Dolly A. Briggs, widow of John E. Briggs, asks the court to sanction a sale of a slave. Briggs relates that "very recently" a slave "named Henry who had been allotted to her for life, ran away from her and attempted to escape into the federal lines and that when arrested he had crossed the Blackwater river and was within five miles of the Federal pickets." She recounts that he "was brought home and her neighbours all of whom had determined that no slave who had attempted to escape to the Yankees ... could remain in the neighbourhood" and that they told her "she must sell him." Convincing "herself that this negro would be lost both to her and the estate if he remained at home," Briggs admits that "she sold him for the sum of $616." She further confesses that "she is aware that she has violated the law and the rights of her children, but she ... thinks that she has done and pursued the wisest course which could have been followed under the present trying condition of the country to save his value to the estate." She therefore prays that "the court sanction her conduct, and to allot so much of the money to her in fee in lieu of her life right" and to divide the residue between her two children.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
