Gazaway B. Lamar was a New York banker who returned to his native Savannah, GA soon after the start of the Civil war. There he ran the Importing and Exporting Company of Georgia. At the end of the war he took the "Lincoln oath" which offered to keep those taking it from losing their property. A good deal of his property was in the form of cotton bales, many of which were seized by General Sherman. Lamar waited until the U.S. Supreme Court had decided that taking the "Lincoln oath" was all that was required to reclaim seized property. He finally won a six figure settlement in the 1870's.