Summary: David Underwood, a freed man, complained to the Freedmen’s Bureau on Sapelo Island in April 1866 that William Joe Mallard, a white man, had stolen a horse given him by one of General Sherman’s officers. The Freedmen’s Bureau decided the horse or its value should be recovered from Mallard, and Mallard should be fined $50 and pay Underwood $1 for each day Mallard had kept the horse from him.
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Office Freedmen Bureau
Savannah, April 26/[18]66
David Underwood Affidavit
Respectfully forward to Judge A. W. Stone
Requesting him to recover the horse or the worth of him, also that the said Mallard may be made to pay the said Underwood Col[ored] one dollar per day for all the time that Mallard has had the horse in his possession, and also fine the said Mallard 50 dollars for takeing [SIC] the horse from said Underwood.
G.T. Crabtree
Capt. A.S.A. Com. F. B.
Sapelo Island
April 15th 1866
Personal[ly] appeared before me and made Oath to the following:
I David Underwood Col. [colored] do make oath as follows. I had a horse given to me by one of Gen’l Sherman’s officers. At the time the horse was very sick and unable to stand this was in Dec 1865 I thought I would not kill the horse as many advised me but try and nurse him up. I kept the horse and doctored him and took the best of care of him, and after a long time, the horse began to improve. I felt much pleased and if possible took still better care of him. After the horse had got better so that he began to be some use to me, a white man by the name of William Joe Mallard come where I was with my hoe, and took my horse from me. I asked him what he ment [SIC], the answer he made me. A nigger has no right to have a horse or to keep one. He took the horse with him. This was in Liberty County. Mallard took the horse the next spring after I had nursed him all winter. I know of other cases like mine but all of them have had their horses returned to them.
The horse is a large bay with U.S. marked on the fore shoulder.
[Signed]
Geo. T Crabtree
Capt A S A Com F. Bureau
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U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Records, 1865-1878, Records of the Field Offices for the State of Georgia, 1865-1872, M1903; digital images, Ancestry.com [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62309/images/004139867_00132? : accessed 29 Jul 2023], M1903, roll 82 (Affidavits and Papers Relating to Complaints, June 1865-Apr. 1867), images 132-3.