Catoctin Mountain Park Historic Resource Study

Catoctin Furnace from the Bottom Up: Slavery

While we know the names and much about the lives of those who owned the furnace at Catoctin, we know little of the workers who toiled in the iron-making plant--many of whom were African slaves. Later, as shall be shown in Chapter 3, slave labor declined at the furnace, replaced largely by immigrant workers. Until the mid-1830s, however, slaves provided at least half of the labor at the furnace. While the subject of slavery inevitably conjures up images of large cotton plantations, there existed a sizable number of slaves working in industry. Although industrial slavery has not received the attention given to plantation slavery, those historians who have studied the phenomenon sharply disagree about the conditions under which slaves worked. Some argue that the unique circumstances surrounding slavery in industrial settings allowed slaves slightly more freedom and encouraged between master and slave "mutual accommodation rather than outright repression." [71] Other conclude that "[f]or laborers--slave and free--engaged in southern industries, working conditions were usually worse than those for laborers engaged in southern farming, since industrial development often demanded longer and harder working days than did plantation agriculture." [72] With only the most limited of sources on slavery at Catoctin, there is little that can be added to this debate. Nevertheless, the few scraps of information we do possess are tantalizing--such as evidence of an 1838 riot between furnace workers and residents of Mechanicstown. In the brawl black and white furnace workers fought side-by-side, suggesting a very different type of slavery than existed on plantations. Likewise, preliminary evidence--although still too sketchy to allow for any conclusions--suggests that ironmasters may have chosen African slaves because of their backgrounds in iron manufacturing. One again this suggests that the topic of industrial slavery at Catoctin and elsewhere deserves much deeper inquiry.

Before discussing slavery at Catoctin Furnace, we might briefly consider the nature of the "peculiar institution" in western Maryland. There was, in fact, much slavery in Frederick and Washington Counties. In 1790, around 3,900 (roughly 13%) of Frederick County's total population of 30,000 was of African lineage. Of the total African population, only 213 were free. [73] Most slaves worked in agricultural settings. Although many of the German religious sects held slavery in low regard, Germans in western Maryland eagerly sought to become slave-holders. Despite the German reputation for frugality, reports historian Elizabeth Kessel, the "one major exception to this rule was slave holding. A slave was a status symbol, and only the wealthiest members of this generation could afford such luxury." [74] Advertisements for escaped slaves in Frederick County often noted that a particular runaway spoke German as well as English. [75] A twenty-five-year-old slave named Jack, employed as a joiner by John Brien at the Antietam Iron Works, ran away in 1807. Frantically advertising for the slave, Brien described him as of "dark complexion, speaks German, blue coat, black Pantallons, white Jacket, and a fur hat much worn, 5'9, plays violin well." [76]

Slaves labored on many of the larger farms surrounding the Catoctin mountains. A particularly large farm that was advertised for rent, situated "one mile from the Catoctin furnace," boasted 700 acres of land "about 400 acres of which are cleared and under good fencing," with a "comfortable log dwelling, two barns, and several stables, granaries, and negro quarters." [77] Records of the Moravian Church of Graceham, likewise, contain numerous references to slave baptisms and marriages. For instance, in 1828, the church recorded the marriage of Jeremiah Sims to Mary Tuckman, a couple belonging to George Zollinger, listed as "a farmer in mountains." [78] In 1832, Jacob Hoover, a prominent store keeper in Wolfsville, advertised: "[c]ash for Negroes, Eighteen or Twenty men, women, and children wanted, for which the highest price will be given in cash, apply to Jacob Hoover." [79]

Alongside African slaves, a smaller population of unfree whites also worked in Frederick County well into the nineteenth century. [80] Some of these white "servants" were German, paying off their passages to America with several years of indentured work. Advertisements for escaped white servants ran alongside announcements of runaway African slaves. [81] No evidence, however, exists that unfree white labor ever toiled at the iron works in Catoctin.

