two more light 12-pounders nearly finished, two rifled guns complete but for their sights, and two (2) light 12-pounders to ship with them. There are no rates, no extensions and no money, so there is no arithmetic to prove. The counts are internally consistent as far as they go: the letter says two light 12-pounders of the original order are nearly done, and then says the two rifled guns will go forward "with two (2) of the Light 12 Pdrs. mentioned above" — the same two.
Flagged: The day of the month in "yrs of the 25[?]th inst" is the worst reading on the sheet. The ordinal ending "th" is written large and struck over a double underscore, and the figure or figures beneath it are swallowed by that flourish; at every magnification I could get, I can see one clear numeral and the ghost of a second. I read it 25 and have flagged it; 26 and 28 cannot be ruled out, and I have not silently chosen. — "Capt. Booth[?]'s order": the capital is an ascending stroke crossed by a horizontal bar, then a bowl, then "ooth" and a possessive. Booth is the only ordinary surname that fits the letters I can see, and I have set it with a query. This is the same letter-group, in a different hand, as the parenthesis I could not read on the billhead of image 137, "(Capt [illegible]'s order)" — the two are very probably the same officer, and on this evidence I would now read image 137's parenthesis as "(Capt Booth's order)". I record that as a proposal here rather than altering the earlier transcription. — "Genl. Miles[?]": the capital is a tall looped M or N and the rest is "iles"; the letter gives no initials and no command, and I cannot identify him. Niles and Wiles are possible. — The blotted word before "two (2)" is scored out beyond recovery; the writer's replacement, "two", is written over the blot and is clear. — The last body line ends at the sheet's edge with what I read as "his gun", possibly "his guns"; the final letter or two are lost in the frame's black band and I have flagged the plural. — "Respectfy" and "yrs" are the writer's own contractions and I have not expanded them. — The dateline is written "Decr 30/61" in the slashed form. RULE 6 note: this letter's date and its subject — the casting of guns — answer the endorsement panel of image 141, "December 30 ... Leeds & Co ... concerning casting guns", exactly. Neither sheet carries a sum or a voucher number, so date and subject are the only tests available, but on both of them they agree, and I take image 141 to be the outer panel of this letter. They are, however, not filmed as a facing pair: image 141 comes before it, with no intervening sheet.
Image 143 — Endorsement panel of a folded Leeds & Co. letter, New Orleans, 4 December 1861, "Forwards bill"; received 11 December 1861; REBEL ARCHIVES handstamp showing through in mirror image
A portrait scan, 2,252 x 3,762 px, of the outer panel of a folded letter, blank but for four groups of endorsement and one handstamp. A strong vertical fold runs down the sheet about two-fifths of the way in from the left, and the paper to the left of it lies a little proud of the rest, casting a soft grey shadow along the crease; two horizontal creases cross at roughly a third and two-thirds of the height. All the writing is in the right-hand two-thirds, in a light, spidery hand in ink faded to pale grey — the same filing hand, to my eye, as the endorsement on image 141. It is set out in three widely spaced groups reading downward — place and date, the firm's name, and a two-word subject — with a fourth, the receipt note, standing alone near the foot. A large oval handstamp, "RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES, / WAR DEPARTMENT." with a five-pointed star at each side, is printed across the middle in grey and reads in MIRROR IMAGE: it was struck on the other side of the sheet and shows through. The paper is clean and unstained; a scatter of fine specks lies over the whole surface, and along the trimmed top edge there is a white comma-shaped flash and a dark blob, both filming artefacts on the film rather than marks on the document. No tears or losses.
New Orleans
December 4th 1861
Leeds & Co
Forwards bill
[oval handstamp, showing through from the reverse,
therefore reading in mirror image:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Recd Decemr 11th 186[1]
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove. The two dates it does carry are consistent with one another: a letter written at New Orleans on 4 December 1861 and received on 11 December, a week's transit.
