- Collection:
- Civil Unrest in Camilla, Georgia, 1868 : Reconstruction, Republicanism, and Race
- Title:
- Affidavit of Jackson O'Brien: Dougherty County, Georgia, 1868 Sept. 23
- Creator:
- Howard, O. H.
- Date of Original:
- 1868-09-23
- Subject:
- African Americans--Georgia--History--19th century
African Americans--Georgia--Social conditions--To 1964
Freedmen--Georgia--Political activity
Freedmen--Georgia--Violence against
Freedmen--Georgia--Personal narratives
Reconstruction--Georgia
Political violence--Georgia--Camilla
Mitchell County (Ga.)--Race relations
Mitchell County (Ga.)--Politics and government
United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
O'Brien, Jackson - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Mitchell County, Camilla, 31.23129, -84.21046
- Medium:
- affidavits
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- image/jpeg
text/html - Description:
- This affidavit of Jackson O'Brien, twenty-two-year-old cottonfield worker, taken in Dougherty County, Georgia on September 23, 1868 by Freedman's Bureau subassistant commissioner O.H. Howard details O'Brien's experience of seeing the bodies of five freedmen in the woods outside of Camilla following the violence that occurred in the town when freedmen along with Republicans came to hold a political rally at the Mitchell County Courthouse on September 19, 1868 and met with the opposition of the townspeople.
Digital image and transcription created by the Digital Library of Georgia in 2001 of a photocopy held by DeSoto Trail Regional Library of an original record held by the National Archives. - Local Identifier:
- cam032
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlcu/id:cam032
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_zlcu_cam032
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlcu_cam032/presentation/manifest.json
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: [title of item], United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Records. National Archives and Records Administration, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia
- Extent:
- 1 page/leaf
- Holding Institution:
- De Soto Trail Regional Library System
- Rights:
-
Page: [1]
State of Ga.
Dougherty Co. [added text: }]
Jackson O'Brien, freed, [added text: [] swears [added text: [] that he saw five dead bodies of freedmen, [added text: 3 1/2X] in a skirt of woods near Dr. Dashers House, near Camilla, three of them lying near together, a fourth about 100 yards farther from the town, and a fifth about two hundred yards from him. That he turned the first three bodies over. That while lying concealed afterwards, he saw a covered wagon, drawn by two mules, and escorted by about fifteen white men mounted and armed, driving through the woods and stopping at different points, he thinks they were gathering up the dead and wounded. That after dark [deleted text: ing] making a circuit to escape, he came into Camilla, that he heard in a closed store there sounds which he recognized as that of a person being whipped, heard the cries and the blows.
Jackson [added text: his] X [added text: mark] O'Brien
Sworn to and subscribed
before me, at Albany Ga.
this 23d day of Sept. 1868 .
[Signed] O. H. Howard
2nd Lieut [Lieutenant] 5th Art [Artillery] Bt Maj [Brevet Major] & S. A. C [Sub Assistant Commissioner]