Colonel Joseph A. S. Acklen was an American plantation owner and businessman who lived in the mid-19th century. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1816 and later moved to Louisiana, where he became one of the largest slaveholders in the state. Acklen owned several plantations and thousands of enslaved people, and he became extremely wealthy from the labor and sale of enslaved people.
Acklen was also involved in politics and served as a delegate to the Louisiana Secession Convention in 1861. He was a supporter of the Confederacy and contributed large sums of money to the war effort. After the Civil War, Acklen continued to be involved in politics and was elected to the Louisiana State Senate in 1879.
In addition to his plantation and political interests, Acklen was also a prominent businessman. He invested in real estate, railroads, and steamship companies, and he was involved in the development of New Orleans’ streetcar system. Acklen is remembered today for his vast wealth and for his role in the plantation economy of the antebellum South. He is also a controversial figure because of his participation in the enslavement of thousands of people and his support for the Confederate cause.