Ledger, 1778-August 7, 1826 Digital

Accounts of cordage sales and expenses of the ropewalk operated by Isaac Peace and William Greenwood in Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina, dated 1778-1780, and ledger entries dated 1820-1826 of I.P. Hazard and Rowland G. Hazard.

Peace and Greenwood supplied cordage to captains and owners of privateers and merchant vessels during the Revolutionary War, such as the brigs Ann, Balona, Washington, and Fair American, sloop Mercury, and ships Telemicus and Hope. Names in the sales accounts include Samuel Pain, Alexander Chisolm, Samuel Adams, James Neilson, Captain Don Francisco, and Greenwood Saunders & Co. There is additionally an account to the Commissioner of the Navy in April 1779 for laying cordage.

Accounts against the ropewalk contain charges for hemp, tar, flour, lumber, and oil, as well as equipment like wheel bands; wages of factory employee Peter Rush; and work done by blacksmiths, carpenters, and other tradesmen, such as corking and repairing a boat, and mending a dray and cart. The ropewalk also paid Susannah Stillman for caring for and boarding a boy named Adam in 1778-1779; Seth Gilbert for a lightning rod; and merchant Zephaniah Kingsley, Sr. (1734-circa 1792) for rice and rough rice.

Ropewalk and sales accounts contain multiple references to enslaved people. In 1780, there are entries for cash received for hire of slave labor, and cash received from Captain Boitar for Cato’s share of a prize earned from crewing an unnamed privateer. Expenses included Negro cloth and shoes and medical care. In March 1779, there is a bill from a physician for attending to Cuffee. Other entries show cash paid at the workhouse for Cato, Cuffee, George, and Caezar, and cash paid to Mazyck to hire enslaved people at the ropewalk. The bulk of the ledger concerns the store and textile business of Rowland G. Hazard and I.P. Hazard, including accounts with the factory agent, Peleg Brown, and women and men who worked as weavers and carders. At the end of the volume there is an agreement between Isaac Peace and Greenwood Saunders & Co. related to shipping and storage of rough rice, clean rice, and indigo.