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U.S. COINAGE The MUSEUM PHOTO: STATE at Louisiana’s had a short, but colorful career, marked by architectural ailments and Confederate complications.

by Greg Lambousy ANA202844

N MARCH 3, 1835, President Andrew Jack- son, hero of the , signed a bill authorizing the U.S. Treasury to establish a branch mint in Louisiana. The same act also provided for minting fa- cilOities in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dahlonega, Georgia. (The Southern mints were the result of Jack- son’s long war with the Bank of America and paper .) New Orleans was selected as a location for the manufacture of hard because it was the “emporium of the Great Valley,” with specie from flowing through its active markets. V

The , as pictured in Ballou’s Pictorial Magazine in 1858.

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In 1821 the fort was demolished, and the land was given to the City of New Orleans the following year. The area was made into a park . . .

New Orleans, depicted here in PHOTO: CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY an 1803 painting by J.L. Bouqueta de Woiseri. Fort St. Charles is visi- ble at the right, with a flag raised above the cen- tral structure. Fort St. Charles was the largest of five fortifica- tions surrounding the city. This plan is dated 1814.

the New Orleans Customhouse on Canal Street. Purportedly, the cornerstone of the mint building was laid on the of Fort St. Charles, one of five fortifications surrounding the city. Spanish Governor Baron Hector de Carondelet noted that Fort St. Charles, con- structed in the form of a pentagon, was built larger than the other four to accommodate troops in the event of an insurrection. In 1821 the fort was demolished, and the land was given to the City of New Orleans the follow- ing year. The area was made into a park, aptly

PHOTO: HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION named Jackson Square. The park remained until 1835, when the city returned it to the fed- eral government for construction of the New Orleans branch mint. operations began in the New Orleans facility in 1838, though the building was not ac- Construction Begins tually completed until 1839. When the Confed- By April 10, 1835, Mint Director Samuel erate States of America occupied it in April 1861, Moore was advertising in a news- it would become the only U.S. mint to produce paper for proposals to build the New Orleans Confederate coinage. facility. Martin Gordon was hired to superintend Minting ceased for a time, but resumed in construction, while William Strickland was 1879. By 1909, the operation had become obso- commissioned to design the building. A student lete, superseded by new mints in San Francisco of Benjamin Latrobe, the architect of the United and . The assay office, however, contin- States Capitol, Strickland was popular in ued to function until 1931, when it was moved to Philadelphia, where he was known as the “city

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architect.” (Some of his —at a cost of 182,000 more significant build- Working at the Mint . . . . The Square is being ings include the Second Operations at the New Orleans Mint surrounded by a neat Bank of the , were divided into four separate iron railing on a gran- the United States Naval departments: treasury, melting and ite basement. Home, the Merchants Ex- refining, assaying and coining. The change, the treasurer received all bullion brought By 1837, the building State Capitol, and the to the Mint for coining. He also was was in such an advanced Philadelphia and Char- charged with safeguarding the bullion state of construction that lotte Mints.) and in the mint as it moved from minting equipment—in- The design of the New one department to another. cluding three coin presses Orleans Mint reflected The melter and refiner was respon- —was shipped to New Strickland’s preoccupation sible for creating gold and ingots Orleans from Philadel- with simplified, classical of the proper from raw bullion. phia. (The more delicate forms typical of the Greek Samples of the melter and refiner’s work assaying instruments Revival era. He was paid were tested by the assayer to insure were ordered from a firm $300, for which he pro- that the correct combinations of pre- in Paris.) With the ad- vided the government with cious metals and alloys were employed. vice of the mint director, four watercolor and ink The coiner received the ingots from Presidents Jackson and drawings and sixteen pages the melter and refiner. The metal bars Van Buren appointed the of specifications. Strickland were passed through rollers and then first officers, including did not oversee the con- drawn through an apparatus that the superintendent and struction, nor did he visit reduced them to the proper thickness. treasurer (both of which the site. Unfortunately, he Blanks were punched from the result- were strictly political ap- did not take into account ing strip. pointments), and the as- the soft soil in and around The blanks (or planchets) then were sayer, melter and refiner, New Orleans; the build- weighed and cleaned. Any under- and coiner. ing’s supports and founda- weight planchets were returned to the tions were better suited to melter and refiner. After milling, which and Characters the firm ground of Phila- created a ridge along the edge, the Congress authorized delphia. Accordingly, the blanks were sent to the pressing the New Orleans branch structure endured an end- room, where they were struck and mint to produce coinage of less number of repairs and ultimately transferred to the treasurer. gold and silver. Circulat-

