By the laws of the United States I am still a slave; and though I am now
growing old, I might even yet be deemed of sufficient value to be worth
pursuing as far as my present residence, if those to whom the law gives
the right of dominion over my person and life, knew where to find me.
For these reasons I have been advised, by those whom I believe to be my
friends, not to disclose the true names of any of those families in
which I was a slave, in Carolina or Georgia, lest this narrative should
meet their eyes, and in some way lead them to a discovery of my retreat.
I was now the slave of one of the most wealthy planters in Carolina, who
planted cotton, rice, indigo, corn, and potatoes; and was the master of
two hundred and sixty slaves.
The description of one great cotton plantation will give a correct idea
of all others; and I shall here present an outline of that of my
master's.
He lived about two miles from Caugaree river, which bordered his estate
on one side, and in the swamps of which were his rice fields. The
country hereabout is very flat, the banks of the river are low, and in
wet seasons large tracts of country are flooded by the super-abundant
water of the river. There are no springs, and the only means of
procuring water on the plantations is from wells, which must be sunk in
general about twenty feet deep, before a constant supply of water can be
obtained. My master had two of these wells on his plantation--one at the
mansion house, and one at the quarter.
My master's house was of brick, (brick houses are by no means common
among the planters, whose residences are generally built of frame work,
weather boarded with pine boards, and covered with shingles of the white
cedar or juniper cypress,) and contained two large parlors, and a
spacious hall or entry on the ground floor. The main building was two
stories high, and attached to this was a smaller building, one story and
a half high, with a large room, where the family generally took
breakfast, with a kitchen at the farther extremity from the main
building.
There was a spacious garden behind the house, containing, I believe,
about five acres, well cultivated, and handsomely laid out. In this
garden grew a great variety of vegetables; some of which I have never
seen in the market of Philadelphia. It contained a profusion of
flowers, three different shrubberies, a vast number of ornamental and
small fruit trees, and several small hot houses, with glass roofs. There
was a head gardener, who did nothing but attend to this garden through
the year; and during the summer he generally had two men and two boys to
assist him. In the months of April and May this garden was one of the
sweetest and most pleasant places that I ever was in. At one end of the
main building was a small house, called the library, in which my master
kept his books and papers, and where he spent much of his time.
At some distance from the mansion was a pigeon-house, and near the
kitchen was a large wooden building, called the kitchen quarter, in
which the house servants slept, and where they generally took their
meals. Here, also, the washing of the family was done, and all the rough
or unpleasant work of the kitchen department--such as cleaning and
salting fish, putting up pork, &c., was assigned to this place.
There was no barn on this plantation, according to the acceptation of
the word _barn_ in Pennsylvania; but there was a wooden building, about
forty feet long, called the coach-house, in one end of which the family
carriage and the chaise in which my master rode were kept. Under the
same roof was a stable large enough to contain a dozen horses. In one
end the corn intended for the horses was kept, and the whole of one
loft was occupied by the blades and tops of the corn. About a quarter of
a mile from the dwelling house were the huts or cabins of the plantation
slaves, standing in rows. There were thirty-eight of them, generally
about sixteen feet square, and provided with pine floors. In these
cabins were two hundred and fifty people, of all ages, sexes and sizes.
A short distance from the cabins was the house of the overseer. In one
corner of his garden stood a corn-crib and a provision-house. A little
way off stood the house containing the cotton-gin. There was no
smoke-house, nor any place for curing meat, and while I was on this
plantation no food was ever salted for the use of the slaves.
I went out into the garden, and after sundown my old master sent me to
the overseer's house. He was just coming in from the field, followed by
a great number of black people. He asked me my name, and calling a
middle-aged man, who was passing us at some distance, told him he must
take me to live with him. I followed my new friend to his cabin, which
was the shelter of his wife and five children. Their only furniture
consisted of a few blocks of wood for seats; a short bench, made of a
pine board, which served as a table; and a small bed in one corner,
composed of a mat, made of common rushes, spread upon some corn husks,
pulled and split into fine pieces, and kept together by a narrow slip of
wood, confined to the floor by wooden pins. There was a common iron pot
standing beside the chimney, and several wooden spoons and dishes hung
against the wall. Several blankets also hung against the wall upon
wooden pins. An old box, made of pine boards, without either lock or
hinges, occupied one corner.
At the time I entered this humble abode the mistress was not at home.
She had not yet returned from the field; having been sent, as the
husband informed me, with some other people late in the evening, to do
some work in a field about two miles distant. I found a child, about a
year old, lying on the mat-bed, and a little girl about four years old
sitting beside it.
