Upon arrival in the Atakapas’, the most important thing was to begin preparing the land for the planting of sugar cane. This required enormous resources – much of it human. Slavery was one of the ways to acquire the needed help to run an operation such as ours. At one point there were over 80 individuals of various ages here who worked tirelessly in all manners to make Stéphanie successful.
In my documents, the names, ages, physical conditions and job responsibilities are outlined. For those who became infirm, the specific condition and care required is also noted.
Planting, cutting, and milling took much time and energy. A small refinery was also needed to process cane into syrup, molasses and sugar. All of these efforts are outlined in my correspondence to Mr. Jefferson.