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The Mintat NewOrleansLouisiana’s branch mint had a short, but colorful

career, marked by architectural ailments and

Confederate complications.

by G re g L a m b o u s y A N A 2 0 2 8 4 4

U.S. COINAGE

� The New Orleans Mint, as picturedin Ballou’s Pictorial Magazine in 1858.

ON MARCH 3, 1835, President Andrew Jack-son, hero of the Battle of New Orleans,signed a bill authorizing the U.S. Treasuryto establish a branch mint in Louisiana.The same act also provided for minting fa-

cilities in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dahlonega,Georgia. (The Southern mints were the result of Jack-son’s long war with the Bank of America and papermoney.) New Orleans was selected as a location forthe manufacture of hard currency because it was the“emporium of the Great Valley,” with gold specie fromMexico flowing through its active markets. V

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� New Orleans,depicted here inan 1803 paintingby J.L. Bouquetade Woiseri. FortSt. Charles is visi-ble at the right,with a flag raisedabove the cen-tral structure.� Fort St. Charleswas the largestof five fortifica-tions surroundingthe city. This planis dated 1814.

In 1821 the fort was demolished, and the land was given to the City of

New Orleans the following year. The area was made into a park . . .

Coining operations began in the New Orleansfacility in 1838, though the building was not ac-tually completed until 1839. When the Confed-erate States of America occupied it in April 1861,it would become the only U.S. mint to produceConfederate coinage.

Minting ceased for a time, but resumed in1879. By 1909, the operation had become obso-lete, superseded by new mints in San Franciscoand Denver. The assay office, however, contin-ued to function until 1931, when it was moved to

the New Orleans Customhouse on Canal Street.Purportedly, the cornerstone of the mint

building was laid on the foundation of Fort St.Charles, one of five fortifications surroundingthe city. Spanish Governor Baron Hector deCarondelet noted that Fort St. Charles, con-structed in the form of a pentagon, was builtlarger than the other four to accommodatetroops in the event of an insurrection.

In 1821 the fort was demolished, and the landwas given to the City of New Orleans the follow-ing year. The area was made into a park, aptlynamed Jackson Square. The park remaineduntil 1835, when the city returned it to the fed-eral government for construction of the NewOrleans branch mint.

Construction Begins

By April 10, 1835, Mint Director SamuelMoore was advertising in a Philadelphia news-paper for proposals to build the New Orleansfacility. Martin Gordon was hired to superintendconstruction, while William Strickland wascommissioned to design the building. A studentof Benjamin Latrobe, the architect of the UnitedStates Capitol, Strickland was popular inPhiladelphia, where he was known as the “city

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architect.” (Some of hismore significant build-ings include the SecondBank of the United States,the United States NavalHome, the Merchants Ex-change, the TennesseeState Capitol, and thePhiladelphia and Char-lotte Mints.)

The design of the NewOrleans Mint reflectedStrickland’s preoccupationwith simplified, classicalforms typical of the GreekRevival era. He was paid$300, for which he pro-vided the government withfour watercolor and inkdrawings and sixteen pagesof specifications. Stricklanddid not oversee the con-struction, nor did he visitthe site. Unfortunately, hedid not take into accountthe soft soil in and aroundNew Orleans; the build-ing’s supports and founda-tions were better suited tothe firm ground of Phila-delphia. Accordingly, thestructure endured an end-less number of repairs andreconstructions throughoutits history.

Gibson’s Guide and Di-rectory of the State ofLouisiana and the Citiesof New Orleans and La-fayette (1838) noted themint was

an edifice of the ionicorder, of brick, plasteredto imitate granite; havinga center building project-ing, as also two wings, isstrongly built, with verythick walls and well fin-ished. . . . The total lengthof the edifice is 282 feet,and the depth about180—the wings being 29by 81, and the wholethree stories in height. Itwas begun September1835, and is now on thepoint of being completed

—at a cost of 182,000. . . . The Square is beingsurrounded by a neatiron railing on a gran-ite basement.

By 1837, the buildingwas in such an advancedstate of construction thatminting equipment—in-cluding three coin presses—was shipped to NewOrleans from Philadel-phia. (The more delicateassaying instrumentswere ordered from a firmin Paris.) With the ad-vice of the mint director,Presidents Jackson andVan Buren appointed thefirst officers, includingthe superintendent andtreasurer (both of whichwere strictly political ap-pointments), and the as-sayer, melter and refiner,and coiner.

