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(CONFEDERATE LIGHTHOUSE DOCUMENTS)

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74. (CONFEDERATE LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE) A unique group of four documents all originating from or directly concerning the Confederate Light House Bureau. For reasons now lost to us the Light House Bureau functioned within and under the authority of the Confederate Treasury Department. Though it was initially responsible for maintaining lighthouses and other navigational aids in 29 districts ranging from Virginia to Texas, the increasing success of the Union blockade made the Bureau increasingly less relevant as the war progressed. Even so, the maintaining of all available lighthouses and other navigational aids such as buoys provided invaluable assistance to blockade runners, who habitually operated under cover of darkness. The most significant of these documents is a partly printed 1p. 4to. D.S. bearing the official seal of the Confederate State Department and signed by JUDAH P. BENJAMIN as the Confederate Secretary of State. In this document, signed in Richmond on September, 29, 1864, Benjamin certifies that an attached document is a true copy of a September 21, 1861 authorization for Thomas Martin, a clerk in the Light House Bureau, to lead the Bureau until its absent Commander, one Ebenezer Farrar, "...shall return to the Seat of Government..." There are also three partly printed appropriation forms. Made for the use of the United States Lighthouse Commission, these forms have been modified and pressed into service by its Confederate counterpart. One of these, which is dated May 9, 1861 lists disbursements made by the St. Johns, Florida District for the Quarter ending on March 31, 1861. Finally, there is an official printed envelope for the Confederate Light House Bureau which bears light mounting traces on its back and unfortunately, was never used. Considering the miniscule size of the Light House Bureau, documents relating to it are exceedingly scarce, and the official notarized statement signed by Juda P. Benjamin and bearing the seal of the State Department may well be unique. Overall in very good to fine condition. Four pieces.

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