<font color="yellow">I suggest, after reading this article, that this fella get some sort of good historical punishment since he's such a "student" of Civil War history. Any ideas or suggestions?</font id="yellow">[}:)]
<b>Feds: Intern, 40, sold Civil War documents on eBay </b>
By Maryclare Dale, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — A 40-year-old intern with the National Archives stole about 165 Civil War documents — including the War Department's announcement of President Lincoln's death — and sold most of them on eBay, prosecutors charged Thursday.
Philadelphia resident Denning McTague, who runs a website that sells rare books, worked at a National Archives and Records Administration site in the city last summer, prosecutors said.
McTague has helped officials recover most of the missing items and plans to plead guilty, his lawyer said.
The stolen Civil War-era documents include telegrams concerning the troops' weaponry, the Lincoln death announcement sent to soldiers, and a letter from famed cavalryman James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, prosecutors said.
"These are pieces of American history to be preserved, not sold to the highest bidder," U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said in a statement. All but a handful of the stolen items have been recovered, his office said.
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The investigation began in the fall after someone questioned one of the eBay sales, National Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said.
"He has cooperated fully with the government in obtaining the return of the materials," defense lawyer Eric Sitarchuk said.
A former curator of the Philadelphia branch who carried hundreds of rare documents out in his briefcase was likewise undone after someone spotted the items being sold on eBay.
Shawn P. Aubitz was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2002 for stealing hundreds of historic documents, including presidential pardons signed by Lincoln and an 1863 warrant ordering the seizure of Robert E. Lee's estate. His restitution was set at nearly $74,000.
Nonetheless, Cooper said she could recall only about five such thefts from the agency in the past 25 years.
"It is extremely rare," she said.
McTague, who holds master's degrees in history and information systems, was recommended for the unpaid internship by a professor at the State University of New York at Albany, Cooper said.
Described by prosecutors as "an avid and educated cultural and historical artifacts collector," he runs a website called Denning House. The site calls itself a "Purveyor of: Rare and Unusual Books, Maps, Manuscripts, Interesting Paper and Americana."
As an intern, McTague was responsible for arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the Civil War. His responsibilities included ordnance records dating from 1816 to 1907, prosecutors said.
While visiting researchers must examine items in secure research rooms, McTague, as a temporary employee, may have had access to the stacks, Cooper said.
A telephone number for McTague could not immediately be determined, and he did not immediately respond to a query sent through the website. He was charged by way of an information, which often indicates a defendant's cooperation.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007- ... ives_N.htm
Col. Boyd Denner
"Alabama Brigade"
1/3/III
ANV
"God Bless the Alabamians" Gen. Robert E. Lee - The Wilderness 1864