"THE DARKESTABODE OF MAN"

BlackMiners in the FirstSouthern Coal Field, 1780-1865 byRONALD L. LEWIS*

ON June 20, 1796, the French nobleman Duc de La Rochefoucauldleft Richmond,, for Monticello to visit Thomas Jefferson.On the way, he stoppedto examine severalcoal mines at Dover, and while the traveler remainedunimpressed by their management,he was struckby the fact that "Messrs.Graham and Havans employ about five hundred negroes in this mine, and the businessof the farm."1Although La Rochefoucauldmay have exaggeratedthe case, he neverthelesstouched on the most strikingcharacter- istic of southern coal mining. From the very beginning mines in the South dependedupon the sinew and sweatof blackbondsmen. Located about thirteen miles west of Richmond, the eastern Virginia coal field providedthe firstcommercial source of domesticcoal in the United States. While other states, such as ,had more extensive sup- plies, Virginia possessed the only coal easily accessible to coastal vessels through the port of Richmond. Consequently,even before the American Revolution,Virginia supplied Philadelphia, New York, and Boston with bituminous coal for home and industry. Not until the 1840s and 1850s, when Pennsylvania was tied together by a network of railroads,did coal from that state become availablein the East Coast marketsand force Virginia to relinquishits dominanceover the trade. Between the American Revolutionand the mid-nineteenthcentury, however, Virginia remained the majorsupplier of domesticcoal on the AtlanticCoast.2 Among the earliest mines along the James River were the Pits in ChesterfieldCounty near the town of Manchester.3Opened in 1788, and operatedfor the next three decades by Henry (Harry) Heth (1760?- 'Dr. Lewis is an assistantprofessor of Black AmericanStudies at the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware. His researchfor this article was supportedby a grant from the University of DelawareResearch Fund. 1 Duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,Travels Through the United States of North America, the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada, in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797 (London, 1799), III, 122-125. 2Victor S. Clark, History of Manufactures in the United States (New York, 1929), I, 331-332, 520; Samuel Harries Daddow and Benjamin Bannan, Coal, Iron, and Oil: or, the Prac- tical American Miner (Philadelphia, 1866), p. 108; FrederickMoore Binder, Coal Age Empire: PennsylvaniaCoal and Its Utilization to 1860 (Harrisburg,Pennsylvania, 1974), pp. 34-35. 3 "An Account of the Coal Mines in the Vicinity of Richmond, Virginia, Communicatedto the Editor in a Letter from Mr. John GrammarJun.," American Journal of Science, I (1819), 126-127. Manchesterhas since been incorporatedinto the city of Richmond. "TheDarkest Abode of Man" 191

