[John] Milton [Hawks] ALS to Lucia E. Fairfield. St. Helena Island, South Carolina, June 21-24, 1863. 

John Hawks wrote this 6-page letter to his sister while supervising two Port Royal Experiment plantations on St. Helena Island and acting as a substitute supervisor for three others. His description of “The Oaks” plantation includes detailed remarks on the crop production, African American field hands, freed peoples’ desires to own their own farms, the need for “some system of magistracy and police,” and the importance of maintaining schools. This letter is an important addition to the Clements Library’s Civil War collection and touches on other strengths, including African American history, education, labor, and agriculture.

Manuscripts