Great Seal of the Confederate States

Great Seal of the Confederate States
Details
Armiger	Confederate States of America
Adopted	30 April 1863
Use	On treaties, commissions, and more

The Great Seal of the Confederate States was the official seal of the government of the Confederate States of America, which consisted of eleven states that voted to secede from the United States, leading to the American Civil War.

The seal prominently features George Washington on horseback, in the same position as a statue of him in Richmond, Virginia. Washington is surrounded with a wreath, which is made of some of the main agricultural products of the Confederate States: wheat, corn, tobacco, cotton, rice and sugar cane. The margin of the seal features the words "The Confederate States of America: 22 February 1862" and the national motto, Deo Vindice ("Under God, Our Vindicator" or "With God as [our] Champion"). The date on the seal represents when Jefferson Davis was inaugurated after the only Confederate general election, and is also Washington's birthday.

The design of the seal was finalized on April 30, 1863, and a set of embossing dies ordered from the London engraver Joseph S. Wyon.^[1] The seal dies eventually reached Richmond before the end of the war. However, due to the risks of running the naval blockade upon the Confederacy, the accompanying embossing press was only shipped as far as Bermuda. The dies (crafted in silver) were thus unlikely to ever have been used in any official capacity.

Both sets of artifacts initially passed through private ownership before ultimately entering museum collections. The dies now reside in Richmond's Museum of the Confederacy; and the embossing press, equipped with brass replica dies, is in a National Trust Museum in St. George's, Bermuda.

Gallery

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  Early engraving of the Great Seal

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  Early colorised version

See also

• Great Seal of the United States

References

1. ^ "Object Record: Great Seal of the Confederacy". National Museum of American History. http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=677. Retrieved 6 November 2011. 

External links

• From the National Museum of American History: Great Seal of the Confederacy
• The Great Seal of the Confederacy
• From the Museum’s Collections: The Great Seal of the Confederacy
• The Bermuda National Trust Museum at the Globe Hotel