Receipt for the Purchase of an Enslaved Woman and Children

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Description

This is a receipt for Captain George A. Johnson in the amount of $7,500 for the purchase of an enslaved woman named Susannah and two children. It was confiscated from the schooner Mary when it was captured during the Civil War.

Even though Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, slaves were still being bought and sold in the south. Multiple bills of sale for slaves in Georgia were recovered when the U.S. Navy intercepted the southern ship Mary and claimed both the ship and its contents as prize.

Transcript

$7500.00 [illegible] Sept. 20 1864

Received of G A Johnson severn thousand five hundred Dollars, being in full for the purchase of Three Negro Slaves named Susanah and Two Children the right and title of said slaves I warrant and defend against the claims of all persons whatsoever, and likewise warrant them sound and healthy in mind and body, and Slaves for life.

As witness my hand
[signature] W.B. Davant Mrs. M.W. Davant [seal]

Citation

This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.

National Archives Identifier: 5722334

Full Citation: Captain George A. Johnson’s Receipt for Purchase of Slave; 9/20/1864; A18-523; United States vs. Mary; Civil War Prize Case Files, 1861 – 1865; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; National Archives at New York, New York, NY. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/document/captain-johnson-receipt/, January 31, 2026]

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