Mary Johnson Enslaved part 3

 Walter L. Campbell Slave Trader

Walter L. Campbell  Sale  of Mary Johnson to  Delia E. Stovall  of Pike County, Mississippi December 6, 1852

Transcribed Bill of Sale

Federal law required ships carrying enslaved people to a shipping port to have a manifest. The manifest required a date, destination, captain's name, slave owner and or shipper's name, slave's age and height and date of certification of the customs collector. The New Orleans, Louisiana, U S., Slave Manifests 1807 to 1860 is an incomplete collection of slave ships that entered the port of New Orleans. I searched this collection and found that B. M. and W. L. Campbell along with other slave owners and or shippers had over 50 slaves with the name Mary Johnson or a variation of the name from 1821 to 1852 in the collection. I think this did not occur by chance. I believe that the actual names of these enslaved women were changed to Mary Johnson. With a different name, it would be very difficult or impossible for the enslaved woman's family or anyone to locate them. I have not found a definitive source to support my assumption.  

Mary Johnson was transported by ship from Baltimore, Maryland to New Orleans, Louisiana. I  believe I have found the slave manifest which has the ancestor Mary Johnson. 

Source Citation The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC; Slave Manifests of Coastwise Vessels Filed at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1807-1860; Microfilm Serial: M1895; Microfilm Roll: 13

The manifest states: MANIFEST OF NEGROES, MULATTOS, and PERSONS OF COLOR, taken on board the Jane Henderson where of  G W Collins(?) is Master 137 tons, to be transported to the port of New Orleans in the district of Louisiana for the purpose of being sold or disposed of as slaves, or to be held in the service of labor. 

 In the upper right-hand corner,  the names B M and W L Campbell Baltimore are written. The shipper is identified as B M Campbell. The custom collector certified the above-named slaves to be correct and dated November 26, 1852 The manifest continues: the slaves described have not been imported into the United State since the first day in January, one thousand eight hundred and eight and under the Laws of the State of Maryland are held to service or labor as Slaves and are not entitled to freedom under these laws, at a certain time and after a period of service.--SO HELP US GOD.

On the document listed number 12 is Mary Johnson female age 17, five feet five inches and color black. She arrived on a ship from Baltimore to New Orleans on November 26, 1852, and  B M and W L Campbell are identified on the manifest.  She was sold by Walter L. Campbell a known slave trader. Her age on the Bill of Sale states about 18 years old.  Mary Johnson was sold 10 days after arriving in New Orleans to Delia Stowell from Pike County, Mississippi. 

On September 18, 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress.  This act had three major components 1) the federal government was responsible for finding escaped slaves 2) slaves be returned to their owner if in a free state and 3) anyone who aided a runaway slave was subject to six months in prison and a $1000 fine the equivalent of $38,052,31 in 2022. Baltimore, Maryland is over a thousand miles from New Orleans, Louisiana. Mary Johnson would be enslaved for life.

More information to come.

--- The Tree Gardener

Mary Johnson Enslaved part 2

 Walter L. Campbell Slave Trader

Walter L. Campbell  Sale  of Mary Johnson to  Delia E. Stovall  of Pike County, Mississippi December 6, 1852

Transcribed Bill of Sale

The domestic slave trade became very active after 1808. The leading cash crop in Maryland and Virginia was tobacco dating back to the early American colonies. Without harvest mechanization, tobacco production on plantations required hard physical labor. First indentured servants, free African Americans and later slave labor.   Tobacco plants could deplete soil nutrients and sales to foreign markets decreased.   As tobacco production decreased, cotton production aided by the invention of the Cotton Gin increased in southern territories and states. The need for slave labor increased in different geographic areas.

 Baltimore County, Maryland had a significant population of free people of color and enslaved black people. There were incidents in which free black people aided the enslaved to escape from slavery.  There were also situations of married couples of free and enslaved people.  This mixture gave hope that the manumission of the enslaved person might one day happen.  

