A Gang of 97 Prime and Orderly Negroes by Alonzo J. White & Son. Letterpress handbill. Charleston, South Carolina, 28 [January 1864]. 4 pages, 4to, 7 5/8 x 10 3/4 in. 

AUCTION CATALOGUE ISSUED TO POTENTIAL BUYERS OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE IN CHARLESTON, WITH NOTES RECORDED BY AN ATTENDEE.

An extraordinary and sobering artifact of Charleston’s slave trade, directly tied to one of its most notorious traders, Alonzo J. White (1812 - 1885). Issued at the height of the Civil War, this auction handbill/catalog advertises “a gang of ninety-seven remarkably prime and orderly Negroes, for a long time accustomed to work together as a gang.” Among them were carpenters, coopers, shoemakers, and harness makers, noted for their skills and labor value. The handbill even offers the option of purchasing the entire group, “as an entire gang at Private Sale.”

Each individual is listed by name, age, and customary work, often with additional remarks. Families are grouped together, though still marked for sale. This copy bears extensive contemporary annotations: someone who ostensibly attended the sale has corrected names, created groupings, and added details of skills; another hand in pencil has recorded prices, likely in Confederate currency, beside most entries. These notations strongly suggest that this example was carried and actively used by a prospective buyer during the auction itself.

The sale was advertised at least four times in the Charleston Mercury (January 11, 12, 20, and 27, 1864), using nearly identical language to the handbill. These notices firmly date the auction to January 1864, reinforcing the persistence of the "peculiar" institution even after the Emancipation Proclamation and amid advancing Union armies. White apparently remained unshaken, continuing to profit from human bondage until the very eve of slavery’s destruction.

Alonzo J. White was born in Charleston and entered the slave trade in 1833 at age 21, becoming a junior partner in the firm of Jervey, Waring & White. That same year, the firm announced its services in the Mercury, promising “continued industry and attention.” Among their earliest major undertakings was the infamous sale of the John Ball, Jr. estate—auctioning approximately 600 enslaved people, the largest single sale in U.S. history.

By 1840, the partnership dissolved, and, in January 1841, White established his own brokerage. His first private sale offered “a very prime gang of seventy-six Negroes, accustomed to the culture of Rice and Cotton.” For the next 23 years, White’s advertisements filled Charleston newspapers, announcing auctions and private sales of enslaved men, women, and children in groups often numbering in the dozens.

White’s personal life is intertwined with his trade. He married Eliza Marie Ingraham in 1838, with whom he had eight children. By census records, he also directly enslaved individuals in his own household, five in 1840, nine in 1850, and sixteen by 1860. On October 2, 1860, he announced a partnership with his eldest son, Abbott Brisbane White (1838–1867), thereafter conducting business as Alonzo J. White & Son.

Following the Confederacy’s defeat and the fall of Charleston, White petitioned for a pardon under the amnesty program, swearing allegiance to the Constitution and acknowledging the emancipation of enslaved people. By 1866, he had shifted his business into real estate brokerage, but his decades-long career as one of Charleston’s leading slave dealers remained his enduring legacy.

This annotated auction handbill is a historically significant document, bearing direct witness to the persistence of the slave trade in Charleston as late as 1864, and to the systematic commodification of human lives by one of the city’s most prolific traders.

VERY RARE. Printed slave auction handbills with such a wealth of information about the enslaved individuals are exceedingly scarce. 

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