Flagged: "Forwards bill" — the second word is small and thinly written; I read b, i (dotted), and a pair of undotted uprights, giving "bill", which is also what the sense requires. It is not certain, and "him" is the only other shape the strokes will bear, though it makes no sense after "Forwards". — The final figure of the year in the receipt note trails into a small flourish and is not as crisply formed as the "1861" in the dateline above; I have set it as 186[1]. — The endorsement gives no addressee and no officer's name, and no voucher number. — RULE 6: this docket says a bill was forwarded from New Orleans on 4 December 1861 and received on the 11th, but it states no sum, so nothing on it can be tested against a figure. It does not answer the Leeds letter of 10 December 1861 on image 140 (wrong date, and that letter forwards a card, not a bill), nor the letter of 30 December on image 142. It does answer image 144, the Leeds letter written at New Orleans on 4 December 1861 which forwards a bill — place, date, firm and subject all agree — and that letter's bill, dated 3 December 1861 and footing at $4,005.20, follows on image 145. So this docket does stand with its account: images 143, 144 and 145 are one transaction, filmed docket first, then letter, then bill. — The mirror-image handstamp is worth noting for anyone working from the film: the same stamp appears the right way round on images 139 and 141, so its reversal here is a matter of which side of the leaf it was struck on, not two different stamps.
Image 144 — Autograph letter, Leeds & Co. to Capt. H. Oladowski, C.S.A., Ordnance Officer, Warrington, Fla.; New Orleans, 4 December 1861; enclosing a bill of $4,005.20 for guns transferred to the C.S. Quartermaster, with shipping marks for eleven boxes
A portrait scan, 2,324 x 3,581 px, of a single leaf of plain cream writing paper, written on one side in the same fine, sloping, fast hand as images 140 and 142, with a two-line postscript squeezed below the signature at the very foot of the sheet. The ink is dark at the head of the letter and grows progressively paler down the page, so that the last four body lines and the postscript are faint grey and had to be read at high magnification. The dateline is set at the upper right on two lines, the address block steps down at the left, and the body fills the rest. There is no letterhead, rule, handstamp or docket. A pale irregular stain about 15 mm across sits on the top edge above the dateline, with a faint outline running down from it; it does not touch any writing. A drift of ring-shaped and doughnut-shaped filming spots runs diagonally across the top left quarter and continues thinly down the right margin. A short vertical crease shows at the left edge two-thirds of the way down. The sheet stops short of the frame at the right, leaving a black band that clips the ends of two or three lines, and it is cut off at the foot immediately below the postscript. No tears or losses.
New Orleans
Decr. 4th 1861
Capt. H. Oladowski C.S.A.
Ordnance Officer
Warrington Fla
Dear Sir
Enclosed herewith
please find bill, amtg. to $4.005 20/100
for Guns &c transferred to C. S. Q. M.
as per your valued order.
You will please remit to us the above
amt. either in N. Orleans funds, or in a
draft, with N.O. exchange to cover the
discount - The Boxes (10 with shot & 1 with
Elevating sights) were marked as directed.
Trusting that the shipment will be
out, in good order, & prove satisfactory
we remain
Very Respectfully &c
Leeds &Co
We are waiting for the Copper for Covers of Ammu-
nition Chests, promised by you L &Co[?]
Checks: One figure only, $4.005 20/100 — that is, $4,005.20 — and it is written once, with no extensions and no footing on the sheet, so there is no arithmetic to prove here. The box count is internally consistent: eleven boxes are implied and itemised as 10 with shot and 1 with elevating sights, which agrees with the phrase "The Boxes" and needs no correction. The money figure can be tested against the bill it covers, and it holds: the Leeds billhead of 3 December 1861 on image 145 foots at $4005 20 — $4,005.20 — the same figure to the cent, and that bill's four extensions prove against it.
Flagged: The sum is written in the mixed form "$4.005 20/100", with a full stop where a modern hand would put a comma for thousands and the cents carried as a fraction over 100; I have kept the clerk's own punctuation. — "C. S. Q. M." is written with a cursive capital Q that looks at first like the figure 2; the expansion is Confederate States Quartermaster, but the page gives only the initials and I have not expanded them in the transcription. — "N. Orleans funds" and "N.O. exchange" are the writer's own contractions. — The postscript's closing mark is a small flourished monogram that I read as "L &Co", the firm's short signature, but it is written at speed over the trimmed bottom edge and I have queried it. — RULE 6, and this is the one clean pairing in the range: the endorsement panel of image 143 reads "New Orleans / December 4th 1861 / Leeds & Co / Forwards bill / Recd Decemr 11th 186[1]". Place, date, firm and subject all answer this letter exactly — same place, same day, same firm, and this letter does forward a bill. Neither sheet can be tested against the other on a figure, because the docket carries none. On date, place and subject they match, and I take image 143 to be the wrapper of this letter, filmed one frame before it. — The bill itself, of $4,005.20, is filmed with the letter: it is the billhead of 3 December 1861 on image 145, and it proves exactly. — The postscript repeats, word for word in substance, the closing complaint of the letter of 10 December 1861 (image 140) about copper promised for ammunition-chest covers, which was still not received six days later.