The majority of unfree labor in western Maryland worked in the dominant agricultural sector. But as wealthy eastern Maryland planters, fully versed in the workings of slavery, launched industries in the west, it followed that slavery would be the preferred system of labor. Before the Civil War, throughout the South, increasing numbers of slaves worked industrial jobs in textile factories, sugar refining, grist milling, or coal mining. By the early-nineteenth century, roughly 5% of slaves (between 150,000 to 200,000) worked in industry. [82] It was the iron industry in the South, however, that became the most dependent on slave labor. Throughout the south, some 10,000 slaves worked in iron production, making up the majority of workers at Maryland's Antietam and Hampton Furnaces and Richmond's infamous Tredegar Iron Company, which employed roughly 100 slaves. [83]

Given the paucity of information about slavery at the Catoctin Furnace, generalizations do not come easily. We do know that Catoctin was a large operation, requiring generally around 80 workers. [84] Most were unskilled, but a handful possessed valuable skills necessary to keep the furnace functioning. Among the occupations necessary to the industry were founders, colliers, miners, teamsters, wood choppers, and, most likely, a group of general furnace workers assigned to labor wherever needed. Furnace blasts often lasted between four and five months. The rest of year was taken up by logging, coaling, and mining. Only when a proper supply of ore, charcoal and limestone--materials jointly called "stock"-- was ready would the furnace be put into operation. [85] During lulls in furnace operations, it may have been that a portion of the slave workforce shifted to agricultural work. Wheat production, in turn, had its slack seasons which would allow workers to return to the furnace. Slaves could be hired for these purposes. While it is clear that some of the slaves working at the Catoctin Furnace were the legal property of the furnace owners, it is unclear whether the furnace hired additional bondsmen in busy seasons, or hired-out slaves when the furnace sat idle. [86]

Nor does information exist regarding living quarters for slaves. Since listings of furnace property however, contained no separate designation for slave quarters, it might be fair to assume that slaves lived in the workmen's houses. Were houses segregated, with some designated for white workers and others for slaves? Did slaves live with their families or dormitory style? Did skilled and unskilled workers live separately? Barring any new unearthing of information, these questions will remain unanswered. That life for slaves working in the furnace was difficult is beyond question. One of the few references to slavery at the Catoctin Furnace comes from a traveling Moravian minister, Brother John Frederick Schlegel, who came to the furnace in 1799 as part of his ministry to the area. At Catoctin, he met James Johnson, then owner of the furnace, and Johnson's family. He then met with the furnace slaves. "[A] little group of them gathered around me at the top of the furnace opening," he noted in his journal, and "they wept very much because they were bound to work so hard during the week as well as on Sunday in the iron smelter and thus were seldom able to hear the Word of God." The missionary recorded his concern for the slaves "whose inward and outward conditions are troubled." [87] What the Moravian witnessed suggested the worst aspects of slavery. Almost everywhere, owners gave slaves Sundays off. But at Catoctin the Sabbath appeared to be just another working day.

Not only were hours long and the work hard, but conditions also could prove dangerous. By the late-nineteenth century, the weekly Mechanicstown newspaper, which began printing in 1871, contained much information regarding the dangerous work conditions at Catoctin. For the antebellum period there is little similar information, but we can assume that accidents happened frequently. The Graceham Moravian Church does record an April 1826 fire, fanned by high winds, "in the wood on the mountain started by a pile of coals." Large numbers of people labored to contain the conflagration, but they had little luck "until the greater of the wood that had been cut and corded, about 3,000 cords belonging to the Furnace, and many thousands of fence-rails and a lot of bark for the tanners, had been consumed." Losses from the fire were estimated at between four and five thousand dollars. [88]

With few historical sources available with which to recreate the lives of the slaves working at Catoctin Furnace, archeological evidence can help fill in some of the gaps. Locals long had known of a slave burial site marked by roughly a dozen fieldstones, within a half mile of the furnace site (see Map 2). In 1979 and 1980, with a planned expansion of Route 15 through the area, archeologists excavated some 31 burial sites--roughly one third of the interred bodies. [89] The decision to disrupt the bodies, which later were reburied, was made reluctantly and only with the intention of gaining an understanding of the lives of those overlooked in traditional historical accounts.

