Louis Manigault, Jr. & Captain

Copyright: Contact The Charleston Museum Archives for publication quality images and credit instructions.

Description:

Ambrotype surrounded by an elaborate gold metal border of (from left to right) Louis Manigault, Jr. and enslaved child, Captain. The photographer (or Louis Manigault, Sr.) had Captain positioned behind a covered table next to Louis, Jr. standing on a chair. The note written by Manigault, Sr. placed at the bottom reads, "Taken in Charleston 16th July 1860. Louis & 'Captain' his servant."

Enslaved Black children were often forced to be the caretaker of their enslaver's children. Captain would be made to continue this role even after war broke out almost a year after this image was taken. When Louis, Sr. joined the Confederate cause, he served as secretary to army surgeon, Joseph Jones and took Captain with him. Later, Manigault wrote this of the young child in a journal, "I can say of this servant-boy 'Captain' that he behaved perfectly well in every respect during the War, being with me personally, at the end of hostilities. I of course was reduced in circumstances, and could no longer keep him. This boy had been raised in my family, is very black, and speaks french [sic], which he learnt in the family."

Gift of Joanna Stewart Jenkins.