Martin slaves

This page collects information about enslaved men and women owned by Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. or Robert Campbell Martin, Jr.. For antebellum lists of slaves owned by the family, see Additions to Martin-Pugh Collection at Nicholls State University, Item 132–Addition.

Named Persons

For some scrap notations that appear to list hiring out wages for named slaves, including William, Sophie, Betty, Abraham & wife, Sam & wife, Henry, Alex, Wilson, and Jo, see back of November 7, 1864, letter from Thomas Pugh Martin.1

Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. also provided some detailed information about names and health of former slaves whom he discovered still living on the plantation in Louisiana in 1865, reporting that he hoped the information “will give some satisfaction to the Negroes” still in Texas.2

Aleck

Aleck, also sometimes called “Alex,” appears to have been owned by Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., but may also have been given to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. upon his marriage. In January 18, 1863, he was in Mansfield while Martin returned to the Lafourche district and according to Maggie Martin was being “hired in town by the month” for six months at a rate of $16/month.3

In April and May 1863, while Maggie Martin was visiting her husband in Vicksburg and then recuperating from sickness in Mobile, William G. Thomas oversaw Alex and Turner and hired them “by the day & they find plenty of work.” Thomas also said that at first “Alex was so lazy & managed so badly that I could do nothing better than hire him by the month,” but after Maggie left “I took him home & told him he had to bring in his dollar every day. He put on some airs & I took a bridle rein to his bottom & since then I have had no trouble finding work for him.”4

In November 1863, Martin Sr. mentioned “Alex,” along with Turner, as slaves who were ordered by Magruder to work on defenses.5 Then, in the same February 1864 letter reporting Turner’s death of pneumonia, Martin Sr. reported that “Alex has been sick of the same disease.”6

Later it appears that Alex ran away in the summer of 1865 while still in Texas; Senior presumed that he was heading towards Mansfield, and he had been reported seen near Logansport.7

Alice and Ralph

Mentioned in a letter from Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to his father, in which he wrote that Maggie Martin wished to “have” Alice if Senior could “spare” her.8 Senior complied, informing them that Alice and Harriet had been “at work for Mrs. Bryan, carding & spinning.”9

By December 1863 she is with Maggie Martin in Texas, and is mentioned in a letter explaining how Maggie originally had trouble waking her to help in the night with her son until “Sister Sallie,” on one occasion, came in with a “shovel in hand looking very much like a young lioness.”10 Later she is mentioned in a letter as doing some ironing for Maggie.

Alice apparently accompanied Maggie to Mansfield when she stayed there in the early months of 1864, becoming sick at some point. She may also have been attached in some way to another slave named “Ralph”; in February Maggie wrote to her father from Mansfield asking him to tell Ralph that “Alice is convalescing quite rapidly.”11

A few days later, Maggie still hoped Alice would be improved in a few days so that she could “take charge of Rob,” but then reported that “Alice was taken worse yesterday & went to bed again. This morning she is feeling a little better. I will be compelled to go to Texas very soon I fear for I will have to pay six & eight dollars a week.”12 This makes me wonder if Alice was attempting to force a decision to return to Texas from Mansfield to be with “Ralph”?

If so, outcome is unclear; Alice was with Maggie in Texas as late as November 1864, while Ralph appeared to be with Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. in Nacogdoches.13 As late as February 3, 1865, Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. wrote in the margin of a letter to his father, “Tell Ralph that Alice is well.”14 Even seven months later, Maggie was still sending word of Alice’s health to Ralph through her father-in-law.15

After the war ended, Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. expressed a willingness to have Alice stay with him and Maggie “if [she] desires to remain & if she continues to act as of old.”16

According to Maggie, Alice had indeed declared her intention to stay with the family, even though “the Negroes have been trying very hard to prejudice her against us, & persuade her to go back to the Bayou.” She sent “much love to her parents” and to Ralph, and to ask her father to “see what he thinks of her determination. The Negroes have threatened her by saying they will tell her Father different things, & he will make her come home.” These events apparently made Maggie “fully convinced now that she is a very prudent virtuous girl,” who had cared for the children well.17

Martin Jr.’s perspective was that Alice would “act wisely if she remains with us for the Negroes here [in Louisiana] are not doing well. I know that she will be more kindly treated by us than by others. Of course now that she is her own mistress she must judge how she will & where she will pass her ladyship time. We can but advise if they do not see fit to take this advice we at least lose but little by it.”18

Ralph, meanwhile, returned to the Bayou with Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., suffering “diarrhea” on the way.19

Postwar letters suggest that Alice stayed with Maggie and Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. as late as 1868.

