Amy Spain
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Conduct unbecoming a slave
Amy Spain | |
|---|---|
 The Hanging of Amy Spain – contemporary engraving from Harper's Bazaar | |
| Born | 1848 |
| Died | March 10, 1865 (aged 16–17) |
| Criminal status | Executed by hanging |
| Convictions | Treason Conduct unbecoming a slave |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
Amy Spain (c. 1848 – March 10, 1865) was a teenage American slave who was executed by a Confederate military court in the final days of the American Civil War. She was convicted of treason for stealing from her owner, and hanged from a sycamore tree in Darlington, South Carolina. She is believed to have been the last female slave to be executed.[1]
Spain was owned by Major Albertus C. Spain, a Mexican–American War veteran who owned a large property in Darlington, South Carolina, and had been a member of the South Carolina Secession Convention. She was about 17 years old at the time of her death, and was referred to as "mulatto", with sources noting her light skin.[2]
In early 1865, a detachment of the Union Army arrived in Darlington as part of the Carolinas campaign.[2] Spain reputedly exclaimed "bless the Lord, the Yankees have come!"[3] Many white residents (including almost all adult men) had deserted the town by that point, and the Union commander allowed slaves to take whatever belongings had been left behind. Spain and her brother Willie dragged some mahogany furniture from an abandoned warehouse,[2] and later took "linens, sheets, pillow cases, flour, sugar, lard, and some furniture" from the home of their master.[4]