Jump to content

Hope H. Slatter

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jengod (talk | contribs) at 16:47, 12 August 2023 (Caption fixes). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Manifest of a coastwise slave shipment made from Baltimore to New Orleans by Hope H. Slatter, on the ship Scotia in September 1843
The first group of 66 out of the 73 souls aboard is organized by height; beginning with Author Goodhand, age 21, 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), ending with Caroline Potts, age nine, 3 ft 11 in (1.19 m); Caroline is the only person with the surname Potts on the manifest

Hope Hull Slatter (June 11, 1790 – September 15, 1853) was a 19th-century American slave trader with a "extensive establishment and private jail, for the keeping of slaves" on Platt Street in Baltimore, Maryland.[1] He gained "wealth and infamy from the trade in blood,"[2] and sold thousands of people from the Chesapeake region to parts south.[3]

Biography

Slatter was from the small settlement of Clinton, Georgia, located in the dead center of the state. He served in McIntosh's Division of the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812, working as assistant forage master.[4] Slatter may have been in the slave trade as early as 1817.[5] In 1835 he was "the main one" of a dozen slave traders doing business in Baltimore.[6] He always shipped out his human cargo on Saturday nights.[3] Slaves to be shipped were usually transported from Slatter's to the port by way of small omnibuses.[7] An abolitionist who observed one such shipment launch stated, "Slatter was standing upon deck smiling most Pecksniffianly upon every one as he passed and saying to the anguished girls, 'Never mind, Molly, find another husband better than the one you have left,' and encouraging an old negro in the holds to scrape away upon a cracked fiddle that they might dance."[3]

Slatter and his family resided in the ninth ward of the city of Baltimore in 1840.[8] In 1935 an insurance man going through old Atlantic City government documents found a bill of lading for an 1844 shipment of slaves from Hope H. Slatter in Baltimore to Shadrack F. Slatter in New Orleans.[9] Capt. Hugh Martin of the brig Kirkwood and Slatter had negotiated fixed rates by age: $12 each to transport those over 10 years old, $6 for those under 10 years old, and "children at the breast no charge."[9] The Slatters had a stand in New Orleans at Esplande and Moreau.[10] It was typical for interstate traders like the Slatters to have a buying location in the Upper South and a selling location in the Lower South.[11] Around 1848 Slatter sold his premises to Bernard M. Campbell and Walter L. Campbell.[12]

Slatter was a member of the Charles Street Methodist Chaple.[3]

After having made his fortune, he built a mansion, and later moved to Florida where he owned a sugar plantation.[3] He likely owned a plantation in Mobile as well because at the time the 1850 U.S. census he was the legal owner of 82 enslaved people in that district, 75 male slaves aged 25 to 38, and seven female slaves, aged 25 to 40.[13] Slatter died of yellow fever during an epidemic in Mobile, Alabama in 1853.[3][14] At the time of his death he owned a theater and "the old bank" in Mobile, and was the director of several insurance companies.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Slatter, Hope H. (October 1896). "Cash for Negroes". The Annals of Iowa. 2 (7): 561–561. doi:10.17077/0003-4827.2154. ISSN 0003-4827.
  2. ^ "Slatter". Daily Free Democrat. October 4, 1853. p. 2. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Look-ee on in Baltimore (November 4, 1853). "Hope H. Slatter". The Herald of Freedom. p. 2. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  4. ^ United States War of 1812 Index to Service Records, 1812-1815, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29K-TW3H : 8 March 2021), Hope H Slatter, 1812-1815; citing NARA microfilm publication M602 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); roll 191; FHL microfilm 882,709.
  5. ^ "A Scene in Baltimore". Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic. April 15, 1847. p. 4. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  6. ^ Tiernan, Stanton (September 13, 1936). "Baltimore's Old Slave Markets". The Baltimore Sun. p. 92. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  7. ^ "A Scene in Baltimore". Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic. April 15, 1847. p. 4. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  8. ^ "United States Census, 1840", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHT5-3MK : Thu Jul 20 20:47:58 UTC 2023), Entry for Hope H Slatter, 1840.
  9. ^ a b "Resort Man Finds Ancient Bill of Lading for Cargo of Slaves". Press of Atlantic City. January 5, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  10. ^ "Refuge of Oppression". The Liberator. May 25, 1849. p. 1. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  11. ^ Johnson, Walter (2009). Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 5 (migration cause), 48 (interstate firms), 49 (seasonality), 50 (transportation). ISBN 9780674039155. OCLC 923120203.
  12. ^ "Article clipped from Port Tobacco Times and Charles County Advertiser". Port Tobacco Times and Charles County Advertiser. July 27, 1848. p. 3. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  13. ^ "United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 ", database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HRWY-43ZM : 23 February 2021), H H Slatter in entry for MM9.1.1/MV8D-WTB:, 1850.
  14. ^ "Interments in Mobile". The Autauga Citizen. September 22, 1853. p. 2. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
  15. ^ "Mobile Correspondence". The Times-Picayune. September 17, 1853. p. 1. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hope_H._Slatter&oldid=1170000000"