It was now about the middle of June, the weather excessively warm, and
from eleven o'clock, A. M., until late in the afternoon, the sand about
our residence was so hot that we could not stand on it with our bare
feet in one posture, more than one or two minutes. The whole country, so
far as I could see, appeared to be a dead plain, without the least
variety of either hill or dale. The pine was so far the predominating
timber of the forest, that at a little distance the entire woods
appeared to be composed of this tree.
I had become weary of being confined to the immediate vicinity of our
lodgings, and determined to venture out into the fields of the
plantation, and see the manner of cultivating cotton. Accordingly, after
I had made my morning meal upon corn cakes, I sallied out in the
direction which I had seen the slaves of the plantation take at the time
they left the house at daylight, and following a path through a small
field of corn, which was so tall as to prevent me from seeing beyond
it, I soon arrived at the field in which the people were at work with
hoes amongst the cotton, which was about two feet and a half high, and
had formed such long branches, that they could no longer plough in it
without breaking it. Expecting to pass the remainder of my life in this
kind of labor, I felt anxious to know the evils, if any, attending it,
and more especially the manner in which the slaves were treated on the
cotton estates.
The people now before me, were all diligently and laboriously weeding
and hilling the cotton with hoes, and when I approached them, they
scarcely took time to speak to me, but continued their labor as if I had
not been present. As there did not appear to be any overseer with them,
I thought I would go amongst them, and enter into conversation with
them; but upon addressing myself to one of the men, and telling him, if
it was not disagreeable to him, I should be glad to become acquainted
with him, he said he should be glad to be acquainted with me, but master
Tom did not allow him to talk much to people when he was at work. I
asked him where his master Tom was; but before he had time to reply,
same one called--"Mind your work there, you rascals." Looking in the
direction of the sound, I saw master Tom, sitting under the shade of a
sassafras tree, at the distance of about a hundred yards from us.
Deeming it unsafe to continue in the field without the permission of
its lord, I approached the sassafras tree, with my hat in my hand, and
in a very humble manner, asked leave to help the people work awhile, as
I was tired of staying about the house and doing nothing. He said he did
not care; I might go and work with them awhile, but I must take care not
to talk too much and keep his hands from their work.
Now, having authority on my side, I returned, and taking a hoe from the
hands of a small girl, told her to pull up weeds, and I would take her
row for her. When we arrived at the end of the rows which we were then
hilling, master Tom, who still held his post under the sassafras tree,
called his people to come to breakfast. Although I had already broken my
fast, I went with the rest for the purpose of seeing what their
breakfast was composed of. At the tree I saw a keg which contained about
five gallons, with water in it, and a gourd lying by it; near this was a
basket made of splits, large enough to hold more than a peck. It
contained the breakfast of the people, covered by some green leaves of
the magnolia, or great bay tree of the South. When the leaves were
removed, I found that the supply of provisions consisted of one cake of
corn-meal, weighing about half a pound, for each person. This bread had
no sort of seasoning, not even salt, and constituted the only breakfast
of these poor people, who had been toiling from early dawn until about
eight o'clock. There was no cake for me, and master Tom did not say
anything to me on the state of my stomach; but the young girl, whose hoe
I had taken in the field, offered me a part of her cake, which I
refused. After the breakfast was despatched, we again returned to our
work; but the master ordered the girl, whose hoe I had, to go and get
another hoe which lay at some distance in the field, and take her row
again. I continued in the field until dinner, which took place about one
o'clock, and was the same, in all respects, as the breakfast had been.
Master Tom was the younger of the two brothers who returned from the
cock-fight on the evening of our arrival at this place,--he left the
field about ten o'clock, and was succeeded by his elder brother, as
overseer for the remainder of the day. After this change of
superintendents, my companions became more loquacious, and in the course
of an hour or two, I had become familiar with the condition of my
fellow-laborers, who told me that the elder of their young masters was
much less tyrannical than his younger brother; and that whilst the
former remained in the field they would be at liberty to talk as much as
they pleased, provided they did not neglect their work. One of the men
who appeared to be about forty years of age, and who was the foreman of
the field, told me that he had been born in South Carolina, and had
always lived there, though he had only belonged to his present master
about ten years. I asked him if his master allowed him no meat, nor any
kind of provisions except bread; to which he replied that they never had
any meat except at Christmas, when each hand on the place received about
three pounds of pork; that from September, when the sweet potatoes were
at the maturity of their growth, they had an allowance of potatoes as
long as the crop held out, which was generally until about March; but
that for the rest of the year, they had nothing but a peck of corn a
week, with such weeds and other vegetables as they could gather from the
fields for greens--that their master did not allow them any salt, and
that the only means they had of procuring this luxury, was, by working
on Sundays for the neighboring planters, who paid them in money at the
rate of fifty cents per day, with which they purchased salt and some
other articles of convenience.
