Existing comment:
Agriculture on the Riley Plantation
"Gradually the disposal of everything raised on the farm, -- the wheat, oats, hay, fruit, butter, and whatever else there might be, -- was confided to me, and it was quite evident that I could and did sell for better than any one else he could employ."
-- Josiah Henson
Working six days a week, enslaved people ensured the productivity and prosperity of the Riley plantation. Men, women, and children produced cash crops, initially tobacco, then later, wheat and corn. Josiah Henson described the exhausting process of bringing the products to market, leaving at midnight to work selling the products all day in Georgetown, and returning home, "hungry and tired, and nine times out of ten, reap my sole reward in curses for not getting higher prices."
[Captions:]
In order to bring goods to market, Josiah Henson was able to travel to Rockville and Georgetown, far beyond the confines of his home plantation. There, he likely interacted with free blacks and saw the promise of freedom.
When the agricultural census taker evaluated the livestock owned by Isaac Riley in 1850, he documented 4 horses, 4 milk cows, 2 oxen, 14 sheep and 9 swine. |