"Sold down river"
Although the residents of the western part of Virginia owned far fewer slaves than their counterparts to the east, antebellum Wheeling was part of the social and political fabric of slaveholding Virginia. A slave-auction block stood at the northwestern corner of the Second Ward market house here. Judge John Cochran described it in his book, Bonnie Belmont. In 1855, he wrote, "a wooden movable platform about two and a half feet high and six feed square, approached by some three or four steps. The auctioneer was a little dapper fellow with a ringing voice. Not a very large crowd was surrounding the auction block. On top of it was a portly and rather aged negress and the auctioneer." Such scenes increased the opposition to slavery here.HM Number | HM1CHY |
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Series | This marker is part of the West Virginia Civil War Trails series |
Tags | |
Placed By | West Virginia Civil War Trails |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Wednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 12:13pm PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 17T E 523601 N 4435611 |
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Decimal Degrees | 40.07043333, -80.72321667 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 40° 4.226', W 80° 43.393' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 40° 4' 13.56" N, 80° 43' 23.58" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 304, 740 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 26-32 10th St, Wheeling WV 26003, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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