Image 145 — Printed Leeds & Co. billhead, New Orleans, 3 December 1861; Confederate States (for Capt. Oladowski) — six bronze 6-pounders on Capt. Booth's and Major Smith's orders, elevating sights, James and Virginia shot; $4,005.20
A landscape scan, 3,648 x 3,034 px, of the same engraved Leeds & Co. billhead used on image 137: "New Orleans." in ornamental blackletter within a scrolled cartouche, "CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STRS" beneath, the chain-bordered advertising panel at the left, "Bought of LEEDS & CO. Iron Founders," in heavy shaded display letters at the right, and the minute engraver's credit under the panel. The ruling below the double rule is printed in a pale blue-grey that films almost invisibly, so the columns read as faint lines: a narrow left column, a wide designation column, and three money columns at the right. Only four lines of the account are used; the rest of the sheet is blank. The clerk's hand is the same fast, slanted account hand as image 137, in dark ink, with the money figures larger. A very large oval handstamp — "RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES, / WAR DEPARTMENT." with a five-pointed star at each side — is struck at a steep diagonal across the lower left half of the sheet, in pale grey, its top edge running under the fourth line of the account and touching the "176 40" without obscuring it. Several groups of soft pencil figures, in a later and rounder hand, are written in the blank space: two on the right below the money columns and one low in the middle inside the handstamp's oval. Hundreds of small rings and doughnuts of filming dirt lie across the whole lower two-thirds. The bottom left corner of the sheet is out of frame, leaving a black rectangular notch. The word "Cartage" on the last line is struck through with a firm horizontal stroke.
New Orleans. December 3rd 1861
CORNER OF DELORD AND FOUCHER STRS
Confederate States ______________ (for Capts Oladowski)
[chain-bordered panel:] Bought of LEEDS & CO.
MANUFACTURERS OF Iron Founders,
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL STEAM ENGINES.
BOILERS , SUGAR MILLS, [engraver's line, minute:
VACUUM PANS, SUGAR KETTLES, CLARIFIERS, FILTERS, Douglas Eng[?] 19 St Charles S[t] ]
STEAM AND HORSE POWER DRAINING MACHINES.
SAW-MILLS , GIN-GEARING.
Furnace Mouths, Grate Bars,&c.
__________________________________________________________________________
To 3. 6 Pr Bronze Guns (rifled) Capts Booths order $600 00 | 1800 " |
3. 6 Pr " " (smooth bore) Major Smiths order $625 00| 1875 " |
3 Elevating Sights $20 00 /$60 00 74 James Shot $1 20 /$88 80| 148 80 |
126 Virginia Shot $1 40 /$176 40 Packing Boxes $5 00 ~~Cartage~~| 181 40 | $4005 20
[pencil, in the blank right-hand columns, in a later hand:]
7 1
20
1 4
80
%[?]
[pencil, low in the centre, over the handstamp:]
5 0 4 0
1 2 6
Checks: Line 1: 3 x $600.00 = $1,800.00 against an extension of 1800 " . Proves. Line 2: 3 x $625.00 = $1,875.00 against 1875 " . Proves. Line 3 carries two rates: 3 elevating sights at $20.00 = $60.00, which the clerk writes out, and 74 James shot at $1.20 = $88.80, which he also writes out; 60.00 + 88.80 = 148.80 against an extension of 148 80. Proves. Line 4: 126 Virginia shot at $1.40 = $176.40, again written out by the clerk, plus packing boxes $5.00 = $181.40 against 181 40. Proves. "Cartage" on that line is struck through and carries no figure, so nothing is lost from the extension. Footing: 1800.00 + 1875.00 + 148.80 + 181.40 = 4,005.20 against $4005 20. Proves exactly at $4,005.20. There is no receipt on this sheet, so the footing cannot be tested against a sum written out in words; it can, however, be tested against the covering letter of image 144, which says the enclosed bill amounts to "$4.005 20/100" — the same figure to the cent.
