"The Fighting Commissary." Major Ginter served under Generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph R. Anderson, Stonewall Jackson, A.P. Hill and Edward Lloyd Thomas, and retained this title from affectionate Southerners long after the war ended. As fate would have it, Major Ginter was in the Confederate capital on official business during the Evacuation and capture of Richmond and retreated to Amelia Court House, Virginia, to meet up with the remnants of his brigade. He was present during Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, and returned to Richmond several days later. New York Upon his return to Richmond, Ginter found the city in a state of ruin. His warehouse stores of tobacco and sugar were destroyed in a fire that consumed much of the business district, though his cotton remained unscathed. With little economic opportunity in Richmond, he sold his cotton and returned to New York City to pursue a career in banking. First joining the firm of Harrison & Company, he experienced great financial success. But his renewed fortune was short-lived. The Black Friday gold panic in 1869 forced Ginter to use his personal fortune to settle heavy debts his firm incurred. Having lost all of his wealth once again, Ginter sold tobacco on consignment in New York for Richmond tobacconist John F. Allen. In 1872, Ginter decided to return to affordable Richmond. Return to Richmond Tobacco In 1872, Ginter joined John F. Allen to form John F. Allen & Company, which manufactured chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco and a small line of cigars. Shortly after, at Ginter's urging, the firm was the first to manufacture cigarettes with mild, 100% domestic bright leaf tobacco, grown in the Virginia and North Carolina piedmont, rather than with strong "Turkish" tobaccos. When the firm released its first cigarettes in 1875, it was the first in the South to manufacture cigarettes as its primary branded product. Early production began in a factory with twenty young, white women, who hand-rolled the cigarettes. Initially, the cigarettes weren't successful in the South, where men overwhelmingly preferred chewing tobacco. Around 1880, the firm was renamed Allen & Ginter. Ginter's "Richmond Gem" cigarettes were first a hit in London where, with help from his agent, John Morgan Richards, they were marketed as a foreign novelty. Allen & Ginter also manufactured cigarettes with "Turkish" tobacco or blends. Their brands included "Richmond Straight-Cut No. 1," "The Pet," "Dubec," "Opera Puffs," and "Our Little