reconstructions throughout ing gold coinage was initi- PLASENCIA (GOLD) & ANA MUSEUM (SILVER) BASS JR. FOUNDATION/DOUGLAS W. COIN PHOTOS: HARRY its history. ated the following year Gibson’s Guide and Di- with a limited mintage of 1 rectory of the State of quarter eagles ($2 ⁄2). By Louisiana and the Cities the middle of the 1850s, of New Orleans and La- the New Orleans branch fayette (1838) noted the mint was producing sil- mint was ver , half dollars, quarters, dimes, half dimes an edifice of the ionic and 3-cent pieces, as well order, of brick, plastered as gold double eagles to imitate granite; having ($20), eagles ($10), half a center building project- eagles ($5), $3 pieces, ing, as also two wings, is quarter eagles and dollars. strongly built, with very Operations began on thick walls and well fin- March 8, 1838, with the ished. . . . The total length first of Mexican dol- of the edifice is 282 feet, lars by Lizareli & Company, and the depth about amounting to $32,408.01. New Orleans 180—the wings being 29 A day later, melting and 3 cents, dime, $3 by 81, and the whole assaying began, and by and 50 cents. three stories in height. It May 7 the first coins were Andrew Berrett was begun September struck: 30 dimes. On June pours molten silver 1835, and is now on the 29, the coiner and treas- into a rotary ingot

PHOTO: PHOTO: LOUISIANA STATE point of being completed urer delivered 30,000 V mold, c. 1890.

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[Riddell] was accused at one time of being unable to properly conduct a gold melt and at another of killing his wife . . .

10-cent pieces; total dime production for the diers, policemen at year amounted to $40,243.40. every step. These Operations ceased between August 1 and No- preparations gave a vember 30 “on account of the sickly season” rather regal air to (an outbreak of yellow fever). Two mint offi- the whole affair.” Second Mint cers died, and the others left office. All, includ- John Leonard Superintendent ing the superintendent, were replaced by the fol- Riddell served as Joseph Kennedy. lowing year. the second melter Rolling strip Joseph Kennedy, the second superintendent and refiner from

and cutting coin of the New Orleans branch mint, served from 1839 to 1848. A CHEW BUTLER) (NEE ROSE BEVERLY PHOTO: MRS. ST. PAUL BOURGOIS III PAUL PHOTO: MRS. ST. blanks (bottom). 1839 to 1850. He and his family, like other of- multifaceted man, ficers, were provided he pursued careers apartments in the mint in both science building. Late in his and politics. He tenure, Kennedy held a invented the bin- debutante ball in the ocular microscope and wrote books on such sub- mint for his daughters jects as Orrin Lindsay’s Plan of Aerial Naviga- Rose and Josephine. tion, with a Narrative of His Explorations in the Eliza Ripley, a New Higher Regions of the Atmosphere, and His Orleans socialite who at- Wonderful Voyage around the Moon. tended the soiree, said Controversy often followed him. While he the mint was “made am- worked for the mint, Riddell had several con- ple for the gay festivities frontations with fellow officers and workers. He by utilizing committee was accused at one time of being unable to prop- rooms, offices and every erly conduct a gold melt and at another of killing apartment that could be his wife, who died in their mint apartment. diverted for the crowd’s Around 1844, in an effort to streamline ingot comfort—so, we wan- production, Riddell invented the rotary ingot dered about corridors machine, which was put into use by the late and spacious rooms, but 1840s. Cool water passed through the machine never beyond the touch of and rapidly hardened the bullion. Depressing a a gendarme—officers, sol- foot lever allowed the molds to rotate after each pour and the previous ingot to be removed, greatly speeding the process. The machine al- most tripled the average sil- ver melt (from 3,000 to 8,500 ounces) and reduced the num- ber of workers needed to do the job. Riddell released a numismatic work in 1845 entitled Mono- graph of the Silver , Good and Bad, Illustrated with Fac- simile Figures, and in 1847 he wrote an article for De Bows Re- view entitled “The Mint at New Orleans—Processes Pursued of Working the Precious Metals— Statistics of Coinage, etc.” Another mint officer with an extremely inventive turn of

PHOTOS: LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM PHOTOS: LOUISIANA STATE mind was Philos B. Tyler, head