Flagged: The officer's name on the first line is written here large and clearly: "Capts Booths order", with an unmistakable double-bowled capital B. This settles the reading I could not make on image 137 and could only propose on image 142 — the officer is Capt. Booth, and I would now read image 137's "(Capt [illegible]'s order)" as "(Capt Booth's order)". — "Major Smiths order" on the second line is equally clear, with no initials; the same Maj. Smith of image 140, on the same evidence, and probably Major M. L. Smith of the Engineers, but the page says only "Major Smith". — The buyer line reads "Confederate States" written out in full, followed by a long rule and then "(for Capts Oladowski)" — the same firm's clerk who, on image 137, wrote what I could only read as "U[?]. States". Seeing the word written out here does not resolve that earlier mark: the capital on image 137 has two ascending strokes and a rounded bowl and does not match this "C". I leave both readings as they stand. — The pencil figures are in a later hand and are not part of the account; I have set them out as they lie. They are not readable as a running total of this bill. Proposal, not read from the page: 126 x 40 cents = $50.40 and 74 x 20 cents = $14.80, so a later reviewer may have been extracting the odd cents of the two shot lines; the figure I have set as "7 1 / 20" is the least certain of them and the mark I have set as "%[?]" may be a division stroke rather than a character. I offer that only as a proposal and it goes no further than this note. — "James Shot" and "Virginia Shot" are both plainly written; they are the two patterns of rifle projectile, and the letter of image 138 shows the firm making such things in quantity. — RULE 6: this is the bill that the letter of image 144 encloses. Same firm, same city, the letter dated 4 December 1861 and the bill 3 December 1861, and the figures agree to the cent at $4,005.20. That also ties in the docket of image 143 — "New Orleans / December 4th 1861 / Leeds & Co / Forwards bill / Recd Decemr 11th 186[1]" — so images 143, 144 and 145 are one transaction, filmed in that order, docket first, then letter, then bill.
Image 146 — Blank outer leaf of a folded document, endorsed only "Recd Decemr 25 1861"; two REBEL ARCHIVES handstamps
A landscape scan, 4,372 x 3,441 px, of a large sheet of plain paper photographed flat and blank but for two handstamps and a single line of endorsement at the foot. Two vertical fold creases divide the sheet into three panels, showing as clear pale ridges about a third and two-thirds of the way across, and a horizontal crease runs across the middle; the paper is a little cockled along the folds and the film catches the ridges as soft grey bands. Two large oval handstamps — "RECORD DIVISION, / REBEL ARCHIVES, / WAR DEPARTMENT." with a five-pointed star at each side — are struck at a steep diagonal in the upper half, one straddling the left fold, where the crease breaks its ring and the inner lines are faint, and one across the centre panel, struck more heavily and fully legible. Both read the right way round. The endorsement, in a small, thin, sloping hand in ink faded to grey-brown, stands alone at the bottom of the centre panel. Along the left edge, level with the first handstamp, there is a group of faint dark smudges that may be a pencil marking or an offset from another sheet; at every magnification available they remain shapeless and I can read nothing from them. Rings and specks of filming dirt are scattered thinly over the whole sheet, thickest along the top edge and in the lower right quarter. The top right corner of the sheet is turned back or slightly torn, showing as a small pale triangle. Nothing else is written on any panel.
[LEFT PANEL]
[oval handstamp, struck across the fold, inner lines faint:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
[at the left edge: faint dark smudges — illegible]
[CENTRE PANEL]
[oval handstamp:]
RECORD DIVISION,
* REBEL ARCHIVES, *
WAR DEPARTMENT.
Recd Decemr 25 1861
[RIGHT PANEL — blank]
Checks: No figures on the sheet — no arithmetic to prove.
Flagged: This leaf carries no place, no correspondent's name, no subject and no sum; the single line of endorsement records only that something was received on 25 December 1861. Applying RULE 6, there is almost nothing to test. It cannot answer the bill and letter of 3 and 4 December 1861 (images 144 and 145), because the wrapper for those, image 143, records receipt on 11 December. It cannot answer the letter of 30 December 1861 (image 142), which had not been written on the 25th, and that letter already has its own endorsement panel in image 141. A Leeds letter written at New Orleans about 20 December and reaching Mobile on Christmas Day would fit the week's transit shown by images 143 and 144, and one such letter does stand in this range: image 147, written at New Orleans on 19 December 1861 to Capt. Oladowski at Mobile. That is a six-day transit and no other letter here fits. Because this leaf names neither the firm, the place nor a sum, the pairing rests on the date alone; I record it as probable, not proved. — "Decemr" is the writer's contraction, with the r raised; the day, 25, and the year, 1861, are both clearly formed. — The hand is not the hand of either Leeds letter-writer; it is a receiving clerk's. — Whether this leaf is the outer panel of a letter whose text was filmed elsewhere, or a wrapper filmed without its contents, cannot be determined from the sheet itself.
