_Mrs. Lincoln Brings Her Mother to Buffalo--Warm Welcome Home--Harriet
Jackson married to Mr. J. B. Sutherland--Letter From Mrs. Sarah Jackson
and Beulah's Answer--Beulah, Mrs. Sutherland and Tom at a Great
Abolition Meeting--A Famous Gathering of the Clans._
Our delight at being once more on shore in our own country, and so near
home, and for the first time in the full possession of our own freedom,
filled our hearts and souls with the wildest enthusiasm, and from the
very bottom of our hearts we blessed and praised the Lord for His mercy
endureth forever.
We had intended to send a telegram to my own dear Tom at Buffalo, but we
changed our minds, and determined to take him by surprise. Besides, when
we had reconsidered the matter, we did not deem it altogether prudent to
send a telegram, because there were many wealthy families in New York,
who owned thousands of slaves in the South, and in some respects this
great city was even more dangerous than Georgia and Louisiana. So we
left on the first train for Buffalo, where we arrived in due time, and
hired a cab that took us home. Tom had left the key with a good
neighbor, so we opened the door, went in, and prepared tea for him by
the time he came home. It is very true that we had more need of going to
bed than to thus attend to the work of the house; but we were so excited
with our freedom, our successful journey from New Orleans, and the
exciting times right ahead, that we never thought of fatigue, but only
the present enjoyment.
[Illustration: _SCENES IN BUFFALO._]
At last we saw Tom coming up the street, when such a scene ensued as it
would take the very angels of heaven to tell. We sat up to a late hour
that night, and seemed quite unwilling to break up and retire for the
night. The pastor of the church, his good lady, and all the friends came
flocking round to see us, and the rejoicing over our mother's safe
arrival from the land of slavery was both loud and deep. When we next
went to church, the interest there was most unbounded, and the
enthusiasm ran higher than the waves of the sea. We made no secret of
anything. Abolition was now under full swing; the "Border Ruffians" were
now in Kansas, and the temper of the whole North was up, that slavery
should come no further. Therefore our white and colored friends came on
in droves to church to see mother, and welcome her to Buffalo, and
prayer, praise and hymns of rejoicing were kept up till a late hour.
Praise ye the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever!
It is sometimes a very difficult thing for a young person like myself at
this time to know what to do for the best, lest I should be doing wrong.
It has often been said that a woman cannot keep a secret, and I am bound
to confess that I had hard work to hold myself back at this time from
writing to my father and telling him the good news of mother's escape
from slavery. In the secret of his heart I knew well that he would
rejoice to hear it; but Mrs. Jackson might get hold of the letter, and
that was where the trouble came in. In fact, so far as unruffling her
feelings was concerned, I did not care whether she saw my letter or not!
I certainly intended to pen no falsehoods, and saw no good reason why
any one should object to the simple truth. Thus openly to publish our
whereabouts might have endangered mother, Tom and myself, because the
Fugitive Slave Bill was on the National Statute books. It is true that
some of the Southerners had been up to the far North after their
fugitives, and tried hard to carry them back to slavery; but though the
public officers were vigorously called on to do their duty, according to
the letter of the law, the general public arose against such arrests,
and the slave hunters had to go home again to the South without their
prey, avowing and swearing that this would never be a country anyhow
till slavery extended from the Lakes to the Gulf. There was, therefore,
no real cause for fear on account of either mother, Tom or myself. I had
promised my father to write again, and besides he had sent me a present
of fifty dollars, which I was bound to acknowledge, and then my
description of our first visit to Niagara had been broken off in the
middle. There was another thing that would deter Mrs. Jackson from
sending any expedition after us, and that was the fact that we were
right on the Canadian border, there being nothing between us and the
British dominions but the Niagara river. Indeed this was the true reason
why my own dear Tom and I never came to a halt till we reached the
beautiful city of Buffalo. Upon the least hint of man-hunters being on
our trail, we had nothing to do but steer across the river, where we
could have a glorious holiday among our friends, and come back again to
Buffalo as soon as ever our pursuers had returned home.
One thing was certain--if I were going to write at all, I must write
soon, or let it slide altogether. Of course, I could never make up my
mind to follow the latter alternative, so I took my pen in hand and sat
down and penned the following epistle:
"BUFFALO, N. Y., October, 1855.
