tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46855447268072783532024-02-06T21:10:06.460-08:00President's IslandThis island, located in the Mississippi River off of Memphis, was once home to hundreds of black refugees who fled plantations and farms in northwest Mississippi and Tennessee.alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-4377755061285277112014-07-06T10:54:00.002-07:002014-07-06T10:54:53.815-07:00They Were Sharp BargainersThis time last year I delivered a paper at the National Underground Railroad Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas titled--They Were Sharp Bargainers. For several years now, I have worked to put together a radically different view of African Americans during the Civil War, based on the idea that many blacks were busy finding ways not just to stay alive but to make money. I am closer and closer eachalisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-16752782141179109762013-12-12T14:39:00.000-08:002013-12-12T14:45:25.467-08:00Long-awaited ProgressTerrific!
Finally, after more than two years, I have, with the help of a very capable professional, transferred the Register of Freedmen to a spreadsheet. (Seems an easy task, but when your research has gone without funding...). In any case, it's done, and needless to say I feel fantastic about it.
In addition to the mechanics of the transition, our tech expert also painstakingly, and with alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-34129363528462033992013-08-09T22:04:00.000-07:002013-08-09T22:04:52.100-07:00Contraband Camps in Mississippi and ArkansasBy Special Order of the Gen. Superintendent of Freedmen John Eaton, the Rev. Joseph Warren, D.D. was charged with publishing extracts from documents from the Department in answer to the interests of "friends of the Government and of the Freed People." The Second Series published by Warren contains many references to contraband camps in the Mississippi Valley. I will be updating the Last Road to alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-41951538424112693272013-07-21T12:21:00.000-07:002013-07-21T12:21:04.982-07:00From Extracts from Reports of FreedmenShortly after John Eaton was appointed Superintendent of Freedmen in Tennessee and Arkansas (November 13, 1862*), he appointed several assistant superintendents. Fortunately, in addition to Eaton's Report of the General Superintendent of Freedmen, we have also Extracts from Reports of Superintendents of Freedmen. This 147-page document is full of references to camps in the west. I have Mike Boylealisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-82296207312474904182013-07-21T09:14:00.000-07:002013-07-21T09:14:16.973-07:00As of today, this blog has drawn over three thousand viewers, so I reason that there are lots of people out there who are interested in the subject of contraband camps in general and of President's Island in particular.
A new development this summer is that I am teaming with some very fine folks at the Cedar County Historical Society (Tipton, Iowa), who have shown deep devotion to telling the alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-87703066922150923352012-11-10T20:13:00.001-08:002012-11-10T20:13:25.107-08:00Fall Day on the Grounds of Fort Pickering
On Riverside Drive, street level, above ravine below
A good friend and I, a fellow family history buff, spent the afternoon on what we understand to be the grounds of the old Fort Pickering, home to several United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. I'm still recovering from our visit, which was awesome in so many ways.
The photo above was taken at the dead-ending of Riverside alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-20316544578103435192012-09-09T15:56:00.000-07:002012-09-09T15:56:49.394-07:00DeVall's (DuVall's Bluff)Two important Civil War sites I've visited lately--Cairo, Illinois and DeVall's Bluff, Arkansas--have seen better days; however, despite the fact that progress has not favored these towns, they remain awesome places to visit.
