In the month of June, 18--, as I was ploughing in my lot, three
gentlemen rode up to my fence, and alighting from their horses, all came
over the fence and approached me, when one of them told me he was the
sheriff, and had a writ in his pocket, which commanded him to take me to
Baltimore. I was not conscious of having done any thing injurious to any
one; but yet felt a distrust of these men, who were all strangers to me.
I told them I would go with them, if they would permit me to turn my
oxen loose from the plough; but it was my intention to seek an
opportunity of escaping to the house of a gentleman, who lived about a
mile from me. This purpose I was not able to effect, for whilst I was
taking the yoke from the oxen, one of the gentlemen came behind me, and
knocked me down with a heavy whip, that he carried in his hand.
When I recovered from the stunning effects of this blow, I found myself
bound with my hands behind me, and strong cords closely wrapped about
my arms. In this condition I was forced to set out immediately, for
Baltimore, without speaking to my wife, or even entering my door. I
expected that, on arriving at Baltimore, I should be taken before a
judge for the purpose of being tried, but in this I was deceived. They
led me to the city jail, and there shut me up, with several other black
people, both men and women, who told me that they had lately been
purchased by a trader from Georgia.
I now saw the extent of my misfortune, but could not learn who the
persons were, who had seized me. In the evening, however, one of the
gentlemen, who had brought me from home, came into the jail with the
jailer, and asked me if I knew him. On being answered in the negative,
he told me that he knew me very well; and asked me if I did not
recollect the time when he and his brother had whipped me, before my
master's door, in Georgia.
I now recognized the features of the younger of the two brothers of my
mistress; but this man was so changed in his appearance, from the time
when I had last seen him, that if he had not declared himself, I should
never have known him. When I left Georgia, he was not more than
twenty-one or two years of age, and had black, bushy hair. His hair was
now thin and gray, and all his features were changed.
After lying in jail a little more than two weeks, strongly ironed, my
fellow prisoners and I were one day chained together, handcuffed in
pairs, and in this way driven about ten miles out of Baltimore, where we
remained all night.
On the evening of the second day, we halted at Bladensburg.
On the next morning, we marched through Washington, and as we passed in
front of the President's house, I saw an old gentleman walking in the
grounds, near the gate. This man I was told was the President of the
United States.
Within four weeks after we left Washington, I was in Milledgeville in
Georgia, near which the man who had kidnapped me resided. He took me
home with him, and set me to work on his plantation; but I had now
enjoyed liberty too long to submit quietly to the endurance of slavery.
I had no sooner come here, than I began to devise ways of escaping again
from the hands of my tyrants, and of making my way to the northern
States.
The month of August was now approaching, which is a favorable season of
the year to travel, on account of the abundance of food that is to be
found in the corn-fields and orchards; but I remembered the dreadful
sufferings that I had endured in my former journey from the South, and
determined, if possible, to devise some scheme of getting away, that
would not subject me to such hardships.
After several weeks of consideration, I resolved to run away, go to some
of the seaports, and endeavor to get a passage on board a vessel, bound
to a northern city. With this view, I assumed the appearance of
resignation and composure, under the new aspect of my fortune; and even
went so far as to tell my new master that I lived more comfortably with
him, in his cotton fields, than I had formerly done, on my own small
farm in Maryland; though I believe my master did me the justice to give
no credit to my assertions on this subject.
From the moment I discovered in Maryland, that I had fallen into the
hands of the brother of my former mistress, I gave up all hope of
contesting his right to arrest me, with success, at law, as I supposed
he had come with authority to reclaim me as the property of his sister;
but after I had returned to Georgia, and had been at work some weeks on
the plantation of my new master, I learned that he now claimed me as his
own slave, and that he had reported he had purchased me in Baltimore. It
was now clear to me that this man, having by some means learned the
place of my residence, in Maryland, had kidnapped and now held me as his
slave, without the color of legal right; but complaint on my part was
useless, and resistance vain.
I was again reduced to the condition of a common field slave, on a
cotton plantation in Georgia, and compelled to subsist on the very
scanty and coarse food allowed to the southern slave. I had been absent
from Georgia almost twenty years, and in that period great changes had
doubtlessly taken place in the face of the country, as well as in the
condition of human society.
