JOHN HENRY, HEZEKIAH, AND JAMES HILL.--JOHN MAKES A DESPERATE RESISTANCE
AT THE SLAVE AUCTION AND ESCAPES AFTER BEING SECRETED NINE MONTHS.
HEZEKIAH ESCAPED FROM A TRADER AND WAS SECEETED THIRTEEN MONTHS BEFORE
HIS FINAL DELIVERANCE.--JAMES WAS SECRETED THREE YEARS IN A PLACE OF
GREAT SUFFERING, AND ESCAPED. IN ALL FIVE YEARS AND ONE MONTH.
Many letters from JOHN HENRY show how incessantly his mind ran out
towards the oppressed, and the remarkable intelligence and ability he
displayed with the pen, considering that he had no chance to acquire
book knowledge. After having fled for refuge to Canada and having become
a partaker of impartial freedom under the government of Great Britain,
to many it seemed that the fugitive should be perfectly satisfied. Many
appeared to think that the fugitive, having secured freedom, had but
little occasion for anxiety or care, even for his nearest kin. "Change
your name." "Never tell any one how you escaped." "Never let any one
know where you came from." "Never think of writing back, not even to
your wife; you can do your kin no good, but may do them harm by
writing." "Take care of yourself." "You are free, well, be satisfied
then." "It will do you no good to fret about your wife and children;
that will not get them out of Slavery." Such was the advice often given
to the fugitive. Men who had been slaves themselves, and some who had
aided in the escape of individuals, sometimes urged these sentiments on
men and women whose hearts were almost breaking over the thought that
their dearest and best friends were in chains in the prison-house.
Perhaps it was thoughtlessness on the part of some, and a wish to
inspire due cautiousness on the part of others, that prompted this
advice. Doubtless some did soon forget their friends. They saw no way by
which they could readily communicate with them. Perhaps Slavery had
dealt with them so cruelly, that little hope or aspiration was left in
them.
It was, however, one of the most gratifying facts connected with the
fugitives, the strong love and attachment that they constantly expressed
for their relatives left in the South; the undying faith they had in God
as evinced by their touching appeals on behalf of their fellow-slaves.
But few probably are aware how deeply these feelings were cherished in
the breasts of this people. Forty, fifty, or sixty years, in some
instances elapsed, but this ardent sympathy and love continued warm and
unwavering as ever. Children left to the cruel mercy of slave-holders,
could never be forgotten. Brothers and sisters could not refrain from
weeping over the remembrance of their separation on the auction block:
of having seen innocent children, feeble and defenceless women in the
grasp of a merciless tyrant, pleading, groaning, and crying in vain for
pity. Not to remember those thus bruised and mangled, it would seem
alike unnatural, and impossible. Therefore it is a source of great
satisfaction to be able, in relating these heroic escapes, to present
the evidences of the strong affections of this greatly oppressed race.
JOHN HENRY never forgot those with whom he had been a fellow-sufferer in
Slavery; he was always fully awake to their wrongs, and longed to be
doing something to aid and encourage such as were striving to get their
Freedom. He wrote many letters in behalf of others, as well as for
himself, the tone of which, was always marked by the most zealous
devotion to the slave, a high sense of the value of Freedom, and
unshaken confidence that God was on the side of the oppressed, and a
strong hope, that the day was not far distant, when the slave power
would be "suddenly broken and that without remedy."
Notwithstanding the literary imperfections of these letters, they are
deemed well suited to these pages. Of course, slaves were not allowed
book learning. Virginia even imprisoned white women for teaching free
colored children the alphabet. Who has forgotten the imprisonment of
Mrs. Douglass for this offense? In view of these facts, no apology is
needed on account of Hill's grammar and spelling.
In these letters, may be seen, how much liberty was valued, how the
taste of Freedom moved the pen of the slave; how the thought of
fellow-bondmen, under the heel of the slave-holder, aroused the spirit
of indignation and wrath; how importunately appeals were made for help
from man and from God; how much joy was felt at the arrival of a
fugitive, and the intense sadness experienced over the news of a failure
or capture of a slave. Not only are the feelings of John Henry Hill
represented in these epistles, but the feelings of very many others
amongst the intelligent fugitives all over the country are also
represented to the letter. It is more with a view of doing justice to a
brave, intelligent class, whom the public are ignorant of, than merely
to give special prominence to John and his relatives as individuals,
that these letters are given.
ESCAPE OF JOHN HENRY HILL FROM THE SLAVE AUCTION IN RICHMOND, ON THE
FIRST DAY OF JANUARY, 1853.
JOHN HENRY at that time, was a little turned of twenty-five years of
age, full six feet high, and remarkably well proportioned in every
respect. He was rather of a brown color, with marked intellectual
features. John was by trade, a carpenter, and was considered a competent
workman. The year previous to his escape, he hired his time, for which
he paid his owner $150. This amount John had fully settled up the last
day of the year. As he was a young man of steady habits, a husband and
father, and withal an ardent lover of Liberty; his owner, John Mitchell,
evidently observed these traits in his character, and concluded that he
was a dangerous piece of property to keep; that his worth in money could
be more easily managed than the man. Consequently, his master
unceremoniously, without intimating in any way to John, that he was to
be sold, took him to Richmond, on the first day of January (the great
annual sale day), and directly to the slave-auction. Just as John was
being taken into the building, he was invited to submit to hand-cuffs.
As the thought flashed upon his mind that he was about to be sold on the
auction-block, he grew terribly desperate. "Liberty or death" was the
watchword of that awful moment. In the twinkling of an eye, he turned on
his enemies, with his fist, knife, and feet, so tiger-like, that he
actually put four or five men to flight, his master among the number.
His enemies thus suddenly baffled, John wheeled, and, as if assisted by
an angel, strange as it may appear, was soon out of sight of his
pursuers, and securely hid away. This was the last hour of John Henry's
slave life, but not, however, of his struggles and sufferings for
freedom, for before a final chance to escape presented itself, nine
months elapsed. The mystery as to where, and how he fared, the following
account, in his own words, must explain--
Nine months I was trying to get away. I was secreted for a long
time in a kitchen of a merchant near the corner of Franklyn and
7th streets, at Richmond, where I was well taken care of, by a
lady friend of my mother. When I got Tired of staying in that
place, I wrote myself a pass to pass myself to Petersburg, here
I stopped with a very prominent Colored person, who was a friend
to Freedom stayed here until two white friends told other
friends if I was in the city to tell me to go at once, and stand
not upon the order of going, because they had hard a plot. I
wrot a pass, started for Richmond, Reached Manchester, got off
the Cars walked into Richmond, once more got back into the same
old Den, Stayed here from the 16th of Aug. to 12th Sept. On the
11th of Sept. 8 o'clock P.M. a message came to me that there had
been a State Room taken on the steamer City of Richmond for my
benefit, and I assured the party that it would be occupied if
God be willing. Before 10 o'clock the next morning, on the 12th,
a beautiful Sept. day, I arose early, wrote my pass for Norfolk
left my old Den with a many a good bye, turned out the back way
to 7th St., thence to Main, down Main behind 4 night waich to
old Rockett's and after about 20 minutes of delay I succeed in
Reaching the State Room. My Conductor was very much Excited, but
I felt as Composed as I do at this moment, for I had started
from my Den that morning for Liberty or for Death providing
myself with a Brace of Pistels.