Ben Montgomery

Ben Montgomery was born into slavery in 1819 in Loudoun County, Virginia. In 1837, he was sold south, and purchased in Natchez, Mississippi, by Joseph Emory Davis. He was taken to Hurricane Plantation, the home of Davis and his wife, Eliza. The planter's much younger brother, Jefferson Davis, later became the President of the Confederate States of America. Montgomery escaped but was recaptured. Davis reportedly "inquired closely into the cause of his dissatisfaction", whereby the two men reached a "mutual understanding" about Montgomery's situation. Davis's "utopian experiment" of the plantation on Davis Bend was centered on his idea that "the less people are governed, the more submissive they will be to control." The enslaved were encouraged to learn trades that interested them, and Davis allowed them to keep extra money they made in their chosen skilled work, rare among Southern slave owners. It was illegal to teach an enslaved person how to read and write in Mississippi, but Davis encouraged it. Montgomery was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and was assigned to run the plantation's general store. Impressed by the talent Montgomery displayed, Davis gave him the responsibility of managing purchasing and shipping for the entire plantation. Isaiah went on to found the black community of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and "pursued racial harmony through accommodation" in his participation in the 1890 Mississippi constitutional convention; Isaiah's daughter Mary Booze was a political organizer. == Career ==

Montgomery learned a variety of skills, including reading, writing, land surveying, flood control, architectural design, machine repair, and steamboat navigation. Later, both Joseph and Jefferson Davis attempted to patent the device in their names but were denied because they were not the "true inventor." After Jefferson Davis later was selected as President of the Confederacy, he signed into law the legislation that would allow slaves to receive patent protection for their inventions. On June 28, 1864, Montgomery, no longer a slave, filed a patent application for his device, but the patent office again rejected his application. == Ownership of Davis Bend ==

The Davis family left Davis Bend in 1862, ahead of oncoming troops from the Union Army. Montgomery assumed control of the plantation. Farming continued despite difficulties created by the war, such as attacks from the military forces of both sides. For a time, he worked for Union Admiral David D. Porter. Under his supervision, the plantation produced cotton judged to be the best in the world at an International Exposition in 1870. With his son Isaiah, Montgomery established a general store known as Montgomery and Sons. Montgomery worked toward his lifelong dream of establishing a community for freed slaves. He never lived to see his dream come to fruition. Catastrophic floods ruined the crops and cut a channel across the peninsula, turning Davis Bend into an island. This added to the expenses of getting supplies to the plantation and crops to market. When Montgomery failed to make a payment on the loan in 1876, Davis Bend automatically reverted to the Davis family as per the terms of the original contract. Heartbroken, Montgomery died the next year. He was interred in Brierfield Plantation Cemetery, Le Tourneau, Warren County, Mississippi. == Legacy ==

After his father's death, Isaiah Montgomery worked to realize his dream. He purchased between the Vicksburg and Memphis railroad lines in northwest Mississippi for the purpose of establishing the community of freed slaves his father dreamed of. Along with other former slaves, Isaiah Montgomery established the town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi; in 1887 and developed it as a majority African-American community. ==References==