Steamships, Stages and Slave Trade

Aquia Landing, at the junction of Aquia Creek and the Potomac River, was once a vital hub in Virginia's transportation network. As early as 1815, steamboats from Washington and Alexandria made regular trips there, transferring passengers, mail, and enslaved people to coaches bound for points south. Solomon Northrup recalled arriving there by steamer in 1841 with Burch and five enslaved people, then taking stages, with Burch instructing him to hold up his head and look smart in hopes of getting a good master. In 1842, the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad completed its line to Aquia, reducing travel time between Washington and Richmond. The junction of steamboat and rail made Aquia an important place in antebellum Virginia and a major crossroads of the interstate slave trade. By the 1850s, Virginia was exporting more enslaved people than any other state, and thousands, often handcuffed and packed among cargo, passed through Aquia bound for slave markets farther south. From Aquia, most continued by coach or, after 1842, by train, while some larger groups were forced to walk in chained gangs, or coffles, to destinations as far as 300 miles away. Northrup also recalled being hustled into a steamboat hold among barrels and boxes of freight, being brought on deck after sunrise for breakfast, having the handcuffs briefly removed, and then put back on.

Virginia · United States