"To Lemuel Jackson, Esquire,
"My Dear Father:--I am sure it shows very bad manners in me to be so
very slow in answering your thrice-welcomed letter. I am under a
thousand obligations to you for your present to my own dear Tom and me
on the occasion of our happy wedding. We consider that you have indeed
been most mindful of us, and we return you our warmest thanks. We are
both well, and Tom has a good situation on Delaware avenue, the
principal residence street in Buffalo.
"The last time I wrote you, I was giving you a description of our first
visit to Niagara Falls, and was interrupted in the middle of it by Tom's
coming home to tea, in company with our pastor and his wife. I am now
desirous of finishing the narrative, but before I do so, I will tell you
something that will indeed surprise you.
"You will remember the fits of sadness and depression I was subject to
every now and then after dear mother was sent down the river to New
Orleans. My happy marriage had suspended these attacks altogether for a
time; but one day in the beginning of the fall, they returned in great
force. That was the first attack, and after Tom and I had discussed the
matter over, it was at last fully decided that I must not have a second.
If you wish to hear all the particulars of what followed, I am quite
willing to give you them; but in the meantime--after your own style of
writing--I will be brief. I proceeded to New Orleans, rescued mother
from slavery, and brought her safe and sound home to Buffalo on the
steamer "Columbia," by way of Havana and New York City. This successful
and happy event has caused the liveliest satisfaction to dear mother, to
Tom and myself, and to the entire population of Buffalo, so far as they
have become acquainted with it. Tom is quite pleased to have such a
delightful mother-in-law in the house, and all three work most
harmoniously together.
"In my letter, dearest papa, I promised to give you the rest of the
account of our first visit to Niagara Falls. As, however, I have so very
much to say, and as I think it may please you better, instead of giving
you the rest of that most delightful narration and description in my own
words, I will--on Tom's recommendation--send you a most capital 'Guide
to Buffalo and Niagara Falls, with Numerous Illustrations.'
"I beg leave now to draw these few lines to a close. Mother and Tom
write in lots of love to you, and I am sure I shall be delighted to
receive even half a dozen lines from you at any time that you can make
it convenient, or feel disposed to write your dear daughter. And I am
yours in all affection,
"BEULAH JACKSON."
Having written the above letter, I posted it at once, and no doubt but
it was received in a couple of days and read with great interest by my
own dear father, and also by Mrs. Jackson, though with very different
feelings from his. I was perfectly well aware that there was an
abundance of pent-up wrath in her imperious temper, and that it would
explode one of these fine days!
As my mother, Harriet Jackson, was a woman of great handsomeness, beauty
and a thousand graces, and still comparatively young, being only
thirty-seven, her hand was sought by a settled and most honorable man
named Mr. John B. Sutherland, a resident of Buffalo, and a member of the
A. M. E. Church. They had a nice wedding at the church on Vine street,
in the presence of an applauding and highly-respectable company. It was
a perfect union of hearts, like Jacob and Rachel's over again. As we had
plenty of room, and were unwilling to have mother set up a different
establishment, Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland took up their residence with us,
and all things went on most harmoniously together. The Almighty seemed
to pour His richest blessings upon us all, and we tried to honor and
glorify His holy name in all that we did. Our experience in slavery had
been light, and we were now only too thankful to be free.
One day in the month of November, Tom received the following letter from
Mrs. Jackson at Riverside Hall, though it was intended for all three of
us:
"RIVERSIDE HALL, Near Louisville, November, 1855.
"Mr. Thomas Lincoln,
"Dear Tom:--We duly received all your letters, and also the Buffalo
newspaper with an account of the marriage of Harriet to Mr. John B.
Sutherland. That would all be right enough if you were white people, or
even free people of color, but the whole three of you are neither one
nor the other. You are our goods and chattels, and our runaway slaves,
and we have decided to bring you back, or else you must pay us the
reduced sum of one thousand dollars apiece; that is, two thousand
dollars, when we will give you your free papers, and a full discharge.
As your master and mistress, we are herein doing you a great favor, for
we could easily get two thousand dollars apiece for each of you, Tom and
Beulah, in the public market. I suppose you are aware that the Fugitive
Slave Bill is the law of the land, and in case you do not give us
satisfaction immediately, we will proceed to put the law in force, and
either bring you back to Riverside Hall, or sell you down the river.
Now, Tom, a word to the wise is sufficient. We shall look for a letter
from you soon.
"I am yours respectfully,
"SARAH JACKSON."
