 |
 |
 |
||||||||
|
Bills of Sale for slaves,
Buncombe County Courthouse Record Room |
||||||||||
|
Slave schedules from the 1850 US Census, NC Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC
|
||||||||||
|
1850-1865
Goal 5: Pre Civil War through Reconstruction The learner will evaluate the Civil War and Reconstruction as an affirmation of the power of the national government. 5.1 Elaborate on economic conditions in the decade preceding the Civil War. In the 1770’s, the United States signed treaties with the Cherokee nation requiring all native peoples to relocate to the “Qualla Boundary” near what is now Sylva, NC. Using military force, the area now known as Buncombe County began to be inhabited by non-native people. From its earliest times, this population also included African-Americans as evidenced by the homestead of Samuel Davidson, his wife and child, and a young African-American woman they held in slavery in 1788. By 1800, the village on what is now called Pack Square numbered six households with 38 people, thirteen of whom were African-Americans held in slavery. In 1850, the WNC regional presence of African-Americans stood at 10% of the population, while the Buncombe County presence was closer to 16%. The 1860 census listed two registers for “Free Inhabitants” and “Slave Inhabitants.” Among the “Free Inhabitants” were ten “Free People of Color.” Among the 1,103 “Slave Inhabitants,” the records indicate 668 African-Americans were enslaved by fourteen slave owners. The largest slave owner was Nicholas Woodfin with 120 slaves living in fifteen houses. The other 435 enslaved people were divided among 114 slave owners. |
||||||||||
