A plantation system evolved in the Mississippi Delta.  There was always some debate about the indefinable difference between a farm and a plantation.  The number of acres owned, the number of acres under cultivation, the number of slaves owned were used to make the distinction.  There was hardly any reason in the Delta to engage in the debate.  It was a place of vast holding.  As the once huge forest gave way to agriculture a surge of chattel Africans poured into the Delta to cultivate cotton fields.  As more fields were cleared more slaves were needed to work it.  More and more of them came.  This influx of slaves continued to increase until in the decade of the 1830’s.  By that time the slave population of the entire state outnumbered the free.  By the latter part of the 1850’s the agricultural entrepreneurs who had poured into the Delta were enjoying unparalleled prosperity.  This was brought about by a hybrid of Mexican cotton and what was called Tennessee Green Seed, which resulted in a new variety known at Petite Gulf Cotton.  This success was not possible without a slave population to produce it.

The growing of a successful cotton crop required little skill in the Delta due to the rich nourishment provided by the alluvial soil.  However, growing cotton was an extremely labor-intensive process.  It required constant never ending tending from its April planting until the cotton plants had grown enough that they were dominate over the competing grasses and weeds.  When this phase of the crop was reached it was called “lay by” time.  As soon as the bolls opened the cotton was ready for picking.  It normally took three pickings to gather it all.  This opening of the bolls occurred usually in the latter part of August.  During cotton picking time every available field hand was put in the field before dawn and stayed there until the dark of night.  The middle picking was by the most productive of the three and from it came a better grade of cotton.  Cotton picking continued until every bit of the cotton had been harvested.  Cotton picking time could continue till late January.  After the cotton was picked the fields had to be prepared for next year’s crop by pulling or cutting that season’s cotton plants.  It never ended.

In the censuses of 1850, the Delta slave population of Issaquena and Washington Counties outnumbered the whites nine to one.  This preponderance of slaves resulted in strong measures by the authorities of the day designed to control the actions of the growing slave population.  A frenzy of special codes and laws were enacted restricting movement, education, and assembly of slaves.  Commercial activities of the slaves themselves were prohibited.  There was an ever-expanding list of things that slaves were banned from doing.  Some of these were statewide.  Others were county or community variations brought about by threat perceptions of the local whites.  These were constantly being added to.  Violation of these resulted in corporal punishment, usually severe.

Slave patrols became a frequent sight.  These were armed, mounted white men roaming the vast countryside.  The idea was to be seen with such regularity and in such strength to convince slaves of the futility of escape.  The same men were employed to capture slaves who did run.  This slave patrol became an official, and sometimes only legitimate, function of the various units of the state militia.

Over this vast area of ever expanding farm land there developed a distinct plantation system hierarchy. There were several layers to the managerial staff.  The basic framework was borrowed from the South Caroline rice growing regions and the sugar producing areas of southern Louisiana.  This framework was modified to meet the needs of the Delta plantations.  There were exceptions but mainly the plantations followed the same fundamental pattern.  Success bred more success and those who were less successful closely copied the techniques of the more prosperous.  There were differing particulars, but all of the larger plantations were run along very similar lines.