When the above letter arrived at our house, the whole four of us were
seated at the tea table in the evening, and laughing first over one
thing and then another, as people will do at eventide when the work of
the day is done. We read the letter aloud in the midst of great sport
and laughter, which went on, grew and increased the more we examined it.
It was the work of Mrs. Jackson and hers alone. None of us believed that
father knew anything about it at all, and I am sure he did not. Mrs.
Sarah Jackson evidently was unable to keep down her temper and spite
after all our grand escapades, marriages and other things.
"Why," said Mr. Sutherland, "I suppose she will be coming on us with
bloodhounds themselves! She would look grand in hunting costume on the
streets of Buffalo with bloodhounds!"
"What makes me laugh," remarked Tom, "would be to see the boys and young
lads pelting those dogs with stones, and belaboring their sides with big
sticks!"
This was followed by another shout of loud laughter, when mother
exclaimed,
"She would indeed be a sight well worthy of a first-class painter in the
midst of an infuriated crowd who were bent upon our protection and
rescue."
As it was now my turn to put in a word, I remarked,
"She had better send nobody after us. It is now five years since the
passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, which no man can enforce, because
the Christian spirit of the North will not have it, and the North is
right to resist it."
The question next arose as to who should answer the letter. Tom and Mrs.
Sutherland absolutely refused to answer it in any shape or form, so I
took pity on the great lady of Riverside Hall, and said that I would
answer her one of these fine days, which would be both sport and
pleasure for me, and then perhaps she would let us all have a rest. So
in a few days after the receipt of her wonderful letter, I took up my
pen and wrote as follows:
"BUFFALO, N. Y., November, 1855.
"Mrs. Sarah Jackson,
"Madam:--As both Tom and Mrs. Sutherland have absolutely refused to take
the slightest notice of your letter, it has fallen to me to answer it.
It would not suit the convenience of any of us to come to Riverside Hall
at this time, or, indeed, to go anywhere else. Even if we had all the
opportunities in the world, we would not come to Riverside unless we
came as specially invited guests; a visit, in short, that would be a
mutual gratification to us all. But at this time, Tom has got a most
excellent situation on Delaware avenue, the grand residence avenue of
Buffalo; besides, he has married a wife, and therefore he cannot come.
(Such is the language of Holy Writ).
"As for myself, the grand committee on abolition have engaged me to give
a number of lectures, and to sing at their meetings in the interest of
the freedom of all those who are held in the South in enforced and
involuntary bondage. The committee on freedom think that the presence of
a young woman like me would help on the good cause, draw the crowds, and
drive another nail into the coffin of slavery in Kentucky, and wherever
the hated institution exists.
"It will not be a very hard thing for me to make out a clear case
against slavery, and in favor of freedom. Now, just look at myself, and
all those graces and qualifications that I possess and inherit from both
father and mother, and how our gracious Lord has cut me out to be
something, and to do something in the world! Suppose that I had chosen
to remain at Riverside Hall! What was to hinder you spiriting me away to
the cotton fields of the Sunny South to wear my life away as if I were a
mere animal, instead of being a human being like yourself, and one for
whom Christ died? I therefore rejoice at dear mother's freedom; for
slavery is nothing but a revolting crime--a system of robbery and
murder! Now, here I am, and in a short time intend to appear on the
public stage in the capacity of a lecturer, a singer and a player on the
piano. Just fancy the idea of a handsome young woman of seventeen, like
myself, being sold away to Louisiana or Georgia to wear my life away
among the rice fields, the cotton and the cane, when nature has
qualified me with gifts and graces, the admiration of my gallant and
clever Tom, and the 'pick' of the general public to serve against
slavery in the Northern States! I only hope that I shall be able to do
my full share to help on the great conflagration that is now raging all
over the free states, and which I hope will never cease burning until it
has burnt the whole 'institution' down to the ground. Here in the North
I shall be seen and heard by legions of people. But who would ever see
or hear me in the cotton fields, or the sugar plantations, and in the
rice swamps of Louisiana or Georgia?
"I have failed to answer your letter in the way intended. What
impression you intended to make on my mind is more than I know. Your
statements were nothing but the old parrot cries of the South, that have
been heard for many years. Of course, you cannot compel us to come back
so long as we ourselves object. If you write us any more, and expect
your letters to be read, you will have to make them of a readable
character. We will tolerate no less respect than if you were writing to
the Bishop or his wife. I know you don't wish your letters to be
returned to you unread. 'A word to the wise is sufficient.'
