Lot 621: Mattie Ready Morgan Family Tintype, Documents, Currency

Tintype portrait of Mattie Ready Morgan, wife of Civil War CSA Gen. John Hunt Morgan, along with a small archive of papers and currency related to her brother, Col. Horace Ready and the Ready House Hotel of Murfreesboro, 7 items total. The ninth-plate tintype depicts Mattie Ready seated in an off-the-shoulders belted dress and a tassel in her hair that drapes down onto her shoulder, with partial coloring to the flowers in her hair and bracelets on her arms. Housed in a gilt mat with oval opening and union case with fragment of an envelope containing Jefferson Davis 1 cent stamp and reading "Care of / John H. Morgan". 2 1/2" x 2". Also found inside the union case is an old scrap of paper reading "Mattie Ready 1860" and a fragment of Biblical scripture containing the final verses of the Book of Revelation (Chapter 22: 12-21). Other items in this lot include receipts for items purchased by Col. Horace Ready from 1880-1881 from Butler & Co., the News Printing Company of Murfreesboro, Martin Bros. Coal, and the Belmont Flouring Mills (for the "Ready House" Hotel); an 1880 promissory note signed by Horace Ready to Weakley and Warren; and a $1 bill from the Exchange Bank of Tennessee, circa 1830s-1850s. Note: the wedding of Mattie Ready Morgan (1840-1887), daughter of Tennessee Congressman Charles Ready, to then-Captain John Hunt Morgan of Kentucky has been described as the social event of the Confederacy. It took place at her father's stately home in Murfreesboro on Dec. 14, 1862. Their marriage lasted only 630 days (ending when Morgan was captured and killed), but has been romanticized as one of the great love stories of the Civil War. After Morgan's death and the Confederacy's defeat, Mattie's brother, Col. Ready converted the family home into the Ready House Hotel. The tintype may have been taken of Mattie Ready shortly before the war in Washington DC, where she was living with her parents while her father served in Congress.

PROVENANCE: Collection of John Cooper. acquired from a Murfreesboro, TN estate sale.

CONDITION: Mattie Ready tintype: Scratching to upper left side and across subject's chin/jaw/neck and shoulder area. Oxidation, particularly at edges. Sides of case have become separated. Paper inside is fragile with tears. Receipt and Promissory note in good condition, fold across Ready's signature. Bank note is fragile with losses at corners and edges, discoloration, creases and wear and fading to ink.