“My name is Richard Bacon. I am 29 years old. I belonged to Laurence Winn. My father was Mr. Tom Mallard’s old driver Joe Bacon My mother belonged to Laurence Winn.”
Richard Bacon, a 29-year-old formerly enslaved man living in Riceboro, Liberty County, Georgia, presented his claim against the U.S. government in 1872 for property taken from him by U.S. soldiers during their raid on Liberty County in December 1864. Bacon claimed the soldiers took a horse, cattle, hogs, fowl, corn, rice, and clothing totaling in value $467.50. The Southern Claims Commission denied his claim, despite testimony on his behalf, saying they did not believe an enslaved man who was so young during the war would have had such property.
[See the full transcript of his petition at: https://theyhadnames.net/2020/08/22/richard-bacon-southern-claims-commission/.
In his 1873 testimony, Richard Bacon said he was at that time living and farming on Robert Quarterman’s land, but at the time of the war he was enslaved by [Edward] Lawrence Winn and living on his plantation about a mile from Midway Church until two weeks after the U.S. Army came, when he moved to Quarterman’s place.
Describing how he earned his property, Bacon said that he had bought the horse as a colt from his grandmother — who let him have it at half price — and raised it. He made and sold baskets, and got some chickens that way, sold some of them and got the hogs that he raised and sold. He had had his mare for four years when the U.S. soldiers came. He worked by task work, and when he finished his task for the day, he made baskets at night. He said he used the horse to ride over to his wife’s home on Mr. Quarterman’s plantation, where she was enslaved.
When the soldiers arrived, Bacon said, they asked him, “Where’s the Johnny’s,” meaning the rebels (Johnny Rebs), and Bacon told the soldiers they were in the woods. The soldiers caught some of them and took them to their camp.
Richard Bacon identified his father as “Tom Mallard’s old driver Joe Bacon” and said his mother, whom he did not name, belonged to Lawrence Winn. He also said that Joe Bacon, Jim Stacy and Richard (Dick) Harden were there when his property was taken by the soldiers. He also specified that Edmund Bacon, Jim (James) Stacy, Scipio King and Scipio King’s father had also belonged to Lawrence Winn and also had horses, with Edmund Bacon having been the driver.
James (Jim) Stacy said that he himself had been born into slavery in Liberty County, and that he was 39 years old in 1873. Lawrence Winn was his slaveowner and he still lived on his plantation. He said he was not related to Richard Bacon.
Richard (Dick) Harden testified that he was also born into slavery in Liberty County, and said his slaveowner was John L. Mallard [see Lazarus J. Mallard’s testimony] and he was a little over 40 years old in 1873. He still lived on John Mallard’s land. He said he had known Richard Bacon since he was a baby, and confirmed that “old driver Joe Bacon” who had belonged to Thomas Mallard was his father. Harden said he had been on Winn’s plantation the day the soldiers came because he had had a wife there, and after the raid he stayed there all the time.
Because the Commissioners did not believe the testimony of Bacon or his witnesses, they asked their special agent, W.W. Paine, to investigate and report. Paine said in 1876 that he had talked to “a good many gentlemen” about this claim, which normally meant he had talked to white men. He said that these men did not think highly of Richard Bacon or that he had the property he claimed to have lost. However, Paine did talk to “Mr. Lazarus J. Mallard, a gentleman of high standing in the county, and whose word can be relied on.” Mallard, who was Thomas Mallard’s son and thus knew Richard Bacon’s father, swore that Richard Bacon did own a horse, worth $70, and that he did own cattle and hogs, but knew nothing about the corn, rice, and fowls, and did not believe he could have owned $50 worth of clothing. He did not know anything about the U.S. soldiers taking the property, he said, but in fact everyone who lived near the Army’s camp had lost property, so he thought it likely. Despite this and the evidence of the African American men who said they had witnessed the property being taken, the Commissioners decided to disregard Mallard’s testimony because Paine had not specifically called Mallard’s attention to the fact that Richard Bacon would have only been about 21 when the soldiers came.