I had never been in Milledgeville until I was brought there by the man
who had kidnapped me in Maryland, and I was now a slave among entire
strangers, and had no friend to give me the consolation of kind words,
such as I had formerly received from my master in Morgan county. The
plantation on which I was now a slave, had formerly belonged to the
father of my mistress; and some of my fellow slaves had been well
acquainted with her in her youth. From these people I learned, that
after the death of my master, and my flight from Georgia, my mistress
had become the wife of a second husband, who had removed with her to the
State of Louisiana more than fifteen years ago.
After ascertaining these facts, which proved beyond all doubt that my
present master had no right whatsoever to me, in either law or justice,
I determined that before encountering the dangers and sufferings that
must necessarily attend my second flight from Georgia, I would attempt
to proclaim the protection of the laws of the country, and try to get
myself discharged from the unjust slavery in which I was now held. For
this purpose, I went to Milledgeville, one Sunday, and inquired for a
lawyer of a black man whom I met in the street. This person told me that
his master was a lawyer, and went with me to his house.
The lawyer, after talking to me some time, told me that my master was
his client, and that he therefore could not undertake my cause; but
referred me to a young gentleman, who he said would do my business for
me. Accordingly to this young man I went, and after relating my whole
story to him, he told me that he believed he could not do any thing for
me, as I had no witnesses to prove my freedom.
I rejoined, that it seemed hard that I must be compelled to prove myself
a freeman: and that it would appear more consonant to reason that my
master should prove me to be a slave. He, however, assured me that this
was not the law of Georgia, where every man of color was presumed to be
a slave until he could prove that he was free. He then told me that if I
expected him to talk to me, I must give him a fee; whereupon I gave him
all the money I had been able to procure, since my arrival in the
country, which was two dollars and seventy-five cents.
When I offered him this money, the lawyer tossed his head, and said such
a trifle was not worth accepting; but nevertheless he took it, and then
asked me if I could get some more money before the next Sunday. That if
I could get another dollar, he would issue a writ and have me brought
before the court; but if he succeeded in getting me set free, I must
engage to serve him a year. To these conditions I agreed, and signed a
paper which the lawyer wrote, and which was signed by two persons as
witnesses.
The brother of my pretended master was yet living in this neighborhood,
and the lawyer advised me to have him brought forward, as a witness, to
prove that I was not the slave of my present pretended owner.
On the Wednesday following my visit to Milledgeville, the sheriff came
to my master's plantation, and took me from the field to the house,
telling me as I walked beside him that he had a writ which commanded him
to take me to Milledgeville. Instead, however, of obeying the command of
his writ, when we arrived at the house he took a bond of my master that
he would produce me at the court-house on the next day, Friday, and then
rode away, leaving me at the mercy of my kidnapper.
Since I had been on this plantation, I had never been whipped, although
all the other slaves, of whom there were more than fifty, were
frequently flogged without any apparent cause. I had all along
attributed my exemption from the lash to the fears of my master. He
knew I had formerly run away from his sister, on account of her cruelty,
and his own savage conduct to me; and I believed that he was still
apprehensive that a repetition of his former barbarity might produce the
same effect that it had done twenty years before.
His evil passions were like fire covered with ashes, concealed, not
extinguished. He now found that I was determined to try to regain my
liberty at all events, and the sheriff was no sooner gone than the
overseer was sent for, to come from the field, and I was tied up and
whipped, with the long lashed negro whip, until I fainted, and was
carried in a state of insensibility to my lodgings in the quarter. It
was night when I recovered my understanding sufficiently to be aware of
my true situation. I now found that my wounds had been oiled, and that I
was wrapped in a piece of clean linen cloth; but for several days I was
unable to leave my bed. When Friday came, I was not taken to
Milledgeville, and afterwards learned that my master reported to the
court that I had been taken ill, and was not able to leave the house.
The judge asked no questions as to the cause of my illness.
At the end of two weeks I was taken to Milledgeville, and carried before
a judge, who first asked a few questions of my master, as to the length
of time that he had owned me, and the place where he had purchased me.
He stated in my presence that he had purchased me, with several others,
at public auction, in the city of Baltimore, and had paid five hundred
and ten dollars for me. I was not permitted to speak to the court, much
less to contradict this falsehood in the manner it deserved.
