Antebellum Slavery
Although most people in western Virginia were engaged in farming and livestock operations in which slavery was not economical, there were parts of the region which did use slave labor. In addition to the small farms, the South Branch, Greenbrier, Monongahela, and Kanawha valleys also consisted of larger farms of tobacco and other cash crops which used slaves. In 1860, there were 490,308 slaves (approximately 30% of the total population) in eastern Virginia belong to 48,308 slaveholders, averaging over ten slaves per owner. In western Virginia (including Eastern Panhandle…
