The old mill at Wilmington

Ohio · United States · Mill

A man is said to have brought nine Black children back to this Ohio mill after the war and kept them there. The practice behind that story was real.

The old mill at Wilmington, Ohio was built before the Civil War, and the account attached to it concerns what happened after.

The story holds that a man who had fought in the war brought back around nine Black children, kept them at the mill, beat them for small things like laughing, and shut them away from everything they knew.

No record supports the specific story, and it should not be repeated as fact.

What should be said is that the practice behind it was real. After emancipation, apprenticeship and indenture laws across Ohio and the border states were used to bind Black children to white households, often without their families' consent, in arrangements that were slavery under a legal name. Thousands of children went through it.

What is reported at the mill belongs to that history whether or not this particular version happened. The building is private.

FAQ

Where is The old mill at Wilmington located?

The old mill at Wilmington is in Ohio, United States.