List of District of Columbia slave traders

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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

File:View of the Capitol of the United States after the Conflagration of 1814.jpg,) being at the seat of government of the United States, I was preparing to enjoy the first opportunity that had occurred to me, of beholding the assembled representatives of the American republic. As I was about to proceed to the building where the session was opened, my agreeable reverie was suddenly interrupted by the voice of a stammering boy, who, as he was coming into the house, from the street, exclaimed, 'There goes the Ge-Ge-orgy-men* with a drove o' niggers chain'd together two and two.' What's that, said I,{{mdash}}I must see,{{mdash}}and, going to the door, I just had a distant glimpse of a light covered waggon, followed by a procession of men, women and children, resembling that of a funeral. I followed them hastily; and as I approached so near as to discover that they were bound together in pairs, some with ropes, and some with iron chains (which I had hitherto seen used only for restraining beasts)." [Torrey's note: *On first hearing this epithet used, I was at a loss to account for its meaning. I have since observed that, in the middle states, the general title applied to slave-traders, indiscriminately, is Georgia-men.] ("View of the Capitol of the United States after the Conflagration of 1814" from Jesse Torrey's A portraiture of domestic slavery in the United States, published 1817)]]

File:Map_showing_some_slave_jails_in_Washington_DC_1836.jpg; the 7th Street property is listed as Neal's Jail]]

This is a list of slave traders working in the District of Columbia from 1776 until 1865, including traders operating in Alexandria, Virginia before the establishment of the District in 1800 and after the retrocession in 1847:

