During the summer, in Virginia and other southern states, slaves when
threatened or after punishment would escape to the woods or some other
hiding place. They were then called runaways, or runaway Negroes, and
when not caught would stay away from home until driven back by cold
weather. Usually they would go to some other part of the state, where
they were not so well known, and a few who had the moral courage would
make their way to the North, and thus gain their freedom. But such cases
were rare. Some, if captured and not wishing to go back to their
masters, would neither give their correct name nor that of their owner;
and in such cases, if the master had not seen the notice of sale posted
by the officers of the county wherein they were captured, and which
usually gave the runaway’s personal description, they were sold to the
highest bidders, and their masters lost them and the county in which the
capture was effected got the proceeds, less the expense of capture. A
runaway often chose that course in order to get out of the hands of a
hard master, thinking that he could not do worse in any event, while he
might fall into the hands of a better master. Often they were bought by
Negro traders for the cotton fields of the South.
The white children had great fear of runaway Negroes, so much so that
their mothers would use the term “runaway nigger” to scare their babies
or to quiet them. I was greatly afraid of them, too, because I had
heard so many horrible stories told of their brutality, but I have no
personal recollections of any such case. I recall two instances where I
had dealings with them. The first was as follows:--One of our cows had a
calf two or three days old hid in the timber land, and I was sent to
find it, and in doing so went into the woods where the underbrush was
quite thick, and suddenly came upon a rough-looking, half-clad black
man. I was too close or too much frightened to run from him and stood
speechless. He spoke pleasantly, telling me where I could find the calf,
and stated that if I told the white people about him he would come back
and kill me. He had a piece of roasted pork and “ashcake,” and offered
me some which I was afraid to refuse. Of course I did not inform on him.
The other occasion was when I was sent to the mill about three miles
distant with an ox-team and two or three bags of corn and wheat. I did
not get away from the mill until near sundown, and when near home, while
passing through a body of timber land, a black man stepped out in front
of my oxen and stopped them. He looked vicious but said nothing. He got
into the cart and cut one bag in half, taking about one bushel of meal,
jumped out and let me go without further trouble. I told my master about
this but nothing was done, it being Saturday night, and the only man
near by who kept Negro hounds was Thomas Rudd, who would not go Negro
hunting on Sunday.
These runaways lived upon stolen pigs and sheep, and the hardest thing
for them to get was salt and bread. It was really dangerous for any
person to betray one of these fellows, for when caught and carried home
to their masters, they were usually whipped. But they would run away
again, come back, lie in wait for their betrayer, and punish him
severely. Those who hired slaves belonging to estates, which under the
law had to be hired out every year, often suffered in this respect, for
it sometimes happened that the slaves would run away in the spring and
remain away until Christmas, when they would report to the guardian of
the estate, ready to be hired out for another year, while the employer
was compelled to pay for the last year’s service. I have known of
several such cases.
I hope from what I have said about “runaways,” that my readers will not
form the opinion that all slave men who imagined themselves treated
harshly ran away, or that they were all too lazy to work in the hot
weather and took to the woods, or that all masters were so brutal that
their slaves were compelled to run away to save life. There were masters
of different dispositions and temperaments. Many owners treated their
slaves so humanely that they never ran away, although they were
sometimes punished; others really felt grieved for it to be known, that
one of their slaves had been compelled to run away; others allowed the
overseer to treat their slaves with such brutality that they were forced
to run away, and when they did, the condition of those remaining was
bettered, because the master’s attention would be called to the fact,
and he would limit the power of the overseer to punish at will; others
never whipped grown slaves and would not allow any one else to do so. I
recall an instance showing the viciousness of these runaway Negroes,
which I think illustrates the point as to their hard character.
There was a slave named Bluford, belonging to a hemp raiser in Saline
County, Missouri, who owned a large plantation, and owned a large
number of slaves, and who had a poor white man employed as overseer.
