Working Conditions

Artist depiction of the iron making process.

NPS/Harpers Ferry Center

Timebooks from the 1770s for the colliers, who worked with charcoal at the furnace, give us the work schedule for enslaved people and indentured servants. They were expected to work a twenty-six-day month with only Sundays free, year after year. Dr. Randall Hulse, who was employed to care for ailing furnace workers, described general working conditions of the ironworks. In a letter dated February 22, 1777, to Charles Ridgely, Dr. Hulse described workers subjected to “a mean diet and barbarous usage” and a “wanton abuse of power.” He personally witnessed labor and punishment “excesses that call aloud for redress.” In many cases, these practices can only reasonably be defined as torture.

Dr. Hulse cited a laborer, who made for “a miserable spectacle,” whom the overseer had driven to work “with a 56 lbs. chained to his leg.” “The despotic manager,” continued the doctor, “beat him with a stick and he died the next morning.” Hulse charged that any “unconcerned spectator” who witnessed the labor practices of Northampton without a more humane response “must possess a heart of stone and be deaf to every Sentiment of Humanity.”

Between November 1775 and December 1777, the daybooks recorded in the business category of “Profits and Loss” that five servants working at the forges died from the exertion of their forced labor. Historian Kent Lancaster has concluded that the conditions at Northampton were so harsh that, for enslaved individuals and indentured servants, “accidents resulting in broken bones, burns, or crushed feet were frequent.”

 

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Enslaved People

Hampton was the second largest plantation in Maryland. Learn about the struggle, hardships, and lives of the enslaved.

Forms of Control

From physical to mental abuse for the youngest ages to the oldest. Learn about the harsh truths and forms of control.

Chattel Slavery at Hampton

From the colonial period through 1864, the Ridgelys enslaved over 500 people. Enslaved people, from young children to the elderly

Indentured Servants

Indentured servants made up a significant portion of the Hampton labor force at one time. Read about their stories on the plantation.

Indentured Servants at Hampton

Indentured servants were not willing laborers and the working conditions at Northampton Furnace was grueling.

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People of Hampton

Hundreds of people lived, worked, and were enslaved at Hampton coinciding America's development as a nation. Explore more of their stories.