I am trying to learn more about the Civil War to get more of an insight into what was happening during this period & to put Charles’ actions into context. The contracts with the freedmen (I assume that term is a literal description of former slaves?) makes sense because in 1866 he got the contract for the railway line between Memphis & Little Rock & would presumably have needed labour. I couldn’t open the link re the lumber as I don’t have fold3 but it is interesting that Charles did this. He was conscripted into the confederate army but I know Arkansas was pretty divided at that time & often people didn’t have a choice so I wasn’t sure of his leanings, although in the 1870s Charles appears as a witness in several cases in support of land owners trying to obtain recompense for property requisitioned by the Union army during the war, backing their claims of being loyal to the Union cause throughout. Such an intense period in American history & I’m thinking Charles is in fact quite a good case study as someone who made it through. Would enjoy a Q&A session with him 🤣