1821), a Revolutionaryarmy officer and enterprisingbusinessman, Black Heath becamesynonymous with high-qualitycoal.4 Although he owned as manyas 114 handsin 1812, the numbervaried substantially between 1800and 1820,but averagedabout 56 peryear.5 Heth hireda largenumber of slavepit-men as well. Thus, in March 1810, he advertisedfor "30 or 40 ablebodied Negro Men, for whoma liberalprice will be given."6Bonds- men alsoconstituted the vastmajority of the 170 full- and part-timework- men employedat Heth'scoal yardsduring the summerof 1813.7 Not only did Heth employa largenumber of slavesas miners,he also workedthem in every occupationassociated with the business,including the mosthighly skilled. When thecollier leased his Stonehengecoal property in 1819, for example,he agreedto furnishthe companywith "fiftyNegroe Men, a Smith & Striker,with Obey the CorkMaker, with Billy Griffen & Gilbertto attendthe Engines."'Heth had been ill for severalyears by 1819 and apparentlycontemplated giving up the business,when he drew up a "Listof Negroeswhich the proprietorwill sell all together."Heth enumerated52 men and women,among whom he includedPhill Cox, "a tolerablecooper," as well as a blacksmith,a striker,a carpenter,a bricklayer, and ten laborers.9At the time of his death in 1821, HarryHeth owned 41 slaves which had been hired to the companyand upon which the remainingpartners paid to the estatehiring fees which totaled$11,855.10 In his memoirsthe Confederategeneral, , grandsonof the mine promoter,recalled his childhoodat Blackheath,the family estate. Amongthe general'searliest recollections were the familycoal mines and the childhoodcuriosity which led him to descendinto the pits even though his fatherJohn Heth had forbiddenit. Accordingto the general'sMemoirs, with the moneyhe had savedfor severalweeks, along with somecake from his mother'sstoreroom, young Heth "bribeda foremanof the mine, an old 'darkey,'"to guidehim throughthe undergroundchambers.1 Whether 4 Ida J. Lee, "The Heth Family," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,XLII (1934), 277. Henry Heth used the name "Harry" both officially and unofficially. Some idea of his pioneering leadership in coal mining may be inferred from his proposal to establish an institute to train American youths in the technical aspects of mining ("Coal Mines Seminary,"in Harry Heth's hand, October 10, 1819, Heth Family Papers, University of Virginia, hereafter cited as Heth Papers, U. Va.). 5Personal Property Tax Books for Chesterfield County, 1800-1821, Virginia State Library, Richmond,Virginia, hereafter cited as VSL. 6 RichmondEnquirer, March 2, 1810. William Pennock to Harry Heth, 10, 1813, Heth U. Va. . July Papers, Agreement, Harry Heth with James and John Bavid, December 8, 1818, ibid. 3 "Listof Negroes which the proprietorwill sell all together,"n.d., 1819, ibid. 10 "Accounts& Receipts," 1821, ibid. 11James L. Morrison,Jr., editor, The Memoirs of Henry Heth (Westport, Connecticut, 1974), p. 11. 192 The VirginiaMagazine

slaveor free, this blackforeman must have possessedconsiderable experience in coal mining to acquirethe knowledgemandatory for undergroundsuper- vision. Moreover,his presence in such a sensitive position further under- scored the commitmentof the Heth family specifically,and Virginia coal operatorsgenerally, to blacklabor. Organized in 1822 by and Robert Beverley Randolph, the Black Heath Companyof colliers sank several shafts varying from 150 to 700 feet. After an explosion which killed 45 blacks and two white over- seers in 1836, the company was reorganizedinto the Maidenhead Pits.12 The mine never recoveredthe losses sustainedfrom the explosion,however, and in 1840 sold all of its stock to a group of English capitalistsorganized into the ChesterfieldCoal and Iron Mining Company.13Unlike most coal mines in the region, the ChesterfieldCompany deliberately employed 130 free blacksrather than slaves. It remainsunclear why the companyfollowed this policy, whether out of moral compulsion,or the real possibility that owners refused to hire their slaves to the company fearing a loss of their propertyin anotherexplosion. By the late 1830s and early 1840s, numerouscoal companiesoperated in the eastern Virginia field. One of the largest of them was the famous MidlothianMining Company,chartered in 1835.14By 1843 the Midlothian mines employedin all their operations"some 150 negroes,"' most of whom were slaves.'0Midlothian did hire some free blacks in addition to slaves. An 1846 advertisementfor slave workersnotified owners that "The Com- pany have in their employment several free coloured men," but assured squeamishowners that the free blackswere well disciplined.17 During the 1850s the Midlothian Company continued to rely on hired slave labor. The 1850 census recorded 123 male bondsmen at the mines, only seven of whom the companyowned.'8 By 1860, however, the Midlo- thian had increasedits labor force to 200 workers,at least 100 of whom