This man told me that his master furnished him with two shirts of tow
linen, and two pair of trowsers, one of woollen and the other of linen
cloth, one woollen jacket, and one blanket every year. That he received
the woollen clothes at Christmas, and the linen at Easter; and all the
other clothes, if he had any, he was obliged to provide for himself by
working on Sunday. He said, that for several years past, he had not
been able to provide any clothes for himself; as he had a wife with
several small children, on an adjoining plantation, whose master gave
only one suit of clothes in the year to the mother, and none of any kind
to the children, which had compelled him to lay out all his savings in
providing clothes for his family, and such little necessaries as were
called for by his wife from time to time. He had not had a shoe on his
foot for several years, but in winter made a kind of moccasin for
himself of the bark of a tree, which he said was abundant in the swamps,
and could be so manufactured as to make good ropes, and tolerable
moccasins, sufficient at least to defend the feet from the frost, though
not to keep them dry.
The old man whom I have alluded to before, was in the field with the
others, though he was not able to keep up with his row. He had no
clothes on him except the remains of an old shirt, which hung in tatters
from his neck and arms; the two young girls had nothing on them but
petticoats, made of coarse tow-cloth, and the woman, who was the mother
of the children, wore the remains of a tow-linen shift, the front part
of which was entirely gone; but a piece of old cotton bagging tied round
her loins, served the purposes of an apron The younger of the two boys
was entirely naked.
The man who was foreman of the field, was a person of good sense for the
condition of life in which fortune had placed him, and spoke to me
freely of his hard lot. I observed that under his shirt, which was very
ragged, he wore a piece of fine linen cloth, apparently part of an old
shirt, wrapped closely round his back, and confined in front by strings,
tied down his breast. I asked him why he wore that piece of gentleman's
linen under his shirt, and shall give his reply in his own words as well
as I can recollect them, at a distance of near thirty years.
"I have always been a hard working man, and have suffered a great deal
from hunger in my time. It is not possible for a man to work hard every
day for several months, and get nothing but a peck of corn a week to
eat, and not feel hungry. When a man is hungry, you know, (if you have
ever been hungry,) he must eat whatever he can get. I have not tasted
meat since last Christmas, and we have had to work uncommonly hard this
summer. Master has a flock of sheep, that run in the woods, and they
come every night to sleep in the lane near the house. Two weeks ago last
Saturday, when we quit work at night, I was very hungry, and as we went
to the house we passed along the lane where the sheep lay. There were
nearly fifty of them, and some were very fat. The temptation was more
than I could bear. I caught one of them, cut its head off with the hoe
that I carried on my shoulder, and threw it under the fence. About
midnight, when all was still about the house, I went out with a knife,
took the sheep into the woods, and dressed it by the light of the moon.
The carcass I took home, and after cutting it up, placed it in the great
kettle over a good fire, intending to boil it and divide it, when
cooked, between my fellow-slaves (whom I knew to be as hungry as I was)
and myself. Unfortunately for me, master Tom, who had been out amongst
his friends that day, had not returned at bed-time; and about one
o'clock in the morning, at the time when I had a blazing fire under the
kettle, I heard the sound of the feet of a horse coming along the lane.
The kitchen walls were open so that the light of my fire could not be
concealed, and in a moment I heard the horse blowing at the front of the
house. Conscious of my danger, I stripped my shirt from my back, and
pushed it into the boiling kettle, so as wholly to conceal the flesh of
the sheep. I had scarcely completed this act of precaution, when master
Tom burst into the kitchen, and with a terrible oath, asked me what I
was doing so late at night, with a great fire in the kitchen. I replied,
'I am going to wash my shirt, master, and am boiling it to get it
clean.' 'Washing your shirt at this time of night!' said he, 'I will let
you know that you are not to sit up all night and be lazy and good for
nothing all day. There shall be no boiling of shirts here on Sunday
morning,' and thrusting his cane into the kettle, he raised my shirt out
and threw it on the kitchen floor.
