1869 · Sumter County, Al
by [Alabama]. [Reconstruction]. Chapman, Reuben
Sumter County, Al: February 5, 1869. Very good.. [4]pp., on a single folded sheet. Minor wear. An early reaction by a notable Alabama politician to the new reality of agrarian labor politics in Reconstruction Alabama. Reuben Chapman (1799-1882), formerly a Congressman and Alabama's governor, represented the Confederacy in France during the Civil War. His correspondent in the present letter, Septimus Douglass Cabaniss (1815-1889), an Alabama lawyer, was a state legislator during the Civil War and a colonel in the Confederacy's Intelligence Division. Most notably here, Chapman discusses his recent experience with local freedmen sharecroppers: "I have just bought the Negroes' part of the cotton, all now in Mobile being held up for better prices. The cotton made in this county last year is so low in quality, the merchants all say, I fear a loss by buying them out at 24 cts. Taking the weights here (and I find now the Negroes weighed it by themselves) and I paying all the charges. But they become so impatient and suspicious I found I had to buy them out and pay them, or there would be no crop made this year. And now I have to raise the money to pay them before I can leave." Chapman also writes about the difficulty in buying mules in the current market, some business dealings with his "stockholders," the potential for buying mules in Huntsville (Cabaniss lived in Huntsville), traveling to Chattanooga, Selma, and Tuscaloosa for business, and more. He also spends considerable space (almost the whole second page) discussing the possible sale of lands, encouraging his correspondent to "rent out the lands to good tenants if you can't sell." An interesting correspondence providing details on the challenges of the postwar economy in Alabama. (Inventory #: 5384)