This overseer got angry at Bluford for some offence or neglect, and
attempted to flog him, but instead got flogged himself and reported to
the master the treatment he had received. The master sent for Bluford,
and without making inquiry to ascertain the facts, proceeded to punish
the slave, who in turn flogged his master and then ran away. The
Missouri River is a very wide, rapid and dangerous stream, and runs
between Howard and Salem counties, only a few miles from his master’s
plantation. By some means Bluford crossed it and hid himself in a wheat
field on the other side of the river to wait till dark. He told me that
he was hid in a corner of a fence, and the wheat being ripe was ready to
be cut. Now what spirit lead the owner of the field to get over the
fence right in that corner can never be known, but he did, and found
Bluford, whom he grabbed in the collar, and refused to let go after
being warned. Bluford was armed with a butcher’s knife, and with it he
cut the man across the abdomen, severing it to the backbone, causing
death in a very short time. Hunting parties were immediately organized,
who searched the surrounding country in vain for the murderer. I think
this occurred in July, 1855. I had been acquainted with Bluford previous
to that time.
Some time during the spring of 1865, I met Bluford on the street in
Leavenworth, Kansas, after he had been to Kansas City, Missouri, to meet
some relative. He gave me the facts in the case, and told me that he
followed Grand River to its head water, which was in Iowa, then made his
way to Des Moines, where he remained until the war, when he enlisted
and served to the close of the war.
Bluford could read quite well when I knew him in 1855, and had paid
attention to the maps and rivers of the state of Missouri.
Then there were different kinds of slaves, the lazy fellow, who would
not work at all, unless forced to do so, and required to be watched, the
good man, who patiently submitted to everything, and trusted in the Lord
to save his soul; and then there was the one who would not yield to
punishment of any kind, but would fight until overcome by numbers, and
in most cases be severely whipped; he would then go to the woods or
swamps, and was hard to capture, being usually armed with an axe, corn
knife, or some dangerous weapon, as fire arms at that time were not
obtainable. Then there was the unruly slave, whom no master particularly
wanted for several reasons; first, he would not submit to any kind of
corporal punishment; second, it was hard to determine which was the
master or which the slave; third, he worked when he pleased to do so;
fourth, no one would buy him, not even the Negro trader, because he
could not take possession of him without his consent, and of course he
could not get that. He could only be taken dead, and was worth too much
money alive to be killed in order to conquer him. Often masters gathered
a gang of friends, surrounded such fellows, and punished them severely,
and at other times the slave would arm himself with an axe, or something
dangerous, and threaten death to any one coming within his reach. They
could not afford to shoot him on account of the money in him, and of
course they left him. This class of slaves were usually industrious,
but very impudent. There were thousands of that class, who spent their
lives in their master’s service, doing his work undisturbed, because the
master understood the slave.
I am reminded of a fight I once witnessed between a slave and his
master. They were both recognized bullies. The master was a farmer,
whose name I shall call Mr. W., who lived about three miles from
Brunswick, Missouri. He had, by marriage I think, gained possession of a
slave named Armstead. Soon after arriving at his new home his master and
he had some words; his master ordered him to “shut up,” which he refused
to do. The master struck him and he returned the blow. Then Mr. W. said,
“Well, sir, if that is your game I am your man, and I tell you right
now, if you lick me I’ll take it as my share, and that will end it, but
if I lick you, then you are to stand and receive twenty lashes.”
They were out in an open field near the public road, where there was
nothing to interfere. I was on a wagon in the road, about forty yards
distant. Then commenced the prettiest fist and skull fight I ever
witnessed, lasting, it seemed, a full half hour; both went down several
times; they clinched once or twice, and had the field for a ring, and
might have occupied more of it than they did, but they confined
themselves to about one fourth of an acre. Of course Armstead had my
sympathy throughout, because I wanted to see whether Mr. W. would keep
his word. They were both bloody and also muddy, but grit to the
backbone. Finally my man went down and could not come to time, and cried
out, “Enough.” There was a creek near by, and they both went to it to
wash. I left, but was informed that the agreement was carried out,
except that Mr. W. gave his whipped man but six light strokes over his
vest. Could he have done less? But I have been informed that these men
got along well afterwards without fighting, and lived together as master
and slave until the war.
I believe in that old saying, that blood will tell. It is found to be
true in animals by actual tests, and if we will push our investigations
a little further, we will find it true as to human beings.
Of course I do not wish to be understood as teaching the doctrine, that
blood is to be divided into white blood and black blood, but on the
contrary, I wish to be understood as meaning that it should be divided
into inferior and superior, regardless of the color of the individual in
whose veins it flows.
The fact of the presence in the South, especially, of the large number
of the typical poor whites, held, as it were, in a degree of slavery, is
a contradiction of the assertion, that white blood alone is superior.
