This post is part of an ongoing project to record names of enslaved people of Greene County, Georgia I find in historical records.
Very few records survive that tell us anything about the lives of enslaved people. When a name does appear, it is often because the person was accused of causing harm or was involved in a legal dispute. In this case, however, the record shows the opposite: Frederick was the one who suffered harm, and the incident was documented in the court system.
In July 1850, a violent incident in Greene County, Georgia brought a white man, Benjamin Bowles, before the courts after he was accused of unlawfully shooting Frederick, an enslaved man owned by James B. Nickelson. Because enslaved people were treated as property under Georgia law, the case centered on Nickelson’s legal rights rather than Frederick’s suffering. A magistrate found strong grounds to hold Bowles for trial, and a grand jury later indicted him for assault with intent to murder and for wounding a slave—serious charges when committed by someone with no authority over the enslaved person. Bowles pled not guilty, and although the evidence was substantial, the trial jury reduced the outcome to a misdemeanor. Even so, the case preserves a rare record of Frederick’s life and the community’s response. I hope this surviving record helps Frederick’s descendants, if any, learn more about him.
- Greene County, Georgia, Special Proceedings Records 1847–1849, 1849–1852, 1843–1847, images 780–781, FamilySearch.
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