Slavery, Economic Development, and Modernization on Louisiana Sugar Plantations, 1820-1860
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1997 The uS gar Masters: Slavery, Economic Development, and Modernization on Louisiana Sugar Plantations, 1820-1860. Richard J. Follett Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Follett, Richard J., "The uS gar Masters: Slavery, Economic Development, and Modernization on Louisiana Sugar Plantations, 1820-1860." (1997). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6540. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6540 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Richard J. Follett B.A., University of Wales, 1990 M.A., University of London, 1991 December 1997 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9810828 Copyright 1997 by Follett, Richard J. All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9810828 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ®Copyright 1997[1997/copyright] Richard J. Follett All rights reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have helped me through my graduate training on this side of the Atlantic and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their assistance, patience, and in many cases kindness toward me over the past years. Coming to America was, of course, costly and I wish to extend my deep gratitude to all those who financially supported my studies at Louisiana State University. In particular, I would like to thank the Fulbright Commission in London, England who were kind enough to support my initial studies, the Graduate School for their tuition awards, but most importantly, I wish to acknowledge the History Department for their financial support throughout the years. Without the assistance of these organizations, my studies here would have been impossible. Every historian owes a great debt of gratitude to the librarians who assist in the research stage of every project. In my case, I wish to thank all the staff at the Hill Memorial Library of Louisiana State University for kindly and professionally attending to my every research need. Although I would like to thank every person who paged, re-paged, and placed on hold all the documents and books I used, there are a few people to whom I owe a special thanks. Most importantly, I wish to thank Judy Bolton, Faye Phillips, Linda Schneider, Christina Riquelmy, iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Arme Smith, and Merle Suhayda for their professionalism in aiding my research, but I would also like to thank Althea Neff, Jo Jackson, and Emily Robison for making Hill Library a happy, enjoyable, and cheerful place to work. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to friends, colleagues, and professors who have given so freely of their time to help with my research and writing. Richard Kilboume shaped my understanding of antebellum economic history in profound ways and I thank him for his support and kindness over the years. Mario Buteler of the Department of Horticulture, LSU, proved supportive as both a friend and a scholar and I thank him for his help with preparing and printing the final draft. As an economic and social historian, however, I owe special thanks to Professor Paul Paskoff whose enthusiasm and assistance proved invaluable to completing this project. Professors Charles Royster, Miles Richardson, and Paul Hoffman also read my dissertation in its entirety and I thank them for their comments. As the Chairman of my Doctoral Committee, Professor William J. Cooper, Jr., has helped me in countless ways throughout my studies at LSU. As a student, I could not have asked for a more understanding and supportive major professor and I warmly thank him for all his assistance over the years. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Back in the UK, I wish to thank the kind and unflagging support of Peter J. Parish whose enthusiasm and support of my academic career has remained important to me throughout my tenure as a graduate student. Thanks also to Rick Halpem at University College London who kindly shared his own research and expertise on postbellum Louisiana sugar with me. My final and greatest thanks go to my wife and parents who have suffered through the last years with enthusiasm and tremendous support. As an academic, I have followed my father's path and although circadian rhythms in Japanese quail and the Louisiana sugar masters appear to have little in common, I have always cherished his commitment to hard work and exhaustive research. My wife Marina has patiently and kindly endured my long absences from home and remained throughout an immense source of support and advice as I labored to finish this work. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE With Union and Confederate troops massing in northern Virginia, William Howard Russell, an English war correspondent, hurried upstream after his brief sojourn in New Orleans. Booking passage on the steamer J.C. Cotton, Russell's ship pulled ashore at Andre Roman's sugar plantation, midway between New Orleans and the state capitol. Baton Rouge. Anxious to visit the plantations of the Louisiana sugar country, Russell promptly arrived at John Burnside's expansive sugar holdings in Ascension Parish. Climbing the bell tower on the roof of the plantation house, Russell's eyes cast over a vast agricultural kingdom that included 753 slaves and thousands of acres planted in sugar cane. Evidently surprised by what lay before him, Russell observed: The view from the belvedere . was one of the most striking of its kind in the world. If an English agriculturist could see six thousand acres of the finest land in one field, unbroken by hedge or boundary, and covered with the most magnificent crops of tasseling Indian c o m and sprouting sugar-cane as level as a billiard table, he would surely doubt his senses. But here is literally such a sight-six thousand acres, better tilled than the finest patch in all the Lothians, green as Meath pastures, which can be turned up for a hundred years to come.’ Amazed at the enormity of Houmas Plantation, Russell left Louisiana impressed by the impeccable workmanship, superior horticulture, and industrial productivity of the ^William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South (reprint. New York: Harper Brothers, 1954), 147. vx Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. late antebellum sugar estates. James Robertson, a fellow British traveler, similarly marveled at the "enterprise and energy" with which Louisianans committed themselves to improved methods of cultivation, machinery, and industry.^ Even the perennial critic Frederick Law