Asking Large Questions in Small Places: The Slave Ironworkers of Buffalo
Forge and Oxford Furnace, Virginia

Dr. Charles B. Dew’s free program at the Lynchburg Public Library on
Saturday, August 19, 2006 at 2 pm will focus on these little-known aspects
of local history.

A native of Florida , Dr. Dew is currently Ephraim Williams Professor of
History at Williams College in Massachusetts and the award-winning author
of several books including: Ironmaker to the Confederacy: Joseph R.
Anderson and the Tredegar Iron Works, Bond of Iron: Master and Slave at
Buffalo Forge, and Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners
and the Causes of the Civil War.

Dr. Dew’s study of Central Virginia iron works started over 30 years ago;
his article: David Ross and the Oxford Iron Works: A Study of Industrial
Slavery in the Early 19th Century South was published in the William and
Mary Quarterly of April, 1974. The Virginia Historical Society owns the
1812-1813 letterbook for the Oxford Furnace Iron Works, which operated in
Campbell County just east of Lynchburg from before the Revolutionary War
until about 1870. David Ross acquired Oxford Furnace in 1776 and made
munitions and supplies for the Continental Army as well as household, farm,
and industrial wares.

As Dew researched the letterbook and other sources, he found a fascinating
story of early 19 th century life in Central Virginia. Ross lived in
Petersburg and his Oxford operation grew to over 24,000 acres with four
plantations, grist mill, a batteau fleet, blast furnaces, and forges.
Except for a white manager, a miller, and a carpenter, other work was done
by a slave force of over 225 people with a slave named Abram in charge of
the iron works. The slaves grew the crops, milled grain, operated the boats
hauling iron to Richmond , and did the skilled work of turning iron ore
into products.

Buffalo Forge was an ironworks located near Glasgow , Virginia and Dew’s
research revealed a similar story of skilled slave workmen, an owner who
often let his slaves decide where they would work, slaves who did extra
work and were paid in cash, and an intricate story of human relationships
within the framework of master and slave. This is the basis for Bonds of
Iron.

There will be a reception following the program and Dr. Dew will be
available to sign copies of his books. A limited number of his books will
be available for sale. The program is sponsored by the Lynchburg Public
Library, Lynchburg Museum System, Legacy Museum of African-American
History, The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Human Rights , and
Jones Memorial Library. For information, please call the Lynchburg Museum
at (434) 847-1459.


W. Scott Breckinridge Smith
Advisory Board, Lynchburg Museum System

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