The Wealthiest Slave in Savannah: Rachel Brownfield and the True Price of Freedom

Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Location
Santa Barbara, California
Here are the first four paragraphs of an article I published last year (all based on original, primary source research). End notes are included for your reference. You can download it for free on my website here:

http://www.davidtdixon.com/free-articles/

I would love to get a discussion going on the subject of slaves and free blacks lending aid to Union forces in the South during the Civil War. Please download and read the short article and reply. Here's the sample:

Charley Lamar was always itching for a fight. Once arrested for illegally importing slaves, he quipped that “a man of influence can do as he pleases.” Lucrative profits from blockade running led him to quit his commission as a colonel in the Confederate army and return home. Savannah was landlocked by the Union occupation of Fort Pulaski and fearful of General William T. Sherman’s inexorable advance from the west. Lamar and other wealthy merchants rode out the end of the war in a city full of blacks and imprisoned Yankee soldiers. Lamar hated them all.

Lamar also resented locals, blacks and poor Irish folks mostly, who shared their meager foodstuffs with the Union captives at the makeshift prison at the corner of Hall and Whitaker Streets. After all, Confederate soldiers reported that they missed many a meal in Northern prison camps. On a given evening, a passing slave could be observed hurling a loaf of bread over the stockade fence or sneaking a pail of milk through to the starving soldiers.

Rachel Brownfield was just the type of “favored slave” that must have aroused particularly visceral emotions from Charley Lamar. Despite her status as chattel property, she parlayed her intelligence and resourcefulness into several profitable business ventures in a pre-war boom town desperate for labor and services. One evening in 1864, Lamar intercepted Rachel on a mission of mercy. The result was predictable.

Lamar did not need to ask where Rachel was going that night. Slaves and free blacks had a curfew in the city. This uppity slave woman was up to no good. Amid a hail of expletives, Lamar kicked over her bucket and scattered Rachel’s relief package in the street. He then drew his sword and threatened to run her through if he ever caught her aiding enemy soldiers again. Had Lamar known the extent of Rachel’s efforts on behalf of the Union prisoners, he might have killed her on the spot.
charley lamar.jpg

Charley
 
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