Harriet

See above under Alice. Also, a Harriet (perhaps the same woman) was mentioned as a servant of the William Littlejohn family or Maggie Martin in postwar letters as late as the 1870s.20

Bob

Apparently a servant to Maggie Martin and [Robert Campbell Martin, Jr.], he was “hired to Mr. Stewart at the College” in Mansfield from January to July 1863 at $16.50 per month.21 As late as May 17, 1863, Stewart (or Stuart) wished to continue to employ Bob at the same price beyond July.22

At some point Bob seems to have followed the family to Cherokee, because in January 1864, [Robert Campbell Martin, Jr.] told Maggie (then in Mansfield) to “please say to Dr. [William] Thomas that Bob (Negroe) in Cherokee says that he left his watch with a boy named Droon or some such name & wishes the Dr. to get it. He gave the boy fifteen dollars & if he can’t get the watch wishes the money.”23

Later that year, Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., returned to Cherokee from a trip to Marshall and Rusk to pay his taxes and “found Bob very ill of lockjaw. He is apparently improving and may escape. He had neglected a wound on his left foot.”24 Later, however, Maggie Martin reported that Bob, “a good and faithful servant,” had died.25

Isreal

Possibly an enslaved man living with Maggie Martin; mentioned as courier for one of her letters to her husband.26

Dick

Another man occasionally mentioned in the Mansfield letters in the first half of 1863, possibly enslaved. Attached to Cely or Cily, and mentioned by Maggie Martin as one of the slaves she hoped Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. would not sell after fleeing to Texas in mid-1863.

Henry and Joe

Two men whom Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. managed to bring from Lafourche to William Hyman’s place when he left in mid-1863.27

Henry later mentioned as someone who kept a pony for Rob, the son of Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., and sometimes took him riding in Texas.28

Joe apparently ran away in the summer of 1865 while still in Texas.29

Henry was flogged by Senior on the return back to Louisiana, causing a scuffle with some USCT troops stationed near Berwick Bay.30

James

An enslaved man who escaped from Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. in Cherokee County, Texas. James “ran off 3 nights ago causelessly, and I presume is hoping to reach Mansfield.”31

Sarah

Mentioned, along with Alice, as being in Texas by December 1863/January 1864.32

Turner

Turner, like Aleck, appears to have been owned by Martin, Sr., but was living in Mansfield in January 1863 while Martin returned to the Lafourche and was being hired out by Jr. and Maggie. As Maggie Martin reported:

Turner is hiring himself by the day around town, last week he brought me in 75 cts a day, and this week he made $1.00 a day. Brother Wm. says he thinks he can make much more by the day than by the month. Turner works very faithfully, and the people in town are anxious to employ him. He generally has work engaged three or four days ahead.33

According to Thomas Pugh Martin had a (unfairly) low opinion of Turner, reporting this in a letter from December 1862 to Maggie:

Father says that he has $20 for Turner, but that as he had behaved so badly he did not intend to give it to him. I think you had better give him (Turner) the money, as I do not think it right that he should be deprived of it. It is his own. Eliza gave it to him. Do not let Father know of this advice as he does not like anyone to oppose him in anything. Father is prejudiced against Turner, and is therefore unable to form an impartial opinion of him.34

Later, Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. advised Maggie Martin that “the revenue given you from the hire of the three boys” (Aleck, Bob, and Turner?) would be enough to support her and their son, though she would have to “economize” as it was not clear when they would both return to Mansfield.35

