LIFE OF MARTIN R. DELANY.
LIFE
AND
PUBLIC SERVICES
OF
MARTIN R. DELANY,
SUB-ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER BUREAU RELIEF OF REFUGEES,
FREEDMEN, AND OF ABANDONED LANDS, AND LATE
MAJOR 104TH U. S. COLORED TROOPS.
BY
FRANK A. ROLLIN.
_----“et niger arma Memnonis.”_
BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPARD.
1883.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
FRANK A. ROLLIN,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court
of the District of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
19 Spring Lane.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
Introduction 7
I. Genealogy 13
II. Early Education 30
III. Studying North 38
IV. Moral Efforts 43
V. Editorial Career 48
VI. Practising Medicine 68
VII. Fugitive Slave Act 73
VIII. A Hiatus 77
IX. Canada.--Captain John Brown 83
X. Canada Convention.--Harper’s Ferry 91
XI. In Europe 96
XII. The International Statistical Congress and Lord Brougham 99
XIII. Return to America 134
XIV. Corps d’Afrique 141
XV. A Step towards the Service 145
XVI. Recruiting as it was 151
XVII. Changing Position 155
XVIII. Private Council at Washington 162
XIX. The Council-Chamber.--President Lincoln 166
XX. The Gold Leaf 176
XXI. In the Field 181
XXII. At Charleston and Fort Sumter 189
XXIII. Armée d’Afrique 200
XXIV. The National Calamity 203
XXV. Camp of Instruction 209
XXVI. Extraordinary Messages 214
XXVII. News from Richmond 222
XXVIII. A New Field 227
XXIX. General Sickles 245
XXX. Restoring Domestic Relations 254
XXXI. General Robert K. Scott 259
XXXII. The Planters and the Freedmen’s Bureau 269
XXXIII. Domestic Economy 272
XXXIV. Civil Affairs.--President Johnson 277
XXXV. Educational Interests 285
XXXVI. Conclusion 292
APPENDIX.
Political Writings 303
African Explorations 306
Reflections on the War 309
The International Policy of the World towards the African Race 313
Political Destiny of the Colored Race on the American Continent 327
INTRODUCTION.
At the close of every revolution in a country, there is observed an
effort for the gradual and general expulsion of all that is effete,
or tends to retard progress; and as the nation comes forth from its
purification with its existence renewed and invigorated, a better and
higher civilization is promised.
Before entering upon such an effort, it is usual to compute the aid
rendered in the past struggle for national existence, and the present
status of the auxiliaries in connection with it. In this manner, as the
sullen roar of battle ceases, as the war cloud fades out from our sky,
we are enabled to look more soberly upon the stupendous revolution,
its causes and teachings, and to consider the men and new measures
developed through its agency, the material with which the country is to
be reconstructed.
In reviewing the history of the late civil war, it will be found,
as in former revolutions, that those who were able to master its
magnitude were men who, prior to the occasion, were almost wholly
unknown, or claimed but a local reputation. Measures which before were
deemed impracticable and inexpedient, in the progress of the war, were
considered best adapted to meet the exigencies of the time. A race
before persecuted, slandered, and brutalized, ostracized, socially and
politically, have scattered the false theories of their enemies, and
proved in every way their claim and identity to American citizenship
in its every particular. While the war between sections has erased
slavery from the statutes of the country, it has in no wise obliterated
the inconsistent prejudice against color. Among the white Americans,
since the rebellion, from the highest officer to the lowest subaltern,
there is a recognized precedence for them, in view of their patriotism
and valor in the hour of peril and treachery. They recognized their
duty when Southerners had ignored it: for this we honor them; and none
would gainsay an atom of the praise bestowed: the country had always
honored and protected them at home and abroad, and in enhancing her
prestige, they have added to their own as American citizens. But in
the same dark hour of strife and treachery, there went forth from the
despised and dusky sons of the republic a host, who, though faring
differently, contributed no meagre offering to the cause of the Union.
