1865 & 1890 Two Reconstruction certificates related to a former Virginia officer who served in the Confederate Army Confederate Army Captain F. M. Sherr Advertising,Military,Reconstruction

This lot consists of three items related to former Confederate Army Captain F. M. Sherry: "An 1865 Richmond Loyalty Oath Certificate. The certificate is dated 24 July 1865 and measures 6.25" x 4.25". It is franked with a 5-cent Internal Revenue Certificate stamp (Scott #R24). In signing the document, Sherry swore that he would ""Henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the union of the States thereunder; and that [he] will . . . abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. . ." He also swore that he would "Uphold and defend the Government of Virginia as restored by the Convention which assembled at Wheeling on the 11th day of June, 1861." The oath was countersigned by C. P. Bigger, "Notary Public for the City of Richmond and County of Henrico, in the State of Va." An 1890 "Grand Monument" certificate - The certificate is dated 29 September 1890 and measures 9.25" x 5.75". The certificate, which bears a serial number, No. 761, was issued by the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument Association, of Richmond, Virgina recognizing his contribution of ten dollars "To the fund for the erection of a Grand Monument to the memory of the Soldiers and Sailors of the Confederate Army and Navy on Libby s Hill, Marshall Park, Richmond, VA. / D. C. Richardson, President / Carlton McCarthy, Secretary / Wm. H. Cullingworth, Treasurer" The monument certificate is enclosed in a very scarce advertising cover for the Old Dominion Building & Loan Association that features a picture frame collar surrounding the 2-cent Washington stamp (Scott #220) that was used for postage. It bears a Richmond duplex postmark. F. M. Sherry, a Richmond citizen, served as Captain in the Confederate Army, specifically in the defense of his city while assigned to George Washington Custis Lee s Brigade and later within the Richmond Local Defense Troops during the final collapse of the Confederacy. By December 1863, it had become clear that the Union, which had already occupied wide swaths of the Confederacy, needed to plan for the likely reintegration into the Union of former members of its armed forces. On the 8th of that month, President Lincoln drafted an Oath of Allegiance, which if signed by a former rebel, would restore their U. S. citizenship and allow them to vote in elections. Following the war, his draft was variously modified into loyalty oaths by the reconstituted governments of the Southern states. The document in this lot is Virginia s version. The Confederate Monument Association was formed in 1888 to raise a memorial to the Confederate veterans of the Civil War. The monument, which featured a Confederate soldier standing atop a Corinthian column, was designed by Wilfred Cutshaw to resemble Pompey s Pillar in Egypt. It was built at a cost of $30,000 and remained in place at the intersection of North 29th Street and Libby Terrace until Democratic Mayor of Richmond, Levar Stoney, used "emergency powers," citing public safety concerns regarding the ongoing nationwide protests and riots that occurred at the height of the "cancel culture" frenzy that followed the death of George Floyd, to order the removal of all Confederate monuments from the city in 2020. (For more information, see "F. M. Sherry" at the American Civil War Research Database, President Lincoln s "Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction" at the Freedmen and Southern Society Project website, and Mayor Stoney s official decree ordering the removal of Richmond s Confederate monuments available online at YouTube.) Very scarce Virginia Reconstruction era documents. At the time of listing, no other examples of them are available for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub shows none have appeared at public auction. OCLC shows no Richmond loyalty certificates are held by institutions; however, it is likely some are contained with