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| 1863 $100 Legal Tender Note - Large Eagle with Spread Wings |
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| 1863 $100 Legal Tender Note |
United States Notes - 1863 One Hundred Dollar Legal Tender Note "Spread Eagle"
Obverse: Large American eagle. This was the first note to feature the American eagle.
Act of March 3, 1863 at upper left. New Series 1 at right. Type 2 treasury seal with single serial number at lower right. Green patent date at top center and National Banknote Company imprint. Iconic "Spread Eagle," vignette dominates the design at upper left with three "100" counters with two black and one green. Back with near edge to edge impression with ornate devices at left and right with "UNITED STATES, TREASURY NOTE," repeated along with the denomination in both western and roman numerals.
Act of March 3, 1863 at upper left. New Series 1 at right. Type 2 treasury seal with single serial number at lower right. Green patent date at top center and National Banknote Company imprint. Iconic "Spread Eagle," vignette dominates the design at upper left with three "100" counters with two black and one green. Back with near edge to edge impression with ornate devices at left and right with "UNITED STATES, TREASURY NOTE," repeated along with the denomination in both western and roman numerals.
Reverse: The Second Obligation is shown.
Second Obligation. The later issues have the Second Obligation, which reads as follows, “This note is a legal tender for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt, and is receivable in payment of all loans made to the United States.”
Signatures: (as depicted) Lucius E. Chittenden, Register of the Treasury and Francis Elias Spinner, Treasurer of the United States.Second Obligation. The later issues have the Second Obligation, which reads as follows, “This note is a legal tender for all debts, public and private, except duties on imports and interest on the public debt, and is receivable in payment of all loans made to the United States.”
Inscriptions: Act of Feb 25th 1862 or Act of March 3rd, 1863 - Series ### - The United States Promise To Pay To The Bearer One Hundred Dollars Payable At The Treasury of the United States At New York - American National Bank Note Co. - Register Of The Treasury - Treasurer Of The United States - Washington - Amer Septent Sigil Thesaur - March 10th 1863 - This Note Is A Legal Tender For All Debts Public And Private Except Duties On Imports And Interest On The Public Debt / And Is exchangeable for U.S. Six percent Twenty Year Bonds, redeemable at the pleasure of the U. States after Five Years / And Is Receivable In Payment of All Loans Made To The United States - United States of America.
Francis Elias Spinner, Treasurer of the United States
Francis Elias Spinner (January 21, 1802 – December 31, 1890) was an American politician from New York. He was 10th Treasurer of the United States from March 16, 1861 to July 30, 1875. He was the first administrator in the federal government to employ women for clerical jobs.
His father was John Peter Spinner (born in Werbach, Baden, 18 January 1768; died in German Flatts, NY, 27 May 1848), a Catholic priest who became a Protestant, married Mary Magdalene Fidelis Brument, emigrated to the United States in 1801, and was pastor of two German-speaking Dutch Reformed churches, at Herkimer and German Flatts until his death.
Francis Spinner was the eldest of nine children, six sons and three daughters. His father instructed him in languages, and in the common schools of Herkimer County he learned English grammar, reading, writing and arithmetic. His father required Spinner to learn a trade. Francis elected to become a merchant, and for about a year was employed as a clerk in a store. The store failed, and Francis was apprenticed to a confectioner in Albany.
In Albany, Spinner made the acquaintance of some educated men who took an interest in his welfare. Peter Gansevoort allowed him the use of his library. Two years after his arrival, when his father found he was being employed as a salesman and bookkeeper, Spinner was removed from that situation and apprenticed to a saddle and harness maker in Amsterdam, New York. Here Spinner became a shareholder in the circulating library, and studied its volumes when he wasn't busy learning his trade.
In 1824, Spinner moved back to Herkimer County, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1826, he married Caroline Caswell of Herkimer. He entered the state militia, and by 1834 had risen to the rank of major general. He was appointed deputy sheriff in 1829, and was sheriff of the County from 1834 to 1837. He was appointed one of the commissioners for the construction of the state lunatic asylum at Utica, New York in 1838. When he was removed from this post on political grounds, he engaged in banking, first as cashier and later as president, at the Mohawk Bank.
He was state inspector of turnpikes, and served as commissioner and supervisor of schools. He was appointed auditor and deputy naval officer in charge of the Port of New York in 1845 and served four years.
Spinner was elected as an anti-slavery Democrat to the 34th Congress. An active Republican from the formation of the party, he was re-elected as a Republican to the 35th and 36th United States Congresses, altogether serving from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1861. He served on the Committee on Privileges and Elections, on a special committee to investigate the assault made by Preston Brooks on Charles Sumner, and on a conference committee of both houses on the Army appropriation bill, which the senate had rejected on account of a clause that forbade the use of the military against Kansas settlers. During his last term (36th Congress), he was chairman of the Committee on Accounts.
On the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, he was appointed by President Lincoln as Treasurer of the United States and served from March 16, 1861, until his resignation on July 1, 1875. Within 60 days of his assuming office, the expenditures of the federal government increased dramatically.
He was the first to suggest the employment of women in government offices. During the Civil War, many of the clerks of the Treasury Department joined the army, and Spinner suggested to Secretary Chase the advisability of employing women. After much persuasion, his suggestion was taken up, and he carried it into effect successfully, though not without much opposition. The women were first employed to count money, and later took up various clerical duties. He eventually hired over 100 women, paid them well, and retained them after the war was over.
He signed the different series of paper money in a singular handwriting, which he cultivated in order to prevent counterfeiting. His signature on the “greenbacks” of the United States was the most familiar autograph in the country. The history Spinner gave of his signature was:
“I first practiced it while in the sheriff's office about 1835; I used it while commissioner for building the asylum at Utica, and as cashier and president of the Mohawk valley bank, and for franking while in congress. It was brought to its highest perfection when I was treasurer.”
