2005-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2005
Manuscript Document Signed, by the 1st Lt. & Adjt. N.Y. Vol. Eng’rs, 1p. quarto, Hd Qrs. Dept. of the South, Hilton Head, Port Royal, S.C. April 1, 1863, being Special Orders, No. 178, in part: “...2d Class Pvt. Thomas Archer N.Y. Vol. Eng. Corps is hereby detailed on Special duty in the service of the U.S. ‘Tax Commissioners in surveying lands of the U.S. to be appropriated for the accomodation of the negroes and for other purposes.’ He will report to the Tax Commissioners at Beaufort S.C. as early as practicalbe...” VG. Unusual. ...plus;Autograph Letter Signed, by the U.S. Tax Commissioner for South Carolina, 1p. quarto, Office of the U.S. Tax Commission, Beaufort, South Carolina, February 29, 1864, in part: “I take great pleasure in expressing my very favorable opinion of the character of Thomas Archer, Private, of the 1st Regiment N.Y. Volunteer Engineers, both as a man and an Engineer. He was several months last year under my immediate observation, employed as a surveyor of our Commission, and I always found him correct & moral...It would afford me great pleasure to hear of his promotion, and I believe he is justly entitled to the rank of Lieutenant...” Fine. (2 items) The problem of what to do with the Contrabands, weighed heavily on the occupying Union forces. One solution was to take land held by slave owners and use the land and its newly freed negroes to produce cotton and crops for the Union army. Two rare documents pertaining to these lands and negroes.
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