Southern Claims Commission
In mid-December 1864, after Sherman’s Army had taken Savannah, a unit under the command of General Kilpatrick was sent into nearby Liberty County, a prosperous farming community. The soldiers camped at the historic Midway Church, and quickly set out in foraging parties to strip the countryside of the supplies the U.S. Army desperately needed.
There were a number of rice plantations near the Church, inhabited at that point mainly by enslaved African Americans, as many of the white plantation-owning families had fled or were serving in the Confederate Army.
Starting in the 1750s, when the first rice plantation owners came from South Carolina to Midway, bringing with them three times their number in enslaved people, Liberty County had been majority African American. Liberty County rice plantations worked on the “task” system. When an enslaved field hand finished his daily task, he could cultivate crops or raise animals for himself, and this was considered his property. Enslaved people with a skill could also hire out their time, and acquire property that way.
The Union soldiers were equal opportunity foragers, and they took all from both black and white, leaving the people destitute.
In 1871, the U.S. Congress created the Southern Claims Commission to consider claims brought by loyalist southerners for supplies that had been confiscated by the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Claimants had to prove that they had been loyal to the Union during the War. The SCC claims provide vivid accounts of the raids and the encounters with the “Yankee” soldiers. At least 144 Liberty County residents, both white and African American, made claims, 86 of which were approved. Each claimant had to answer a long list of questions, provide detailed information on the property that was lost and how it had been acquired to prove ownership, and call witnesses to testify as to both loyalty to the Union and the facts of the case.
The claims constitute a rich trove of information about the customs of slavery within Liberty County, ways of life within the African-American community there, and genealogical relationships, and have been the basis of scholarly writings. However, many people find the old handwriting hard to read, so this project is designed to allow access to the original documents by all.
Some of the claims have survived in very good shape, while others are faded and very difficult to read. Fortunately, there is much repetition between the claims, and each claim has an account of the same events by the claimant and the witnesses, so if one or two people are doing the transcriptions and have knowledge of the names and events, it becomes easier to know what to expect and to see the words.
Following is a list of all the people, both white and African American, who made claims. TheyHadNames plans to transcribe every claim (or part of a claim) that is legible.
Highlighted names in the list below have been transcribed. Click on the name to see the transcript. Names with “(researched)” beside them have also had research done on the claimant. If you would like to request priority processing for a particular claim, please write to us at jnscole@yahoo.com.