Letter, 31 October 1865, of W.H. Mears (Beech Branch, Beaufort District, S.C.) to Captain J.J. Upham, (Lawtonville, S.C.) complains that members of the [104th] United States Colored Troops under the command of Lieutenant [Wellington] Wood stationed at Beech Branch were stealing watermelons and groundnuts (i.e. peanuts) from his property.

Mears charges that he had previously caught two soldiers digging peanuts. "I arrested them and sent for Lt. Wood who sent over immediately and had them carried off and today four others armed with guns came into my field and after dig[g]ing as many groundnuts as they wanted left without molestation." Mears suspected that they were responsible also for two hogs and a cow shot in his field.

William H. Mears is identified in the 1860 census as a 33-year-old planter residing in St. Peter's Parish, Beaufort District [now in Allendale County], S.C. The 104th Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry that Mears mentions in this letter was organized at Beaufort, S.C., during April-June 1865; attached to Department of the South, the regiment served garrison and guard duty at various points in South Carolina until February 1866; mustered out 5 Feb. 1866.