Creator: Bailey, James, d. 1864.
Collection number: 38
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Abstract: James B. Bailey (1820-1864), his wife, Mary N. Bailey, and their children, including their son, C.O. Bailey, moved from Hickory Bend, a plantation near Montgomery, Ala., to Alachua County, Fla., near Gainesville, in 1852. There, Bailey became active in local politics as county treasurer (ca. 1857), candidate for commissioner of roads, and member of the county’s Central Committee, which coordinated mobilization for the Civil War. During the war, Bailey served as Superintendant of Labor for the Engineers Department of Eastern District Florida. C.O. Bailey attended West Military Institute in Nashville, Tenn. Chiefly personal and business correspondence, the collection also contains financial and legal papers, school reports, and other materials. Much of the personal correspondence is from friends and relatives in Alabama. Subjects include social and economic conditions, especially near Montgomery, Ala.; family news; slavery; and the Civil War, especially activity near Tullahoma, Tenn., reported by William H. Ogbourne in 1863, and in the letters of C.O. Bailey with the Army of Northern Virginia near Richmond in 1864.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: The collection contains a list of slaves assigned to the Engineer’s Department of Eastern District Florida (n.d.). Microfilm available.