Image 147 — Autograph letter, Leeds & Co. to Capt. H. Oladowski, C.S.A., Ordnance Officer, Dept. Ala. Miss. & Fla., Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans, 19 December 1861; on light 12-pounders, a battery of six, twelve more guns, and an order laid aside for the Navy Department; no money figures
A portrait scan, 3,388 x 4,362 px, of a single large leaf of plain cream writing paper, written on one side in the same fine, sloping, fast hand as images 140, 142 and 144, in ink that is dark and confident at the head and thins to grey through the lower half. Twenty-four long lines fill the sheet, the last two crowded into the bottom margin so tightly that the closing "Very Respectfy &c" had to be squeezed onto the right of the penultimate line and the firm signature into the very corner, where the sheet is trimmed. The dateline stands at the upper right, the address block steps down at the left over three lines, and there is no letterhead, rule, handstamp or docketing. A blind-embossed or impressed mark about 25 mm wide sits at the head of the sheet above the dateline; it is a stationer's or a filing impression and at every magnification available it remains a shapeless group of shadows from which I can read nothing. A small round black blot the size of a pinhead lies in the upper left margin, with two or three smaller ones down the left edge. A horizontal fold crosses the sheet at the middle and shows as a pale broken line through several words; a vertical crease runs down the left quarter. Rings and specks of filming dirt lie along the left margin and in the upper right. The sheet stops short of the frame at the right and is cut at the foot immediately below the last line. No tears, stains or losses.
New Orleans, Decr 19th 1861
Capt. H. Oladowski C.S.A
Ordnance officer Dept. Ala. Miss & Fla.
Mobile, Ala. — Dear Sir
We have to acknowledge
the receipt of your two favours of the 15th & 16th inst - the
latter covering draft &c (per favour Lieut J. Ellis[?]. A.D.C.)
for which you will please accept our thanks, although
the draft can only be collected by us at a cost of 1/2 %.
The two (2) 12 Pdr. (light) Guns, which you expected on the
20th inst. will be finished tomorrow, & will be ready for
shipment on the 21st inst - We shall notify the C. S. Q. M.
that they are ready for delivery, & presume that you have
already furnished him with the necessary instructions,
respecting the shipment - We have cast already two
(2) other light 12 Pdrs, & expect to cast two (2) more in
the course of a few days - You will then have a battery
of 6 light 12 Pdrs, which we expect to have ready in ten
days time, but we can make no definite promises.
With regard to 12 other similar guns, we are not prepared
to state at what time we can finish them - We have already
laid aside an order from the Navy Dept. in order to complete
one battery for you, & unless the Dept. will give us further time
must ~~soon~~ proceed with its order - If you will send us an order for
these 12 Guns we will do the best for you in our power - We shall
shortly have complete two (2) Rifled Guns for you (of Capt. Booths order) Very Respectfy &c
the same as those which you already have used. Leeds &Co
Checks: No money on the sheet at all — one rate of exchange, "a cost of 1/2 %", and otherwise only counts of guns, so there is no arithmetic to prove. The gun counts are internally consistent and worth setting out, because they are the substance of the letter: two light 12-pounders finished and ready for shipment on the 21st, two others already cast, two more to be cast within a few days — 2 + 2 + 2 = 6, which is exactly the "battery of 6 light 12 Pdrs" the writer then promises. That much proves. A further twelve similar guns are discussed but not promised, and two rifled guns on Capt. Booth's order are said to be nearly complete.
