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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Size | 1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 19 items) |
Abstract | The collection contains information about the people enslaved by the white Manigault family on their rice plantations, Silk Hope in Berkeley District, S.C., and Gowrie and East Hermitage on Argyle Island on the Savannah River in Georgia. Plantation journals kept between 1833 and 1897 by Charles Manigault (1795-1874) of Charleston, S.C. and his son Louis Manigault (1828-1899) include lists of enslaved people at the three plantations and anecdotal information about the free Black communities in South Carolina and Georgia during and after the American Civil War and emancipation. Compiled by the Manigaults for the purpose of recording cloth and blanket distributions, the lists of people they enslaved typically provide first names and familial relationships especially those of parent and child and husband and wife. Additional though inconsistently recorded information on the lists includes ages, occupations on the plantations, disabilities such as blindness, self-emancipation attempts, sickness especially from cholera, deaths, births, and the dates and monetary amounts related to the trafficking of people in the internal slave trade. A photograph of Dolly, a Black woman who emancipated herself on 7 April 1863, is pasted to Louis Manigault’s “runaway slave” notice in volume 3. Other papers include Charles Manigault’s will, essays he wrote on slavery and other topics, a lengthy manuscript autobiography by his son Gabriel Edward Manigault (1833-1899), a physician and curator of the Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston, and an album compiled by Louis Manigault about the Civil War that is accessible only on microfilm. |
Creator | Manigault (Family : Charleston, S.C.) |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, June 1990
Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, May 2005
Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, October 2009; Laura Hart, November 2018 and February 2020; Nancy Kaiser, November 2020
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
The Manigault family of South Carolina and Georgia was large and powerful. Materials in this collection relate chiefly to the following individuals.
Charles Manigault (1795-1874) was born in Charleston, S.C., and spent his early life in New York and Philadelphia. He was at the University of Pennsylvania in 1814 when, as a member of the militia, he was called out to defend the city from the British. Charles became a merchant and traveled widely, visiting Asia, Australia, and South America. In 1823, he returned to South Carolina and acquired the Silk Hope plantation at the head of the Cooper River in the Berkeley District of South Carolina. In 1833, he bought rice lands on Argyle Island in the Savannah River, several miles upstream from the port of Savannah. The island property included two adjoining plantations Gowrie and East Hermitage. Charles also owned the Camp Plantation, which was inland on the river.
Charles's son Gabriel Edward Manigault (1833-1899), was educated as a physician and zoologist, studying at the College of Charleston and the Medical College of the State of South Carolina, from which he was graduated in 1854. He also studied in Europe. Gabriel never practiced medicine. Instead, while maintaining his planter status, he became, in 1873, the curator of the Museum of Natural History at the Carolina Art Association. During the Civil War, he served as private and adjutant in the 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment.
Louis Manigault, another son of Charles, was born around 1829, and, after schooling and traveling, managed properties for his father. During the Civil War, he moved from Charleston to Macon and Augusta, Georgia, from which he made annual visits to the Savannah River plantations. He also served as secretary to Joseph Jones (1833-1896), Confederate army surgeon and professor at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
Back to TopThe Manigault family collection is chiefly plantation records of the Silk Hope Plantation, Berkeley District, S.C., and the Gowrie Plantation and East Hermitage Plantation, Argyle Island, Ga. Plantation records contain information on enslaved people (including a photograph of a runaway enslaved woman named Dolly), rice growing, market conditions, the weather, and other topics. Also included are papers of Charles Manigault, among them a will and essays on slavery and other topics, and a manuscript autobiography of Gabriel Edward Manigualt, detailing his studies in medical schools in Europe and at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina, his Confederate army career with the 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment, and other matters. There is also a microfilmed album of Louis Manigault, containing letters, bitsof a Civil War diary, wartime clippings, and other papers, 1861-1868, related to his service as secretary to Confederate army surgeon Joseph Jones.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Plantation record books as listed below. Most of the books contain information on all three major Manigault plantations: Silk Hope, at the head of the Cooper River in Berkeley District, S.C., and Gowrie and East Hermitage on Argyle Island in the Savannah River, Ga., several miles upstream from the port of Savannah.
Folder 1 |
Volume 1: 1833-1834Records listing names of enslaved people, materials distributed to them, their movements among the plantations, and other information. |
Folder 2 |
Volume 2: 1833-1855Front to back: records about enslaved people similar to those above. Back to front: overseer's planting records; medicinal recipes; memoranda on physical improvements, probably at the Gowrie Plantation; and a handwritten copy of Heyward's Directions for Planting (1821). |
Folder 3 |
Volume 3: 1833-1876The Library permanently closed the original volume in folder 3 because it is too fragile to be safely handled and the enclosed photograph should not be exposed to light. Access is provided through the existing digital facsimile and microfilm copy. Duplication requests for this volume are filled with the existing facsimiles, and the volume will not be re-imaged to fill those requests. Compiled by Louis Manigault between 1856 and 1879, the journal includes information on plantation life, enslaved people and slavery, rice cultivation, market conditions, accounts, and other topics. Notes and memoranda kept by Charles Manigault regarding the plantations during the 1830s and 1840s were pasted into the journal. See digitized version for more complete description. Folder 3 contains a photograph of a runaway enslaved woman named Dolly. (facsimile available). |
Folder 4 |
Enclosures |
Folder 5 |
Volume 4: 1833-1877Similar to volumes described above, but also contains materials on slave auctions, memoranda on agricultural and economic conditions, and a colored drawing of a house at the Gowrie Plantation. |
Folder 6 |
Enclosures |
Folder 7 |
Volume 5: 1875-1887Records of the Gowrie Plantation. Included is a small amount of business correspondence, copies of legal documents, tax receipts, and clippings about floods in 1887 and 1888. |
Materials relating to Charles, Gabriel Edward, and Louis Manigault
Letters, copies of letters, and notes, 1824-1872, chiefly relating to business affairs; and undated writings, most of which chronicle family history.
Folder 8 |
Letters and notes |
Folder 9 |
WritingsIncludes an account of Manigault's father's move to the North, a preliminary draft of Manigault's will, "Some Things Relating to Our Family Affairs," and "The Close of the War--The Negro, etc." |
Handwritten autobiography of Gabriel Edward Manigault, 544 pages, written between 1887 and 1897 in Charleston, S.C. Included are details of Gabriel Edward's life and family history.
Folder 10-13
Folder 10Folder 11Folder 12Folder 13 |
Autobiography |
Album compiled after the Civil War. Items include tipped in Civil War correspondence between Louis and Gabriel Edward Manigault; clippings about the progress of the war; copies of correspondence and journal entries, 1863-1864, of Joseph Jones, Confederate army surgeon and professor at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta; Confederate money and flag designs; and other items.
Reel 2 |
Album |
Reel M-484/1-2
M-484/1M-484/2 |
Microfilm
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