Part of Collection
University Archives and Manuscripts
Title
Notebook No.129
Creators/Contributors
Rights
Out of Copyright. Free use.
Collection
Papers of Sir Charles Lyell
Production Date
3 January 1846 - 10 January 1846
Shelfmark (Identifier)
Coll-203/A1/129
Catalogue Record
https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/archival_objects/180287
Subjects
- Georgia (United States)
- Slavery--United States
- Slavery
- Ornithology
Description
Notebook No. 129 was kept by Lyell during his trip to America in 1845-6, mostly written in pencil, after his lecture tour, with visits to Hopeton Plantation, St. Simon's Island, and Georgia. It contains his observations while he visited several plantations worked by enslaved people extracted from undocumented regions of Africa, and bought at auction. Mr. and Mrs. Lyell stayed with James Hamilton Couper at Hopeton plantation for two weeks in January 1846. Couper was a member of the British Royal Geological Society, and Lyell was President at the time. Hopetoun plantation was established by John Couper and James Hamilton, who had immigrated to Savannah, Georgia from Scotland as teenagers. John Couper's son, James Hamilton Couper took over as estate manager, and engaged in the trafficking of 637 people from Africa in 1806 to prepare the fields of their plantation, growing sea island cotton, sugar, and rice. Two important features of the plantation were the plantation canal, for irrigation and transportation, which Lyell took particular interest in, and a portable railroad. In 1833, the plantation was lauded as being the “finest example of crop diversification and efficient slave management” by a prominent southern publisher. When Lyell visited, there was likely 500 enslaved African people working 1,000 planted acres. Hopeton was a destination for many from Europe to witness slave labour, and reportedly “went away very much impressed with the humanity and skill with which James Hamilton Couper managed his slaves.” In 1846, Sir Charles Lyell described Couper as “a benevolent slaveowner” and gained at Hopetoun “an hereditary regard and attachment between master and slave”.
This notebook denotes Lyell's observations of social life and welfare of enslaved people in Georgia, Alabama, and Missisippi. He records details of slave religion, new legislation passed in Georgia against people of colour, and the likelihood of impending war between the states. Interspersed among social observations are descriptions of sightings of native birds and landscapes.
Language