Flagged: "Lieut J. Ellis[?]. A.D.C." — the surname's initial is a large looped capital that this writer forms almost identically for E and S; the following letters are unmistakably "llis". Ellis is the reading I have set, with a query; no other surname fits the strokes. The first initial is a looped J. — The impressed mark at the head of the sheet is present and measurable but wholly illegible; I have not guessed at it. — "must ~~soon~~ proceed with its order": the word "soon" is struck through with a firm horizontal stroke and left standing, and I have kept it struck through rather than dropping it. — "C. S. Q. M." again with the cursive Q; the initials are the writer's own and I have not expanded them. — "Respectfy", "Decr", "Dept." and "inst" are all the writer's contractions. — "Capt. Booths order" appears again, written small in the crowded last lines but with the same clear double-bowled B as on image 145. The two rifled guns of Booth's order are the same two reported "completed with the exception of the Elevating Sights" eleven days later, on 30 December (image 142). — RULE 6: this letter and the blank endorsed leaf of image 146 fit each other. Image 146 records only "Recd Decemr 25 1861"; this letter was written at New Orleans on 19 December 1861 and addressed to Mobile, and a six-day transit matches the seven-day transit recorded for the pair on images 143 and 144. Neither sheet carries a sum, so no figure can be tested, and image 146 names neither the firm nor the place. On date alone the pairing is plausible and no other letter in this range fits it; I record it as probable, not proved, and note that image 146 is filmed immediately before this letter, the same order in which images 143 and 144 stand.
Image 148 — Certified true copy of a Leeds & Co. letter to Capt. J. L. White, Mount Vernon Arsenal; New Orleans, 21 April 1862; forwarding the bill of $16,610.20 with a statement of both Oladowski orders; certified by J. L. White, Capt. C.S.A.
A portrait scan, 3,644 x 4,796 px, of a single large leaf of faintly ruled cream paper — the rules are pale blue-grey, about 15 mm apart, and film as ghost lines — written on one side only in a large, round, well-spaced clerk's hand quite different from any of the Leeds correspondence hands: this is a copyist's fair hand, upright, generously leaded, with heavy overbars struck through "the" and above the abbreviations. The word "(Copy)" stands alone at the head in the same hand. Twenty-eight lines fill the sheet, the two lists of ordered guns set out as a table with the quantity at the left margin, and the certification is written last, small and hurried, in the bottom left corner in a second hand, with the signature and rank below it. The ink throughout is black and even. A horizontal fold crosses the sheet a little above the middle, showing as a pale broken line that lifts the ink of the words "statement of"; a second fold crosses near the foot. A faint round shadow, perhaps an embossed mark, sits in the top left corner. Rings and specks of filming dirt are scattered thinly down the right third. The sheet stops short of the frame at the right and is cut across the very bottom, just below "Capt. C.S.A". No tears, stains or losses; the copy is clean and completely legible.
(Copy)
New Orleans April 21.st 1862
Capt J. L. White
Mount Vernon Arsenal
Dear Sir
We have been requested by
Capt. H. Oladowski to send the enclosed bill amounting to
$16.610 20/100 to you for payment.
He also requested us to send to you a statement of
the work ordered by him & furnished by us together
with the amount which he has paid us, which we beg leave
to submit. The first order was as follows
3 Smooth bore 6 Pounder bronze field pieces (transferred by Maj. M L Smith )
5 Rifle 6 Pounder bronze field pieces with globe sights ( " " Capt J C Booth )
6 12 Pdr Light field pieces of bronze (Made by order of Capt. Oladowski )
200 Projectiles for rifle guns.
2nd Order was as follows, ( all ordered by Capt. Oladowski )
6. 12 Pdr Light bronze field pieces
3. 12 " Howitzer of bronze
2. 6 " bronze field pieces.
2. 6 " rifle bronze field pieces with globe sights
Capt. Oladowski paid us for 3 Rifle & 3 smooth bore guns
& the 200 projectiles, the bill amtg to $4005 20/100. The
enclosed bill is for the balance of the orders. The prices have
increased for the last order in consequence of the increased
price of the material. Please let us know what means we are
to take to obtain payment. Awaiting your reply we remain
Yours respectfully
Signed Leeds & Co
I certify that the above is a true copy
J. L. White
Capt. C.S.A
Checks: Two money figures, each written once: $16.610 20/100 and $4005 20/100. There are no extensions and no footing on this sheet, so no arithmetic can be proved within it; but both figures can be tested against their accounts elsewhere in this range, and both hold. $16,610.20 is exactly the footing of the billhead on image 137, and exactly the sum in the covering letter of image 138, both dated 21 April 1862 — the same day as this copy. $4,005.20 is exactly the footing of the billhead on image 145 and the sum in its covering letter of image 144. The quantities also reconcile, and this is the strongest internal check in the whole range. The first order is stated here as 3 smooth-bore 6-pounders, 5 rifled 6-pounders, 6 light 12-pounders and 200 projectiles. The bill of 3 December 1861 (image 145) charges 3 rifled 6-pounders on Capt. Booth's order, 3 smooth-bore 6-pounders on Major Smith's order, 3 elevating sights, 74 James shot and 126 Virginia shot — and 74 + 126 = 200, exactly the 200 projectiles this letter says were paid for, alongside the 3 rifled and 3 smooth-bore guns it names. That leaves 2 of the 5 rifled 6-pounders and all 6 light 12-pounders of the first order unpaid, which is precisely what the February section of the April 1862 bill (image 137) charges: 2 rifled 6-pounders on Capt. Booth's order, and 6 light 12-pounders. The second order is stated here as 6 light 12-pounders, 3 12-pounder howitzers, 2 6-pounder field pieces and 2 6-pounder rifles — item for item, and in the same order, the April section of the bill on image 137. The statement, the two bills and the two covering letters all agree.
