978 - 1 - 107 - 01532 - 6 - Claiming the Union : Citizenship in the Post – Civil War South

The scratching of pen against paper signaled something at once mundane and momentous. “What is your name, your age, your residence?” asked Harvey Risk, a representative of the Southern Claims Commission. “My name is Mary Blackburn.... My age is about forty-fi ve years. My residence near Middlebrook,” the claimant responded. The commission awarded compensation for property losses during the American Civil War to southerners who could prove they had been loyal citizens. Special Commissioner Risk recorded testimony to be forwarded to his superiors in Washington, for which he earned ten cents per folio . For Risk, the deposition was one among many taken from claimants and witnesses who came before him. For Blackburn, her dealings with the commission marked her recognition as a loyal citizen and her right to claim the Union as her own. Blackburn, a formerly enslaved woman, presented herself before the commission in 1874 requesting $476 for two horses, two cattle, bacon, fl our, a saddle, and two bridles appropriated by the Union army in 1864. She had been born into a society that had demeaned her as a chattel, not a person, let alone a loyal citizen. Appearing before the special commissioner and having her perspectives and experiences documented was a small moment, but an important one nonetheless – one that signaled an acknowledgment that she mattered in the affairs of her nation. 1