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October 28, 1854 | Letter
William M. Sclater's Affidavit, October 28, 1854
When two slaves were killed on the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, the Board of Public Works attorneys sought sworn affidavits from white men who knew the enslaved men to determine their value for compensation to the slaveholders. The legal process regularized and the practice of industrial slavery on the railroads.
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November 1, 1854 | Letter
Attorney General W.P. Bocark's Opinion Regarding the Bureau of Public Works' Liability for Slaves Killed on Blue Ridge Railroad, November 1, 1854
When two slaves were killed on the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, slaveholders held the Virginia Board of Public Works, which had hired slaves through contractors, liable for the losses. Affidavits were taken on the value of the slaves, their character and history. The Attorney General of Virginia, W. P. Bocock, ruled that whether the slaves were killed on the Virginia Central Rail Road Co. or the Blue Ridge project was immaterial, and that the Board of Public Works was liable for reasonable compensation to the slaveholders.
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November 1, 1854 | Letter
William M. Sclater's Proposal to the Board of Public Works, November 1, 1854
When labor shortages slowed the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, Claudius Crozet solicited proposals from local contracting agents to supply slave labor.
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November 5, 1854 | Letter
Letter from Claudius Crozet to the Virginia Board of Public Works, November 5, 1854
Claudius Crozet comments on the problems with white labor on the Tunnel project, and the possibilities for increasing the use of black slaves.
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December 1, 1854 | Letter
Letter from Claudius Crozet Reporting the Condition of Work Under his Charge, December 1, 1854
Commenting on the unreliablity of Irish labor, Claudius Crozet recommends to the Board of Public Works that they hire black enslaved labor instead.
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December 28, 1854 | Letter
Letter from Claudius Crozet to the Virginia Board of Public Works, December 28, 1854
In one of his regular reports to the Board of Public Works, Claudius Crozet comments on the use of enslaved labor and the use of "time" that its employment enables. Because slaves were worked longer hours, often in gangs, and not paid by the hour, unlike whites, they could be transferred from one task to the next until their annual hire was renegotiated with the slaveholder.
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1855 | Book
My Bondage and My Freedom
In this excerpt from My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglass recounts the segregation of Northern railcars and the attitudes of Northern passengers.
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November 23, 1855 | Contract
Receipt for Purchase of a Slave
This 1855 receipt describes the purchase of a young female slave and her two children.
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December 1, 1856 | Annual report
The Mountain Top Track
This December 1, 1856 report details the high maintenance costs for track running through the Blue Ridge mountains.
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February 20, 1858 | Contract
Receipt for Purchase of a Slave
This receipt and letter describes the terms of sale for a slave in 1858.
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April 1, 1858 | Letter
This 1858 list shows the name, gender, color, and age of slaves sold, possibly for tax purposes.
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March 5, 1860 | Contract
Receipt for Sale of Slaves to the Mississippi Central Railroad Company, March 5, 1860
This March 5, 1860 receipt lists the names, ages, and purchase price of 21 slaves sold to the Mississippi Central Railroad.
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March 5, 1860 | Contract
Receipt for Sale of Slaves to the Mississippi Central Railroad Company, March 5, 1860 (#2)
This March 5, 1860 receipt lists the names, ages, and purchase price of 31 slaves "sold & delivered" to the Mississippi Central Railroad.
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1861 | Photograph
Barricades at Alexandria, Virginia.
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1861 | Book
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
In these excerpts from her memoir, Harriet Jacobs writes of the segregation and prejudice she faced in the North almost immediately after escaping from slavery.
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1861 | Photograph
Slave pen of Price, Birch & Co., Alexandria, VA: ca. 1860 - ca. 1865
A Matthew Brady image of the slave pen of Price, Birch & Co., Alexandria, Virginia.
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February 18, 1861 | Letter
Breif report on slave market in New Orleans
In this February 18, 1861 letter from A. J. Rux to E.H. Stokes, Rux briefly describes the state of the slave market in New Orleans.
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February 22, 1861 | Letter
Letter from A. J. Rux to E. H. Stokes, February 22, 1861
In this February 22, 1861 letter from A. J. Rux to E. H. Stokes, Rux describes the sale of a female slave named Harriett for $1,000. He confides to Stokes that he is "ashamed" of the low price he received, but notes that Harriett's "same old complaint" and break out attempts were so frustrating that "I sold her where I don't think we will ever hear from her again."
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1862 | Photograph
African American Laborers on the U.S. Military Railroad in Northern Virginia, c. 1862 or 1863
From the beginning of the Civil War, African Americans worked on the railroads, transferring their labor to the Union cause.
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1862 | Photograph
Contrabands at Cumberland Landing, Virginia, May 1862
In the Peninsular Campaign, Federal forces encountered thousands former slaves who sought freedom and work in the Union army camps. Even if slaves fled slavery, their status was unclear in the first year of the war. In July 1862 Congress declared such refugees from slavery ?forever and henceforth free.?
