Confederate Jacket Sparks Dispute Between Collector, Museum

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – An Alabama collector who bought a Confederate soldier’s jacket is fighting to keep it after leaders of a New Orleans museum said the piece was stolen in the 1980s.

Joe Fitzgerald of Huntsville said in a complaint filed in Madison County Circuit Court that he bought Confederate Army Capt. William Lyman’s jacket at a 2009 military history and civil war convention.

Fitzgerald says a representative of the Confederate Memorial Hall Museum called in January saying he was searching for a coat that had been stolen in the 1980s and wanted to arrange a meeting.

Museum president Keith Cangelosi said in an affidavit that Lyman donated his coat to the museum after the war and its estimated value is $75,000.

Fitzgerald says the museum hasn’t proved it ever owned Lyman’s coat.

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