The Weehaw Plantation Journal, 1855-1861, is a journal of Weehaw Plantation, near Georgetown regarding birth, death, duties, vaccinations, tasks and allowances of enslaved people, plantation expenses, names of overseers, listings of rice crops, clothing for enslaved people, cattle, yearly accounts, tools, usage of fields, vegetable garden production, medicines, house groceries and contracts. The journal is also used as a partial diary regarding the plantation with comments on Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address, secession of South Carolina, the days leading up to the attack on Fort Sumpter, the day of the attack on Fort Sumpter, lists of enslaved persons winter and summer clothes and mentions of recruiting for Hampton's Legion for the Confederate States of America. Loose papers found within the journal contain names of enslaved persons and notes on the plantation.
A handwritten, four-page letter from John Julius Alston to his sister, Susan Alston, in which he updates her on his life at Fort Sumter fighting for the Confederacy. He describes their attacks against the Union blockaders as well as his transfer to a new company.
“Stories Collected from Slaves” by Leonarda J. Aimar is a bound volume of formerly enslaved people's stories. In her transcription, she attempted to capture the storytellers’ colloquial speech, now recognized as the Gullah language. The volume includes a list of addresses, occupations, and diseases of African Americans during their enslavement; an eye-witness account of the Battle of Secessionville on James Island during the Civil War in 1862; how enslaved people were returned to their slaveholders following the Revolutionary War; and an account of Sherman's march from Savannah, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina during the Civil War. A formerly enslaved man, Sam, provides a detailed account of being a butler, coachman, and horse jockey. He also recounts how Union Army Major Robert Anderson took control of Fort Sumter and the events that transpired there on April 12, 1861. Other accounts include an enslaved man’s recollections of his time as a servant to a plantation overseer who sympathized with the Union during the Civil War and formerly enslaved man Jim Alston’s detailed eye-witness account of the 1876 Cainhoy Riot.
A detailed account of the Battle of Fort Sumter from the Confederate perspective, including the lead-up to the battle and the eventual surrender. The pamphlet also describes the battle from an alternate viewpoint on Cummings' Point and an account of an attempt to intercept Union steamer ships.
A pamphlet about Fort Sumter published by the National Parks Service as part of the "Historical Handbook Series." The pamphlet includes a brief history of Fort Sumter, including its construction, the initial bombardment which started the Civil War, it's role throughout the Civil War, and the purpose it served after the Civil War. It also includes a guide and map of the national monument as it existed in 1962.
