1870 John T Pickett sold the diplomatic correspondence of the Confederate States, known as the Pickett Papers, to the United States government for $75,000. [1]
"John T Pickett had three copies of the seal of the Confederacy made. "At the time of the evacuation of Richmond when our army was trudging through the mud and fighting its way back to Appomatox, the seal was overlooked in the hurry of packing and one who found it gave it to Col. John T. Pickett, late of this city, a true and devoted Confederate and since the time of the war he sent to England and had these copies made and gave three to me." Letter excerpt from Wm Earle to Quitman Marshall, Secretary of State, South Carolina, dated 22 Dec 1888."
"The Cardenas Expedition was the first that ever sailed from the United States in the interest of the Republicans of Cuba. The expeditionary force consisted of three battalions, which left the port of New Orleans in May, 1850. Don Narcisso Lopez (lately second in military command on the island) was commander-in-chief; A. J. Gonzalez was chief of staff; and the three battalions were under the immediate command of Colonels Thomas T. Hawkins, Theodore O'Hara, and John T. Pickett. The first was a member of a family which has been conspicuous in Virginia since its colonization, and in Kentucky since its redemption from the wilderness. The second, son of the scholarly teacher, Kean O'Hara, was no less celebrated for his fine genius as a poet than for his daring as a soldier. The third was the son of the accomplished Colonel James C. Pickett, distinguished for his successful diplomatic career in Colombia and Bolivia, and whose wife was the daughter of the brave Governor Desha. The son, John T. Pickett, had left West Point to accept a diplomatic appointment under President Polk. William H. Russell, the war correspondent of the "London Times," who met John T. Pickett in later life, described him as " a tall, good-looking man, of pleasant manners, and well educated. … He threw himself into the cause of the South with vehemence; it was not difficult to imagine he saw in that cause the realization of the dreams of empire in the South of the Gulf, and in the conquest of the islands of the sea, which have such a fascinating influence over the imagination of a large portion of the American people." The Washington correspondent of the " New York Sun," under date of November 18, 1873, said of him: "He is a striking looking man, fully six feet two inches in height, with a knightly appearance [2]
[1] Lyon Gardiner Tyler, ed., Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. 2, (Lewis Publishing, New York, 1915), 211, [HathiTrust].
[2] Thomas Marshall Green, Historic Families of Kentucky (1889), 61, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].