Heyward, William H., 1817-1889 to William A. Williams
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00496.254.06 Author/Creator: Heyward, William H., 1817-1889 Place Written: Columbia, South Carolina Type: Autograph letter signed Date: December 2, 1865 Pagination: 6 p. : Height: 25 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy
One letter from William Henry Heyward, enslaver and proprietor of Clay Hall plantation in Reconstruction-era South Carolina, to William A. Williams dated December 2, 1865. Discusses going to Charleston to receive a pardon and to attain ownership of Clay Hall by the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees and Abandoned Lands. He would be contracting freedmen he had formerly enslaved into a labor contract for cash rather than offering them crops. He remarks: "It only remains for me to enter into contract with the Freedmen (formerly my own Negroes) for the ensuing year-- and although it is difficult to adjust this with so ignorant a set of people, I have great hopes of soon effecting this." Offers condolence on the death of Williams's niece. Comments on transporting furniture and lists several items. On the sixth page is a post script: "If I can only get time to breathe & something done about the Contracts with Freemen this month I hope to go up to Charlotte."
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