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of the coining department for much of the The floors were sustained upon groined brick 1840s. Before his untimely death, his brother arches, supported by square brick pillars; but the Rufus invented a table for counting silver dol- thrust of the arches having caused the abutments lars, which Philos Tyler patented. Tyler also con- to give way, the arches began to sink at the crown, tributed to the manufacture of the first Ameri- and the whole structure threatened to become a can, steam-operated coin press. mass of ruin. I was called on in a great hurry to de- In 1844, when operations were suspended vise some method of averting the danger. I caused during a dispute over ownership of the square of to be inserted strong rods from outside to outside ground the mint occupied, Tyler returned to of the building in each direction; by shoring up the Philadelphia to oversee casting of a new steam rods, they having screw knuts and outside plates, press at the shop of Merrick and Agnew. Tyler the building was rendered perfectly secure . . . left the New Orleans Mint three years later to become superintendent of American Machine The tie rods still are in place, and the plates can Works in Springfield, Massachusetts. His com- be seen on the outside walls of the second and pany later manufactured a large steam engine third floors. for the New Orleans Mint at a cost of $17,262. Shortly after Gallier’s repairs, James H. Dr. M.F. Bonzano, melter and refiner, con- Dakin, architect of New Orleans’ St. Patrick’s tracted with American Machine Works for a 10- Church and the Louisiana Arsenal, was asked horsepower steam engine in May 1853. The en- to examine the first-floor arches under the gine was installed on the main floor of the mint melting room. He found them “liable to fall at in March 1855. any moment” and recommended that they Superintendent “should be segments of circles and the mortar Hugh S. Suthon Structural Strategies should be made of the best cement.” It appears with stenographer In the 1840s, the building began to show signs the arches were rebuilt on May 13, 1845, ac- Emily Perkins in of structural problems. James Gallier Sr., a well- cording to his suggestions. his office at the known New Orleans architect, was hired to rem- Problems with the building persisted. In May New Orleans edy the situation. In his autobiography, he noted: 1854, Major G.T. Beauregard, superintendent V Mint, c. 1903. PHOTO: LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM PHOTO: LOUISIANA STATE

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Months before the first shots were fired on in April 1861, Louisiana seceded from the United States . . .

of construction for the New Orleans Custom- the mint vaults contained a half million dollars house, was directed to “examine and make an in gold and silver. estimate of repairs” at the New Orleans Mint. By March 21, the Secession Convention had Trained at West Point as a civil engineer, Beau- accepted the Confederate Constitution. An ordi- regard superintended various federal building nance was enacted stating that “Louisiana doth projects before he began his career in the Con- hereby cede unto the Confederate States of federate Army. In a report dated May 9, 1854, he America the right to use, posses [sic], and oc- recommended that the entire mint building be cupy all the forts, arsenals, lighthouses, the rendered fireproof by removing wooden floor mint, customhouse, and other public buildings sections, adding iron beams and installing a gal- acquired by the State from the late United vanized roof. States.” On April 1, the Confederate States of America took of the mint, again re- The Confederates Take Control taining its officers. Because of a lack of bullion, Months before the first shots were fired on the mint ceased operations in late April, but the Fort Sumter in April 1861, Louisiana seceded staff remained on duty until May 31. from the United States, declaring itself an inde- The New Orleans Mint was the only facility to pendent republic. The Louisiana Secession Con- strike coins with a uniquely Confederate design. vention was held in the state capitol in Baton Years later, Benjamin F. Taylor, chief coiner of Rouge on January 26, 1861. With a vote of 113 to the New Orleans Mint during the Civil War, de- 17 in favor of secession, Convention President scribed the circumstances under which the coins Alexander Mouton declared “the connection be- were struck. In a letter to the War Department tween the State of Louisiana and the Federal in Washington, he wrote: Union dissolved, and that she is a free, sover- eign, and independent power.” . . . In the month of April, orders were issued by Mr. Memminger, Secretary of the [Confederate] Treasury, to the effect that designs for half- dollars should be submitted to him for approval. Among several sent, the one approved bore on the obverse of the coin a representation of the Goddess of Liberty, surrounded by thirteen stars, denoting the thirteen States from whence the Confederacy sprung, and on the lower rim the figures, 1861. On the reverse there is a shield with seven stars, representing the seceding States; above the shield is a liberty cap, and entwined around it stalks of sugar cane and cotton, “Con- federate States of America.” The dies were en- graved by A.H.M. Peterson, Engraver and Sinker, who is now living in Commercial Place. They were prepared for the coining press by Con- rad Schmidt, foreman of the coining room (who is still living), from which four pieces only were PHOTOS: LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM PHOTOS: LOUISIANA STATE struck. About this period an order came from the A female mint When the Secession Convention reconvened secretary suspending operations on account of employee feeds in New Orleans on January 29, an ordinance the difficulty of obtaining bullion, and the Mint blanks into a was adopted that allowed federal workers to was closed April 30, 1861. coin press (top), continue in their posts as employees of the while a corps of State of Louisiana. The State took possession of Taylor kept the two dies and one of the four women uses deli- the New Orleans Mint on January 31, keeping coins, which now resides in the American Nu- cate scales to the same officers. On February 1, a committee mismatic Society collection in New York City. weigh planchets. of five was formed to inventory the property of The other three coins have quite a pedigree. One the “late Federal Union within the Parish of Or- owned by Dr. Edward Y. Ames presently be- leans.” It was reported to the Convention that longs to numismatist/author Eric P. Newman.

