Davis Bend, Mississippi

Davis Bend was located adjacent to Palmyra Island and New Carthage, Louisiana.

He allowed a high degree of self-government for his 350 slaves, provided better nutrition and health and dental care, and created a communal environment.

He worked closely with Benjamin T. Montgomery, a brilliant and literate African American slave, whom he allowed to establish a store on the property and who managed much of the marketing of plantation produce.

At that time continually falling cotton prices, costs of transportation by water to the mainland, an economic depression, and hostility from the white community, finally caused it to fail.

Isaiah Montgomery, Benjamin's son, led many of the residents to a new black community, founding Mound Bayou in northwest Mississippi.