C. F. Hatcher
C. F. Hatcher | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1814 Virginia, U.S. |
Died | 1869 Mississippi, U.S. |
Occupation | Slave trader |
Charles F. Hatcher, typically advertising as C. F. Hatcher, was an 19th-century American slaver dealing out of Natchez, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana. He also worked as a trader of financial instruments, specie, and stocks, and as a land agent, with a special interest in selling Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas real estate to speculators and settlers.
C. F. Hatcher started working as a slave trader when he was 16 years old, and became wealthy harvesting people from Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and transporting them south for resale to cotton and sugar planters. In company with Walter L. Campbell, C. M. Rutherford, Joseph A. Beard, Joseph Bruin, and Thomas Foster, Hatcher has been described as one of the "more notorious" slave traders working in New Orleans in the decade immediately preceding the American Civil War. Hatcher is also the only known "negro trader" who became a recruiter running an employment office after the end of slavery in the United States.
Biography
Family and early career
Census records indicate that Hatcher was born in Virginia, likely between 1812 and 1815.[1][2][3] Per an 1861 newspaper report, C. F. Hatcher was originally from Norfolk, Virginia.[4] He is believed to be the son of Charles Hatcher of Caswell County, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia, and an unidentified mother.[5] In an 1887 biography of Hatcher's son, it was recounted that Hatcher began working as a slave trader when he was 16 years old, which would have been approximately 1830.[6] In October 4, 1834, a marriage bond for Charles F. Hatcher and Nancy Pettet was filed with Surry County, North Carolina, with F. P. Pettet as surety.[7] According to one genealogy book, "The Hatcher family came to East Tennessee from Virginia. Charles F. Hatcher married Nannie Pettit, and they lived and died in Polk County. Their son G. R. Hatcher was born in 1834."[8] This rendition of the family history may be somewhat inaccurate as Nancy Pettit Hatcher apparently filed for divorce from C. F. Hatcher in Surry County, North Carolina, in 1840, with a county superior court finding that Hatcher was not a resident of the state.[9] Years later, a friend testified that C. F. Hatcher "was well-known to be a bachelor".[10]
North Carolina non-resident C. F. Hatcher could be found in Natchez, Mississippi in 1838, where he placed a newspaper ad informing the community that he had reopened the exchange office once run by G. Morgan in the Main Street auction house of Mr. F. H. Dolbear: "All kinds of money bought and sold. Bills of Exchange, Checks, Drafts, Certificates of Deposit, all kinds of Exchange, made on the best of terms."[11] In another ad he listed "gold, silver, U. States, and New Orleans funds" for sale.[12] The following year Hatcher's business partner D. A. Tatum died and Hatcher announced that he would continue their "exchange and lottery" business as a sole proprietor, working out of an office opposite the City Hotel of Natchez.[13] At Christmas 1839, a landowner named William Wynn placed a newspaper ad in the Mississippi Free Trader listing C. F. Hatcher in Natchez, Mississippi as the broker of record for the planned sale or lease of two enslaved men with horse-training expertise "both of whom were brought up in my possession and having been accustomed to horses, I prefer indulging them to placing them on cotton farm on Red River, where they are at this time destined. Presuming, as I do, that no gentleman would purchase without knowing their qualifications, I prefer hireing for one year."[14] In 1840, a lawsuit was filed against one Charles Hatcher and a business partner in Richmond County, Georgia: "David Wolfe states that he purchased a slave, Sely, 23 years of age, for $625 from Joseph Woods and Charles Hatcher, slave traders. Wolfe states that the slave was afflicted with a venereal disease or the 'bad disorder', and died five months after the sale. Wolfe asserts that during her illness, he incurred medical expenses amounting to $1,000 for the care of the slave. He charges the defendants with fraud and seeks $1,000 in damages."[15] C. F. Hatcher & Co. donated $100 to a fund for victims of the 1840 Natchez tornado.[16] In 1841 Hatcher sold treasury warrants,[17] and dissolved his partnership with W. H. Wilkinson.[18] Also in 1841, Charles Hatcher was one of the slave traders who put cargo on the coastwise slave ship Creole. A group of men being shipped south overcame the crew and had the ship sailed to the Bahamas, where the British gave them asylum.[19] Again, it is not clear whether this is the father or the son, but in 1841 "counsel representing Charles Hatcher and Jason Andrews sued the Ocean Insurance Company for eight human cargoes valued at $3,300. Judge Watts summoned the insurer to the Commercial Court of New Orleans to answer the claim. On June 15, 1842, both plaintiffs appear to have transferred their claims in a notarized document before public notary William Christy, although the recipient remains unclear."[20] Hatcher's father, Charles Hatcher, was a resident of Circus Street in New Orleans and died in that city in October 1842 of yellow fever.[21]
