17. A Confederate Private’s Shady Side Hustle
Private James Reavis began to issue himself passes with a forged signature, to escape the drudgery of soldiery and visit his relatives. When other soldiers noticed that Reavis seemed to get a whole lot of passes, he modified his plan and killed two birds with one stone: give them an incentive to stay mum, and make some money while he was at it. He began a sideline business and sold forged passes to other soldiers. When the chain of command grew suspicious and began to investigate, he finagled a quick leave, ostensibly to get married. Reavis then promptly fled Confederate territory and surrendered to Union forces. He even switched sides and served for a while in a Union Army artillery regiment.
After the Civil War, Reavis traveled to Brazil, and upon his return to the US, he got into real estate. In that line of business, he discovered that the talent for forgery that he had discovered and honed in his Confederate Army days could come in real handy. Especially to clear up messy paperwork, and fix vague property titles for clients who found it difficult to sell land because they were unable to establish clear ownership. Reavis established a reputation for his unrivaled ability to produce some document, as if by magic, that everybody else had somehow “missed” before, and that cleared up ownership in no uncertain terms.
