Andrew Redman Blacksmith Shop

Andrew Redman Blacksmith Shop

NPS / Andrew Bentley

Quick Facts

Location:

Groveton, VA

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Born enslaved in 1831, only months prior to Nat Turner’s revolt, Andrew J. "Jim" Redman learned the blacksmithing trade at an early age. As his reputation as a skilled craftsman grew, Redman may have been hired out by his enslaver, William M. Lewis of Brownsville, to other nearby farms. By the outbreak of the Civil War, Redman worked as a blacksmith at this corner of the Groveton intersection. He witnessed the contending armies maneuver and battle during both Manassas campaigns.

According to his own account, Redman received his freedom by virtue of the Emancipation Proclamation. In an interview with Clifton Johnson in 1906, he said, "After the Emancipation Proclamation I set up my own blacksmith shop and went to work. I felt like a man then, and as if I had something to work for."*

In 1871, after renting the property for several years, he purchased the shop and two acres of land from his former enslaver’s family. For the next four decades, Redman worked as a blacksmith and farmer and lived as part of the Groveton community with his wife and five children.

*Redman is quoted as the "slave blacksmith" of Groveton in Clifton Johnson's book, Battleground Adventures in the Civil War.