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Secession & Seizure: The Story of the 1861-O Seated Liberty Half Dollar

Secession & Seizure: The Story of the 1861-O Seated Liberty Half Dollar

Posted by Carl Hahn on 31st Jan 2021

The 1861-O Seated Liberty half dollar minted at New Orleans holds a historic place in history as the only US coin to be minted under three separate governments and one of the few coins to become a circulation issue coin for the Confederacy during the Civil War.  The year 1861 began one of the most tumultuous times in the history of our nation.  Long simmering differences between northern and southern states drawn along lines of states' rights, slavery and representation had finally reached a crescendo.  Southern states began to seceded from the union, initially as independent states and ultimately uniting to form the Confederate States of America.  These actions and the ensuing frictions ushered in what was to become the bloodiest war in our nation's history - the Civil War.  The consequences of which played out across all facets of American life, including coinage.   

At the outset of 1861, the United States had five mints issuing coinage on behalf of the US government: The primary mint at Philadelphia, and four branch mints located in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dahlonega, Georgia, San Francisco, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana. By the eve of the new year in 1861, it was apparent that sentiment in southern states was turning more aggressively toward dissolution of the union, as South Carolina had already seceded on December 20, 1860. As rumors swirled that more southern states were on the brink of secession, attempts were made by the Treasury Department of the United States to safeguard the reserves of coin and bullion at the branch mints to prevent loss. To that end, the Secretary of the US Treasury, John Adams Dix, issued a draft in the amount of $300,000 to the branch mint in New Orleans in late January of 1861. A.J. Guirot, the Superintendent of the New Orleans Mint received the draft request, but aware of the likely imminent secession of the state of Louisiana, he stalled for time to confer with Louisiana authorities on the draft request. The State of Louisiana formally seceded from the United States on January 26, 1861. Adams & Company express was dispatched to the mint to retrieve the $300,000 draft shortly after the draft request was made. Upon reaching the mint, the express company was turned away by Guirot. As printed in the Evening Star newspaper (Washington, D.C.) on Saturday, February 22, 1861:

“Today, the Treasury Department were notified by Adams & Co.’s express that A.J. Guirot, the Superintendent of the New Orleans mint and Asst. United States Treasurer there, had refused to pay a draft of the department for $300,000, placed in their hands for transfer to Philadelphia. It is supposed at the Department that in these seizures a million of the money of the Government have fallen into the hands of revolutionists. Guirot’s answer, on the presentation of the draft was that “the money in his custody was no longer the property of the United States, but of the Republic of Louisiana.”"

The Hillsborough Recorder (Hillsborough, North Carolina), in the Wednesday, February 20, 1861 edition, reported:

“The authorities of Louisiana found $419,311.52 in the United States Mint and $483,983.98 in the subtreasury. Of the sum in the mint, $24,992.68 belonged to individual depositors.”

While modest by modern standards, this represented a significant sum of money in 1861. In 1861, the entire US government budget was only $80.2 million. The seizure of the New Orleans mint and the associated bullion and coinage represented a windfall for Louisiana and upon joining the Confederacy on March 21, 1861 the remaining assets were transferred to the Confederacy. The seizure of the mint, however, did not stop the issuance of coinage there. The New Orleans mint continued to strike coins using the US government dies for the remainder of the year, first under the Republic of Louisiana and later under the Confederacy.

Through an exhaustive evaluation of 1861-O half dollars, Randy Wiley and Bill Bugert1,2,3 have identified fifteen die marriages for 1861-O coins and assigned a coining authority and estimated population to each. By their estimations, there are approximately 55,000 half dollars minted under the authority of the US Mint in January of 1861. The Republic of Louisiana minted approximately 1,240,000 half dollars between January 26 and March 21 and the Confederate States of America coined an additional 962,633 half dollars thereafter. Likely the coinage of the half dollar continued at the New Orleans mint until the reserve of bullion was exhausted.

The Confederate States had undertaken the commission of a new half dollar design to be minted at New Orleans, but the design would never see production. Originally commissioned by C.G. Memminger, the Secretary of the Confederate Treasury, only four known examples were ever coined and none reached circulation. The Confederate mint at New Orleans was closed on April 30, 1861 and did not reopen during the war. The independence of New Orleans from US federal governance and the hope for coinage issued by the Confederacy was short lived. Union forces, led by Admiral David Farragut, entered the waters of New Orleans on April 25, 1862 and promptly overwhelmed the defending Confederate fleet. The commanding Confederate General in New Orleans, General Mansfield Lovell, withdrew his forces to prevent destruction of the city by Union bombardment. The defending forces at Forts Jackson and St. Phillip surrendered on April 29, 1862 allowing Union forces to enter the city. The strategic port of New Orleans would remain under Union occupation until the end of the Civil War, and with it vital control of the Mississippi River and a key supply link of the Confederacy.

Nustoria has a selection of 1861-O Seated Liberty half dollar examples available here: 1861-O Liberty Seated Half Dollars

REFERENCES:

[1] Wiley, Randy. “Die Marriages of 1861-O Half Dollars”, Gobrecht Journal, Issue 94, November 2005, 3-28.

(available online through the Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis, https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/514095 )

[2] Wiley, Randy. “Coining Authority and Rarity for Die Marriages of 1861-O Half Dollars”, Gobrecht Journal, Issue 97, November 2006, 34-49.

(available online through the Newman Numismatic Portal at Washington University in St. Louis, https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/172 )

[3] Bugert, Bill (w/ special edits by Randy Wiley). IV, “New Orleans Branch Mint 1853-O to 1861-O”, A Register of Liberty Seated Half Dollar Varieties, Volume IV, 2013. P.457-492.

(available online via the Liberty Seated Collectors Club web site, http://www.lsccweb.org/BillBugertBooks/Bugert-Vol-IV-NO-Part2.pdf )