In 1890 , David Pearl purchased the 95 acres that is the historic Pearl Family Farm of Platte County that we know today , and one of the oldest Black-owned farms , not only in Missouri but also in the nation .
was made of thick woven hemp to protect and aid them in their triumph over the Union soldiers . You ’ ll read about the large bales of hemp used as blockages of protection for the Confederate Army , but
By 1890 , hemp production had dramatically slowed nationwide due mostly to a lack of demand , yield , and profit . The latter was the fact that after the abolishment of slavery post-civil war , few laborers were willing to farm , harvest , and bundle the harsh crop .
Industrial hemp ’ s complex history in Missouri began in 1835 . Second to Kentucky , Missouri quickly became the largest exporter of hemp in the United States , with Lafayette County being the biggest hemp-producing county in the state , followed by Platte County . At its peak demand , 26 % of all domestically grown hemp hailed from Missouri .
Confederate soldiers used hemp bales as blockades to protect them from gun fire . They rolled bales forward as they advanced on Union troops .
rarely is there a description of the people growing , harvesting , stocking , and bundling the crop . To organically come to the realization that the hemp used to protect the Confederate Army during the Civil War in the United States was the same hemp harvested by the enslaved in these high-yielding counties in Missouri is an issue all its own .
Mr . Pearl preparing the soil in the potato fields . ( Photo by Ari Fish )
“ Most of the hemp grown here was shipped back east for rope mooring the boats and ships and maritime navigation .” Mr . Pearl explained , “ William McClung Paxton wrote an entire book about Platte County at the time . You should check it out .”
Do a little digging , and you ’ ll quickly find the searchable archive of W . M . Paxton ’ s book Annals of Platte County Missouri , a nearly 1,200-page document clinically describing hemp production , slavery , the Civil War , detailed weather data , and notable people of the county from the 1820s up to 1897 . Each hemp harvest is thoroughly indexed . But , only after learning of the intensive labor of industrial hemp production at the time from Mr . Pearl ’ s lens can you truly see Paxton ’ s desperation in attempting higher yields from a harried crop grown in a more unpredictable climate .
In fact , try as you may to find a generational account of hemp production in the area , and your research falls short at mentions of its abundance in Missouri in the mid-1800s . Without fail , most accounts will reference the battle of Lexington , MO , at the Masonic College during the Civil War and how the Confederate soldiers ’ armor
Mr . Pearl at his greenhouse standing in front of last season ’ s fresh produce grown on their 100 acres for CSA produce boxes .
( Photo by Ari Fish )
After digitally thumbing through W . M . Paxton ’ s book , I phoned Mr . Pearl to cross-compare my notes for this article . His cell phone battery was at 5 %, and he was on his way to a Kansas City Food Hub board meeting , but he made time for my rapid-fire questions . I explained to him that I read a passage in Paxton ’ s book about one man who was enslaved at the time on Paxton ’ s Plantation and who was fined for preaching to his enslaved peers without a white man present . “ Well , that ’ s interesting ,” responded Mr . Pearl , “ the fact that he was only fined at the time and not worse seems rare , but you never know .”
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