The Great Slave Auction (also called The Weeping Time) in March 1859 is regarded as the largest sale of enslaved people to have occurred before the American Civil War. To satisfy significant debts, absentee owner and Philadelphian Pierce Mease Butler, authorized the sale of approximately 436 men, women, children, and infants to be sold over the course of two days at the Ten Broeck Race Course, two miles outside of Savannah, Georgia.