In the foremost rank of battle they stood, stimulated alone by
their sublime faith in the future of their country, instead of being
deterred by the disheartening experiences of the past. From their
first hour in the rebellion to the last, theirs was a fierce, unequal
contest; they were found enlisting, fighting, and even dying under
circumstances from which the bravest Saxon would have been justified in
shrinking. For them there was “death in the front and destruction in
the rear”--torture and death as prisoners in the rebel lines, and the
perils of the mob in many of the loyal cities awaiting them when seen
in the United States uniform. Despite all opposition, they have traced
their history in characters as indestructible as they are brilliant, to
the confusion of their enemies. On every field, negro heroism and valor
have been proved by them in a manner which has established for their
race a grandeur of character in American annals, that, when read by the
unprejudiced eyes of futurity, will gleam with increased splendor amid
their unfavorable surroundings; while in song and story their deeds of
prowess will live forever, reflecting the glories of Port Hudson, the
crimson field of Olustee, and the holy memories which cluster about
Fort Wagner.
Of an army of more than a quarter of a million men, less than a decade
received promotion for their services. Lieutenant Stephen A. Swails,
of Elmira, New York, a member of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts
Volunteers, had the honor of being first, for having signally
distinguished himself both at Wagner and Olustee. Later followed the
promotion of Lieutenants Dufree, Shorter, James T. Trotter, and Charles
Mitchell, from the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers; Lieutenants
Peter Voglesang (Quartermaster), and Frank Welch, from the Fifty-fourth
Massachusetts Volunteers. Dr. Alexander Augusta, of Canada, had been
previously appointed surgeon, with the rank of major. Besides these,
several complimentary promotions were given prior to the muster out
of these two regiments. None of the officers above named have been
retained in the service; one alone remains, who, during the rebellion,
had attained the highest commission bestowed on any of the race by the
government--that of Major of Infantry. Him whom the government had
chosen for this position we have made the subject of this work. His
great grasp of mind and fine executive ability eminently befitted him
for the sphere, and the success which attends his measures renders him
a distinct and conspicuous character at his post. His career throughout
life has been very remarkable. Prior to his present appointment his
name was familiar with every advance movement relative to the colored
people: once it fell upon the ear of the terror-stricken Virginians, in
connection with John Brown, of Ossowatomie; and scarcely had it been
forgotten when it was borne back to us from the Statistical Congress
at London, encircled with the genius of Lord Brougham. To no more
advantageous surroundings than were enjoyed by the masses he owes his
successes; hence his achievements may be safely argued as indicative
of the capability and progress of the race whose proud representative
he is. The isolated and degraded position assigned the colored people
precluding the possibility of gaining distinction, whenever one of
their number lifts himself by the strength of his own character beyond
the prescribed limits, ethnologists apologize for this violation of
their established rules, charging it to some few drops of Saxon blood
commingling with the African. But in the case of the individual of
whom we write, he stands proudly before the country the blackest of
the black, presenting in himself a giant’s powers warped in chains,
and evidencing in his splendid career the fallacy of the old partisan
theory of negro inferiority and degradation.
In this history will be noticed certain strong characteristics
peculiarly his own, which are traceable more to the circumstances of
his birth than his race. Aiming to render a faithful biography of this
remarkable man, we narrate minutely his singularly active and eventful
life, which, in view of the narrow limits apportioned to him, will bear
favorable comparison with the great Americans of our time.
CHARLESTON, S. C., October 19th, 1868.
LIFE OF MAJOR M. R. DELANY.
CHAPTER I.
GENEALOGY.
It has always been admitted that the early slaves of America were
the vanquished of the wars waged among rival tribes of Africa. Among
these were kings, chiefs, and their families, accustomed to state and
circumstance, consigned to slavery in accordance with the laws of their
warfare. From these early slaves the colored people of the United
States are descended; and some of these captive kings and princes, it
naturally follows, were the progenitors of some of the colored people
of this continent. Yet, in consequence of the condition assigned
them by an unholy prejudice, the mere mention of a claim to a family
lineage, by one of that race, is treated with derision. Despite the
opposition, however, there are Americans who not only claim a regal
African ancestry, but cling to it with a pride worthy of a citizen of
Rome in her palmiest days. Regardless of the gloom of barbarism which
encircled their ancestry, knowing that the race which now stands at
the zenith of its power suffered like disadvantages, the colored
people cherish this proud descent with all the strong feeling so
characteristic of them. Prominent among them in this pride of race
stands the subject of this work.
