Lot 527
Receipt for Slave Forced to Labor on the Fortifications at Richmond. One page, 6¼ x 4", Richmond, March 4, 1864. Partially printed, accomplished in manuscript. C.P. Hyde signs as agent for Colonel W. H. Stevens, acknowledging the receipt of "Gilbert slave of A. Cunningham" from C.D. Bennett, Sheriff of Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Toning at edges, else fine.
Slaves were impressed into work on the fortifications surrounding Richmond and Petersburg with great regularity, since the passage of an act in October, 1862, authorizing the Governor of Virginia to call slaves for labor on fortifications and public works. With the South under increased attack by Union forces, the need for laborers increased to the point that in September of 1864, General Lee called for the labor of five thousand slaves for thirty days and the Congress of the Confederacy recognized the necessity of such a move by authorizing his power to do so.
Estimated Value $100 - 150.
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| Realized $109 |
