They Were Sharp Bargainers

This 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 each day to having a well-substantiated argument.

Unknown artist

Recently, I came across the Southern Claims Commission file of Cato Govan, an elderly African American who was a former slave of Mrs. Govan of Marshall County, Mississippi. Govan's file is extensive, containing both his own testimony and that of more than one witness. Cato Govan lived at the Govan homestead during the war. Unlike other slaves and freedpeople I've studied, who left the plantation for the contraband camp, Govan stayed in Holly Springs for the duration of the war. His testimony provides a clear picture of the wartime landscape, surprising us with the fact that a man like himself could navigate the journey to Memphis via wagon and approval of the U.S. government. Govan's statement is seconded by others. It becomes obvious that he chose to stay in Mississippi because there was money to be made still off cotton agriculture, and he knew how to make it. Govan's statement reminds me of something Charles Sydnor wrote: a black would rather drive his master's cotton to Memphis than to "labor with the hoe gang in the field."

There were many jobs or "occupations" on a plantation, and that of teamster was one of them. It seems very likely that Cato Govan had been hauling cotton for many years; he knew the value of mules--he bought his first pair in Holly Springs off a fellow colored. When he learned they had been stolen, he had to give them up, but somehow he had money to buy more. The government would commandeer Govan's property more than once, but it seems he always found a way to purchase the mules he needed to keep a cotton transport business going. He stated,

I hauled cotton to Memphis. I commenced hauling cotton the year after the Yankees took Memphis, and continued to haul cotton until the close of the war. I got through the rebel lines by traveling at night. Sometimes the federals occupied all the way to Memphis. I never brought anything out without a permit. I never hauled for anybody but myself. I mean I always drove my own team, but I hauled cotton. for any who would pay my price. At first I got $60 per bale, and afterwards $50 per bale freight. I could haul two bales. I could go to Memphis in a day and a night. It is fifty miles. It took the same time to come back. I got the privilege of going in and coming out of the lines-I never was delayed any by them.

Govan added that he had a pass from the government and that as the commanders at Memphis changed he received new passes. Though we know little of it, what Govan's statement recovers is a wartime system in which blacks not in the service and not residing within the camps could nevertheless find employment of sorts with the federal government. It certainly had gotten into the business of growing and selling cotton and of buying it also from those planters, who had signed the loyalty oath. Someone had to deliver the cotton, someone had to gin an bale it prior. Janet Sharp Hermann's relaying of the story of the Montgomerys of Davis Bend indicates not only how deeply involved in the cotton trade blacks continued to be during the war but that they wished to control as much of the process as possible. Blacks knew the whole cotton business, as well as how to make money from its parts. Theirs was knowledge valued during slavery and during the war.

I marvel at Govan's language. "I never hauled for anybody but myself...I always drove my own team...I hauled for any who would pay my price." Govan stated that he was afraid of whites, yet he knew how to bargain. He knew how to demand and get his price. His agency is clear and remarkable. In his sixth decade, he has been a slave most of his life, and yet, ironically, he possesses of a sense of a right to property. Even while still on Mrs. Govan's plantation--from which she is herself absent--he has property, his own team, and, in this way, he has developed a sense of independence. He hauled the cotton of others, but he did so with his own team, to his own profit, not to theirs.

I have faith that the evidence is out there, right around the corner that John Eaton, Jr.'s multitude of teamsters, members of the Invalid Corps, were much like Govan, middle aged men who knew how to make money both before the war and during. There is little doubt that they did not begin teamstering in 1863 or that they hadn't already seen the Memphis cotton market. There is little doubt that they were not sharp bargainers.

*Note: the embedded painting is from my personal collection

Long-awaited Progress

Terrific!

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 great interest, reread the original document in order to find any errors in the first transcription. There were a few. Even more importantly, however, she also completed the second phase of the transcription project by adding to the spreadsheet "work classification" and "health classification."

Reaching this milestone will allow me to begin analyzing The Register very closely. There are many questions that can be answered now. For instance, exact numbers of persons who came out of a specific town or county. How many people were considered totally incapable of work vs. the number capable of doing "light work." Having these numbers of freedpeople coming from each area represented in The Register will allow me to begin mapping the movement of African Americans in the Mississippi Valley and, in that way, to create visuals that allow people to better engage history. When I met with my assistant today, these possibilities and others that I have not described had me doing somersaults.

The next phase of the work involves (1) transitioning from a spreadsheet to a full-fledged database and (2) transferring the hosting of the database to my website host, which will allow finally the ROF to become easily searchable.

