Affidavit of Maria Jones: Albany, Georgia, 1868 Oct. 5

author: Howard, O. H.
date: October 5, 1868
extent: 2p
summary: In her affidavit given to Freedmen's Bureau subassistant commissioner O.H. Howard in Albany, Georgia on October 5, 1868, Maria Jones a thirty-two-year-old freedwoman living near the China Grove Church, gives her account of events on the morning of Sunday, September 20, 1868, the day after the initial outbreak of violence between townspeople and Republicans together with freedmen who came to hold a political rally in Camilla, Georgia. Jones recounts how on that morning she went looking for her son at the home of her neighbor, Sucius Pollard, and hearing that Pollard, like her son, had not been seen since the day before, headed back home, only to see Pollard being chased down and fired at by armed white men with bloodhounds. At the time Jones gave her affidavit, Pollard had not yet been found.
subjects:

• United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
• African American women--Georgia--Camilla--Personal narratives
• African Americans--Georgia--History--1863-1867
• African Americans--Georgia--Social conditions--To 1964
• Freedmen--Georgia--Political activity
• Freedmen--Georgia--Violence against
• Freedmen--Georgia--Personal narratives
• Reconstruction--Georgia
• Political violence--Georgia--Camilla
• Mitchell County (Ga.)--Race relations
• Mitchell County (Ga.)--Politics and government
• Jones, Maria, fl. 1868
• Camilla (Ga.)
• Mitchell County (Ga.)
• Affidavits

repository: DeSoto Trail Regional Library (Camilla, Ga.)
collection: Civil Unrest in Camilla, Georgia, 1868

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State of Georgia
Dougherty County [added text: }]

Maria Jones, freedwoman being duly sworn, deposes and says that she is thirty two years of age, that she lives at Stotin Waltons place, about one mile and a half from China Grove Church, in Mitchell County, that on Sunday morning Sept, 20th 1868, the day following that of the Camilla Riot she went to the house of Sucius Pollard a freedman, about one mile from her house, to enquire for her son who had been absent since the previous day, That Sucius Pollard [added text: was] not at home, and had not been since the previous day, That while at his house she heard in the woods East of the house the firing of guns and the barking of dogs, that upon this she hastened home to tell her husband what she had heard. That about one hour after reaching home, her husband having fled, Sucius Pollard came

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running from the direction whence she had heard the firing and the dogs saying that the "White folks" were running the freedmen with hounds and shooting them as they overtook them, that Sucius Pollard kept on past her house in the direction of the river and that she has not seen him since

(Signed)
her (Signed) Maria [added text: her] X [added text: mark] Jones
Sworn to and subscribed
before me at Albany Ga. this 5th day of October 1868
(Signed) O. H. Howard
Bvt Major [Brevet Major] U S A [United States Army],
2d Lieut [Lieutenant], 5th Artillery
S A Com'r [Sub Assistant Commissioner], BRF & AL [Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands],
A true copy

[Signed] M Frank Gallagher

Bvt Capt. [Brevet Captain] AAAG

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