Item #7850 [Autograph letter, signed, by Justin Shapley to Johnson Shapley touching on a slave auction in Georgia and the Indian Wars in Florida.]. Justin Shapley.
[Autograph letter, signed, by Justin Shapley to Johnson Shapley touching on a slave auction in Georgia and the Indian Wars in Florida.]

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[Autograph letter, signed, by Justin Shapley to Johnson Shapley touching on a slave auction in Georgia and the Indian Wars in Florida.]

Augusta, Georgia, 10 January 1836. 4 pp. in ink on yellow paper. CONDITION: Good, a few minor separations along old folds, a few minor stains, no losses to the text.

A substantive letter by a native of New York State writing from Georgia who was headed to Florida, referencing the Second Seminole War (1835–42) and offering an eye-witness description and opinions of a slave auction in downtown Augusta.

Justin Shapley (?–1892) opens this letter to his family back home in Hamilton, Madison County, New York by reporting that he has recently reached Augusta, Georgia via railroad by way of Utica, New York and then Charleston, South Carolina. He notes that it was his intention to have left for St. Augustine, Florida before this time, but he has “been prevented by the Indian hostilities in Florida.” He continues:

Feeling no disposition to cope with the savage, I deemed it expedient to remain where I am, for, were I to go among them, I might stand (as the Georgians say) a smart chance to get kildt. They have collected a force of about two thousand & are committing (as you will perceive by a paper I sent you yesterday) fearful depredation in different parts of the territory. St. Augustine has not yet been attacked but the excitement there is intense & are in constant apprehension of danger from the enemy. It would be an easy matter to subdue them, would they present themselves in open field, but their mode of warfare is in ambush & therefore difficult to conquer. … Unless the trouble with the [Seminole] Indians in Florida is reconciled soon, or at least suspended for a time, I shall probably remain where I now am.

Shapley notes that he is pleased with the South and particularly Augusta, Georgia thus far, which he writes presently embraces a population of 8,000 African Americans. He comments on the manners and customs of Southerners, who “differ widely from those of the north”: “they are in general very hospitable & attentive to strangers & acquire their money with so much ease, that they are both indolent & extravagant & devote much time to sporting.” Identifying cotton and rice as Georgia’s principal products, he then offers a snapshot of Augusta: “The streets of Augusta are constantly thronged with waggons loaded with cotton drawn by mules three span or six mules generally constitute a team for one waggon, with a negro driver seated on the near wheel mule. It is not unusual to see an ox harnessed by the side of a mule. With bit in mouth & sometimes they ride tantrum, with the ox on the lead—what a ridiculous spectacle this would be at the north.” Shapley then describes a slave auction held in Augusta, claiming that slaves aren’t as badly treated as reported in the north, as if the observation of a single slave auction (egregious enough in itself) were sufficient to judge the entire system:

Aug. 1st is the time for selling & hiring out negroes. I walked down to the market on that day around which the negroes, their masters, & the citizens were assembled. When the sale commenced the negroes both male & female were presented on a stand & sold under the hammer at from 3 to 10 hundred dollars each. Others were hired out at from 5 to 10 dollars per month, both in selling & hiring out, the separation of husband & wife is if possible avoided. & notwithstanding all this, they appear & I candidly believe they are much happier & better off than a majority of the free negroes at the north. Whipping them to the extent reported at the north is all a farce, it is practiced by some masters upon those who deserve it though I have not witnessed it in a single instance.

In closing, he writes that he is currently boarding at the Planters Hotel, which was kept by Samuel Hale Esq., Mayor of the city.

A good letter with engaging commentary on the southern scene, and most notably, on one of the most notorious features of “the peculiar institution.”

Item #7850

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