Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 16.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

The design, offered by the Secretary, was, as is obvious, adapted from the familiar great or broad seal of the late Confederate States of America, and it may be assumed that there will scarce be division in sentiment as to its peculiar appropriateness as the insignia of the body charged with the just preservation of the muniments of that obliterated government and quieted cause. The seal, which is one and one-half of an inch in diameter, may be thus described: a soldier mounted—the horse in motion (adapted from the equestrian statue of Washington, by Crawford, in the ground of the State Capitol of Virginia), within a circle. This circle surrounded with a wreath composed of the staple vegetable productions of the Southern States—corn, wheat, cotton, tobacco and sugar—and within outer circles the legend, ‘the Southern Historical Society, organ-Ized May I, 1869,’ and the motto, ‘Deo vindice,’ with the further inscription, within the smaller circle and immediately above the equestrian figure, ‘Re-organized August 15, 1873.’