Volume 03 Page 0040

First Authentic Information from "Gowrie," "East Hermitage and "Camp" Plantations Savannah River since the
The Three Settlements Destroyed

From My Overseer, Mr James W. Bandy, Savannah Ga.

Copy Letter from J. W. Bandy

Savannah Ga. 18th June 1865

Mr Louis Manigault

Augusta Ga.

My Dear Sir

Yours of 7th Inst. has been received and I
was pleased to hear from You. When I left the Plantation
25th of December, I directed a Letter to You (never received)
stating the condition of things at that time: that all the Negroes
had left for Savannah, Hilton Head, and elsewhere, and the lower
Plantation (Gowrie) Mill, Your House, Servant House, and Barn
and Contents were all burnt; and I was informed by the Federalists
that they intended to burn the Threshing Mill, as soon as they got
the rice out of it, Which they did. (Eight Thousand Bushels of
Threshed Rice was in this beautiful brick Thresher, besides about
Two Thousand Bushels of un-threshed rice on the barn yard mound.
There was no such Building upon any Plantation on Savannah River
as this Three-Story Solid-Brick Edifice, built in the most substantial
manner by Mr McAlpin about twenty years ago, he himself
furnishing brick & lumber from his own yard.)

At my arrival in Savannah Mr Glasgow informed me that the
Pine Land Plantation (Camp) was burnt (Mr Benjamin Glasgow
an Englishman was taking charge of the Camp for me)
and Mrs Capers had a large portion of her clothes destroyed &
Your Horse and Mules were carried off.

Regarding the Plantation, I was informed that there was a large
Freshet came down after I left, and broke the bank at the East
end of your House, and flowing in & out. And the Negroes before
I left cut the Canal bank at the red trunk to make their escape
in the big flat. What other breaks there are I am unable to
say. The Boy Simon and Wife (Polly) is living somewhere on
the Plantation and as soon as I can see him, I will ascertain
the condition of the Place and will inform you
x x x

I should have been able to inform you more directly about
your River Plantation, but in consequence of the conduct of
some of the Negroes on some part of the River, undertaking
to molest the Whites, it was dangerous to leave the City.