After having traveled over the rich lands of the Western Country, where
fine crops were raised without much effort, and especially without any
fertilizer, our master could not be content to remain in the poor,
hilly, rocky state of Virginia, and determined to go to Mississippi,
where his sister, Mrs. Susan Green then lived. So, about October, 1849,
having sold the old farm he started with his slaves.
On this occasion there was a separation of man and wife. Eight or ten
months previously, my sister Eliza had been married to a man named Tom,
belonging to Nathan Fulks, who claimed inability to buy my sister, and
her owner said he did not have the cash to spare to buy Tom, but offered
to take him along and pay hire for him, which his master refused, and
thus they were separated forever. She married again after six or seven
years, but I never heard of Tom afterward.
While en route to Mississippi, Uncle Walt, before mentioned, was taken
sick with some kind of a fever and had to be left for better care and
treatment near the line of Virginia and Tennessee. His wife, Aunt
Martha, did not want to be separated from him and was left, too. I have
been informed recently that they were sold to the man with whom they
were left. I remember when we lived in adjoining cabins that they were
very quarrelsome people, and did not want their son Isaac to play with
me, because, they said, I was a “yarler nigger.” I may have been a bad
boy at that time and am not now prepared to say that I was not, but they
used to treat me meanly in every possible way, and I often sauced them
and ran when they got after me. I remember that I was wicked enough to
be glad when they were left or sold, because they, particularly Aunt
Martha, were always trying to raise trouble about something.
With one exception our master then owned only my mother and her
children. By the first of December, 1849, we had reached the Greene
plantation, located about fifteen miles from Holly Springs, Mississippi,
which was a very large one and tilled by about three hundred slaves in
charge of a very mean overseer.
The day after our arrival at this place, those old enough to pick cotton
were sent to the field, and this was my first experience in
cotton-picking. We were called up by the overseer by means of a horn,
ate breakfast and were in the field by daylight, sometimes, before it
was light enough to see the cotton balls, and kept steadily at work till
noon, when dinner was brought to us on large trays and the order given
by the overseer to eat. We sat down right there, and as soon as the last
mouthful was swallowed the order was given to go to work. We were given
good, wholesome food and plenty of it, only the time was so short in
which to eat it. From noon until dark we were driven by the overseer who
carried a long whip called a blacksnake.
At dark, the females were allowed to go to their quarters, but the men
and boys were divided into squads of five; each had a bale of cotton to
turn out. Gins run by mules had been going all day, making lint cotton
which had to be put in bales, and each bale had to stand under the
press about twenty minutes, so that the last squad seldom got through
earlier than nine o’clock; and this went on each day except Sunday.
Mr. Greene ran a large cooking establishment, so that when the work of
the day was over supper was ready for all, and the horn was blown for
breakfast an hour before daylight.
We remained here until January 1, 1850, when we were hired to Thomas
Greene, a son of Mr. Greene, living about eight miles away. We got along
without any punishment, while at old man Greene’s plantation, but I saw
others whipped. It has occurred to me since that our owner had something
to do with this, for he was opposed to brutal treatment generally. He
had hired us out for a year, but in March of that year he had become so
dissatisfied with that country that he determined to leave it and go
back to Missouri.
Slave owners, even Mississippians, were not all brutal. This was
especially true of young Thomas Greene and his wife who were very good
people. There was also a man named Cox, near by, who owned about four
hundred slaves whom he treated very well. He gave them good quarters and
built a church on his place and hired a white preacher to preach the
gospel to them every Sunday, and compelled each slave to attend. He gave
each man the use of an acre of land, and every Saturday afternoon to
cultivate it. One acre, well cultivated, would yield a bale of cotton
which Mr. Cox would sell for them and buy whatever little things they
might want, especially such as were not furnished by him. Usually this
would be nice Sunday clothes, shoes, hats and Sunday wear for the women.
I wish to state that Mr. Cox gave a half day every Saturday to all of
his slaves, and I state this from personal knowledge, having visited the
Cox plantation many times and played with the boys and girls thereon.
There was also a large plantation south of the Greene place, but the
owner’s name I cannot recall. He owned a large number of slaves and I
was told was kind to them, but I remember that he allowed no visitors on
his place, neither did he allow any of his slaves to get outside of his
fence at any time. He had some very pretty girls about my age, and we
met and talked with the fence between us, on Sunday afternoon.