At a recent session of Congress an interrogatory was raised by a
member of that honorable body, while the suffrage question was being
agitated: “What negro, either ancient or modern, has risen up and
shown his claims to a family lineage, or a kingdom, as have done
other men through all times? Or where is the negro, who, by the force
of his intellect, and might of his will and power, has attempted to
bring together the scattered petty chiefdoms south of the Sahara into
one grand consolidated kingdom? Show me one who has attempted any of
these, and with all of my prejudices, to such will I accord honor.”
This will temper the criticism to which we render ourselves liable
under a state of society where every man is supposed to stand upon the
strength of his own merit, or fall for want of it, and where family
titles are ignored, by beginning the biography of a colored man with
his ancestry, instead of treating directly with himself. Since this
reference to ancestry is not without precedent, as the histories of
distinguished Americans show, there can be no violation of established
rules for us to avail ourselves of the privilege, not in imitation of
others, but rather with a view of presenting a faithful portrait of one
representative of the race, known to two continents, but remarkable in
the history of our times as the first black major in the United States
service.
MARTIN ROBISON DELANY, the son of Samuel and Pati Delany, was born at
Charlestown, Virginia, May 6, 1812. He was named for his godfather, a
colored Baptist clergyman, who, it appeared, gave nothing beyond his
name to his godson.
With the name Delany, a peculiarity illustrative of the man himself
is manifested. Regarding it as not legally belonging to his family by
consanguinity, and suspicious of its having been borrowed from the
whites, as was the custom of those days, he expresses himself always
as though it was distasteful to him, recalling associations of the
servitude of his family. With these associations clinging to it, his
pride revolts at retaining that which he believes originated with
the oppressors of his ancestors; and though he has made it honorable
in other lands besides our own, encircled it with the glory of a
steadfast adherence to freedom’s cause in the nation’s darkest hours,
and uncompromising fidelity to his race, thus constituting him one of
the brightest beacons for the rising generation, he eagerly awaits the
opportunity for its erasure.
His pride of birth is traceable to his maternal as well as to his
paternal grandfather, native Africans--on the father’s side, pure
Golah; on the mother’s, Mandingo.
His father’s father was a chieftain, captured with his family in war,
sold to the slavers, and brought to America. He fled at one time from
Virginia, where he was enslaved, taking with him his wife and two sons,
born to him on this continent, and, after various wanderings, reached
Little York--as Toronto, Canada, was then called--unmolested. But
even there he was pursued, and “by some fiction of law, international
policy, old musty treaty, cozenly understood,” says Major Delany, he
was brought back to the United States.
The fallen old chief afterwards is said to have lost his life in an
encounter with some slaveholder, who attempted to chastise him into
submission.
On his mother’s side the claim receives additional strength. The story
runs that her father was an African prince, from the Niger valley
regions of Central Africa; was captured when young, during hostilities
between the Mandingoes, Fellahtas, and Houssa, sold, and brought to
America at the same time with his betrothed Graci.
His name was Shango, surnamed Peace, from that of a great African deity
of protection, which is represented in their worship as a ram’s head
with the attribute of fire.
The form and attributes of this deity are so described as to render it
probable that the idol Shango, of modern Africa, is the same to which
ancient Egypt paid divine homage under the name of Jupiter Ammon. This
still remaining the popular deity of all the region of Central Africa,
is an evidence sufficient in itself to prove not only nativity, but
descent. For in accordance with the laws of the people of that region,
none took, save by inheritance, so sacred a name as Shango, and the
one thus named was entitled to the chief power. From this source this
American family claim their ancestry.
Shango, at an early period of his servitude in America, regained his
liberty, and returned to Africa.
Whether owing to the fact that the slave system was not so thoroughly
established then,--that is, had no legal existence,--or the early
slaveholders had not then lost their claims to civilization, it was
recognized among themselves that no African of noble birth should
be continued enslaved, proofs of his claims being adduced. Thus, by
virtue of his birth, Shango was enabled to return to his home. His
wife, Graci, was afterwards restored to freedom by the same means. She
remained in America, and died at the age of one hundred and seven, in
the family of her only daughter, Pati, the mother of Major Delany.
