Death of an Overseer : Reopening a Murder Investigation from the Plantation South

by Michael Wayne

In May of 1857, the body of Duncan Skinner was found in a strip of woods along the edge of the plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, where he worked as an overseer. Although a coroner's jury initially ruled his death to be accidental, an investigation organized by planters from the community concluded that he had been murdered by three slaves acting under instructions from John McCallin, an Irish carpenter.
Now, almost a century and a half later, Michael Wayne has reopened the case to ask whether the men involved in the investigation arrived at the right verdict. Part essay on the art of historical detection, part seminar on the history of slavery and the Old South, Death of an Overseer is, above all, a murder mystery--a murder mystery that allows readers to sift through the surviving evidence themselves and come to their own conclusions about who killed Duncan Skinner and why.

Genres: History

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Cari Gamlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it but his beliefs on common sense don't work in the novel and what common sense is defined as for scholars. I also dislike the letter at the end of the book that is almost fan fiction for how well researched the book is. I do love the content outside of those issues and recommend it.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

In May 1857 the battered corpse of Duncan Skinner, an overseer on a plantation owned by wealthy widow Clarissa Sharpe, was found in a wooded area near the estate. The original investigators concluded that he’d been killed by an accidental fall from his horse, but the dead man’s brother and other sceptical locals dug deeper and found evidence of murder. Three of Mrs. Sharpe’s slaves confessed to killing Skinner, whose harsh treatment of them was notorious, and were hanged after a brief and sensational trial.

Many Adams County residents believed that a fourth party should have joined them on the gallows: a white Irish laborer named John McCallin. During the investigation, several plantation slaves claimed that McCallin had actively incited the murder by telling them that if Skinner were dead, his way would be free to marry Clarissa Sharpe and give them all “better times.” But in 1857 Mississippi law forbade blacks from testifying against whites, and McCallin escaped arrest. He did not go unpunished, however: the plantation aristocrats ordered him out of the community. His intention to marry a social superior seemed to anger them more than his alleged crime.

Author Michael Wayne, a professor of American history, questions McCallin’s guilt. He analyzes the customs and prejudices of the antebellum South as well as the crime and its racially-biased investigation, and concludes that the Irishman may have been a scapegoat. This approach makes Death of an Overseer a detective story in some parts, a history and sociology lesson in others.

I was pleased to see that Wayne reproduced most of his primary sources verbatim and showed in painstaking detail how and why he reached a particular conclusion. He freely admits that the evidence is open to alternative interpretations and encourages the reader to play armchair detective by placing his voluminous research material at their disposal. (The book’s website at www.deathofanoverseer.com actively solicits new evidence and alternative theories.) This approach is a refreshing respite from the slew of authors who sprout fangs and claws when their ‘definitive’ accounts are questioned.

[Sugarpop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this several years ago for a class and just reread it again.

At the end of the sixth chapter is this:

“But, then, why limit these observations to the nineteenth century, why limit them to the United States? In what society do privileged elites not embrace a view of the world designed to justify their status, and in what society does the distance between that view of the world and social reality not create contradictions? And, to return to the starting point of this whole exercise, in what society does the attempt to resolve those contradictions not lead to a search for scapegoats? The scapegoats are not invariably male, they’re not invariably white, they’re not invariably Irish immigrant carpenters named John McCallin. But they all serve the same purpose.”

Yeah-man.

It was never about justice but justifying and legitimizing. It was all show.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's fascinating to see the author's historical research reveal the true story.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a good book, at times was a little beside the point but overall it served its purpose.