Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

[DBURT]

Does anyone know if a photo exists anywhere of Maj James B Ferguson C.S.A, chief purchasing agent in England for the Quatermaster Bureau from 1862?
Been unable to find any picture of him anywhere, is there one in a book, or indeed is there one out there at all?

Dave Burt, ACWS, England.

[DBURT]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

OK, so there seems not to be a photo of the man,but does anyone have any biographical details of the man?
I know his middle name was "Boswell" and he married a relative of Patrick Henry.
Any other info anyone ?
Thanks
Dave Burt, ACWS, England.

[Iron Scout]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Dave,

I've read piecemeal information on Ferguson. I believe he was the pre-war proprietor of a large textile manufacturing concern maybe in Richmond. Information indicated that he knew the production industry well hence his assignment. I'll have to look around for the sources but some of it may be in the OR's. Anyone feel like checking that out?

I always got the feeling that Huse and Ferguson really got off to a bad start. Ferguson was demanding of funds for QM purchases while Huse was resistant to any intrusion into his "system". Anyway, let us know what you turn up, etc.

Regards,

Neill Rose
PLHA

[DBURT]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Neill,
Have dug about on Ferguson, he was a close friend of Gen Lee, and had a coat made for Lee out of the same English blue grey cloth he had his own coat made from.
He was sixty years old by the time he reached England, and he was initially based in Liverpool when he arrived ( Dec 1862).He then set up office in Manchester to be near the great woollen mills in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
His address in Oct 1863 is " care of Alex Collie & Co Manchester" see OR series IV vol II Pages 886-894

He ran a successful importing business in Richmond and Petersburg,and it was he who "shopped" Caleb Huse in April 1863 for accepting a bribe from S Isaac Campbell & Co. See OR series IV vol II p 556-557
Thats where Colin McRae comes in, and because of all this we have today the McRae papers.
Thats why Ferguson is such a key player, so if anyone has more biographical info on him please post it.

Dave Burt, ACWS, England.

[jacobite8749]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Dave,
I do not think Maj. Ferguson was the one who should take the blame, and I’d go so far as to say he was used as a cover by Crenshaw. Who in turn, thought he was also using A. Collie, but was in truth just another pawn. The first part of the Cremshaw and Collie plan was the fact Seddon wanted to start a Government run shipping line, unknown to either the Ordnance or Navy Depts. His agents looked at a purchase of a ship. However, it was bought by Alexander Collie. After some negotiations, Collie sold the ship to Seddon. This ingratiated Collie with Seddon, and the ship went on to make a number of successful and profitable runs. Seddon’s mind was set when Crenshaw and Collie came up with the idea.

Part of:
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT,
Richmond, Va., December 18, 1862.
Hon. JAMES M. MASON,
Minister, &c., at the Court of Saint James:
SIR: This will be transmitted to you by Capt. William G. Crenshaw, of Richmond, Va., who has been for some time past serving with distinction as the captain of a battery raised by himself in our Confederate Army. He has been one of the most intelligent, extensive, and successful merchants of our city; having besides other important enterprises almost inaugurated and established the coffee trade between Virginia and Brazil; and such confidence has been felt in his commercial knowledge and enterprise that it has been thought advisable, first by the Navy Department, and now by this, that he should go to England to attend to important interests of the former Department, and to initiate and carry out, if, on fuller inquiry and ascertainment of the chances of success, he should deem it judicious, operations for running the blockade of our ports, and supplying this Department on a considerable scale with the munitions, army supplies, and drugs, so essential to maintain the efficiency of our forces. The scheme of these operations in its details will be explained to you best by Mr. Crenshaw in person.

Huse had not been informed of any plan, and considered he was doing a good job. Gorgas had not said otherwise. He had some working relationship with Ferguson, he therefore, ignored Crenshaw.