"I am yours very respectfully,
"BEULAH JACKSON."
The country continued to ring with abolitionism. Orators and agitators
continued to traverse it in all directions. Men and women mounted the
rostrum, and held forth hour after hour before greatly-interested
gatherings of both sexes and all ages. Fugitive slaves who had made
their escape over the lines were introduced upon the platform, and gave
their wonderful experiences of slavery in the South, and how they
managed to get away. It was thrilling to hear some of them tell of all
the dangers they encountered upon the road; how they were pursued for
hundreds of miles by men, horses and even bloodhounds; how they were
assisted by free people of color, and even by those in bondage and white
people; and thus helped along week after week, and month after month,
till they felt that they were at last both safe and free. When we
consider how the slave States passed one law after another, and all
pulled, and hauled, and banded together to protect and perpetuate their
hold upon their human property, it was most wonderful how very many
slaves effected their escape. The nearer the awful storm came to
breaking over our heads, the more numerous grew the successful escapes
that were made. The frantic South still kept tying the strings tighter
and tighter; but instead of producing the effect she desired, the more
daring grew the soul of the intrepid slave, who seemed encouraged by the
very God of battles himself to strike for liberty and flee to the North.
Thus the grand storm went on, increased and grew. Fred. Douglass,
William Lloyd Garrison, and many other famous writers continued to issue
their papers week by week, or month by month. The agitation was kept at
fever heat by all sorts and conditions of men and women. Still the
Abolitionists did not have the entire field to themselves, for there
were thousands and thousands of people in the Northern states who
believed in slavery for the colored man as much as the Southern
slave-holder himself, away down in Louisiana and Georgia. But Henry Ward
Beecher, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and others without number continued
to lay on with hard licks and steady blows; the public conscience of the
free States became more and more educated, and the people in general
came to take a sympathetic interest in the oppressed African they had
never done before. The presence of the poor, oppressed fugitive slaves
in their meetings, and seen streaming along the North towards the Great
Lakes and Canada, with the marks of the "peculiar institution" stamped
for life upon their backs, were proof positive that none could deny. The
furious quarrel was carried into the halls of Congress at Washington,
and the South was unable to keep it out, though they made the most
determined efforts to do so. The Quakers and all the friends of the
slaves were forever at it, ding-dong, hammer and tongs, and thus the
family quarrel went on. John Brown and free-soil men were in Kansas, and
so were the "Border Ruffians" who came pouring in from Missouri and the
South, being determined to carry Kansas and all other new States and
territories into slavery like the rest of the slave States in their
rear. And still the great American family quarrel went on, increased and
grew, and the Christian voice of the North declared, "Thus far shalt
thou come and no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." The
far-away Christian nations of the world watched the gathering of the
coming tempest from over the seas, and it was apparent to their
unobscured vision that a fearful judgment was coming upon America, and
that it would not be long in coming, either.
The escape of mother and Tom and myself from slavery caused no small
sensation in and around Buffalo. An endless tide of visitors came on to
see us, and they had a thousand questions to ask us about our early life
and experiences in Kentucky and Louisiana. As Lemuel Jackson had caused
us to be duly educated, so that we could even play the piano well, we
were rather more fortunate in the line of education than most of our
fugitive brothers and sisters. In those days, great anti-slavery
demonstrations were all the go. The announcement that some great
national abolitionist was to be on hand at the Hall, to address the
general public on the wrongs and crimes of slavery, would pack the whole
place, and sometimes the crowds that came could not find even standing
room. Then music was added at times, songs were sung, even brass and
stringed bands were brought into play, and everything was done to draw
the prohibition hosts of the great North, then to keep them there, and
finally to make them come again.
The Abolitionists took advantage of our presence in Buffalo to help one
grand meeting in the city for the purpose of making a demonstration in
force, to prove that colored people were just the very same as white
people when they were educated and polished, as we three had been.
Because the lie had been repeated ten thousand times in the South, and
reechoed by their abetting friends in the North, that we were unfitted
for civilization, and that the African was formed by God himself for
slavery, and for slavery alone, and was never intended by nature to be
the equal and companion of white men and women! It was considered that
our presence in a highly intelligent audience would knock that argument
completely on the head, and kill the abominable falsehood once for all.
Therefore they made a demonstration in force, and we ourselves were on
hand.
When the night and hour arrived, Tom, mother and myself proceeded to the
hall, which was already half full, though we were there early. We saw
that great things were expected of us all, and we braced ourselves up
for the occasion, determined that nobody should go away disappointed.