Spread the word. New changes are coming to The Last Road site. Until the new year, please visit and take a look at the spreadsheet. I have uploaded a zipped version, so you'll have to download it, and I have also highlighted some of the initial questions I will be asking as I begin analyzing this important record with a fine toothed comb.

I hope you'll find intriguing the two "new" columns.

Enjoy your visit.

Contraband Camps in Mississippi and Arkansas

By 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 Freedom website, based on the references. For now, I'd like to provide a list of camps mentioned.

The following is based on a report by Dr. T.J. Wright, Surgeon of the 64th United States Colored Infantry (dated Feb. 20, 1864)

•  Birney's Plantation in Mississippi ("on the west bank of the river, about two miles below Vicksburg): 600 inhabitants estimated.
• Blake's Plantations: "the first of these...about eight miles from the city on the valley road"; two other places located on the south bank of the Yazoo. 800 estimated inhabitants.
• Brownsville, Arkansas: "a small camp for the reception of freedmen." 
• Davis' [sic] Bend (about thirty miles below Vicksburg). Several plantations are mentioned: Lovel's (200 inhabitants estimated), The Lake Plantation, "three miles from the Lovel Place" (100 estimated." Wright comments that most on the Lovel Plantation are advanced in years, some even in their nineties; The Banks Plantation (100 estimated inhabitants); The Mill Plantation ("one of the Joe. Davis places" about five miles from The Banks Plantation. An estimated 150 living on at the Mill Plantation. The Joe. Davis Plantation (also known as the Hurricane Plantation): 200 estimated inhabitants; the Jeff. Davis or Brierfield Plantation: 200 estimated inhabitants. The Woods Plantation: freepeople here according to Wright were moved between Vicksburg, Goodrich's Landing, and the Bend. Therefore, the estimated number of inhabitants fluctuates from 200 to more than 1,000.
• DuVall's Bluff: "a small collection of freedmen." Wright reports that most of them have come into the lines within the last two months [late 1863 or early 1864]. Estimated inhabitants: 300.
• Goodrich's Landing: 1,500 estimated inhabitants on plantations.
• Little Rock, Arkansas: Wright reports that there are many freedmen in Little Rock, the end of the terminus for the railroad from Memphis. He comments that few freedmen here rely on the government for care. He estimated that 150 were in camp and dependent on the government while thousands more earned a living.
• Millikin's [sic] Bend: 200 estimated inhabitants (some contraband "in the Van Buren charge")
• Mouth of White River (Arkansas): Wright reports that a population of about 300 live in poor cabins are are overcharged for food and other needs. Most work as woodchoppers for steamers along the river.
• Omega Landing (seven miles above Paw Paw Island). At one point in 1864, there were as many as 1,000 here, but 800 were moved to plantations.
• On the Bluff: this camp was considered a "reception" or temporary camp. It contained an estimated 200 people.
• Paw Paw Island: 1,000 inhabitants estimated.
• Pine Bluff, Arkansas: "a very large collection of freedmen." Wright comments that he has seen more sick people here than elsewhere.
• Van Buren Plantation (including the Burns Plantation). Van Buren Plantation estimate: 800; Burns Plantation: 200.
• Young's Point, Mississippi ("on the west bank of the river, six miles above Vicksburg.") 1,000 inhabitants estimated. In addition to the camp, blacks were also housed on plantations two to four miles from the river. Dr. Wright estimates that there are on each plantation 100 to 200 blacks.

From Extracts from Reports of Freedmen

Shortly 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 Boyle and colleagues of the Cedar County Historical Society to thank for making me aware of this fantastic source. (Some of us will want to follow the extracts back to their original documents, tedious work, but undoubtedly well worth the sweat and called for I think.) At first glance, it appears that every camp I was aware of--and a few not--is mentioned in "Extracts." Today, I'd like to offer a few that give mention of President's Island.

The first comes from Capt. Thomas A. Walker of the 63rd, Superintendent of Freedmen, West Tennessee. He is reporting to Lieutenant Jno. F. Perry, Adjutant Freedmen Department, May 31, 1864. In addition to the camp at President's Island, he reports on Camp Holly Springs and Shiloh.

