Writing from New York, Philip Hickey Morgan (a Louisiana Unionist)
sends Judge Avery a document (not included) that he
says will "enable you to go on with your salt works without fear of
molestation from Gun boats or Dist Attys."
A difficult to transcribe letter discusses attempts to resume sugar
cultivation, which is slow work "without the hands," preparations on the
Island house, and a request from a family member to have merchandising
rights at Petit Anse if the Company…
The Confederate governor of Louisiana writes to inform Avery that he may not
be able to provide the powder requested, but he encourages Avery to pursue
the manufacture of salt on the Island (which he recently visited) as a sure
money-making venture.
Dudley Avery appeals to General Taylor to exempt "Mr. Kearney," the overseer at his father's plantation, from military enrollment. Avery explains that Kearney is "the only white person remaining on the plantation and has been supplying the people in…
Dudley informs his father of Lee's surrender and laments the fall of the
Confederacy. He regards Lincoln's assassination as a blow to the South. But
he does see some hopeful prospects in the high demand for salt and he urges
his father to send powder…
John M. Avery, son of Daniel D. Avery, was exempted from military service on
September 10, 1862, because he was "superintendent of the salt mines" in St.
Mary Parish.
A brief memo showing an analysis of the concentration of sodium chloride in
salt excavated from Avery Island. The analysis was conducted sometime in
1862 by Eugene W. Hilgard, the Mississippi state geologist.
Writing from Petit Anse Island, Dudley reports to his father on the arrival of the family's luggage with Texas, along with some powder that was presumably intended to help mine salt. An engineer from an unnamed company has been inspecting the mine…
In a letter accompanying a specimen of rock salt, Avery touts the quality of the salt being mined on Petit Anse Island and hopes the sample will be included in "the valuable collections of our old alma mater, at Yale."