Enslaved and Free Black Builders of Nashville's Civil War Fortifications, 1862-1863: A List from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The list of Enslaved and Free Black Builders of Nashville's Civil War Fortifications, 1862-63, is an index of forms the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers kept about each enslaved and free Black man, woman, and child who worked on the Union fortifications of the city of Nashville during the Civil War. The original ledger is titled "Employment Rolls and Nonpayment Rolls of Negroes Employed in the Defenses of Nashville, Tennessee, 1862-1863" and is on microfilm at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville, TN. It was used later by the War Department in debates about the nonpayment and underpayment of emancipated people who had been enslaved when they performed this work, and their beneficiaries. Each entry lists the first and last name of the laborer alongside the name of their former enslaver, time employed, rate of pay (which corresponded to specific skills such as those displayed by first- and second- class laborers, teamsters, and cart drivers), total payment due, information related to original provenance, and three columns entitled “Signatures,” “Witness” and “Remarks,” which were inconsistently used to note miscellaneous information or allude to the existence of additional forms.