# What happened to the market value of slaves as the Civil War progressed?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 6, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664 "2015-10-06T00:18:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/1 "2015-10-06T00:18:39Z")
Just curious. Are there any studies have been done as to what happened to the market value of slaves as the Civil War progressed? My guess is it would have taken a nosedive as people could not be assured of the value of the asset into the future.
What actually happened? Is there any data on this?
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/2 "2015-10-06T01:46:21Z")
Yep, the prices took a nosedive, for pretty much the reasons that you suspected.
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
As the civil war progressed, there was great doubt that slavery would continue to be legal, and prime males in New Orleans were sold at $1,116 by 1862 as opposed to $1,381 in 1861
[/QUOTE]
> **[Slavery in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States#Prices_of_slaves)**
>
> The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Slavery was established throughout European colonization in the Americas. From 1526, during the early colonial period, it was practiced in what became Britain's colonies, including the Thirteen Colonies that formed the United States. Under the law, an enslaved pe...
I suspect that many folks were struggling just to get by due to all of the shortages and hardships of the war and didn’t have as much money to spend on slaves as well, which probably also helped to push the price downward.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/3 "2015-10-06T02:26:13Z")
I dunno, a 20% drop is significant, of course, but that’s hardly what I’d call a “nosedive”. I’d reserve that term for a drop of at least 50%.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/4 "2015-10-06T03:00:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I dunno, a 20% drop is significant, of course, but that’s hardly what I’d call a “nosedive”. I’d reserve that term for a drop of at least 50%.
But that’s a 20% decrease in the price at a time when inflation had begun reducing the value of money. From what I can find it appears the inflation rate in the first year of the war was “only” around 25%. But if you factor that in you’ll see that a slave who sold for $1,381 in 1861 was selling for the equivalent of $893 in 1862. Still not a 50% drop in prices but a pretty substantial drop.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/5 "2015-10-06T03:03:31Z")
1863-1864 prices would be more accurate reflection I think, 1862 saw the confederacy mostly in control of its territory till late summer.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/6 "2015-10-06T12:53:44Z")
An important factor to consider is how many slaves were _leaving the market_. Slaves on the border states were escaping in droves. Others were captured as “contraband” by Union forces under the Confiscation acts. Still more were pressed into Confederate military service and were killed.
The prices may not have been plummeting, but the **supply** certainly was. In a healthy market, this would have driven the price of slaves way, way up. The fact that prices were still dropping at all is itself indicative of how uncertain the market was.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/7 "2015-10-07T05:24:37Z")
Poking around a bit more on the net, I found this:
From the New York Times, 1863
> [@](#):
>
> MARKET PRICE OF SLAVES.
> Published: August 22, 1863
>
> – Slaves command a higher price in Kentucky, taking gold as the standard of value, than in any other of the Southern States. In Missouri they are sold at from forty dollars to four hundred, according to age, quality, and especially according to place. In Tennessee they cannot be said to be sold at all. In Maryland the negroes upon an estate were lately sold, and fetched an average price of $18 a head. In the farther States of the Southern Confederacy we frequently see reports of negro sales, and we occasionally see boasts from rebel newspapers as to the high prices the slaves bring, notwithstanding the war and the collapse of Southern industry. We notice in the Savannah Republican of the 5th, a report of a negro sale in that city, at which, we are told, high prices prevailed, and at which two girls of 18 years of age were sold for about $2,500 apiece, two matured boys for about the same price, a man of 45 for $1,850, and at woman of 23, with her child of 5, for $3,950. Twenty-five hundred dollars, then, may be taken as the standard price of first-class slaves in the Confederacy; but when it is remembered that this is in Confederate money, which is worth less than one-twelfth its face in gold, it will be seen that the real price, by this standard, is only about $200. In Kentucky, on the other hand, though there is but little buying or selling of slave stock going on, we understand that negroes are still held at from seven to twelve hundred dollars apiece.
> **[MARKET PRICE OF SLAVES. (Published 1863)](https://www.nytimes.com/1863/08/22/archives/market-price-of-slaves.html)**
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/8 "2015-10-07T06:07:04Z")
I nominate this as the most interesting GQ question of the month. My thanks - and to those who answered also.
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/9 "2015-10-07T06:39:23Z")
Random aside to this, when was the last ever recorded slave market in the US?
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/10 "2015-10-07T15:54:50Z")
I don’t know when the last slave market was.
I do know that slavery actually continued for a couple of months in some places even after the Civil War ended. The Civil War didn’t just come to an abrupt halt. It ended in stages, and even then it took a while for word to get out to everyone all across the country. Lee surrendered in April of 1865. Jefferson Davis officially dissolved the Confederate government in May of 1865.
