It Is Almost Impossible to Make Collections at Present": 1836 Letter from a Floridian Lawyer Describing the Disruption of Plantation Commerce along the Chattahoochee River during the Creek War
1836rif. BK0192Apalachicola Florida 1836. Autograph letter signed one closely written page on a folded sheet 7 ¾ x 9 ½. Old folds light toning and scattered minor staining. Very good. An account of the effects of the Creek War of 1836 on commerce along the Chattahoochee River written from Apalachicola by the Florida lawyer Hiram Manley 1802-1853. A native of Easton Massachusetts and an 1825 graduate of Harvard Manley practiced law in territorial Florida and later served as a judge. His involvement in the region's commercial development is documented in February 1838 when he joined a five-man committee in Apalachicola petitioning Congress for permission to import iron duty-free for four steamboats intended to navigate the Apalachicola Chattahoochee and Flint rivers.1 Writing to a northern mercantile firm concerning a protested draft Manley explains that he has been unable to obtain a sight draft from the local bank and intends to travel through Pensacola to Mobile to secure funds. Business in Apalachicola is nearly finished for the season and the fighting upriver has made the collection of outstanding debts almost impossible: "The Indian disturbances in this quarter particularly on the banks of the Chattahoochee River between this City & Columbus in Georgia have had a very prejudicious effect on the business of this place this season & have so completely broken into the business arrangements of the Planters & Merchants in their Neighborhood that it is almost impossible to make Collections at present - the debts are good & will be paid as soon as they can leave the camps & return to the Field." The letter was written shortly after the June 9 engagement at Shepherd's Plantation south of Columbus in which Creek forces attacked Georgia militia inflicting heavy casualties. The fighting formed part of the Creek resistance to fraudulent land transactions encroachment by white settlers and the prospect of forced removal from Alabama. Manley's account documents the immediate commercial consequences farther downriver where militia mobilization had interrupted plantation business and left merchants unable to collect debts even as their own obligations fell due. 1 Petition and Papers of Isaac Gage Praying for Leave to Import Iron Vessels Free of Duty 25th Cong. 3rd sess. H. Doc. 92 Congressional Serial Set 346 1839. . unknown books
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