12 Richmond Enquirer, March 23, 1839. 13 Howard N. Eavenson, The First Century and a Quarter of American Coal Industry (Pitts- burgh, 1942), p. 107; Oswald J. Heinrich, "The Midlothian, Virginia, Colliery in 1876," American Institute of Mining Engineers, Transactions,IV (May 1875-February1876), 309. 14A. S. Wooldridge, "Geologicaland StatisticalNotice of the Coal Mines in the Vicinity of Richmond, Va.," American Journal of Science and Arts, XLII (October 1842), 6, 8. 15 Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Virginia; Containing a Collection of the Most Inter- esting Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes, etc., Relating to its History and Antiquities(Charleston, S. C., 1845), p. 232. 16 Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser, July 15, 1846. 17 Ibid., January 2, 1846. 18Manuscript Industrial and Slave Schedules, ChesterfieldCounty, Virginia, Seventh Census of the United States, 1850, National ArchivesMicrofilm Publications. "TheDarkest Abode of Man" 193 belongedto the company.'1Following the CivilWar, the companycontinued to employblacks, for in 1871 the superintendingengineer observed that "mostof ourlabor here is coloredlabor, although we havea few goodwhite minersamongst us. The menhave faced great danger and undergonemuch hardshipbravely." 20 Rankedamong the earliestmines in the easternVirginia field, from their inceptionDover Pits dependedon slave miners. While journeyingto Monticello,La Rochefoucauldstopped at Dover Pits in 1796 and noted that"about five hundred negroes" worked at the pitsand the attachedfarm.21 Littleelse is knownabout the DoverPits duringthe ensuingdecades, but apparentlythey continued to utilizebonded labor in everycapacity. Edmund Ruffin,editor of the Farmners'Register, visited Dover in 1837 and remarked that

Graham's mining operations had been superintended and directed entirely by a con- fidential slave of his own, (whom he afterwards emancipated, and then paid $200 a year wages,) and the laborerswere also slaves; and they, only, knew anything of the condition of the coal.22

Duringthe 1850s,Christopher Quarles Tompkins, a United Statesand then Confederatecolonel and experiencedcoal operator,began to organize a numberof mines,including the originalworks, into whatbecame known as the DoverCoal Mining Company.23Like most mine operatorsin the district,Tompkins employed numerous slaves in his coalpits. A Richmond newspaperreported an 1855 excursionby "a numberof ladiesand gentle- men"who descendedinto the mine "1030feet deep."The sojournthrough theseworkings fascinated the visitors,one of whomaptly characterized the subterraneanmaze as "the darkestabode of man."The spectatorsfound thatTompkins employed slaves in these pits as well, fortyof whomwere 19Ibid., Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. 200swald J. Heinrich, "The Midlothian Colliery, Virginia," A.I.M.E., Transactions,I (May 1871-February1873), 356. 21 La Rochefoucauld,Travels Through the United States, III, 123. Traditionally, Dover had been regarded as the oldest commercial coal mine in the South (Kathleen Bruce, Virginia Iron Manufacture in the Slave Era [New York, 1960, originally 1930], p. 88). This does not appearto be accurate for the New York Mercury, July 22, 1765, carried an advertisementby GarrardEllyson for the sale of coal from his "bank of COAL in Chesterfieldcounty" (VMHB, LXVI [1958], 203). 22 Edmund Ruffin, "Visit to Graham'sCoal Pits," Farmers'Register, V (1837), 315. 23 Ibid.; William M. E. Rachal, editor, "The Occupationof Richmond, April 1865: The Memo- randum of Events of Colonel ChristopherQ. Tompkins, VMHB, LXXIII (1965), 189; Ellen Wilkins Tompkins, editor, "The Colonel's Lady: Some Letters of Ellen Wilkins Tompkins, July- December 1861," ibid., LXIX (1961), 387. 194 The VirginiaMagazine hardat workas the partytoured the chambers.24 In 1863-1864, the Dover, and the Tuckahoe Pits, which now fell under Tompkins'ssupervision,25 employed about 150 blacks,of whom a large ma- jority were hired. Of these hands, Dover utilized 103 and Tuckahoe 38, while nine hands laboredon the farm connected with the mines. Table I identifiestheir occupations and hiring prices.

