From 1840 until the Civil War the largest producers of cotton came from the five-county region of Adams, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, and Wilkinson. Cotton plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana used the port of Natchez to supply the textile hunger of Europe. Cotton was king! The slave trade was equally lucrative at the largest slave market outside of New Orleans “The Forks of the Road Slave Market at Natchez, Mississippi”. This market was the at the end of the “Trace” which became the road of the “second middle passage”. Samuel Scott traded and purchased slaves as well as sold cotton at Natchez. Thirty miles due south of Natchez was Poplar Hill Plantation, located in Jefferson County. The trip from Poplar Hill to Natchez would have been an all-day ride along rough, rut filled, and if raining, muddy, soft, and difficult roads to maneuver. From the 1860 United States Federal Census-Slave Schedule Samuel Scott had 167 slaves from all his plantations regrettably Delaney selected many of the 167 slaves.
Was there a psychological value and a lasting effect of a slave accompanying the slaveholder to the slave markets? Absolutely! Samuel Scott, an astute businessman and certainly as a slave owner …show more content…
As an example: Scott determined that Philip Ceeny and Letty Holland should marry at the ages of 14 and 12. The union of Philip and Letty was an arranged marriage. (Note: Champ Terry sold Phillip Ceeny to Samuel Scott the same day as Delaney Jackson.) Documented in the pension files of Philip Ceeny was the early marriage of Letty and him. Philip joined the army at Natchez and served honorably in the Civil War. Other men from Scott’s plantations that served also told similar stories of early marriages and other types of relationships. Relationship questions were a part of the application process for receiving a military