PUGH-WILLIAMS-MAYES FAMILY PAPERS Mss. 730, 733, 741 Inventory. Compiled by. Claudia C. Holland Dec. 1990

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1 Available on microfilm on Mf 6061, Series B, Part 3, Reel 7 Mf 6061, Series B, Part 4, Reel 11 PUGH-WILLIAMS-MAYES FAMILY PAPERS Mss. 730, 733, 741 Inventory Compiled by Claudia C. Holland Dec Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections Special Collections, Hill Memorial Library Louisiana State University Libraries Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Reformatted 2003 Updated 2016

2 CONTENTS OF INVENTORY SUMMARY... 3 BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE... 4 SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE... 5 SERIES DESCRIPTIONS... 7 INDEX TERMS... 8 CONTAINER LIST... 9 Use of manuscript materials. If you wish to examine items in the manuscript group, please fill out a call slip specifying the materials you wish to see. Consult the Container List for location information needed on the call slip. Photocopying. Should you wish to request photocopies, please consult a staff member. The existing order and arrangement of unbound materials must be maintained. Publication. Readers assume full responsibility for compliance with laws regarding copyright, literary property rights, and libel. Proper acknowledgement of LLMVC materials must be made in any resulting writing or publications. The correct form of citation for this manuscript group is given on the summary page. Copies of scholarly publications based on research in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections are welcomed. Page 2 of 9

3 SUMMARY Size. Geographic locations. 1.5 linear feet (238 items, 15 v.) Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi Inclusive dates Bulk dates Language. Summary. Restrictions on access. Related collections. Copyright. Citation. Stack location(s). English Correspondence and legal financial papers of the Pugh-Williams-Mayes family. Key figures are Richard Lloyd Pugh ( ), a cotton and sugar planter of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana; John Williams; R. B. Mayes; and Mary Williams Pugh. Also includes 15 manuscripts volumes containing financial information. No restrictions. Alexander Franklin Pugh Papers (Mss. 354) Francis and William Scott Pugh Wills (Mss. 1077) Josephine Nicholls Pugh Civil War Account (Mss. 2618) Mrs. Mary W. Pugh Papers (Mss. 897, 1055) Thomas Pugh Succession Document (Mss. 779) Welman F. Pugh Diary (Mss. 2113) Col. William W. Pugh and Family Papers (Mss. 2052) W. W. Pugh and Family Plantation Records (Mss. 740, 753) Mrs. W. W. Pugh, Jr. Civil War Account (Mss. 1756) Pugh Family Genealogical Records (Mss. 2747) Physical rights are retained by LSU Libraries. Copyright of the original materials is retained by descendants of the writers of these materials in accordance with U.S. copyright law. Pugh-Mayes-Williams Papers. Mss. 730, 733, 741. Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, La. D:98; H:11 (unboxed manuscript volumes); Microfilm 6061, Series B, Part 3, Reel 7; Microfilm 6061, Series B, Part 4, Reel 11 Page 3 of 9

4 BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE Richard Lloyd Pugh ( ) was one of six children of Thomas Pugh ( ) and Eliza C. Foley (d. 1885). Thomas and his half-brothers, Augustin and Whitmell, were among the first American planters on Bayou Lafourche, Louisiana. From the time of their arrival in 1820 to 1852, the brothers rapidly expanded their land holdings and built a number of sugar plantations. Among Thomas holdings were Madewood, Energy, Little Texas, and Pothier plantations. At the outset of the Civil War, the Pugh family owned 18 plantations and 1,502 slaves. As the youngest of five sons, Richard did not inherit one of Thomas plantations. Instead he bought Dixie Plantation and its slaves at a public auction in In the following year Richard married Mary Louise Williams and purchased additional land, but this property retroceded to the vendor in Mary Louise was a daughter of John Williams and Marie Louisa Maquire. R.B. Mayes, son-inlaw of Patrick Maguire and a commission merchant in Tennessee, was a business partner of Williams. Mayes and Williams were related by marriage. During the Civil War, Richard served in the Confederate States Army as a private in the Washington Artillery, from March 1862 until June The Washington Artillery of New Orleans was an elite corps that won honor in three years service with the Army of Tennessee. Many Confederates had fled Bayou Lafourche by the time Union troops invaded the area in November of Richard s family was no exception as they made their way through northwestern Louisiana and on to Rusk, Texas, where they remained for several months. Richard secured a furlough in early 1863 to be with his family in Texas, and he subsequently supplied a substitute to take his place in the war effort. The Pugh family returned to Dixie Plantation and continued to operate the sugar plantation through the late 1800s. Additional information regarding the Pugh and related families is available in several publications, most notably The Pugh Plantations, : A Study of Life in Lower Louisiana, Barnes Fletcher Lathrop, PhD dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, Page 4 of 9