These children were entirely naked, and when we came to the door, the
elder rose from its place and ran to its father, and clasping him round
one of his knees, said, "Now we shall get good supper." The father laid
his hand upon the head of his naked child, and stood silently looking in
its face--which was turned upwards toward his own for a moment--and then
turning to me, said, "Did you leave any children at home?" The scene
before me--the question propounded--and the manner of this poor man and
his child, caused my heart to swell until my breast seemed too small to
contain it. My soul fled back upon the wings of fancy to my wife's lowly
dwelling in Maryland, where I had been so often met on a Saturday
evening, when I paid them my weekly visit, by my own little ones, who
clung to my knees for protection and support, even as the poor little
wretch now before me seized upon the weary limb of its hapless and
destitute father, hoping that, naked as he was, (for he too was naked,
save only the tattered remains of a pair of old trowsers,) he would
bring with his return at evening its customary scanty supper. I was
unable to reply, but stood motionless, leaning against the walls of the
cabin. My children seemed to flit by the door in the dusky twilight; and
the twittering of a swallow, which that moment fluttered over my head,
sounded in my ear as the infantile tittering of my own little boy; but
on a moment's reflection I knew that we were separated without the hope
of ever again meeting; that they no more heard the welcome tread of my
feet, and could never again receive the little gifts with which, poor as
I was, I was accustomed to present them. I was far from the place of my
nativity, in a land of strangers, with no one to care for me beyond the
care that a master bestows upon his ox; with all my future life one
long, waste, barren desert, of cheerless, hopeless, lifeless slavery; to
be varied only by the pangs of hunger and the stings of the lash.
My revery was at length broken by the appearance of the mother of the
family, with her three eldest children. The mother wore an old ragged
shift; but the children, the eldest of whom appeared to be about
twelve, and the youngest six years old, were quite naked. When she came
in, the husband told her that the overseer had sent me to live with
them; and she and her oldest child, who was a boy, immediately set about
preparing their supper, by boiling some of the leaves of the weed,
called lamb's-quarter, in the pot. This, together with some cakes of
cold corn bread, formed their supper. My supper was brought to me from
the house of the overseer by a small girl, his daughter. It was about
half a pound of bread, cut from a loaf made of corn meal. My companions
gave me a part of their boiled greens, and we all sat down together to
my first meal in my new habitation.
I had no other bed than the blanket which I had brought with me from
Maryland; and I went to sleep in the loft of the cabin which was
assigned to me as my sleeping room; and in which I continued to lodge as
long as I remained on this plantation.
The next morning I was waked, at the break of day, by the sound of a
horn, which was blown very loudly. Perceiving that it was growing light,
I came down, and went out immediately in front of the house of the
overseer, who was standing near his own gate, blowing the horn. In a few
minutes the whole of the working people, from all the cabins, were
assembled; and as it was now light enough for me distinctly to see such
objects as were about me, I at once perceived the nature of the
servitude to which I was, in future, to be subject.
As I have before stated, there were altogether on this plantation, two
hundred and sixty slaves; but the number was seldom stationary for a
single week. Births were numerous and frequent, and deaths were not
uncommon. When I joined them I believe we counted in all two hundred and
sixty-three; but of these only one hundred and seventy went to the field
to work. The others were children, too small to be of any service as
laborers; old and blind persons, or incurably diseased. Ten or twelve
were kept about the mansion-house and garden, chosen from the most
handsome and sprightly of the gang.
I think about one hundred and sixty-eight assembled this morning, at the
sound of the horn--two or three being sick, sent word to the overseer
that they could not come.
The overseer wrote something on a piece of paper, and gave it to his
little son. This I was told was a note to be sent to our master, to
inform him that some of the hands were sick--it not being any part of
the duty of the overseer to attend to a sick negro.
The overseer then led off to the field, with his horn in one hand and
his whip in the other; we following--men, women, and children,
promiscuously--and a wretched looking troop we were. There was not an
entire garment amongst us.
More than half of the gang were entirely naked. Several young girls, who
had arrived at puberty, wearing only the livery with which nature had
ornamented them, and a great number of lads, of an equal or superior
age, appeared in the same costume. There was neither bonnet, cap, nor
head dress of any kind amongst us, except the old straw hat that I wore,
and which my wife had made for me in Maryland. This I soon laid aside to
avoid the appearance of singularity, and, as owing to the severe
treatment I had endured whilst traveling in chains, and being compelled
to sleep on the naked floor, without undressing myself, my clothes were
quite worn out, I did not make a much better figure than my companions;
though still I preserved the semblance of clothing so far, that it could
be seen that my shirt and trowsers had once been distinct and separate
garments. Not one of the others had on even the remains of two pieces of
apparel.--Some of the men had old shirts, and some ragged trowsers, but
no one wore both. Amongst the women, several wore petticoats, and many
had shifts. Not one of the whole number wore both of these vestments.
