BILL OF SALE OF THE OFFICERS QUARTERS, KITCHEN AND OTHER BUILDINGS, KNOWN AS THE ORDNANCE QUARTERS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BAYOU FROM JEFFERSON, TEXAS TO SAMUEL F. MOSELEY, AS RECORDED IN A TRUE COPY OF THE AGREEMENT, MARCH 13, 1866
Jefferson, Texas: March 13, 1866. Manuscript document. Single sheet of lined paper, 30 cm., 2 pp., approx. 275 words. Lower quarter of sheet torn across to the lower opposite corner and carefully repaired, slightly affecting a few letters, else very good, legible. John W. Hunter of Grayson County conveys to Samuel F. Moseley of Marion County, for the sum of $300 "certain houses in Marion County Texas on the opposite side of the Bayou from Jefferson known as the Officer's quarters and the kitchen and other buildings," which were part of the Ordnance Quarters of the Jefferson Ordnance Magazine. Bill of sale acknowledged by the Notary Public of Marion County, John T. Moseley on March 13, 1866, and certified as a true copy by J.C. Todd, Clerk of Marion County on March 14, 1866. Item #66828
The Civil War era Jefferson Ordnance Magazine was built in 1863 to protect and store gunpowder for the Confederacy. Jefferson, Texas was an important riverport during the war, supplying munitions, horses, cattle, and men to the war effort. The Texas Historical Society notes that the magazine was directly associated with the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate States of American until it was taken over on April 14, 1865 by Federal troops. Confiscated by the U.S. Government after the Civil War, parts of the property (though not the officers quarters) were sold to C.L. Pitcher by the U.S. Treasury Department in Feb. 1866. Shortly thereafter, on March 16, 1866, Pitcher sold these to Samuel F. Moseley who owned them, plus the officers quarters mentioned in this bill of sale, until his death in 1878. Thereafter the Magazine passed through many hands before becoming the property of the Historic Jefferson Foundation. The Ordnance Magazine is "believed to be one of only three still in existence in the eleven Confederate States." [see also the brief history of the Jefferson Ordnance Magazine in an article by Skip Torrans in the Historic Jefferson Foundation's publication "Jeffersonian" in the Fall/Winter 2013-14 issue, Vol. XXXII, No. 2, pp. 5 & 17].
Price: $375.00