"22A AUSTIN FRIARS, LONDON, April 11, 1863.
WILLIAM G. CRENSHAW, Esq.,
London:
DEAR SIR: Referring to the conversation I have had with you on the subject of your mission to Europe, I have to say that in compliance with the instructions of the War Department I will keep you informed of the wants of the War Department as I may from time to time receive them. As regards the purchase of supplies for the Ordnance and Medical Departments, I shall make the purchases without availing myself of the services of Messrs. Crenshaw & Collie, excepting in such cases as I may feel satisfied their agency would be advantageous to the Confederate States Government. My reasons for coming to this determination I will communicate to you at a future time.

I am, dear sir, in haste, yours, truly,

CALEB HUSE".

At this point, life was made difficult for Huse as Crenshaw tried to at first bluff and cajole himself and Collie into the action, but with that failing to finally accusing Huse of impropriety and misuse of Government funds. His accusers being mainly Capt. Wm. G. Crenshaw and using Maj. Ferguson. Sadly, at the back of the accusations sat Alexander Collie, who, in partnership with Crenshaw stood to gain the most. My view is that Huse summed up the situation very well in a letter to his chief in June 1863 by saying:

“Mr. Crenshaw has been provided with £55,000 by Mr. Mason at a time when the creditors were really clamorous. This money has been invested in ships over which no officer can have the slightest control, and which, for the want of money to purchase cargoes, can only be used for the benefit of the private owners. I am aware that there is some Government freight on board one of them, but this, so far from being advantageous, is quite the reverse. None of the small steamers calculated for coast work ought to take cargoes across the ocean. All that they can properly do is to carry coal for the voyage. The result of the contract thus far has been to provide the house of Alexander Collie & Co. with a capital of £55,000 in steamers of which the Confederate States Government is to pay three-fourths of the expense.

Various letters went back and forth, and Crenshaw ensured that Mason and Seddon had copies, all during April, May and June, the last esxtract is a part of a Crenshaw’s letter;

“Not being in the confidence of Major Huse, I do not know the terms of the proposed contract, but if it be to allow 20 per cent. profit in the goods and 10 per cent. on the cotton, as I hear it is, I look upon it simply as a swindle that ought not to be put upon our Government. I have done my duty as I understand it by telling the Hon. Mr. Mason what I have heard and expressing to him my opinion of it, but having no evidence as to the facts he says he can do nothing. He also says that all of the money arising from the Erlanger loan has been appropriated, and that as the quartermaster's supplies ordered through Major Ferguson are much needed they must be had even upon these terms if better cannot be done. It is exactly this that I complain of, that since this contract has for its basis exactly the same that you proposed, and for a small advance too much compensation is to be made, whereas if there had been a disposition to carry out your wishes on the part of Major Huse these goods might now be in the course of shipment, but unfortunately, in my opinion, for our Government this contract of mine is now not to the interest of Huse to carry out.”

The whole issue was, in my mind at least, a plan by Creshaw, and Collie to get a bit of the money that was sloshing about, big bucks for sure, and neither were bothered who they trod on to get it.

MacRae had to be sent to sort it out or the whole operation would have ended in a money fight. When I first started researching Samuel Isaac and his company, I didn’t include Huse in my thoughts really, and I thought Sam and Co. a group of gamblers. My view has changed over the years, Huse, Ferguson, all those based in UK, the Isaacs are all an amazing group who did a great deal to keep the Confederacy going. It sad to say, I know a number of whinging little ***** just like Crenshaw, hero’s they are not, self seekers and pocket liners. You want a villain………….Crenshaw.

Not that I am biased in any way.

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

His business name perhaps ?