In November 1863, Martin Sr. mentioned “Alex,” along with Turner, as slaves who were ordered by Magruder to work on defenses.36 Apparently Martin was anxious about this even months later.37

Then, on February 7, 1864, Martin wrote to Maggie from Nacogdoches that “Turner died of pneumonia at Beaumont.” It is unclear why he was there, though Martin also planned another trip to Beaumont for a 10 to 15 day journey.38

Sylvie

A woman sometimes referred to as “old Sylvie” who remained behind in Louisiana apparently did some cooking and washing for Lewis Guion and Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. while they were stationed back in Louisiana.39 She is later identified as Alice’s grandmother and was found by Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. living at the sugar house on Albermarle after the war.40

Virginia Ann

Mentioned in a letter from Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. as being “enceinte” (with child) and therefore “of but little service” to him and Maggie.41

But she must have eventually joined Maggie. In May 1864, she is mentioned as being very sick, a pulse “down to 44.” William Littlejohn, Maggie’s father, had “her rubbed with pepper and mustard” and planned to “steam her this evening.”42 Later she is mentioned as making some pants for a member of the family.43

After the war, a letter from Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. suggested that Virginia Ann “has decided to live in Texas.”44 But Maggie later clarified that “Virginia Ann will go to the Bayou.”45

Health

  • While many of the Martin slaves were in Mansfield in January 1863 there was a small pox scare, and all of the enslaved people there were vaccinated.46
  • Martin Sr. also reported that “many of my Negroes were sick on the way up” to Alexandria during his mid-1863 escape to Texas, and also after he arrived in Texas: “All have much sickness among Negroes.”47
  • Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. wrote in October 1863 from Cherokee County, Texas, that “The Negroes are in fair health. They have had much light sickness and I too have had chills & fever repeatedly, but am now well.”48
  • Senior reported the next month that “the Negroes many sick. Several of my Negroes are sick a little.”49
  • In November 1863, Thomas Pugh Martin reported to his father that “five or six Negroes have died since you left” the Lafourche district: Polly, Old Thomas, Nelly, and Maria.50
  • In February 1864 Martin Sr. reported that while “our white family are all as well as usual … Our blacks continue very sick. Everyone in this place has been sick of late from the oldest to the youngest.” He mentioned specifically “Gin’s babe,” Ella, Sallie, and Malinda. Martin suspected they were not taking medicine as instructed, and apparently William Littlejohn had threatened Gin by saying that “if she did not get better he intended whipping her.” According to Martin, a “Great many blacks have died in this neighborhood & the most of them suddenly.”51
  • Meningitis also seemed to be a constant plague among the enslaved people held by William Littlejohn in Texas; in June 1864, Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., who was visiting Marshall briefly, expressed worry that it might spread to Alice and Henry.52
  • Sallie [Thomas?], a relative in Mansfield and Nacogdoches, also reported in August 1864, “My servants as usual are some of them sick. I feel heartily tired of Texas & Negroes.”53

  1. Thomas Pugh Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., November 7, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 621.↩

  2. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Maggie Martin, August 24, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 686. See also Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., September 17, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 693, for detailed accounts of who was living on the plantations and on Littlejohn’s place.↩

  3. Maggie Martin to “My ever dear Father” [R. C. Martin, Sr.], January 18, 1863, Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 319.↩

  4. William G. Thomas to [R.C. Martin, Jr.], May 27, 1863, Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 355.↩

  5. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Maggie Martin and Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., November 6, 1863, Martin-Pugh Papers, NSU, Item 387.↩

  6. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Maggie Martin, February 7, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 416.↩

  7. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., August 14, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 680.↩

  8. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to R. C. Martin Sr., October 29, 1863, Martin-Pugh Papers, NSU, Item 383.↩

  9. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Maggie Martin and Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., November 6, 1863, Martin-Pugh Papers, NSU, Item 387.↩

  10. Maggie Martin to R. C. Martin, Jr., December 7, 1863, Pugh-Martin Collection, NSU, Item 403.↩

  11. Maggie Martin to R. C. Martin, Sr., February 1, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 414.↩

  12. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., February 9, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 421.↩

