William "Billy" Mcduffie was an enslaved person during and prior to the American Civil War. During the war, McDuffie most likely served as a cook or a body servant. Biographical materials that accompanied the collection included an excerpt from his obituary, which ran in the Athens Daily Banner on May 28, 1901, and is included below. The biographical materials also mention that William McDuffie formerly enslaved by Governor George McDuffie of South Carolina and that he "served as a valet to the family of a prominent South Carolina politician and banker, Frank H. Elmore".

"He went as a drummer to the Seminole war in 1836, to the Mexican war, and to the civil war. He volunteered to go to Cuba .. . . He was a courier on the staff of Governor Mcsweeney and an honorary sergeant in a local white military company. He brought back General Pierce Butler's body from Mexico and General Bragg's back from Fredricksburg. . . . [He] beat the muffled drum at [John C.] Calhoun's funeral. He was buried ... with military honors."