Bernard M. Campbell and Walter L. Campbell

A visualized analysis of slave-trading in antebellum New Orleans found that Bernard M. Campbell was one of the two most prolific and connected traders in the dataset. In 1848 B.M. Campbell sold two enslaved people to presidential candidate Zachary Taylor for $1,500. According to Frederic Bancroft in Slave-Trading in the Old South, Campbell and his business partner Walter L. Campbell (often listed in public records and advertisements as W. L. Campbell) were "dealers of the first class" in Baltimore, Maryland. Per Bancroft, early in the 1850s the Campbells "were walking in the footsteps of Hope H. Slatter, whose good-will they endeavored to enjoy by advertising that they occupied 'Slatter's old stand.' Manifests preserved in the Library of Congress show that between April 3, 1851, and November 20, 1852, they shipped 339 slaves from Baltimore, all but a few of whom went to New Orleans." The Campbells were notable as part of a class of slave sellers who offered an enriched product. Per Bancroft, "The Campbells...established a farm in a healthy and accessible region about eighty miles north of New Orleans, where the slaves that were not sold by June could cheaply and profitably be kept and trained while becoming acclimated. There, too, the little children, the breeding women and the ailing of all kinds could be cared for until most salable. During the long and hot season, when the Southern metropolis was avoided, persons needing slaves were invited to come to the farm. Thus Walter L. Campbell, as he advised the public in five New Orleans newspapers, had 'negroes for sale all the time.' Still better, he was able to reopen his yard in October with a supply of more than 100 that were able-bodied, trained, fully acclimated and very valuable." In 1860, R. H. Elam and Walter Campbell were unique among slave traders advertising in New Orleans papers in that "their advertisements made no reference to the terms of sale," unlike the ads of others who specified that cash or a form of credit called "city acceptances" were both accepted. B. M. Campbell also sold slaves from Montgomery, Alabama as part of the probate of estates; in some of these cases he worked with an agent named E. Daniels. == American Civil War ==

Bernard M. Campbell was responsible for the slave appraisals for the District of Columbia compensated emancipation program of 1862. When the U.S. Army recaptured and occupied New Orleans in 1862, Walter Campbell fled to St. Helena Parish and then Mississippi. According to a history of the slave trade during the American Civil War, "The Union army confiscated [Campbell's] New Orleans slave pen and used it to hold captive Confederates, to the delight of the local Black population. Upon seeing Rebels installed therein, one formerly enslaved person exclaimed, 'Got in dar ye self...Use' to put us dar! Got dar ye self now. De Lord's comin'." On June 1, 1862 there was a slave revolt in the Campbell slave jail in Baltimore: "...some sixty slaves, who were sent to the jail by their owners, for fear they would abscond, manifested vicious conduct, and refused to be locked up as usual at dark. The police had to be called in, and not until after a severe struggle, in which the police had to use their pistols, was order restored." According to a 2022 photo feature by the Baltimore Sun, Campbell was injured during this slave revolt. The U.S. Army liberated the enslaved people held in Campbell's jail on July 27, 1863. Campbell's slave jail in Baltimore, formerly the premises of Hope H. Slatter, was "pulled down" in the summer of 1864. == Other slave-trading Campbells ==

Letters between the Campbells and Richmond slave trader R. H. Dickinson were looted by Quaker activists Lucy and Sarah Chase in 1865; the letters are now held at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester and the Library of Congress. According to these letters, other members of the firm included John S. Campbell and Carter L. Campbell. He also appears in a chapter of Harriet Beecher Stowe's ''A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853) devoted to the slave trade. She quotes an ad he placed in the Port Tobacco Times'' in 1852: "The subscriber is permanently located at MIDDLEVILLE, Charles County (immediately on the road from Port Tobacco to Allen's Fresh), where he will be pleased to buy any slaves that are for sale. The extreme value will be given at all times, and liberal commissions paid for information leading to a purchase. Apply personally, or by letter addressed to Allen's Fresh, Charles County. John G. Campbell." == Testimony of Jack Campbell ==

In 1884 Jack Campbell (born ) was interviewed over drinks on Broad Street in Philadelphia: == Additional images ==