These facts were more fully authenticated by Major Delany while
on his famous exploring tour, of which we will speak hereafter.
While he travelled from Golah to Central Africa, through the Niger
valley regions, he recognized his opportunity, and consulted, among
others, as he travelled, that learned native author, Agi, known to
fame as the Rev. Samuel Crowther, D. D., created by the Church of
England Bishop of Niger, the degree of Doctor of Divinity having been
conferred by the University of Oxford. From all information obtained,
it is satisfactorily proved, that, his grandmother having died about
forty-three years ago, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven
years, as before stated, then his grandfather’s age, being the same as
hers, would correspond with that period, which is about one hundred and
fifty years, since the custom of an heir to royalty taking the name
of a native deity was recognized; and, further, that his grandfather
was heir to the kingdom which was then the most powerful of Central
Africa, but lost his royal inheritance by the still prevailing custom
of slavery and expatriation as a result of subjugation.
Some day, then, perhaps before the “star of empire westward takes its
way,” “the petty chiefdoms and principalities south of the Sahara” may
yet be “gathered into one grand consolidated kingdom” by some negro’s
intellect and might.
To possess himself of the early origin of his family was in keeping
with a mind so richly endowed, and soaring always far beyond the
confines which the prejudices of this country apportion him. Not that
he expected it to elevate him in America, knowing that custom and
education are alike averse to this--scarcely allowing him to declare
with freedom from derision the immortal sentence, “_I am a man_,” and
claiming rights legitimately belonging to its estate. For by observing
his history, it may yet prove that the sequel is but the goal of his
earliest determination, and not of recent conception, but nursed from
his high-minded Mandingo-Golah mother, and heard in the chants of a
Mandingo grandmother, depicted with all the gorgeous imagery of the
tropics, as the story of their lost and _regal_ inheritance. Thus
becoming imbued with its spirit, it shaped itself in the dreams of his
childhood, it entwined about the studies and pursuits of his youth,
and, through that remarkable perseverance which characterizes him, it
was realized in the full vigor of manhood to trace satisfactorily his
ancestors’ history on the soil of its origin.
Thus Africa and her past and future glory became entwined around every
fibre of his being; and to the work of replacing her among the powers
of the earth, and exalting her scattered descendants on this continent,
he has devoted himself wholly, with an earnestness to which the
personal sacrifices made by him through life bear witness.
Said he on one occasion, “While in America I would be a republican,
strictly democratic, conforming to the letter of the law in every
requirement of a republican government, in a monarchy I would as
strictly conform to its requirements, having no scruples at titles, or
objections to royalty, believing only in impartial and equitable laws,
let that form of government be what it might; believing _that_ only
preferable under just laws which is best adapted to the genius of the
people.
“I would not advocate monarchy in the United States, or republicanism
in Europe; yet I would be either king or president consistently with
the form of government in which I was called to act. But I would be
neither president nor king except to promote the happiness, advance and
secure the rights and liberty, of the people on the bases of justice,
equality, and impartiality before the law.”
Such are the principles to which he adheres. Unpopular as they are,
they have not unfitted him for the duties of a republican citizen,
owing to his ready adaptation to the circumstances in which he has
happened to be placed for promoting the interests of his race.
For, next to his pride of birth, and almost inseparable from it, is his
pride of race, which even distinguishes him from the noted colored men
of the present time. This finds an apt illustration in a remark made
once by the distinguished Douglass. Said he, “I thank God for making
me a man simply; but Delany always thanks him for making him a _black
man_.”
Doubt of his claims and criticism of his actions may be freely
indulged, for even under the more favorable circumstances in a
democracy like ours, they would be meted out to him; but it must be
admitted it is not an ordinary occurrence, in a country like ours, with
all the disadvantageous surroundings of the colored people, to find an
individual lifting himself above the masses by the levers considered
the most unwieldy--his faith in his race, and his deep identity with
them. So completely has slavery accomplished its mission, depriving
the colored people of every opportunity of profit, and every hope of
emolument, confining them to the most menial occupations, engendering a
timidity to advancement into the higher pursuits, unless supported by
some recognized popular element, as to cause them to be at all times
painfully alive to their humiliating condition, and to act as though
ready to bow apologies to the public for their color. While this can
hardly be charged as a fault to them, it is at best lamentable, and at
the same time it is equally true, that Major Delany, in the sincerity
of his belief, even unconscious of its effect, tends to the other
extreme--that white men are often piqued when in contact with him, and
are likely at first to be prejudiced against him.
A true radical of the old school, once in conversation with another
gentleman, when the black officer’s opinion on the subject on which
they were conversing was quoted, rejected it, and vehemently exclaimed,
“Sir, I do not believe Delany considers any white man as good as
himself.”
He rejects always, with the deepest scorn, the assertion of
inferiority, claiming always for his race the highest susceptibility
in all things, which belief he asserts with additional force since
his intercourse with native Africans of the Niger valley regions,
whose metaphysical reasonings and statuary designs, all circumstances
considered, challenged his highest admiration, and claiming for
himself, as before mentioned, a high descent.
On going to London, he made known his efforts to obtain, while in
Africa, a correct knowledge of his ancestry to the distinguished Henry
Ven, D. D., late tutor of mathematics and Latin and Greek in Cambridge
College, now secretary of the Church Missionary Society, Salsbery
Square, when the generous philanthropist at once stated that he had but
one copy of Koehler’s _Polyglotta Africana_, a work gotten up at great
expense and labor expressly for the church publication, the price being
four or five pounds sterling; but that Dr. Delany, of all living men,
had a legitimate right to it, and therefore should have it; and he at
once presented it to him, this being probably the only one in America.
In this the high status claimed for his ancestry received additional
proofs.
John Randolph of Roanoke referring always, in his pride, to his
blood inherited from his Indian ancestry, as the strength upon which
his great character was formed, and Martin Delany glorying in the
blood transmitted to him from the dusky chiefs of Africa, cannot be
considered a weakness in this country, where the Indian and the negro
are entitled to the strongest consideration of the nation. For upon his
parentage and race rests whatever of success and prominence our subject
has achieved; they have entered so strongly into all his pursuits,
and blended themselves into a most ennobling influence, that they
reflect themselves in every act, and each act, marked by this strong
personality, leads to the individual himself.
In personal appearance he is remarkable; seen once, he is to be
remembered. He is of medium height, compactly and strongly built,
with broad shoulders, upon which rests a head seemingly inviting,
by its bareness, attention to the well-developed organs, with eyes
sharp and piercing, seeming to take in everything at a glance at the
same time, while will, energy, and fire are alive in every feature;
the whole surmounted on a groundwork of most defiant blackness. It
is frequently said by those best acquainted with his character, that
in order to excite envy in him would be for an individual to possess
less adulterated blackness, as his great boast is, that there lives
none blacker than himself. His carriage, erect and independent, as if
indicative of the man, calls attention to his figure. His wonderful
powers of mental and physical endurance and great constitutional vigor,
resulting in a physique of striking elasticity, lead us to institute
comparisons with the great Lord Brougham.
If there is one faculty for the cultivation of which he is more
remarkable than another, it is his power of memory, almost as universal
as it is tenacious, never seeming wholly to forget persons, names,
places, or events; especially those of interest he relates with
accuracy. His ready memory, always suggestive, renders him in oratory
exhaustless and lengthy, but at all times interesting; especially to
a promiscuous audience he is instructive. His gestures in speaking
are nervous and rapid at first, then easy and graceful; his delivery
forcible and impressive; while his voice, deep-toned and full, attracts
his auditors, and influences them. At all times logical, appealing more
to the reason than to the feelings, endeavoring at all times to infuse
his own enthusiasm for the glorious future of his race into them, he
appeals less to their passions than their pride.
In speaking, he is most effective when in his loftiest flights. Losing
sight of his audience, and wrapped up in his theme, his features
beaming with the beauty of inspiration, he seems to address himself
directly to the great injustice which towers above him, no longer
himself, but the spirit of some martyr-hero of his race in the cause
of right, bursting the cerements of the grave to renew the combat on
earth. To all conscious of his life-long earnestness, and how closely
the orator and the man are allied, his efforts are not without their
effect.
