Enslaved People of Appomattox County

Quick Facts

In early 1865, over 4,600 African Americans were enslaved in Appomattox County. On April 9, 1865, after four years of war, Federal victory brough the promise of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to Appomattox Court House and made emancipation a reality for all enslaved people in this region, including half of Appomattox County’s population. Below are some of their stories:

Fannie Berry

During her early life, Fannie was enslaved by George Abbitt of Appomattox County. In the 1930s, she remembered the dances she attended as a young girl: “Must have been hundred slaves over there, and they always had the best dances…. Gals would put on their spare dress if they had one, and men would put a clean shirt on. Gals always tried to fix up for partying, even if they ain’t got nothin’ but a piece of ribbon to tie in their hair.”

James Bland

Bland was a free-born African-American who represented Prince Edward and Appomattox Counties at the 1867 Constitutional Convention and served in the state senate from 1869-1870. He introduced a measure guaranteeing the right of “every person to enter any college, seminary or other public institution of learning, as students, upon equal terms with any other, regardless of race, color, or previous condition.”

Bettie Johns

She was born a slave and was just old enough to remember seeing “the soldiers gathering for the surrender.” Family oral history says that Bettie learned how to read and write from the slaveholder’s children. Bettie married Marion Isbell, one of four sons of enslaved woman Kitty Isbell and Commonwealth Attorney Lewis D. Isbell, who represented Appomattox County at the Virginia Secession Convention from February to April 1861.

Spencer Johnson

Prior to April 9, 1865, Spencer Johnson was the enslaved carriage driver of Col. John M. Harris. He recollected, “I always was a Union man. I have been craving and wishing to be free all my life. I believed if the Yankees took the country we would be free and I was always wishing and praying for them to come.” At the time of the surrender, he lived just over a mile northwest of Appomattox Court House.

Hannah Reynolds

An enslaved woman in the home of Dr. Samuel H. Coleman, Hannah was ill on April 8, 1865 and unable to flee the house with the Coleman family. The next day, during the battle of Appomattox Court House, a Confederate artillery shell passed through the house and struck Reynolds in the arm. Federal surgeons were unable to save her life, Reynolds passed away three days later, as a freed woman, becoming the only civilian casualty of the battle.

Martha “Millie” Stevens

In April 1865, Millie was an enslaved 13-year-old girl in the home of County Clerk George Peers. In later years she remembered soldiers entering the house on April 9, 1865 and telling everyone to leave as “the worst battle ever fought was starting right then.” She hid in a ditch with Peers’ infant son, Charlie, until a mounted soldier carrying a white flag halted by her and said “Little girl, it’s all over now.”