Of President's Island, he writes that in the interest of the camp and to ensure "the dignity and integrity of our organization," he has placed Jno. C. Walker [his brother], who is of Co. K of the 63rd, in charge of the Island. "Under his administration," Capt. Walker reports, "every resource is developing finely." Capt. Walker continues that the agricultural program is experiencing success with "vegetables coming into market." "The farm is," he reports, "in splendid condition." With these successes, "a spirit of unity and mutual confidence pervades the camp."

It may be worth noting that in John Eaton's report of 1864 (published in 1865), his view of the experiment at President's Island seems somewhat less positive (than Thomas's) due to the usurpation of power by the Treasury. It is also interesting that Capt. Walker's report begins with a note of frustration concerning vagrant freedpeople within the city. He laments that there are many such persons who have circumvented the pass system and by so doing found their own places of residence (he implies at exorbitant prices) and their own employments including thievery. He finds such freedpeople a "nuisance" and believes that they will be better off in camp. In accordance with a circular he indicates was issued by the Adjutant of the Freedmen [sic] Department, he reports that he has sent vagrants "and those guilty of offences, to the Island camps."**

Another report comes from Surgeon D.O. McCord, Medical Director and Inspector of Freedmen, also enlisted in the 63rd. June 28, 1864, Dr. McCord reports that Memphis had "two camps and two hospitals, one of which was for small pox cases." Dr. McCord writes that he was first assigned to the care of freedmen but later took on a more general duty, leaving the people with only two surgeons and a number of hospital stewards detailed by Maj. Gen. Grant. One of the two acting assistant surgeons was, according to Dr. McCord, put in charge of the General Hospital and the other in charge of President's Island. Camp Holly Springs and the small-pox hospital were left, according to Dr. McCord, without surgeons. However, he also reports that in February he wrote to the Western Sanitary Commission, the N.W. Freedmen Aid Commission, and Western Freedmen Relief Commission asking for assistance. The Freedmen Aid Commission, McCord writes, sent "ten surgeons and some vegetables." One of the ten surgeons was sent to President's Island.

McCord comments that the improvements at President's Island are more "marked" than he has seen elsewhere in his tour of camps in the Valley. "It is nicely policed," he writes, and the quarters appear comfortable although the hospital is in need of repair. He made an order for improvements.

"Extracts" also contains much information on Freedmen's Schools throughout the Valley. A report on schools on President's Island (January to June, 1865) includes this:

"During the first three months no reports were received, and during March the overflow of the island stopped the schools almost completely. This fact, combined with the return of the best half of the island to its original owner, caused the authorities to remove all the soldiers, and the self-supporting portion of the camp, to other localities, during the last of April and the first week in May."

In light of the above, one wonders what to make of Maj. Gen. N.J.T. Dana's Special Order No. 10, which effectively removed from President's Island "all white persons not directly connected with the military service." The order was effective January 1, 1865.



*Grant's papers reference November 13, 1862 as the date of Eaton's appointment while Special Order No. 15 dates the appointment at November 11, 1862.
**Note that Thomas reference to more than one Island camp. Perhaps this, combined with the captain's dubiousness, suggests that there was a camp for vagrants and one for enterprising blacks interested in farming and gardening; both may have been on President's Island.

As 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 story of Lucinda Humphrey Hays, army hospital and contraband camp worker, as well as the noted founder of LeMoyne-Owen College, in Memphis, Tennessee. Sources that historians at CCHS have tapped into are too numerous to mention in one blog post, so I will instead offer bits and pieces of really significant information (actually, all of it is really significant, but I'll do my best to be selective in this blog).

In addition to this blog is my Last Road to Freedom site, which is undergoing redesign this summer. I am aiming for a greater focus on the war in the west and camps and persons who worked in various capacities in the Mississippi Valley. I will soon have a page on key figures, which will include John Eaton (and other chaplains such as Asa Severance Fiske), Humphrey Hays, brothers Capt. Thomas Walker and John Walker. I may also include something on the 63rd Regiment since it is becoming very clear that this black unit, led by Eaton, played a really important role in wartime Reconstruction.

