Alexander T. Stewart: retailing magnate loves North Carolina
From The New-York Times November 24, 1861:
A Handsome Donation.
BROADWAY AND CHAMBERS STREET, Friday, Nov. 22, 1861.
To J.M. MORRISON, ESQ. — Dear Sir: It gives me great pleasure to send you a check for $500, for the “Relief Fund for Loyal Citizens of North Carolina,” for which State I have ever had a warm affection, and I cherish the hope that she will be among the first to be restored to that Union of which she was so true a friend, and from which she has been nominally severed, against the real interest and the wishes of her substantial people. Yours, very truly,
(Signed,) ALEXANDER T. STEWART.
Irish-born Alexander Turney Stewart used some money his grandfather left him to open a store in New York City in 1823. It is estimated he was earning an annual income of $1,000,000 by 1869. Stewart also pioneered mail-order beginning in 1868. U.S. Grant nominated him to be United States Treasury Secretary in 1869, but the senate did not confirm him.
"The cradle of the department store" at 280 Broadway
Stewart's newer store opened in 1862 - the iron palace
It seemed a coincidence that this was published today in sesqui-time – who knows maybe if things had worked out differently we might be able to view the Stewart’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Speaking of coincidences – there’s a cornucopia on the North Carolina state seal.
One of the Legendary Explanations of the term Tar Heel seems appropriate for today’s story:
Reluctant secession
The State of North Carolina was the next to last state to secede from the United States of America, and as a result the state was nicknamed “the reluctant state” by others in the south. The joke circulating around at the beginning of the war went something like this: ” Got any tar?”- “No, Jeff Davis has bought it all.”- “What for?”- “To put on you fellow’s heels to make you stick.” As the war continued, many North Carolinian troops developed smart replies to this term of ridicule. Such as when the 4th Texas Infantry lost its flag at Sharpsburg. Passing by the 6th North Carolina a few days afterwards, the Texans called out, “Tar Heels!”, and the reply was, “Ifin you had had some tar on your heels, you would have brought your flag back from Sharpsburg.”
Young North Carolinian in gray
Stewart's view: temporarily misguided state
Dmadeo’s photo of the building at 280 Broadway is licensed by Creative Commons. Wikipedia cites 1st North Carolina Cavalry for that particular explanation of the term Tar Heel.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (c1932; LOC: LC-USZC4-4961)
The above view of the 1621 feast was painted by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, an American who was born about six weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg and Surrender at Vicksburg.
