Posted on 08/17/2005 11:45:31 AM PDT by Between the Lines
COLUMBIA - A judge has ruled that a collection of rare, Civil War-era letters belong to South Carolina rather than the man who has had them in his family for generations.
The state sued after Charleston resident Thomas Willcox tried to auction off the letters. Willcox, a descendant of Confederate Gen. Evander Law, filed for bankruptcy soon after.
The collection includes more than 440 letters detailing life in South Carolina between 1861 and 1863.
Many letters are correspondence between generals or the Confederate government and S.C. Govs. Francis Pickens and Milledge Bonham during the Civil War. Three are written by Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Other letters are from residents asking for help defending their communities or for the return of their slaves, who were taken from plantations to help build fortifications. Some letters provide gory details on the realities of war.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Waites issued an order Monday stating that the letters deal with the official duties of the governor and therefore are public records.
A large portion of the letters relate to the governor's military duties, Waites said in the ruling.
"These include information relating to military supplies and shortages, military preparations, the strength and condition of the military, documentation of troop movement, accounts and reports on results of certain battles, and use of funds for military purposes," Waites wrote.
Other provisions enacted during the period are mentioned in the letters, Waites said.
In 1861, the governor was authorized to issue bonds or stock in the name of the state to continue the construction of the new Statehouse. One letter, dated June 7, 1861, from Gov. Pickens to the president of the Bank of South Carolina deals with work on the capitol and the sale of state stock, the judge wrote.
Many of the letters have markings on them consistent with the docketing system of the day.
"Such a docketing system appears to indicate an intent to preserve the document as relating to the public office," Waites said.
State Attorney General Henry McMaster said it was important for the state to get the letters back because they represent "a unique historic and turbulent period in our country and state."
"We must do all we can to preserve the rich history and proud heritage of our state."
The letters will provide a link to the past for researchers, historians and students, said Rodger Stroup, director of the state Department of Archives and History.
"We owe a debt of gratitude to the Willcox family for preserving the documents all these years," McMaster said.
Willcox's attorney, Kenneth Krawcheck, said he learned of the ruling Tuesday and had not had time to examine it.
"We're going to review it in detail and then determine if we need to file an appeal," he said.
The State ought to pay him whatever he could get at auction plus some.
That'd be the way to settle it.
I don't know anything about the docketing system - or it's use as an intent to make the letters a public document.
Nah...He should have stuffed them down his pants legs and walked out ..
"Oops, sorry, they fell in the fireplace. Too bad."
The rest of the quote "...but we don't owe them a dime because we have the weight of the lawgivers in black on our side."
It's not a blow to eminent domain at all, it's a blow for eminent domain. All your property are belong to us, The State.
Give the state a bill for 130+ years of storage fees.
Which McMaster will repay by stealing the letters.
Huh? Sure, they are public records if they are in the hands of the government, but that shouldn't mean that the government can steal them from whoever owns them.
Does that mean that if a congressman ever wrote you a letter, that some day the government can come and take it from me?
Eminent domain calls for "Just Compensation" so I'd have to say a blow to. I guess you could argue both.
Dam Activist Judge. And I thought they honored the Life
Liberty,and Property stuff recognized by our Founders.
To claim a man has no right to the property he psseses is
down right UNAmerican and pure D double Despotism as Mr.
Jefferson warned against.
Is this a case of seizure of personal property without compensation or warrant?
If the guy was trying to sell them to pay off some debts then more power to him. Unfortunately, it sounds like he got shafted for trying to be a responsible bill-paying citizen.
In hindsight, he probably should have published them, copyrighted it, and sold it. Just Damn
Property rights thwarted again. This judge is stretching where no man has gone. It truly is assinic.
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