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Another owned by John Leonard Riddell was acquired by numismatist Lester Merkin. The fourth coin, once held by , presi- dent of the Confederacy, was sold by Stack’s of New York in 1995 to a private collector. In 1862 United States Marines, under Com- modore , seized control of New Orleans and raised the U.S. flag atop the mint. New Orleanian William Mumford, along with

three other men, removed the flag and tore it to MUSEUM PHOTOS: LOUISIANA STATE pieces. Mumford, a well-educated but reckless man with a love of drink, defiantly wore shreds of the flag in his buttonhole. He eventually was arrested and sentenced by U.S. Army General to be hanged in front of the mint on June 7, 1862. Mumford’s execution was reported in news- papers throughout the North and South. In . . . The attic and build- response, Confederate President Jefferson ing generally contains Davis proclaimed General Butler a “felon, de- old decayed tanks, ma- serving of capital punishment.” Davis also or- sonry furnaces, old iron, dered that if Butler was captured, he was to be piles of paper, mud and executed immediately. dead pipe and gas lines and flues, etc., and many New Life for the Old Mint holes in masonry floor Following the , Dr. arches exist without any M.F. Bonzano was ordered to take possession of apparent reason. Sur- all mint property for the federal government. face dirt and cobwebs The mint reopened as an assay office in October exist practically through- 1876, with Bonzano functioning as assayer in out the building, the accumulation of years, and The Old New charge and as superintendent. In 1877 Bonzano there is no janitor force employed. The rear lot Orleans Mint on was asked by special mint agent James R. Snow- and courtyard is filthy with trash, cans, old aban- Esplanade Avenue den to report on the repairs and machinery doned machinery, decayed and falling wooden is one of five na- needed to bring the New Orleans branch mint and sheet metal sheds and shacks and an old tional landmarks back into full, operational order. Bonzano noted brick chimney. in the historic that the melting department and refinery needed work and additional machinery. The At this time, the assay department still oper- maintained by the coining department required a new press to ated on the third floor. A Naval Recruiting Sta- Louisiana State strike Trade dollars. Boilers installed in 1855 tion and a Veterans Bureau dispensary and den- Museum. Learn had begun to deteriorate. tal clinic operated in other parts of the building. more by visiting The New Orleans Mint resumed coining oper- The architect recommended in his report that lsm.crt.state.la.us/ ations in 1879. It was the only mint in the South the assay department relocate to the New Or- lsm.htm. to reopen after the Civil War. leans Customhouse, where it could share the use A series of political struggles ensued for the of a newly built bullion vault. next 30 years. Many thought the New Orleans His advice finally was taken in 1931, when the Mint was superfluous and existed merely as a mint building was converted into a federal form of political patronage for Louisiana legisla- prison. In 1943 the prison closed. The building tors. Given the facility’s aging machinery and functioned as a Coast Guard Receiving Station competition from the Denver and San Francisco until the middle 1960s, when it was transferred Mints, it became increasingly more difficult to from the federal government to the State of justify the cost of operations in New Orleans. By Louisiana and placed under the stewardship of June 1911, after production had been halted for the Louisiana State Museum Board. In 1979 the two years, machinery began to be dismantled mint opened to the public as a part of the Louis- and shipped to the . iana State Museum complex. In 1922 a supervising architect for the Treas- Today, the New Orleans Mint building ex- ury Department issued a report describing the hibits few of the problems that plagued it during general decay into which the building and its its tumultuous decades of service. It stands as a remaining machinery had fallen: testament to man’s ingenuity—and frailty. O

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