TABLE I NUMBER AND OCCUPAIIONS OF SLAVES AT DOVER AND TUCKAHOE PITS, 1863-1864 Occupation Number ApproximateHiring Price Each Teamster 3 $ 345 peryear Trainert 5 300 Fireman 3 250 CoalDigger 8 700 Carpenter 3 625 Laborer 28 325 Top Hands 24 325 Miner 10 350 Bricklayer 1 500 Engineer 7 350 WoodChopper 1 300* Boy 4 150 Blacksmith 2 1,000* Slater 3 125 Farmer 6 275 Miller 5 150 BottomHand 2 350 Totals 115 $40,485 Source: "CommonplaceBook of ChristopherQuarles Tompkins, 1863-1867," Tompkins Family Papers,VHS. Compiledand arrangedby the author. *No price was given for the hire of the blacksmithsor the wood chopper. The figures given are conservativeestimates. tA "trainer"pulled a basket-like vehicle with iron runners, called a "corve," filled with coal from the working face section to the main drift where it was hauled to the bottom of the shaft and then to the surface. He was probably being trained by the miner, or the workman who actually dug coal. This was a skilled and sensitive occupation which required highly specializedknowledge and experience. 24Lease of John James Flournoy, May 28, 1847, Tompkins Family Papers, VHS, represented the first notice of his use of slave miners; Richmond Daily Dispatch, January 11, 1855. 25 Charles B. Dew, Ironmaker to the Confederacy: Joseph R. Anderson and the Tredegar Iron Works (New Haven, 1966), pp. 34, 99, 149-150; "CorporateHoldings, 1866," and Tredegar Journals,December 1826, in the TredegarCompany Records, VSL; Bruce, Virginia Iron Manu- facture, p. 88; Rachal, "The Occupation of Richmond," VMHB, LXXIII, 189-193; the Com- monplace Book of Christopher Quarles Tompkins, 1863-1867, hereafter cited as Tompkins CommonplaceBook, VHS. "TheDarkest Abode of Man" 195

Of the 150 blackhands working at the Doverand TuckahoePits in 1863- 1864, freeblacks comprised 24 of the total.Their occupationsand rateof pay, whereit was possibleto determine,are recapitulatedin Table II. Be- tween 1864 and 1865, whitesconstituted only 21 of the totalnumber of

TABLEII FREEBLACK OCCUPATIONS AT DOVERAND TUCKAHOEPITS 1863-1864 Occupation Number Rate of Pay Trainer 4 Laborer 1 Driver 1 Engineer 3 $3.00 per day Sinker 1 $3.00 per day + Bd. Miner 5 $3-4.00 per day + Bd. Bottom Hands 2 "Bythe day on Trial" Top Hands 3 $2-3.00per day Blacksmith 1 Bricklayer 1 $500 per year Unspecified 2 Total 24

Source:"Commonplace Book of ChristopherQuarles Tompkins, 1863-1867," Tompkins Family Papers,Virginia HistoricalSociety.

workmenat Dover and Tuckahoe.Since only two of them were "boss men,"and a forcethat large, working in two-shiftrelays, probably required six or eight supervisors,it is highly likely that blacksfilled some of those positionsas well.26 The figurespresented in TablesI and II providesome valuable clues to prevailinglabor patterns at slave-operatedcoal mines, and represent perhaps the only actualanalysis of exactlywhat jobs slaves, free blacks,and whites held at these pits, and the percentageof the total constitutedby each. If the Doverand TuckahoePits providea reasonablyaccurate picture of em- ploymentpatterns in the field,as they probablydo, whitescomprised only about12 percent,free blacksabout 14 percent,and slavesabout 67 percent of the totallabor force at theseearly Virginia mines. The statusof about7 percentof the workmenremains unverifiable. The abovetables also reflect the long traditionof relianceon slavelabor without restriction by racefrom 26 "List of White Persons at Dover Pits-1864," and "List of White Hands at Trent's Pits- 1865," in TompkinsCommonplace Book, VHS. 196 The VirginiaMagazine occupationor place of work.Thus, bondsmentoiled not only in the danger- ous undergroundoperations, they also workedon the surfacewhere it was relativelysafe, and practicedthe skilled trades as well as unskilled. These patternsprevailed throughout the industry until, by 1861, the 22 leading Virginiacoal companiesemployed 1,847 slave miners.7 Most Virginiamine operatorswould have agreed in principle with one Alabama miner who observedin 1859 that "Everyday's experienceconfirms my opinion that it is next to impossibleto prosecutemy mining interestsuccessfully with free labor. . . . No reliance whatever can be placed upon it. . . . I must have a negro force or give up my business." 28 Eastern Virginia coal pits justified the old refrain about mines being "darkas a dungeon and damp as the dew, wherethe dangersare doubleand the pleasuresare few." In fact, minersconducted a perennialcourtship with dangerand accidentsplagued masters and slavesalike, althoughin obviously differentways. Rock falls representedone of the most persistentthreats to life and limb. In 1812 Heth's foremaninformed the operatorthat severalof the hands had been hurt. Toby had recoveredsince the visit of Dr. Turpin and should be able to work soon. Shadrackand Chester, however, were "hurt with a piece of coal that fell from the roof" and were laid up for a somewhatlonger period of time.29Others were not so fortunate.For exam- ple, Ned was "Nearly Killed" and had been incapacitatedsince his acci- dent.30And another slave'sowner dunned Heth for compensation"for the ... man who was killed by accident in your coal pits."31 Floodingprovided another constant irritant to miners, and contributedto making their work, accordingto one contemporary,a "gloomyavocation."32 More than an unpleasantworking condition, however, flooding represented a sourceof gravedanger. One Fridayafternoon in 1856, for example, Mid- lothian miners found the water rising rapidly in the "deep shaft," which acted as a sump. Upon investigation,an overseerfound that the water had risen about forty feet above the bottom of the shaft. He and the general supervisorsattempted to reach the men trappedbelow by descending the "riseshaft," by which the coal was brought to the surface, but found that

