1855 soldier document

[mojjax]

I went up in the old abandoned house in our back yard to gather up some of the many picture frames strewn about the attic floor , found this !

[nightwolf]

Wow nice! and the paper still looks in good shape to, nice find!

[Montana Jim]

Is that Jefferson Davis' actual signature?


His signature is worth... a bunch! At this site it's worth 795 bucks (for ONLY the signature!)

I'll bet thats worth a whole bunch more... holy moly!

http://www.lonestarautographs.com/CA...ivil%20War.htm


http://www.civilwarhome.com/jdavisbio.htm

OMG... what a fantastic find!

[Old Dog]

The treasure trove that just keeps giving !
Way cool !

Thom

[bergie]

Fantastic. I looked him up, Charles S. Bowman. There are several things on him. See this...and there are others if you google his name in quotes + civil war
http://www.pareserves.com/?q=node/467
More importantly, just found this where looks like Lincoln nominated him to some official position six years later, in 1861, but doesn't say what...he's in there with a whole list of people, scroll down a ways.
http://www.lincolnarchives.us/index....er=header_1860

[mojjax]

Thanks Jim & Bergie . That stuff on Charles is great ! I wasn't having much luck researching his name .

[ivan salis]

mojaxx thats a real winner --jeff davis sig worth a bundle--- and on that type of whole item theres no doubt about it being real either the lincoln apponiment of the fellow (if the same one) helps in backing it up historically too, very nice bit of historical paper you got there. (plus the guy seems to have been a civil war vet of sorts--- being a military cadet in 1855 he would have just gotten finished with his 4 year officer training in 1859 and be in prime shape / age for use as a officer during the war in 1861) --- Ivan

[mojjax]

We found this spoon up there in the old kitchen area last year , it has the "Bowman" name on it .

[ivan salis]

unreal now you gotta do a land tax search on the land to see if he owned it if so --you hit a motherload of goodies maybe

[Jimmy(PA)]

Wow thats amazing. I forgot Davis was Secretary of War during that period. The History Channel just had a great series on him called April 1865 about the fall of the Confederacy. Something like that would be an interesting item to take to the Antiques Roadshow.

[MalteseFalcon]

Here is further info on Mr. Bowman. If this is the same guy, he served in the 1st US Cavalry, and was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. In each of the following three pages he is listed towards the top of the list of officers....Company 'A' on the first 2 pages, Company 'C' on the third page:

http://crossedsabers.blogspot.com/20...61-part-i.html
http://crossedsabers.blogspot.com/20...1861-part.html
http://crossedsabers.blogspot.com/20...1-part_27.html

Found a letter to Lt. Charles S. Bowman, Disbursing Officer, Ft. Leavenworth, KS from Thomas M. Vincent, Assistant Adjutant General dated August 19, 1862:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-b...IF&pagenum=411

"Recruits for negro regiments will under no circumstances be paid bounty and premium. By order of the Secretary Of War"

Note that I have found 2 different Charles S. Bowmans. 1 is a Sgt. from Pennsylvania. The other is ours, as it being quite obvious he was appointed to be a cadet.....I can only assume a cadet at West Point, or some other Military Academy.

What a cool find that document is!!!

[treasurefiend]

Very very cool!!!

[ink-a-alot]

[quote=TreasureFiend ]
Very very cool!!!
[/quote I have 2 old ledgers dating from 1867 and 1881 one has a hard front and back pretty good condition talks about buying seeds who he owed money too how much money he has made,ect. the other is bad condition but u can read about how the family saved money and what not.. I also have a book that is from 1876 and is called collords remidys it speeks about how to make paint um how to make secret ink, how to make ur cukumbers bare more, bad breath, rum, brandy, it's pretty cool. i allso have some old bank statements from the local town n=banks here that date from 1892 to 1921 with stamps on them.. I allso have 12 old church booklets from the 1890s and they are in real good shape, along with that i have an old 1895 news papper.. can anyone help me here to find out how much this stuff might be worth?? they came out of an old house back in the 60s..