The work goes slowly, however. At the moment, I am working on a timeline that will reflect the narrative offered by Thomas Knox in Camp-Fire and Cotton Field. Knox was a war correspondent and his recounting of troop movement, as well as his own movement, provides I think a good indication of the various windows of opportunity for African Americans to enter Union lines. Knox's timeline will be cross-referenced with The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant (John Simon, Southern Illinois UP, 1982). Hopefully, this will be the first of several timelines that supplement text with visuals. Speaking of which, I have been having great fun living in Mississippi and taking to the roads to visit the towns where the Union opened camps. Another year will not pass without my visiting the camp at Corinth; however, I suppose that I had not earned the right to visit before accepting that in Mississippi the name of the town is not pronounced in keeping with its Greek roots. Instead, the "o" is pronounced as an "a," and strong accent falls on the second syllable. Car-renth. In any case, I will be there soon. In the mean time, I have taken pictures of other areas including Grand Junction (the site of the first camp after Eaton's appointment) and LaGrange (which must have followed soon after). So, the flag or masthead of the Last Road site features doctored photos, somewhat like collages, taken along Highway 7 in Marshall County. This is not the road that freedomseekers would have taken, but symbolically it sends the right message.

Fall 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 Drive in Memphis across the street from The Ornamental Metal Museum, now on these sacred grounds. The importance of this photo is that it captures--or tries to--the fact that there is below the street level a ravine, the first of two gullies, that divided Fort Pickering from Camp Shiloh and Shiloh from Camp Fiske. There is reason to believe Camp Bethel was also in this same general area, divided from the other camps by yet another ravine. How satisfying to find that these land features remain virtually unchanged after one hundred and fifty years. Because we found the ravines, we could pretty comfortably identify these contraband camp locations. Sadly, however, the place which we have identified as Camp Shiloh is industrial as is President's Island, home to Camp Dixie. From what I could see beyond the tops of these trees and farther along the street, the entire area is covered by massive fuel storage tanks. It also would appear that there is no entry into this privately-held area.

Lack of access and usurpation of this area by private industry don't encourage optimism that the camps can be recovered as historic sites. However, the grounds of Fort Pickering remain lovely and there remain there several historic buildings at least one of which may be prewar. My friend and I asked at the Museum what they knew of the history of the property, and the answer is surprisingly little. Shame.

I'd say it's time for some activism on behalf of history and for posterity's sake. I suppose once upon a time those who spoiled this land could claim they didn't know its historical significance, but I have documents that prove that the entire area was home for many years to freedmen who had escaped from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama plantations--even from as far away as Port Gibson and Milliken's Bend, Louisiana. We know at this point that mere yards away from where I took this photo today there was a contraband hospital, contraband graveyard, and a soldier's graveyard. Yet, there are no markers to memorialize these sites.

At the end of the day, I'm feeling, however, optimistic. After shooting the above photo, my friend and I stood on an incline across the street, nearer to the Museum, under the cover of towering oaks. And behind us were two Indian mounds. Standing there, we literally felt energy flowing through us, a tingling sensation that didn't subside until we had left the grounds. I read on one website that people believe the buildings to be haunted. Sure. Why not? My own explanation, however, for our sensing that we were in a high energy field is that the area just holds so much history even though much of it literally has been bulldozed. I find it deeply disappointing that there hasn't been, at least as far as I'm aware of, any activism surrounding these sites. I may have to educate and agitate.

Oak trees and Indian mound in the background

See other photos here.

DeVall'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 those mustered out in 1866. My own second great grandfather was mustered out here. And if this image of celebration doesn't completely capture the mood of soldiers at the end of the war, there is this. Two men, brothers Solomon and Richard, who had been owned by the same Hull family who owned my Williams ancestors after the war took DeVall as their surname!

President's Island's Sister Camps

I'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 reference, but I see that it earlier referred to the camp at Corinth, Mississippi. I am so intrigued by this name. Was this name used to distinguish contraband camps from other camps populated by white refugees, or did residents of the camps come to think in a conscious way, i.e. a political way, of the camps in this term?

As I search for an answer to this question, I thought it a good idea to remind people who have a President's Island connection or who believe they do that our ancestors likely spent time in more than one camp including more than one Memphis camp since Dixie or P.I. may have functioned at least partly as a processing or registration station. One way to learn what was going on in the other camps is to locate and read the papers or published memoirs of missionaries, teachers, chaplains, etc., for instance, A. Severance Fiske.

Island Residents Confirmed

I'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 were found to live, the number of heads of household on the island in 1870 grew to 683. Once their family members are counted, it may be safe to say that five years following the war more than three thousand people lived on President's Island.