27 Clement Eaton, The Growth of Southern Civilization, 1790-1860 (New York, 1961), p. 231. 28 W. P. Browne to A. Saltmarsh,September 24, 1859, Browne Papers,Alabama Archives, cited in RobertS. Starobin,Industrial Slavery in the Old South (New York, 1970), p. 23. 29 N. Sandersto Harry Heth, September16, 1812, Heth Papers,U. Va. °0 RobertBrooke to Harry Heth, February22, 1810, ibid. 31 W. B. Pillsboroughto Harry Heth, February6, 1819, ibid. 32 John Holland, The History and Description of Fossil Fuel, the Collieries, and the Coal Trade of Great Britain(London, 1841), p. 247. "The DarkestAbode of Man" 197 the waterhad cut all communicationsin the passagewhich connectedthe two shafts.The next morningthe relief party rescuedtwo unconscious whites,but the remainderdid not sharesuch goodfortune; the list of dead includedone white man,three company slaves, and fourhired bondsmen.33 The frequencyof devastatingfires in the easternVirginia coal field earned thesepits a "well-foundedbad reputation."The heat generatedfrom the constantdownward pressure, along with the presenceof gas, and the loose coal and slate which litteredthe floors,rendered spontaneous combustion an everpresent possibility.34 As earlyas 1788 fireforced the closingof some sectionsof BlackHeath Pits. Althoughsealed off, thatinitial fire continued to smolderfor at least thirtyyears.35 Thereafter, fire periodicallyravaged BlackHeath Pits. Heth'spartner, Beverley Randolph, wrote on the morning of August24, 1810, that "theday beforeyesterday they [the hands]were drivenout by the smoke,which was very abundant all day,"and the smoke had turnedone of the shaftsinto a huge chimney.36The followingday, Randolphinformed his partnerthat conditions had worsened:

This morning I went again into the pit after receiving your letter to see if anything could possibly be done and took three or four of the hands with me, but had not been down five minutes before the hands began to stagger & fall from the effects of the Sulphur, which is intolerably strong. It was with great difficulty that we could get Jim Warren out, and I was very doubtful for some considerable time whether he would recover.37

Most frighteningof all mine disastersis the explosion,but it also en- gendersa certainfascination because of its unpredictabilityand awesome destructivepower. Normally caused by improperventilation, methane gas explosionsrocked the easternVirginia coal field with alarmingregularity. The firstrecorded explosion shook Black Heath Pits in 1817, althoughit remainsunknown how many men died in that mishap.38Throughout its existence,the BlackHeath Pits periodicallysuffered explosions. In 1839 a combustionof methanegas resultedin the deathof "forty-fivenegroes and

33Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 15, 16, 1856. .4 Heinrich, "The Midlothian Colliery, Virginia," A.I.M.E., Transactions, I, 346-349, 356, 360, 364. :' "An Account of the Coal Mines in the Vicinity of Richmond,"Americal Journal of Science, 1, 126-128;David Street to Harry Heth, August 10, 1810, Heth Papers, U. Va. ·3 Beverley Randolph to Harry Heth, August 24, 1810, Heth Papers, U. Va. Randolph was Heth's son-in-lawas well as business partner. .7 Ibid., August 25, 1810. 38 "An Account of the Coal Mines in the Vicinity of Richmond," American Journal of Science, I, 129. 198 The VirginiaMagazine two white overseers."39According to one interestedcontemporary:

Some years since, when ventilation was less understood than at present, an explosion took place ... of the most fearful character. Of the fifty-four men in the mine, only two, who happened to be in some crevices near the mouth of the shaft, escaped with life. Nearly all the internal works of the mine were blown to atoms. Such was the force of the explosion, that a basket then descending, containing three men, was blown nearly one hundred feet into the air. Two fell out, and were crushed to death, and the third remained in, and with the basket was thrown some seventy or eighty feet from the shaft, breakingboth his legs and arms.40

Even though the "most approvedmethods of ventilating the mines had been introduced" in the interim, another explosion occurred in 1844 at the same pits which resulted from "the leaking out of gas from some deserted works which had been ineffectuallydammed off from the new galleries."'4 That explosion claimed the life of eleven men.42Still another explosion killed three slaves in 1855.4 The Midlothian Company, perhapsthe most professionallyoperated mine in the field, had its share of similardisasters. In 1842 the Maidenhead Pits suffered a tremendousconcussion. A. S. Wooldridge,company president, described the disasteras follows:

A terrific explosion occurred . . . by which thirty-four persons were instantly killed, and a number of others so badly burned that little or no hopes are entertained of their recovery. . . . Some of the dead men, the flesh charred on their bones, held their shovels in their hands .... and Samuel Hunt, a small boy, who had been deprived of reason for the time, by the concussion, was calling loudly to the mule he had been driving to go along. Those who were not dead....begged earnestly not to be left, and then prayed loudly for a few drops of cold water to quench their burning thirsts.4