Flagged: This is a copy, not an original: it is headed "(Copy)", the signature is transcribed as "Signed Leeds & Co" rather than written by the firm, and the certification below is in a second, hurried hand. RULE 3 note: nothing about a copy's status has been imported into the transcription; it is written on the page. — Three officers are named here with initials, which the other sheets do not give: "Maj. M L Smith", "Capt J C Booth" and "Capt. H. Oladowski". The initials of Booth are partly filled with ink but the two letters are separable as J and C. This resolves the officer I could not read at all on image 137 and could only propose on image 142; it also confirms that the "Maj: Smith" of image 140 and the "Major Smith" of image 145 is M. L. Smith. — "Capt J. L. White / Mount Vernon Arsenal" is the officer to whom the April 1862 letter of image 138 says the bills were sent, and he is the same man who certifies this copy at the foot, signing "J. L. White / Capt. C.S.A". A copy certified by its own addressee is worth noting but is what the page says. — The abbreviation the copyist writes as "Pdr" and "12 " " with ditto marks is kept as written. — "globe sights" appears twice and is clearly written; it is the pattern of sight fitted to the rifled 6-pounders, and matches the "Elevating sights" charged on image 145 and mentioned on image 142 only in the sense that both are sights — I have not conflated them. — "the balance of the orders": the word before "orders" is "the", written with the copyist's characteristic long overbar, not a separate abbreviation. — The faint round shadow in the top left corner may be an embossed stationer's mark; nothing can be read from it. — No handstamp appears on this sheet, and no voucher number.
Part 2 — What the file shows, and what it does not prove
The arithmetic
Every account was checked line by line: quantity times rate against each extension, the extensions against the footing, and the footing against the sum written out in words in the receipt. The great majority prove to the cent. In one run of twenty-two accounts, twenty proved exactly, including every pencilled checker's multiplication on the sheets.
Where an account does not prove, the figures are left exactly as the clerk wrote them and the divergence is stated. Nothing has been silently corrected. These are the ones that fail, and they are worth reading as a group:
- A $400 error that is not an error. The bill of April 21, 1862 for $16,610.20 — Bragg's guns — credits 10,087 lb of old bronze at 40¢, $4,034.80, and the whole sheet proves exactly. The copies made out for the Tullahoma settlement in March 1863 read 11,087 lb at the same rate against the same $4,034.80, so the copies fail by exactly $400. Both readings were checked against the scans at high magnification and both are secure: the bill has two round zeros, the copy two plain vertical strokes. The copyist also wrote "Old brass" where the bill says "Old Bronze." The firm's arithmetic was right; a Confederate clerk miscopied it nine months later, in Tennessee, from an account for a city that had been in Federal hands since the previous May.
- An overcharge the government caught. On the account of June 19, 1861 for $3,232.08, 4,280 lb of axles at 5½¢ is $235.40 and the clerk entered $385.20 — $149.80 too high. An auditor ringed the figure in heavy ink and wrote $235.40 beside it, and the docket answering the account endorses exactly $149.80 as the error. The sheet proves exactly as written, and is wrong.
- An overcharge the government caught more quietly. On the account of May 13, 1861 for $843.02, 1,447 lb at 6½¢ is $94.055 and the clerk wrote $94.19. A correction "05" stands above the figure and a corrected footing of $842.88 below it — fourteen cents less. The written-out receipt was never amended and still reads eight hundred and forty-three dollars and two cents.
- An undercharge nobody caught. On the account of August 10, 1861, the extensions sum to $3,618.10 and the clerk footed it at $3,558.10 — sixty dollars short. The error was carried forward into the receipt, into the words written out, and into the docket alike. Leeds & Co. were paid the lower figure.
