Stolen Statue Recovered with Aid from President Lincoln

During the battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, the town was occupied by Union soldiers. There are many accounts of the rowdy behavior by the soldiers while they were here. Some of their activities included excessive drinking which led to men parading around in dresses, dragging very nice furniture out into the streets, playing pianos that had been removed from homes, and quite a lot of looting.

Looting is the theme of today's post.

Douglas Gordon House

Built sometime before 1801, the Douglas Gordon House, located at 1210 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, was the scene of an odd case of looting and Presidential-aided recovery during the Civil War.

 

Douglas, his wife Anne, and their three children were among the residents of town who left their homes and took refuge elsewhere during the battle. As a result, their home was "up for grabs," as it were, by the occupying Union soldiers.

 



Daguerreotype of Douglas' wife Anne


 

When the Gordon family returned to their home on Princess Anne Street, they found it to be a casualty of war; the home was riddled with holes from bullets and other projectiles. In addition to this, their furniture and works of art had been smashed and destroyed.

 

One of the more ambitious looters even made off with a heavy bronze equestrian statue of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy. The piece had been purchased by the Gordons while on their honeymoon in Italy. No small piece, it is likely that it took more than one person to get it out of the house.

 

This is the actual statue that was stolen and recovered.

The looter (or looters) are lost to history; their names are not recorded. That said, it is known who the statue was sold to: Colonel Joshua Owen of Pennsylvania.

 

Less than a year later, Anne Gordon's sister-in-law, Anne Thomas, overheard a soldier in her Baltimore home bragging about an equestrian statue he had stolen from a home in Fredericksburg. Mrs. Thomas was convinced it was the Gordon family piece.

 

Anne Thomas was friends with President Lincoln's physician, so she called on him to enlist Lincoln's help in recovering the statue. The plan worked.

 

On November 7, 1863, General Order No. 360 was issued to order the statue, which was "private property of Mr. Douglas Gordon" had been "unlawfully taken from a private residence in Fredericksburg" and was to be "restored to Mrs. Annie C. Thomas, the sister of Mr. Gordon, who has made application therefor." 

 

General Order No. 360

 

The Gordon statue went on an odd journey with an interesting cast of characters. It eventually found it's way into the Virginia Historical Society's museum collection and is currently part of a travelling panel exhibition entitled, An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia. The exhibition is currently on display at the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center, which is how I was able to see and photograph it.

 

Arguably, the statue should have not been removed from the house in the first place. That said, it's a good thing the thief had a big mouth and decided to brag about it. It's really quite remarkable that he happened to be bragging about it in front of  Mr. Gordon's sister in her own home. Of all the people and homes in Baltimore, he just happened to be in that one at that moment!

 

Coincidence? I think not.