Of the thirty-one bodies unearthed, six were newborns, five children (ages 2 to 12), two teenagers, and fifteen adults (consisting of eight females and seven males, between the ages of nineteen and sixty-five). There appeared no obvious causes of death as might be found in an industrial accident. Nor did there appear to have been any nutritional deficiencies. From body weight and analysis of teeth, the archeologists concluded that diets consisted of "relatively coarse food, probably unmilled cornmeal" and little sugar. Nails found at the graveyard dated between 1790 and 1840, and the bodies appeared to have been buried in a manner consistent with Christian customs [90]

Archeologists identified all of the thirty-one bodies as of African heritage, with "no visible admixture of white." This led to the somewhat surprising conclusion that those buried were first or second generation Americans. [91] According to Jean Libby, in her study of slave ironworkers in western Maryland, ironmaking was a well-developed craft in many West African societies. Comparing African iron production with that practiced in America, Libby found many similarities "in furnace technology and cultural practices." [92] There is some evidence that slave traders valued Africans with skills or at least those from iron-producing regions who might possess skills. [93] There also exists limited evidence that some slaves practiced their native skills in America. A 1760 newspaper advertisement, for instance, calls attention to a runaway slave "imported in 1760, so that he scarcely speaks any English, but can work at the Smith's Trade, having been employed in his own Country in that way." [94] Citing the recent arrival status of those buried at the Catoctin slave cemetery, Libby offers the hypothesis that Catoctin slave furnace workers may have had backgrounds as African iron workers and brought elements of African ironworking skills with them. [95] While provocative and fascinating, the Catoctin Furnace does not offer the sort of evidence needed to support such a claim. Nevertheless, if first generation African slaves did work at the furnace, they would have brought elements of West African culture with them to the Catoctins.

The 1838 Riot

Aside from Brother Schlegel's brief comments in 1799, only one other source offers a glimpse into the lives of antebellum blacks employed at Catoctin. In September of 1838, a Baltimore newspaper carried the story of a riot between the citizens of Mechanicstown and iron workers, including slaves, enjoying a day off. The story is so strange that it seems to challenge much of our cumulative understanding of the nature of race relations at the time. The following account of the riot appeared in a newspaper called the Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser on September 17, 1838, under the headline, "Late Disturbances in Mechanicstown." The author was a resident of Mechanicstown who witnessed the riot:

"Dear Sir-As much as has been said about an unfortunate disturbance in Mecanics'Town on Friday evening last, and as there can be no doubt that various misrepresentations have gone abroad upon the subject, I have thought proper to give you a statement of the whole affair as witnessed by myself.

The facts are simply these. A little before sun-down some ten or a dozen furnace hands, having indulged too freely in their libation on the race course, came into town, accompanied by two stout Negroes, for the purpose, as one of them afterwards expressed himself, of "using up the people." They very soon made known their intentions by an unprovoked attack upon two of our citizens. The people, anxious to persevere the peace, and apprehending the consequence of their remaining in town used every means to persuade them from the place. They, however, refused to go and became more violent, until at length one of the citizens, after in vain urging a Negro fellow to throw away some stones with which he had armed himself attempted to take them from him by force; this the Negro resented, with violence, and the citizen knocked him down.

The civil authorities now interfered to arrest the slaves, and they were actually committed, when their white associates rescued them from the officer having them in charge. This act, though highly outrageous, the people were disposed to tolerate, as some of the rioters proposed to depart, and here it was thought the matter would end. We were, however, disappointed. Some one demanded more whiskey, and this the landlord refused to give, supposing no doubt, that they already had too much, and dreading the consequence of giving them more. Upon this, one of them left the crowd, but returned in a moment with an axe, swearing that the landlord who refused to sell liquor ought to have his sign post cut down, & accordingly commended hewing at the post. Up to that this time we had used every effort to prevent a disturbance of peace-We, however knew very well that, once they were permitted to commence depredations of this kind there could be no telling to what their insolence might lead them. We therefore determined to protect ourselves.