- Six more that fail, and are printed failing. A footing $2.00 above its own extensions; a footing $99.20 below its extensions; a docket and its account ten cents apart; an account thirty cents over its items; a $3,256 footing corrected in pencil to $3,250; and a transposition — 324 lb at 10¢ written "$34 20" for $32.40, with the clerk's own extension then following his wrong figure rather than the right one.
- The government contradicting itself. The Second Auditor reported twice on the same claim, one day apart, in April 1863. One report gives the amount as $16,610.20; the other gives $10,610.20. Both digits were re-examined at high magnification — a clear 6 on one sheet, a clear 0 on the other. This is not a misreading and it has not been harmonized.
Two readings that took four independent confirmations
The bit reckoning. Rate marks written "4/", "2/" and "6/" run through the file. They are not fractions: they are the old Spanish bit money still in daily use in New Orleans, and they mean 50¢, 25¢ and 75¢. Four readers working separate ranges, without knowledge of one another, each reached that conclusion independently because it is the only reading under which the extensions prove. One line settles it outright — "96 Bolts for do 4/ ea — /48.00", and 96 × 50¢ is $48.00 exactly. None of them put the expansion into the transcription; all four filed it as a proposal. It is stated here as a finding because it was reached four times over.
United States billheads, made over by hand. Six of the 1861 accounts are printed on United States forms with the word "United" obliterated under cross-hatching or a heavy bar of ink and "Confederate" written above it with a caret. Six others in the same run are on properly printed Confederate blanks. The shop had both in the drawer at once, and someone altered the Federal ones one sheet at a time.
How the file is arranged, and how it misleads
A docket is not filmed beside the account it answers. In some runs the voucher jacket sits one frame before its account; in others it is several frames away, or its account is not in the file at all. Two dockets in this file sit next to accounts they have nothing to do with. Every pairing published here was tested on figure, date, department and officer rather than assumed from position, and where a docket has no partner that is said.
Voucher numbers do not run with the dates. One run of three dockets numbers 108, 107 and 90 against a forward date order. Two vouchers share a date and a clerk's hand and are separated only by the money.
Some frames carry two accounts, and some accounts carry two frames. Twelve consecutive frames in one run hold two independent billheads each — twenty-four accounts, not twelve. Elsewhere a single voucher jacket is filmed twice, once as the centre panel alone and once opened out, and a Navy account runs across two frames so that the docket figure matches neither the first sheet nor the second until the continuation is read.
Duplicates are real, and useful. The $4,005.20 Bragg battery account appears twice, two frames apart, with two separately written wrappers for the same voucher. Both copies were transcribed by different readers who did not know of each other, and they agree on the total, the six line items and the rates. The $16,610.20 account likewise survives as a bill and as two later copies — which is the only reason the copyist's error above can be seen at all.
Four sheets are not Confederate records. Two are post-war archival finding-aid cards filmed with the file, one pointing to the report of the Naval Investigating Committee, one to Vessel Papers and stamped "Misc. Vouchers." Two more are cross-reference slips sending the reader to a voucher refiled with the schooner Antonia under "Vessels." They are transcribed and labeled for what they are.
One sheet is a stray. A blank wrapper is endorsed "Leeds & Co." at one end and, inverted at the other, "Lee. A. S. / Agent - Lynchburg. Va." — a different party altogether. It is flagged where it stands and has not been reassigned.
What this file does not prove
The two largest figures cannot be tested. The $43,182.89 received at Richmond in February 1863 and the $43,509.34 received there in June 1863 are each stated several times on their own sheets and agree with themselves. But both refer to itemized bills that were annexed, and those bills are not filmed in this folder. Neither figure can be proved from the line items, and neither should be quoted as though it had been.
Several accounts carry lump sums with no rate. Machining charged as a single figure — boring, turning, fitting — cannot be tested against a quantity. Where that is so it is said line by line in the notes, and the untestable lines are never counted as proved.
One reading defeated every attempt. The surname of the lieutenant and ordnance officer who approved most of the early 1862 accounts will not come off the scan. Four or five letters under a struck-through paraph, beginning with a tall looped capital. It is left as it stands.
One date is stated without explanation. A voucher is dated November 20, 1862, and the accounts it settles were received at Jackson, Mississippi, months after New Orleans was lost. The file says where the money changed hands; it does not say where Leeds & Co. were, and nothing here should be read as saying so.