One of the last places where slavery was legal was in Texas. It took them until June to find out that the war had ended and that the slaves were now officially free. They now commemorate the abolition of slavery with a holiday called Juneteenth:
> **[Juneteenth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth)**
>
> Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining "June" and "nineteenth", it is celebrated on the anniversary of the order, issued by Major General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for slaves in Texas. Originating in Galveston, Juneteenth has since been observed annually in various parts of the United States, often broadly celebrating African-American culture. The day was fir...
So theoretically, slaves could have been bought and sold in some parts of Texas up until June of 1865.
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### Author:  [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/11 "2015-10-07T16:47:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> The prices may not have been plummeting, but the **supply** certainly was. In a healthy market, this would have driven the price of slaves way, way up. The fact that prices were still dropping at all is itself indicative of how uncertain the market was.
Don’t forget that people were doing the buying and selling in Confederate currency for the most part. Aside from the general problems with the currency, it was reasonable to expect that if the Confederacy lost, that money would become worthless paper since the Union would have no desire to honor banknotes issues by insurgents. I think that fear of the end of slavery with a Union victory would not drive prices down as much as you’d think because people also had good reason to expect the end of slavery to also be the end of the money they’re spending on slaves.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/12 "2015-10-07T18:03:20Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> One of the last places where slavery was legal was in Texas. It took them until June to find out that the war had ended and that the slaves were now officially free.
The war only ended slavery in states that had rebelled. It wasn’t until the Thirteenth Amendment went into effect on December 18, 1865 that slavery was abolished throughout the United States. By that point, most of the slave states that hadn’t seceded had already abolished slavery at the state level. But Delaware and Kentucky did not so they were the last places in the United States where slavery was legal.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/13 "2015-10-07T18:11:41Z")
> [@AK84](#):
>
> 1863-1864 prices would be more accurate reflection I think, 1862 saw the confederacy mostly in control of its territory till late summer.
There was a big scare with the Peninsular Campaign in the summer of 1862. The American army had transported troops by ships behind the Confederate lines and were approaching Richmond. This was shortly after the Confederates had been pushed out of Kentucky and most of Tennessee and an amphibious force had captured New Orleans, which was the largest city in the South.
And then Lee smacked McClellan around and McClellan retreated back north. But for a while it looked like the war might end in 1862.
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### Author:  [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/14 "2015-10-07T20:38:10Z")
Googling “last slave sale” Kentucky turns up this [interesting post](http://randomthoughtsonhistory.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-last-slave-sold-in-kentucky.html):
> [@](#):
>
> The last slave sale advertisement in Kentucky that I have thus far been able to locate was published in the December 1, 1865, edition of the Paris Western Citizen. It is brief and reads:
> \*\*NEGRO FOR SALE
> WILL be sold on next County Court day, (December 4th) to the lowest bidder, an Idiot boy, John, on the public square in Paris.
>
> Levi Sudduth
> Executor of Rachel Grimes\*\*
>
> Was the seller simply attempting to get just something for this enslaved man or boy? It seems that way since he states that the individual would be sold to the “lowest bidder.” Surely, with all the news about the 13th Amendment nearing ratification - and the stir it caused in Kentucky - Sudduth knew there was not a future for the institution. Or, was Sudduth making a subtle gesture of protest? I suppose we will never know, but regardless the motivation for its publication, it shows the hard death slavery died in the Bluegrass state.
>
> Was this the last slave sale in Kentucky? Did the sale actually happen? Did anyone buy John? If someone did buy this individual their ownership proved to be legally brief. On December 6, 1865, two days after this sale was scheduled to be held, Georgia ratified the 13th Amendment, and officially ended slavery in the recently reunited United States of America.
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### Author:  [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2015, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/15 "2015-10-09T11:30:36Z")
Slaves, were pretty valuable assets despite how they are often portrayed. For instance clearing marshes and digging canals was extremely dangerous work and many slave owners were not prepared to risk their valuable slaves on such work. So it went to a lot of readily available people who were considered not of such value- such as migrants (Irish in particular).
As the war progressed there was a plan put forward by Cleburn to arm all the slaves and award them freedom for fighting for the Confederates cause. This was pretty hastily hidden as the south did not really want a lot of armed slaves roaming around afterwards.
And I guess I have not even come close to answering your query 🙂
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/16 "2015-10-10T03:00:51Z")
The Confederate government attempted to enact a labor tax late in the war, whereby slave owners would be required to loan some of their slaves to the government for periods of war-related work. It was bitterly opposed by the slave owners.
Considering this would, in effect, have taken the slaves off the owner’s hands and made the government responsible for their food and shelter, you’d think the slave owners would have supported the idea if the value of slaves was dropping. The fact that the owners resisted so much indicates they still saw slaves as valuable.
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### Author:  [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-market-value-of-slaves-as-the-civil-war-progressed/733664/17 "2015-10-10T04:19:20Z")
That may have been presumption of privilege as much as anything else.
\*Are you suggesting that my wife shall actually shovel manure? \*