"He did not at first observe the mutton, which rose to the surface of
the water as soon as the shirt was removed; but, after giving the shirt
a kick towards the door, he again turned his face to the fire, and
seeing a leg standing several inches out of the pot, he demanded of me
what I had in there and where I had got this meat! Finding that I
was detected, and that the whole matter must be discovered, I
said,--'Master, I am hungry, and am cooking my supper.' 'What is it you
have in here?' 'A sheep,' said I, and as the words were uttered, he
knocked me down with his cane, and after beating me severely, ordered me
to cross my hands until he bound me fast with a rope that hung in the
kitchen, and answered the double purpose of a clothes line and a cord to
tie us with when we were to be whipped. He put out the fire under the
kettle, drew me into the yard, tied me fast to the mill-post, and
leaving me there for the night, went and called one of the negro boys to
put his horse in the stable, and went to his bed. The cord was bound so
tightly round my wrists, that before morning the blood had burst out
under my finger nails; but I suppose my master slept soundly for all
that. I was afraid to call any one to come and release me from my
torment, lest a still more terrible punishment might overtake me.
"I was permitted to remain in this situation until long after sunrise
the next morning, which being Sunday, was quiet and still; my
fellow-slaves being permitted to take their rest after the severe toil
of the past week, and my old master and two young ones having no
occasion to rise to call the hands to the field, did not think of
interrupting their morning slumbers, to release me from my painful
confinement. However, when the sun was risen about an hour, I heard the
noise of persons moving in the great house, and soon after a loud and
boisterous conversation, which I well knew portended no good to me. At
length they all three came into the yard where I lay lashed to the post,
and approaching me, my old master asked me if I had any accomplices in
stealing the sheep. I told them none--that it was entirely my own
act--and that none of my fellow-slaves had any hand in it. This was the
truth; but if any of my companions had been concerned with me, I should
not have betrayed them; for such an act of treachery could not have
alleviated the dreadful punishment which I knew awaited me, and would
only have involved them in the same misery.
"They called me a thief, loaded me with oaths and imprecations, and
each one proposed the punishment which he deemed the most appropriate to
the enormity of the crime that I had committed. Master Tom was of
opinion, that I should be lashed to the post at the foot of which I lay,
and that each of my fellow-slaves should be compelled to give me a dozen
lashes in turn, with a roasted and greased hickory _gad_, until I had
received, in the whole, two hundred and fifty lashes on my bare back,
and that he would stand by, with the whip in his hand, and _compel_ them
not to spare me; but after a short debate this was given up, as it would
probably render me unable to work in the field again for several weeks.
My master Ned was in favor of giving me a dozen lashes every morning for
a month, with the whip; but my old master said, this would be attended
with too much trouble, and besides, it would keep me from my work, at
least half an hour every morning, and proposed, in his turn, that I
should not be whipped at all, but that the carcass of the sheep should
be taken from the kettle in its half-boiled condition, and hung up in
the kitchen loft without salt; and that I should be compelled to subsist
on this putrid mutton without any other food, until it should be
consumed. This suggestion met the approbation of my young masters, and
would have been adopted, had not mistress at this moment come into the
yard, and hearing the intended punishment, loudly objected to it,
because the mutton would, in a day or two, create such an offensive
stench, that she and my young mistresses would not be able to remain in
the house. My mistress swore dreadfully, and cursed me for an ungrateful
sheep thief, who, after all her kindness in giving me soup and warm
bread when I was sick last winter, was always stealing every thing I
could get hold of. She then said to my master, that such villany ought
not to be passed over in a slight manner, and that as crimes, such as
this, concerned the whole country, my punishment ought to be public for
the purpose of example; and advised him to have me whipped that same
afternoon, at five o'clock; first giving notice to the neighborhood to
come and see the spectacle, and to bring with them their slaves, that
they might be witnesses to the consequences of stealing sheep.
