Browse Items (13 total)
- Collection: Black Families in Civil War Maryland
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White Baltimore resident Sarah Alnutt petitions the military for help returning a Black child taken from her residence by family members
White Baltimore resident Sarah Alnutt to Gen. Lew Wallace asking for help returning Black child Dolly Parran, who was apparently taken from her residence by distant relations. Includes a letter from the Baltimore police, who investigated the…
Theresa Duffin reports that her former enslaver beat her after she argued with his wife and that they refuse to return her property
Affidavit of Theresa Duffin reporting that she had a run-in with her enslaver's wife in 1863 for which he severely beat her; she complained to the authorities & they promptly lodged her in jail; the enslaver got her out & told her that if she didn't…
The deputy provost marshal for Kent County reports that local officials used state indenture laws to facilitate the theft of Black children by former enslavers
Bartus Trew (Deputy Prov. Marshal for Kent Co.) to Major Este informing Este that over one hundred free Black children have been bound out by the county Orphan’s Court without the consent of their parents. Trew reports receiving numerous complaints…
Sarah Parsons retrieves her daughters from her former enslaver with help from the military
Saml B Lawrence to Col. Wm H. Browne (AAPMG for MD & DE) directing him to send the deputy pro mar at Salsbury "to compel Joshua W Phillips, in Barren Creek District Somerset Co, to deliver to Sarah Parsons (colored) all her children now withheld from…
Kitty Bowland claims her son was illegally arrested and forced into the Army
Statement of Mrs. Kitty Bowland that her son was arrested and then impressed into the army by the local justice of the peace.
Jane Uncles testifies that her formerly enslaved daughter was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for defending herself during a beating by her enslaver
Affidavit of Jane Uncles, who says that in 1863 her 15 year old daughter was convicted of striking her mistress & sentenced to 10 years in prison; Uncles says that her daughter defended herself from the beating which her enslaver was in the…
Henrietta Emory explains that she is too poor to provide evidence in her pension case
Contains a series of petitions from Henrietta Emory (wife of deceased James Emory) to various claims agents requesting assistance obtaining the back pay and pension due her upon the death of her husband. She spells out the difficulty that many Black…
General Henry H. Lockwood attempts to break up the abusive apprenticeship system on the Eastern Shore, but is countermanded by headquarters
Extract from Samuel B. Lawrence (AAG 8th AC) to Henry H. Lockwood (Comdg. 3rd sep brig) from Special Order No. 112 breaking up the widely abused apprentice system that bound formerly enslaved children to their former enslavers against the wishes of…
Free Black Woman Barbara Diggs petitions for the release of her children, who were bound out against her will
Statement of Barbara Diggs, a free woman of color, whose children "are slaves of Dr. Featherbridge of Talbot Co Md" he "claiming the right of binding them to him." File includes a massive number of enclosures, mostly dealing with apprenticeship and…
Formerly enslaved Matilda Johnson petitions the Freedmen's Bureau for the return of her children and household goods, after which the agency waived her right to her children
Series of complaints around property rights and apprenticeship for Black residents of Anne Arundel County. Of special interest are the two complaints by Matilda Johnson relating to her children and household goods being held illegally by by James…