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to Randall Gibson

A house slave has become less of a favorite and was sent down to the fields. She discusses plans to dig a ditch to provide drainage near the house.

GLC04501.058

[Receipt for purchase of Frank, an enslaved man]

One receipt belonging to Alfred A. Rowlands for the amount of $1,250 to purchase an enslaved man, Frank from Rowlands. Docket indicates Frank was sold as property by Tobias Gibson on behalf of his daughter, Sarah [Gibson] Humphreys.

GLC04501.073

to his sister Sarah Gibson

The first letter is written by Hart Gibson. He informs his sister of his progress in school. He writes about the family and his displeasure with President elect Polk. He also reports that Miss Webster, Toby and Claude's old teacher, has been...

GLC04501.075

to Tobias Gibson

Hailstorms ruined some of the cotton crop. The cotton gin processes about 12 bales a day. Sickness on the plantation has taken the lives of five slaves, all under the age of four. Albert lost two slaves, one 17 years old and the other 20. A...

GLC04501.082

to Sarah [Gibson] Humphreys

Writes that he has just arrived and that both the cash crop and the provision crops are doing well. He wishes he could bring surplus hands from Sumners Forest to Live Oak to help with the sugar grinding. He feels guilty about leaving Loula and Hart...

GLC04501.087

[to Tobias Gibson]

He discusses a recent letter from home and the Currency Bill passed by the Confederate Congress which discounts notes at approximately 83 %. He also writes his views on slavery, "There is no such thing as satisfying a negro without slavery. They do...

GLC04501.094

[to Loula Gibson]

The recipient is inferred from the content of the letter. Gibson completed an "unpleasant affair" (settled a contract) with the hands who will work on the plantation. He bitterly complains of being under the rule of the Provost Marshall and Federal...

GLC04501.095

to Sarah [Gibson] Humphreys

He writes that "The blacks are getting worse every day & at the end of this year I think they will be intolerable on account of bad work and the condition of the crops. I told them they must work on Saturday evening last - but they would not do it...

GLC04501.097

To his wife

Farm work (neighbors helped put-in crops), more rumors of Richmond's capture, drills, call for 100,000 men: "I think that the best way to end the concern [of enough men] would be to enlist and arm the contrabands for all the darkeys I have talked...

GLC04558.025

To his wife

Still in hospital, Regiment at Norfolk. Mail, picking whortle berries, wishing he could help on the farm, different tent styles. "There are about three hundred Contrabands sent from this island the other day to Newburn to go to school."

GLC04558.031