A near neighbor’s cattle used to break into the field and destroy corn
and other grain on Green’s plantation and I had to drive them out, and
in doing so threw a brick which broke the leg of one of them. The owner
of it came over very soon and wanted to whip me for doing it, and I
supposed would have done so, as he was a very large man, but Mr. Greene
came to my rescue, ordered him off the place and told him, “If you whip
the boy, I will whip you.” He left, threatening to whip me the first
time he caught me off Mr. Greene’s land. I never went on this neighbor’s
land after that.
Having hired us out for a year, our master could not rightfully claim us
until the end of the time specified in the contract, unless he would
give the time we had served from January to March free, which he agreed
to do, and once more we were in his possession. I am unable to express
the joy we felt when he informed us of his intention to take us back to
Missouri. That was a great blessing to us, and the older ones thanked
the Lord for this deliverance. He came to our quarters one Sunday
afternoon and gave us this very welcome news, and I remember that we
were so overjoyed that we could not sleep that night. He got started
about April 1, 1850. Having sold his teams when we reached Mississippi,
our owner had to hire Mr. Greene’s team to haul us to Memphis,
Tennessee, where we took steamer bound for St. Louis, and thence to
Brunswick, Missouri. The trip was a pleasant one and made in less than
ten days.
There was much rejoicing when we were landed at Brunswick, and were met
at the levee by W. B. Bruce, with a conveyance to take us out to his
plantation, were we met old acquaintances, including my brother and
sister, who also belonged to him. We were once more in the _state we
loved and intent on remaining whether our master liked it or not_, for
he had brought us where it was not so easy to take slaves about without
their consent, and besides some had become men.
I recall that one Sunday, about two years afterwards, our master sent
for the four men of us to meet him at the home of W. B Bruce. We did so
and he informed us that he had about made up his mind to take us all to
Texas. My older brothers, James and Calvin, told him they would not go
and I joined in. He got angry and ordered us to “shut up,” which we did.
He then told us to come back next Sunday, when he would tell us what to
depend on, which was done and then, after seeing how bitterly his plans
were opposed by us he informed us that he would buy land and settle in
that country, which he did within two years.
After resting a few days upon our arrival at Mr. Bruce’s from
Mississippi, we were all hired to one J. B. Barrett, a tobacconist. My
sisters were hired out as house girls and mother as cook to a man named
Treadway, a school teacher, who was a mean man, not only to her, but to
his wife as well. I don’t think he ever struck my mother, but he abused
her in every other way possible. His wife was a good woman and treated
mother humanely, but old Treadway was so mean that he would not allow
any of mother’s children to come to his kitchen to see her at any time,
and in order to see her we used to wait until he was in bed, and then
steal in. I don’t think mother stayed there longer than that year.
The next two years she was hired to J. B. Barrett, who allowed his wife
to manage the household affairs to suit herself, and as she was a very
good woman and mother a good cook they got along splendidly, and Mrs.
Barrett was well pleased with mother’s style of cooking.
J. B. Barrett hired six of us for three years, and although he was a
noisy kind of man, cursed a good deal and threatened to whip or have it
done by his overseer, one Jesse Hare, he seldom punished anyone,
especially those who were grown. I worked for him from June 1850, to
January 1, 1854, and was whipped only once and that for fighting another
fellow who had struck my younger brother, B. K. Bruce. This man, Charles
Sanders, was a grown man at that time and I was an eighteen year old
boy, yet I beat him so badly that he was disabled for work, at least two
months thereafter. Knowing so well what would follow after this fight, I
ran to the woods and made my way to my owner, about four miles distant.
But that did not save me for the overseer came after me, and after I had
made my statement my owner’s answer was, “You knew better than to fight
and you will be whipped, and I will do nothing to prevent it.” I wanted
him to pay my fine and save me. He came to town with me, and in the
presence of J. B. Barrett and himself I was whipped by old Jesse Hare,
who did not like me and took this opportunity to lay the lash on very
hard, but was promptly stopped by J. B Barrett and severely reprimanded
for his brutality.