At the top of the heap was the proprietor.  Some preferred to be called a planter.  He was the plantation owner and may own more than one.  It was not unusual for some planters to own several.  It was the proprietor who reaped the financial reward and prestige; the larger the plantation the greater the prestige of the owner.  This prestige was extremely important to these owners.  The more prestige the higher their standing was in the community.  It was the owner and his immediate family who benefited most handsomely from the plantation system.  He sat at the top of the Delta pecking order.  His life style was characterized by leisure, finery, and the pursuit of pleasantries.  These owners were the influential people of the day.  They were the prominent figures in the plantation scheme and were for the most part conscious of their importance in this society. They took great pride is dressing the part.  They stood distinctly apart from all others in the plantation hierarchy.   It was these owner/proprietors that the latter day novelist have idealized and depicted as leading the life of the idle rich. It was these proprietors that built the fabled mansions and there were some of those splendid edifices built that still stand to this day.  But truth be known, they were not nearly as ubiquitous as a later people would like to think.  A good portion of these owners did not live on the plantation.  They lived off somewhere else.  It was common for the absentee owners to live in a more comfortable climate.  A surprisingly large number of these absentee owners made their permanent homes in the northern states, seldom venturing down to see their holdings.  Those who did live in the Delta may not have resided there all year long.  In the more uncomfortable times they quite possibly moved to another residence where the weather was more to their liking.  The owner’s business decisions decided the fate of many as well as his own affluence.  His continued financial success dictated that he choose wisely and make astute decisions.  It behooved the owner to see that his expensive slaves were well cared for and properly treated so the necessary work would be done in a timely manner.  After all it was the slaves who performed the work that made the plantation what it was.  It was the slaves who, not only worked the fields, but also maintained all of the sundry livestock and myriad of equipment.  Much has been made of this care and concern.  Some would suggest that the slaves held their owners in high esteem and paid homage to him with their willing labor.  However, all was not the sweetness and light many writers have tried to portray.  Those who are enamored with that line of thought need to remember these slaves were held in nonelective bondage with no rights except those allowed by their owners and overseers.  Their comforts were minimal.  Their pleasures were nominal.  Subsistence was basic. Restrictions abounded.  Their existence consisted of the drudgery of unlimited servitude. The absolute bottom line is most plantation owners placed a much heavier significance on the amount of crop produced and the profit it yielded than upon consideration of those doing the producing of it.   The owners wielded all of their considerable unrestrained power to increase their gain.  If this power was in the form of abuse, so be it.  That was the system. The slave population felt this absolute bottom line most keenly.  The pursuit of this perpetual bottom line brought about many excesses for the slaves and immoderation and some times viciousness on the part of the overseers.

Next in the plantation hierarchy was the plantation manager.  Many times he was referred to a plantation steward, plantation agent, or plantation operator.  The title changed from one plantation to the next but his job descrïption remained fairly unchanged.  It was the steward who had to answer to the owner in all things.  No matter the owner’s questions, it was the steward who responded.  The owner seldom came in contact with the overseers or slaves or even the crop itself, but he provided the financial wherewithal for all of those.  The steward answered directly to the owner and it was the owner who determined the frequency and form of these accounting.  The steward was obligated to oblige.  He provided the link between the owner and plantation.  It was not unusual for a steward to manage more than one plantation owned by the same man or a plantation that had separate holdings scattered over a wide area.  The steward was given a budget from which to allocate funds.  He had many duties.  Among them was seeing that the needed materials, seeds, equipment, and personnel arrived at the right place where they were needed by placing timely orders for such.  It was the steward who supervised the overseers of the various plantation functions.  The steward was tasked with keeping the owner current on the status of each plantation undertaking.  In order to do this the steward had to be aware of each facet of the plantation.  This meant he had to literally keep his eye on everything.  It was necessary for him to spend a large portion of his time on the plantation grounds to fulfill his task.  This person enjoyed prestige in the community.  Not as much as the owner, but he was not shunned by polite society.  A good steward must have training in managerial skills, be highly literate, and since he regularly hobnobbed with the upper echelon of society must possess those qualities expected of a proper gentleman.  A steward must display the diplomacy of an experienced courtier.  A steward could expect generous compensation if he successfully carried out the expectations of the owner.  If he proved to be frugal and resisted squandering his compensations imitating the life style of the owner class, it might be possible for him to acquire holdings of his own and become the owner of a modest plantation with a small number of slaves.

