Slave Haversack: Past Post

[Sablearm]

Hello all. Awhile back before the crash, someone posted a photo of a simple haversack or bag that was carried by a slave. I have searched many times but cannot locate this previous post. Does anyone remember this post and can it still be accessed?

Thank you.

George Hardy
Independent

[Vuhginyuh]

Rare NC Crop Bag

Crop bag of Aleck Buoy, 135th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry

Aleck was owned by the Branch - Parker family of Wayne County NC until his enlistment in 1865. This bag was given to my father by his daughter Katie Buoy Saunders in 1993. It was used at Mulberry (built ca 1801) which still stands about three miles west of Mt Olive on NC 55. There is a bramble stuck in the frayed corner at the repair.

Aleck lived in the Goldsboro area all of his life. After the war he operated a small (colored?) ferry on the Neuse River near Seven Springs NC until around 1920. The 1911 dated ferry image is of Katie on the left, her mother Georgia and Aleck. The dog in the foreground was called Bumpty.

[Sablearm]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

Garrison,
Thanks very much for your reply. This is certainly good information with an interesting history. The photo that I was referring to was actually different. The haversack was actually ID'd to a slave and looked more like a saddle bag, perhaps made of two separate compartments and was made of canvas or duck. Hopefully someone can retrieve this post.

Thanks again,

George Hardy
Independent

[Hank Trent]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

The haversack was actually ID'd to a slave and looked more like a saddle bag, perhaps made of two separate compartments and was made of canvas or duck.

Don't know of that particular haversack, but I'd like to see images as well. It sounds like what's called a "wallet," and probably has other names as well. Carried my stuff in one last weekend as poor white trash, but have only seen period drawings and descriptions, never closeups of construction details of a surviving original.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[jgr1974]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

Wallet,

Sir, if you are refering to the bag with the split in the center on one side, these date to the 18th century. I am not saying they were not used, just that the are that old! There are accounts, and I cannot site them right now, of past fassions being worn as a source for clothing, so I would imagine useful items of this kind would stil be used as well!

Jeremy

[Sablearm]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

Hank,
Do you have any drawings of the wallet that you can share?

Thanks!

George Hardy
Independent

[Hank Trent]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

Here's an illustration of one in use by one of the guides on the fishing expedition in Blackwater Chronicle by Philip Pendleton Kennedy, 1853

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cache/a/a/w/aaw1616.0001.001/00910089.tifs.gif

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Spinster]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

George,

I'll attempt to give you a word picture of the construction of a 'wallet'. First, there is no proper size for such--the utility determines the size. In the 18th century, they were used for carrying stuff, or for stuffing with straw for a mattress, and could have been any size from small to large.

Lay a rectangle of fabric on the ground. Take a long side and fold it towards the middle of the piece, longways. Take the other long side and fold it towards the middle of the piece, meeting the other edge. Sew the short edges of the rectangle closed.

Then, sew down the remaining open long side about 1/3 the length. Do a firm bar tack and stop. Go to the other end and sew from that end, again about 1/3 the length, do a firm bar tack and stop.

You now have a flat rectangle about half the size of the fabric you started with, and it has an opening in the center of the rectangle. Put your stuff in each end of the 'wallet'. Twist the wallet so that the center opening is now closed and secure, and place it over your shoulder, just like the image Hank posted above.

Be on your merry way.

When nightfall comes, take out the stuff you need, fill the wallet with any available straw or leaves, and spend a restful night upon it, a King of the Open Road. And, you are sleeping on top of your remaining stuff, making it harder for someone else to steal it.....

[BobRoeder]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

Hank,
Do you have any drawings of the wallet that you can share?

Thanks!

George Hardy
Independent

Hope it's OK to post this here, but there are dimensions and instructions for one example of a market wallet in a collection in Bethlehem, PA at this website:

https://www.18cnewenglandlife.org/18cnel/wallets.htm

Cheers,

[Sablearm]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

Bob, Mrs. Lawson, Hank,
Thanks to all of you for the insight that you have provided. I am always amazed at the amount of knowledge that exists on this site and the willingness of its members to share. Best to all of you.

George Hardy
Independent

[Mutt]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

This is a really interesting topic stemming from the original post. Glad I poked around.

I was just mulling over the concept of bedding and a matress ticking of sorts. While the wallet may be an old thing by the time the war rolled around, it really would fit the bill for what I've been looking to use as a simple "carry-all" and bedding device. Not hard to make either!

Thanks on my end for all the great posts!

Regards,

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Slave Haversack: Past Post

I have had a few private inquires about Aleck Buoy so I thought I would answer them all at once.

Records display his name signed as Buoy and Bouy. Other unsigned records show it as Bowie.

One online record states that Aleck was born in Raleigh; another says Robeson County but his daughter Katie claimed that it was Elizabeth City NC.

The family records are no longer complete but the best we can figure Aleck was manumitted upon the death of one of the Parkers (Co A, 27 NCT). Legend has it that he escorted the white women and children into the Goshen swamp ahead of the federal advance and remained with them until Goldsboro was occupied. This camp did in fact exist and Tidelands Subsurface located the site in the mid 1990’s. We do know that Aleck’s older brother Albert remained on the farm until some of O.O. Howard’s boys swept through the area during the Bentonville engagement. The Buoy boys joined the army, Co G, 135 USCT, in Goldsboro on March 27th ’65.

We loose track of Albert in the summer of ’65. Aleck return to Goldsboro and Wayne Co. in 1867.