At Charleston, Mobile or Wilmington.
When?
Thirty days after the presentation of my order to the War Department in Richmond.
Strange as it may read, these men were perfectly satisfied with my proposition, although I could not see how they were to get their cotton out, since they were selling their ship to me. However, we agreed upon the weight and quality of cotton to be given for ship and cargo, and it only remained for me to satisfy their lawyer that I was duly authorized to make the purchase. For this purpose, a meeting was arranged for the next morning, when I presented the leather-stained order which had come to me through the lines, sewed between the layers of the sole of a shoe. On reading this, the lawyer said: "That's enough to cover anything," and a contract was signed and an order given me for the ship and cargo. As this contract may interest the reader, afac-simileof it is given. (See plate.)
The quantity of cotton being too large for one owner to handle, it was arranged to have warrants engraved and printed for smaller quantities.
The "Merrimac" ran into Wilmington and delivered her valuable cargo in fine order. She was then loaded with cotton, and one favorable night—dark and stormy—started on her return trip to the Islands. Before clearing the harbor she collided with another steamer on her way in, and the "Merrimac" was obliged to return to Wilmington, where it was found that she could not be repaired, and she was finally sold, with her cargo, for $1,100,000. The vessel with which she collided was her sister ship which had lain alongside of her in London Docks. Means were not to be found in Wilmington to repair the "Merrimac" for the ConfederateGovernment; but it was easily accomplished as soon as she passed into private hands, and she was again sent to make her run to the Islands. To my great satisfaction, she was captured the next morning.
There were greedy contractors in the South who cared just as much for "the cause" as did their fellow-contractors in the North for the Union. They were full of patriotism—of their kind. Months after the "Merrimac" sailed from Bermuda, one of the negotiators of the sale asked me if I would sign duplicates of the warrants I had issued. My reply was: "Does the Bank of England issue duplicate notes?" "You don't mean to say you will not give us duplicates!" "I certainly do." And then I explained to him thatat the time, I might have been willing to sign warrants in duplicate. But the war had reached a critical stage; the Confederate army was hard pressed on every side. Moreover, the contract system had begun to produce results. Instead of all cotton sent out being for army or navy account, only a portion of the army cotton was turned into army supplies. The contractors, English and Confederate, were taking the rest.
I believe that not one of those cotton warrants which bought the "Merrimac" was ever presented in Richmond, and that vessel, with her cargo, cost the Confederate Government literally nothing. It is a curious fact that these same cotton warrants, which as it proved were really not worth the cost of printing them, at one time sold at a premium in London.