The next entity on the plantation hierarchy was the overseer.  The overseer was directly accountable for the effectiveness of the plantation’s overall operation.  On plantations with large numbers of slaves there might be a team of several overseers.  In that case one of them served in a foreman capacity over the others.  To an extent, it was possible for overseers on large plantations to concentrate on a single aspect of the plantation system.  Overseers had little social status, except among themselves, and none at all among those above them in the plantation hierarchy.  The overseers did not have opportunity to visit with peers on other plantations.  Time constraints would not allow it.  His was a never-ending job.  Even though the overseers provided a vital function, perhaps the most vital function, in the whole of plantation system, the class-conscious stewards and owners looked them down upon as their inferiors and shunned them socially.  It was a lonely and demanding job with little, if any, leisure.  Diversions were few.   There were no breaks in the established routine.  He could not befriend the slaves as he was their immediate supervisor and because he must be aware of what they were doing and, if possible, aware of what they were planning and thinking.  He did not have the opportunity to entertain guests and if he did, who would they be?  By the very nature of his duties he could not leave his post for fear of what the chattel slaves would do in his absence.  In essence, he was chained to his job.  The plantation overseer was not in a decision-making capacity as far as the plantation as a whole was concerned. He was tasked with carrying out the decisions of others as it pertained to the actual work that was done.  His only choice was in who was going to do the work.  There were exceptions, but the typical overseer was lacking in education and seldom owned any land of his own.  He spent his days among the slaves and was never far away from them.  He faced the daily challenge of controlling their every movement each hour of the workday.  Once the workday was ended and the slaves returned to their quarters, their actions were still his responsibility.  He literally put them to bed at night, got them up in the morning, and spent his waking hours in their company.   The overseer was expected to assign the slaves to gangs, slave drivers to the gangs, and personally supervise their labor at the assigned tasks. He had no choice except to directly supervise the slaves by his physical presence.  In many cases his was an intimidating presence.  He had to literally be with them in the fields.  He was expected to direct every bit of the work that was done by the slaves, maintain discipline of the slaves, and was required to keep tallies so they could be held them accountable for their work quotas.  He was liable for the proper maintenance of all plow tools, other farm implements, and hand tools.    Since he worked so closely with the slaves it was the overseer who ministered to their needs when injured or ill.  He was required to keep the slaves fed, watered, clothed, healthy, reasonably clean, and most important of all, steadily working.  He was ever concerned about pilferage and was above all alert when the slaves were harvesting food crops that would be used for their own consumption. This was especially so at hog killing time.   He periodically would require all slave quarters to be emptied, thoroughly cleaned, and left open for a good airing.  When it was time for the slaves to receive an allotment of clothing the overseer dispensed it.  Normally, the slaves received clothes as the seasons shifted from hot to cold.  Another of his foremost tasks was to keep abreast of the slaves’ talk, especially if it concerned any form of insurrection.  Insurrection would be brutally suppressed.  Part of his compensation was free housing that was not with, but in the vicinity of, the slaves.  He could count on having a subsistence allowance whereby he could obtain food other than what was prepared for the slaves.  Most likely he would be provided with a horse and tack, perhaps even a buggy, so he would be better able to observe the working slaves.  It was not unusual for an overseer to be assigned a slave to take care of his quarters, clothing, cooking, and a small vegetable garden.  Since it was the overseer who worked the closest with slaves it was he who was most often accused of being an unsavory character devoid of compassion and some of them were.  He has been vilified as being a brutish malevolent creature and cast in the light of being just hard down mean.  Most overseers tried to escape their status as overseers, but it was a daunting task.  An efficient overseer was paid considerably better than a typical factory worker or store clerk, but not enough to anticipate financial freedom without extreme frugalness over a period of years. Few or them accomplished anything more than relocating to another plantation in the same capacity.

Nearing the bottom of the plantation hierarchy was the slave driver.  Becoming a slave driver was the pinnacle to which a field slave could aspire.  Outside of freedom itself, which was unobtainable, being a slave driver was as good as it was ever going to get.  The slave driver was a trusted slave who had been chosen because of his experience, demonstrated competence, or brute strength.  He was a leader among the slaves.  Slaves were organized into gangs and a slave driver would be placed in charge of a gang.  On some plantations the slave driver was not expected to engage in the physical labor himself, but was expected to drive the other slaves and keep them fully occupied in their work.  On other plantations the slave driver was expected to set the pace for the other slaves in the gang.  The overseer told the slave drivers what to do and the tools that would be needed for the task.  The slave driver would gather the tools, assemble the slaves, take them to the work site, and assist the overseer in supervising the task at hand.  At the end of the workday, when the slaves were in their quarters, the slave driver might be tasked with maintaining order among them and enforcing any curfew the plantation had set.  A slave driver could expect a more generous helping of food, occasional gifts, better clothes, and generally better treatment than the other field hands.  There was always the threat of being replaced if he fell out of favor with the overseer.  Normally, a slave driver would do all he was capable of doing to maintain his preferential treatment.

The slave labor force had three basic components on most plantations.  There were other divisions, but they were rare in the Delta.  

