Bound eight-page last will and testament of Hugh Hays, dated July 30th, 1865, that leaves over 20 named slaves to various heirs months after Congress passed the 13th Amendment. Hays, a native of Lincoln County, Kentucky, clearly had confidence that the 13th Amendment would not be ratified by a 3/4th majority of states in the Union. He had some evidence for believing so, as Kentucky had rejected the proposed amendment in February (and would not ratify it until 1976).

One of Hay's slaves, named Napoleon (not referenced in this document), enlisted as a Union soldier in the 12th United States Colored Heavy Artillery sometime in 1863. It is unknown whether Napoleon escaped bondage or had Hugh Hays' permission to leave. Remarkably, after the war, Napoleon bought land from J.C. Hays (named in the will) and would found a "free town" of African-Americans called Boneyville.

This document describes the tract of land given to J.C. Hays that would eventually become Boneyville, the site of which used to be a plantation in which Napoleon was enslaved.

Incredible document.

[Emancipation, 13th Amendment, Thirteenth Amendment, Slave, Slavery, Civil War, Union, Confederate, Paper Ephemera, Abraham Lincoln, Abolition, Abolitionist]