Forgive my rudimentary map-making skills. I have tried my best to duplicate a map that appears in I believe Volume 7 of the Grant Papers. The map shows the area and towns over which Union and Confederate forces battled vigorously in the fall of 1862. It would be then that my own ancestors, slaves on the Hull plantation in Salem, MS, would have come into contact with the Union lines that would make possible their removal to Memphis.
Other towns mentioned in the volume but not included on this map include: Lumpkins' Mills, Yoknapatafa, Wyatt, Saulsbury, Pott's Farm, and New Albany. Slaves living in or within 5 to 10 miles of these towns could likely successfully plan an escape. Anyone whose family is known to have been in this area of Marshall County would do well to check the Register of Freedmen, Roll 4, M1914, RG 105 (Pre-bureau Records) at the National Archives for possible inclusion of family members. Name, owner, county, and age are provided in the register.
Hi Alisea, great information. I have an ancestor named Indiana Mitchell? who signed a labor contract in memphis to work in crittenden county arkansa with a m.e. cochrane. All of her children Antony, Sylva Adeline and Frank were born somewhere in Alabama. My theory is they may have been in one of the contraband camps in Tn. or Ms, relocated to Memphis when grant moved into the area. Many freedmen fled into mississippi to the Holy Springs Camo. If you made copies of the names from the Register of Freedmen, or remember seeing these names, please email me at bkterry@tx.rr.com 31 this information would be of valuable assistance to my research. Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeleteCertainly Brenda. I have not come across any Mitchells yet, but I continue to search. I have come across many freedmen/women from Franklin and Lawrence counties in Alabama. Both border Mississippi and Tennessee. You are of course right; there are a few camps in Tenn. and Miss. that Alabama slaves could have been in before being moved to Memphis. I will let you know if I find something else.
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