Guns on the Plantation: Situating the Use of Firearms by Enslaved Persons at Kingsley Plantation, Florida

Author(s): Karen E McIlvoy

Year: 2015

Summary

Kingsley Plantation, in Duval County, Florida, is located on a tranquil island that has seen many dynamic eras in its past.  Fort George Island’s largest slave owner was Zephaniah Kingsley, the slave trading Africaphile that owned the plantation in the early nineteenth century.  Recent excavations of the slave quarters at Kingsley Plantation have revealed the presence of firearms of various types in every domestic context investigated.  These weapons were of the most up-to-date technology available and in a variety of sizes, suggesting a purpose beyond the hunting of game animals.  This paper will present the archaeological evidence of firearms at Kingsley Plantation and explore the social and political settings and circumstances that led Zephaniah Kingsley to arm his slaves.

Cite this Record

Guns on the Plantation: Situating the Use of Firearms by Enslaved Persons at Kingsley Plantation, Florida. Karen E McIlvoy. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 2015 ( tDAR id: 434025)

Keywords

Temporal Keywords
19th Century

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 365