23 July 1862: “There are very many ill of the fever & Ellen & I spend a good deal of time driving to Eustis’s, where there is a crowded & sickly set of people…”

Item citation: Diary entry of Laura Towne, dated 23 July 1862. In this entry Towne notes gathering provisions for the formerly enslaved men and women of Edisto Island, as well as the health of the African American population on St. Helena Island.

[Transcription available below images]

Image citation. Folder 335a in the Penn School Papers, #3615, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Item transcription:

July 23

Nelly was busy all day cleaning and rigging her guns. The men on the place seemed overjoyed at their arrival.

I packed boxes for the Edisto refugees and counted up the produce of the sales. I have on hand over four hundred dollars. Mr. Ruggles stayed last night in place of Mr. Hooper as our protector. He brought us a present of sweet potatoes, watermelons, and green apples. We had an apple pie!

I am now very busy doctoring. There are very many ill of the fever & Ellen & I spend a good deal of time driving to Eustis’s, where there is a crowded & sickly set of people, at Ruggles, Oaklands, then I have our own place. Ellen writes down all my cases.

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