In approximately 1846, C. F. Hatcher was a deponent in the Supreme Court of Louisiana case Mark Davis v. Obediah D. Hammett.[22] In October 1847, an unidentified "negro child" who was the legal property of "Hatcher & Willison (traders)" died in Natchez and was buried under the authority of the Adams County sexton.[23]
1850s
C. F. Hatcher and his younger half-brother
At the beginning of 1856 Hatcher was superintendent of a "slave barracks" at 195 Gravier in New Orleans that belonged to an auction company called J. L. Carman & Co.[29] [30] This building was located in heart of what might have been called New Orleans' Slave District as it was "dominated by traders' pens and offices: in 1854, there were no fewer than seven slave dealers in a single block on Gravier, while on a single square on Moreau Street there was a row of eleven particularly commodious slave pens". [31] As one historian explained, "As the domestic slave trade boomed, the world of private jailing opened new entry level employment opportunities in traders' pens. In New Orleans, in particular, this was an expansive world. One former bondsman even recalled passing by one street lined entirely by ‘one solid row of buildings where human beings were incarcerated waiting for a purchaser'. By incorporating the confinement of human chattels into their businesses, the owners of these private jails were at once able to save on public jail fees and generate an income by renting out cells. The more successful traders could afford to hire plain folk to manage this for them."[32] Hatcher parlayed the "fixed wage and limited liability" of work as slave jailor in a "more prosperous career in the exchange of human flesh".[33]
In January 1857, C. F. Hatcher was offering for rent the buildings at 195 Gravier, which were "well adapted for keeping slaves".[34] Qualified lessees could take possession of the building immediately, with or without furniture.[34] In November 1858 Hatcher advertised 30 slaves "just received, consisting of Field Hands, House Servants, Seamstresses, Mechanics, Cooks, Washers, Ironers, etc etc."[35] In 1859 he listed for sale a skilled bricklayer named Jacob,[36] and later the same month an "A1 blacksmith and bricklayer" as well as an assortment of "Georgia field hands".[37] By 1859 Hatcher seemingly prided himself on his expertise in the slave market. According to historian Walter Johnson, "There may have been a distinction attached to buying without looking too closely. As slave dealer C. F. Hatcher put it about a slave he had sold without stripping: 'I looked at the boy, talked to him, he seemed perfectly sound & healthy. If the boy had been diseased at the time I should have perseved it.' With a gaze as acute as his own, Hatcher thought he did not need to look any closer".[38] On the eve of the American Civil War, Hatcher was likely earning a 2.5 percent commission on every slave sale, operated his own jail and yard, and "sought slaves of all kinds".[29]
1860s
At the time of the
By 1860 [Hatcher] was advertising throughout the South to inform 'merchants, planters, traders and owners of slaves' that he had made extensive alterations in his stand and was prepared to receive from 200 to 300 slaves to sell on commission; that he could furnish slaveowners with good meals and comfortable rooms at reasonable rates, and that he should constantly keep a good stock of all kinds of slaves for sale, including nurses, hairdressers, etc. As was common, he offered liberal advances on all property placed in his hands; but he must be first choice or none: he would not receive slaves that had been in other yards or depots. His pride was his new and very commodious show-room...To his establishment all might come with their slaves, get board and lodging and find buyers—exactly as drovers and ranchmen bring their carloads of steers or sheep to the stockyards and live at the drover-hotels."[41]
Visitors to Hatcher's
By 1865, C. F. Hatcher was back in New Orleans, and in partnership with one Col. Holmstedt, "opened an agency for planters, laborers and emigrants".[49] Hatcher continued this business into 1866, against a background of court proceedings and rulings in lawsuits filed against him, which had either been triggered by the circumstances of the war or predated it but had been delayed until the military and political situation settled.[50][51][52][53] According to historian William Cohen, "Of 83 slave traders who were described as such in the cities of Memphis, Richmond, New Orleans, and Montgomery in the years just before the war, only one [C. F. Hatcher] is known to have worked after the war as a labor agent."[54] He was listed in the 1866 city directory as proprietor of a "General Intelligence Office for Labor" and in the 1867 directory as a Planters Emigrant Agent.[54] After that, writes Cohen, "he disappeared from the directory".[54] C. F. Hatcher died in Mississippi in 1869.[10] As his son summarized his career some 20 years after his death, C. F. Hatcher had spent his life "carrying [people] from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, to New Orleans. He continued this business until the emancipation. He amassed an extensive fortune which he afterward lost".[6]
See also
- List of American slave traders
- History of slavery in Louisiana
- Slave markets and slave jails in the United States
- Bibliography of the slave trade in the United States
References
- ^ a b "Entry for C W Sears and Robt Ratcliffe, 1850". United States Census, 1850 – via FamilySearch.