According to his testimony, Richard (“Dick”) Bacon was born in about 1844. He was found in four U.S. census records, and his birth year ranged from 1836 to 1844 in those records. According to the 1910 census, he had been with wife Corine since 1862, and according to the census records, they had at least nine children: Alfred (1866), Anna (1867), Floyd (1868), Amelia (1872), Elisa (1874), Martha (1879), Augustus (1880), Caesar (1883), and Lot (1884). No record was found of either Richard’s or Corine’s deaths but Richard lived until at least 1913, and was not found in the 1920 census. They appear to have lived in Liberty County all their lives, or at least through 1910.
In May 1880, Richard Bacon was the highest bidder on land put up for sale at the Hinesville Courthouse by Sarah A. Way, administrator of the estate of E.B. Way. Bacon bought the 74 acres for $222. It was part of the “Cherry Hill tract,” and was bounded by lands previously owned by W. Quarterman, Joseph Stevens and the E.B. Way estate.
On March 12, 1884, Richard Bacon mortgaged to John Flannery and John L. Johnson, as the company of John Flannery & Co, the 74 acres of land, now described as bounded north by (prominent African American minister) Floyd Snelson and east, west, and south by estate E.B. Way, valued at $222. The mortgage was to secure a loan of $108.32 as part of a contract dated March 12, 1884, in which Bacon committed to ship cotton to this company for sale on commission. Bacon swore there were no other liens on the property and renounced his rights under the Georgia Homestead and Exemption Laws. He was to pay 8% interest annually on the loan.
On May 6, 1884, Richard Bacon promised to pay Theo. Basch “or bearer” $50 within 7 months for “value received in goods and money this day sold me.” To secure the loan, he mortgaged the 74 acres. The deed noted that the $50 had been advanced to him “for the purpose of assisting me to raise a crop.”
On March 5, 1885, Richard Bacon used the 74 acres to secure a loan of $39 from Lawrence Hartshorne of Savannah, Chatham County. On April 1, 1885, at McIntosh, Liberty County, Richard Bacon and Corian Bacon agreed to pay Robert Q. Cassels “or bearer” $25 with 8% annual interest for “value received in groceries this day sold me.” To secure the loan, they mortgaged “our ox of red and white spots underbit in each ear also our Rice Corn Cotton we shall make this year.”
On January 18, 1892, Richard Bacon used as collateral on a loan of $46 from Harrison & Darsey “one cream stallion horse, name Lester, about seven years old, and one one-horse wagon, now in my possession and in good repair.”
On June 3, 1913, J.B. Way sold back to Richard Bacon for $40 the same 74 acres Richard Bacon had bought from Sarah Way, after Bacon had used it to secure a debt to J.B. Way on which he had evidently had to default. The land was now described as being bounded on the north, east and west by the estate of E.B. Way and on the south by the Thebes and Riceboro Road.
Slavery and Parents
In Richard Bacon’s Southern Claims Commission testimony, both he and a witness had testified that his father was the “old” driver (or foreman) Joe Bacon, who had belonged to Thomas Mallard, and that his mother, who was not named, had belonged to Lawrence Winn. Thomas Mallard had died in 1861, and Joe was named in both his will and his estate division. In his will, Mallard left “my driver man Joe” to his wife, Rebecca Eliza Mallard, and Joe was described in the estate inventory as a 63-year-old driver valued at $400. Joseph Bacon filed his own Southern Claims Commission petition, and more information can be found about him at https://theyhadnames.net/2020/05/15/joseph-bacon-sr-southern-claims-commission/.
As for the surname Bacon, there were many intersections between the white Bacon family of Liberty County and both Thomas Mallard and Lawrence Winn. Thomas Mallard’s daughter Harriet married a Bacon, for example, and Lawrence Winn’s father had inherited enslaved people from his aunt Mary Bacon.
