HORSE-RACING AND GENERAL TRAINING.
After the return of the wedding party, Mr. Fitzhugh purchased a tract of
land near that of Capt. Helm, on which the newly-married couple commenced
keeping house. They, however, became dissatisfied with their location,
and soon after sold their possessions and returned to the South.
Capt. Helm still continued to take the oversight of his slaves, and was
out every day, superintending his business, just as his overseer used to
do.
About this time a man named Henry Tower came to Bath to hire "slave boys,"
as we were called. The Captain hired to him Simon and myself, and a Mr.
Baker also hired to him one slave named Vol. McKenzie. We three started
for Dresden, Ontario County, where we arrived in due time.
Mr. Tower had just bought a tract of land, three miles this side of the
village of Lyons, on the Canandaigua outlet. Here Mr. Tower contemplated
making great improvements, building mills, opening stores &c. This tract
of land was comparatively wild, there being but a small frame house for a
dwelling, one for a store, and another for a blacksmith shop. Mr. Tower
had two brothers; James, the eldest, who took charge of the store, and
John, the younger, who took charge of the hands who worked on the farm;
Henry himself superintending the building of the mills. This firm had a
great number of men in their employ that year. I was kept busy helping the
women about the cooking and house-work. And here, for the first time in my
life, I had a comfortable bed to sleep on, and plenty of wholesome food to
eat; which was something both new and strange to me.
The Towers were thorough-going business-men; they built a large grist
mill, with four run of stone, and also a distillery. In those days it was
customary for nearly all classes to drink spirituous liquors; hence, the
distilleries were sources of great pecuniary interest to those who owned
them. But having lived to see the dreadful evils which the drinking of
alcoholic beverages have produced on community, I can hardly speak of
distilleries in the favorable light in which they were then regarded.
The Towers, with commendable enterprise, cleared a great number of acres
of land during the first year I lived with them, besides doing a heavy
business in the mill, store and distillery.
It was customary then for men to assemble at some public place for the
purpose of drinking whisky and racing horses.
One Saturday afternoon there was to be a race, and all was excitement.
Being young, I wished to go with the rest. I hurried through my work as
fast as possible, and then, with a trembling heart, set off in search of
my master, fearing lest he would refuse me the simple request. But he
happened to be in uncommon good humor, and readily gave his consent; and
away I went, "as happy as a lark." When I reached the race-ground, they
were just preparing to run the horses. Seeing me, they knew me to be a
poor friendless little slave boy, helpless and unprotected, and they could
therefore do with me as they pleased, and have some fine sport at my
expense.
When I was asked to ride one of the fast horses, I felt proud of the honor
conferred, and was assisted to mount, feeling highly elated with the lofty
position I had gained.
The word "go," was shouted, and the horse whirled off, and it seemed to me
as if he flew with the speed of lightning. My hat fell off the first
thing; and there I was, clinging with might and main to the neck of the
fiery animal, my head bare, my feet bootless, and my old stripped shirt
blown from my back, and streaming out behind, and fluttering like a banner
in the breeze; my ragged pants off at the knees, and my long legs dangling
down some length below; and at the same time crying "Whoa! whoa!" as loud
as I could. Nor was this all; frightened as I was, nearly to death, I cast
a despairing look behind me, and the loud, derisive laugh of the
bystanders rung in my ears.
Ludicrous as I must have appeared, this was too much,--I felt a giddiness
coming over me, my brain reeled, my hold relaxed, and the next instant I
had fallen to the ground, where all consciousness left me. When I came to
my senses I was lying in bed, surrounded by all the appurtenances of a
dying person.
The first thing I heard was Mr. Tower scolding the men who put me on the
horse, and threatening them with a law-suit for presuming to do such a
thing without his permission. Mr. Tower considered himself holden to Capt.
Helm for my safe return, and was therefore justly indignant at their
placing my life in such peril. It was indeed a narrow escape, for the
horse was running with all his speed when I fell. My bones were unbroken,
however, and I suppose it must have been the tremendous jar I got when I
fell that rendered me unconscious; nor do I think it impossible that the
fright may not have contributed somewhat to the catastrophe.
