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APRIL 1865 ORDER SIGNED BY CONFEDERATE NAVY SECRETARY S.R. MALLORY- “THE LAST ORDER I RECEIVED IN THE CONFEDERATE WAR.”

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Although born in the British West Indies, Stephen R. Mallory grew up in Florida, where he read law and became an authority on maritime law, held some public offices, including Inspector of Customs, and served as a US Senator from the state from 1851 to 1861, during which time he served on the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs. When Florida seceded on January 10, 1861, Mallory followed his state, giving a farewell speech to the Senate on January 21. He was nominated by Jefferson Davis as Secretary of the Navy for the Confederate States and was confirmed. He was influential in navy policy, giving preference to younger, active officers in the CS “Provisional Navy,” pushing for development of ironclads and other naval warfare advances, such as the use of mines, employing commerce raiders, arranging foreign purchase and construction of warships, etc. Imprisoned for a time at the war’s end, he received a partial parole in 1866 and eventually returned to Florida and the practice of law until his death in 1873.

In this document Mallory writes from the Navy Department, not at Richmond, but at Danville and dated about April 10, 1865, to C. Lucian Jones, also at Danville, instructing him to turn over to Paymaster James A. Semple “certain foreign exchange” (we assume, bills of exchange or promissory notes) and get a receipt for them, signing it clearly “S.R. Mallory.” There is a small hole on the numerical date, but it is clearly April with two digits, the first a “1.” Our best guess is April 10, with word of Lee’s surrender just reaching them. Jones noted below this, “This was the last order I received in the Confederate War,” and then, to be just as meticulous as Mallory, noted, “I turned the exchange over to Paymaster Micou at Wilmington, NC.” Semple was apparently nowhere to be found. Both Jones and Micou were paroled at Greensboro on April 28, so they apparently stuck together. What happened to the “exchange” is unclear.

This is an interesting document signed by a key figure in enabling the Confederacy to wage war and make a bid for foreign recognition, signed in the war’s very last days, at a point when some of the participants were likely becoming aware of the pointlessness of their paperwork. The condition is very good, showing small holes in some letters from the oxidation of the iron in the ink, but legible overall.

The service record of C. Lucian Jones, who received, preserved, and annotated the letter is as follows: Born in District of Columbia. Appointed from Georgia. Flag officer's secretary, April 13, 1863, and June 29, 1863. Resigned December 7, 1863. Assistant paymaster, December, 1863. Assistant paymaster Provisional Navy, June 2, 1864. Served on C. S. steamers Savannah and Resolute, Savannah Squadron, 1861-1863. C. S. S. North Carolina, Wilmington station, 1863-64. Battery Buchanan, N. C., 1864. C. S. S. Tallahassee, 1864. Paroled at Greensboro, N. C., April 28, 1865.   [sr][ph:L]

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