One of the citizens in attempting to seize the axe received a severe blow; and now commenced a regular, or rather irregular, though desperate and bloody fight. Stones, brick bats and whatever could be picked up, were resorted to by both parties, until the rioters were completely driven from the town,--some of the them so severely beaten that they could not reach the furnace, though but three miles distant, without having their wounds dressed. It was a fortunate circumstance that the two Negroes left the town a few moments before the fight commenced, for, such was the excitement that I have no doubt, had they remained they would have been killed on the spot. After the affray was over, the people assembled and a guard was appointed to patrol the streets, though I am glad to say that no further violence ensued and the night passed off quietly.

In conclusion I would remark that a full representation of the whole affair was made to Mr. Brien by the civil authorities of Mechanics'Town and there can be no doubt that the gentlemen will use his influence to prevent a repetition of the outrages. The people of our village are quiet, industrious and, as a community highly intelligent. They are unused to acts of violence and, in no event, but in case of actual necessity, as in the present instance, could they be urged into such extremes. They, however, will protect themselves, and any attempt to disturb the people hereafter, in a similar manner will be opposed by an efficient force well prepared for the purpose.

-One of the people

N.B. It may be proper to state that in their attack on one of the individuals mentioned in the first part of this article, several of them followed him with clubs and drawn knives invading and disturbing the peace and quiet of his family, compelling him to escape through a window to which fortunate circumstance probably he owned his life. There were three other persons of notorious bad character from the neighborhood of the furnace in company with the gang, who shared in those triumphs and fortunes of the same. [96]

The Mechanicstown citizen's letter offers a brief window into the complex social relations of upper western Maryland in the early-nineteenth century. The riot clearly reveals tensions--probably longstanding--between the people of Mechanicstown and those of Catoctin Furnace, a few miles to the south. Residents of Mechanicstown tended to be small businessmen, operating often prosperous craft shops. The furnace workers who were not slaves worked for wages, rented houses in what was essentially a company town, and suffered periodic bouts of unemployment. By the early part of the nineteenth century, the emerging market economy had begun to transform the country. Former frontier areas such as the Catoctin region, where once a rough equality had existed, now experienced social stratification. In many ways, the riot, especially given the stress that the author puts on Mechanicstown as "quiet, industrious, and, as a community, highly intelligent," represented a clash between emerging middle-class and an increasingly assertive working-class.

Another revealing element of the riot was the role played by alcohol. As previously mentioned, American alcohol consumption was at an all-time high in the early-nineteenth century. The uncertainties fostered by the market revolution only encouraged drinking--especially among those who found themselves the victims of the changing economy. For many, the arrival of early industry brought with it uncertainty and a loss of control. Instead of keeping one's own hours, one worked according to another's schedule. A wage-earner's future depended upon a host of factors well out of his or her control--economic downturns, changing technology, the whims of a boss or foreman. These factors, no doubt, all contributed to the rise in alcohol abuse. Meanwhile the emerging middle class, made up of business managers and small business owners, grew concerned with alcoholism and the resulting problems posed by an inebriated work force. By the 1830s, a middle-class-driven temperance movement, with strong ties to evangelical Protestantism, began organizing a temperance movement. In the Mechanicstown riot, one can see both the problems of alcohol abuse and the concern of the middle class for sobriety and order.

The Catoctin area was hardly alone in this period in suffering a riot with deep social implications. Indeed rioting long was an American tradition. To some, crowd action actually represented a democratic spirit at work. But by the 1830s, violence often was out of control. The construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, which passed through the south end of the county, was continually plagued by riots between the largely Irish immigrant workforce, the local populations, and the project supervisors. [97] As riots became an increasing problem, the property-holding classes began to take action. Towns organized police forces. The reference to the "civil authorities" by the Mechanicstown letter writer may in fact have been an early police force.

The most perplexing aspect of the riot is the racial component. The two blacks involved are identified as slaves. Even if the writer is incorrect and the blacks were free, the episode was unique. Despite the all-powerful color bar of the time, the furnace workers--both black and white--stood together during the riot and apparently had celebrated together at the race track before the disturbance. White furnace workers even rescued one of the blacks, saving him from possible death. The skirmish, in a sense, represents a rare case in American history of class trumping race. The strong group identity among the furnace workers, apparently overcame the divisions of race. Perhaps the circumstances surrounding industrial slavery, in which blacks may have had the opportunity to earn overtime rewards and perhaps had obtained special skills, played a role in the apparent absence of racial divisions between workers. As currently is being explored by some historians, the designation of "white" in the nineteenth century tended to apply more to middle and upper-class white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Members of the working class, especially immigrant workers, generally occupied a middle-ground in public perception—a position that was neither white nor black. [98] Viewed in these terms, the riot might be seen as whites against non-whites.