It was while I was living with that gentleman that the greatest "general
training" ever known in Western New York, came off at "Oak's Corners," in
the town of Phelps. It really seemed to me that the whole world were going
to the training, and I, of course, felt a great curiosity to go where "all
creation" appeared to be going. Mr. Tower permitted me to go, and I
started off in high spirits. When I arrived within two or three miles of
the place the road was almost blocked up with people, and when I got to
Oak's Corners the crowd beggared all description; carriages of all sorts
were there, containing eatables of all kinds, and tents of all dimensions
were on the road-side, for the houses could not begin to accommodate the
people. The entire brigade was to meet at that place, and Gov. Lewis was
expected to review the different companies, and all were anxious to see
the Governor, for, in those days, it was a rare thing to see so high a
dignitary in Western New York; the eastern portion of the State having had
every thing of that kind their own way.
Nor was the means and mode of traveling brought to such perfection as now.
The roads were new and rough, and our best public conveyances only the
slow lumbering stage-coach; yet, notwithstanding these inconveniences,
there was an innumerable crowd gathered at that place. I spent the day in
walking about the encampment, and seeing what was to be seen, for it was
all new to me.
Officers were riding over the ground, dressed in uniform, and mounted on
their splendid steeds: their plumes waving over their cocked-hats in true
military array. A band of music, as is usual, accompanied the soldiers.
There was also a "sham-fight," before the breaking up of the encampment,
and it was really terrifying to me, who had never seen a battle fought, to
witness two columns of troops drawn up, and, at the roll of the drum,
behold them engage in deadly conflict, to all appearance, and the smoke
curling up in a blackened mass toward heaven; and, above all, the
neighing of horses, with the feigned groans of the wounded and dying. I
inwardly prayed to God that those men might ever draw their weapons in a
feigned encounter.
The first night I spent at the encampment was one long to be remembered;
it was like the confusion of Babel. Of all the hideous noises I ever heard
none could exceed those made there that night. They fired guns, quarreled,
drank, and swore, till day light. There was such a crowd at the tavern
that I did not suppose I could get a bed, so I threw myself down upon a
door-step, and began to compose myself to sleep, when a man came and
wakened me, inquiring at the same time whose boy I was. I replied that I
lived with Mr. Tower. "Follow me," said he; I arose and followed him into
the house, where he procured for me a bed, to be shared with another
"boy," who had already occupied it.
I had just began to doze, when the explosion of firearms startled all in
the house. The keeper of the tavern ran up stairs in great alarm, and when
an examination was made, we found that a drunken fellow had discharged his
musket in the room below the one where we were sleeping, and that the ball
had passed up through the second floor and completely through the bed on
which I slept, to the roof, where, having passed through that also, rolled
from thence to the ground! And yet, strange as it may appear, no one was
injured, though the house was filled to overflowing with guests.
There were groups of disorderly and drunken men continually roaming over
the camp-ground at night, who seemed to have no other object than to annoy
others, and torment any one they might find sleeping, by shaking them, or,
if soundly asleep, dragging them out of their beds by their feet. Among
these thus annoyed by them was a physician from Canandaigua. Being a
passionate man, they seemed to think it fine sport to arouse him from
sleep and hear him scold. The first time they dragged him from his tent he
merely remonstrated in a very gentlemanly manner, and quietly crept back
again. The rowdies were disappointed; they had expected a "scene." As soon
as he was asleep they attacked him again, dragging him out by the heels;
then he was angry, and told them if they repeated the offence it would be
at the peril of their lives, and a third time retired to his tent; but a
third party soon came, and one, more bold than the rest, entered the tent
and laid hold of the Doctor. He sprang to his feet and drew his sword,
which he ran through the body of a man supposed to be that of his
tormentor; but oh! what sorrow and consternation possessed him when he
found he had taken the life of a quiet, unoffending person who happened
to be standing by, attracted to the spot probably by the noise of the
revelers. The unhappy Doctor was obliged to flee from his country for a
time, but after a while the shadows which had so suddenly fallen on his
fair prospects were cleared away, and he returned to his home and country.
