overseer's diary - 1861

7/30/2019 Overseer's Diary - 1861

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O VERSEER ’SDIARY : 1861Ed. Chris Higginson

W OODLAND PLANTATION

Woodland Plantation was built in the 1830s by river pilots Captain William Johnson and his partner George

Bradish. After traveling from Nova Scotia and working for Juan Ronquillo, they built the Magnolia Plantation,

south of where Woodland would be built. Captain Johnson, 40 years after Magnolia Plantation was built, sold his shares and built Woodland Plantation

with his four sons. Woodland made its business in sugar cane and the slave trade. Captain Johnson was in

partnership with Jean Lafitte, the pirate. Lafitte would steal slaves from ships offshore and bring them to stay in one

of the four slave barracks on the Plantation. From there, the slaves would be brought upriver to New Orleans to be

sold in the auction houses.

My uncle, Foster Creppel, lives on and runs a placecalled Woodland Plantation. It’s in West Pointe a la Hache,

Louisiana, and is the only remaining plantation along the

west bank of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans.

Folks elsewhere may think of this tip of land--these days

mostly water--as part of Cajun country, and my great-

grandmother who passed away nearby in Barataria,

Louisiana, lived in this delta region her whole life, as did

generations before us. She spoke French at least as well asshe spoke English. But my story isn’t about her, though her

life is a wondrous story.

I worked for my uncle last summer, in the kitchen and

also outside, planting and trapping turtles and alligators.

Woodland is open to the public, especially folks who fish in

the Gulf of Mexico. My uncle cares a great deal about

coastal restoration. He has to. I’ve learned to care too. Butmy story isn’t about coastal restoration or Gulf fishing,

though those are big stories.

A century and a half ago, hundreds of slaves worked at

Woodland. You can still see the foundation of the barracks

where Africans, brought to North America by slave traders,

were kept before they were sent upriver to auctions in New

Orleans. It seems accepted that the pirate Jean Lafitte profited in this nighttime business and horror. His story has

been told and embellished, and it’s not my story.

I know with more certainty that there were 198 slaves

on the plantation in 1856. I know this because there is a

Louisiana Supreme Court case (which I include as my

Afterward) about Woodland that tried to interpret a pre-

Civil War will dealing with the property and the slaves.

The original will bequeathed slaves from one brother to

another brother with the condition that “after enjoying the

fruits and revenues of this plantation with the result of the

labor of all the slaves thereon, for five years, he was to

liberate them all, send them to Liberia, and give them each

fifty dollars.” It’s an amazing story, but the Louisiana

Supreme Court told that story in 1874.

My story is about something just as old that came alivefor me last year. On Woodland, there is a slave overseer’s

house still standing, though Hurricanes Katrina and Isaac

battered it. After Katrina, my uncle was repairing the

structure and something wedged in the rafters caught his

eye. It was a water-logged and rodent-gnawed book, but

the pages were legible.

“Sick Ones Some Better”

I asked my uncle if I could try to preserve it. He said

yes. And that’s what I’ve done and that’s this story. My dad

helped me find a preservationist, Renee DeVille, who

unbound it so I could image every page. That way, reading

the pages, I wouldn’t be opening and shutting the book

countless times. Since then, I’ve been deciphering the journal entries. The overseer’s handwriting is flowing

cursive, cleaner than mine. He wrote in pencil on yellow

paper. His book was published by Philip J. Cozans, a

“bookseller, stationer, and valentine manufacturer.”

The book could fit in your pocket, but because I have

imaged every page, I work on it on my computer. I have

done much of my work at Tulane’s Amistad Research Center,

and I am grateful to the Center and its director, Mr. Lee

Hampton. The ledger begins with New Year's Day, 1861.

Come with me to Woodland Plantation on February 8, 1861:

Clear Slight Frost

8 Ploughing up middles

in pt [plant] cane at Huff’s

finished at 3 oclock

& continued Same

work in grave yard

16 wheeling dirt

18 women with

Will topping off

back levee.

4 young ones stirring

up & burning off

2 cleaning out

drains back of

plows. I am interested that the overseer had everybody

working, men, women, and children, at hard labor.

Throughout the journal, throughout 1861, the women were

put to the same work as men. Often “the young ones” were

I am interested that he calls one slave, Will, by name in

this entry and elsewhere. The only other proper namereferenced in this entry is the neighbor, the Huffs. The

naming of neighbors is common throughout the journal. The

naming of slaves, like Will, is rare. In fact, the overseer’s

frequent name for groups of slaves is the word “gang.”

What is most interesting, evident in this entry and every

other, is what Hannah Arendt once referred to as “the

banality of evil.” This overseer, 150 years ago, starts each

entry with the weather, here, “Clear Slight Frost.” Then he

gives an accountant’s description of the slave labor, wheeling

dirt, topping a levee, burning trash, and cleaning drains.

