William Gilmore

William (“Billy”) Gilmore was about 43 at the end of 1864 when the soldiers of Sherman’s Army arrived in Liberty County, Georgia, where he was enslaved on Raymond Cay, Sr’s plantation. Gilmore testified before the Southern Claims Commission in 1873 that the soldiers came first to his home and took all that he had, then went to his wife Hagar’s house on Sidney Fleming’s plantation, six miles away, and took all that they owned there together. The soldiers were like a “trail of ants,” he said, coming and going from their camp at Midway Church until they had taken everything: his horse, his wagon and harness, the cows, hogs, corn, peas, potatoes, rice, chickens, and beehives.

For a full transcript of this claim, see: https://theyhadnames.net/2020/07/27/william-billy-gilmore-southern-claims-commission/. 

Gilmore said that he had been given a sow by an old friend named Sampson Lambert, and from that sow he had raised hogs and also chickens until he was able to sell enough of them to buy a 4-year-old horse, which he had for three years until the soldiers took it. As he got more money, he bought a cow and a calf. He and his wife were able to do this because Fleming and Cay, like most slaveowners in Liberty County at that time, required a certain amount of work per day, then allowed them to work for themselves and keep what they raised.

Gilmore called three witnesses, all formerly enslaved, as well as his wife. William Roberts said he was about 50 years old and had been born on [John] Lambert’s plantation in Liberty County, but was enslaved by Raymond Cay Sr. as of 1864, still lived on his plantation, and had seen the property taken. He described Gilmore as a “hard working industrious man,” and said he had worked on the farm as a wagoner and also had done task work in the fields. About himself, Roberts said he was still on Cay’s plantation as a farmer and also worked as a carpenter and did some blacksmithing during the winter.

Peter Way testified that he also was enslaved by Raymond Cay Sr, and saw the property taken there. He estimated that Cay owned 50 to 60 “head of slaves,” and described Cay as “not so good and not so bad a master,” adding that he never used anything that belonged to his slaves, and would not even ride one of their horses without asking first, though he could have.

Bob Winn testified that he had seen Hagar Gilmore’s property taken at Sidney Fleming’s plantation, where he was also enslaved. He was 42 or 43 when he testified, and said that he now lived at “Mr. Lyons at North Newport Church.” [NOTE: The North Newport Baptist Church was located at the current site of the First African Baptist Church, and Frederick R. Lyons was its pastor.] Winn described how the property was taken, and noted that he had been Fleming’s foreman, so he knew what Hagar and Billy Gilmore had owned there.

In Hagar Gilmore’s 1873 testimony, she said she was about 42 or 43 and that her slaveowner had been Sidney Fleming. She said she had been the one to buy the horse; her husband had given her a sow and she sold the hogs she raised from it for cash and bought the horse. Gilmore had bought the wagon and harness and had given them to her to keep, she said.

The Southern Claims Commission officials were suspicious of the testimony by the African American witnesses, and asked their special agent, W.W. Paine, to investigate. As was usually the case, they wanted the testimony of white witnesses. Paine went to Liberty County and interviewed Raymond Cay Sr., who had been Gilmore’s slaveowner. Cay testified that he knew that Gilmore had owned a horse, and that it had disappeared when the soldiers came and everyone had said it was taken by them, but that he knew of no other property owned by Gilmore. Paine also interviewed William M. Winn, whom he described as a very respectable citizen of Liberty County; Winn said he had known Gilmore all his life and doubted that he had any property. Paine noted that Winn lived 20 miles away from Cay’s property. Another white Liberty County landowner, Dr. E.J. DeLegal, also said he doubted Gilmore had owned the property he claimed.

Sidney Fleming was dead, and since much of the property had been on his plantation, that was not helpful to the claim. Paine said he had talked to one of Fleming’s sons, who said that both he and his brother had been in the Confederate Army and could not speak to what property Gilmore might have owned. Cay’s and the others’ testimony swayed the Commission officials, and they decided to award Gilmore only $70, for the horse.

Gilmore also said that he had done some cooking for the U.S. soldiers after they arrived in Liberty County. “My wife and all my family were so glad to see them they done all they could for them all the time they were in the neighborhood,” he said, adding that when he had first heard about the war, “I felt good and proud, and I said thank God we will be delivered out of bondage.” Even while describing what they had taken from him, he said, “they left us in very bad condition I was willing to give all for my freedom I would not go back into slavery for twice the amount or any amount I value freedom too much to sell it for anything or any price.” William Roberts testified that he did not hear Gilmore protest to the troops about taking his property. “All I heard him say was he was glad, after he heard the condition they was in, that he had something for them,” he said.

Hagar and Billy Gilmore testified in 1873 that they were living on Capt. Winn’s plantation about two miles from Riceboro.