?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
(SLAVERY.) Petition to a Union officer to have a runaway slave returned to his owner in the border region of Kentucky. Manuscript Document Signed by 13 parties. 2 pages, 9¾ x 7¾ inches, on one sheet; folds, lacking integral blank; minimal wear. Roaring Spring, KY, 11 December 1861
A petition presenting "the correct facts connected with the elopement Carter Ledford's boy Jacob taken by Capt. Phelps." In the early months of the war, Kentucky had only recently decided to remain in the Union, but was still very much a slave state. This area of western Kentucky was something of a no-man's land, with Union troops only gradually establishing control. A Confederate impressment gang came through under orders of General Charles Clark, hoping to grab enslaved laborers to build Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. A boy named Jacob was among those taken away, but saw an opportunity and ran off, eventually ending up within Union lines under the command of naval captain Seth L. Phelps. In this petition, the neighbors of Jacob's owner attempted to convince the Union officer that the enslaved boy should be returned to slavery.
"A cavalry company by orders of Gen. Clark were pressing Negro men into the service of the S. Confederacy at Fort Donaldson near Dover. A large number of Negroes ran off, amongst them sd boy Jacob. His master being from home supposed his boy would return so soon as the cavalry left the neighbourhood. The report that he was pursued by the cavalry with dogs is untrue, as they had no dogs, nor did they pursue any Negroes to the wood so far as our knowledge extends, & if the boy was run by dogs, they certainly were not from this neighbourhood. All the Negroes were taken by military power as far as we know. Mr. Ledford is a secessionist but a plain farmer who is always at home, quiet, peaceable & never enters into argument unless forced upon him. . . . Hoping the boy may be restored to his master." It is signed by 13 residents of Roaring Spring, who also offer references in nearby Paducah who could testify to their political sentiments. One of the signers agreed with the statement "except the ketching Negros in the woods, as they caught one of my Negros in the woods contrary to my approbation."
