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Summary: South Carolinian Wilmot DeSaussure transmits the report of General William Walker’s aide to Governor Bonham, detailing a recent raid for fugitive slaves and the status of refugee slaves within territories conquered by the Union army. Wilmot G. DeSaussure. Letter Signed as General, to Gov. Bonham of South Carolina. Charleston, S.C., August 7, 1863. 2 p. Inventory# 21361 $3,750 Draft Transcript:
"Charleston/August 7th 1863./
To His Excellency Governor M. L, Bonham,
Sir
I have the honor of submitting to you an extract from a letter written by a member of Genl Walker’s staff, which extract I read you this morning and of which you expressed a desire to have a copy.
The extract is as follows,
“A recent raid was made by order of Genl Walker on Barnwell’s Island by some of our troops under command of Capt M. I. Kirk, 31 negroes were taken 4 of whom were men the rest women and children, 3 of the men had been drafted for the 2nd So. Ca. Regiment but had run away, two of them were there a week and one three weeks, they represent many of the negroes as being very unwilling to be made soldiers of but say they are forced to be and are even hunted down in the woods and marches to be taken several have been shot in the efforts to take them. They say the Fernandina negros are active soldiers and are used against them, some of our own negros volunteer. Most of the negros are left on the plantations and plant [2] provisions under a white Superintendent the task they do is almost the same they did for us 1/2 of the produce goes to the Yankeys, the rest to the negros. They are not fed or clothed by the U. S. Government most of them are wearing they say the clothes their Owners gave them except what they have purchased for themselves. They make a little money by selling eggs chickens watermellons etc: They represent that many of the negros would be very willing to come back to their owners if they could, but that their boats have all been taken and they are told if they come to us, we will shoot them, others are perfectly content to remain. The negros from the Combahee raid were all carried to Beaufort the infirm men, women and children were left there, and the prime men without being allowed to go on shore were carried to Hilton Head and from there to Folly Island to work on the Batteries, most of them object to their being made soldiers of, or work on the
entrenchments, but were forced off.’
I am Sir with great respect/ Your Excellencys/ Obt Sert
Wilmot G. DeSaussure/ A.D.C.”
Historical Background:
This fascinating letter from Wilmot DeSaussure, who assisted in the naval defense of Charleston in 1863, to South Carolina Governor M.L. Bonham, sheds new light on the status of refugee slaves in coastal South Carolina and of the response of state authorities to the threat of the Union Army to slave property. DeSaussure reports the notion that many on the African-American refugees were dissatisfied with the federal occupation, with some refusing to be pushed into military service in the 2nd South Carolina. He does report that the slaves who tilled the fields earned a share of the produce and could plant their own crops and raise livestock to an extent. Walker’s aide maintains that slaves would rather rejoin their masters, but were reluctant to do so because federal officers warned them that they would be shot if they did so.
Wilmot DeSaussure was a South Carolina militia general who served capably in the defense of his native Charleston through much of the Civil War. He was later appointed Adjutant General of South Carolina by Governor M.L. Bonham. William Walker was an Inspector General within Beauregard’s Department of South Carolina and Georgia in 1863. His staff member describes Walker’s raid, in part directed against federal troops and refugee slaves involved in the “Port Royal Experiment.” In coastal South Carolina and in other parts of the South occupied by federal troops, thousands of slaves ran away from their masters. Union officers, often on their own initiative, took in slaves as “contraband” and enlisted them in the Army or put them to work under new terms of labor on confiscated plantations. The 2nd South Carolina Regiment, referred to in this letter, was one such unit in the Union Army manned by refugee slaves.
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