Mar 01, 2012 - Sale 2271

Sale 2271 - Lot 383

Price Realized: $ 1,080
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(MILITARY--CIVIL WAR.) CONFEDERATE. Handwritten claim for the loss of the slave Issac, lost while working on fortifications. Single folio leaf, written on both sides; signed by the claimant, an appraiser, and the local authority; with the blind-stamp of the York District of North Carolina; paper toned with creases and wear at the folds. York District, Dec. 21, 1863

Additional Details

a scarce manuscript document wherein a slave owner sues for the value of his slave Isaac, lost working on the fortifications in North Carolina. Isaac died of meningitis according to the physician's report. A partial transcription of this document reads "That he was the owner of a man named Isaac who on the 21st September last was impressed by Thos. Sepson, a state agent, for 30 days to labor in the fortifications in the coast-said slave at the time was about thirty years of age and perfectly sound and healthy. . ." Isaac was treated by Dr. Henry M. Peoples who attests, along with two appraisers. As the war began to drain the Confederacy of manpower, slaves were pressed into service and many were lost, wounded or from disease. This is the first handwritten claim we have seen. Others are usually printed forms.