5 SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Pugh-Mayes-Williams Family Papers consist of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and financial manuscript volumes. Four key figures in the papers are Richard Lloyd Pugh, John Williams (Pugh s father-in-law), Mary Louise Williams Pugh (Pugh s wife and Williams s daughter), and R. B. Mayes (related to Williams by marriage). Letters from R. B. Mayes to John Williams detail partnership agreements, accounts and purchases, the settlement of Patrick Maguire s (Mayes deceased father-in-law) estate, and personal information. Williams financial difficulties throughout the 1850s are evident in the correspondence from Mayes, who refuses to seek additional endorsement from his creditors to augment Williams income. On several occasions there is mention of Williams being forced to sell his plantation to cover his debts. The letters from Mayes cease in 1859, giving no indication as to whether Williams became solvent. However, Williams continued to operate his plantation and purchase slaves, as evidenced by the 1861 slave sales receipts. Letters written during the Civil War by Mary Pugh to husband Richard mention the capture of Baton Rouge by Federal forces, the threat of gunboats shelling the city, and rumors about the battles at Vicksburg, Jackson, and Port Hudson. The flight of Mary, her father, other families, and their slaves from the Bayou Lafourche area through northwestern Louisiana and into Texas is described by Mary. Mary also discusses the behavior of the slaves during this trek. Richard Pugh s letters to Mary cover the period immediately preceding their marriage through the war years. His was letters, written from camps in Louisiana (Camp Moore), Mississippi (Corinth, Canton), and Tennessee (Chattanooga, Pikesville, Murfreesboro), detail camp life, skirmishes, troop movements, battles, and personal hardships. Pugh occasionally mentions General Bragg and Breckenridge in his letters. Correspondence from relatives and friends of the Pughs discuss problems associated with laborers, the war, securing supplies, corps, and personal issues. An 1861 letter appears to have been written for Hannah Blair, a slave in Jonesborough, Tennessee, by Mrs. H.H. Gallegher. Blair was replying to her husband, also a slave, whose Master had written a letter for him to Hannah. Legal documents include business agreements, partnership indentures, a copy of Patrick Maguire s will and a codicil to it, the judgment of Martha Maguire et al. vs. John Williams et al., land purchases and deeds, and a rental agreement between C. C. Chamberlin and John Williams, the latter of whom rented two plantations (actually farms) from Chamberlin during A folder cover with the marriage dates of John Williams and Marie Louisa Maguire (Dec. 12, 1837) and Richard L. Pugh and Mary Louise Williams (Feb. 7, 1861) typed on it, and an undated genealogy of the Pugh family are also included. Military documents of the Civil War period include a $20, bond (two copies) for John Potts as Brigade Quartermaster and a special order of Louisiana Governor Thomas Moore relieving Potts from duty as quartermaster. Page 5 of 9

6 Several slave bills of sale are present, providing color, age, and, occasionally, work skills of each slave bought by Pugh from 1859 through These slaves were purchased in New Orleans from slave traders from Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and South Carolina. The financial papers are predominantly accounts and receipts for goods and services purchased by Richard L. Pugh. However, the early materials ( ) reflect the accounts, purchases, loans, and notes of John Williams. Records of Williams account with R. B. Mayes list the quantity, cost, and date of items purchased from Mayes. The financial papers of the war period include Confederate military requisitions for salt and beef sent to Richard L. Pugh at the Natchez Salt Works or in Texas. Requests for salt were also made by citizens in Kickapoo and Ironworks, Texas, and other places. Receipts (or requisitions from the Confederate Quartermaster of the Fourth District) for bacon and corn tithes (tax in kind) submitted by Richard Pugh or John Williams, both (at this time) of Cherokee County, Texas, are included. The financial manuscript volumes (15) consist of a memorandum book, a payroll book, a daybook, two record books, two cashbooks, two journals, and six ledgers. The memorandum book appears to have been used by Tom Brady during two periods, 1859 to 1861 and 1863 to Brady, who apparently worked for the Pughs, recorded daily the number of the family for whom he worked. He also made notes occasionally in the memo book. Richard Pugh recorded cash paid to laborers and other activities on Dixie Plantation in the journal. The journal kept by John Williams in Clarksdale, Mississippi, details payments made on various accounts and for goods and services. Cash paid to laborers and for plantation purchases was notedin the cashbooks and the payroll book (Williams), whereas the daybook (Pugh) was used more specifically to keep track of the debits and credits of individual laborers. The record books outline the mortgages and notes owed by John and Maria Williams at Leighton Plantation. The ledgers reflect the expenditures and credits of laborers and other activities on Dixie Plantation in the journal. The journal kept by John Williams in Clarksdale, Mississippi, details payments made on various accounts and for goods and services. Cash paid to laborers and for plantation purchases was noted in the cashbooks and the payroll book (Williams), whereas the daybook (Pugh) was used more specifically to keep track of the debits and credits of individual laborers. The record books outline the mortgages and notes owed by John and Maria Williams at Leighton Plantation. The ledgers reflect the expenditures and credits of laborers, cotton factor records, and personal accounts of John Williams and Richard Pugh. One of these volumes is inscribed Settlement Ledger, indicating the final credit or debit standing for each laborer or tenant employed by the plantation owner. These ledgers, which may be linked to Maguire, Leighton, Dixie, or Mascot plantations, also reflect payment or credit received for cotton and sugar sales. Page 6 of 9