Many of the soldiers enlisted in Memphis, TN or in Corinth, Mississippi would have been mustered out at Devall's Bluff. The image above depicts a celebration of alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-42677917895188089132012-07-01T15:38:00.002-07:002012-07-01T15:38:35.068-07:00President's Island's Sister CampsI'm going over my notes on Superintendent of Contraband John Eaton, Jr. and I notice the second reference I've seen in the literature to "The Colored People's Camp." I have written elsewhere that there were six camps in Memphis: Bethel, Chelsea, Dixie (on President's Island), Fiske, Holly Springs, and Shiloh. I think Eaton has spoken of Fiske as the main camp. TCPC refers to Camp Shiloh in one alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-53560046760772788042012-06-22T10:13:00.000-07:002012-06-22T12:40:49.112-07:00Island Residents ConfirmedI've spent the last two months studying Freedmen's Bureau Bank records for Memphis, culling from them residents of President's Island. Thirty-four such persons claimed to live on the island. Their family members bring the total to 105. This, however, I would later discover to be a mere tip of the iceberg. After transcribing District 13 for Memphis, the district in which those with F.B.B records alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-56047745755186866602012-05-29T08:13:00.002-07:002012-05-29T08:14:51.289-07:00from Memphis in Black and White by Beverly Bond and Janann ShermanLucinda Humphrey, a teacher on President's Island, is quoted:
The contraband camps at the post of Memphis,
three in No., are beautifully located. A deep ravine south of the city
separates the fort from Camp Shiloh, and another ravine just below separates
Shiloh from Camp Fiske. These are on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi
and opposite—a little south of this camp is camp Dixie on the alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-46238953296142046812012-04-25T19:38:00.000-07:002012-04-25T19:41:28.828-07:00Women's Work on President's Island
,Freedwoman Leah Black arrived at President's Island after spending time at LaGrange, Tennessee
Imagining what life was like on President's Island during the war must include a picture of what women were doing there. One way to frame the picture is to consider the thesis of Noralee Frankel, who writes in Freedom's Women that the general view of black women by army officials was thatalisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-22831312206369646452012-04-24T19:13:00.000-07:002012-04-24T19:13:41.464-07:00Reconstructing President's Island
This photo of the New Hope Baptist Church appeared in the Press-Scimitar, November 2, 1937.(From the files of the Memphis Public Library, Central Branch)
It's actually been more than three years since I posted a picture of New Hope Church on President's Island. I'm re-posting that picture in this update. Needless to say, in the last three years I have not stopped thinking about alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-73153779953207335072011-03-31T18:19:00.000-07:002011-03-31T18:24:35.922-07:00One Room School House to Be PreservedI recently learned of East High School history teacher Mark Scott and his students' attempt to preserve a one-room school house once located on President's Island. The students have been researching the history of the school including conducting oral history interviews. They have developed a blog around the project which hopes to have the building moved from the MidSouth Fairgrounds to the East alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-64724075493397876472009-04-30T11:11:00.001-07:002009-04-30T11:41:28.781-07:00Tennessee: Guide to the StateThis volume, published by the Federal Writer's Project, provides a paragraph on President's Island. Read it here. Either I have grossly underestimated the size of the island, or this publication grossly overestimated it, but the stated size in this text is 32,000 acres.The article also states that the island was named after Andrew Jackson, who for a time owned land there. Most people I believe alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-88097540613481578802009-04-30T11:11:00.000-07:002009-04-30T11:12:20.078-07:00alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-90046222692910950912009-04-27T16:51:00.000-07:002009-04-27T17:38:57.812-07:00President's Island, Aerial View Click here. The island appears in the distance. The elevation is 700 ft.Photo courtesy of the Tennessee State Library and Archivesalisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-39193338402082450992009-03-09T09:14:00.000-07:002009-03-09T11:57:11.181-07:00Cultural GeographyGeographyThough President's Island* has always suffered flooding, it is said to exist on high ground. Though people assume that the island is named after Andrew Jackson, who appears to have once owned land there, the name predates this history. The truth is that the island, earlier called President Island, was so called because of its size. Known also as Island No. 45, it is one of the largest, alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-63333692633948728682009-01-13T16:12:00.000-08:002009-01-13T17:05:07.993-08:00Levi Coffin, abolitionist and "president" of the Underground Railroad, visits President's Island*In May of 1863, well-known abolitionist Levi Coffin visited President's Island, as well as several other camps in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. At President's Island, he met John Eaton, then a colonel and superintendent over contraband in the West.According to Coffin, the camp had been recently formed, and the freedmen (as they were now called since the Emancipation Proclamation) were alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-34611971144268684192009-01-04T11:31:00.000-08:002009-01-05T11:06:38.219-08:00New Hope (Negro) Baptist ChurchThis photo of the New Hope Baptist Church appeared in the Press-Scimitar, November 2, 1937. (From the files of the Memphis Public Library, Central Branch)An excerpt from the article reads:"The negroes on 'Mr. Joe's' place are happy and carefree. There is a negro Baptist church on the island and one old negro said when services are held' members come out of the bushes like bees out of a alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4685544726807278353.post-59664775272563587502008-11-09T14:26:00.000-08:002008-11-09T14:37:48.245-08:00Memphis' contraband campsA few years ago, I learned that my great-great grandfather, Daniel Walker Williams, had lived on President's Island for about twenty years. At the time, I had just begun researching his life and our family's history in Memphis, so I also then knew little of President's Island. I learned of his residence there after finding a Freedman's Bank record on which this residence was listed. Since then, alisea mcleodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03312119205535954654noreply@blogger.com5