Prior to 1856, there was a substantial cluster of slave-trading businesses in what is now the ghost town of Hamburg, South Carolina, which was located directly across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia.
According to the Anti-Slavery Bugle in 1848, Hamburg was successful in part because it was a slave market located just outside Georgia, which had a state law banning interstate slave trading,[1] "Hamburg, South Carolina was built up just opposite Augusta, for the purpose of furnishing slaves to the planters of Georgia. Augusta is the market to which the planters of Upper and Middle Georgia bring their cotton; and if they want to purchase negroes, they step over into Hamburg and do so. There are two large houses there, with piazzas in front to expose the 'chattels' to the public during the day, and yards in rear of them where they are penned up at night like sheep, so close that they can hardly breathe, with bull-dogs on the outside as sentinels. They sometimes have thousands here for sale, who in consequence of their number suffer most horribly."[2] In the early years, traders who had come down the "upper route" pitched tents beside the bridge to await buyers.[3]: 32 Resident Georgians could import at will from across the river so long as they retained ownership for at least a year past the initial purchase date.[3]: 31 The Georgia law prohibiting the importation of slaves across state lines was repealed in 1856.[1]
Traders
editThe main trading cluster was likely on Center Street. Some of the slave traders working in Hamburg:
- Dr. James Alston[4]
- Atkins & Spires[5]
- Mr. Boyce[6]
- Benjamin Davis[7]
- W. C. Ferrell[8]
- John C. Cureton[9][10]
- T. Goldsmith (agent)[11]
- Houston[12]
- Thomas J. Jennings & Co., also Jennings & Robertson[13]
- John Lane[14]
- R.M. Owings & Co.[15]
- James Patterson[16]
- Oliver Simpson[8][17]
- the Slatter brothers (Hope H. Slatter and Shadrack F. Slatter)[16]
- Spires & Wilson[18]
- N. C. Trowbridge[19][20]
- John Woolfolk[3]: 32
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Slave Laws of Georgia, 1755–1860" (PDF). georgiaarchives.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-09-20. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ^ "Slave Trading in Georgia". Anti-Slavery Bugle. October 27, 1848. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2023-08-15. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
- ^ a b c Gudmestad, Robert (1999). A Troublesome Commerce: The Interstate Slave Trade, 1808-1840 (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College. doi:10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.6941.
- ^ "South Carolina". Newspapers.com. January 14, 1846. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
- ^ "Atkins & Spiers". The Daily Constitutionalist and Republic. January 19, 1851. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "One Hundred Dollars Reward". The Charleston Daily Courier. September 9, 1837. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
- ^ "The American slave code in theory and practice: its distinctive features shown by its statues, judicial decisions, and illustrative facts ..." HathiTrust. pp. 54–55. hdl:2027/loc.ark:/13960/t7np25m2c. Archived from the original on 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ a b "Oliver Simpson & W.C. Ferrell". The Weekly Telegraph. April 17, 1833. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "Negroes! Negroes!! For Sale". Newspapers.com. June 12, 1849. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ^ "$40 Dollars Reward". Newspapers.com. May 30, 1848. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ^ "Virginia Negroes for Sale by T. Goldsmith, Agent". Edgefield Advertiser. November 12, 1840. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "Jos. Evans searching for his mother Yerico Tool and sisters · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery". informationwanted.org. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ "Negroes! Negroes! Negroes!". The Daily Constitutionalist and Republic. February 5, 1851. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "200 Negroes". The Weekly Telegraph. December 5, 1833. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2023-08-14. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "R.M. Owings & Co". The Daily Constitutionalist and Republic. April 3, 1857. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ a b "For Sale Two Hundred and Twenty Likely Young Negroes". Georgia Journal and Messenger. April 17, 1834. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "The anti-slavery record v.1 (1835)". HathiTrust. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
- ^ "Spires & Wilson". The Charleston Mercury. February 8, 1853. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "N.C. Trowbridge". The Daily Constitutionalist and Republic. March 21, 1849. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "Bill of sale for Leander, an enslaved person, from N.C. Trowbridge to E.H. Simmons, 1851 April 17 :autograph manuscript signed. / American Slavery Documents / Duke Digital Repository". Duke Digital Collections. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2023-10-09.