I just realized that I suggested a book the other day, but didn't mention the name. The book about the Ball family in South Carolina was called "Slaves in the Family," came out in 1998 or so and has plenty of copies available on Amazon. To wrap up the history on slavery down here in Charleston, we went to The Old Slave Mart Museum. It is run by the Park Service, and you can check it out at www.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/ohm.htm. It is located on the actual site of the slave auctions in the early 19th century up through the war. One of the unique things we found were slave tags. I had seen them at the Charleston Museum the day before, but didn't really know what they were all about. They were copper tags that listed the occupation and was worn by the slave, and the purpose was to keep track of the slave when they were rented out to others. It is something they only did in the Charleston area, and the city charged a tax of $2 per year per license.
Earlier in the week, we went down and walked around the Battery neighborhood. The whole thing is historic, and it was from the rooftops that much of the city watched the bombardment of Sumter. The picture below is the house where General Beauregard watched the events. There is another house that opens up once a year to let people see the cannon ball that is still lodged in the attic.
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