Coins and Characters

Congress authorizedthe New Orleans branchmint to produce coinage ofgold and silver. Circulat-ing gold coinage was initi-ated the following yearwith a limited mintage ofquarter eagles ($21⁄2). Bythe middle of the 1850s,the New Orleans branchmint was producing sil-ver dollars, half dollars,quarters, dimes, half dimesand 3-cent pieces, as wellas gold double eagles($20), eagles ($10), halfeagles ($5), $3 pieces,quarter eagles and dollars.

Operations began onMarch 8, 1838, with thefirst deposit of Mexican dol-lars by Lizareli & Company,amounting to $32,408.01.A day later, melting andassaying began, and byMay 7 the first coins werestruck: 30 dimes. On June29, the coiner and treas-urer delivered 30,000

Operations at the New Orleans Mintwere divided into four separatedepartments: treasury, melting andrefining, assaying and coining. Thetreasurer received all bullion broughtto the Mint for coining. He also wascharged with safeguarding the bullionand coin in the mint as it moved fromone department to another.

The melter and refiner was respon-sible for creating gold and silver ingotsof the proper fineness from raw bullion.Samples of the melter and refiner’s workwere tested by the assayer to insurethat the correct combinations of pre-cious metals and alloys were employed.

The coiner received the ingots fromthe melter and refiner. The metal barswere passed through rollers and thendrawn through an apparatus thatreduced them to the proper thickness.Blanks were punched from the result-ing strip.

The blanks (or planchets) then wereweighed and cleaned. Any under-weight planchets were returned to themelter and refiner. After milling, whichcreated a ridge along the edge, theblanks were sent to the pressingroom, where they were struck andultimately transferred to the treasurer.

� New Orleans3 cents, dime, $3and 50 cents.� Andrew Berrettpours molten silverinto a rotary ingotmold, c. 1890.V

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Working at the Mint

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10-cent pieces; total dime production for theyear amounted to $40,243.40.

Operations ceased between August 1 and No-vember 30 “on account of the sickly season”(an outbreak of yellow fever). Two mint offi-cers died, and the others left office. All, includ-ing the superintendent, were replaced by the fol-lowing year.

Joseph Kennedy, the second superintendent of the New Orleans branch mint, served from1839 to 1850. He and his family, like other of-

ficers, were providedapartments in the mintbuilding. Late in histenure, Kennedy held adebutante ball in themint for his daughtersRose and Josephine.

Eliza Ripley, a NewOrleans socialite who at-tended the soiree, saidthe mint was “made am-ple for the gay festivitiesby utilizing committeerooms, offices and everyapartment that could bediverted for the crowd’scomfort—so, we wan-dered about corridorsand spacious rooms, butnever beyond the touch ofa gendarme—officers, sol-

diers, policemen atevery step. Thesepreparations gave arather regal air tothe whole affair.”

John LeonardRiddell served asthe second melterand refiner from1839 to 1848. Amultifaceted man,he pursued careersin both scienceand politics. Heinvented the bin-ocular microscope and wrote books on such sub-jects as Orrin Lindsay’s Plan of Aerial Naviga-tion, with a Narrative of His Explorations in theHigher Regions of the Atmosphere, and HisWonderful Voyage around the Moon.

Controversy often followed him. While heworked for the mint, Riddell had several con-frontations with fellow officers and workers. Hewas accused at one time of being unable to prop-erly conduct a gold melt and at another of killinghis wife, who died in their mint apartment.

Around 1844, in an effort to streamline ingotproduction, Riddell invented the rotary ingotmachine, which was put into use by the late1840s. Cool water passed through the machineand rapidly hardened the bullion. Depressing afoot lever allowed the molds to rotate after each

pour and the previous ingot tobe removed, greatly speedingthe process. The machine al-most tripled the average sil-ver melt (from 3,000 to 8,500ounces) and reduced the num-ber of workers needed to dothe job.

Riddell released a numismaticwork in 1845 entitled Mono-graph of the Silver Dollar, Goodand Bad, Illustrated with Fac-simile Figures, and in 1847 hewrote an article for De Bows Re-view entitled “The Mint at NewOrleans—Processes Pursued ofWorking the Precious Metals—Statistics of Coinage, etc.”

Another mint officer with anextremely inventive turn ofmind was Philos B. Tyler, head

[Riddell] was accused at one time of being unable to properly conduct a gold

melt and at another of killing his wife . . .

� Second MintSuperintendentJoseph Kennedy.� Rolling stripand cutting coinblanks (bottom).

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of the coining department for much of the1840s. Before his untimely death, his brotherRufus invented a table for counting silver dol-lars, which Philos Tyler patented. Tyler also con-tributed to the manufacture of the first Ameri-can, steam-operated coin press.