The second day of the encampment was one of surpassing beauty. The sun
shone in all its softened radiance on that vast concourse of human beings.
The field presented a spectacle which must have been imposing to those of
more experienced vision than mine; but to me, in my ignorant simplicity,
it was superbly grand; fascinating beyond my power of resistance, and made
an impression on my mind never to be effaced.
The brigade was drawn up in a line, each colonel stationed just so many
paces in front of the line, and all the other officers, such as majors,
quarter-masters, &c., were stationed at an equal distance in the rear.
When all were paraded, the Governor of the State made his appearance,
dressed in full uniform, his hat being one of the Bonaparte style,
attended by his aid-de-camp, who was dressed much in the same manner as
his Excellency Governor Lewis, who, after the salute, took his place at
the head of the brigade, and the military exercises commenced. When the
Governor issued his orders, they were first given to his aid, who passed
them to the officers, and they gave the word of command to the soldiers;
for instance if the Governor wished the brigade to "shoulder arms,"--the
order went to the officer who commanded the first regiment, and he
repeated the order, and was obeyed; then the same order passed to the
next, and so on, until the whole brigade had complied with the order of
his Excellency.
But this, I believe, was the first and last time that the military were
ever called out on so large a scale, in the State of New York. It was
supposed that the effect would be decidedly injurious to a community and
the idea was abandoned. Young men were so liable to be fascinated by the
magnificent spectacle, that not the rabble only were attracted by the
"trappings of war," but they have a tendency to induce young, and _old men
even_, of fair prospects, to neglect _their agricultural interests_ for
military pursuits, which, in a new country, were certainly of paramount
importance, if not the greater of the two.
I know that it became very hard for me to content myself to labor as I had
done, after witnessing this grand display. I was completely intoxicated
with a military spirit, and sighed for the liberty to go out "on the
lines" and fight the British.
The martial music, the waving plumes, and magnificent uniform, had driven
from my mind entirely the bloodshed and carnage of the battle field;
beside, I was sick and tired of being a slave, and felt ready to do almost
any thing to get where I could act and feel like a free man.
I became acquainted with a Mr. McClure, a merchant in Bath, who, while on
a journey to Philadelphia, to purchase goods, was taken suddenly ill and
died; when his brother, George McClure, came on to attend to his diseased
brother's business. He was a fine, persevering kind of man, and very soon
got to be General McClure, and commanded the brigade in Steuben County,
and, as such, was liable to be called at any time when his services were
required, to go to the frontier and guard our lines from the invasion of
the English army.
To him I applied for a situation as waiter, which he readily agreed to
give me if I could get the consent of Captain Helm. I thought there would
be no trouble about that; and oh! how I dreamed of and anticipated the
happiness of being _something_ beside a slave, for a _little while at
least_. Almost every day I went to the store to talk to Gen. McClure of
this greatest happiness imaginable, "going to the lines!" and was
impatient for the chance to arrive that would send me there.
At last Gen. McClure wrote to Gen. Armstrong, to say that he was ready to
obey any order that he might send him, and march to "the lines," if his
services were needed; and, to _my_ inexpressible joy, marching orders were
returned. I nearly flew in search of Capt. Helm, never once suspecting
that he would object; because I knew that he did not then require my
services himself, and the pay would be quite as good as he had been
receiving for my time; besides I had so completely set my heart on going,
that it was impossible for me to dream of a disappointment so bitter as
that of being denied going "to the lines."
Oh! how then were my high hopes fallen, and how much more hateful appeared
that slavery which had blighted all my military prospects? Nor was Capt.
Helm's heartless and mercenary reply to my humble pleading any antidote to
my disappointed feelings and desire for freedom. He said, "you shall not
go; I will permit nothing of the kind, so let there be an end to it. The
_pay_ is all well enough, I know, but if you get killed your wages will
stop; and then who, do you suppose, will indemnify me for the loss? Go
about your business, and let me hear no more of such nonsense!"
