In order to honor our recently-deceased member and dear friend, David “Duke” Culberson, The Rowdy Pards announce their contribution of $1,700 to the South Carolina Relic Room & Museum. David will be remembered by his friends and those who knew him for his deep love for his home state, and enjoyed his times at the Relic Room as he exercized his passion to learn all he could about The War Between the States.
The gift has been earmarked to help the museum purchase the recently discovered papers of General Colin J. McRae, the Confederacy’s chief financial agent in Europe during the first half of the Civil War, one of the greatest collections of primary source Confederate materials discovered in the last 100 years. Documentation of imported foreign arms and munitions by the C.S.A. and it ability to equip the Confederate soldier in the field has been almost completely lacking, and is understandable considering that foreign companies who violated the proclaimed neutrality of their respective governments had to conceal their involvement in illegal arms sales.
Most incriminating records were destroyed at the war’s end. General McRae’s papers (contained in over 800 documents) focus on English imports to the Confederate war effort. With an appraised value of $304,085, the collection represents one of the largest troves of Confederate documents discovered intact in the last century. The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum can acquire the collection for $250,000, and intends to combine the information in it with artifacts of imported Confederate arms, uniforms, and equipment, to create a scholarly, educational exhibition linking South Carolina’s involvement in Confederate banking, purchasing, and supply to the entire Southern war effort, as well as the individual soldier. This exhibit would open at the museum during the national Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011 and then travel to other museums throughout the nation.
The Rowdy Pards invite our fellow living historians, collectively and individually, to help the Museum reach its goal by sending contributions to:
Mr. Alan Roberson
The South Carolina Relic Room & Museum
301 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201
The gift has been earmarked to help the museum purchase the recently discovered papers of General Colin J. McRae, the Confederacy’s chief financial agent in Europe during the first half of the Civil War, one of the greatest collections of primary source Confederate materials discovered in the last 100 years. Documentation of imported foreign arms and munitions by the C.S.A. and it ability to equip the Confederate soldier in the field has been almost completely lacking, and is understandable considering that foreign companies who violated the proclaimed neutrality of their respective governments had to conceal their involvement in illegal arms sales.
Most incriminating records were destroyed at the war’s end. General McRae’s papers (contained in over 800 documents) focus on English imports to the Confederate war effort. With an appraised value of $304,085, the collection represents one of the largest troves of Confederate documents discovered intact in the last century. The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum can acquire the collection for $250,000, and intends to combine the information in it with artifacts of imported Confederate arms, uniforms, and equipment, to create a scholarly, educational exhibition linking South Carolina’s involvement in Confederate banking, purchasing, and supply to the entire Southern war effort, as well as the individual soldier. This exhibit would open at the museum during the national Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011 and then travel to other museums throughout the nation.
The Rowdy Pards invite our fellow living historians, collectively and individually, to help the Museum reach its goal by sending contributions to:
Mr. Alan Roberson
The South Carolina Relic Room & Museum
301 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201
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