Contract with Robert P. Parrott to buy 16 rifle cannons for Georgia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Semmes, Paul J. (Paul Jones, 1815-1863, author.

Contributor:

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, owner.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Parrott, R. P. (Robert Parker), 1804-1877.

Artillery.

Contracts.

Finance.

Military history.

Weapons.

United States--Confederate States of America.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Production:

[Place of production not identified] : [producer not identified], 1860.

Summary:

Unsigned copy, written on one side. Contract to buy cannons, guns, and ammunition from Colt, Dupont, Ames, etc. to prepare Georgia for war. Semmes acted as agent for Georgia in preparation for the Civil War. Docket in Semmes' hand. "... This Contract made and entered into... That the said Robert P. Parrat hereby covenants and agrees to manufacture furnish and deliver on board Steamer in the Port of New York and bound for Savannah Georgia suitably prepared and packed for safe transportation within sixty days from the date just above written... (16) Sixteen Rifle Cannons..." New York was a center for arms deals by Southern states in preparation for secession. Semmes, a Georgia banker and plantation owner, was serving as agent for Georgia as that state prepared for Civil War. Parrott was the inventor of a superior rifled cannon known as the "Parrott Gun." Two dockets; one on verso of page six, the other on the last page.

Notes:

Collection Reference: GLC00474

Even before a single state had seceded from the Union, the State of Georgia negotiated a contract with a New York rifleworks company to supply the state with armaments. Paul Jones Semmes, who signed this contract, was a Georgia banker and plantation owner who served as a brigadier general in the Confederate army. He led Georgia troops at the battle of Gettysburg, where he received a wound from which he died in the retreat to Virginia. Semmes made the contract with Robert Parrott, who invented a superior rifled cannon known as the "Parrott Gun."

From folder: Unassociated Civil War Documents 1860

Sub-collection: Papers and Images of the American Civil War

Description based on publisher-supplied metadata (viewed October 19, 2026).