Again, men, women, and children. By contrast, describing

himself, he can be light-hearted. On March 10th, he tells ushe was “in bayou & caught a fine lot of fish.” Even speaking

about his tools and livestock, he expresses concern. Often,

we read “mules taken care of.” Ironically, the closest we

glimpse of concern for slaves comes two days before the first

shots were fired beginning the Civil War. Down in

Plaquemines Parish, the overseer was oblivious to the

fatefulness of history. Instead, he conducted his business, but

on April 10th, his business had him concerned:

Clear.

4 Plows breaking

up middles

5 barring [?] off

Plant Cane

2 cleaning out

Drains

Gang weeding

& choping in pt

1 whitewashing

40 young & old

Forty “young & old” sick. He does not describe the

sickness. He certainly does not describe any treatment.Matter-of-factly, he just says the next day: “Gang weeding/ &

chopping in/ plant cane/ Sick ones Some/ better.” On the

third day, April 12th, he records, “Sick ones are/ a great deal/

better.”

I will continue to read each word in this book. The book

never indicates the overseer’s name. It does not indicate

whether he was a slave himself, though a privileged one. Ihave gotten to know him through his business, but that

business was the enslavement of other humans. The book

describes it as I would describe planting seedlings at

Woodland last summer. A book can describe indescribable

horror. Is the book just the paper, or does it represent

something more? The book connects me to these people

forced to work every day of the year, torn from their homes.

Where they worked is now my home. The book is theirmemory. It is my remembrance.

Holding any book, but especially this book, makes me

aware of time. In an instant, I read and travel back 150

years. The overseer writing it had no awareness both of the

brutality of slavery, and of its imminent end. On January 26,

Louisiana seceded from the Union. On April 12, the Civil

War began. But the overseer simply records days of slavery.

Even more remarkable, he had no foresight that the property

he called slaves would become his equals under the law by

1864 when Louisiana was readmitted to the Union without

slavery. Nor did he sense that in 1874 the Louisiana

Supreme Court would confirm the liberty and equality of the people he referred to as nameless slaves throughout the 365

pages of this book. In my hands, this book is full of pain and

irony; in his hands, holding it so long ago, it was nothing

more than a business ledger.

This tiny, pocket-sized book sat for 150 years up in the

rafters. And now I read it, and provide it to you. As I read, I

wish for adjectives and adverbs to introduce me to the

humanity of these people. Instead, I turn to the place and, as

I walk their land, I think of them, especially the "Sick ones

Some better."

This book is comprised of digital

images from the true diary of the

Overseer of Woodland Plantation

for the year 1861. While this was a

momentous year for the United

States of America, and the

Confederate States of America, you will see that day-to-day life in

southern Louisiana’s plantations

remained relatively constant. This

diary provides us a unique insight

into how plantations were run in

the early stages of the Civil War.

As mentioned in theForward, history was

swirling around Woodlandin 1861. Even moreremarkably, 1861, the yeardescribed in the previous pages, was meant to be theyear that many of the

1874- THE L OUISIANA

SUPREME C OURT

SPEAKS

Appeal f om t e Six t Dis ict Court, parish of Orleans. Cooley, J.Morgan, J.

George W. Johnson died in Sepmber, 1856. He owned large estas in New York

and in Louisiana.

26 La.Ann. 570

Supreme Court of Louisiana.Heirs of E. A. Johnson

Bradish Johnson.

No. 3360. | May, 1874.

year that many of theslaves on Woodland

Plantation were to be sent back to Africa, each withfifty dollars in their pocket.

For this extraordinaryepilogue, one need onlyread the words of

Louisiana’s SupremeCourt, in 1874.

Forming part of his possessions in t is Sta, was a act of land known as t e

Woodland planta on, situa in t e parish of Plaquemine, of which he owned t eeleven-six ent s. T e ot er fi ve-six ent s, belonged his brot er, Bradish Johnson.

He also owned twen- fi ve slaves in his own right, twelve slaves in common wi t his

brot er Bradish, and t e eleven-six ent s of one hundred and six -one ot ers.

He died wi t out leaving any forced heirs, and bequeat ed his proper his

brot ers. To Bradish he gave t e Woodland planta on and al t e improvements

t ereon. Upon t is bequest he imposed a charge. T is was, t at af r enjoying t e f uits and revenues of t is planta on wi t t e result of t e labor of al t e slaves

t ereon, for fi ve years, he was libera t em al , send t em

Liberia, and give t em each fi f dol ars.His wi l was accepd by his heirs as a just disposi on of his

proper , and in two separa deeds, made at di ff erent periods,

t ey rafi ed t e same. Under t e wi l and in virtue of t ese

acts, each heir was put in possession of t e share which was

coming t em.

His heirs were t ree brot ers. It is t e heirs of one of t ese

brot ers who are t e plainff s in t is suit.

In 1857, t e Legislature of Louisiana passed a law

prohibing te emancipaon of slaves

t ereof. T is suit was decided by t e Supreme Court be

premature. T e opinion was read on t e fi f ent of June,1859. It has not been repor d.

Subsequently, John Johnson ins tu d anot er suit in which

he declared t at Bradish Johnson, in de fi ance of t e laws of

t e Sta, conmplad t e emancipa on of t e slaves

men oned in George Johnson’ s wi l , and, averring t at he

feared t ey would be removed out of t e Sta, applied for and

obtained an injunc on direc d against him prohibi ng him

f om so doing. T is suit remained on t e docket un l twelf t

November, 1861, when it was dismissed.

prohibi ng t e emancipa on of slaves.

