Railroad Company and Directors Slaveholding Search

In the 1850s railroads in the U.S. South held thousands of slaves and hired thousands more. Some companies carried "Negro Fund" lines on their financial statements, designating how much the company had "invested" in human property. Railroad account books, balance sheets, and annual reports give limited but useful information about company slaveholding. Railroad company directors also personally held slaves and their slaveholding was recorded in the U.S. Census. This database is a partial effort to compile in one place the scattered information about railroads and slaveholding, and it will be continually updated as new information is discovered.

Railroad: Roanoke Valley Winchester and Potomac Blue Ridge Railroad, Virginia Virginia Central South Side Orange and Alexandria Alexandria, Loudon and Hampshire Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Richmond and Danville Seaboard and Roanoke Virginia and Tennessee North West Virginia (Baltimore and Ohio) Richmond and York River Richmond and Petersburg Manassas Gap Mississippi Central Raleigh and Gaston Norfolk and Petersburg Chesterfield Railroad Nashville and Chattanooga Vicksburg and Mississippi

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