In 1844, when operations were suspendedduring a dispute over ownership of the square ofground the mint occupied, Tyler returned toPhiladelphia to oversee casting of a new steampress at the shop of Merrick and Agnew. Tylerleft the New Orleans Mint three years later tobecome superintendent of American MachineWorks in Springfield, Massachusetts. His com-pany later manufactured a large steam enginefor the New Orleans Mint at a cost of $17,262.Dr. M.F. Bonzano, melter and refiner, con-tracted with American Machine Works for a 10-horsepower steam engine in May 1853. The en-gine was installed on the main floor of the mintin March 1855.

Structural Strategies

In the 1840s, the building began to show signsof structural problems. James Gallier Sr., a well-known New Orleans architect, was hired to rem-edy the situation. In his autobiography, he noted:

The floors were sustained upon groined brickarches, supported by square brick pillars; but thethrust of the arches having caused the abutmentsto give way, the arches began to sink at the crown,and the whole structure threatened to become amass of ruin. I was called on in a great hurry to de-vise some method of averting the danger. I causedto be inserted strong rods from outside to outsideof the building in each direction; by shoring up therods, they having screw knuts and outside plates,the building was rendered perfectly secure . . .

The tie rods still are in place, and the plates canbe seen on the outside walls of the second andthird floors.

Shortly after Gallier’s repairs, James H.Dakin, architect of New Orleans’ St. Patrick’sChurch and the Louisiana Arsenal, was askedto examine the first-floor arches under themelting room. He found them “liable to fall atany moment” and recommended that they“should be segments of circles and the mortarshould be made of the best cement.” It appearsthe arches were rebuilt on May 13, 1845, ac-cording to his suggestions.

Problems with the building persisted. In May1854, Major G.T. Beauregard, superintendent

� SuperintendentHugh S. Suthonwith stenographerEmily Perkins inhis office at theNew OrleansMint, c. 1903.V

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of construction for the New Orleans Custom-house, was directed to “examine and make anestimate of repairs” at the New Orleans Mint.Trained at West Point as a civil engineer, Beau-regard superintended various federal buildingprojects before he began his career in the Con-federate Army. In a report dated May 9, 1854, herecommended that the entire mint building berendered fireproof by removing wooden floorsections, adding iron beams and installing a gal-vanized roof.

The Confederates Take Control

Months before the first shots were fired onFort Sumter in April 1861, Louisiana secededfrom the United States, declaring itself an inde-pendent republic. The Louisiana Secession Con-vention was held in the state capitol in BatonRouge on January 26, 1861. With a vote of 113 to17 in favor of secession, Convention PresidentAlexander Mouton declared “the connection be-tween the State of Louisiana and the FederalUnion dissolved, and that she is a free, sover-eign, and independent power.”

When the Secession Convention reconvenedin New Orleans on January 29, an ordinancewas adopted that allowed federal workers tocontinue in their posts as employees of theState of Louisiana. The State took possession ofthe New Orleans Mint on January 31, keepingthe same officers. On February 1, a committeeof five was formed to inventory the property ofthe “late Federal Union within the Parish of Or-leans.” It was reported to the Convention that

the mint vaults contained a half million dollarsin gold and silver.

By March 21, the Secession Convention hadaccepted the Confederate Constitution. An ordi-nance was enacted stating that “Louisiana dothhereby cede unto the Confederate States ofAmerica the right to use, posses [sic], and oc-cupy all the forts, arsenals, lighthouses, themint, customhouse, and other public buildingsacquired by the State from the late UnitedStates.” On April 1, the Confederate States ofAmerica took possession of the mint, again re-taining its officers. Because of a lack of bullion,the mint ceased operations in late April, but thestaff remained on duty until May 31.

The New Orleans Mint was the only facility tostrike coins with a uniquely Confederate design.Years later, Benjamin F. Taylor, chief coiner ofthe New Orleans Mint during the Civil War, de-scribed the circumstances under which the coinswere struck. In a letter to the War Departmentin Washington, he wrote:

. . . In the month of April, orders were issued byMr. Memminger, Secretary of the [Confederate]Treasury, to the effect that designs for half-dollars should be submitted to him for approval.Among several sent, the one approved bore onthe obverse of the coin a representation of theGoddess of Liberty, surrounded by thirteen stars,denoting the thirteen States from whence theConfederacy sprung, and on the lower rim thefigures, 1861. On the reverse there is a shield withseven stars, representing the seceding States;above the shield is a liberty cap, and entwinedaround it stalks of sugar cane and cotton, “Con-federate States of America.” The dies were en-graved by A.H.M. Peterson, Engraver and DieSinker, who is now living in Commercial Place.They were prepared for the coining press by Con-rad Schmidt, foreman of the coining room (whois still living), from which four pieces only werestruck. About this period an order came from thesecretary suspending operations on account ofthe difficulty of obtaining bullion, and the Mintwas closed April 30, 1861.

