Sold for My Account: The Early Slave Trade Between Kentucky and the Lower Mississippi Valley

Sold for My Account": The Early Slave Trade Between Kentucky and the Lower Mississippi Valley Pen Bogert Iii April 787, General James Wilkinsin of Fayette C in 2 ,i,„ it li!, pral pric. 4.ill b: given -Ap14 · ·i ' Si' 1111:· e * e1 · r r,1. Li, ( 1:" f'. Dec. 1 I 788. J.1 1\ 1 FS WiEKINSON Kentucky Gazette ad, December 20, 1788. ( Courtesy, Filson Historical Society, Louisville) that slaves had been available fc, r purchase in Kentucky at a very carly date through bartering arrangements, estate settlements, intrastate sales, hiring agreements, and by importaticm : ind migration. Settlers, iii fact, c my where cash was scarce. In October i 779, sh() rtly after John Floyd arrived in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, fr t, b .,._*-*-= t , 2, tr k*7 9' i] A 44 PL « 9 .» c.nit: tit, ' k. 4fil 1 . 1 ' J 1 1, 6 Mu tb.O * V, / C* 111(, 11 1) 1vis of Clark County paid taxes on one slave in i Moo when lie began slave trading.' Although the i, rimary motivation for slave sales was financial gain, slaveowners in the late 17) 08 occasic)nally punished rebellious or dist,hedient slaves by sellin,, c. ... My [Iitcnlicin ih, li) l'ellie ic) 11ly |. 11 asc\ 21 Other Kentucky mci· ch, Ints who sold slaves during this period included John Cowan, Andrew Hare, and john (' c)hurn. 1:{ 11 C(, w. in sce Mclice, Ni#/(· hez P,tili Rcc: 1 Kcnim kv irc, in 11) 1( wince.Territory tind Sttile, 14144 · 38 This data del· ived frtim values iecoided in all estate inventorieb , I Soo1 80 1, for Bourbon (Will Book B),Jessaminc (Will Book Al, Shelby , t, itc inventtiry of Andrew Hynes, May 9, I SO 1, Nels() n C(, unty Will Bot)k A, 499 ( miciofilm, FHS). 39 Clailiorne paid taxes for 320 acres in Lunenhur; County in 1794 ; ind ten slaves in Fayette County iii 1796 Lunenburg C:(, unty T, Ix List, 1794, Virginia State Library (microfilm, FHS); Fayette C) unty Tax List. I 796 microfilm, FHS). 40 Malcolm Hai t Harris, cd., ld New Kent C{) unty. 8(, me. Accoulit tif ihe Mtinicri. Planttitions, and Pinces in New Kent County, ( West ]N,int, Virginia, , 9771, vol. 1, 17980 ; Willard Rouse Jills, in, Pioneer Kentucky 1Frankfort, 19341,95· John G. Meiux' s father once placed an advertisement for the capture of 11 twenty-five-yearold man named Phil, offering A reward of ten pounds for his head sever'd froin his body." Sec Kentucky Gazette, Innu;try 15, 1791. 4T Adair and Claibarne also invested together in racchorses and slaves. See Kentucky Gazette, August 2, 1803; Mercer County Tax List, 1 803 ( microfilm, FHS).For Adair:gambling activities, see M.tri, 1 T. I). iviess, History of Me' icer tind Boyle Counties ( Harrodshurg, 1924, repiint),IIo;for Clailorne' S, sec Kentucky aze/le, january 23, 1796, July3, I802, Oct(, ber 19, I 802 and November 2, I 802; fc,r Meaux, see C' eorge Robert,Noi) v. lohn G. Merilix, Mercer County Circuit Court, filed December 10, 1798, Kentucky Department for Lihral· ics : ind Archives {hereafter cited as KDLA). 41 Adair was a slate representative and delegate to the Second Kentucky Constitutional Convention when he made a slave trading voyage to Natchez in Pebiuary I799 Adair and Menux made : slave trading voyage together to Natchez in I 799, Adams County Deed Record Book B, 83, March 1 2, 1 799, Mississippi Department of Archives and History Ihereafter cited as MDAH), microfilin. They made another trip in 1800, this time including Claiborne, ibid., 84, April 7, 1800; ibid., it, July 29, 1 800; East Baton Rouge Parish, July 8, I 800, in H, 11], e d., Datilases;East Batim Rouge Parish, lilly 18, 1800,in ibid.; Adams Coutity Dced Record Book B, 70, July 15, 1 800 lillier rmlicin cind Emancipaticin (> f Slavex, cliapier 161, apprtived December I7, I794, in William Littell, ed., The 5/ M / 1 le Law of Kentucky IFrankfurt, 18091, vol. 1, 241 47 · 45 See Conslitzitio; i of the State oj Ke;] iucky, article 9, enacted April , 9, 1793, and to be effective June 1, 1792, in Littell, Strictite Law...