(VIRGINIA) Archive of letters sent to the owner of the Elk C

Sale 2505 - Lot 213

Price Realized: $ 3,250

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(VIRGINIA.) Archive of letters sent to the owner of the Elk Creek iron works, some concerning slave labor. 11 letters from various correspondents to Alexander N. Montgomery. Various sizes, most with integral address leaf, 7 of the letters free-franked on address panel by the postmaster of the short-lived Elk Furnace post office; minor soiling and wear. Elk Furnace, VA, 1848-49

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These letters were written by the managers of the Elk Creek Cold-Blast Charcoal Furnace to its owner, Alexander N. Montgomery of Lynchburg, VA. Located on Elk Creek in Nelson County, the iron works utilized brown hematite and magnetic ore from nearby mines; it was defunct by 1850. These letters show the downward progression of the mine, with the managers petitioning for more supplies, and worrying about a potential lack of ore in current tunneling operations. The letters also include content on the use of African Americans in the operation. Writing on 27 July 1848, A.W. Flippin adds this postscript: "The Sherriff of Nelson sold Colo. Charles Christian's negroes. . . . They were sold subject to this year's hire & were not to be given up to the purchaser until the close of this year. They were purchased by Charles L. Christian of Buckingham & not withstanding the restriction under which they were sold, he has taken them off with him & refuses to let us hire them for the balance of the year."
The furnace seemed perpetually to face shortages, both in supplies and labor. In a letter of 30 November, Flippin writes, "It is impossible to do anything with a leaky boat in freezing weather, so we will be compelled to ship the iron on some other boat. You have only sent us 279 yds jeanes which will nothing like cloth[e] the Black hands. We will want at a moderate calculation including what we have rec'd 500 yds. The White hands are nearly naked & are after me for jeanes to cloth themselfs. We have but a short time to get them made, & it is high time that every garment was in the hands of the seamstress." On April 23 Flippin indicates that he is in process of "selling all my Negroes,"and in a letter of 21 June he writes about selling a slave at a loss: "I dislike to take $525 for John, when he cost me $580, I will send up the note this evening or early in the morning. I dislike to dispose of my private property as it is the only thing which gives a man credit, but if you can't do no better I must submit to a sale."