Chapter 6 Reading

 Shauna Gentile

Textiles and Natural Dyes

Laura Mongiovi

March 8th, 2022

Chapter 6: Indigo and an East Florida Plantation

Pgs. 87-92

The chapter begins examining the manager of an indigo plantation who is referred to as “Indian Johnson” who abandoned the plantation one day, never to be seen again. He left over 50 enslaved people behind as well as a surplus of food for them. He left a secure position working with and for the influential Brit’s in America. The chapter states that he provided a “former harbor for runaway slaves and a current sanctuary for outlaws and potentially hostile Indians”. The man who hired him, Henry Laurens, was frustrated by Johnsons departure. Laurens cultivated Indigo in South Carolina’s low country, where the plant was successfully grown in the colony for the first time. Laurens was wary of Florida’s undevelopedness as a whole, and did not want to plant indigo and other crop there, but helped a friend, Richard Oswald,  in doing so.  Laurens worked with a silent partner, James Grant, to pick up where Johnson left off. Laurens was unable to find the right person to manage his friend’s property. The work that Johnson accomplished laid groundwork for Oswald’s plantations. 

Laurens was a leading Charles Town merchant, often embarking on trading with indigenous populations. Indigenous were his key clients to be supplied with british goods. It was shown in the text that there is a large phenomenon going on at this time: profits from native trade built and sustained colonies until plantation culture was firmly established. The money the traders used from the natives was invested in rice and indigo plantations, as well as farming ventures. Laurens began his business ventures with trade, eventually moving to agricultural farming and plantation ownership. “Natives in the region were greatly alarmed by these investors”, they correctly presumed that the white settlers would quickly sweep up the entire area. Laurens established a major rice labor camp, with terrible conditions for enslaved people, but there was no record of trouble with the natives along the river. Laurens stated,” The Cherokees who lived in the South Carolina backcountry were ultimately becoming hemmed in and immobilized by white settlers and that indigo would soon flourish in the area.” The natives did not impede the growth on his plantation empire, until Johnson abandoned the plantation. 

British businessmen did not place the success of their ventures in the hands of the natives. They were significant trading partners, but just as often potential or real enemies who count not be trusted with Britains financial ventures. Johnson’s supervision of the plantation contrasts the white initiatives such as runaway slave catching that pitted indigenous and african americans against eachother, which makes it surprising that the british would trust him to run their gold mine of a plantation. He only managed it for a year before disappearing. The indigo plantation that Johnson managed was a part of a twenty thousand acre parcel, purchased by Oswald. Oswalds estate was located on the Tomoko and Halifax Rivers, 45 miles south of St. Augustine, which was East Florida’s key trading center and port. In East Florida, Oswald had 5 settlements and has enslaved people plant indigo as well as sugar. East Floridas climate is perfect for Indigo cultivation. “It served Britains mercantile interests and plantation owner’s desire for large profits. The first plantation owner was a white man names Huey, who was lax, cruel, and untrustworthy, who drowned while the enslaved people looked on, it is not certain if it was by their doing or not. When hiring Johnson, Laurens stated, “He must be discreet and carry a steady command otherwise the Blacks will drown him too, for of all the Overseers they love those of their own color the least.” “ Lauren’s remarks suggests that Johnsons’s actual or perceived ethnicity, in conmbination with his role as a plantation overseer, was an identity he had to manage carefully at great risk.” Fugitives ran the risk of being scalped when caught, which was a Native practice according to the book. Laurens comments make it seem like Johnson was a fugitive. Fugitives were South Carolina slaves who were seeking asylum among frendly black and Native communities or people of color seeking refuge from the law in SC or Georgia. 

First Research Resource: 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=21331

Second Research Resource: 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/30150116?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents