This manuscript volume contains a list of people who visited the Avery Family plantation at Petit Anse Island during the Civil War along with the dates of their visit and their places of origin.
Sarah Avery writes to her husband from New Orleans and discusses what she has heard about the likely location of their furniture. She also mentions potential hiring arrangements with former slaves.
A letter from son to father discusses conditions on the Petit Anse plantation and arrangements for hiring laborers. According to Jack Avery, a Mr. Hayes "only wishes to hire three of his hands and says that we are at liberty to make arrangements with…
Evans writes from Houston expressing relief that the Averys had arrived back in Louisiana safely. She also discusses the effects of emancipation in Houston since the Averys left, mentioning her frustration and surprise with the ways that former…
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."
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…
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.
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.
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…
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…