THE BEGINNING
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In those days a persons wealth was measured by the number of slaves owned and Anthony Vanleer was ranked fourth with 43 slaves. By 1840 Van leer’s wealth as an Iron Industrialist had grown and he became the largest slaveholder in County, with 114 slaves. From the beginning, African slaves played a key role in the Iron Industry in the region of Cumberland. As slaves, they were the pre-dominant workforce at least for the first 100 years of the Furnace’s operation, thus expanding the institution of slavery in Dickson County Slave labor made the Tennessee operations very different from the Pennsylvania Iron plantations. Naturally there were no labor laws to govern slavery. Slaves were made to work around the clock. The plants operated twenty-four hours a day, which led to over-production and increased inventory. This gave the Tennessee Companies the power to undercut the price charged by the Pennsylvania Companies. Because of this, the Tennessee Iron Industrialist was the most ardent secessionist (the withdrawal from the Union of the 11 Southern States in 1860-1861 that led to the formation of the Confederacy and the beginning of the Civil War). In order to maintain this competitive edge, Iron Masters like Vanleer were constantly advertising for and acquiring new slaves. Attrition of slaves was high for many reasons. Labor conditions in the Furnaces was harsh, cruel and inhumane. It was life threatening and many slaves were burned severely and many perished from the intense heat of the furnaces. No record exists on the number of slaves who lost their lives. The majority of the slaves was unattached males under the age of 35. Due to the harshness of the labor conditions and the absence of family, runaway slaves and the threat of insurrection were common place. There were two reported incidents of rebellion. One occurred in 1815 and amounted to little consequence beyond rumors. This, however, was enough to prompt the Tennessee General Assembly to pass an Act the following year making it an offense to encourage or lead an act of rebellion against one’s slave owner. The Cumberland Furnace was one of the few furnaces that was not destroyed by the Civil War, but by no means was it as profitable as it was prior to the war. Following the war, Van leer’s granddaughter, Florence Kirkman inherited the Furnace and became the owner. She married Union Army Captain James Drouilard in 1864, and with his help, she was able to put the furnace back into a profitable operation.