University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-1995 Risk and Material Conditions of the African American Slaves at Locust Grove Amy Lambeck Young University of Tennessee Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Young, Amy Lambeck, "Risk and Material Conditions of the African American Slaves at Locust Grove. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1995. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/6054 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Amy Lambeck Young entitled "Risk and Material Conditions of the African American Slaves at Locust Grove." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Anthropology. Charles Faulkner, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To-the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Amy Lambeck Young entitled "Risk and Material Conditions of the African American Slaves at Locust Grove: An Archaeological Perspective." I have examined the final copy of this dissertation for form and content and· recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Anthropology. Charles Faulkner, Major Professor We have read this dissertation ana·recommend its acceptance: U\ citLx? 1(/)AtsfG Accepted for the Council: RISK AND MATERIAL CONDITIONS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVES AT LOCUST GROVE: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Amy Lambeck Young May, 1995 Copyright c Amy Lambeck Young, 1995 All rights reserved ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Dr. Charles H. Faulkner I could not have hoped for a better major professor. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my major professor, Dr. Charles H. Faulkner, for his guidance and patience. Much of what I know of historical archaeology I learned from him. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Faye Harrison, Dr. Lydia Pulsipher, and Dr. Walter Klippel for their thoughtful comments and suggestions. I want to acknowledge a special debt to Dr. Klippel for seeing me through some rough times. I would also like to express my gratitude to Phil, for help and good humor in moving the collection, and for commenting on parts of this manuscript. I also want to thank my sons, Christopher and Nicholas, for their cheers and encouragement. A number of professionals were kind enough to discuss aspects of this research with me at meetings and over the phone, and read various drafts of chapters. I am extremely grateful to Charles Orser, Larry McKee, Theresa Singleton, Pat Garrow, Robert Fryman, Ira Berlin, William H. Adams, Philip Morgan, Douglas Sanford, Kenneth Brown, Mac Goodwin, Miles Wright, Jefferson Chapman, Kim McBride, Murray Marks, Al Goodyear, Berle Clay, Yvonne Jones, Steve McBride, and Bill Bass. Very special thanks go to Sean Coughlin, and to Mark Groover, Renee Walker, Rachel Power, and Ellen Moore. I would also like to.thank Locust Grove and the University of Louisville for providing access to the Locust iv Grove materials. Dr. Bob Kelly, Phil DiBlasi, and Dr. Joe Granger helped make sure I had access to those materials. I want to gratefully acknowledge the Kentucky Heritage Council for providing funds for moving the Locust Grove collection and for the analysis of the faunal remains. I also want to thank the Archaeological Society of South Carolina for a Grant-In-Aid for Graduate Student Research. V ABSTRACT Unfortunately, a static and romanticized image of plantations and slaves in the antebellum South has been created with movies like "Gone With The Wind. " I call this "Taravision. " This image, to some degree, has colored archaeologists perceptions of slavery and thus influenced our investigations of plantation life in the South. This image, of course, is not real, and ignores the importance of the roles of the African Americans, slave and free, in the culture of the Old South. In this study, the theory of risk management is used as a context for understanding the special circumstances of African American slaves in the Upland South and those experiences common to all African American slaves during the antebellum period. This framework does not assume that Southern slavery was uniform from colonial times until the Civil War in the United States, nor does it assume uniformity in the populations derived from Africa. Rather, risk minimization allows for an understanding of the variability of the African American experience under the slave regime. More specifically, the archaeology conducted at three slave cabin sites at Locust Grove, Louisville, Kentucky is documented and the material culture of the slaves at this vi Upland South plantation is reconstructed. A detailed analysis of over 25,000 artifacts recovered in the excavations coupled with a consideration of the documented features provides the basis for a number of conclusions. Through this research it is suggested that the houses and furnishings as well as the diet and health of the slaves at Locust Grove were adequate. This was likely the result of the efforts of the slaves rather than the paternalism of the owners. The slaves at Locust Grove managed to minimize some of their risks by forming strong family and community ties, raising their own livestock and gardens and storing surplus in small pit cellars, and through the use of magic and religion to ward off misfortune and strengthen community bonds. They appeared to have maintained close ties with their African heritage, and used their African traditions to mitigate some of the evils of slavery. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Introduction . ....•.• .......................... ••1 II. Background: Croghans, Slaves, and Locust Grove Plantation . .16 III. The Bluegrass Region, Jefferson County, and Louisville, Kentucky: A Brief History. .60 IV. Artifacts .88 v. Risk .149 VI. Religion and Ritual in the Upland South .171 VII. Pit Cellars . � . .192 VIII. Summary and Conclusions .218 REFERENCES . .225 APPENDICES . • 250 VITA . • 301 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 2. 1 OWners of Locust Grove from 1823 through 1849 (from Jefferson County, Kentucky tax lists 1823-1849) •••••••••••••. •••••••••••••••••44 3. 1 Large Slaveholders in Jefferson County, 1810 ••• 76 4. 1 Ceramics with Date Ranges and Frequencies from the South, Central, and North Slave Houses at Locust Grove ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••. •• 9 0 4. 2 Frequencies of Window Glass Sherds in Thickness Classes from the Three Slave Houses at Locust Grove •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 96 4. 3 Artifact Frequencies from the Three Slave House Locations at Locust Grove ••••••••••••••• 103 4. 4 Frequencies of Artifacts in Functional Categories ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••. ••••• 107 4. 5 Frequencies and Percentages of Buttons from the Three Slave Houses at Locust Grove •••••. ••111 4. 6 Personal Artifacts from the South Slave House •• 121 4. 7 Personal Artifacts from the Central Slave House ••••••••••••••••••••••· ••••••••••••••••••• 12 3 4. 8 Personal Artifacts from the North Slave House •• 125 4. 9 Frequencies of Nail Pennyweights from the South, Central, and North Slave Houses at Locust Grove ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 130 4. 10 Frequencies of Vessel Forms of Refined Ceramics from the South, Central, and North Slave Houses at Locust Grove •••••••••••••••••• 142 4. 11 Decorations on Ceramics from the South, Central and North Slave Houses at Locust Grove ••••••• �. 143 5. 1 Ceramic Types and Frequencies from the Main House that Matched those from the Three Slave Houses ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••163 ix 5. 2 Ceramic Matches and Frequencies from the South, Central, and North Slave House Assemblages ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 165 5. 3 Ceramic Matches from Curriboo and Yaughan Slave Houses ••••••••••. ••••••••. .••. ••••. ••. •• 167 7.1 Artifacts from the South Cellar ••••••••••••••• 200 7�2 Vessel Forms of Ceramics from the South Cellar ........................................200 7. 3 Decorations on Refined Ceramics from the South Cellar •••••••••. ••••••••••••••••••. ••••• 200 7. 4 Artifacts from the North Cellar .•••••••••••••• 203 7.5 Vessel Forms of Ceramics from the North Cellar ........................................ 203 7. 6 Decorations on Refined Ceramics from the North Cellar ••••••••••••••••••• � ••••••••••••••203 7. 7 Artifacts from the Central Cellar •••••. •••••••206 7. 8 Vessel Forms of Ceramics from the Central Cellar ••. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••208 7. 9 Decorations on Refined Ceramics from the Central Cellar •••••••••••. ••••••••••••••••••••210 7. 10 Ceramic Seriation Rank ••••••••. •••••••••••••••212 X LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 2. 1 Genealogy of the Clark/Croghan Family ••••••••••