Still, with only one brief episode told from one point of view, few definite conclusions can be reached about social relations. Nor do there exist the sort of sources that would provide a complete picture of this complex and fascinating period of development in the area surrounding present-day Catoctin Mountain Park. From our presently available sources, we can only conclude that social relations were mired in unexpected complexities and defy any easy categorization.

The Furnace After Brien

As sectional tensions over slavery heated up, the number of slaves working at Catoctin declined. From studies of personal property records and census materials, Michael Thompson has hypothesized that roughly twenty slaves labored at Catoctin in the 1820s and early 1830s. With the death of John Brien and a national recession beginning in 1837, the iron furnace operated only sporadically, and the number of slaves working appears to have declined dramatically. [99] The 1860 census showed only 21 slaves living in the entire Mechanicstown district, seven of whom were males over seventeen years of age. [100] No doubt the ever-rising price of slaves along with the soaring price of cotton made unfree labor increasingly cost prohibitive. While we have no evidence, the furnace owners may still have "hired out" slaves for the busy seasons at Catoctin--although the price of leasing labor was also rising.

Following a potato famine in Ireland and political trouble in Germany, and as the cost of slaves rose, a new source of labor flooded into the country. Ever-increasing numbers of Irish and German workers began arriving in the America, especially after 1848. While census takers did not record the nation of origin of workers living in the area until later in the century, there is some evidence that the furnace employed immigrant labor. [101] As early as 1828, a Moravian minister assigned to Harriet's Chapel (named for John Brien's recently deceased wife) recorded in his journal a burial service for an Irish immigrant furnace worker. Friends of the deceased--apparently also Irish Catholic furnace workers--stood apart from the service, wanting to pay their respects but not partake in the Protestant rites. [102]

Relying primarily on wage labor, the furnace struggled on. In the late 1830s, John McPherson Brien, son of John Brien, managed to purchase the enterprise from his father's estate. But McPherson's tenure as owner proved brief and difficult. Near broke, in 1843, Brien sold the furnace to Peregrinn Fitzhugh. Again, the sale kept the furnace in the family, as Fitzhugh--descending from a wealthy planter family in Virginia--was connected by marriage to the Brien and McPherson families. By the early 1840s, the economy had emerged from the Panic of 1837, and Fitzhugh enjoyed several successful years at the helm of the furnace. The new owner made significant investments to revamp the operations. Within ten years, The Frederick Examiner could proclaim: "the works are in complete repair; and in regular blast, and are doing a better business than at any time for some years past." [103] Fitzhugh's investments do not appear to have included slaves. According to the 1850 census, he owned eight slaves, but only one was of working age. [104]

The new owner's success did not last long. In 1855, fire destroyed another enterprise owned by Fitzhugh, the Carroll Creek Foundry in Frederick City. The disaster began a period of financial collapse for Fitzhugh. A year later, increasingly in debt, Fitzhugh took on a partner, Jacob B. Kunkle (also frequently spelled Kunkel), in an effort to protect his Catoctin investment. Kunkle was a politically active lawyer of German descent, whose family owned a prosperous tannery in Frederick City.

The partnership, however, came too late to save Fitzhugh. In 1859, he sold the entire furnace and property to Kunkle's family for $51,000. Under Kunkle, the transition away from slave labor appears to have continued. John B. Kunkle, brother of Jacob, who became iron master at the furnace, owned only four slaves, all of whom were under eight years old. In general, the Kunkle acquisition of Catoctin was a fortunate one for the furnace and its employees. The Kunkle family proved dedicated, hands-on owners, willing to continue investing in the enterprise long after it held any promise of profitability. But difficult days lay immediately ahead for the mountain area.