This man Hare disliked me any way, because of an old score, for previous
to that he had attempted to flog me and I resisted, and threatened to go
to my master. But I doubt very much, even now, whether he would have
protected me in such a case, for he was so bitterly opposed to a slave’s
resisting or being saucy to a white man.
After the factory closed in the fall of 1853, I was hired out by J. B
Barrett to a poor white man, named David Hampton, and had not been with
him more than a month when one of his boys sauced me and I slapped him.
He ran to his father who called me to him, ordered me to take off my
shirt, a thing neither my master nor any other man had ordered me to do.
Of course I refused to obey and told him so in language which he
understood. He then threw a stick of cordwood at me which missed its
mark, and I picked it up and was about to throw it back, when he ran
into the house. This ended our fight. I would be ashamed of myself, even
now, had I allowed that poor white man to whip me. But the fun came
later. When supper was called, the old man and his wife had eaten and
left the table, and the children, two girls and three small boys and I
ate together. Just as I finished and was about to leave the table, the
old lady came in behind me with a hickory switch in hand. I could not
afford to resist her, neither could I get out until she had given me
several severe blows. She left her marks on me, which I carried for
several days, and I suppose she was satisfied; I know I was.
But after all, the Hamptons were very reasonable people and I was well
pleased with them, and often visited them afterward. While they were
poor people they were not the typical poor whites. Many of the parties
mentioned are living and can take me to task if I misrepresent facts;
but I have stated the truth in every particular, as I saw and
experienced it.
There was a trait of character running through my mother’s family, a
desire to learn, and every member could read very well when the war
broke out, and some could write. The older ones would teach the younger,
and while mother had no education at all, she used to make the younger
study the lessons given by the older sister or brother, and in that way
they all learned to read. Another advantage we enjoyed was this: we were
all hired to the same man and we worked and slept together in the same
factory where, by hard work, we usually made some little money every
week, which we could spend for whatever suited our fancy.
The men who hired slaves, and owners as well, had to feed and clothe
them, and the slaves had no care as to those necessaries. Slavery in
some portions of Missouri was not what it was in Virginia, or in the
extreme South, because we could buy any book wanted if we had the money
to pay for it, and masters seemed not to care about it, especially ours,
but of course there were exceptions to the rule.
But, returning to my life in the tobacco factory, I must state that
when we were hired out our owner notified the hirer that he did not whip
any of his grown slaves, and would not allow it to be done by anyone
else, and when the man who hired them found that he could not get along
without punishing he should return them to him. That was the saving
clause for us, but we did not take advantage of this to shirk or play;
as proof of this I will state that there are men now living in
Brunswick, who will bear testimony to the fact that the “Bruce hands,”
as we were called, brought the highest prices. Our master received from
two hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a year for each man or
boy over seventeen years old, the hirer to feed and clothe us, etc.
When the factory closed in September, 1854, I was hired to Charles
Cabel, a farmer, recently from Louisiana, living about four miles from
town and who owned twenty-five or thirty slaves, and was reported to be
a very hard master. I had been used to good fare, and that prepared and
served clean and nice, but here the meals were served in such unclean
vessels, while they may have been wholesome, I could not and would not
eat them. W. B. Bruce lived only a mile away, and I went there to
supper, stayed all night, took my breakfast and dinner with me to work.
In a few days Mrs. Susan Cabel found this out and sent for me; I
explained and she said that her Negroes were so very dirty that she did
not blame me, and from that date she sent my meals from her table, which
came in nice clean dishes and in abundance. She was a good mistress as
far as I knew.
Mr. Cabel had a very large number of lazy slaves and often inflicted
punishment when, in my opinion, it might have been avoided. After I had
been at his place about ten days he sent me with another fellow named
Ike to split rails in a large body of timber north of his house. We had
been at this work but a very short time, when I discovered Ike to be a
lazy man. I had never been thrashed on account of laziness and did not
want to chance it at that time, knowing the reputation of Mr. Cabel as a
hard master. I had never split rails before and was put under Ike for
training, and of course had to do as he directed. He was a great
storyteller and would often stop to tell a story. I urged him to work
but could not keep him at it over ten minutes at a time.
One day when we had cut off a log and I had commenced to split it, while
Ike was sitting in the shade, I called on him to come and help me turn
the log over, which he failed to do, and I went on working it alone. Mr.
