IMMEDIATE POST-WAR AGREEMENT COMPELS FORMER SLAVES TO WORK FROM "SUNRISE TO SUNSET" AND TO ABIDE BY "ALL RULES & REGULATIONS ON SAID PLANTATION"
Articles of agreement between John S. Wilson and certain Freedmen & women whose names are herewith attached. Chester District, South Carolina, 1866. Unsigned. Bifolium ink manuscript document, 3pp, 4to. Docketed to verso: Articles of agreement between John S. Wilson and certain Freedmen. Accompanied by two 4 to. sheets, both in pencil, one identifying the freedmen and women by first name, and the other listing crop and provision shares for 24 of those listed. An exceptional document grouping, unique due to the unusual level of detail outlined in the agreement and the large number of freedmen specifically identified in the contract.
Drafted approximately eight months after the Civil War ended, the articles of agreement state, in part: "The said Freedmen agree to hire their time as laborers on the plantation of John S. Wilson from Janry [undated] 1866 to Janry 1st 1867, to conduct themselves faithfully, honestly, civilly and diligently, to abide by all rules & regulations made on said plantation by the said John S. Wilson...agree to hire their time as laborers on the plantation of John S. Wilson...keep no firearms or deadly weapons, nor ardent spirits; nor introduce or invite visitors; nor leave the premises during working hours without the consent of the proprietor or his agent...to take good care of all farming utensils, tools, & implements committed to their charge and pay for the same if injured, lost, or destroyed by their negligence...to work from sunrise to sunset with a reasonable interval for dinner." Wilson agrees to provide dwellings, clothing, and a portion of crops as compensation, minus fines and forfeitures for breach of rules. Medical assistance will be tendered if needed, "the cost of which shall be deducted from his wages...."
Though the Freedmen's Bureau supervised these post-war contracts, they were structured in accordance with the Black Codes passed by the South Carolina legislature in 1865. Labor contracts still gave plantation owners enormous control and power over freedmen, thereby enabling the former enslavers to maintain a system of labor which closely approximated the system of enslavement which had existed in the former Confederate states. Freedmen were, by design, impelled to work for low or no wages, and subjected to strict enforcement, long hours, and a subordinate status. The first document accompanying the agreement lists 42 freedmen by name, presumably laborers party to the articles of agreement, including 28 full hands and 14 half-hands. The second document lists provision shares of corns, peas, syrup, and meat for 24 freedmen. Identified freedmen and women on the accompanying documents include: "Sam," "Alfred," "Blackman," "Bob," "Anderson," "Major," "Mary," "Martha," "Israel," "Bill," "Elizabeth," "Jacob," "Simon," "John," and "Ira."
John Simonton Wilson (1820-1902), whose family plantation was located on Rocky Creek in Chester County, South Carolina, served in the South Carolina General Assembly fro 1855-1861, and voted for secession in December 1860. The 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedule indicates that Wilson and his father enslaved approximately 60 men, women, and children at the onset of the war. During the Civil War, John S. Wilson served in Co. D, the "Chester Troop," 1st South Carolina Cavalry. Wilson was promoted to captain on 2 April 1863 before being wounded on 9 June 1863 at the 1st Battle of Brandy Station. He surrendered his company with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee on 26 April near Durham, N.C.
[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs][Reconstruction, Sharecropping] [African Americana, African American History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation]
Creasing at folds, light toning, light soil, scattered ink spots.
