Slavers clearly did not believe slavery was doomed quite the contrary since the clueless ruling class provoked a war which destroyed the region for nearly a century. Lincoln had done NOTHING to take away their slaves.
My ancestors were by and large too poor to “own” slaves.
In fact, THEY worked like slaves themselves.
My Cotham ancestors lived in Georgia Indian Territory in
the late 1700’s on a plantation and had slaves. My fifth
great grandfather married a Cherokee woman; my sixth great
grandmother pitched a fit. His daddy gave him his
inheritance in gold and he and my fifth great grandmother
boarded a riverboat and came up the Tinase River to a
little town there. My second great grandfather was a
lightskeeper on the Tinase (Tennessee) River. I still
have his Smith & Wesson revolver that he carried in his
job. Tough customers on that river. Would rob you, kill
you and leave your body on the river bank.