Details
[COLT, SAMUEL] WEVER, C.W. Autograph letter signed ("C.W. Wever") to SAMUEL COLT, Weverton [Maryland], 8 February 1860. 1 pages, 4to, repairs to tears at top and bottom of page 2, small hole affecting some letters text, rough edge at bottom.
MARYLAND: A SOUTHERN LOCATION FOR MANUFACTURING ARMS
Wever, a Confederate agent for the states of Maryland and Virginia, writes to Colt regarding "this place [Weverton] as a site for the establishment of an armory." Colt's disinterest prompts Wever to suggest that "a sale might be made to some enterprising gentleman of your acquaintance disposed to found a manufacturing city...[or] you may have a friend of energy & influence who would, for the commission of $7500/$8000, undertake [to] sell the property for the extremely low price ($40,000)." As Maryland was a border state, and undecided in its support of secession, Wever writes that "northern men settling here might entertain what sentiments they please & fully express them with impunity provided they did not meddle with slaves of whom thank God, we have but few in this part of our state and they are becoming less in number every year." He concludes that "what I know of prices which have been paid in the north for manufacturing sites I am sure that if this property were there it would sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars & in my opinion it is intrinsically worth more here than it would be there."
Maryland at this time was split in its allegiance. The southern and eastern tobacco counties were secessionist, and the northern and western grain-growing regions, including Weverton, had few slaves and were pro-Union.
MARYLAND: A SOUTHERN LOCATION FOR MANUFACTURING ARMS
Wever, a Confederate agent for the states of Maryland and Virginia, writes to Colt regarding "this place [Weverton] as a site for the establishment of an armory." Colt's disinterest prompts Wever to suggest that "a sale might be made to some enterprising gentleman of your acquaintance disposed to found a manufacturing city...[or] you may have a friend of energy & influence who would, for the commission of $7500/$8000, undertake [to] sell the property for the extremely low price ($40,000)." As Maryland was a border state, and undecided in its support of secession, Wever writes that "northern men settling here might entertain what sentiments they please & fully express them with impunity provided they did not meddle with slaves of whom thank God, we have but few in this part of our state and they are becoming less in number every year." He concludes that "what I know of prices which have been paid in the north for manufacturing sites I am sure that if this property were there it would sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars & in my opinion it is intrinsically worth more here than it would be there."
Maryland at this time was split in its allegiance. The southern and eastern tobacco counties were secessionist, and the northern and western grain-growing regions, including Weverton, had few slaves and were pro-Union.