Page 7 - Demo

The Ross Letterbook, which deals with operations at his Oxford Iron Works
in Campbell County, Virginia, during 1812 and 1813, gives a remarkably
full picture of slave working and living conditions at this installation and offers insight into a number of key topics, including the status of the black family in this industrial setting, the nature of the relationship between the ironmaster and his bondsmen, and the application and effectiveness of the employer’s various disciplinary and incentive techniques.
Abram, The Oxford Founder
Ross’s feelings toward his skilled slave artisans are most clearly revealed in his relationship with Abram, the Oxford founder. Ross considered Abram an exceptionally able iron worker, but
his regard for him seems to have gone beyond simply an admiration of his abilities. In 1812 when Ross was considering making some changes in
his blast furnace machinery, he sent Abram to secure the services of a mechanic at another Virginia furnace who understood the contemplated improvements. Abram carried a letter of introduction from Ross to the furnace manager outlining his mission and explaining that neither Ross nor his clerks were free to come. “I have said this much, to apologize for sending upon this business, a man of colour,” Ross informed the manager, “but this can be no objection to a man of sense.” Ross then proceeded to describe Abram’s extraordinary qualities:
I have . . . committed to the bearer Abram, my instructions as to engaging a mechanic, which he will show you—he is my founder at Oxford—has been raised there from childhood, and supports an unblemished character,
for his integrity, good understanding, and talents from his infancy to his gray hairs—the utmost confidence may
be given to his communications—his honor and integrity [are] untarnished, and unexceptional—he will deliver this letter to you on his arrival, and will
not speak a word to any person on the estate, without your permission—I want no people of any description, except a mechanic for the purposes before mentioned, and if you’ll have the goodness to recommend Abram to a suitable person, you’ll much oblige me.
It clearly required “a man of sense” to
supervise all of the operations for which Abram had responsibility. In addition to managing the furnace when it was
in blast, he had the task of making
all furnace repairs and processing the ore before the furnace was blown in. On one occasion when Abram was absent from Oxford for a brief time prior to going into blast, Ross told one of his white superintendents to keep an eye on the preparation of the ore “untill Abram returns.” If Ross wanted experiments conducted to determine the productivity of the furnace, the richness of the ore, or the efficiency of the workers, he charged Abram with prime responsibility for the tests. If Ross wanted a carefully selected sample of pig iron sent to a potentially large buyer, Abram chose the pigs. In short, Ross apparently considered his founder the most valuable man, black or white, on the estate. In 1812 when a white plantation overseer at Oxford charged Ross with comparing him unfavorably to Abram, Ross replied that he had never made such a
agent and make the actual selections. An incident which occurred in
1813 revealed Ross’s attitude toward another key group of Oxford workers. “The Blacksmiths have continued
to support their character,” Ross
wrote in January of that year; “they have finished (6 weeks ago) two iron doors and frames for the Lynchburg Bank vaults which met not only with approbation but admiration, at the handsome workmanship and the unquestionable security.” When the bank directors balked at the price of the work, however, and insisted on calling in outside arbitrators for an appraisal, Ross was enraged. “I shall not trust
a decision to the ignorant makers of Grubbing Hoes,” he answered. “The Oxford Smiths have served a long and severe apprenticeship to their Trade and I will never disgrace them.” The dispute was settled only after Ross agreed that two highly skilled Richmond artisans were qualified to determine a fair price for the job. Ross boasted on another
comparison, but if the overseer wanted one made, Ross would be glad to oblige him. “Your occupations [are] perfectly different,” Ross observed: “you are a farmer, he works in iron—and no man in your line of business could obtain half as much as he could were he permitted to hire himself to any
of the large works to the North [,] South and West.”
Ross’s pride in his slave force extended to a number of other workers as well. The teamsters on the estate “can and will make any horse work,” Ross bragged, and when he sent a white purchasing agent north to buy
mules he wanted “Wagonner Ned”
to accompany the
A survey of the Oxford Iron Works made in 1883 for Charles M.
Blackford and Thomas N. Williams.
Courtesy of Doris Rode
FALL/WINTER 2007 