Sale of Enslaved People at Oakland

Slave sales, a foundation of Virginia's antebellum economy and a commonplace occurrence in a society that regarded human beings as property, brought terror to the enslaved. William Ransom Johnson sold 46 enslaved men, women, and children at an auction at his Oakland plantation near here on 25 March 1845. Johnson’s auction, precipitated by financial trouble and poor health, attracted 18 purchasers who paid a total of $16,705.50 and splintered several families. Petersburg slave trader Henry Davis, who regularly shipped slaves to the markets in New Orleans, bought ten people. After Johnson’s death in 1849, his executor held another auction here in which 24 enslaved people were offered for sale.