Both Richard Bacon and his unnamed mother had belonged to Lawrence Winn, who was Edward Lawrence Winn, who had died in 1863. He had been the son of Washington Winn, who had died in 1856, but whose estate was not divided until Lawrence Winn’s 1863 death. Richard (as “Dick”) appears to have been named in both E. Lawrence Winn’s and Washington Winn’s January 1864 estate inventory. In 1860, Lawrence Winn had also used him and others as collateral on an $18,000 bond in which he apparently bought out his sisters’ — Ann Eliza Winn and Julia Virginia Winn — share of their father’s estate. It is possible that Richard Bacon’s mother’s name is in the 1864 Lawrence Winn estate inventory, if she had not died before then.
Citations:
Censuses:
1870 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Subdivision 181, p. 9, dwelling #76, family #77, enumerated on November 12, 1870, byW.S. Norman, Dick and Corine Bacon household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8/22/2020).
1880 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, District 15, enumeration district 67, p. 7, dwelling #68, family #69, Richard and Corene Bacon household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8/20/2020).
1900 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Riceboro Precinct, 15th District, enumeration district 88, sheet #3, line number 85-89, Richard and Corrien Bacon household, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8/20/2020).
1910 U.S. Census, Liberty County, Georgia, population schedule, Militia District 15, Thebes incorporated place, enumeration district 114, p. 3, line number 37-30, digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com: accessed 8/20/2020).
Deeds
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. U 1884-1885,” p. 64-5, Richard Bacon to John Flannery & Company; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. T-U 1882-1885” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #312, ( https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-R9DB-R?i=311&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. U 1884-1885,” p. 223, Richard Bacon to Theo Basch; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. T-U 1882-1885” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #392, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-R9D3-6?i=391&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. U 1884-1885,” p. 488, Richard Bacon to Robert Q. Cassels; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. T-U 1882-1885” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #527, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-R96S-3?i=526&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. V 1885-1886,” p. 171-2, Richard Bacon to Lawrence Hortshorne; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. V-W 1885-1887” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #111-112 ( https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-GVS3?i=110&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. Z 1891-1892,” p. 323-4, Richard Bacon to Harrison & Darsey; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, Y-Z 1890-1892” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #496 ( https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-55N8?i=495&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. S 1877-1882,” p. 614, George Gould to Richard Bacon, et al; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. S 1877-1882” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #351, (
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RSKP-V?i=350&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. S 1877-1882,” p. 517-8, Sarah A. Way, administrator of estate E.B. Way, to Richard Bacon; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. S 1877-1882” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #301, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RS23-N?i=300&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Liberty County Superior Court, “Deeds & Mortgages v. AM ???,” p. 468, J.B. Way to Richard Bacon; digital image, FamilySearch.org, “Deeds & Mortgages, v. AM-AN 1912-191” within “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” image #281, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RLCL?i=280&cat=292358, accessed 8/20/2020)
Slaveowner Probate Records
E. Lawrence Winn to sisters (naming Dick Bacon)
Family Search.org. Liberty County Superior Court “Deeds and mortgages, 1777-1920; general index to deeds and mortgages, 1777-1958,” Film: Deeds & Mortgages, v. O-P 1854-1870,” Record Book P, p. 54-6 (image #399 and #400). (Link: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QP-RS5D-N?i=398&cat=292358)
Thomas Mallard’s estate inventory (naming Dick Bacon)“Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93T-XYB3?cc=1999178&wc=9SB7-6T5%3A267679901%2C268014801 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Miscellaneous probate records 1850-1863 vol C and L > image 266 of 703; county probate courthouses, Georgia.
Thomas Mallard’s will (naming Joe Bacon)
“Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-993T-XT63?cc=1999178&wc=9SB7-6T5%3A267679901%2C268014801 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Miscellaneous probate records 1850-1863 vol C and L > image 265 of 703; county probate courthouses, Georgia.
Washington Winn’s 1864 estate inventory (naming Dick Bacon)
“Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893L-RJJS?cc=1999178&wc=9SYY-ZNP%3A267679901%2C268025701 : 20 May 2014), Liberty > Wills 1863-1942 vol C-D > image 21 of 430; county probate courthouses, Georgia.