He resigned his office because of a disagreement over staffing appointments. A new Secretary refused to give him final say over his staff. Spinner thought that, as a bonded officer, he should have control over the appointment of clerks for whose acts he was responsible. When he resigned his office, the money in the treasury was counted. The result showed a very small discrepancy, and many days were spent in recounting and examining the books of accounts, until finally the mistake was discovered.
In 1875, he ran on the Republican ticket for New York State Comptroller but was defeated by Democrat Lucius Robinson. He moved south, and for some years he lived in camp at Pablo Beach, Florida, where he lived a vigorous outdoor life, and also took up the study of Greek. He was survived by one of his three daughters.
He was buried at the Mohawk Cemetery, in Mohawk, New York. After his death, a group of women who worked in the Treasury Department contributed $10,000 for a monument which now stands in Myers Park in Herkimer.
Lucius E. Chittenden, Register of the Treasury
Lucius Eugene Chittenden (May 24, 1824 – July 22, 1900) was a Vermont author, banker, lawyer, politician and peace advocate who served as Register of the Treasury during the Lincoln administration.
Early life
Chittenden was born in Williston, Vermont, the son of Giles (1790-1856) and Betsey (Hollenbeck) Chittenden. He was the grandson of Truman Chittenden (1770-1853), and the great-grandson of Vermont's first governor, Thomas Chittenden. Lucius Chittenden received his early education in the district schools of Williston and academies in Williston, Hinesburg and Cambridge. He studied law with several attorneys, and was admitted to the bar in Franklin County in 1844. He opened a law office in Burlington the next year.
Politics
He became interested in politics and public affairs early in his career, gained prominence in the anti-slavery movement and the Free Soil Party, and published from 1848 to 1851, with E. A. Stansbury, the "Free Soil Courier." After helping Democrat John S. Robinson get elected governor in 1852, he became active in the newly formed Republican Party. He was elected state senator from Chittenden County, and served from 1856 to 1860, while also serving as president of the Commercial Bank in Burlington.
Civil War
In February, 1861 Governor Erastus Fairbanks appointed Chittenden one of five Vermont delegates to the Washington Peace Conference, which met to try avert the start of the American Civil War. The other delegates were former Governor Hiland Hall, Levi Underwood, Horace Henry Baxter, and Broughton Harris. Chittenden was selected as recorder of the conference, and published its records in 1864.
In March 1861, President Lincoln's new Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, who had also been a member of the Free Soil Party, offered Chittenden the position of Register of the U.S. Treasury. Chittenden accepted, and served for most of Lincoln's first term until resigning in 1864 due to poor health.
During his term at the Treasury Department, Chittenden attracted notice when he worked to the point of exhaustion in order to ensure that a bond issue required to finance the Union war effort could be issued on time. The 12,500 bond certificates needed to be sent to England by steamship so they could be sold, and each certificate required Chittenden's signature. As a result, Chittenden stayed at his desk and signed certificates continuously over three days until the task was complete, ensuring that they could be shipped on time. Chittenden injured his hand and wrist in this work, which prompted him to resign as Register.
Chittenden was also credited with bringing to Lincoln's attention the case of William Scott, a Vermont soldier sentenced to death for sleeping on guard duty, and for whom Lincoln interceded by issuing a pardon. The event became part of Lincoln lore as the story of The Sleeping Sentinel, and Chittenden later published his account of the event.
Later life
When he resigned from the Lincoln Administration, he returned to Vermont to regain his health, but by 1866 was living in Tarrytown, New York, and practicing law in New York City while spending summers in Burlington. He returned to Burlington permanently in 1894, and died at the home of his daughter on July 22, 1900. He was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington.
Family
Chittenden was married to Mary Hatch in 1856, and she died in 1894. They were the parents of three children: Horace H. became an attorney in New York City; Mary H. was the wife of William Bradford and a resident of Burlington; and Bessie B., the wife of Rev. Frederick Richards of New York City.
- "Address before the 34th Reunion of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers, November 5, 1897," at Bennington, Vermont. Proceedings of the Reunion Society of Vermont Officers Vol. II—1886-1905, Burlington, VT: Free Press Printing Company, 1906, pp. 222–237.
- "New Moneys of Lincoln's Administration. Their Origins, Growth, and Value."Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 81:1890.
- An Unknown Heroine; an historical episode of the war between the states. New York: Richmond, Croscup & Co., 1894.
- Invisible Siege: The Journal of Lucius E. Chittenden April 15, 1861 – July 14, 1861. San Diego: Americana Exchange Press, 1969.
- Lincoln and the Sleeping Sentinel – The True Story. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1909.
- Personal reminiscences, 1840–1890, including some not hitherto published of Lincoln and the war. New York: Richmond, Croscup & Co., 1893.
- Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1891.
- The Capture of Ticonderoga. Rutland, VT: Tuttle & Co., 1872.
- "The Character of the Early Settlers of Vermont Its Influence upon Posterity," delivered July 4, 1876, at Burlington, Vermont. Contained in Our National Centennial Jubilee: Orations, Addresses and Poems Delivered on the Fourth of July, 1876. Ed. Frederick Saunders. (New York: E.B. Treat, 1877; reprint, St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1976), pp. 499–521.
- The Law of Baron and Femme, of Parent and Child, Guardian and Ward . . . and of the Powers of the Courts of Chancery; With an Essay on the terms Heir, Heirs, and Heirs of the Body. Second Edition, with Notes, Burlington, VT: Chauncey Goodrich, 1846.
- A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention, for Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States at Project Gutenberg, 1864.