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Fueled by speculation, the total value of slave property across the
South in 1860 was enormous compared to other sectors of the economy. It was
nearly three times larger than the total amount of capital invested in
manufacturing throughout the entire country, almost three times the amount
invested in all railroads, and seven times the amount invested in all banks. It
was three times the value of all livestock, twelve times the value of all farm
implements and machinery and forty eight times larger than the total annual
expenditures of the Federal government. Slave owning Virginians worried about
the loss of this huge investment. Northerners, such as Ambert Remington of New
York, foretold that, “…a man that owns ten, twenty, or thirty thousand dollars
in slaves, ($150,000-$450,000 in current dollars) will not give them up without
a struggle….”
The case of Hickory Hill is illustrative. Hickory Hill, owned by the Wickham family, was a 3,500 acre plantation located in central Hanover County, near Richmond, Virginia. The plantation practiced the most up to date agricultural methods. The most important pillar of the Wickhams’ financial security however, was the increasing value and number of slaves at Hickory Hill. In 1852 there were two hundred slaves valued at $70,000, an average of $350 each at Hickory Hill. In 1860 there were 275 slaves, averaging slightly more than $650 each, worth $180,000. In eight years the value of the Wickham’s slave property increased two and one half times. Low crop yields were not something the Wickhams had to worry about. If the Wickhams had to endure several consecutive years of crop failures, they could always sell some of their slaves. The Wickham family was not alone however, slave owning in Virginia was not only for wealthy planters, but was quite widespread.
The case of Hickory Hill is illustrative. Hickory Hill, owned by the Wickham family, was a 3,500 acre plantation located in central Hanover County, near Richmond, Virginia. The plantation practiced the most up to date agricultural methods. The most important pillar of the Wickhams’ financial security however, was the increasing value and number of slaves at Hickory Hill. In 1852 there were two hundred slaves valued at $70,000, an average of $350 each at Hickory Hill. In 1860 there were 275 slaves, averaging slightly more than $650 each, worth $180,000. In eight years the value of the Wickham’s slave property increased two and one half times. Low crop yields were not something the Wickhams had to worry about. If the Wickhams had to endure several consecutive years of crop failures, they could always sell some of their slaves. The Wickham family was not alone however, slave owning in Virginia was not only for wealthy planters, but was quite widespread.
Slave flight, “running
away,” the most common form of slave resistance, called into question the
notion of benevolent paternalism and struck particularly hard at the idea that
slaves were basically happy.
A brief look at love, sex, and marriage in the Civil War. The book
covers courtship, marriage, birth control and pregnancy, divorce, slavery and
the impact of the war on social customs.
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