There was an emergency I had not provided for; and, as I then believed,
the master could make no demand on or for the slaves beyond the grave, I
was silent; but both master and myself were mistaken on that point; for I
have since learned numerous instances where slaves have fought and died
in the service of their master's country, and the slave-owner received
his wages up to the hour of his death, and then recovered of the United
States the full value of his person as property!
Gen. McClure left soon after for the frontier; my saddened heart followed
him, and that was all; my body was in slavery still, and painful though
it was, I must quietly submit.
The General, however, reaped but few if any laurels in that campaign; he
burned the small village of Newark, in Canada, for which he got very
little credit on either side of the lake; so I comforted myself as well as
I could with the reflection, that all who "went to the wars" did not
return covered with glory and laurels of victory.
I continued to live with the Towers; and in the fall of that year, I had
the misfortune to cut my foot badly. While chopping fire wood at the door,
I accidentally struck my ax against a post, which glanced the blow in such
a manner that it came down with sufficient force to nearly sever my great
toe from my left foot, gashing upward completely through the large joint,
which made a terrible wound. Dr. Taylor was immediately called, and sewed
the flesh together, taking two stitches on the upper, and one on the
under, side of the foot, before it began to swell; but when the swelling
came on, the stitches on the upper side gave way, which occasioned the toe
to fall over so much, that I have been slightly lame from that day to
this. For several weeks I was unable to be moved, and was regularly
attended by Dr. Taylor, but as soon as it could be done without danger, I
was taken back to Capt. Helm's, where I found things in much the same
condition as when I left them over a year before.
On leaving the family of Mr. Tower, I endeavored to express to them as
well in my power the gratitude I felt for their kindness, and the
attention I had received during my lameness.
We returned to Bath in a sleigh, and arrived without accident or any great
suffering. But the kind treatment I had always received from the Messrs.
Tower and family, made it very hard for me to reconcile myself to my
former mode of living; especially now that I was lame and weak, from
sickness and long confinement; besides, it was cold weather. Oh! how hard
it did seem to me, after having a good bed and plenty of bed clothes every
night for so long time, to now throw myself down, like a dog, on the
"_softest side_" of a rough board, without a pillow, and without a
particle of bedding to cover me during the long cold nights of winter. To
be reduced from a plentiful supply of good, wholesome food, to the mere
pittance which the Captain allowed his slaves, seemed to me beyond
endurance.
And yet I had always lived and fared thus, but I never felt so bitterly
these hardships and the cruelties of Slavery as I did at that time; making
a virtue of necessity, however, I turned my thoughts in another direction.
I managed to purchase a spelling book, and set about teaching myself to
read, as best I could. Every spare moment I could find was devoted to that
employment, and when about my work I could catch now and then a stolen
glance at my book, just to refresh my memory with the simple lesson I was
trying to learn. But here Slavery showed its cloven foot in all its
hideous deformity. It finally reached the ears of my master that I was
learning to read; and then, if he saw me with a book or a paper in my
hand, oh, how he would swear at me, sending me off in a hurry, about some
employment. Still I persevered, but was more careful about being seen
making any attempt to learn to read. At last, however, I was discovered,
and had to pay the penalty of my determination.
I had been set to work in the sugar bush, and I took my spelling book with
me. When a spare moment occurred I sat down to study, and so absorbed was
I in the attempt to blunder through my lesson, that I did not hear the
Captain's son-in-law coming until he was fairly upon me. He sprang
forward, caught my poor old spelling book, and threw it into the fire,
where it was burned to ashes; and then came my turn. He gave me first
a severe flogging, and then swore if he ever caught me with another book,
he would "whip every inch of skin off my back," &c.
This treatment, however, instead of giving me the least idea of giving it
up, only made me look upon it as a more valuable attainment. Else, why
should my oppressors feel so unwilling that their slaves should possess
that which they thought so essential to themselves? Even then, with my
back bleeding and smarting from the punishment I had received, I
determined to learn to read and write, at all hazards, if my life was only
spared. About this time Capt. Helm began to sell off his slaves to
different persons, as he could find opportunity, and sometimes at a great
sacrifice. It became apparent that the Captain, instead of prospering in
business, was getting poorer every day.