7 SERIES DESCRIPTIONS Series I. Correspondence, (83 items). Includes personal and business correspondence of Richard L. Pugh, John Williams, R. B. Mayes, and Mary Pugh. Additional correspondence from friends and other members of the family. Series II. Legal documents, , undated (39 items). Documents include partnership and rental agreements, Patrick Maquire s will, land transfers, and genealogical information on the Pugh family. Series III. Financial papers, (161 items). Accounts of and receipts for goods and services purchased by Richard L. Pugh and family. Early materials ( ) reflect the expenditures and accounts of John Williams, particularly with R. B. Mayes. Additional items include requisitions for salt, receipts for tax in kind (corn and bacon) submitted by Pugh and Williams, and steamboat freight receipts. Series IV. Financial manuscript volumes, (15 volumes). A memorandum book, a payroll book, a daybook, two cashbooks, two record books, two journals, and six ledgers were used to record financial assets and debits of Dixie and Leighton plantations, as well as the individual accounts of John Williams and Richard Pugh. Many of these volumes reflect the expenditures and credits of laborers on these plantations. Page 7 of 9

8 INDEX TERMS Materials about: Can be found in: Agricultural laborers Louisiana Series I, IV; Folder 3; Volumes 1-9, Confederate States of America. Army. Artillery. Series I-III; Folders 3-6, 10 Confederate States of America Economic Series I, III; Folders 3-5, 10 conditions Dixie Plantation (La.) Series IV; Volume 4 Freedman - Louisiana Volumes , 13, 15 Leighton Plantation (La.) Series IV; Volumes Louisiana History Civil War, Series I-IV; Folders 3-6, 9-10; Volumes 12, 15 Maguire Family Series I-II, IV; Folders 1-2, 6 Maguire Plantation (La.) Series II, IV; Folder 13 Mascot Plantation (La.) Series IV; Volumes 11 Mayes, R. B. Series I-II, IV; Folders 1-2, 6, 8; Volumes 1-2, 6, 8; Volumes 1-2, 5, 10-11, Merchants Louisiana Series I-IV; Folders 1-2, 6, 8; Volumes 1-11, Plantations Louisiana Lafourche Parish Series I-IV; Folders 1-13; Volumes 1-15 Pugh Family Series I-IV; Folders 1-13; Volumes 3-4, 6-8, 12 Pugh, Mary Williams Folders 3-6, 9-13 Pugh, Richard Lloyd ( ) Series I-IV; Folders 3-7, 9-13; Volumes 3-4, 6-8, 12 Reconstruction Louisiana Series IV; Volumes 4, 6-8, 15 Slaves Louisiana Series I-II; Folders 3-5, 7 Williams Family Series I-IV; Folders 1-3, 6, 8-12; Volumes 1-2, 5, 9-11, Williams, John Series I-IV; Folders 1-2, 6, 8-12; Volumes 1-2, 5, 9-11, Page 8 of 9

9 CONTAINER LIST Stack Location Box Folder(s) Contents (with dates) D: Correspondence, (Series I). D: Legal documents, (Series II). D: Financial papers, (Series III). Volumes D: Financial manuscript volumes, (Volume 4), (Volume 3), (Volume 1), (Volume 2) (Series IV). D: , 9, 13 Financial manuscript volumes, (Volume 6), (Volume 7), (Volume 13), (Volume 9) (Series IV). D:98 4 8, 12, Financial manuscript volumes, & (Volume 15), (Volume 14), & (Volume 12), (Volume 8) Series IV). H:11 Unboxed 5, 10, 11 Financial manuscript volumes, (Volume 5), (Volume 10), (Volume 11) (Series IV). Page 9 of 9