I plan soon to include this information in a pdf. file of heads of household on the Last Road to Freedom website. For now, I am excited about all that I learned while transcribing together the bank records and the census. Data gathered indicate that the agricultural experiment that Superintendent John Eaton, Jr. envisioned and planned during the war came into fruition following it. While President's Island is a diverse community in 1870, including recent immigrants from Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, England, and Italy, 79 percent of residents were African American, 70 percent of residents were farmers, and 83 percent of farmers were African American. Although I have not yet compared these demographics with other areas of southwest Tennessee and northwest Mississippi, instinct would suggest that these numbers will not be matched in places that were without contraband camps. Such a high level of independent black farming is directly a result of Eaton's program. I also found clustered in one section black heads of household who (1) had served in the war and (2) appeared to have been acquainted with each other before moving to the island. In the latter case, a few of these persons seem to have lived under the same masters in the era of slavery.

Two residents provided a specific location for their residences, one my second great uncle Samuel Williams stated that he lived on the northwest side of the island while Marrina Williams (of no known relation) stated that she lived on the Mississippi [River] side. Their directions would seem to suggest that people lived on different sides of the island. I do not yet know if District 13 would have covered the entire island. The photo below, courtesy of Special Collections at The University of Memphis, provides the location of the contraband burial ground. It reads:

I have the honor to request that the land laying adjacent to Camp Shiloah [sic] extending from the Contraband Hospital on the East to the Mississippi River on the West, and from the contraband burying ground on the North, to the soldier's graveyard on the South be assigned for the present season to the Department of Freedmen for agricultural purposes.

from Memphis in Black and White by Beverly Bond and Janann Sherman

Lucinda 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 President’s island. Shiloh is a village of log houses and camp Fiske consists of three long rows of cabins, numbering 109, besides quarters for whites, and the large church and school house. The camp on the island at present consists of tents.*

The authors of Memphis in Black and White remark that Humphrey describes the camps in idyllic terms. Perhaps. I have not yet had an opportunity to look at the Humphrey papers, which are housed at the Amistad Research Center in Louisiana. 


The authors continue, indicating some casualties in the African American transition to freedom in Memphis.

By the summer of 1863, over 1,000 people were housed in the tents at the President’s Island camp. Conditions deteriorated even further when an additional 1,500 freed people were relocated from Corinth to the Presidents Island late in the winter of 1863-1864. In January-February 1865, over 100 people died, including the camp commandant. One observer noted ‘on the evening before last there were five [contraband] came into our camp from Mississippi all of whom were more or less frostbitten. Some of their feet were so badly frozen that amputation will be necessary.** 

*Beverly Bond and Janann Sherman, Memphis in Black and White. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003, 55.
**Ibid., 55.


As with all change, there will be losses and gains. Few writers that I have come across, those associated with the Union army, speaking of life in the camps, have presented a one-sided view. Even in the context of army and philanthropic collaborations that hoped for the best for blacks, there was much to fight against including death, disease and enemies to the cause of African American uplift. Neither an overly negative nor an overly positive view of the camps should prevail but rather a balanced perspective. My own second great grandmother did not make it out of the camp alive. Perhaps she was one of the 100 mentioned who perished in January and February of 1865. I could focus on her death alone or I could consider with this sad fact that four of her children and their father survived.

Women'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 that they, like men, should be put to work, and "work," in their perception was employment by whites. According to Frankel and others, most women would be encouraged to move from the camps to abandoned plantations, where they would function as field laborers. One might conclude that women who remained in camp were either unable to work or found other ways to win a place there. 


The story I love to tell is of Leah Black, a.k.a. Leah Martin, who, after losing her husband at the start of the war, lost also two of her four children. She spent time in different occupied towns, first, Bolivar, Tennessee (in the county that neighbored her "home" county of Fayette); next, in LaGrange, which was in fact in Fayette County (just a few miles from where she likely had lived before the war); then to President's Island and Memphis. One may be amazed at Black's movement, but she was likely being transported by the army via train, and given her later activities, there is reason to believe that she would have taken advantage of the best opportunities offered her. At LaGrange, she worked "on a Government farm for pay." But, once in Memphis, she may have decided to try to become more independent.  According to Fountain Day, who testified on her behalf before the Southern Claims Commission, she moved quite a bit around Memphis. He stated, “I saw her often inside the Federal lines—she was in Camp ‘Shiloh’ of the colored people, & also on President’s Island, while I was in service.” Day adds that Black always talked to the soldiers and cooked food for them.


This freedwoman obviously defined her freedom to include an ability to work and fend for herself. She appears in The Register of Freedmen as Leah Martin, but following the war she either took her dead husband's last name or remarried. Her case gives us some idea of the latitude black women in camp had despite the fact that they were registered as laborers and were probably encouraged to work for others. 