- ^ a b "Entry for C F Hutcher and J M Curto, 1860". United States Census, 1860 – via FamilySearch.
- ^ a b "Entry for Charles Hatcher, 1860". United States Census, 1860 – via FamilySearch.
- ^ "The Sons of Virginia in Louisiana". Richmond Times-Dispatch. May 23, 1861. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ^ Hatchers of Henrico County, Virginia (2009), Family F2664.
- ^ a b Goodspeed's History of Tennessee (1887), p. 971.
- ^ "Entry for Charles F Hatcher and Nancy Pettel, 4 October 1833". North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762–1979 – via FamilySearch.
- ^ Ray (2014), p. 483.
- ^ "State of North Carolina, Surry County". The Greensboro Patriot. February 23, 1841. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
- ^ a b Succession of C. F. Hatcher, Orleans Parish, No. 33127 (1869), image 380 of 1246.
- ^ "NOTICE. EXCHANGE OFFICE RE-OPENED". The Mississippi Free Trader. August 13, 1838. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
- ^ "Exchange Office". The Mississippi Free Trader. October 4, 1838. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
- ^ "D. A. Tatum & C. F. Hatcher". The Mississippi Free Trader. November 12, 1839. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
- ^ "Notice. William Wynn". The Mississippi Free Trader. December 27, 1839. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
- ^ Kentucky Division of Libraries and Archives. "Petition #20684007. Richmond County, Georgia c. 1840". Race and Slavery Petitions, Digital Library on American Slavery (dlas.uncg.edu). University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Retrieved 2024-02-17. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 2.0 license.
- ^ "Natchez Tornado Relief". The Mississippi Free Trader. August 27, 1840. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
- ^ "C.F. Hatcher, Natchez". Mississippi Free Trader. April 15, 1841. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
- ^ "Dissolution". Mississippi Free Trader. May 6, 1841. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
- ^ Kerr-Ritchie (2019), p. 83.
- ^ Kerr-Ritchie (2019), p. 222.
- ^ "Died, of yellow fever, on Friday morning about six o'clock, Mr. Charles Hatcher, of Norfolk, Va". The Times-Picayune. October 22, 1842. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ Finley (2020), p. 141, n. 7.
- ^ "Adams County, MS Sexton Records, October 4, 1825–September 30, 1908, Unnamed Negroes". natchezbelle.org.
- ^ "Dissolution of partnership". The Mississippi Free Trader. June 5, 1850. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ "Land Agency, Natchez, Mississippi". The Mississippi Free Trader. June 22, 1850. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ "Arrivals at the Hotels". Richmond Times-Dispatch. September 29, 1853. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ "To Speculators and Settlers". The Times-Picayune. May 22, 1856. p. 6.
- ^ "Texas Lands". The Times-Picayune. April 19, 1856. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ a b Bancroft (2023), p. 318.
- ^ a b c Kendall (1939), p. 154.
- ^ Tadman (1989), p. 98.
- ^ Birch (2017), p. 189.
- ^ Birch (2017), p. 190.
- ^ a b "For Rent". The Times-Picayune. January 2, 1857. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ "For Sale". The New Orleans Crescent. November 19, 1858. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ "Notice to Builders". The Times-Picayune. December 1, 1859. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ "Just Received and for Sale".
- ^ Johnson (2009), pp. 259–260, n. 38.
- ^ "Alderman".
