Page 229 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

422 ● (MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.) CONFEDERATE CURRENCY. Group of nine
Confederate bank-notes, various denominations from Georgia and Alabama.
Size and condition varies, SHOULD BE SEEN Vp, circa 1863-1865 [400/600]
Many of these bank-notes, like those of the Central Bank of Alabama or the Commerce Bank
of Alabama bear the image of African Americans. Once scorned as being “common” and to all
intents and purposes worthless, Confederate money has become scarce and quite “collectible.”
422
423 ● (MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.)
MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT.
Christian Abraham Fleetwood (sup-
plied title.) Large cabinet card by Foster of
Boston; 55⁄8 x 37 ⁄
8 inches (image size.)Boston,
circa 1880 [3,000/5,000]
A rare image of an African American medal of
honor recipient, possibly Christian A. Fleetwood
(1840-1914), Sergeant Major Fourth U.S.
Colored Infantry. Fleetwood was awarded the
Medal of Honor for bravery at the battle of
Chapinís Farm, 29 September 1864. Fleetwood
seized the colors after two other color bearers had
been shot. Born free in Baltimore, Fleetwood
traveled to Liberia as a youth and graduated from
the Ashmun Institute (later Lincoln University).
Fleetwood was an able musician and editor.
Following the war, he remained involved with the
military and organized a battalion of National
Guard in the District of Columbia in 1887.
Fleetwood died just as World War I began.
Daniel Murray, African American Librarian of
Congress was among his pallbearers. Of the
nearly 250,000 African American recruits who
fought in the Civil War, only eighteen soldiers and seven sailors were recipients of the Medal of
Honor. It is difficult to be certain about the identification of the soldier in this photograph, given that
it was taken nearly twenty years after the War. It bears the closest resemblance to the only other exist-
ing image of Fleetwood taken circa 1865, and no resemblance to any other known image of other
medal of honor recipients.