- No1
William C. Towle letters
More About This Collection
Creator
Towle, William C., active 1830
Date of Original
1865
Subject
Slavery--Georgia--History
Augusta (Ga.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Savannah (Ga.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Slaves--Emancipation--Georgia
Enslaved persons--Emancipation--Georgia
Georgia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care
People
Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889
Location
United States, Georgia, Chatham County, Savannah, 32.08354, -81.09983
United States, Georgia, Richmond County, Augusta, 33.47097, -81.97484
Medium
letters (correspondence)
correspondence
Type
Text
Description
Two letters written by Union surgeon William C. Towle to his wife. The first letter is dated February 26, 1865, and details Towle's time in Savannah, Georgia, with the army and the newly free enslaved people he has hired since arriving. "I am living well, I pay a colored woman three dollars a month to cook for me, I have a man to take care of my horses and another to wait upon me..." The second letter is dated May 29, 1865, and details his time in Augusta, seeing Jeff Davis pass through the town, and his knowledge of newly emancipated enslaved people who are told to "not consider the word Freedom as meaning Freedom from labor." Towle ends his second letter by promising to send "a negro girl" to his wife. William C. Towle was a Union surgeon with both the 12th Maine Veteran Battalion and the 8th Indiana Veteran Volunteers during the Civil War.
Language
eng
Holding Institution
Hargrett Library
Rights