- ^ Colby (2024), p. 33.
- ^ a b Bancroft (2023), p. 318–319.
- ^ Kendall (1939), p. 153.
- ^ Estaville (1973), p. 118.
- ^ "From and After this Date". The New Orleans Crescent. December 10, 1861. p. 1.
- ^ Colby (2024), p. 56.
- ^ "Lands for Sale or Exchange for Negroes".
- ^ Colby (2024), p. 69.
- ^ "Impeachment investigation : Testimony taken before the Judiciary committee of the House of Representatives in the investigation of the charges against ..." HathiTrust. p. 141. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
- ^ "Planters, laborers, immigrants". The New-Orleans Times. December 21, 1865. p. 2.
- ^ Legislature, Louisiana (1867). Documents.
- ^ Court, Louisiana Supreme; Thorpe, Thomas H.; Gill, Charles G. (1868). Louisiana Reports: Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana. West Publishing Company.
- ^ Jones, Basil (1912). The American Ruling Cases as Determined by the Courts, Including the Fundamental Cases of England and Canada, Also All Reviewing and Illustrating Cases of Material Value from the Latest Official Reports, Completely Annotated. National Law Book Company.
- ^ "In the Fourth District Court". The New-Orleans Times. June 1866. p. 14.
- ^ a b c Cohen (1991), p. 120.
Books
- Goodspeed's History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: together with an historical and a biographical sketch of from twenty-five to thirty counties of east Tennessee (East Tennessee ed.). Chicago and Nashville: The Goodspeed Publishing Co. 1887. OL 25939249M.
- OCLC 1153619151.
- Cohen, William (1991). At Freedom's Edge Black Mobility and the Southern White Quest for Racial Control, 1861–1915. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. OCLC 22209032.
- Colby, Robert K. D. (2024). An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South. Oxford University Press. OCLC 1412042395.
- Finley, Alexandra J. (2020). An Intimate Economy: Enslaved Women, Work, and America's Domestic Slave Trade. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press. .
- OCLC 923120203.
- S2CID 166472669.
- Tadman, Michael (1989). Speculators and Slaves: Masters, Traders, and Slaves in the Old South. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-11850-1.
Genealogies
- Ray, Worth Stickley (2014) [1950]. Tennessee Cousins: A History of Tennessee People (Reprint ed.). Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company. OCLC 654705096.
- Various (January 5, 2009). "Charles F Hatcher b. c1812 VA d. Abt 1865 Orleans Parish, LA (personID I30060 - Hatchers of HenricoCo, VA Database)". Hatcher Family Association.
Articles and theses
- Birch, Kelly (2017). Slavery and the origins of Louisiana's prison industry, 1803–1861 (Ph.D. thesis). Australia: University of Adelaide.
- Estaville, Lawrence E. (1973). "A Strategic Railroad: The New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern in the Civil War". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 14 (2): 117–136. JSTOR 4231313.
- Kendall, John S. (January 1939). "Shadow Over the City". The Louisiana Historical Quarterly. 22 (1). New Orleans: FamilySearch Digital Library.
- Kenny, Stephen C. (2010). ""A Dictate of Both Interest and Mercy"? Slave Hospitals in the Antebellum South". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 65 (1): 1–47. PMID 19549698.
- Reinders, Robert C. (1962). "Slavery in New Orleans in the Decade Before the Civil War". Mid-America: An Historical Review. 44. Chicago: OCLC 1757398 – via HathiTrust.
Primary sources
- "Charles F. Hatcher (Case Number 33127)". Louisiana Wills and Probate Records, 1756–1984. )
Further reading
- Foxworth, Marilyn Kern (July 30, 1994). Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-313-26798-7.
- Riddle, Charles A. (2019). The Life and Diary of John P. Waddill: The Lawyer who Freed Solomon Northup, 1813–1855. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. ISBN 978-1-946160-20-1.
- Unz, Irma Edith (1935). Attempts to Solve the Southern Labor Problem by Immigration, 1865–1875. University of Wisconsin at Madison.
External links
- "Goodspeed's Biography of George Radford Hatcher – Bradley County, Tennesseee, Genealogy & History".
- "Lafourche Parish Marriages: Hatcher, Charles & Burston, Minerva (Nov 12, 1864)". laahgp.genealogyvillage.com. Retrieved 2024-03-26.