The Great Slave Auction

The Great Slave Auction (also called The Weeping Time) is regarded as the largest sale of enslaved people to have occurred before the American Civil War. To satisfy significant debts, absentee owner and Philadelphian Pierce M. Butler, authorized the sale of approximately 436 men, women, children, and infants to be sold over the course of two days at the Ten Broeck Race Course, two miles outside of Savannah, Georgia.

Pierce M. Butler

The Butlers of South Carolina and Philadelphia were owners of slave plantations located on the Sea Islands of Georgia. The patriarch of the family, Major Pierce Butler, owned hundreds of slaves who labored over rice and cotton crops thus amassing him the family’s wealth. Major Butler was one of the wealthiest and powerful slave owners in the United States. Upon his death, his biggest dilemma was which heir to leave his wealth. Estranged from his son, Major Butler left his estate to his two grandsons, Pierce M. Butler and John A. Butler.

Pierce M. Butler was everything his grandfather detested in men. Pierce was devoid of business sense and degenerate in his personal habits. Butler frequently engaged in risky business speculations, which resulted in financial loss in the Crash of 1857, and his elaborate spending. However, it would be his incorrigible gambling that landed him in the most trouble. Butler had accrued a considerable amount of gambling debt over the years. To satisfy his financial obligations, the management of Butler’s estate was transferred to trustees. At first, the trustees sold Butler’s Philadelphia mansion for $30,000 as well as other properties; unfortunately, it was not enough to satisfy creditors. The only commodities of value that remained were the slaves he owned on his Georgia plantations.

The Sale

Pierce Butler had the impending sale advertised in The Savannah Republican and The Savannah Daily Morning News by Joseph Bryan, a notorious slave dealer in Savannah. The advertisements ran daily, except on Sundays, up until the last day of the sale. It was advertised and announced from the beginning that there would be no division of families. On the first day, there were about 200 buyers present. Fierce rains kept many of the potential buyers away and the auction began two hours late.

The Slaves

The slaves were brought to Savannah by steamboat and by train and housed in the racecourses’ stables. They huddled together eating and sleeping on the floor. Beginning from February 26 through March 1, the slaves were inspected by prospective buyers. Anxious buyers from Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana descended upon Savannah in hopes of getting good deals. It was known that the Butler plantations had choice lots. The buyers poked, pinched, and fondled the slaves. They also opened their mouths inspecting their teeth. Slaves were also examined for “ruptures” or defects on their bodies that might affect their productivity.

Four hundred and thirty-six persons were advertised in the sale catalogue, but only four hundred and twenty-nine were sold. Those not sold were either ill or disabled. The majority of those sold were rice and cotton fieldworkers; others were skilled coopers, carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and cooks. The two-day sale netted $303,850. The highest bid for a family, a mother and her five grown children, was for $6,180. The highest price for an individual was $1,750 whereas the lowest price was $250

The Aftermath

Mortimer Thomson, a popular journalist during the time who wrote under the pseudonym “Q. K. Philander Doesticks” memorialized the event. Initially, Thomson traveled to Savannah infiltrating the buyers by pretending to be interested in purchasing slaves. After the sale, he wrote a long and scathing article describing the auction in the New York Tribune titled, “What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation.”

Tom Pate, a Vicksburg trader, bough at the sale a man, his wife, and his two sisters with the guarantee that they were not to be separated in accordance with the terms of the auction. In disregarding the agreement, Pate sold one sister to a Pat Somers, a fellow trader, and the other sister to a private citizen in St. Louis. Somers finding out later of the sales agreement in Savannah about the families not being separated, returned the girl to Pate demanding his money refunded. An argument ensued resulting with Somers being shot and killed. Ten days following Somers death, his nephew killed Pate, and he himself was killed during the confrontation. The feud continued until every man bearing the name Pate was killed.

Historical Marker

The only monument to this historic event is a steel marker a few miles outside of Savannah. The marker was erected by the city and the Georgia Historical Society in 2008.