Title

Receipt for use of slaves in construction of Military Road

Creator

Files

Date Original

1835 October 20

Description

Small scrap of paper with four lines of text related to construction of Military Road from Jackson to Fort Smith, using slaves owned by future Arkansas governor, Thomas Drew. It provides a route, identifies the superintendent for road construction, and the amount paid for the use of slaves.

Transcription

Rec'd of Thos. Baker Supr. Of the Mily Road leading
from Jackson via Liverty & Fayetteville to Ft. Smith
by the hand of David W. Lowe Esq. One hundred
Dollars for hire of hands (slaves) Octr 20th 1835.
Thos. S. Drew

Physical Description

Receipt, 7.75" x 3.5"

Subjects

Construction; Construction workers; Slavery; Transportation

Contributor

Thomas Drew

Geographical Area

Lawrence County (Ark.)

Language

English

Identifier

MSNE.0070, Box 14, Folder 1282

Resource Type

Text

Collection

Lawrence County (Ark.) Circuit Court records, MSNE.0070

Publisher

Arkansas State Archives

Contributing Entity

Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives

Recommended Citation

Receipt for use of slaves in construction of Military Road, Lawrence County (Ark.) Circuit Court records, Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives, Powhatan, Arkansas.

Rights

Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.

Disciplines

United States History

Comments

I selected this piece because it is a clear example of how history is sometimes preserved in the tiniest bits. In these four lines, we learn much about the administration, route, and construction of a sizeable portion of the Military road. We also know that slaves owned by Thomas Drew, who would later become the governor of our state, were used to build a portion of that road. - Lisa Perry

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