A Visit to Fort Hill: The Residence of Hon. John C. Calhoun

A Visit to Fort Hill: The Residence of Hon. John C. Calhoun

Newspaper Article
New York Herald
Monemi
Polydore
Plantation Life

This newspaper article, published in the New York Herald (a decidedly pro-slavery newspaper), describes John C. Calhoun's plantation. In it, the slave quarters are described as being about 1/8 of a mile from the plantation mansion and built by stone, joined together like barracks. The author states that there were about seventy or eighty "negroes" at Fort Hill and that Calhoun held more slaves at his plantation in Alabama, managed by his son, A.P. The author also notes that Calhoun stopped to check on his slaves and even allowed some of them to earn money growing some cotton near the slave quarters. The article goes on to describe the process of growing cotton as well as marriages among slaves at Fort Hill and neighboring plantations. Finally, the article mentions the oldest slave on the plantation, Monemi, who was married to Polydore and had 63 descendants on the plantation. Both Monemi and Polydore were believed to have been brought from Africa.

This article should be read with a degree of skepticism as it is possible that there were ulterior motives behind the visit to the plantation.

New York Herald

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

1849-07-26

PDF

English

Newspaper