Description
Assessment of Slaves in Platte. - - Platte County Sentinel of the 16th (January 16, 1863) publishes the following concerning the value of slaves in that county:
Our County Assessor has recently been engaged in making the county assessment and perhaps is through with his work - The highest assessment for a slave that we have heard of, is but $200.00. One gentleman informed us that his slaves 10 in number were assessed at $800 for the lot. The average assessment is supposed to be about $100 per slave.
This assessment may be of some importance if compensated emancipation is adopted as showing the present valuation of slaves: the more so, as the assessment was made by a “Conservative,” which means Southern sympathizer. The general opinion of slaveholders in this vicinity is that “negro chattel” are nothing or but little worth in Platte County.
(Researcher's note: The Platte County Sentinel was a weekly newspaper published in Weston, Missouri, during the Civil War era from 1861 to 1864.)Date(s) of Creation
2/6/1863