Another seriousexplosion killed about 55 of the slave force at Midlothian in 1855, and before the pits were closed in the 1870s, several additional eruptionstook the lives of an unspecifiednumber of black miners.'4 Because of the dangerousworking conditions in antebellum coal pits, 39 Charles Lyell, "On the Structureand Probable Age of the Coal-Field of the James River," Quarterly Journal of the Geographical Society of London, III (1847), 270; Richmond En- quirer,March 23, 1839. 40 Howe, HistoricalCollections of Virginia,pp. 231-232. 41 Lyell, "On the Structure of the Coal-Field of the James River," Quarterly Journal of the GeographicalSociety, III, 270. 42Richmond Times and Compiler,November 21, 1844. 43Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser,November 28, 30, 1855. 44Wooldridge, "Notice of the Coal Mines in the Vicinity of Richmond," American Journal of Science and Arts, XLII, 2; see also Mining Magazine,IV (1855), 316-317. 4 Heinrich, "The Midlothian, Virginia, Colliery in 1876," A.I.M.E., Transactions, IV, 310; Oswald J. Heinrich, "An Account of an Explosion of Fire-Dampat the Midlothian Colliery, ChesterfieldCounty, Virginia,"A.I.M.E., Transactions,V (May 1856-February1877), 148-161. "TheDarkest Abode of Man" 199 ownersfrequently were reluctant to hiretheir slaves for minelabor. This hesitancewas reflected in the colliers'continuous advertising campaign in localnewspapers to portraythe variousmines as reasonablysafe places in whichto work.46When slaves were hired, owners and employers alike tried to minimizepossible losses of theirhuman property by securinglife insur- anceon theslave miners. As earlyas 1815,one owner wrote to HarryHeth thathe hadbeen "informed that you [Heth]are now anxious to hirehands to workin yourcoal pits andthat you will insurethem against accidents whichmight happen."4 By the late1850s, however, insurance companies hadbecome wary of underwritingthe livesof slaveswho workedin coal pitswith a knownhistory of accidents,which further complicated the re- cruitmentof an adequatelabor force. In 1858the managerof BlackHeath Pits,where several slaves had recentlydrowned, observed that "fromthe impendingdanger they supposedto exist,slave-owners could not be in- ducedto engagetheir hands without first effecting an insuranceupon them."Yet, because "accidents from similar causes have of lateoccurred" in which "lifehad been sacrificed,"the insurancecompanies had become "greatlyintimidated" and reluctant to take"risks on handssimilarly circum- stancedas thosewho have suffered on previousoccasion." 8 Insurancecompanies and the ownersof hiredhands did not represent theonly vested interests who resisted the dangers of themines. Slaves them- selvesfrequently took the initiative on theirown behalf. An agentfor Harry Hethwrote to the operatorin 1813that slaves refused to workin the pits andhad to be forcedto obeyorders to doso. Both Anderson and Robin had "beentwice in dangerof losinghis life."'4Another agent informed Heth a few yearslater thatit wouldbe impossiblefor him to hire any black miners.An ownerhad promised him six hands,but changed his mindand now"positively objects to theirworking in the coalpits . . . & the negroes themselvesalso positively object to goingto the pits."50Numerous other casescould be cited as well. A wide varietyof responsescharacterized slave reactions to forcedlabor in coalmines. Like so manyother bondsmen throughout the South,slave minersshirked work, abused the draftanimals, stole food, and thereare 46 Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser,January 2, 1846; Richmond Daily Dispatch, Jan- uary 11, 29, 1858, December 31, 1859, and January10, 1860. 47 B. Dandridgeto Harry Heth, April 1, 1815, Heth Papers, U. Va. 4 Richmond Daily Dispatch, January 29, 1858. See also Todd L. Savitt, "Slave Life In- surancein Virginiaand North Carolina,"Journal of Southern XLIII 586n. 40 History, (1977), RichardBrooke to Harry Heth, January6, 1813, Heth Papers,U. Va. o5 RobertGaines to Harry Heth, December20, 1815, ibid. 200 The VirginiaMagazine a few casesof possiblesabotage. Probably the most frequentdirect action takenby pit slaves,however, consisted of runningaway. Thus in 1800, Sam ran off fromBlack Heath Pits, and fromthat incidentforward, the Heth manuscriptsare littered with referencesto escapees.51 Harry Heth also owned a saltworksalong the KanawhaRiver in western Virginia. Since salt furnaces requiredlarge quantitiesof coal, and because few slaves resided in the transmontaneregion, the collier occasionallysent some of his Black Heath slavesacross the mountainsto work in the western mines. One of Heth's overseers,David Street, attemptedto march a coffle of these pit hands to western Virginia in 1819.52As the coffle progressed into the dense forestsof the Blue Ridge Mountains,however, several bonds- men escaped.The incident produceda particularlyrevelatory series of cor- respondencefrom the driverto Harry Heth which reflectedthe determina- tion of some slave miners to gain their freedom. Just before the escape, Street had informedhis employerthat none "of my men will have it in their power to give me the slip," for he maintained "a strict watch over them and threeof them I chained."5 The driver'sconfidence proved to be misplaced, however, for six days later Street wrote that he had run into some "very bad luck. The three negroes Billey and the 2 Johns that I had chained together-Escaped the night of the 13 Instant."The three hands pretendedto acquiesce to their fate and Street had intended to remove the leg irons the next day. When the coffle bedded down for the night at a farm along the road, the slaves took affairs into their own hands, for at about 2:00 A.M. "old Shadrick" came to the house and informedStreet that the three had escaped.54After two days of trackingthe fugitives over a distance of sixty miles, Street in- formed his employerthat the three were still travelingtogether when they were accidentallydiscovered, and one of the escapeeshad been captured.