The first of these included the house servants, cooks, and bakers. Paramount among these was the nanny. This was an era when black arms held white babies. Some places found it expedient to appoint one or two slaves as full time woodcutters and they would keep the numerous plantation woodpiles supplied with the proper size of firewood.  Normally, one of the more favored slaves would be placed in nominal control of the others in this division. These slaves worked in and around the “big house.”  Their main advantage was to escape the drudgery and nonstop grind of field labor.  Other benefits were better food, being able to come inside during inclement weather, and receiving hand me down and out grown clothes.

The second division consisted of skilled craftsmen.  These included tinkers, wheelwrights, coopers, carpenters, farriers, cobblers, blacksmiths, weavers of baskets or fabric, brick makers/masons, and seamstresses.  A few slaves would be designated as herdsmen to tend hogs, chickens and other livestock.  Bee keeping was established on large plantations and it was expected that the beekeeper also serve as a candle maker.  It was essential to have at least a modest diary operation.  Each plantation tried to be a self-sustaining entity in itself.  The more skilled craftsmen a plantation had the better off it was and the closer it came to achieving its self-sufficiency goal.  If these skilled workers were not present, the wares or services they produced/provided would have to be purchased or procured from some other source.  Because of their specialized skills they also avoided fieldwork.  Exceptions to this would be when the cotton crop had to be gathered.  Generally they had an easier time of it.

By far the greatest proportion of the plantation labor force was the field hands.  They were divided into full hands, half hands, and quarter hands.  Each division had a predetermined amount of work to be done on a daily basis.  It was common practice for slaves of equal ability to be grouped together in work gangs so each would be responsible for the same amount of work.  The slave driver saw to it that all did their fair share. Usually a gang would be assigned a single task.  A hoe gang was only expected to hoe.  When cotton-picking time came all gangs became cotton pickers.  When cotton was being picked every available field hand was in the field picking, even some of the slaves from the craftsman group were used if their skills were not immediately needed to complete a task at hand.  When field hands became unable to work either through injury or age, they were still kept busy.  These were directed to go into the woods and pick berries and fruit or gather nuts that were in season.  They also ran trotlines and set hooks to supplement the plantation diet.

This was the hierarchy of the Delta plantation.  It was shaped like a low pyramid with a hugely out of proportion bottom in ratio to the height.  Immense numbers of slaves were controlled by a relatively few.  It has been recorded that 217, 329 additional slaves were imported into the Mississippi between 1830 and 1860.  For all of its ills and evils, it was a system that created enormous fortunes because of Gulf Petite Cotton, the Delta’s alluvial soil, and slavery.  

And so it went………..until the war.  

--Last edited by Curtis Makamson on 2007-08-31 08:38:32 --

Have you read the book " The most southern place on earth : the Mississippi Delta and the roots of regional identity"
by James C Cobb?  New York : Oxford University Press, 1992.ISBN: 0195045408

Jennifer, no I haven't read it but I am fascinated with the Delta.  It is literally unlike any other place.  My wife grew up in the upper Delta.  My dad, now deceased, grew up there.  I have cousins who are stereotypical "big time rich Delta farmers."  Uh....I ain't one of them.

There were no big Delta battles with huge armies involved during the Civil War, but it did figure prominently in the Vicksburg campaign.  The Mississippi River levee was blown roughly across the river from Helena, Arkansas,to flood the Delta so the Federal gunboats could make their way through the myriad of waterways to get behind Vicksburg.  That tactic was not successful.  What is not mentioned in the history books is that flooding is the worst man-made disaster to fall on the Delta up to present times.  What never receives emphasis is that breached levee was not a priority to repair, so the flooding continued unabatted.

My mother is from Tensas Parish on the Louisiana side of the river midway between Vicksburg & Natchez.  A large part of her family is from Memphis so we drove up Hwy 61 many MANY times. Actually, I hated it because we'd always get stuck behind a cotton combine on the two lane highway, but Cobb's book gave me a deeper appreciation for the place.  

I fully understand about two lane roads and agricultural equipment.  To appreciate the Delta you must be able to appreciate a whole lot of visual sameness.  The flatness, and nothing but flatness, would get what little mind I have.