He conformed to no conservatism for interest’s sake, nor compromise for
the sake of party or expediency, demanding only the rights meted out to
others. His sentiments partaking of the most uncompromising radicalism,
years before the public were willing to listen to such doctrine,
caused his speeches and writings to be considered impracticable and
impolitic. While they were never characterized by violent or incendiary
expressions, they consequently rendered him less popular than many
others of inferior ability. He was considered impolitic for what men
talked with abated breath; when slavery had her myrmidons in church and
state, he held up, in all of its deformities, and denounced without
fear or palliation, depending more upon the cause than the time to
justify him. “Setting his foot always in advance of fate,” his views
were deemed impracticable; but, proud in the strength of his opinions,
and wrapped in the consciousness of their ultimate adoption, he bided
his hour.
As an advocate of moral reforms his influence finds abundant scope.
His habits being as simple as they are temperate, adhering rigidly to
physiological rules, they render him successful in presenting such
measures. In early youth he espoused total abstinence; conforming
first from principle, it afterwards became an established habit to
eschew the use of liquors, or even tobacco, in any form, and from these
early principles he has never been known to swerve. While his labors
and sympathies are more strongly put forth in behalf of his own race,
as more needful of them, yet no one exhibits a more catholic spirit,
even to the enemies of his race, than Martin Delany. In his present
sphere, his untiring efforts to ameliorate the condition of every
class, irrespective of former condition and politics, and to advance
the prosperity of an impoverished and prostrate section of our country,
will render his name acceptable, not only as the able and incorruptible
executive officer of the government, but as a humanitarian in its
widest acceptation. To sum up his character, there will be found a
strong individuality permeating it, as though aiming always to be
himself in all things; possessing all the pride, fire, and generous
characteristics of the true negro, without the timidity or weakness
usually ascribed, as resulting from their condition in America.
There is every evidence that he possesses in an eminent degree the
elements of the true soldier, and under more favorable auspices
would have made a reputation worthy of record beside the great names
which the late rebellion has produced. Fearless without being rash,
at all times self-possessed and fully equal to emergencies, a lover
of discipline; an iron will and great strength of endurance and
perseverance bestowed by Nature, while she circumscribed his limits for
exercising them; hence the record of his services in the late rebellion
will be more of his achievements as an organizer of movements tending
to advance the progress of freedom in reconstruction than of his
martial accomplishments.
While the true place of the distinguished colored man is among the
“self-made men” of our country, still it must be admitted that their
surroundings being less favorable to insure success than white men
of the same class, in proportion, their achievements are as great.
And while many of this class were fostered by the Anti-slavery
Society,--its patronage being always extended to the talented and
meritorious of the race,--still its immediate support was never held
out to him. Solely upon his own will, perseverance, and merits can be
based the secret of his success wherein others have failed.
His mother was considered a most exemplary Christian, active
and energetic, with quick perceptions and fine natural talents,
inheriting all the finer traits of character of her Mandingo origin.
The Mandingoes, from their love of traffic, are nicknamed the “Jews
of Africa.” An incident which is related of her shows the force of
character which she transmitted to her son. An attempt was made to
enslave herself and children, five in all, in Virginia, where they
resided. Being informed of it, she at once determined to test or avert
it. Taking the two youngest, she set out on foot, with one lashed
across her back, and the other in her arms; she walked, the distance
from Charlestown to Winchester in time to meet the court, consulted her
lawyer, entered suit, and when all difficulties were satisfactorily
adjusted, she returned to her children triumphant. “Some Roman lingered
there,” that neither the miasma of slavery, with which the atmosphere
about was impregnated, nor the uncertain future of her children, could
crush out; but a slow and steady fire burnt forever in her soul, and
gleamed along the pathway of her youngest born to guide him to duty in
the unequal strife of his race. She lived long enough to witness the
overthrow of the oligarchy against which she had contended in Virginia.
She died at Pittsburg, in the family of her son, Samuel Delany, in
1864, at the age of ninety-six.