If this class had superior blood in their veins, (which I deny) is there
a sane man who will believe that they would have remained in the South,
generations after generations, filling menial positions, with no
perceptible degree of advancement? I venture to say not. The truth is,
that they had inferior blood; nothing more. To further explain what I
mean relative to inferior and superior blood among slaves, I will state,
that there were thousands of high-toned and high-spirited slaves, who
had as much self-respect as their masters, and who were industrious,
reliable and truthful, and could be depended upon by their masters in
all cases.
These slaves knew their own helpless condition. They also knew that they
had no rights under the laws of the land, and that they were, by those
same laws, the chattels of their masters, and that they owed them their
services during their natural lives, and that the masters alone could
make their lives pleasant or miserable. But having superior blood in
their veins, they did not give up in abject servility, but held up their
heads and proceeded to do the next best thing under the circumstances,
which was, to so live and act as to win the confidence of their masters,
which could only be done by faithful service and an upright life.
Such slaves as these were always the reliables, and the ones whom the
master trusted and seldom had occasion to even scold for neglect of
duty. They spent their lives in their master’s service, and reared up
their children in the same service.
Such slaves were to be found wherever the institution of slavery
existed, and when they were freed by the war, these traits which they
had exhibited for generations to such good effect, were brought into
greater activity, and have been largely instrumental in making the
record of which we feel so proud to-day. This class of slaves not only
looked after their own interests, but their master’s as well, even in
his absence.
I recall a case in point. Some time during the fall of 1857, in company
with a man belonging to Dr. Watts, who lived near Brunswick, Missouri,
as we were passing his master’s farm, one Sunday night, we heard cattle
in the corn field destroying green corn. These cattle had pushed down
the fence. I said to the man: “Let us drive them out and put up the
fence.” His reply was, “It’s Massa’s corn and Massa’s cattle, and I
don’t care how much they destroy; he won’t thank me for driving them
out, and I will not do it.”
To the class of superior blooded slaves may be added the fighting
fellows, or those who knew when they had discharged their duty, and by
virtue of knowing this fact, would not submit to any kind of corporal
punishment at the hand of their master, and especially his overseer.
Just as among the whites in the South there was an inferior blooded
class, so among the slaves there was an inferior blooded class, one
whose members were almost entirely devoid of all the manly traits of
character, who were totally unreliable and were without self-respect
enough to keep themselves clean.
They spent their lives much like beasts of burden. They took no interest
in their master’s work or his property, and went no further than forced
by the lash, and would not go without it.
They reared their children in the same way they had come up, with no
perceptible change for the better. They had not the spirit nor the
courage to resist punishment, and bore it submissively. From that class,
I believe, springs the worthless, the shiftless, the dishonest and the
immoral among us to-day, casting unmerited blame upon the honest,
thrifty and intelligent colored people, who strive to live right in the
sight of God and man.
Another view held by people who have given the matter some thought, is
this: there were masters of quite different temperament and disposition.
Some had no humane feelings, and regarded their slaves as brutes, and
treated them as such, while there were others, (a very large class) who
were good men, and I might say, religious men, and who regarded slavery
as wrong in principle, but as it was handed down to them, they took it,
believing that they, by fair treatment, could improve the slave, morally
at least, for it was generally believed, that if he was freed and
returned to Africa, he would relapse into barbarism. This latter class
of slave owners treated their slaves better by far, than the other
class, and my belief and experience tend to show that they got better
service from their slaves, and enjoyed more pleasure, being almost
entirely freed from the disagreeable duty of inflicting corporal
punishment. I have personal knowledge of cases where young slaves had
violated important rules, and the master, instead of punishing them
himself, would go to their parents, lay the case before them, and demand
that they take action.
In cases where the master had confidence in his slaves, and they in turn
had confidence in him, both got along agreeably.
So that the point I wish to make is, that with few exceptions, a good
master made good slaves, intelligent, industrious and trustworthy, while
on the other hand, a mean and cruel master made shiftless, careless, and
indolent slaves, who, being used to the lash as a remedy for every
offence, had no fears of it, and would not go without it. Some people
assert that long-continued ill-treatment had taken all the spirit of
manhood out of this class of slaves, and that it will take generations
of schooling and contact with intelligent people to instill into them
the spirit of manhood, self-respect, and correct ideas of morality.
Admitting this to be true, I believe it is as much the duty of the
American white people to extend the necessary aid to these unfortunate
people, as it is the duty of the better class among us, (the colored
people), to do this work of uplifting them.
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