The brother of my master was then called as a witness by my lawyer, but
the witness refused to be sworn or examined, on account of his interest
in me, as his slave. In support of his refusal, he produced a bill of
sale from my master to himself, for an equal, undivided half part of the
slave ----. This bill of sale was dated several weeks previous to the
time of trial, and gave rise to an argument between the opposing lawyers
that continued until the court adjourned in the evening.
On the next morning I was again brought into court, and the judge now
delivered his opinion, which was that the witness could not be compelled
to give evidence in a cause to which he was really, though not
nominally, a party.
The court then proceeded to give judgment in the cause now before it,
and declared that the law was well settled in Georgia that every negro
was presumed to be a slave, until he proved his freedom by the clearest
evidence. That where a negro was found in the custody or keeping of a
white man, the law declared that white man to be his master, without any
evidence on the subject. But the case before the court was exceedingly
plain and free from all doubt or difficulty. Here the master has brought
this slave into the State of Georgia, as his property, has held him as a
slave ever since, and still holds him as a slave. The title of the
master in this case is the best title that a man can have to any
property; and the order of the court is, that the slave ---- be returned
to the custody of his master.
I was immediately ordered to return home, and from this time until I
left the plantation my life was a continual torment to me. The overseer
often came up to me in the field, and gave me several lashes with his
long whip over my naked back, through mere wantonness; and I was often
compelled, after I had done my day's work in the field, to cut wood, or
perform some other labor at the house, until long after dark. My
sufferings were too great to be borne long by any human creature; and to
a man who had once tasted the sweets of liberty, they were doubly
tormenting.
There was nothing in the form of danger that could intimidate me, if the
road on which I had to encounter it led me to freedom. That season of
the year most favorable to my escape from bondage, had at length
arrived. The corn in the fields was so far grown as to be fit for
roasting; the peaches were beginning to ripen, and the sweet potatoes
were large enough to be eaten; but notwithstanding all this; the
difficulties that surrounded me were greater than can easily be imagined
by any one who has never been a slave in the lower country of Georgia.
In the first place I was almost naked, having no other clothes than a
ragged shirt of tow cloth, and a pair of old trowsers of the same
material, with an old woollen jacket that I had brought with me from
home. In addition to this, I was closely watched every evening, until I
had finished the labor assigned me, and then I was locked up in a small
cabin by myself for the night.
This cabin was really a prison, and had been built for the purpose of
confining such of the slaves of this estate as were tried in the
evening, and sentenced to be whipped in the morning. It was built of
strong oak logs, hewn square, and dovetailed together at the corners. It
had no window in it; but as the logs did not fit very close together,
there was never any want of air in this jail, in which I had been locked
up every night since my trial before the court.
On Sundays I was permitted to go to work in the fields, with the other
people who worked on that day, if I chose so to do; but at this time I
was put under the charge of an old African negro, who was instructed to
give immediate information if I attempted to leave the field. To escape
on Sunday was impossible, and there seemed to be no hope of getting out
of my sleeping room, the floor of which was made of strong pine plank.
Fortune at length did for me that which I had not been able to
accomplish, by the greatest efforts, for myself. The lock that was on
the door of my nightly prison was a large stock lock, and had been
clumsily fitted on the door, so that the end of the lock pressed against
the door-case, and made it difficult to shut the door even in dry
weather. When the weather was damp, and the wood was swollen with
moisture, it was not easy to close the door at all.
Late in the month of September the weather became cloudy, and much rain
fell. The clouds continued to obscure the heavens for four or five days.
One evening, when I was ordered to my house as it was called, the
overseer followed me without a light, although it was very dark. When I
was in the house, he pushed the door after me with all his strength. The
violence of the effort caused the door to pass within the case at the
top, for one or two feet, and this held it so fast that he could not
again pull it open.
Supposing, in the extreme darkness, that the door was shut, he turned
the key; and the bolt of the lock passing on the outside of the staple
intended to receive it, completely deceived him. He then withdrew the
key, and went away. Soon after he was gone, I went to the door, and
feeling with my hands, ascertained that it was not shut. An opportunity
now presented itself for me to escape from my prison-house, with a
prospect of being able to be so far from my master's residence before
morning, that none could soon overtake me, even should the course of my
flight be ascertained. Waiting quietly, until every one about the
quarter had ceased to be heard, I applied one of my feet to the door,
and giving it a strong push, forced it open.
