Thomas McCargo

Thomas McCargo
Born	circa 1790 Charlotte County, Virginia, United States
Occupation	Slave trader
Years active	1820s–1850s
Known for	Slave trading across Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana; involvement in the Creole slave ship uprising

Thomas McCargo, sometimes referred to as Thos. M'Cargo after 1854, was a 19th-century American slave dealer who conducted business across Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He is particularly recognized for his role as one of the slave traders aboard the Creole, a coastwise slave ship that was seized by enslaved individuals who navigated it to freedom in the British Caribbean. This incident stands as the most successful slave uprising in antebellum United States history.

Early life

Thomas McCargo was probably one of nine offspring born to David and Nancy McCargo in Charlotte County, Virginia. Census data suggest his birth occurred around 1790, likely on his family’s farm. The 1810 Charlotte County census records him as aged between 16 and 25, with one enslaved person living in his household. In March 1811, he wed Elizabeth W. Davis in Halifax County, Virginia. David McCargo’s will from 1814 bequeathed real estate and an enslaved man named George to Thomas.

By the time of the 1820 census, McCargo resided in Banister town within Halifax County, Virginia, where his household included one free white female under ten years old and nine enslaved individuals. In June 1822, he remarried, this time to Eliza Ragland in Halifax County.

As a white male property owner, McCargo engaged in early Republic politics; in December 1827, he served on a committee endorsing Andrew Jackson’s presidential bid against John Quincy Adams. By 1830, his daughter Mary A. E. M. McCargo had married James F. Hill in Halifax County. The same year’s census documented McCargo’s household as comprising three free whites and 41 enslaved people, including 11 children under ten years old.

Interstate slave trading

McCargo likely entered the interstate slave trade in the United States during the late 1820s. In 1831, he and other passengers traveling northward from New Orleans signed a public letter commending the steamer Hibernia for successfully navigating ice and other hazards. In 1833, McCargo participated in founding the Forks of the Road slave market near Natchez, Mississippi. That year, a shipment arriving from Alexandria, Virginia included enslaved individuals who were ill or dying amid a cholera outbreak. Trader Isaac Franklin and his overseer reportedly disposed of several corpses improperly, causing alarm among Natchez residents over possible disease spread. To address community concerns, McCargo and nine other traders signed a letter agreeing to relocate their operations beyond city limits. He acted as a subordinate trader under James Franklin Purvis of Baltimore, who was connected to Franklin & Armfield. In 1833, McCargo paid $79.43 in taxes on slave sales recorded in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi.

In 1835, McCargo reported losing three "bills of exchange" totaling . By February 1836, he placed advertisements in Virginia seeking up to 200 enslaved individuals aged between 12 and 25 years old, offering secure quarters near Seabrook's Warehouse in Richmond, Virginia. Letters from 1839 reveal that despite a sluggish Richmond market, "McCargo and Purvis had sold all of their slaves."

The 1840 census lists McCargo residing in Halifax County with two free white persons and 29 enslaved African Americans, including 15 engaged in farming activities. That year he advertised skilled "NEGRO BRICKLAYERS" for buyers based in New Orleans. An advertisement for a runaway slave from 1841 mentioned a man purchased from "Macargo, a negro trader from Virginia."

McCargo is mentioned in John Brown's memoir Slave Life in Georgia, where Brown recounts his imprisonment at Theophilus Freeman's New Orleans slave pen during the 1840s. Brown described how speculators like McCargo regularly supplied groups of shackled enslaved people for sale. Historian Walter Johnson notes that New Orleans traders such as McCargo often lived together during selling seasons, sharing accommodations, sales duties, and leisure activities including gambling.

A summary of an 1846 Mississippi court case refers to McCargo’s commercial activities: he leased lodging near a racetrack for numerous enslaved individuals transported overland from Virginia for sale purposes. The court acknowledged McCargo’s longstanding role as a trader who maintained arrangements involving tents and wagons for travel. Ultimately, the contract involved was declared invalid.

Creole and its aftermath

In 1841, Thomas McCargo was among several merchants who utilized the Creole to move enslaved individuals from the Chesapeake area of the Upper South toward the labor markets of the Cotton Kingdom. McCargo transported a larger number of enslaved people than most other traders and was accompanied by his young nephew and overseer, John R. Hewell. He had insured 26 of the captives aboard the vessel. The uprising involved enslaved persons primarily owned by three traders: Robert Lumpkin, George W. Apperson, and McCargo himself. Among the prominent figures leading the saltwater rebellion were Elijah Morris and Madison Washington, both part of McCargo's shipment. During the revolt, McCargo, his nephew, and an elderly enslaved attendant remained unharmed; however, Hewell was killed after resisting the insurgents.

McCargo had insured his human cargo at a rate of $800 per individual, but the insurance company refused to honor the claim, citing an exclusion clause that barred coverage for losses caused by a "slave revolt facilitated by the British." The ensuing lawsuit, Thomas McCargo v. The New Orleans Insurance Company, serves as a significant historical document detailing these events. Attorney Judah P. Benjamin defended the insurer in a successful appeal before the Louisiana Supreme Court. Ultimately, McCargo did not receive the full $20,800 he sought but managed to recover $14,400 from another maritime insurance provider.

Later years

Following the Creole rebellion, Thomas McCargo remained active in the slave trading business. In April 1851, a letter was held for him at the New Orleans post office. Records show his presence at Louisville’s Galt House hotel in October 1851 and later at Louisville Hotel in September 1852. Correspondence addressed to him appeared in Louisville in October 1853 and in New Orleans by January 1854. In 1855, he obtained a notable compensation settlement from an Anglo-American maritime claims commission as restitution for losses connected to the Creole incident.

No further information is available regarding Thomas McCargo’s life following 1855.

See also

• List of American slave traders
• History of slavery in Louisiana
• History of slavery in Mississippi
• History of slavery in Virginia