From and after this Date.

for the purpose of enabling our employees to attend to their military duties, we the undersigned agree to open our respective place at 9 A. M., and close the same at 3 P. M., until further notice.
• Breeden & Fox,
• Christian & Lathrop,
• George Ruskell,
• Thos. R. Price & Co.,
• Johnson & Harwood,
• Alfred Moses,
• John L. Smither,
• Swords & Thaw,
• Chiles & Chenery,
• C. Boettcher,
• Wm. J. Swords,
• J. Millhiser & Brother,
• J. & M. Rosenbaum,
• Kent, Paine & Co.,
• Watkins & Ficklen,
• A. K. Parker & Co.,
• J. B. Ferguson, Bro. & Co.,
• Weston & Williams,
• Ginter, Alvey & Arents,
• S. M. Price & Co.,
• Ellett & Drewry,
• Richardson & Co.,
• S. Hirsh.
• Wadsworth, Turner & Co.
Richmond, April 23, 1861.

Mr. Memminger to Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co.

Treasury Department, C. S. A.,Richmond, Oct. 21, 1862. Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., Liverpool, G. B: Dear Sirs

--You will please extend a credit to Major J. B. Ferguson to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars, and give him any assistance in your power to make his purchases for the Confederate States.
I have already informed you and Mr. Spence that I have on hand two and a half millions of dollars in coin, upon which drafts can be made, or which you are authorized to transfer to any parties who may furnish the means to make our purchases. This fund, or any amounts which may be realized upon our bonds, will, I trust, enable you to meet the credit herein extended to Major Ferguson, in addition to that heretofore given.

Respectfully, your obd't serv't,
C. G. Memminger,

Secretary of the Treasury.

A voyage with rebels — Maury, Ferguson, and others on board the Arabia--What they said and How they looked.

Boston Commercial Bulletin 12/23/1862

At Halifax there came on board twelve or thirteen rebels, or Southerners if you please, headed by that arch traitor and scoundrel M. F. Maury, formerly Lieutenant of the United States Navy, and for whom so much was done by our Government for many, many years, and who was at one time one of the most conspicuous officers in our navy — floored and feted alike by the Government and people — and who has so wickedly and disgracefully betrayed both, and thus wantonly violated a solemn oath, and is now bound to England to lend his influence and aid in carrying out, in a so called neutral country, one of the most nefarious and wicked modes of warfare ever countenanced before by a civilized people, viz: the fitting out and equipment of gunboats, as they call them or pirates, as I designate them, calculated to prey upon our commerce, and not unlikely to attack some of our Northern ports, which may be now so seriously damaged, not to say entirely destroyed.
I need hardly say, in passing, that the rebels have kept pretty much by themselves since they came on board, though they are quite talkative with the English, while they scarcely deign to look at four "Yankees," who are among the cabin passengers and who have been on the qui vive and watching their movements all the while.
Besides Maury, whom they style "Commodore," there is a Major Ferguson, who is represented as being a disbursing agent or treasurer of the so-called Confederacy, and who is to pay the bills contracted for the ships, &c, This man is accompanied by a young fellow who is to act as his secretary. Then there is an ugly, wicked, piratical looking person, with piercing gray eyes, and long flowing brown and gray beard, perhaps fifty years old, whom they call "Captain." His name is Campbell, as I learn, a Scotchman by birth, but long a resident of the South, and I think by his appearance he may have been a pilot at Charleston or Savannah. This person is to take command of one of the gunboats; and I pity any unfortunate crew that may fall within his heartless grasp, if his face is a fair index of the soul within. I understand that he has been successfully engaged of late in running the blockade at the South.
With this party are two black haired, dark eyed, olive complexioned men, whom, I think, may be called French Creoles. One of these, the elder; perhaps forty-five or fifty years of age, is said to be Colonel Lamar, late of the rebel army, and a prisoner in our hands at the first battle of Bull Run. He has the air of a person of education and refinement, and yet has a most wicked glance of mingled scorn and contempt, ready to meet the Yankee whenever he ventures near him. His companion's name I have not as yet been able to ascertain; but he appears so like the one I have described that I have thought that he must have been a brother.-- What part these parties are to play, I am unable to divine. I have an impression that they are men of fortune, largely interested in all the work of their associates, (and whom under any ordinary circumstances they would scorn to acknowledge as acquaintances, much more associates,) and who visit England, where they may have placed funds long ago, to render aid to the unholy cause.
Besides these, there are three or four other unprincipled, seedy-looking individuals--one quite a boy, who is represented as a Midshipman in the "new service," whose name I have been unable to learn; although I am told that one of these persons, and one of the worst appearing of the party, is a Charleston merchant, (I fear some of the leading merchants of that city would hardly acknowledge the fact,) and is on his way to England to buy goods to smuggle into that city or vicinity.
Mr. Maury is accompanied by a son, a pleasant, smiling youth, perhaps 12 years of age.