 Baltimore City was involved in the Southern slave trade. Walter L. Campbell is the slave trader who’s noted on the bill of sale from Mary Johnson. His occupation at 27 years old was slave dealer born in 1823 in Georgia from the 1850 Orleans Parish Louisiana Federal census. He is known to have a possible brother Bernard M. Campbell who aided him in the slave trade. His name is enumerated on the first line. 

 

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCJ8-VXV : 22 December 2020), Walter L Campbell, New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

The city of Baltimore now has a Slave Trade Historic Marker located between the Inner Harbor and Fells Point identifying the area were "slave pens" were located. These pens housed the enslaved people by slave traders prior to being shipped to southern areas in the county. New Orleans was one of the ports. There was another slave trader Hope Hull Slater who preceded Campbell and had a designated area in Baltimore, Maryland and New Orleans, Louisiana that  slave pens and slave auctions took place. 

Walter L. Campbell purchased the site on Pratt Street in Baltimore and the corner of Moreau and Esplanade streets in New Orleans and published in advertisements. This was known as 'Slater's old stand".

The Baltimore Sun Newspaper Baltimore Maryland October 17, 1848 page 4

Times Picayune New Orleans Louisiana November 22, 1850

 Walter L. Campbell had a very lucrative business selling enslaved people. He not only advertised in newspapers but was in the 1861 New Orleans business directory listed among other slave dealers.

It is probably from these publications that Delia E. Stovall read which resulted in the purchase and enslavement of Mary Johnson on December 6, 1852.   Below is the New Orleans Times Picayune advertisement published weeks before Mary Johnson was sold and later taken to Pike County, Mississippi. Transported to the deep south made it unlikely that freedom would occur.

Times Picayune New Orleans Louisiana November 4, 1852.

More information to come.

----The Tree Gardener

Mary Johnson Enslaved Part 1

 

The port city of New Orleans, Louisiana was a vibrant slave destination since the early 1700s. Slavery in Louisiana was first established by the French, followed by the Spanish and English.  The development of the Cotton Gin in 1793 and the Louisiana Purchase by the United States in 1803 stimulated the agricultural slave economy. The distance between Pike County, Mississippi to the city of New Orleans is slightly over a hundred miles.  Because of the close geographic proximity, my assumption was most of my enslaved ancestors from Africa arrived in New Orleans and then were transported to Mississippi. The assumption may only be partially true. 

The Act of Prohibiting Importation of Slaves a United States federal law and Abolition of The Slave Trade Act passed by the British Parliament banned the import of slaves in the British Empire in 1807. This stimulated the domestic slave trade. The enslaved were also illegally imported into the United States from geographic areas that were not part of the United States after 1807. 

 The ship Amistad is a famous example of the illegal slave trade. The Portuguese ship Amistad in 1839 which held 53 African enslaved people initial route was Havana, Cuba. The Africans seized the ship and killed the captain and cook and tried to return to Africa. The ship was seized in New York and all on board were taken to Connecticut. The plantation owners were freed and the Africans were charged with murder. The murder charges were later dismissed. The plantation owners, the Spanish government and the captain of the ship Washington claimed the African people as property. The case was eventually adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court in 1841 with the Africans represented by former President John Q. Adams. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the Africans and they were released. Thirty-four Africans survived and with the financial help of abolitionists, they returned to Africa. 

It is from this historical background, that I have continued to look for my enslaved ancestors from the early transport before 1807 and the domestic slave trade. From the domestic slave trade, I have received from a cousin the documentation of the enslavement of Mary Johnson.

Walter L. Campbell  Sale  of Mary Johnson to  Delia E. Stovall  of Pike County, Mississippi December 6, 1852

Transcribed Bill of Sale

Walter L. Campbell a well-established slave trader in New Orleans, Louisiana sold Mary Johnson age estimated 18 years old on December 6,1852 to Delia E. Stovall of Pike County, Mississippi for $925.00 the equivalent of $35,655.51 in 2022.

More information to come.

---The Tree Gardener