Life in Pulaski

The Uchee Indians of the Lower Creek Confederacy predated “pioneers” of Pulaski County and when they ceded their lands left significant infrastructure which the settlers then used stolen slave labor to build upon. Stolen slave labor built the roads, cleared lumber for building houses and erected local government buildings from bricks they made by hand from the red Georgia dirt.  These enslaved men and women’s craftsmanship should be honored and never forgotten.

There is plenty of family lore that the Walkers trained their enslaved people to become skilled craftsmen such as blacksmiths, carpenters, winemakers, botanists, landscapers, coopers, brick makers and subsequently hired these skills out to other neighboring families.  This created continual revenue for the family regardless of the prosperity of crops or the seasons.  

In 1807 George Walker II acquired his first 202 ½ acre lot bordering Shellstone Creek. In 1808 with his wife, Betsy Walker and seven children, relocated to the newly created Pulaski County.  This area went on to be the unincorporated town of Longstreet. They brought their 25 enslaved people with them.  I imagine the enslaved population herded the cattle, brought the carriages navigating the land, fording rivers and walked on foot towing the families’ belongings with them.  In the following years he purchased nearly 2,000 more acres of land around Shellstone Creek and into Twiggs County, GA. His enslaved population increased by nearly double in the first 4 years of settlement.  Whether some of this is through births or through monetary acquistion is unknown at this time.

As described in “The Cochran Community” by Bernadette Loftin, Longstreet the unincorporated town created by the Walkers and their enslaved people was named so because of the groves, lawns and flowing gardens three and half miles deep. George Walker II forced the enslaved craftsmen to construct his homestead near the border of Twiggs county on a hilly section.  His sons, George Walker III, Charles, David and Thomas forced their enslaved people to build their homes on the surrounding flat lands.  Their early houses were built to look like two story frame farmhouses and not the extravagant Southern Mansions of the time.  A hallway, or dogtrot extended from the front door to the back on the first floor.  The kitchen stood separately from the house to mitigate possible fire. The main house consisted of two large rooms on each of the two floors plus the hallways.  The slave quarters stood in rows to the side of the house. 

The George Walker family records as enslavers are fairly sparse. No plantation records survived nor any slave narratives from the WPA project exist. However, local lore spoke highly of their farm methods. Joe Walker, an enslaved man of George Walker III, bragged about how he and “ole master” worked side by side.  This, of course, must be taken with consideration the interviewer would have been white and the pressure to speak highly and nicely about your enslavers would ever be present.   

It’s difficult to surmise their slaveholding practices since no records can substantiate this, however, in the book “The Cochran Community” by Bernadette Loftin, it is noted the Walkers operated their work camps as a family enclave.  We can assume that the sons were the overseers  and all matters of “business” conducted within the family unit. Including punishment, medicine, midwifery and patrols.   

In addition to cotton, the enslaved populations grew a variety of crops including wheat, rye, corn, oats, Irish and sweet potatoes.  They nurtured the land and reaped successful crops year after year.  They used horses, mules and oxen to and from the farm.  The Walker enslaved populations also raised milch cows for dairy products, other cattle and swine for food and sheep for wool.  Later on with George Walker III, the enslaved would engage in a revival of winemaking, curing hams and built a cane mill for processing molasses. The scars from the custom terracing of the land can still be seen today.

No runaway slave (or self liberating) advertisements have been located  in the newspapers of the time. This can indicate a comparatively stable life for the enslaved.  But it is noted this is assumed only because of lack of evidence.  More evidentiary documents could be discovered at a later date.

What is found is a court record of two men who received a sentence of seven years for capturing two of George Walker II enslaved men hauling cotton to market.  One of the enslaved men recognized the voice as one of Walkers’ neighbors.  The white slave thieves were apprehended and sentenced to 7 years in prison.  Further research is needed to determine the names of the enslaved men that were kidnapped.