John not being so Expert as the other two the) took him. Billey finding that they had took John came back to rescue John with a club and if it had not been that a man hearing the alarm running that way with a gun, Billey would have certainly released John. They are now in the Mountains. ... I am now waiting for their

51 See the letters to Harry Heth from Jesse Cole, August 4, 1800; William Kimbrough, June 3, 1801, and June 12, 1801; David Paterson, March 2, 1803; John E. Browne, June 28, 1819; R. Tankersley, August 28, 1819, all in the Heth Papers, U. Va. 52 Numerous letters during 1815 refer to Heth's venture into mining and manufacture of salt in western Virginia. See for example, Harry Heth to Beverley Randolph, January 24, 1815, and J. Barhu to Harry Heth, February 15, 1915, Heth Papers, U. Va. 53 David Street to Harry Heth, April 9, 1819, Heth Papers, U. Va. 54 Ibid., April 16, 1819. "The DarkestAbode of Man" 201 return [in order] to fetch me the nurse.... John informs me that Billey's intention was to Kill me if he had it in his power.55 Streetbelieved that the runawaysintended to crossthe JamesRiver above Richmondand "maketheir ways" to Fredericksburgand Gloucesterwhere they had friendswho would hide them.56What happenedto the slaves remainsa mysteryfor all traceof them disappearedfrom the Heth corre- spondence.In an ironicturn of events,however, Street also disappeared, and a several-monthsearch apparently failed to locatethe driver.The evidence suggeststhat he probablysold the remainderof the slavesto his brother, who was engagedin the slavetrade, pocketed the money,and like so many otherscoundrels, vanished into the frontier.57 The problemof runawaypit handswas not confinedto BlackHeath, for contemporarynewspapers throughout the antebellumera indicatethat run- nino awayrepresented a constantsource of aggravationfor Virginiamine operatorsgenerally.58 When the Civil War came, manyslave minerstook advantageof the chaos to graspfor freedom.As the end drew near the trickleof fugitivesturned into a flood.According to the operatorof Dover Pits, ChristopherQuarles Tompkins, when the Union forcesoccupied the Confederatecapital in April1865, "Allthe negroes"went "quickfor Rich- mond"and desertionbecame the "orderof the day."In a remarkablydis- passionatediary of the eventswhich surroundedthe occupation,Tompkins observedthat

Of the 108 slaves hired at these pits only four or five left Monday evening, but the next evening there was 30 or 40, the provisions were not entirely issued & some held back to get their weekly allowance of meat &c. The negroes were slow to realize the fact that they were free. Many disclaimed any disposition to be so, particularlyAlfred, Phil &c. &c. But by Tuesday evening the fever was so high that every soul who had legs to walk was running to Richmond.5"

Althoughmost of the freeblack miners stayed on the job, desertionamong the slavesbecame so completethat Tompkinsfinally "concludedto stop the pits." 60 Employmentpatterns in theseearly coal minesreflected the generalcom- mitmentto black labor in southernindustry throughout the slave era. 55 Ibid., April 19, 1819. *.5Ibid. 57 C. L. Stevensonto Harry Heth, November 5, 1819, Heth Papers, U. Va. 58 Richmond Daily Courier, September21, 1836; Richmond Enquirer, May 23, June 6, 1837, and June 17, 1845; RichmondDaily Dispatch, May 5, 1858. 59 Rachal, "The Occupationof Richmond,"VMHB, LXXIII, 192-193. 60 Ibid. 202 The VirginiaMagazine

Hazardousworking conditionsoccasionally rendered it difficult to hire an adequatenumber of slave miners.Nevertheless, blacks formed the backbone of the labor force. Moreover,bondsmen toiled at every task associatedwith coal mining, from the least to the most skilled occupations.By the end of the Civil War, the easternVirginia coal field had become moribund.The economicsof mining dictated that capital be channeled into the develop- ment of the seemingly limitless reservesof the Appalachianstates. Blacks continued to representa vital source of labor in the expanding southern coal industry, however. In doing so, they followed a traditionwith roots extendingback to America'sfirst commercial coal field in eighteenth-century Virginia.