The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1859-03-18
The Sale of the Butler Negroes.

The Tribune has taken the pains to send
a reporter all the way TO Savannah, in |
order TO report the sale of the negroes on
the estate Of Mr. Pierce Butler, person |
who resides in Philadelphia. 1t accord
iDgly, under the title OF illustrations OF
American Civilization" gives most
graphic and interesting account Of the
affair. About four hundred chattels in all
were sold--men, women ard children
varying from the ages of fifteen days 10
fifty years. A great many negro dealers
were in attendance, and the sale appears
to have excited an unusual interest in the
vicinity. The reporter says:
"For several days before the sale every
hotel in Savannah was crowded with ne
gro spectators from North and South
Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and
Louisiana, who had been attracted bither
by the prospects of making good bsrgains.
| Nothing was heard for days, in the bar.
rooms and public rooms, but talk Of the
great sale, criticisms OF the business affairs
OF Mr.. Butler, and speculations as TO the
probable prices the stock would bring
The office of Joseph Bryan, the negro
! broker who had the management of the
sale, was thronged every day by eager
inquirers in search Of information, and by
some who were anxious to buy, but were
uncertain Ms to whether their securities
would prove acceptable. Little parties
were made up from the various hotels
every day to visit the ace.course, distant
some three miles from the city, to look
over the chattels, discuss their points, and
make memoranda for guidance on the day
of sale. The buyers were generally of q
rough breed, s!angy, profane and bearlsh,
being for the most part from the back
river and swamp plantations, where the
elegancies of polite life are rot perhaps
| developed to their fullest extent. In fac
the humanites are sadly neglected by the
petty tyrants of the ricefclds that border
the great Dismal Swamp, their knowledge
of the luxures of our best society compre.
hending only revolvers and kindred deli
cacies."
Most of these siav es appear TO have
been genuine negroes, and not mulattoes
"a point in their favor. The intermx
ture OF white blood, it is said, has bad
effect upon the black, which is, for the
most part, in its native instincts gentle,
kindly and unenterpr:sing whereas the
white tinge communicates to it a certain
irritability and restlessness which is not
wholly compatible with servitude.
None of the slaves had ever been sold
before, but had passed all their lives on
the Butler plantations, either a: Darien in
Georgia, or al s.. Simon's Island small
strip cut off Of the coast by the Atlantic.
Whatever they knew of lie, its Joys or
its sorrows, had been connected with these
estates, but by this sale they were to be
torn from them and from their compan-
ions forever. Families were not parted,
1. e., man was not separated from his
wife, nor mother from her young child
rem but other family lies, such as thai
of brother and sister, or Of parents ard
older children, were not regarded. These
harmless creatures, who had always lived
together, were scattered al once to the rice
swamps and cotton fields of the most dis
tant parts. ..- ,...
They had been brought up to the race
course near Savannah for exhibition, and
the Tribune writer thus describes the
scene
(" The slaves remained at the race,
course, some ofthem for more than a weel
r and all of them for four days before the
sale. They were brought in thus early
that buyers who desired to Inspect them