Cabel who had been watching near by and had heard all that was said came
up, as if by magic, gun in hand, which he set by a stump, took out his
knife, cut a hickory switch and ordered Ike to take off his shirt. Ike
begged in vain, but he gave him thirty or more lashes on the bare back.
During this exciting time I was scared almost to death, thinking my time
would come next. I was tempted to break and run to my master, but
knowing I had done my duty I concluded not to do so until I was called
to take my share of this thrashing. I had determined to run if called
and take chances on being shot, for I could not and would not stand such
punishment as was given Ike. When he had finished whipping Ike he said,
“Henry will work if you will let him; I have been listening to you for
an hour.” I can never express the relief those words gave me, for I did
not want to be forced to resist and would not submit to any kind of
corporal punishment, and was glad that I did not run while Ike was being
punished. I served out my term with Mr. Cabel, which ended December 25,
1854, without even being scolded. Ike and I were separated after the
above-mentioned incident, fully half a mile, and I was given a task
which I performed easily every day. I shall speak of Mr. Cabel again
later on.
On January 1, 1855, with three younger brothers, I was hired to Mr.
Beasley, who owned a large tobacco factory and worked about eighty
hands, mostly hired. I did not want to go there and told my master so in
the presence of Mr. Beasley, who asked the reasons why. I told him that
I had heard that he was a hard man to please. My master remained silent
during this conversation and finally Beasley and I came to terms, he
assuring me that if we worked for him as he had been informed we did for
Mr. Barrett, we would have no trouble. After it was arranged my master
took me aside and severely scolded me for speaking so harshly to Mr.
Beasley. I took it easy for I never sauced him at any time. But that was
my opportunity to make easy sailing that year with Beasley.
The overseer at this factory was named Tom Black, who was really a much
better man than old Jesse Hare, and if one would do his work faithfully
he would have no trouble with Mr. Black. He and I became fast friends
and I had an easy time, but I always did my work well. Beasley gave an
order that four men were to come to his residence after the factory
closed, at sunset each day to cut or saw wood. When my time came I
refused to go. He was informed of the fact and said he was going to
have Tom Black whip me the next day, which was Saturday; in fact he told
him in my presence to do it on Monday morning. But previous to this he
called me up to know why I disobeyed his order. I told him that I was
not hired for that purpose. Oh, but how he did cut up, yet he did not
attempt to strike me.
Before going home to my master, which I certainly should have done, I
thought it best to use a little strategy. During Sunday I had a talk
with Mr. Black in which I told him my plans. He advised me not to go,
and said that unless ordered again he would not attempt to whip me, and
even then he would give me plenty of chance to run; but he said he would
go and see Mr. Beasley that day. Now what passed between them I am
unable to state, but when Mr. Black returned he said it was all right,
and it was, for I was never molested after that, and Mr. Beasley revoked
the order and had two men detailed to saw wood about four o’clock every
evening. I had no more trouble that year with Beasley or his overseer.
I enjoyed life in the factories very much. We had good wholesome food
and plenty of it, and when the factory closed at sunset we were free to
go where we pleased until sunrise next day. I remember that the M. E.
Church, South, allowed the colored people to meet in the basement of
their church, and their minister preached to them every Sunday,
commencing at three o’clock, P.M., and his text was not always from Luke
xii. 47, or Titus ii. 9, but I have no recollection of hearing one
preached from Ephesians vi. 9, where the duties of master to servant are
explained. Some of the ministers were good men and preached reasonable
sermons giving good advice, spiritually and morally, and were beloved
by their colored congregations. I remember one whose name was W. G.
Cooper, who was so well admired by his colored flock that they raised
forty-five dollars and presented him a suit of clothes, when he went to
conference, and sent a petition to have him returned to that charge.
Nearly every slave made some money which he could spend for fine clothes
or such other things suited to his taste, so that when attending church
I remember that the slaves were dressed almost as nicely as their
owners, at any rate they looked as well as I have seen them on like
occasions since they have been free.
