Shadrack F. Slatter

Shadrack Fluellen Slatter (December 13, 1798 – July 5, 1861) was a 19th-century American slave trader and capitalist. In the 1830s and 1840s he was part of the coastwise slave trade in partnership with his older brother Hope H. Slatter, who bought slaves in Baltimore for S. F. Slatter to sell at New Orleans. It was typical for interstate traders like the Slatters to have a buying location in the Upper South and a selling location in the Lower South.[1]

Shadrack F. Slatter
"130 Negroes, Just Arrived" The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, December 19, 1843
Born	(1798-12-13)December 13, 1798 Georgia, U.S.
Died	July 5, 1861(1861-07-05) (aged 62) Mississippi, U.S.
Other names	S. F. Slatter
Occupation(s)	Slave trader, real estate investor

Slatter was born in Old Clinton, Georgia. In 1833, H.H. and S.F. Slatter and two other traders offered 200 people for sale in Hamburg, South Carolina.[2] It was illegal to transport slaves into Georgia from out of state,[3] so "Hamburg, South Carolina was built up just opposite Augusta, for the purpose of furnishing slaves to the planters of Georgia. Augusta is the market to which the planters of Upper and Middle Georgia bring their cotton; and if they want to purchase negroes, they step over into Hamburg and do so. There are two large houses there, with piazzas in front to expose the 'chattels' to the public during the day, and yards in rear of them where they are penned up at night like sheep, so close that they can hardly breathe, with bull-dogs on the outside as sentinels. They sometimes have thousands here for sale, who in consequence of their number suffer most horribly."[4]

Slatter's New Orleans trading site was on Moreau (later Chartres) and Esplanade circa 1840.[5][6] This site was part of a cluster of slave-trading depots just east of the French Quarter.[6] Slatter sold this site to Walter L. Campbell in 1848.[6] At the time of the 1850 U.S. census, he was a resident of the City Hotel in New Orleans, occupation trader.[7] In 1859 he was elected one of the directors of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad.[8]

Menu from City Hotel with image of building, dated December 8, 1857 (University of Houston Libraries)

At the time of the 1860 U.S. census, he was a resident of the City Hotel in New Orleans.[9] His occupation was listed as capitalist.[9] In 1860 he reported owning US$500,000 (equivalent to $16,285,185 in 2022) in real estate and had personal property worth US$120,000 (equivalent to $3,908,444 in 2022). He died in Mississippi on July 5, 1861.[10] He was unmarried at the time of his death.[10] The informant on his New Orleans death certificate was his 18-year-old nephew Hope H. Slatter Jr.[10]

S.F. Slatter was surety on a 1857 bail bond for William Walker. Walker jumped. More than 30 years later, in 1890, Slatter's nephew Hope H. Slatter II reached a deal with the U.S. government to pay $300 to fulfill the guarantee.[11]