• James H. Birch, District of Columbia and Alexandria, Va.{{Sfnp|Bancroft|2023|pages=50–51, 57}}
• Jack Brinkley{{Cite web |title=John A. Brown searching for his parents and siblings George, Mary Jane, Ellen Nora, and Peter Brown · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/3192 |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=informationwanted.org}}
• Samuel J. Dawson, Natchez, Miss.{{Cite news |date=1828-03-22 |title=NOTICE |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-weekly-democrat-notice/154397230/ |access-date=2024-09-01 |work=The Weekly Democrat |pages=6}} Washington, D.C. and Alabama{{Cite news |date=1830-08-12 |title=Cash in Market and Negroes Wanted, Samuel J. Dawson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-national-intelligencer-and-washing/148346703/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |work=Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express |pages=3}}
• Jesse Dollerhide{{Cite web |date=August 13, 1828 |title=Petition #20482809 – To the Honorable Judges of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia for the County of Washington |url=http://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/20482809/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Race and Slavery Petitions, Digital Library on American Slavery (dlas.uncg.edu)}}
• Jilson Dove, Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland{{Cite news |date=1832-04-14 |title=American Papers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/caernarfon-and-denbigh-herald-american-p/147025817/ |access-date=2024-05-10 |work=Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald |pages=3}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HcSAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22jilson+dove%22&pg=PA128 |title=Genius of Universal Emancipation |date=1833 |publisher=B. Lundy |pages=128 |language=en}}
• Dyer family, District of Columbia{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40073372 | jstor=40073372 | title=Imaginary Cruelties? A History of the Slave Trade in Washington, D.C. | last1=Corrigan | first1=Mary Beth | journal=Washington History | date=2001 | volume=13 | issue=2 | pages=4–27 }}
• Robert W. Fenwick, Washington, D.C.{{Cite news |date=1831-11-07 |title=Look Here! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-national-intelligencer-and-washing/148347346/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |work=Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express |pages=2}}
• Franklin & Armfield, Alexandria{{Cite news |date=1862-04-11 |title=Selections: Wipe Out the Nation's Shame |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-liberator-selections-wipe-out-the-n/133142346/ |access-date=2023-10-09 |work=The Liberator |pages=1}}
• John Gadsby{{Cite web |title=John Gadsby: Hotelier and Slave Owner in the President's Neighborhood |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/john-gadsby-hotelier-and-slave-owner-in-the-presidents-neighborhood |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=WHHA (en-US) |language=en}}
• Haden, Washington, D.C.{{Cite web |title=Rosanna Patterson searching for her unnamed mother, as well as Sarah Paterson and Henry and George Holiday · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/510 |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=informationwanted.org}}
• John S. Hutcherson, Georgetown, D.C.{{Cite news |date=1826-06-09 |title=Negroes Wanted |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-national-intelligencer-and-washing/148339808/ |access-date=2024-05-29 |work=Daily National Intelligencer and Washington Express |pages=1}}
• George Kephart, Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia{{Cite book |last= |first= |date=2002 |editor-last=Schipper |editor-first=Martin |title=A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Papers of the American Slave Trade, Part 1. Rice Ballard Papers, Series C: Selections from the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries |url=http://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/academic/upa_cis/16312_PapAmSlaveTrSerCPt1.pdf |publisher=Lexis Nexis |pages=vii–viii |isbn=1-55655-919-4}}
• E. P. Legg, District of Columbia{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_genius-of-universal-emancipation_1830-01-22_4_20 |title=Genius of Universal Emancipation 1830-01-22: Vol 4 Iss 20 |date=1830-01-22 |publisher=Open Court Publishing Co |others=Internet Archive |language=English}}
• Thomas Magruder, Washington, D.C.{{Cite web |title=O Say Can You See: Early Washington, D.C., Law & Family |url=http://earlywashingtondc.org/ |access-date=2024-05-11 |website=earlywashingtondc.org}}
• George Miller, F Street{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Candy |date=March 2015 |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=William G. III |others=Center for Digital Research in the Humanities |title="I Did Not Want to Go": An Enslaved Woman's Leap into the Capital's Conscience |url=https://earlywashingtondc.org/stories/enslaved_womans_leap |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=O Say Can You See: Early Washington, D.C., Law & Family |publisher=University of Nebraska, Lincoln}}
• Joseph W. Neal, District of Columbia{{sfnp|Bancroft|2023|page=150, 154–155}}
• Mellon, Alexandria{{Cite web |title=Maria Hentson searching for her son Lue Eller · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/1458 |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=informationwanted.org}}
• Thomas Milburn, Washington, D.C.http://mdhistory.msa.maryland.gov/msaref09/msa_scm6824/pdf/msa_scm6824-0079.pdf
• William H. Richards, Washington, D.C.{{sfnp|Jay|1844|page=39}}
• Tench Ringold, Washington, D.C.{{sfnp|Wilson|2009|page=65}}
• John Edward Robey, Washington, D.C.{{sfnp|Colby|2024|page=26}}{{Cite web |title=Robert Henderson (Nat Calbert) searching for his family · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/2374 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=informationwanted.org}}
• Washington Robey, Washington, D.C.{{Cite news |date=1834-12-13 |title=Fontaine H. Pettis |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-liberator-fontaine-h-pettis/143980045/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |work=The Liberator |pages=3}}{{Cite web |title=Petition #20483304 Washington County, District of Columbia. September 20, 1833 Race and Slavery Petitions, Digital Library on American Slavery |url=https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/4293/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=dlas.uncg.edu}}
• Joseph Semmes, Georgetown, D.C.{{Cite book |last=U.S. House District of Columbia Subcommittee on Government Operations and Metropolitan Affairs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j3UFAAAAIAAJ&dq=Tavern+trader+slavery+united+states&pg=PA806 |title=Rhodes Tavern (preservation and Restoration): Hearing and Markup Before the Subcommittee on Government Operations and Metropolitan Affairs of the Committee on the District of Columbia, House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session, on H. Res. 532 ... November 30 and December 16, 1982 |date=1983 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=806 |language=en}}
• Simpson, Washington during the Jackson administration{{Cite web |title=Jack Collins (Henry Warren) searching for his mother Katie Lee and sister Mariah · Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery |url=https://informationwanted.org/items/show/2366 |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=informationwanted.org}}
• Thomas Williams, Washington, D.C.,{{Cite news |date=1844-10-31 |title=Dear Sir: There is here in Washington a Slave jail, or "Negro Pen"... |pages=2 |work=Portland Press Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/portland-press-herald-dear-sir-there-is/129983382/ |access-date=2023-08-14}}{{Cite news |date=1844-10-31 |title=The Slave Dealer's Flag |pages=2 |work=The Evening Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-post-the-slave-dealers-flag/131988071/ |access-date=2023-09-18}} Virginia,{{Cite news |date=1842-08-24 |title=Negroes in Jail |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/weekly-columbus-enquirer-negroes-in-jail/149884329/ |access-date=2024-06-23 |work=Weekly Columbus Enquirer |pages=1}} and Vidalia, Miss.{{Cite news |date=1838-12-04 |title=Negroes for Sale |pages=2 |work=The Natchez Daily Courier |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-natchez-daily-courier-negroes-for-sa/130423706/ |access-date=2023-08-21}}
• Williams H. Williams{{Cite journal |last=Pritchett |first=Jonathan B. |date=1997 |title=The Interregional Slave Trade and the Selection of Slaves for the New Orleans Market |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/206166 |journal=The Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=57–85 |doi=10.2307/206166 |jstor=206166 |issn=0022-1953}}
• Williams, Washington, D.C.{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=John |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924032774527?urlappend=%3Bseq=125 |title=Slave life in Georgia: a narrative of the life, sufferings, and escape of John Brown, a fugitive slave, now in England |publisher=W. M. Watts |year=1855 |editor-last1=Chamerovzow |editor-first1=L. A |location=London |pages=108–126 |language=en |hdl=2027/coo.31924032774527?urlappend=%3Bseq=125 |access-date=2023-09-05 |via=HathiTrust}}
• Ann Young & Peter Hevener {{sfnp|Jones-Rogers|2019|pp=170–171}}