7 March 1863: “Having determined to sell my Negroes (except some half dozen old ones, whom I shall keep at the Grove to take care of the premises, and my house servants).”

Item description: Entry, dated 7 March 1863, from the diary of John Berkley Grimball, rice planter of Charleston and the Colleton District, S.C.

Grimball’s diary documents that, prior to the Civil War, Grimball owned 70 or 80 slaves and controlled the activities of other slaves on related family lands. By 1862, many of Grimball’s slaves had left his plantations. In an effort to protect the rest of his labor force, he removed them to the plantation of Dubose Porcher at Monck’s Corner, S.C. This diary entry shows that, in March 1863, Grimball made the decision to sell all of his slaves, except for a few older slaves and house servants. This sale effectively marked the end of his career as a planter.

Item citation: From the John Berkley Grimball Diaries #970, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Item transcription:

March 1863

7th – Having determined to sell my Negroes (except some half dozen old ones, whom I shall keep at the Grove to take care of the premises, and my house servants). I have put the matter in the hands of my old friend Philip Porcher (P.J. Porcher & Baya). I have written to inform W.J. Dubose Porcher, at whose Plantation they now are of my purpose. He is at Bees Ferry.

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