There are references to him in connection with various municipal issues in Richmond and as delegate regarding secession...additionally his son was on the Board of Directors of Bank of Virginia.

[Ken Knopp]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Excellent information turning up here! I cannot hope to add much to the conversation but this question?.... Has anyone tried the "Military Service Records, General and Staff Officers" files at the National Archives? Not just for Ferguson but, for any research project. Specifically, these records contain the service files of various officers and government officials.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES MATERIALS: Military Service Records, General and Staff Officers, Chapter IV, Group 109: War Department Collection of Confederate Records, They are available on microfilm as M331.

Due to the haphazard way Confederate records were filed by Federal authorities after the war they can often host an unusual wealth of surprising information but you have to dig for it. The best way to research them is to obtain the files of every name of anyone involved in a transaction, in correspondence or employed in the department you are researching. It can be alot of expense and work but by doing this one can often find matching correspondence over long periods, official communications, rare departmental orders and circulars, contracts, invoices, inventories, bills, vouchers and more! I know that I have often been surprised and always rewarded in what I have found. Happy hunting!

Ken R Knopp

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Have you checked Ezra Warner's seminal reference work, Generals in Gray, and the follow-up companiion volume, More Generals in Gray (by a different author)? These books have a short biography of each Confederate general and a photo.

I have a copy of both, but am writing this from work during my lunch hour.

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Richmond City Business Directory 1860

Cloths, Cassimeres and Vestings.

Ferguson, J. B., Jr., Bro. & Co., 9 Pearl

* researchers note - notice it says "Jr"......was the Major a junior ? I let my ancestory.com lapse and lost access to the census...anyone care to look ?

[OldKingCrow]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Further familial Ferguson tie to the Richmond mercantile trade ?

His son ??? Census searchers ?

No. 1. OCTOBER, Vol. 1
THE STRANGER'S GUIDE
AND
OFFICIAL DIRECTORY
FOR THE
CITY OF RICHMOND. Showing the Location of the Public Buildings and Offices of the
Confederate, State and City Governments, Residences
of the Principal Officers, etc.
GEO. P. EVANS & CO., PRINTERS, WHIG BUILDING.
1863.

QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT.

Brig. Gen. A. R. LAWTON, of Ga., Quartermaster General. Office, s. w. corner Main and 9th sts., second floor. Entrance by stairs in rear of the building. Major W. F. Alexander assistant to Quartermaster General.

Major W. B. B. Cross and. Major J. Blair Hoge, in charge of orders and correspondence of the office--same building.

Major W. L. Bailey, in charge of finances of the department, and supervisor of examination of Q. M.'s accounts--same building.

Major R. S. Cox, in charge of Pay Dep't, Capt. C. J. Leigh and Capt. J, Barron Hope--same building.

Tax in Kind.--Lt. Col. Larkin Smith, Assist't Q. M. G. Office, corner Bank and 10th sts., 3d floor, No. 7. Col. S. has charge of the collection of the Tax in kind. Capt. Geo. H. Fitzwilson, Ass't.

[An order from this Bureau directs that the tithes shall be delivered as follows:

Wool to Capt. W. G. Ferguson, corner Cary and 15th sts.