There is no doubt that many black women did work within the camps. The University of Memphis holds several copies of payrolls that include women. (See above picture.) One from August of 1864 (for workers at President's Island) includes Margaret Crawford, Cornelia Davis, Laura Davis, Manerva Davis, Zerena Green, Lucinda Hardaway, Mariah Harris, Jane Harvel, Lucinda Harvel, Martha Holland, Roseanna Johnson, Emily Logan, Ellen Louis, Ann McGee, Cathena McGee, Sharlott McGowen, Rachel Miles, Ann Miller, Alena Mitchel, Emma Moore, Milly Smith, Susan Paine, Fanny Thomas, Clarisa Thompson, Eliza Treadwell, Martha Wilkinson, Sally Wilkinson, and Ann Williams. These women would have worked cording wood, as seamstresses, cooks, and hospital help.  This runs somewhat contrary to Frankel's statement that as a way to coerce them to move onto plantations women did not receive pay .

Pay Roll of Laborers Employed on President's Island During the Month of August 1864

There also were a number of white women on the island, who also served as hospital workers and as teachers.In January of 1865, one official reported to Capt. Thomas Walker: "On President's Island there are (3) three schools taught by (4) teachers with (353) pupils. A night school for soldiers is just opening...In the Colored Orphan Asylum in charge of Mrs. Canfield (50) pupils have been regularly in school under the instruction of Miss Mary Cahill [spelling unclear]." In the fall of the prior year, the Office of Industrial Colored Schools reported: "The removal of the Freedmen [sic] from Camp Holly Springs to President's Island the past month has prevented Miss Eliza Mitchell from operating in her school." Gen. John Eaton himself, Superintendent of the Department of Tennessee including Arkansas, wrote in Grant, Lincoln, and the Freedmen, that Eliza Mitchell was in fact appointed to this position by him in 1863. He added that she found many homeless and orphaned children. She got them under the care of “Aunt Maria” who took charge of the children for about two years.According to Eaton, Canfield's asylum was in the city, and she had 100 orphans there.


Needless to say, this important work, whether that of teaching or that of cording wood, was necessary to the process of reconstruction that began, not following, but during the war.

Reconstructing 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 P.I. but have been actively working on other things including trying to find documents on another contraband camp--Camp Holly Springs. In any case, I do have a few updates on President's Island, more than I can write about in this post, so I will try to find time to write several posts over the next two weeks.

Let me begin with the name of the church in the picture included here. According to the 1937 Press Scimitar article, this is in fact New Hope Church. I am curious about its structure and if it would have survived storms and floods over the years. I wonder this because I have evidence that one of the earliest, probably the first, post Civil War Negro churches on the island was in fact New Hope. This would have made New Hope at least seventy-two years old in the year of the photograph. I know the church was in existence shortly following the war (as an organization if not as a building) from studying Freedmen's Bureau Bank records. According to these records, John Crump (likely a slave of William Crump of Marshall  and Tippah counties.) was pastor of the church in 1870 and probably earlier. This is according to Thomas Downey, who was himself a preacher, who lived on the island.

Crump and Downey both have personal bank account records, and Downey makes an additional application in 1870 for an organization--"Laborer's Treasury." I don't know much about the organization, but many of those who lived on the island were farmers or involved in farm work. I have noticed other organizations with similar titles, so my guess would be that these are early benevolent societies since there certainly were many of these being founded at this time. They provided burial insurance and other benefits.

Many of the newly founded black churches in Memphis also opened accounts with the Freedmen's Bank, so it may seem surprising that New Hope did not have a separate church account. (Actually, I haven't given up on finding one.) It may be that the "Laborer's Treasury" served the purpose of creating a fund for families and individuals, funds that would of course be separate from the church. Yet, possibly many of New Hope's members would have also been a part of the benevolent society. Certainly, Crump and Downey's involvement in both (it was on Downey's application for LT that Crump was identified as pastor of New Hope) suggests an association between the church and the society.

I was delighted to find a bank record for Crump because of a personal connection. My second great-grandfather and his family also were residents of the island, and I learned from his pension file that Crump married him and his second wife--undoubtedly at this very church. Having the photo of it helps me and others to imagine wedding ceremonies, as well as other types of services taking place there.