  13. Maggie Martin to Robert C. Martin, Sr., May 22, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 481. See also Robert C. Martin, Jr., to Maggie Martin, May 16, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 471; Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., August 8, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 586; Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., November 4, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 619.↩

  14. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., February 3, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 647.↩

  15. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., September 10, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 689.↩

  16. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Maggie Martin, October 7, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 705.↩

  17. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., October 17, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 706. In the same later Maggie asks her husband to see if he can locate a wetnurse named Matilda who was sold by her father in Louisiana.↩

  18. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Maggie Martin, October 29, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 719.↩

  19. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Maggie Martin, October 29, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 719.↩

  20. See Additions to Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University.↩

  21. Maggie Martin to “My ever dear Father” [R. C. Martin, Sr.], January 18, 1863, Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 319.↩

  22. William G. Thomas to [R.C. Martin, Jr.], May 27, 1863, Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 355.↩

  23. R. C. Martin, Jr., to Maggie Martin, January 12, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 406.↩

  24. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Thomas Pugh Martin, May 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 452. See also Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., to “Mrs. S. M. Thomas,” May 5, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 458.↩

  25. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., May 22, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 481. See also Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., May 17, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 474; Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., June 4, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 491.↩

  26. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., June 30, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 507.↩

  27. See Item 365 in Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU.↩

  28. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., July 5, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 517; Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., August 8, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 586.↩

  29. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., August 14, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 680.↩

  30. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Maggie Martin, October 29, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 719.↩

  31. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. to W. W. Pugh, September 2, 1863, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 373.↩

  32. Maggie Martin to R. C. Martin, Jr., December 7, 1863, Pugh-Martin Collection, NSU, Item 403.↩

  33. Maggie Martin to “My ever dear Father” [R. C. Martin, Sr.], January 18, 1863, Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 319.↩

  34. Thomas Pugh Martin to Maggie Martin, December 23, 1862, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 14–Addition.↩

  35. R. C. Martin, Jr., to Maggie Martin, May 8, 1863, Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 345.↩

  36. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Maggie Martin and Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., November 6, 1863, Martin-Pugh Papers, NSU, Item 387.↩

  37. Maggie Martin to R. C. Martin, Sr., February 1, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 414.↩

  38. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Maggie Martin, February 7, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 416.↩

  39. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., to Maggie Martin, July 11, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 529; July 16, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 538; July 19, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 547.↩

  40. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Maggie Martin, August 26, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 687.↩

  41. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to R. C. Martin Sr., October 29, 1863, Martin-Pugh Papers, NSU, Item 383.↩

  42. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., May 17, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 474.↩

  43. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., July 26, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 563.↩

  44. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr. to Maggie Martin, October 7, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 705.↩

  45. Maggie Martin to Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., October 17, 1865, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 706.↩

  46. Maggie Martin to “My ever dear Father” [R. C. Martin, Sr.], January 18, 1863, Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 319.↩

  47. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr. to W. W. Pugh, September 2, 1863, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 373.↩

  48. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Maggie Martin and R.C. Martin, Jr., October 28, 1863, Martin-Pugh Papers, NSU, Item 382.↩

  49. Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., to Maggie Martin and Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., November 6, 1863, Martin-Pugh Papers, NSU, Item 387.↩

  50. Thomas Pugh Martin to R. C. Martin, Sr., November 21, 1863, Alexandria, Pugh-Martin Collection, NSU, Item 394. He also mentioned that “Celia & family have gone to N.O. to live. Eliza is at home, Jack also, who by the by is as arrant a scoundrel as ever lived.”↩

  51. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., to Maggie Martin, [February 7, 1864], Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, NSU, Item 418.↩

  52. Robert Campbell Martin, Jr., to Robert Campbell Martin, Sr., June 4, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 491.↩

  53. Sallie Thomas to Mollie Littlejohn, August 11, 1864, Transcription in Martin-Pugh Collection, Nicholls State University, Item 600.↩