Jourdan Saunders
Jourdan Michaux Saunders (1796 – March 19, 1875) was an American domestic slave trader and farmer, noted for his partnership with Franklin & Armfield.
He entered the slave trade in October 1827 as part of a business partnership with David Burford, founding the firm J. M. Saunders and Company and choosing Fauquier County, Virginia as a base of operations.
He withdrew from the industry over the mid-to-late 1840s, retiring to his Fauquier County estate alongside his mixed-race mistress, Mary Wilkins, and their four children.
He had three older half-siblings from his father's previous marriage, including future congressman Romulus Mitchell Saunders, and two younger siblings.
[4][5] Burford, primarily occupied by political work in Smith County, Tennessee, provided advice and capital for the operation, with Saunders actively purchasing and transporting slaves.
By July, he had acquired a total of 22 slaves, including men, women, and children, kept in the Old Fauquier County Jail after payments by Saunders.
However, he arrived in Louisiana in late August or September, several months prior to the main slave trading season, which peaked in the winter following the end of harvest.
He recorded no sales in New Orleans, the main trading hub of the region, and likely sold the slaves on credit to sugar planters in rural parishes of the state.
The whereabouts of the escaped slave had been discovered the day before setting sail, and Saunders hired agents to attempt to capture the fugitive in order to recuperate some of his continued financial losses.
He was able to collect debts owed in Louisiana and sell the remainder of his ten slaves to various buyers in St. Mary Parish, leaving the company with a $10,000 (equivalent to $290,000 in 2023) profit.
Under the terms of the agreement, Franklin would manage sales at New Orleans and Natchez, his partner John Armfield would handle shipping from Alexandria, while Saunders would focus on acquiring additional slaves in Virginia.
Shortly prior to the law taking effect, John Armfield had met with Saunders and several other agents in a self-described "Council of War" in Alexandria, laying the groundwork for a plan to bypass the new legislation through legal loopholes and fraudulent bills of sale.
Saunders refused to accept Burfords' requests for slaves for his personal plantation, writing that doing so would likely upset his connections with Franklin & Armfield.
Additionally, an active banking sector allowed for easy access to loans, increasing the number of farmers able to acquire slaves.
While a corresponding rise in competition in Virginia slave trading increased prices, the growing demand in the Deep South kept the industry profitable.
In April 1833, Saunders purchased an acre lot in central Warrenton, likely serving as an office and residence, as well as a holding pen for slaves.
[19] By late 1834, Franklin & Armfield had entered over $100,000 (equivalent to $2,860,000 in 2023) in debt, and had become completely unable to supply a cash settlement to Saunders.
He later joined the Union Army as part of the 29th Connecticut Colored Infantry Regiment, before returning to Virginia after the war to work on the family farm.