Taylor kept the two dies and one of the fourcoins, which now resides in the American Nu-mismatic Society collection in New York City.The other three coins have quite a pedigree. Oneowned by Dr. Edward Y. Ames presently be-longs to numismatist/author Eric P. Newman.

Months before the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter in April 1861,

Louisiana seceded from the United States . . .

� A female mintemployee feedsblanks into acoin press (top),while a corps ofwomen uses deli-cate scales toweigh planchets.

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Another owned by John Leonard Riddell wasacquired by numismatist Lester Merkin. Thefourth coin, once held by Jefferson Davis, presi-dent of the Confederacy, was sold by Stack’s ofNew York in 1995 to a private collector.

In 1862 United States Marines, under Com-modore David Farragut, seized control of NewOrleans and raised the U.S. flag atop the mint.New Orleanian William Mumford, along withthree other men, removed the flag and tore it topieces. Mumford, a well-educated but recklessman with a love of drink, defiantly wore shredsof the flag in his buttonhole. He eventually wasarrested and sentenced by U.S. Army GeneralBenjamin Butler to be hanged in front of themint on June 7, 1862.

Mumford’s execution was reported in news-papers throughout the North and South. Inresponse, Confederate President JeffersonDavis proclaimed General Butler a “felon, de-serving of capital punishment.” Davis also or-dered that if Butler was captured, he was to beexecuted immediately.

New Life for the Old Mint

Following the capture of New Orleans, Dr.M.F. Bonzano was ordered to take possession ofall mint property for the federal government.The mint reopened as an assay office in October1876, with Bonzano functioning as assayer incharge and as superintendent. In 1877 Bonzanowas asked by special mint agent James R. Snow-den to report on the repairs and machineryneeded to bring the New Orleans branch mintback into full, operational order. Bonzano notedthat the melting department and refineryneeded work and additional machinery. Thecoining department required a new press tostrike Trade dollars. Boilers installed in 1855had begun to deteriorate.

The New Orleans Mint resumed coining oper-ations in 1879. It was the only mint in the Southto reopen after the Civil War.

A series of political struggles ensued for thenext 30 years. Many thought the New OrleansMint was superfluous and existed merely as aform of political patronage for Louisiana legisla-tors. Given the facility’s aging machinery andcompetition from the Denver and San FranciscoMints, it became increasingly more difficult tojustify the cost of operations in New Orleans. ByJune 1911, after production had been halted fortwo years, machinery began to be dismantledand shipped to the Philadelphia Mint.

In 1922 a supervising architect for the Treas-ury Department issued a report describing thegeneral decay into which the building and itsremaining machinery had fallen:

. . . The attic and build-ing generally containsold decayed tanks, ma-sonry furnaces, old iron,piles of paper, mud anddead pipe and gas linesand flues, etc., and manyholes in masonry floorarches exist without anyapparent reason. Sur-face dirt and cobwebsexist practically through-out the building, the accumulation of years, andthere is no janitor force employed. The rear lotand courtyard is filthy with trash, cans, old aban-doned machinery, decayed and falling woodenand sheet metal sheds and shacks and an oldbrick chimney.

At this time, the assay department still oper-ated on the third floor. A Naval Recruiting Sta-tion and a Veterans Bureau dispensary and den-tal clinic operated in other parts of the building.The architect recommended in his report thatthe assay department relocate to the New Or-leans Customhouse, where it could share the useof a newly built bullion vault.

His advice finally was taken in 1931, when themint building was converted into a federalprison. In 1943 the prison closed. The buildingfunctioned as a Coast Guard Receiving Stationuntil the middle 1960s, when it was transferredfrom the federal government to the State ofLouisiana and placed under the stewardship ofthe Louisiana State Museum Board. In 1979 themint opened to the public as a part of the Louis-iana State Museum complex.

Today, the New Orleans Mint building ex-hibits few of the problems that plagued it duringits tumultuous decades of service. It stands as atestament to man’s ingenuity—and frailty. O

� The Old NewOrleans Mint onEsplanade Avenueis one of five na-tional landmarksin the historicFrench Quartermaintained by theLouisiana StateMuseum. Learnmore by visitinglsm.crt.state.la.us/lsm.htm.

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