Nassau Plantation: The Evolution of a Texas German Slave Plantation

Chapter 5. The Runaways

63 ChaPter 5 The Runaways Meanwhile back in Texas, the first episode illustrating the incompetence of the German efforts to run a slave plantation by proxy was taking shape. Three slaves ran away from Nassau Plantation. Charles Fordtran, the Texas-German left in charge by Boos-Waldeck, documented his attempts to recover the slaves in a hitherto unprecedented way. Charles Fordtran did not actually live at the plantation. His own farm was only a few miles away in the direction of Industry. It was his responsibility to stop by every few days and make sure that the activi- 64 James C. Kearney ties of the plantation followed the general plan and concept of Count Boos-Waldeck. He seems also to have been directly responsible for supervising the work on the Herrenhaus. It was left to the overseer, William Bryan, who did live at the plantation, to take care of the dayto -day tasking of the slaves. Judging from his reports and letters, Fordtran applied himself conscientiously to his duties. With fences to construct, fields to plow, and buildings to complete, both Bryan and Fordtran had full plates. Fordtran had accompanied Boos-Waldeck to Galveston. He returned with a wagonload of supplies to Nassau Plantation on November 10, 1843. It had been a rather difficult trip due to wet weather and swollen streams. He detailed his return trip and the situation at the plantation in a long report sent to Boos-Waldeck, dated November 15, 1843.1 In the report, Fordtran mentioned that Wilhelm Etzel, the former servant of Boos-Waldeck, was happy and had big plans for the future. He continued to be diligent in his work on the manor house but did not get along well with his associate, a man named Stuesse. In consequence , Stuesse had collected his wages, twenty-eight dollars, and departed even though his work was not completed. Fordtran thought it would be best to contract outside labor for the completion of the stall, which was to be built next to the manor house with dimensions of twenty-two feet by fourteen feet by fourteen feet. Fordtran also expressed concern about the condition of the oxen, which were so indispensable for the work of breaking the fields and transporting the rails for the fences. They were in bad shape, he reported, and only three pairs remained to do the work. He suggested to Bryan, the overseer , that he make the rails, of which 4,000 had already been split, lighter and shorter, and, therefore, reduce the work for the oxen. One can detect in this letter a growing rift between the two.2 By this point, only forty acres had been broken for cultivation. Fordtran expressed disgust at the slow progress in plowing. He compared the work at Nassau to that on the Holman plantation3 south of La Grange where 150 acres had been broken and fenced without losing a single ox. On a more positive note, Fordtran reported that a mercantile Nassau Plantation 65 store, Ward & Cazello,4 had opened in La Grange. Now wares could be had as cheaply in La Grange as in Galveston. He also reported that there were plans to make the Colorado River navigable from La Grange to the coast, an important development, for it matters not how much corn you harvest, cotton you pick, or sugar cane you press if you do not have access to markets. The new mercantile establishment in La Grange was offering five to six cents per pound in gold or silver for cotton. The previous year, he noted, had seen a bumper harvest for the plantations along the Colorado River, with corn averaging around 400 pounds to the acre and cotton from 2,500 to 3,000 pounds to the acre. Fordtran also investigated the feasibility of planting sugar cane. He rode up the river twenty miles to the farm of John Murchison5 in order to get some sugar cane cuttings. Murchison wanted four dollars for one hundred cuttings and Fordtran estimated 500 cuttings would be necessary. From the 500 cuttings, he stated, one could get 14,000 to 16,000 stalks. From these, molasses and sugar could be made at the plantation the following year. It would cost five dollars to have the cuttings shipped, he observed, but it would be worth this for two reasons: the oxen were not up to the trip, and it would be unwise to...