Feb 21, 2008 - Sale 2137

Sale 2137 - Lot 258

Price Realized: $ 900
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(MILITARY.) Autograph Letter Signed from South Carolina Governor M. L. Bonham to James A. Seddon, Secretary of War in Richmond, Virginia. Concerning the trial of "Negro slaves captured on Morris Island on July 11th and 18th." Single folio leaf, written on one side and docketed on the reverse; creased where folded. Columbia, S.C., Oct. 4, 1863

Additional Details

A letter that was to accompany the minutes of the trial of a number slaves captured on Morris Island. "I have the honor to enclose for your information a copy of the Report of the Provost Marshall's Court to whom the Negro Slaves captured on James and Morris Island on the 11th and 18th of July were committed for trial. After rendering their decision in the case of the four slaves, I determined not to proceed at present. I submitted the whole matter at their late session, to the Legislature as the whole matter seems to have been tabled for further action of the Legislature." It is possible that the slaves referred to were colored troops from the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers who would have been considered little more than "runaways" to the Confederacy.