J. M. Eason & Brother

The National Archives holds a file of forty-eight images under the name Eason, James M And Brothers in the Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms (microfilm publication M346, Record Group 109). They are the vouchers the firm signed when the Confederate government paid it, gathered by the War Department’s Record Division after the war and stamped Rebel Archives. Every image is reproduced here, each with a reading of what it says.

J. M. Eason & Brother were engineers and machinists at the corner of Columbus and Nassau streets. The directory of 1852 lists J. M. and T. D. Eason there under that trade; the trade papers of 1854 and 1858 carry the firm’s card as manufacturers of steam engines and boilers, of machinery for rice, saw, sugar and grist mills, and of castings in iron and brass. The vouchers speak of the firm’s foundry, and of drayage from the foundry to the Arsenal.

What the file shows is that works turned to war. Between October 1861 and October 1864 the firm billed three Confederate departments at Charleston. For the Engineers it made four complete carriages and chassis for 10-inch Columbiads, seven gun platforms and the pintle crosses and traverse circles for “Sundry Batteries on the Coast,” supplied two anchors and five chains for the harbor boom obstruction, and repaired the department’s dredge boat. For the Ordnance Bureau’s Charleston Arsenal it rifled and banded heavy guns — among them two 8-inch Columbiads that Brigadier General R. S. Ripley wrote were “the first done by the Messrs Eason of that calibre” and that stood in Fort Moultrie — and cast rifle bolts, shot and shell, including “Tennessee pattern” rifle shot. For the Quartermaster it hauled the shot and shell from the foundry to the Arsenal and repaired the steam water boat.

The signatures are a roll of the men who ran Charleston’s defenses: Ripley, who paid one account out of his own pocket when the Arsenal declined it, “to prevent a discontinuance of the work”; Captain J. T. Trezevant and Major N. R. Chambliss, commanding the Arsenal in turn; Captain W. H. Echols of the Engineers; and Major Motte A. Pringle and Captain S. R. Proctor of the Quartermaster’s department. The prices tell their own story: rifling a 32-pounder cost $100 in February 1863 and $140 in May.

research note Three related records are cited in this file but not included: the Albert L. West citizens file (M346), Slave Roll No. 4[5?]8 (hired enslaved labor payroll), and Sequestration Papers 'E' (South Carolina). Pull all three from Fold3.

material culture note Price for rifling a 32-pdr rose from $100 (Jan.-Feb. 1863) to $140 (May 1863). Rifling and banding an 8-inch Columbiad cost $1,250 (July-Aug. 1863). Tennessee-pattern rifle shot: $25 (42-pdr), $19 (32-pdr), $8.20 (12-pdr) each in Jan. 1863.

Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, compiled 1874-1899, documenting the period 1861-1865, National Archives microfilm publication M346, Record Group 109; file Eason, James M And Brothers, 48 images. The file on Fold3 (subscription), accessed 2026-09-03. The records of the Confederate War Department are public domain in the United States.

Eason, James M And Brothers file, Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, compiled 1874-1899, documenting the period 1861-1865, M346, RG 109, NARA; Fold3 file 32117437. https://www.fold3.com/file/32117437/eason-james-m-and-brothers-page-1-us-confederate-citizens-file-1861-1865. Accessed 2026-09-03.