But beyond the personal, a look at almost a third of Freedmen's Bank records provides a list of others who lived on the island between 1865 and 1870 (and likely longer). They are:

Thomas Downey
David Downey (wife Melinda) (David was in the 64th USCT (Co.D)
Fountain Walker(wife Frances)  (In 1869, he reports living on the island two or three years)
Solomon DeVall (wife Betsey DeVall) (Brother of Fountain. In 1869, reports that he has been living on the island 2 or 3 weeks)
Jo Durham (wife Vina Durham)  (In 1869, reports that he has lived on the island for three years)
Ben Kay Jackson (wife Susan Jackson) (In 1869, reports that he has lived on the island for four years)
Samuel Williams (oldest son of my own ancestor Daniel Williams, with whom he lives)
James Anderson (wife Chaney Anderson) (James was in the 63rd USCT (Co. B).
Isaac J. Walker (wife Ann Walker)
Marrina Williams (husband John Williams)
Aaron Hill (wife Martha Hill)

A number of children belong to these families, and needless to say this list is not exhaustive but simply represents those who opened a bank account with the Bureau between 1865 and 1870. I certainly expect that there will be more to add to the list, those who opened accounts in 1871. My own ancestor for instance did not open his account until 1872, and another son also later opened an account.

I have lots of hunches about this population. Perhaps it is becoming clear here that those who opened an account were leaders of a sort. Most of those listed are working for themselves as farmers, an important distinction from sharecropping and also from the contract labor that was the fate of many in the years following the war. I have no doubt that all of these men and women on the island are renting land, and there is evidence to prove that their choice to remain on the island after the war is directly influenced by the agricultural experiments begun during the war.This is an important point to make because local memory often misrepresents those who lived on the island as being in a refugee camp, and the picture too often offered really is of people who were at the mercy of local land owners. Without a doubt, these African American farmers would have had to negotiate with the owners, but there is reason to believe they were quite capable of doing so. This is an important question for further study, especially since at the end of the war all whites [this was the language used in the order] not connected to the military and its projects were to vacate the island.*

Lastly, it is worth noting that Freedmen's Bank records also reveal many blacks living at Fort Pickering following the war. Many of its residents, some veterans and their families, would have been well acquainted with persons living on President's Island, so I would say that these communities were mutually supporting and mutually interested in the same goals, one being religious instruction and another being achieving independence through farming.

*Special Order No. 10, Paragraph 8: “The exigencies of the service rendering it absolutely indispensable, President’s Island, in the Mississippi river below Memphis, Tennessee, is hereby reserved and set apart for the purposes of the Freedmen’s Department, and is placed under the exclusive control of Col. John Eaton, Jr., General Superintendent of Freedmen, and such officers as he may place in charge of camps, farms, mills or other interests.“All white persons not directly connected with the military service will be required to leave the Island before the first day of January 1865, and after that date no white person will be allowed to land on any part of the same without written permission so to do, either from these Head Quarters, the Head-Quarters District of West Tennessee, the General Superintendent of Freedmen, or the Provost Marshal of Freedmen, and none other.”

One Room School House to Be Preserved

I 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 High campus.

Visit the project blog here.

Tennessee: Guide to the State

This 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 reject this explanation for the island's name.

See also History of the City of Memphis, Tennessee. Here, the editor likewise writes that the island is named after Andrew Jackson. He dates the naming to 1820.

President'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 Archives

Cultural Geography

Geography

Though 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, if not the largest, on the Mississippi River. Its size is approximately 9,000 acres. The island, possibly also referred to as "Great Island," is located three miles from Downtown Memphis (and one mile below Fort Pickering) and can be reached via the Jack Carley Causeway.

During the War

Probably the most exact description of the camp was offered by General David Tillson, at one point head of the Freedman's Bureau at Memphis. Tillson, evaluating the camps in the city, reported that the camp was generally well run but that the streets were poorly laid out.

While most camps have been perceived as wretched, it is clear that refugees at President's Island were not without housing. Someone has referred to the "huts" of President's Island while Coffin noted that housing consisted of tents. Even when Coffin visited in 1863, it would appear that structure-wise and spiritually a community already had been created, for Coffin talks about attending church services on the island.

After the War

Far too little writing on the subject of President's Island has been done locally. From time to time, perhaps every ten years or so, a story will appear in the Commercial Appeal on the history of the island. In most cases, however, such stories suggest that the slave colony was created by the Freedmen's Bureau after the war. While the Freedmen's Bureau did not in fact come into existence until March of 1865, the contraband camp on the island "officially" opened in early 1863. This once-well known fact has been for maybe political reasons mostly lost to history. The correct dating of black residence on the island is important to the process of recovering the physical character of this community. If black residence on the island is perceived, for instance, as short-lived or temporary, this perception provides little ground for arguing that the site should receive preservation attention. Records reveal that blacks in fact lived on the island for as many as one hundred years, from Memphis' frontier era through the middle of the 20th century.