"They then returned to the house to breakfast; but as the pain in my
hands and arms produced by the ligatures of the cord with which I was
bound, was greater than I could bear, I now felt exceedingly sick, and
lost all knowledge of my situation. They told me I fainted; and when I
recovered my faculties, I found myself lying in the shade of the house,
with my hands free, and all the white persons in my master's family
standing around me. As soon as I was able to stand, the rope was tied
round my neck, and the other end again fastened to the mill post. My
mistress said I had only pretended to faint; and master Tom said, I
would have something worth fainting for before night. He was faithful to
his promise; but, for the present, I was suffered to sit on the grass in
the shade of the house.
"As soon as breakfast was over, my two young masters had their horses
saddled, and set out to give notice to their friends of what had
happened, and to invite them to come and see me punished for the crime I
had committed. My mistress gave me no breakfast, and when I begged one
of the black boys whom I saw looking at me through the pales, to bring
me some water in a gourd to drink, she ordered him to bring it from a
puddle in the lane. My mistress has always been very cruel to all her
black people.
"I remained in this situation until about eleven o'clock, when one of my
young mistresses came to me and gave me a piece of jonny-cake about the
size of my hand, perhaps larger than my hand, telling me at the same
time, that my fellow-slaves had been permitted to re-boil the mutton
that I had left in the kettle, and make their breakfast of it, but that
her mother would not allow her to give me any part of it. It was well
for them that I had parboiled it with my shirt, and so defiled it that
it was unfit for the table of my master, otherwise, no portion of it
would have fallen to the black people--as it was, they had as much meat
as they could consume in two days, for which I had to suffer.
"About twelve o'clock, one of my young masters returned, and soon
afterwards the other came home. I heard them tell my old master that
they had been round to give notice of my offence to the neighboring
planters, and that several of them would attend to see me flogged, and
would bring with them some of their slaves, who might be able to report
to their companions what had been done to me for stealing.
"It was late in the afternoon before any of the gentlemen came; but,
before five o'clock, there were more than twenty white people, and at
least fifty black ones present, the latter of whom had been compelled,
by their masters, to come and see me punished. Amongst others, an
overseer from a neighboring estate attended; and to him was awarded the
office of executioner. I was stripped of my shirt, and the waist-band of
my trousers was drawn closely round me, below my hips, so as to expose
the whole of my back, in its entire length.
"It seems that it had been determined to beat me with thongs of raw
cow-hide, for the overseer had two of these in his hands, each about
four feet long; but one of the gentlemen present said this might bruise
my back so badly, that I could not work for sometime; perhaps not for a
week or two; and as I could not be spared from the field without
disadvantage to my master's crop, he suggested a different plan, by
which, in his opinion, the greatest degree of pain could be inflicted on
me, with the least danger of rendering me unable to work. As he was a
large planter, and had more than fifty slaves, all were disposed to be
guided by his counsels, and my master said he would submit the matter
entirely to him as a man of judgment and experience in such cases. He
then desired my master to have a dozen pods of red pepper boiled in half
a gallon of water, and desired the overseer to lay aside his thongs of
raw-hide, and put a new cracker of silk, to the lash of his negro whip.
Whilst these preparations were being made, each of my thumbs were lashed
closely to the end of a stick about three feet long, and a chair being
placed beside the mill post, I was compelled to raise my hands and place
the stick, to which my thumbs were bound, over the top of the post,
which is about eighteen inches square; the chair was then taken from
under me, and I was left hanging by the thumbs, with my face towards the
post, and my feet about a foot from the ground. My two great toes were
then tied together, and drawn down the post as far as my joints could be
stretched; the cord was passed round the post two or three times and
securely fastened. In this posture I had no power of motion, except in
my neck, and could only move that at the expense of beating my face
against the side of the post.
