Page 190 - 88-BOOK2

HIGHLY IMPORTANT
THE SURRENDER WEAPON OF JEFFERSON DAVIS PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA
188
LOT 1190
Rock Island Auction Company Proudly Presents One of the Most Important War Trophies of any American War: The Historic, Finely Engraved and Silver-Plated, Beaumont-Adams Double Action Percussion Revolver Presented to Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis by Robert Adams of London and Personally Surrendered to Union Cavalryman John Hines of the 4th Michigan Cavalry at the time of Davis’ Capture on May 10, 1865 - Serial no. 40568, 45 cal., 5 7/8 inch octagon bbl., silver finish, checkered walnut grips. This incredibly historic Beaumont-Adams revolver comes with complete, detailed and documented provenance from the moment it came into the possession of Hines until its consignment in this auction through official military records O.R.’s, published accounts, newspaper articles, family letters and full, chain-of-ownership. Many of the combined details are virtually unknown to even the most avid Civil War Historians and the Antique Arms Fraternity.
After exhaustive research performed by renowned historian and managing editor of “North South Trader Civil War Magazine” Nancy Dearing Rossbacher, in tandem with additional research performed by celebrated firearms dealer and collector Michael Simens, Rock Island Auction is proud to tell the story, a compilation of the official end to the American Civil War and expose the credit for the surrender/capture of Davis where it rightfully belongs in the annals of history.
The Davis revolver, serial number 40568, has been documented by the Hines family since its surrender to Michigan 4th Cavalry Trooper John Hines (1843-1865) during the capture of Confederate President Jefferson
Davis on May 10, 1865, in Irwinsville, Georgia, and as recovered from Hines’ body by his brother Edwin after John was killed in a friendly-fire
incident mere minutes after Davis presented it to him in Davis’s personal tent. The primary provenance documentation comes directly from the family in the form of affidavits and a bill of sale (2018) from Linda
Lee Hines Inman, the great granddaughter of John Hines’ brother Edwin Hines (1840-1905), (contained in our provenance folder). She documents that her grandmother, Harriet Crosthwaite
Hines, showed it to her when she was young and told her she would inherit it and to take good care of it since it
had belonged to Jefferson Davis and had been on the body of John Hines, her grandfather’s uncle,
when he was killed during the capture of Davis and was brought back to Michigan by her great grandfather
(Edwin Hines) when he returned home from the war. Her bill-of-sale to
a private entity lists the revolver as “An Antique Adams Revolver, serial
number 40568, surrendered by Jefferson Davis, President of the C.S.A.
to Corporal John Hines of the 4th Michigan Cavalry during his capture
at or near Irwinville, Georgia, May 10, 1865.”The same story is related in another affidavit from LaVerne Hines, Jr., a grandson of Edwin Hines and son of LaVerne Hines, Sr. The latter inherited the revolver from Edwin Hines, and his son indicates he kept it wrapped up in a closet. Original letters retained by the family written and postmarked to include their cancel dated envelopes in 1911-1912 contain inquiries about the “Davis Revolver” and obvious interest to acquire and/or sell it (presumably) to the history museum in Lansing, are also included with the family provenance, attesting to its care and retention.
John and Edwin Hines both served in Company E of the 4th Michigan Cavalry, the regiment famous for capturing Confederate President Jefferson Davis. John Hines is well-documented as present at Davis’s capture and as killed by friendly fire in U.S. Official Military Records and eyewitness accounts. Edwin Hines was also a member of the 4th. Both men are listed in various official sources on the unit including “Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War, 1861-1865, Vol. 34” published by the State of Michigan. Both brothers are listed as from Manchester, Michigan, and as enlisting in Company E on July 23, 1862 for three years and as mustered on August 28, 1862, with the regiment in Detroit. Edwin is listed as enlisting as a sergeant and as promoted
to first sergeant on Sept. 13, 1864, and as mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee, on July 1, 1865. John is listed as promoted to corporal on Sept. 13, 1864, and as killed in action at Irwinsville, Georgia, during the capture of Jefferson Davis on May 10, 1865. He was buried in the Andersonville National Cemetery in Georgia after originally being interned at Abbeyville. A commemorative marker is placed at the sight of Davis’s final camp noting the death of John Hines and John Rupert on May 10, 1865, from shots fired by the Wisconsin cavalry during the capture of the
Confederate president.
Detroit Free Press from June 4th, 1865