Advertisement for Adler, Cone, & Shipley

During the Civil War, Herman Cone resided in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Although most residents of the town (and the surrounding area) were Union sympathizers, Cone joined a home guard unit that was aligned with the Confederacy. After the war, when Cone and his business partner (and brother-in-law) Jakob Adler reopened their dry goods store, they invited a third man, Shelby Shipley, to join their business on a partnership basis. Shipley, the county sheriff, had been a prominent Union supporter during the war. His involvement in the dry goods business was beneficial insofar as it gave Cone and Adler a Union connection, and this made their business more popular with customers. The advertisement below, which ran in The Union Flag (Jonesborough) on May 24, 1867, stressed the Northern origins of their merchandise. From: The Union Flag (Jonesborough, Tennessee), May 24, 1867.