Ben Montgomery and the Davis Bend Plantation

[EdwinAMartin]

Ben Montgomery - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Early life and family​

Ben Montgomery was born into slavery in 1819 in Loudoun County, Virginia. In 1837, he was sold south, and purchased in Natchez, Mississippi, by Joseph Emory Davis. He was taken to Hurricane Plantation, the home of Davis and his wife, Eliza. The planter's much younger brother, Jefferson Davis, later became the President of the Confederate States of America. Montgomery escaped but was recaptured. Davis reportedly "inquired closely into the cause of his dissatisfaction", whereby the two men reached a "mutual understanding" about Montgomery's situation.

Davis's "utopian experiment" of the plantation on Davis Bend was centered on his idea that "the less people are governed, the more submissive they will be to control." The enslaved were encouraged to learn trades that interested them, and Davis allowed them to keep extra money they made in their chosen skilled work, rare among Southern slave owners. It was illegal to teach an enslaved person how to read and write in Mississippi, but Davis encouraged it. Montgomery was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and was assigned to run the plantation's general store. Impressed by the talent Montgomery displayed, Davis gave him the responsibility of managing purchasing and shipping for the entire plantation.

.. more at the link, as well as links at the bottom footnotes.

 

[1srelluc]

Huh, Davis sounds like my ancestor who owned a slave.

One thing is true, he had to get permission from both the County seat and Richmond before he could have Buck taught to read, write, and do sums for his job at a grist mill and general store.

Before he was purchased he was already an accomplished stone mason and he was allowed to work on the side and keep the money. He did mostly small jobs like spring houses, well lining, and such.