We had some colored preachers, too, who held prayer meetings in their
quarters and preached every Sunday afternoon in the white people’s
church, but there was always some leading white man present to take note
of what the preacher said. If he used words deemed insubordinate or not
in keeping with the pro-slavery idea, he was promptly stopped, there and
then, and lectured for his mistake, and in some cases his license was
recalled. Of course these licences were granted by his master to preach
during good behavior. Not three in ten of these preachers could read
their texts or any other part of the Bible, but they stood in the
pulpit, opened the Bible, gave out the song which did not always fit the
tune, and delivered prayer with much force and in language that, while
not the choicest, greatly impressed its hearers.
There were a few colored men who could read the Bible, in and around
Brunswick at that time, but none of them were preachers. The men who
felt themselves called to preach had no education at all, but had a
fair amount of brain, good memories, were fluent talkers, and
considered pious and truthful. They could line a hymn from memory as
clearly as their masters could from their books, and take a text and
state where it was to be found.
I remember a story told on Uncle Tom Ewing, an old colored preacher, who
was praying on one occasion, after the close of his sermon, in the
church near Jacob Vennable’s place, five miles from Brunswick. The old
fellow got warmed up, and used the words, “Free indeed, free from death,
free from hell, free from work, free from the white folks, free from
everything.” After the meeting closed, Jacob Vennable, who sat in front
of the pulpit took Tom to task and threatened to have his license
revoked if he ever used such language in public. Jacob Vennable was a
slave holder and considered a fair master, so I was informed by Jesse,
one of his slaves, and others who were supposed to know. I heard Uncle
Tom preach and pray many times after the above-described occurrence, but
never heard him use the words quoted above.
I remember when a question as to the purity of Christians (whether two
clean sheets could soil each other) was being agitated among the colored
people in the Bluff, as the hilly portion of the country, fives miles
east of Brunswick, was then called. It was argued pro and con with
considerable warmth on both sides by the preachers and lay members.
Considerable excitement was created thereby, and pending this the white
men called a meeting and ordered some of the leading advocates of this
new doctrine to appear before them, and they were then and there
notified that if they did not stop that kind of talk, they, the white
people, would whip every man who favored the clean sheet idea. That
ended the new idea and I heard no more of it. I was then living on a
farm in that neighborhood and know whereof I speak.
There is this to be said for the slave-holders in that part of the
country, at least, that they believed in having their slave women live a
virtuous life, and encouraged them in getting married, and did not under
any circumstances allow plural marriages among them. Of course there
would be occasionally a strange freak, a black mother with a very
light-colored child, whose real father’s name was never stated, but
these cases were rare, the exception rather than the rule. When two
lovers became engaged, the consent of the girl’s parents, and that of
both masters, if they belonged to different owners, had to be obtained.
Then the girl’s master would give them a wedding supper, and invite a
few of his white friends, who would dine first, then the bridal party
and their invited guests. The ceremony was usually performed by a
colored preacher. After supper dancing commenced, which lasted until a
late hour, when they would disperse. The master had built and furnished
a cabin for the couple, and when the time came to retire, they were
conducted to their cabin and left, after receiving many blessings.
I have stated in this chapter, that there were many masters who
encouraged slave girls in their efforts to live virtuous lives, and in a
former chapter, I stated that there were thousands of high-toned
families, although held in slavery by the laws of the land, and who
clearly understood their helpless condition, and yet, by reason of
having superior blood in their veins, were enabled thereby to attain the
very best conditions possible under the circumstances. These people
were very sensitive as to their moral character and standing, and
abhorred disgrace and dishonor. To prove this I will cite a case which
occurred, and one of which I have personal knowledge.
There lived a slave owner named V. Harper about nine miles from
Brunswick, Missouri, who owned quite a number of slaves. Among them was
an old man, his wife, and several grown children, one of whom was a very
good-looking girl, about nineteen years old. This family were considered
high-toned and greatly respected by others, even their owners, for their
moral worth and character, and held themselves quite above the common
slave.
The girl above mentioned was considered to be of clean character and
quite a belle. It is not known who led her from the paths of rectitude,
but when she became aware of the fact, that at no distant day, she, a
single girl, would become a mother, and realized the dishonor and loss
of character which would follow the exposure, she decided that death was
preferable in her case to disgrace, walked two miles to reach the
Missouri River, plunged herself into it, and was drowned. This occurred
about the year 1858.