According to Rob Roberson, a long-time black resident interviewed in the '30s, there was once a store, and there was also a graveyard, located at the end of the island. A picture of the church was published with the Roberson interview. Another spokesperson, a white landowner by the name of Joe Sailors, considered to be president of the island, said that on his land, "high and dry in the middle of the plantation [was] a big stretch of sand, the former 'baptising' place for the island."** Between this sacred space and the graveyard, there are ghosts on President's Island waiting for acknowledgment.

*Referred to as President's Island by river voyagers as early as 1811. See Commercial Appeal, 1/19/1947.

**Press Scimitar, 11/2/1937.

Levi 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 living in army tents. He also observed that some blacks were cultivating the land and others were guarding the camp. As a result of this visit (and an earlier one to Cairo, Illinois, also a camp site), Coffin founded the Western Freedmen's Aid Commission. Through Coffin's fundraising, the Commission was able to send supplies including farming implements to this and other camps.

One may safely conclude from this activism that Coffin was a supporter of black farming although little known (or at least discussed before now) is this role that he played in its development. While Coffin seems not to have met Eaton until his visit to President's Island, the two men--fighting for the same cause--corresponded it seems even before their first meeting. In a letter to Coffin, commenting on a perhaps anticipated failure of the government to strongly support the creation of black landowners, Eaton wrote,

We need not faulter at their fault. If the federal government would not lead the way, the field was nonetheless open to 'friends of the cause'. We shall look for implements and seeds at once.**

We know from Coffin's writing that he did in fact send implements to the camp. And Coffin himself began to refer to Eaton and other supporters of the freedmen as "friends." As for Eaton, he seems in this letter to be suggesting that the Quakers will assist in the development of black landowners. The language of this letter is characterized by a degree of secrecy. Perhaps we might even say that Eaton uses code language. Certainly, such obscurity was not foreign to Coffin, who was so central a part of the culture of secrecy that was the Underground Railroad.

Commenting on another camp official, one John Rogers stationed at Cairo, Coffin wrote,

We believed friend Rogers to be the right man in the right
place, and felt much sympathy with him in his arduous task. He evinced a deep interest in the welfare of the contrabands...

Interestingly, much the same had been said of Eaton by Grant, that is, that Eaton was the right man to be placed at Memphis. One gets the feeling that few if any of the choices for camp leadership were made arbitrarily or haphazardly. One wonders just how closely knit however this network of men and women committed to black freedom and black success were.

*Based on Work Among the Freedmen--Visit to Cairo and other Points--Scenes and Incidents among the Contrabands--Condition and Sufferings of the Colored People--Efforts in their Behalf by Levi Coffin, http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/coffin/coffin.html

**Eaton to Coffin, March 27, 1863, BRFAL-GSC, Letters sent., Vol. 74; cited in From Contraband to Freedman, Federal Policy Toward Southern Blacks, 1861-1865, Louis S. Gerteis, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1973, 121-22.

New Hope (Negro) Baptist Church

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)

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 honeysuckle vine'."

This is one of few articles that tell the story of black inhabitance of the island. Unfortunately, it is spiced with stereotypical description. Still, I was pleased to find the photograph of the church. I'm sure there's an interesting story behind its founding. The article also mentions the existence of a cemetery near the end of the island. My ancestors lived on the island for twenty years--roughly between 1863 and 1885--and another blogger, A. Walton, has written that he also had an ancestor who lived on the island. Key to resurrecting the history of black residence on the island is (1) finding others whose ancestors made it home, (2) absorbing the idea that the history of the island points determination, self-reliance, resiliency, and ingenuity on the part of our ancestors, and (3) seeing the relevance of this and other aspects of our history. Contrary to the stereotypical description of "happy and carefree" Negroes, African Americans who settled on the island moved quickly toward building institutions such as this one and building a financial base through farming.

Today of course this awesome and inspiring history has been covered over in the name of progress and forgetting. The island is dominated by industry. President's Island is essentially an industrial park. While Memphis' leaders have yet to discover and publicize the role that contraband camps played in the creation of black communities in Memphis, it is high time that someone begin this campaign of recognition.

Can I count you in?

Be sure to check out: http://blackfarmers.blogspot.com/

Alisea