The music discoursed sweet tunes as the people were gathering, and in
due course of time the Rev. Doctor Henderson called the meeting to
order, and took the chair for the evening. He called on our pastor to
offer up prayer to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. The glee
club then sang "The Negro's Complaint," which was written by Mr. William
Cowper, of England. Then the chairman exclaimed,
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, the slave-holders tell us that the children
of African descent in these United States are unfitted for civilization,
and that they are nothing but goods and chattels. I will now call upon
one specimen of these goods and chattels to give us a rattling tune on
the grand piano, and to sing us 'The Mocking Bird,' and put some life in
it." (Great display of approbation, mingled with shouts of loud
laughter).
Then said the reverend speaker, turning to myself,
"Mrs. Lincoln, will you be so kind as to favor us with some of your warm
Southern music?"
Now, of course, the indulgent reader will readily understand that upon
this august occasion I was arrayed like a bride adorned for her husband.
So I arose, bowed to the audience, and put on one of my sweetest smiles,
and proceeded to play and sing with unusual vigor. When I came to the
chorus the whole audience joined in, and I thought they would have
brought down the roof of the hall on our heads. Nor was that the best
part of it, because they not only sang at the end of each verse, but
when I got through the entire audience arose upon their feet and shouted
their applause, calling for an encore, and would not be refused.
I gave them a Southern song with music, for which they gave me another
sounding cheer, when Dr. Henderson introduced my honored mother, Mrs.
Sutherland, in the following happy terms:
"Dear Friends: We are assembled here to-night, in our accustomed place
of meeting, to give the grand chariot of progress another push towards
the bottom of the hill. (Loud applause). The lesson we wish to teach
upon this special and most exceptional occasion is to show what the
colored race are capable of doing and becoming if they had simply an
open field and fair play. It is our desire to see them get an open field
and fair play! (More applause). But I will not detain this large and
splendid audience any longer, but at once introduce to you Mrs. John B.
Sutherland, formerly of Kentucky, but now of Buffalo, who will entertain
us for a time and address the house."
Loud applause followed the Doctor's remarks, when my honored mother came
to the front of the platform, and spoke as follows:
"My good friends, I consider myself most especially honored this night
to be permitted to come before you, to assist in driving another nail
into the coffin of the 'peculiar institution' from whose clutches I have
just been rescued by the kindness and daring of my own daughter. (Loud
cheers). The South has told you ten thousand times that we of the
colored race are only fit for hewers of wood and drawers of water, like
the Gibeonites. These drawers of water of our poor, oppressed race, that
they themselves may live in mansions more palatial than the lords, and
barons, and dukes of Continental Europe and the British Isles. Who ever
heard of such unmanliness and cowardice? Men who ape the aristocracy of
Europe, and even surpass them in brilliant, grand displays, wringing
their wealth from the oppressed African!
"I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that Almighty God is getting tired of
such refined badness, and that the day is coming, and will soon be here
when such a storm of wrath will be upon the South as will wipe out the
blood-red crime of slavery from Mason and Dixon's line to the Rio
Grande. The sooner that day of judgment comes the better!
"Just look abroad over all these far-spreading Northern and Western
States, and hear how they are ringing with the loud notes of freedom,
and the sounds of coming conflict! I am free to say that upon this
night, and at this very hour there are hundreds of meetings going on all
along the Northern States for the purpose of enlightening the nation as
to the real character, intentions and purposes of the South. The South
is not ignorant of these things. They have got Argus eyes for all we do,
both in Congress and out of it, and they will push things as fast and as
far as they dare. They will give us no rest till we are either all
slaves, or all free! (Loud applause). I look around me at the political
skies, and I see them growing blacker and blacker as the great national
storm is gathering. John Brown and the free-soil men are in Kansas; loud
and angry words are being bandied forth between the occupants of the two
ends of the house--between the powerful North and the passionate South.
From words they will most assuredly come to blows over that very
'peculiar institution,' and American slavery and all the evils that
follow in its train, will pass away. But of one thing rest assured. The
South will never consent to emancipate her slaves. They have been
throwing it up in the face of the North these past fifty years that they
can't get their own way; they will go out of the Union, and set up a
slave empire of their own. Then they will attempt a dissolution of these
glorious States. Then they will dare and defy you to force them back
into the Union by the sword. The day is coming, and what will you do
about it?" (Great cheering).