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LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF D.G. BROWN, 1866

I have made several wills heretofore, when I had considerable property to give to my wife and children, but since the Yankees have stolen all negroes and robbed me of a great deal of my personal property, pillaging my houses, breaking open all the doors and stealing all the clothing they wanted, I have very little to will. They stole a gold watch from me, worth about three hundred dollars, which was a bridal present to me from my wife when we were married nearly half a century ago. They threatened to shoot me if I did not deliver my watch to them and burn down my dwelling house, presenting their pistols at me frequently. I am an old man of seventy six that was too weak and feeble to defend myself. I therefore make this my last will and testament in manner and form following viz:

1ST: I give and bequeath to my children and grandchildren and their decendants throughout all generations, the bitter hatred and everlasting malignity of my heart and soul against the Yankees, including all the people North of the Mason Dixon line, and I do hereby exhort and entreat my children and grandchildren if they have any love or veneration for me, to instill into the hearts of their children, this bitter hatred and these malignant feelings against the foresaid people and their decendants throughout all future time and generations.

Signed and sealed by me and written wholly with my own hand this 22nd day of November, in the year, one thousand Eight hundred Sixty-six.

D. G. Brown

This will was recorded and witnessed to on June 25th 1867

R. O. Doswell, Clerk, Hanover County Courthouse

For a start, the authenticity of that letter has been debated for a hundred years, since it was first published in southern papers with the claim that it had been found "by an old negro woman."

For another thing, there doesn't seem to be any trace of a Lt. Thomas J. Myers in any Massachusetts roster, or in the roster of the Regular Army.

Maybe it's real, maybe it's not. The original may or may not exist. Looting certainly happened, especially in South Carolina which was seen as the heart of the rebellion, the place most responsible for starting the trouble. But I seriously doubt that Sherman was personally dragging around 250 watches.