A cart was sent all the
way to Commissioner Johnson’s iron-works in
Western Maryland to bring iron castings for the crane at the wharf
where stone for the Capitol was unloaded.
Quote from Slave Labor in the Capitol, page 83
Building a narrative of the work done based on accounting receipts is more akin to archaeology than history. One would prefer a letter explaining the problem and the solution. Why did the crane need the castings? was it busted and for how long? how big was the crane and was it all made of iron?
A 1794 receipt for a hauling contractors tells three stories in as few words as possible: hauling plank from Funks Town, hauling stone from "Greenleaf's buildings" and hauling the iron castings for the crane at the Eastern Branch wharf.
We can't prove that slaves did any of this work but we can easily picture hired slaves unloading and loading the carts. Thomas Johnson owned slaves so probably the slaves at the iron-works loaded the castings that they probably had a hand in making.
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