Freedmen, Contrabands, Refugees and the Union Army

01935v.jpg

Dutch Gap, Virginia (vicinity). Deserted farm house near Dutch Gap canal.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
02006v.jpg

Bermuda Hundred, Va. Officers by their quarters near the signal tower] Group of Signal Officers at Redoubt Zabriskie. Shows two black men standing in doorway of cabin; four white men seated in front of them.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
These photos are awesome.

So far I've tracked down three USCTs who were enslaved on the Rice family's plantation, and several others from neighboring plantations. I always want to cheer for them. My favorite documents are the ones which show their successes after the war. Like the 1891 enumeration of male voters - two of these guys who were in the 4th colored artillery are on the register together, one name is next to the other, both men were 70 years old by then, they were no spring chickens when they ran away to join the Union army. I hope they were allowed to vote. The marriage documents from 1867 which legalized relationships that had already endured for years. And the census from 1900-something which says that neither of the adults, born in slavery, can read or write... but all their children can. Yeah!

Then there are the sad moments, like the man whose pension says he was blinded, and the man who went all the way to Paducah to sign up and then died of typhoid in camp. One of them died of pellagra after the war, which is a dietary deficiency people get when they eat almost nothing but corn. I think maybe the saddest was an old soldier and his wife... They lived together until he was 99 years old. Her clothing caught fire when she was cooking and she died. And he died the same year. Sometimes you find a record and you wish you could unfind it.

I need to get better about documenting my finds in a way that I can relocate them. I'm not giving names because I'm doing this from memory and I don't want to mix people up. I need to keep better notes. Still learning this researching stuff.
 
These photos are awesome.

So far I've tracked down three USCTs who were enslaved on the Rice family's plantation, and several others from neighboring plantations. I always want to cheer for them. My favorite documents are the ones which show their successes after the war. Like the 1891 enumeration of male voters - two of these guys who were in the 4th colored artillery are on the register together, one name is next to the other, both men were 70 years old by then, they were no spring chickens when they ran away to join the Union army. I hope they were allowed to vote. The marriage documents from 1867 which legalized relationships that had already endured for years. And the census from 1900-something which says that neither of the adults, born in slavery, can read or write... but all their children can. Yeah!

Then there are the sad moments, like the man whose pension says he was blinded, and the man who went all the way to Paducah to sign up and then died of typhoid in camp. One of them died of pellagra after the war, which is a dietary deficiency people get when they eat almost nothing but corn. I think maybe the saddest was an old soldier and his wife... They lived together until he was 99 years old. Her clothing caught fire when she was cooking and she died. And he died the same year. Sometimes you find a record and you wish you could unfind it.

I need to get better about documenting my finds in a way that I can relocate them. I'm not giving names because I'm doing this from memory and I don't want to mix people up. I need to keep better notes. Still learning this researching stuff.

There is a ton of awfully sad history behind these- had not known for instance what's posted previously on families of these soldiers sometimes dying through lack of plain, old shelter. The man would enlist- woman and child literally be cast on the world like something in the dense prose of a Victorian novel. It was a hideous double injustice. Various camps and societies literally scrambled to organize, must have been appalling to those who witnessed this- more than appalling.

And boy do I have no advice for you on research notes except good luck. Hee- would have had the ADD label attached early 60's I am sure of it, which gives me a poor opinion of ADD diagnosis. There's just so MUCH, right? And 100% so unbelievably interesting your head sucks it in much more quickly than one's resources can deal with it. No diagnosis required- merely files and an assistant- ok, possibly a Keeper. :smile:
 
This was listed National Archives, as " Aikens House, James River" so have to think this group were residents there for part of the war- refugees and maybe assigned there? I do see a white man on horseback but there's also a little boy wearing a kepi- the war has passed through at this point. No one here is enduring enslavement, thankfully.

aikens house james rivwe.jpg
 
This photo says " 5 generations, The Smith Plantation ", but this family doesn't seem to be still enslaved? Am guessing the photographer came through looking for stories, found this amazing family. An ' owner ' would probably disallow a photo such as this to be taken. What is a shame is to not have their names- the folks from 2015 who can lay claim to all he grgr's here would just be so flattened to see a face, be able to say hello.

Love the little boy in front- why do all little boys that age always look as if they've barely kept still for that photo between trees to climb?

cw 5 gens smiths plantation.jpg
 
This is a family on the plantation of J. J. Smith at Beaufort, South Carolina photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan in 1862 after Union forces had captured the Sea Islands. It's one of four photographs that we have from O'Sullivan taken at Smith plantation. It was probably unusual to have several generations of a slave family given that they were usually broken up by sales.

We had a thread about O'Sullivan in the immigrants forum. http://civilwartalk.com/threads/iri...of-the-overland-campaign-tim-osullivan.99450/

Here are several of the other photos:

jjSmithPlantationBLarge-2.jpg

4sscp42b.jpg

00738v-2.jpg
 
Last edited:
JPK, you mentioned wondering about the names of the people in the photos--I don't have any answers about these particular ones, but there's a wonderful website that features all kinds of information with detailed genealogical resources for those who came through the Low Country of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. It has Freedmen's Bureau records and all kinds of other resources and it gets updated and added to frequently. An impressive website.

http://www.lowcountryafricana.com
 
Some more photos to compare laborers with African American Civil War soldiers:

03373v-2.jpg

29th Regiment from Connecticut at Beaufort, SC (LoC)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top