"The pepper tea was now brought, and poured into a basin to cool, and
the overseer was desired to give me a dozen lashes just above the
waist-band; and not to cover a space of more than four inches on my
back, from the waist-band upwards. He obeyed the injunction faithfully,
but slowly, and each crack of the whip was followed by a sensation as
painful as if a red hot iron had been drawn across my back. When the
twelve strokes had been given, the operation was suspended, and a black
man, one of the slaves present, was compelled to wash the gashes in my
skin, with the scalding pepper tea, which was yet so hot that he could
not hold his hand in it. This doubly-burning liquid was thrown into my
raw and bleeding wounds, and produced a tormenting smart, beyond the
description of language. After a delay of ten minutes, by the watch, I
received another dozen lashes, on the part of my back which was
immediately above the bleeding and burning gashes of the former
whipping; and again the biting, stinging, pepper tea was applied to my
lacerated and trembling muscles. This operation was continued at regular
intervals, until I had received ninety-six lashes, and my back was cut
and scalded from end to end. Every stroke of the whip had drawn blood;
many of the gashes were three inches long; my back burned as if it had
been covered by a coat of hot embers, mixed with living coals; and I
felt my flesh quiver like that of animals that have been slaughtered by
the butcher and are flayed whilst yet half alive. My face was bruised,
and my nose bled profusely, for in the madness of my agony, I had not
been able to refrain from beating my head violently against the post.
"Vainly did I beg and implore for mercy. I was kept bound to the post
with my whole weight hanging upon my thumbs, an hour and a half, but it
appeared to me that I had entered upon eternity, and that my sufferings
would never end. At length, however, my feet were unbound, and
afterwards my hands; but when released from the cords, I was so far
exhausted as not to be able to stand, and my thumbs were stiff and
motionless. I was carried into the kitchen, and laid on a blanket, where
my mistress came to see me; and after looking at my lacerated back, and
telling me that my wounds were only skin deep, said I had come off well,
after what I had done, and that I ought to be thankful that it was not
worse with me. She then bade me not to groan so loud, nor make so much
noise, and left me to myself. I lay in this condition until it was quite
dark, by which time the burning of my back had much abated, and was
succeeded by an aching soreness, which rendered me unable to turn over
or bend my spine in the slightest manner. My mistress again visited me,
and brought with her about half a pound of fat bacon, which she made one
of the black women roast before the fire on a fork, until the oil ran
freely from it, and then rub it warm over my back. This was repeated
until I was greased from the neck to the hips, effectually. An old
blanket was then thrown over me, and I was left to pass the night alone.
Such was the terror stricken into my fellow-slaves, by the example made
of me, that although they loved and pitied me, not one of them dared to
approach me during this night.
"My strength was gone, and I at length fell asleep, from which I did not
awake until the horn was blown the next morning, to call the people to
the corn crib, to receive their weekly allowance of a peck of corn. I
did not rise, nor attempt to join the other people, and shortly
afterwards my master entered the kitchen, and in a soft and gentle tone
of voice, asked me if I was dead. I answered him that I was not dead,
and making some effort, found I was able to get upon my feet. My master
had become frightened when he missed me at the corn crib, and being
suddenly seized with an apprehension that I was dead, his heart had
become softened, not with compassion for my sufferings, but with the
fear of losing his best field hand; but when he saw me stand before him
erect, and upright, the recollection of the lost sheep revived in his
mind, and with it, all his feelings of revenge against the author of its
death.
"'So you are not dead yet, you thieving rascal,' said he, and cursing me
with many bitter oaths, ordered me to go along to the crib and get my
corn, and go to work with the rest of the hands. I was forced to obey,
and taking my basket of corn from the door of the crib, placed it in the
kitchen loft, and went to the field with the other people.
"Weak and exhausted as I was, I was compelled to do the work of an able
hand, but was not permitted to taste the mutton, which was all given to
the others, who were carefully guarded whilst they were eating, lest
they should give me some of it."
This man's back was not yet well. Many of the gashes made by the lash
were yet sore, and those that were healed had left long white stripes
across his body. He had no notion of leaving the service of his
tyrannical master, and his spirit was so broken and subdued that he was
ready to suffer and to bear all his hardships: not, indeed, without
complaining, but without attempting to resist his oppressors or to
escape from their power. I saw him often whilst I remained at this
place, and ventured to tell him once, that if I had a master who would
abuse me as he had abused him, I would run away. "Where could I run, or
in what place could I conceal myself?" said he. "I have known many
slaves who ran away, but they were always caught and treated worse
afterwards than they had been before. I have heard that there is a place
called Philadelphia, where the black people are all free, but I do not
know which way it lies, nor what road I should take to go there; and if
I knew the way, how could I hope to get there? would not the patrol be
sure to catch me?"
I pitied this unfortunate creature, and was at the same time fearful
that, in a short time, I should be equally the object of pity myself.
How well my fears were justified the sequel of my narrative will show.