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Lot 233
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Family Seeks Information on Compensation for Slaves Lost in Revolutionary War at Ft. Morris - They Were Owned by Morris!
Family Seeks Information on Compensation for Slaves Lost in Revolutionary War at Ft. Morris - They Were Owned by Morris!
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Slavery
Norfolk, VA, September 5, 1839
Family Seeks Information on Compensation for Slaves Lost in Revolutionary War at Ft. Morris - They Were Owned by Morris!
ALS

[SLAVERY.] Otway B. Barraud, Autograph Letter Signed, to Georgia Governor George R. Gilmer, September 5, 1839, Norfolk, [Virginia], with David William Lewis, Autograph Endorsement Signed, October 3, 1839, [Milledgeville, Georgia]. 3 pp., 8" x 10". General toning; two areas of loss on page 3, one from opening seal, neither affecting the text.

In this letter to the governor of Georgia, Norfolk attorney Otway B. Barraud seeks information on previous payments to the heirs of Captain Thomas Morris of the Continental Army for enslaved African Americans he lost when the British captured Fort Morris on the coast of Georgia. In November 1778, British forces under the command of Lt. Col. Lewis V. Fuser demanded the surrender of Fort Morris. American commander Col. John McIntosh responded, "Come and take it!" The British withdrew but returned with a larger force in January 1779 after capturing the city of Savannah in December 1778. A heavy artillery bombardment that struck the fort's powder magazine convinced Major Joseph Lane to surrender the fort. Apparently, the British also captured between 18 and 20 slaves belonging to Captain Thomas Morris. The British renamed the fortification Fort George and used the town of Sunbury as a prison camp for captured American officers.

Sixty years later, the heirs of Captain Thomas Morris in Virginia sought compensation for the slaves that Morris lost in the capture of Fort Morris. They learned from the Governor's office in Georgia that a payment of £3,200 had been authorized and at least partially paid in 1812. The heirs continued to seek compensation as late as 1850.

Complete Transcript
Norfolk Septr 5 1839
Dr Sir
I address you on behalf of the heirs of a Captain Thomas Morris of the Continental Army but a native of Virginia with the view of asking the communication of such official information touching an alleged claim of his against the State of Georgia as may be found in her Archives. The statement of the said Heirs in reference to the claim of their Ancestor is the following that he removed to Georgia at or about the beginning of the Revolutionary War and resided in the Town of Sunbury where a Fort was built called by his name and died finally of small pox taken at the siege of York in 1782, or 3. They further alledge that eighteen or Twenty Negroes of the said Thomas Morris were impressed by one David Fleming quarter Master General and put into Fort Morris & were captured & carried away by the British when the said Fort was taken and that these facts are or were attested by Funded Certificates of debt issued by the State of Georgia to the amount of some £3200.
The Heirs it seems employed an agent some years ago to go to Georgia for the purpose of looking into the affairs of Thomas Morris and among the rest of receiving from the State of Georgia the amounts of the said Certificates and they alledge that he will give them no information on the subject preserving a most unaccountable silence.
Under these circumstances they have desired me to communicate with the Authority of Georgia with the view to ascertain 1st if any such certificates were issued to their ancestor Thomas Morris. 2d if such were issued if they have been paid and 3d if paid to whom. Tho' a native myself, and acting on behalf of those who are also natives of a distant State I feel confident that I need make no apology for a communication whose object is the furtherance of justice, and that you will cheerfully afford all the light which your public Records can shed on the alleged claim of a revolutionary worthy.
I have the Honor to be / yr mo: obt st
Otway B. Barraud

Ex Dept
3 Octr 1839
An answer was written to this letter to day, enclosing a copy of Gov Lumpkins letter to John [Borin?] of Virginia. (See Letter Book 1833-page 109)-also a copy of a certificate of the Comptroller Genl. That two funded certificates to the amount of £3200 had issued to William Morris in favour of the Estate of Thomas Morris, and the copy of a Receipt recorded in this office, Dated 5 Novr. 1812 for the amount due on one of these certificates (viz 2200£) The receipt for the remaining £1000 could not be found upon a slight examination of the volumes containing the receipts
Dav. Will. Lewis
Secy Ex Dept


Otway B. Barraud (1800-1864) was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He studied law at Harvard University in 1821 and 1822. He practiced law in Norfolk and served as commissioner in chancery there in 1850. He also served as cashier of the Merchants and Mechanics Savings Bank in Norfolk, the oldest banking institution in the South. He died in Fluvanna County, Virginia.

David William Lewis (1815-1885) was born in Hancock County, Georgia, and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1837. He became a lawyer, and in 1839, he served as secretary to Georgia Governor George N. Gilmer (1790-1859). Lewis later served in the Georgia legislature (1845-1855) and represented the state in the Confederate Congress (1862-1864). In 1873, he became the first president of the North Georgia Agricultural College (now University of North Georgia), where he taught Greek and English literature.

Thomas Morris (d. ca. 1782) was born in Virginia. In 1776, he commanded the first artillery unit to occupy Fort Morris in Liberty County, Georgia, erected to guard the port of Sunbury and St. John's Parish. He was later taken prisoner, held for six months, then paroled. He went to Yorktown, where he died of smallpox.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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