Bolton, Dickens & Co.

Bolton, Dickens & Co.

Company type	Partnership
Industry	Slave trade
Founded	1846
Defunct	1857
Headquarters	Memphis , United States
Key people	Wade H. Bolton, Isaac L. Bolton, Jefferson Bolton, Washington Bolton, Thomas Dickins
Products	Enslaved people (slave arbitrage)

Bolton, Dickens & Co. operated as a slave trading enterprise in the pre-Civil War United States, with its main office located in Memphis, Tennessee. Several key members of the company ultimately died as a result of violent conflicts over financial disagreements, an episode referred to as the Bolton–Dickens feud. A ledger from Bolton & Dickens that survived the Civil War remains an essential primary document illuminating the interstate slave trade.

Family business

Beginning in 1846, the Bolton family utilized the transportation advantages provided by the Mississippi River and railroad networks to engage in slave arbitrage, treating enslaved individuals as tradable assets. The partnership included Wade H. Bolton, Isaac L. Bolton, Jefferson Bolton, Washington Bolton, and Thomas Dickins, and it persisted until 1857. Historian Chase C. Mooney noted that "Dickins undertook much of the scouting; Washington operated out of Lexington; Isaac spent considerable time at Vicksburg; Wade oversaw operations in Memphis." Their strategy focused on acquiring enslaved people in regions with lower demand and selling them in southern markets where prices were significantly higher.

Bolton, Dickens & Co. is mentioned in Harriet Beecher Stowe's work A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, which includes an advertisement placed by Thomas Dickins seeking to purchase enslaved individuals at premium rates for markets in Memphis and Louisiana. The company maintained a large slave pen along Memphis’s riverfront.

An 1875 narrative highlighted the firm's significance:

With extensive networks and a keen entrepreneurial spirit, Bolton & Dickens experienced rapid growth, establishing branches in cities such as New Orleans, Vicksburg, Mobile, Lexington, Richmond, Charleston, Natchez, St. Louis, and Jefferson City. Despite some assertions to the contrary, no direct association between Nathan Bedford Forrest and Bolton & Dickens has been substantiated; his connections were more closely tied to Byrd Hill.

Around their zenith in approximately 1856, the Bolton family reportedly possessed a net worth of . That same year they remitted $1,875 in taxes on slave sales totaling $250,000 within a single Mississippi county. Legal documents indicate annual business dealings "amounting... to several millions of dollars". The partnership ended circa 1857; nevertheless, Washington Bolton continued to be identified as a slave trader in Memphis’s 1860 city directory.

Personnel

Key figures of Bolton, Dickens & Co.

Last	First	Birth date	Death date	Place of death	Cause of death
Bolton	Isaac Langston	REDIRECT Template:Date table sorting	REDIRECT Template:Date table sorting	Big Creek	Delirium tremens
Bolton	Jefferson	c. 1816	c. 1849	Unknown	Unknown
Bolton	Wade Hampton	REDIRECT Template:Date table sorting	REDIRECT Template:Date table sorting	Memphis, Tenn.	Fatally shot by Tom Dickins; both Dickins and his son were acquitted at trial
Bolton	Washington	c. 1814	1862	Shelby Depot, Tenn.	Unknown
Dickins	Thomas	REDIRECT Template:Date table sorting	REDIRECT Template:Date table sorting	Country road in Hatchie River bottom, Tenn.	Shot and killed by unidentified assailant(s)

Agents

• Reuben Bartlett, located in St. Louis

Slave jails

The Memphis slave jail operated by the company was situated in the former Herron House hotel, a wooden-frame building on Howard's Row (currently Union Avenue) near the riverfront, which began operations in 1843. In 1855, Bolton, Dickens & Co. took ownership of the Lexington, Kentucky slave jail, previously managed by Lewis C. Robards.

Family feud

From 1856 through 1870, a violent conflict involving Bolton, Dickens & Co. led to at least six deaths; some reports suggest as many as nineteen fatalities, including freed former slaves associated with the families. This dispute essentially represented a gangland war within West Tennessee.

Wade and Isaac Bolton were siblings; Wash and Jefferson Dickens were also brothers. Both sets of brothers were second cousins, tracing their lineage to Virginian Charles Bolton (1700–1767). The families were further connected through marriage: Isaac L. Bolton wed Cinderella Bolton—his second cousin and sister to Washington and Jefferson Dickens. Their daughters Josephine and Mary Louisa married Thomas Dickins' sons Samuel and William, respectively. After William Dickins passed away in 1863, Mary Louisa remarried Elijah C. Patterson, who was subsequently tried and acquitted for involvement as an accessory in assaults on the Dickins household attributed to Wade Bolton.

Jefferson Bolton died in the late 1840s; his daughter Mary married John C. Bolton, an attorney who handled her family's claim to Jefferson’s business interests. John C. Bolton reportedly engaged in armed confrontations with Wade H. Bolton during legal proceedings. John C. Bolton and Thomas Dickins were neighbors and maintained social ties. It is noteworthy that Thomas Dickins’ wife, Martha Bolling Eppes Vaughn, was distantly related to Martha Wayles, spouse of Thomas Jefferson.

Business ledger

A company ledger covering the years 1856 to 1858 is preserved within the New-York Historical Society. The Memphis Public Library offers a complete digital transcription prepared by Shirley C. Neeley. This ledger contains detailed daily financial records, slave purchase prices, sales data, correspondence, and related advertisements, providing significant insights into the firm’s commercial activities.

See also

• Slave markets and slave jails in the United States
• List of Tennessee slave traders
• History of Memphis, Tennessee
• West Tennessee
• Tennessee in the American Civil War

External links

• "Bolton, Dickens and Company" at W. Caleb McDaniel’s open-notebook history for Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America (rice.edu)