New from Old Natchez
New from Old Natchez - the Collections
John C. Schwartz Papers, 1848-1898 (bulk: 1863-1888)
Addition of 13 manuscript volumes and ca. 2 linear feet
1. Pages from volume 1A, a cashbook (1863-1891) giving monthly totals of cash sales during the Civil War and the early years of Reconstruction.
Federal forces landed at Natchez and occupied the town on July 13, 1863, without incident. They used the town primarily as a supply base for mounting forays into southwest Mississippi and eastern Louisiana. By July 1864, 5706 men were assigned to the post at Natchez, including more than 3500 African-Americans from surrounding plantations who were either employed by the Army as laborers or who had been recruited for military service (Coussons, p. 39).
With merchants largely dependent on the surrounding plantations for business, and those plantations idle as former slaves flocked to the occupying army in Natchez, commerce declined precipitously, as the Schwartz volume shows. In 1864, planters who were willing to take the oath of allegiance were allowed to resume shipping cotton, and newly arrived northern lessees also began planting. As a result, trade picked up, though inflation also accounts for the increased cash sales recorded by Schwartz in 1864. The economic situation gradually improved during the remainder of the war as trade restrictions were relaxed in light of the Confederacy's decline, increasing supplies and lowering prices (Coussons, p. 64-74). Natchez enjoyed relative prosperity after the war as Northern merchants infused capital into the community (Harris, p. 222).
Images: 1.1-1.2-1.3