We walked nearly a mile through one vast cotton field, before we arrived
at the place of our intended day's labor. At last the overseer stopped
at the side of the field, and calling to several of the men by name,
ordered them to call their companies and turn into their rows. The work
we had to do to-day was to hoe and weed cotton, for the last time; and
the men whose names had been called, and who were, I believe, eleven in
number, were designated as captains, each of whom had under his command
a certain number of the other hands. The captain was the foreman of his
company, and those under his command had to keep up with him. Each of
the men and women had to take one row; and two, and in some cases where
they were very small, three of the children had one. The first captain,
whose name was Simon, took the first row--and the other captains were
compelled to keep up with him. By this means the overseer had nothing to
do but to keep Simon hard at work, and he was certain that all the
others must work equally hard.
Simon was a stout, strong man, apparently about thirty-five years of
age; and for some reason unknown to me, I was ordered to take a row next
to his. The overseer with his whip in his hand walked about the field
after us, to see that our work was well done. As we worked with hoes, I
had no difficulty in learning how the work was to be performed.
The fields of cotton at this season of the year are very beautiful. The
plants, among which we worked this day, were about three feet high, and
in full bloom, with branches so numerous that they nearly covered the
whole ground--leaving scarcely space enough between them to permit us to
move about, and work with our hoes.
About seven o'clock in the morning the overseer sounded his horn; and we
all repaired to the shade of some persimmon trees, which grew in a
corner of the field, to get our breakfast. I here saw a cart drawn by a
yoke of oxen, driven by an old black man, nearly blind. The cart
contained three barrels, filled with water, and several large baskets
full of corn bread that had been baked in the ashes. The water was for
us to drink, and the bread was our breakfast. The little son of the
overseer was also in the cart, and had brought with him the breakfast of
his father, in a small wooden bucket.
The overseer had bread, butter, cold ham, and coffee for his breakfast.
Ours was composed of a corn cake, weighing about three-quarters of a
pound, to each person, with as much water as was desired. I at first
supposed that this bread was dealt out to the people as their allowance;
but on further inquiry I found this not to be the case. Simon, by whose
side I was now at work, and who seemed much pleased with my agility and
diligence in my duty, told me that here, as well as every where in this
country, each person received a peck of corn at the crib door, every
Sunday evening, and that in ordinary times, every one had to grind this
corn and bake it, for him or herself, making such use of it as the owner
thought proper; but that for some time past, the overseer, for the
purpose of saving the time which had been lost in baking the bread, had
made it the duty of an old woman, who was not capable of doing much work
in the field, to stay at the quarter, and bake the bread of the whole
gang. When baked, it was brought to the field in a cart, as I saw, and
dealt out in loaves.
They still had to grind their own corn, after night; and as there were
only three hand-mills on the plantation, he said they experienced much
difficulty in converting their corn into meal. We worked in this field
all day; and at the end of every hour, or hour and a quarter, we had
permission to go to the cart, which was moved about the field, so as to
be near us, and get water.
Our dinner was the same, in all respects, as our breakfast, except that,
in addition to the bread, we had a little salt, and a radish for each
person. We were not allowed to rest at either breakfast or dinner,
longer than while we were eating; and we worked in the evening as long
as we could distinguish the weeds from the cotton plants.
Simon informed me, that formerly, when they baked their own bread, they
had left their work soon after sundown, to go home and bake for the next
day, but the overseer had adopted the new policy for the purpose of
keeping them at work until dark.
When we could no longer see to work, the horn was again sounded, and we
returned home. I had now lived through one of the days--a succession of
which make up the life of a slave--on a cotton plantation.
As we went out in the morning, I observed several women, who carried
their young children in their arms to the field. These mothers laid
their children at the side of the fence, or under the shade of the
cotton plants, whilst they were at work; and when the rest of us went to
get water, they would go to give suck to their children, requesting some
one to bring them water in gourds, which they were careful to carry to
the field with them. One young woman did not, like the others, leave her
child at the end of the row, but had contrived a sort of rude knapsack,
made of a piece of coarse linen cloth, in which she fastened her child,
which was very young, upon her back; and in this way carried it all day,
and performed her task at the hoe with the other people. I pitied her,
and as we were going home at night escorted her and learned her history.
She had been brought up a lady's-maid, and knew little of hardship until
she was sold South by a dissipated master. On this plantation she was
obliged to marry a man she did not like, and was often severely whipped
because she could not do as much work as the rest. I was affected by
her story, and the overseer's horn interrupted our conversation, at
hearing which she exclaimed, "We are too late, let us run, or we shall
be whipped," and setting off as fast as she could run, she left me
alone. I quickened my pace, and arrived in the crowd a moment before
her.