The world was now all before me, but the darkness was so profound, as to
obscure from my vision the largest objects, even a house, at the
distance of a few yards. But dark as it was, necessity compelled me to
leave the plantation without delay, and knowing only the great road that
led to Milledgeville, amongst the various roads of this country, I set
off at a brisk walk on this public highway, assured that no one could
apprehend me in so dark a night.
It was only about seven miles to Milledgeville, and when I reached that
town several lights were burning in the windows of the houses; but
keeping on directly through the village, I neither saw nor heard any
person in it, and after gaining the open country, my first care was to
find some secure place where shelter could be found for the next day;
but no appearance of thick woods was to be seen for several miles, and
two or three hours must have elapsed before a forest of sufficient
magnitude was found to answer my purposes.
It was perhaps three o'clock in the morning, when I took refuge in a
thick and dismal swamp that lay on the right hand of the road, intending
to remain here until daylight, and then look out for a secret place to
conceal myself in, during the day. Hitherto, although the night was so
extremely dark, it had not rained any, but soon after my halt in the
swamp the rain began to fall in floods, rather than in showers, which
made me as wet as if I had swam a river.
Daylight at length appeared, but brought with it very little mitigation
of my sufferings; for the swamp, in which my hiding-place was, lay in
the midst of a well-peopled country, and was surrounded on all sides by
cotton and corn fields, so close to me that the open spaces of the
cleared land could be seen from my position. It was dangerous to move,
lest some one should see me, and painful to remain without food when
hunger was consuming me.
My resting place in the swamp was within view of the road; and, soon
after sunrise, although it continued to rain fast, numerous horsemen
were seen passing along the road by the way that had led me to the
swamp. There was little doubt on my mind that these people were in
search of me, and the sequel proved that my surmises were well founded.
It rained throughout this day, and the fear of being apprehended by
those who came in pursuit of me, confined me to the swamp, until after
dark the following evening, when I ventured to leave the thicket, and
return to the high road, the bearing of which it was impossible for me
to ascertain, on account of the dense clouds that obscured the heavens.
All that could be done in my situation, was to take care not to follow
that end of the road which had led me to the swamp. Turning my back once
more upon Milledgeville, and walking at a quick pace, every effort was
made to remove myself as far as possible this night from the scene of
suffering, for which that swamp will be always memorable in my mind.
The rain had ceased to fall at the going down of the sun; and the
darkness of this second night was not so great as that of the first had
been. This circumstance was regarded by me as a happy presage of the
final success that awaited my undertaking. Events proved that I was no
prophet; for the dim light of this night was the cause of the sad
misfortune that awaited me.
In a former part of this volume, the reader is made acquainted with the
deep interest that is taken by all the planters, far and wide, around
the plantation from which a slave has escaped by running away. Twenty
years had wrought no change in favor of the fugitive; nor had the feuds
and dissentions that agitate and distract the communities of white men,
produced any relaxation in the friendship that they profess to feel, and
really do feel, for each other, on a question of so much importance to
them all.
More than twenty miles of road had been left behind me this night; and
it must have been two or three o'clock in the morning, when, as I was
passing a part of the road that led through a dense pine grove, where
the trees on either side grew close to the wheel tracks, five or six men
suddenly rushed upon me from both sides of the road, and with loud cries
of "Kill him! kill him!" accompanied with oaths and opprobrious
language, seized me, dragged me to the ground, and bound me fast with a
long cord, which was wrapped round my arms and body, so as to confine my
hands below my hips.
In this condition I was driven, or rather dragged, about two miles to a
kind of tavern or public house, that stood by the side of the road;
where my captors were joined, soon after daylight, by at least twenty of
their companions, who had been out all night waiting and watching for me
on the other roads of this part of the country. Those who had taken me
were loudly applauded by their fellows; and the whole party passed the
morning in drinking, singing songs, and playing cards at this house. At
breakfast time they gave me a large cake of corn bread and some sour
milk for breakfast.
About ten o'clock in the morning my master arrived at the tavern, in
company with two or three other gentlemen, all strangers to me. My
master, when he came into my presence, looked at me, and said, "Well,
----, you had bad luck in running away this time;" and immediately asked
aloud, what any person would give for me. One man, who was slightly
intoxicated, said he would give four hundred dollars for me. Other bids
followed, until my price was soon up to five hundred and eighty dollars,
for which I was stricken off, by my master himself, to a gentleman, who
immediately gave his note for me, and took charge of me as his
property.