Willis writes from camp outside Richmond, that he is marching to western Virginia. He has sent his slave, Paris home and is in search of another "boy".
The Account Book of Enslaved Persons Belonging to Henry and Rene Ravenel, 1771-1867 records the enslaved children born under the ownership of Henry or Rene Ravenel. The lists include the first name of the child, their parents, date of birth and occasionally includes notes of death or if purchased by another slave owner. This book contains a second use written upside down and back to front.
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 letter to Woodward Manning from the Quartermaster's office ordering that any surplus of corn available is to be given to the army through purchase or impressment
Letter from James B. Heyward at Combahee to his wife Maria Heyward. James has traveled back down to his Combahee plantation from Columbia with the hope of being able to check on the condition of his Fife Plantation near Savannah, if the news of the enemy is favorable. He apparently enjoys being back on his own plantation writing "it is delightful here." 3p. December 6, 1864.
A letter to Woodward Manning from his brother Ira L. Manning discussing the death of their brother Elisha, the failing cotton crop, the hiring of freedmen, and requesting information on who from their hometown was killed in the war.
A notebook (ca. 1920) containing reminiscences by Rose P. Ravenel, who writes about her girlhood, her relationship with her "mammy" and her French nurse. She describes life at Farmfield Plantation during the Civil War, knitting socks for Confederate soldiers, making paper and envelopes, salt production, molasses candy, flower dolls, and the family's hardships after the Civil War.
Letter from W. A. Browning, private secretary of President Andrew Johnson, to Archbishop Spalding of Baltimore, informing him of the pardon of Bishop P. N. Lynch of Charleston.
“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.
Black-and-white offset print reproduction of the first Cabinet of the Confederate States, including Judah P. Benjamin serving as Attorney General. From Harper's pictorial history of the Civil War.
Caption: 'A detachment of the First South Carolina (Colored) Federal Volunteers, Colonel Beard, repelling an attack of the Confederate troops in the vicinity of Doboy River, Ga. From a sketch by Colonel Brewerton.'
Caption: 'Captain Frazer, of the Twenty-First Massachusetts Regiment, turning upon and capturing his guard while being conveyed to the Confederate camp.'
[Color image.] Caption: 'The citizens of Charleston, S.C., deserting their homes, on the threatened attack of the city by the Federal Forces. From a Sketch by Lieutenant G.P. Kirby.'
Caption: 'Bombardment of Fort Sumter, as sketched from Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, S.C.' Identified in image: Mortar Battery, Fort Johnson; James Island; City; Castle Pinckney; Fort Sumter; Mount Pleasant; Floating Battery; Mortar Battery; Fort Moultrie; Enfilading Battery; Iron Battery; Sand-bag cover for reserve; Traverse behind Trapier Battery and Magazine covered with sand bags.
Caption: 'Battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861--Grand "Skedaddle" of the Federal troops under General McDowell, and of the citizens of Washington who came down to witness the battle.'
Louis Coste, Hal's third great-grandfather, arrived as a Huguenot immigrant from Montpelier, France, in the late 18th century and became a naturalized citizen in 1808. He and his wife, Lucinda Mackey, had three sons, among them Napoleon L. Coste, who went on to have a long and adventurous career in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. That included expeditions with naturalist James Audubon, and the placement of many of the lighthouses and other aids to navigation along the east coast. His most famous deed was at the outbreak of the Civil War when Coste commandeered the revenue cutter, William Aiken, and turned it over to the state of South Carolina. Hal recounts other significant events in the life of N.L. Coste, as well as his son, Napoleon Edward, who also served the Confederacy and later the Revenue Cutter Service. Hal next recounts his memories of his grandfather, Vincent O. Coste, who served in the U.S. Lifesaving Service, which joined with the Revenue Cutter Service in 1915 to form the U.S. Coast Guard. Vincent later commanded the Coast Guard station on Sullivan's Island. Hal next speaks of the lives of his mother and father, before detailing his own time on the island. These include his mayonnaise meal in kindergarten, his learning to swim in the creek behind the island, and especially his passion for surfing. Before ending with his general feelings regarding changes that have occurred on Sullivan's Island, Hal explains and displays the two silver life-saving medals from the Coast Guard that hang on his walls, one for Hal's own actions and one for the incredible story of his great-uncle, James Coste, who in 1898 saved a young man who would turn out to be the grandfather of Charleston's long time mayor, Joe Riley.
Caption: 'The Richland Rifles enjoying the "after-dinner hour," at their quarters on Sullivan's Island, Charleston Harbor, S.C. From a sketch taken on the spot by our Special Artist now in Charleston.' [full date March 2, 1861.]
Caption (in German): 'Das Innere des Hospitals der schwimmenden Batterie im hafen von Charleston.' {Interior of the hospital of the Floating Battery in Charleston Harbor}