In 1858, J. D. Johnson and E. A. Johnson ( fat er of t e

present plainff s ) ins tu d suit against Bradish Johnson, in

which t ey al eged t at t e provisions of George Johnson’ s wi l

by which he direc d t e emancipa on of his slaves were nu l

and void, t e same being prohibi d by law. T ey prayed t at

al of t e provisions of his wi l rela ng t e Woodland

planta on and t e negroes t ereon might be declared nu l and void, as con ary t e laws and policy of t e Sta, and t ey

prayed be decreed be t e owners each for one-t ird

T e slaves were never sent Liberia, and t ey were not

emancipad by Bradish wi t in t e fi ve years as required byt e wi l . T e heirs of E. A. Johnson, claiming t rough t eir

fat er, ask t at t ey be decreed be t e owners of t e one

t ird of t e eleven-six ent s of t e Woodland planta on, and

t at Bradish Johnson may be compel ed account t em

for t e revenues t ereof since he has been in possession of t e

same under t e wi l . By a special agreement t e rents and

revenues are disconnec d f om t is suit, and t e only ques on

before us is, t e tle t e land.Plainff s connd t at inasmuch as t e rms of t e wi l were

not complied wi t , and inasmuch as t e rms of t e wi l were

t e condi ons of t e legacy, t e legacy lapses and t e proper

fal s in t e mass of t e succession, be divided equal y

among t e heirs.

Every one who was in Louisiana at t e me knows, t at it

would have been impossible for any one have emancipad a

slave in Sepmber, 1861, and t at it would have been equal y

impossible have sent one, much less one hundred and

In March, 1864, Bradish Johnson fi led a pe on in which he

prayed leave emancipa t e slaves men oned in hisbrot er ’ s wi l . T e applica on was grand. T e slaves were

f eed.

It is connded t at t is proceeding was unnecessary,

inasmuch as two mont s before, General Banks, t e t en

military commander here, had declared al slavery laws nu l

and void. T is does not fol ow, but it is not necessary t at t e

ma er should be inquired in.

In t e cons uc on and applica on of stamentary

disposi ons, t e object of t e star is one of t e fi rst t ings

nine-eight Liberia.

La in April, 1862, t e Uni d Stas forces ok possession of New Orleans and t e neighboring coun y. By a military

order, issued in May, 1863, t e statu of 1857 was declared

never have been in force during t e occupancy of t e

coun y by t e federal oops, and owners of slaves were

au t orized manumit t em on presen ng a pe on t at

e ff ect, any court of record.

p j f f fi g

be ascertained. What was t e object of George Johnson wi t

regard t e slaves which he owned? Was it send t em Liberia? In our opinion t is was a mere incident t e

bequest, and made simply in what he considered might be t e

inrest of t ose whom he desired be boun l. His main

object we t ink was t e emancipa on of t ose whom he had

held in bondage and whose labor had con ibu d his

weal t . His principal end was make t em f ee; t e placewhere t ey were enjoy t eir f eedom was a very secondary

considera on. T ey were f eed, and t us his object was

accomplished. T ey were f eed also by t e act of his legae,and t us t e provisions of his wi l were carried out. T ey were

not sent Liberia, it is ue, but t is is not t e fault of t e

legae. In t is regard he ndered t ose who wished go,

t e means s pulad in t e wi l , which t ey declined. Besides,

t is was a s pula on in t eir own behalf, and not one in

which t e heirs have any inrest; for it would hardly beconnded, we t ink, t at if t ey could have been emancipad

under t e laws of Louisiana when t ey would have been

en tled t eir f eedom under t e wi l , wi t permission

remain in Louisiana and tey had been emancipad and

not a ma er in which t e heirs of t eir liberar had any say.

It is t eir ground of ac on against t e legae force acompliance wi t t e rms of t e wi l , if t ey choose occupy

it, but it is no reason why his bequest should be set aside.

Beyond t is, al t e heirs of George Johnson rafi ed and

con fi rmed his wi l , as has been seen; t ey were recognized and

put in possession of t eir respec ve shares; his succession has

been l y adminisred, and his execu rs have been

discharged. Af r al t ese proceedings, and in t e face of t eir

solemn acts, t e heirs can not, we t ink, be heard, when t ey

seek annul t e wi l in any of its parts.

remain in Louisiana, and t ey had been emancipad and

had re sed go Liberia, t at t is por on of t e wi l would

have been set aside. T e fi rst privilege of f eedom is t e right choose a home f om out t e world; it might have been worse

t an slavery t em force t em f om t e place of t eir

bir t , break up t eir associa ons and sunder even such

weak es as were social y known t em, and drive t em

across t e seas, among s angers, and in a distant land. Being

f ee go or not go, was t e ques on which t eir own choice

alone could dermine, and whet er t ey went or staid was

Judgment a ffi rmed.

overseer's diary - 1861

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