Author Archives: victoriachristie

Roslin Plantation Journal (Lowcountry Digital Library)

by Victoria Christie

For this post, what we dud with the first one, I wanted to focus on South Carolina. I’m very interested in slavery, so I looked around for exhibits that explored how it impacted people in the South. What I found was an old journal, that explored how one of the antebellum slave plantations worked.

The journal itself is in horrible shape. I could not read it for the life of me. The paper, which looks like it’s made from material older than the printing press, is coming apart at every side. There is not a clear picture of what it’s addressing. However, I do see some names and numbers, which I assume are the slaves. A huge piece of the manuscript is torn out. The handwriting looks like old-timing cursive, which helps give it at least somewhat of a formal appearance. The writing, for better clarity, is broken up into tables, with each one dedicated to one slave. It almost looks like an old-timey clipboard.

Because the manuscript is so used, it tells me how important slavery, keeping track of the slaves, and how to run a plantation was to a slave owner. Since slavery was such a huge deal in the antebellum period, people needed to find a way to make sure everything stayed organized. This particular piece was written in 1810. It goes on and on. This leads me to believe that the 1810s were the highlights of this particular plantation, where they had the most slaves and the most jobs for them to handle. It did not matter whether they were men or women (there are equal female names and male names in the lists).

This manuscript got me thinking about how slaves were treated in this day of age, especially women. Every slave was assigned a job. There are lots of jobs on display in the piece that are watered out, so I am not able to share some of them. However, what I do know is that none of the jobs were easy. Many comprised of hard labor, like the slaves who built the pyramid, and women had it even worse then men, since they could bear children. Children meant more slaves, which meant more money for the owner.

The overview of the manuscript explains that it contains not only names and jobs, but also the equipment needed for the slaves to satisfy their masters. I was not surprised by the fact that most of the piece is a response to how to grow and pick cotton, because that was so common in the Lowcountry back then. According to the manuscript, there were different stations for cotton workers, and a certain number of slaves were assigned to it. If one fell ill or died, then the owner just replaced that person with another slave. I think this document gives us an idea of how these plantations worked and what was so important to the slave owners. It will answer questions about the different tasks the slaves had to accomplish and what was needed to maintain their reputation so that they didn’t die under the influence.

Visiting the Charleston Museum

The Charleston Museum is full of wonderful history dating back to the beginning of time. Nevertheless, for the purpose of this blog, I spent a lot of time in the American Revolution exhibit: the late 1700s, and the early 1800s.

What struck me so much about the American Revolution in the Americas is just how much of an impact it had on not only South Carolina, but also African Americans and the indigenous people. I learned some interesting facts about where Charleston stood at the time of the Revolution’s start. It was the “fourth largest city”: a place of trade, especially cotton, and slavery. However, the Lowcountry and Backcountry had been divided by those who supported the British and those who did not. Because of this, the two countries became hostile towards each other. There were so many different people, and most of them supported either the Crown, Loyalists, the patriots, or the Whigs.

What really struck me was how South Carolina, especially Charleston, was put under siege during the Revolution–almost as bad as the Civil War, which was another exhibit I looked at. Charleston was captured and many people were either enslaved or taken hostage. The British stayed in Charleston until the end of the war. It was just incredible learning how strong the civilians stayed during this time, because they believed they could gain their independence. What proved that to them was the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. The British attacked Fort Moultrie and came ashore to spread even more death and destruction inland. However, despite the fort not being finished, it still withstood the cannon fire rather well, allowing for a nice shield for the American troops. Many were killed, yes, but the Americans did not give up, and eventually, the British troops pulled back. The exhibit said that it was that battle where Americans knew they had a chance in the war. In my opinion, I think it was a turning point for it.

The aftermath of the war was devastating, especially on the Native Americans. Since we’ve been talking a lot about the natives in class, I decided to spend some ample time studying this part of the exhibit. Starting from the year 1685 to the year 1790, the native population dropped drastically–especially at the end of the war. Between 1715 and 1790, over 4,000 Native Americans lost their homes as more slaves started to move into the county. At the end of the war, people pushed their enslaved territories further inland, which put pressure on the native tribes. The exhibit said that these invasions caused a lot of conflict and violence, but at the end of the day, the settlers won. Many Native Americans were either killed or converted. The Revolutionary War caused them to lose their identities. This was both fascinating and disturbing to me.

I ended my exploration on the tale of Francis Marion, a well-known soldier during the Revolutionary times. I never knew that he gained his military expertise by fighting against the Cherokee. They took their environment and terrain into consideration, and Marion learned from that to assist him in his famous “The British are coming!” run. Marion was good with stealth and surprise attacks. It was much like a fox, so that was why he was given the nickname the “Swamp Fox” after he died.

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to the museum. I learned a lot about South Carolina and how big of a role it played in the Revolutionary War. At the end of the day, people knew the state by its role in trade and cotton, and its part at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. If the Americans had not won that battle, I feel that our history would be very different.