RARE 1851 VICKSBURG LETTER REGARDING SLAVE TRANSPORT ON THE MISSISSIPPI

Autograph letter signed by Crutcher & McRaven. Vicksburg, [Mississippi], 22 April 1851. 1 page, 8vo, with integral address panel bearing a New Orleans cancel.

William Crutcher (1814–1876) and James Harris McRaven (1814–1860) entered into business as early as 1838, primarily operating as general goods merchants. This document, written to Messrs. Buchannon Carroll & Co. of New Orleans, indicates that they also engaged in slave trading.

They open: “Enclose we hand you...Cumming Stuart Co. at sight for $204.25 for expenses on Negros sent to them for their order by this Boat.”

Later in the letter, after several additional account details, they continue: “The draft on Cummings Stuart Co. we wish you to advise as of so soon as you can. they tell us to collect the amount from the Boat, but the Boat will not advance on Negroes. We have this day drawn on you 5 days after sight for of G.N. Church & Co. for $15000, which please honor.”

The boat in question, the Natchez No. 2, as noted on the integral address panel, was built for Captain Thomas P. Leathers in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1846. A fast two-boiler steamer measuring 175 feet in length, she operated between Vicksburg and New Orleans. Leathers sold the vessel in 1848, though she remained in service until 1852.

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