Corn, oats, rye, hay and fodder to Major Ro. P. Archer, at Bacon's Qr. Branch, or to Major Maynard, wagon yard, 5th St., Navy Hill.

Wheat to Capt. P. A. Wellford, A. C. S., at Haxall & Crenshaw's mills.

All other articles of food to Capt. F. Myer, A. C. S., Basin bank, bet. 11th and 12th sts.]

General Supervision.--Lt. Col. A. F. Cone, acting Ass't Q. M. G. Office, No. 4, second floor, corner Bank and 10th sts.

Transportation.--Major D. H. Wood, in charge of transportation of soldiers. Office on Bank St., 3d door from 10th. Office hours, 9 to 3 and 6 to 8. On Sundays, 9 to 10 and 6 to 7.

Capt. E. Carrington, paying commutation of transportation and forwarding medical stores. Office next door to Major Wood.

Major Kensey Johns, in charge of river and canal transportation. Office, on Dock.

Paymasters.--Major John Ambler pays soldiers' accounts. Office, over engine House, (formerly Blues' Armory.) Entrance on Bank St., near 10th.

Major J. B. Cary and Capt. J. E. Duckwall, ass'ts to Major Ambler.

Capt. G. A. Barksdale pays officers accounts. Room No. 5, up stairs, corner Bank and 10th sts.

Capt. J. T. B. Dorsey pays certified accounts of other Q. M.'s; treasury certificates, and miscellaneous accounts.

Major J. B. Hill, Capt. H. O. Claggett, Capt. John Mason, and Capt. James F. West pay soldiers in hospitals, and report to department commanders. Office corner Main and 9th st., up stairs.

Major Chas. Morris pays claims for fencing, wood, growing crops, etc., consumed by army. Office Bank St., 2d door from 9th.

Clothing and Shoes.--Major R. P. Waller, in charge of clothing depot, corner Cary and Pearl (14th) sts.

Capt. W. G. Ferguson, and Capt. O. F. Weiseger, assis'ts to Major Waller

Capt. S. Putney, in charge of shoe department.

Capt. W. G. Bently, receiving clothing from depot and issuing to the army, manuf'g and issuing tents, and camp and garrison equipage. Office on 14th st., near Cary.

Various Duties.--Major J. C. Maynard, purchases and forwards forage, fuel and lumber, and superintends local transportation. Entrance to office, on 9th st., near Main.

Capt. W. W. Weiseger, assist'g Maj. Maynard and supplying fuel to hospitals and camps.

Major R. P. Archer, in charge of wagon and ambulance factory, providing horses, mules, harness and means of transportation. Office, Bacon's Quarter Branch, (in the northwestern suburbs of the city.)

Capt Geo. Taylor, ass't to Major Archer.

Capt. P. H. Langdon has charge of burial of dead, issue of stationery, etc. Office, south side Basin, near 10th street.

Major C. D. Hill, receiving stores for Gen. Lee's army, and making horse shoes and nails.

Major C. S. Carrington, purchasing forage for Gen. Lee's army.

Capt. W. E. Warren, furnishes officers with quarters, buildings for hospitals, etc. Office Bank St., 4th door from 9th.

Major C. Maurice Smith, auditor of railroad accounts. Office, cor. Bank and 10th sts.

Major A. H. Cole, Inspector General of Field Transportation. Office, Bank st., near 10th.

Captain M. H. Crump assisting Major Cole.

[DBURT]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Christopher,
Nice research, thanks.
Yes, Ferguson does sign himself as JB Ferguson "Jr" in the OR's.
Good work.

Dave Burt, ACWS, England.

[DBURT]

Re: Maj J B Ferguson C.S.A

Does anyone have any information on what happened to Ferguson after the war?
What did he do, where did he live, and how old was he when he died and where??
I know he was already sixty when he went to England, have Googled him to death but to no avail.
As usual, any help appreciated.

Dave Burt, ACWS, England.