Even one letter or diary passage can tell us a great deal about a particular time and place in the past, but only if we know what other evidence to consult in order to make sense of its puzzling references and place its ideas into larger contexts.

This text is an 1856 letter written by prominent South Carolina planter and politician James Henry Hammond to his adult son Harry. The elder Hammond was ill at the time and wrote in part to make his wishes known to his son about various matters of business and household should he grow worse and die. The letter is striking for its bluntness about sex and offspring with two particular women named Sally and Louisa Johnson who were slaves of Hammond; in particular, Hammond notes one of the mixed-race children, a youth named Henderson.* [Note: Hammond spells believe as "beleive"] Read the letter below and click on the highlighted sections to consider the many avenues for historical exploration that this letter opens.

The letter:

In the last will I made I left to you....Sally Johnson the mother of Louisa & all the children of both. Sally says Henderson is my child. It is possible, but I do not beleive it. Yet act on her’s rather than my opinion. Louisa’s first child may be mine. I think not. Her second I beleive is mine. Take care of her & her children who are both of your blood if not of mine & and of Henderson. The services of the rest will I think compensate for indulgence to these. I cannot free these people & send them North. It would be cruelty to them. Nor would I like that any but my own blood should own as slaves my own blood or Louisa. I leave them to your charge, beleiving that you will best appreciate & most independently carry out my wishes in regard to them. Do not let Louisa or any of my children or possible children be the Slaves of Strangers. Slavery in the family will be their happiest earthly condition.

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