This family attained great longevity, as is again shown in the father
of Major Delany, who gave every indication of a hale old age, when he
was carried off by the cholera which swept over Pittsburg at one time,
when he had reached his eighty-fourth year. In life he was known as
a man of great integrity of character, of acknowledged courage, and
was remarkable for his great physical strength. He was well known in
Martinsburg, where, for a stipulated sum, he obtained his freedom,
thence went to Chambersburg, whither his family had preceded him. He
bore a scar on his face, the result of a wound, which adds another
testimony to the “barbarism of slavery.” It was inflicted by the
sheriff of the county, who, with eight men, went to arrest him one
morning, because he had nine times torn the clothes from off the person
of one Violet, as he was endeavoring to inflict bodily punishment on
him. Each time, as he dashed the man Violet from him, he assured him he
had no wish to injure him.
The sheriff and his men, approaching, were warned by him to keep off.
He then fortified himself behind a wagon in a lane, and, being armed
with its swingle-tree, bade defiance to the authority attempting to
surround him. The better to effect a retreat, if necessary, by climbing
backwards he raised himself to the top of the fence, his face to his
persecutors. At the moment the top was gained, he was brought to the
ground, senseless and bleeding, by a skilfully-directed stone. He was
then secured and taken to prison at Charlestown.
The sheriff was desirous of shooting him; but Violet, with a view to
his market value rather than appreciation of his determined courage,
objected most decidedly to this, adding that he was “too good a man to
be killed.” The stone was thus substituted for the bullet. With this
mark of brutality daily before the eyes of his children, and in its
train all the humiliations and bestial associations to which their
hapless race was subjected, it is no matter of wonderment that Martin
Delany should watch every enactment concerning his race with exactness,
and his bitterness against their oppressors and abettors would
sometimes outrun his sense of the politic, or that all his efforts
should, through life, converge to the same end to contribute his aid to
root out every fibre of slavery and its concomitants.
On the 15th of March, 1843, he was married to Kate A., youngest
daughter of Charles Richards, of Pittsburg, the grandfather and father
of whom had been men of influence and wealth of their time. This
daughter was one of the heirs to their estate, which had increased
in value, as it embraced some of the best property in the city of
Pittsburg, estimated at nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
This was finally lost to them in 1847, simply by a turn of law, in
consequence of the unwillingness of attorneys to litigate so large a
claim in favor of a colored against white families.
Mrs. Delany is a fine-looking, intelligent, and appreciative lady,
possessed of fine womanly sympathies, and, always entering fully into
his pursuits, has contributed no little aid to his success.
With a companion whose views are so thoroughly in unison with his own,
his domestic relations are prosperous and happy. Equally as zealous
for the interest of her race, and self-sacrificing as himself, she
encouraged and urged him on in his most doubtful moments,--for many
they were while the political horizon was darkened by the thick clouds
of slavery.
While they were never possessed of means, through her management many
poor fugitives and indigent persons were succored by them. She has
cheerfully borne poverty when it could have been otherwise, and would
forego personal comforts rather than he should fall back from the
position he had taken, for pecuniary benefits for herself and children.
From this marriage eleven children were born, seven of whom are living.
In the selection of the names of these children, the speciality is
again evident. If the names given to children generally are intended
as incentives to the formation of character, then, when they are
sufficiently marked by selections from prominent characters, it may
at least be indicative of the sentiments of the parents. If this is
admitted, then the choice of names of these children gives unmistakable
evidences of the determination of their parents that these brilliant
characters should not be lost sight of, but emulated by them. While
they are strictly in keeping with the father’s characteristic, they
being all of African affinity or consanguinity, they are nevertheless
remarkable amidst such surroundings as American contingencies
constantly present. The eldest is Toussaint L’Ouverture, after the
first military hero and statesman of San Domingo; the second, Charles
Lennox Remond, from the eloquent living declaimer; the third, Alexander
Dumas, from that brilliant author of romance; the fourth, Saint
Cyprian, from one of the greatest of the primitive bishops of the
Christian Church; the fifth, Faustin Soulouque, after the late Emperor
of Hayti; the sixth, Rameses Placido, from the good King of Egypt, “the
ever-living Rameses II,” and the poet and martyr of freedom to his race
on the Island of Cuba; the seventh, the daughter Ethiopia Halle Amelia,
the country of his race, to which is given the unequalled promise that
“she should soon stretch forth her hands unto God.”