The national election of 1860, created more excitement probably than any
that had preceded it, not excepting the “Hard Cider Campaign” of 1840,
because greater questions and issues had to be met and settled. The
North was opposed to the extension, of slavery, in fact there was a
strong sentiment against its existence, while the South wanted more
territory for its extension; then there was a spirit of disunion
existing North and South. The abolitionists of the North had declared
the National Constitution to be a league with hell, while the extreme
southern men such as Bob Toombs of Georgia, wanted to extend slavery to
every State in the Union, and he declared in a speech delivered early in
1861, that he wanted to call the roll of his slaves on Bunker Hill, and
would do so if the South was successful.
The campaign opened early in July that year, and kept red hot until the
ballots were in the box. There was speaking once or twice a week at
Brunswick, and several barbacues in different parts of the county. I
remember attending one held five miles north of town, which appeared to
be a joint affair, because there were speeches made in the interest of
all the tickets except the Republican. My young master made his maiden
effort for Bell and Everett, as I now remember.
The political excitement began in Missouri, especially in Chariton
County, when the National Democratic Convention met at Charleston, S.
C., April 23, 1860, and after spending ten days wrangling over the
adoption of the platform, adjourned to meet at Baltimore, Md., June 18,
1860, without making a nomination for President. I might state that the
main fight was upon the second section of the majority report of the
Committee on Resolutions. The report reads as follows: Second,
“Resolved, That it is the Duty of the Federal Government, in all its
departments, to protect when necessary the rights of persons and
property in the territories, and wherever else its constitutional
authority extends.” The minority report which was substituted for the
majority by a vote of 165 to 138, reads as follows: “Inasmuch as
difference of opinion exists in the Democratic party, as to the nature
and extent of the powers of a territorial legislature, and as to the
powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United
States, over the institution of slavery within the Territories,” Second,
“Resolved, that the Democratic party will abide by the questions of
constitutional law.” After that vote many of the southern delegates
withdrew from the Convention. Missouri stood solid in the Douglas
column, refusing to secede with the other southern States, and cast her
vote the following November for him for President and Johnson for Vice
President.
If we stop to consider a moment, the fact that the Democratic party had
the Supreme Court by a large majority at that time, we must arrive at
the conclusion, that there existed no valid cause for the split in its
national convention, thus dividing its strength and making it possible
for the Republicans to elect their candidate; for it is generally
believed that if there had been no split, Stephen A. Douglas would have
been elected President and served his party as a good Democrat, for he
owned a large plantation in the South, and the interest of the South
would have been his as well. But it has always seemed to me that there
was a higher power shaping matters and things at that time, which was
irresistible. Hatred existed among Democrats North and South to such an
extent, that southern Democrats denounced their northern brothers as
“doughfaces” and cowards, which had the effect of driving many of them
to vote the Republican ticket at the ensuing presidential election.
The extreme southern delegates who seceded from the National Convention,
met and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, for President, and
Joseph Lane of Oregon, for Vice-President. From the day the campaign
opened in the State of Missouri, especially in Chariton County, the two
factions of the Democratic party were very bitter towards each other,
and this condition of things existed up to and including the day of
election, but when it was known later on that Lincoln was elected, all
differences were healed and the factions came together, declaring for
secession. They were joined by a large portion of the old line Whigs,
who had voted for Bell and Everett at the last election; but there were
a few who remained loyal to the Union. It is a wonder to me, even now,
that they did so, when I recall the bulldozing, the taunts, jeers and
epithets hurled against them. They were intensely hated and abused, more
than the loyal Germans and northern men who had settled in that county,
but they stood it out through trials and tribulations, remaining loyal
to the close of the war.
There was another class of men who suffered severely during the war,
known as “Neutrals,” assisting neither side, but who were accused of
aiding both and therefore hated by both.
During the years of 1860 and 1861, the slaves had to keep very mum and
always on their masters’ land, because patrols were put out in every
township with authority to punish slaves with the lash, if found off
their masters’ premises after dark without a written pass from them.
Patrol duty was always performed by the poor whites, who took great
pride in the whipping of a slave, just as they do now in lynching a
Negro. They whipped some slaves so unmercifully that their masters’
attention was called to it, so that they met and issued an order to
patrols, that in punishing a slave captured no skin should be broken nor
blood brought out by the lash. There being no positive law of
patrolling, it having existed as a custom to please a few mean slave
holders, many men whose names I can give, would not submit to it, and
threatened to punish any man or set of men interfering in any way with
their slaves, although found off their lands. Of course the patrols
carefully avoided such men’s slaves wherever seen.
I have heard of many jokes played on these patrols by slaves, tending to
show how easy it was to fool them, because they were as a rule
illiterate, and of course could not read writing. The slaves knowing
this would take a portion of a letter picked up and palm it off on them
as a pass when arrested. The captain would take it, look it over wisely,
then hand it telling the slave to go. Others would secure a pass from
their master, get some one who could read writing to erase the day and
month, then use it indefinitely, while others would get their young
master or mistress to write them a pass whenever they wanted to go out,
signing their father’s name.
In order that the reader may clearly understand why slaves had to resort
to so many tricks to get a pass, I will state that masters objected to
giving passes often, upon the ground that they wanted the slave to stay
at home and take his rest which he could not get if out often after
dark.
In the fall of 1859 there was a dance given at Col. Ewing’s farm, to
which several young men and girls were invited and attended; most of
them had passes except four girls, who had failed to secure them. The
patrols came about twelve o’clock that night and surrounded the house,
allowing those having passes to go free, and were preparing to whip the
four girls who had none, right there in the presence of their beaux, who
were powerless to protect them, when a young fellow, whose name was
Lindsay Watts, came up and said, “Lor, massas, it am a great pity to
whip dese sweet angels, ’deed ’tis; if you will let dem go, I will take
the whippin’ for dem all.” His proposition was accepted, and the girls
turned loose made rapid steps to their homes. The patrols took Lindsay
outside of the yard, and stripped him naked, preparatory to giving him
four times nine and thirty lashes, but being naked and hard to hold or
grab, he escaped and ran home to his master in that condition, followed
closely by the patrols. But his master protected him. The girls who
barely escaped a lashing reached home safely and thankfully.
I remember another ball given at Day’s Mill, near Brunswick, early in
1861, which I attended, and left about eleven o’clock that night. Later,
a man named Price, without law or authority, as he lived in the city
and was not an officer thereof, gathered a squad of roughs and went to
the Mill and surrounded the ballroom. They ordered all who had passes to
come forward, and they were allowed to go free. There were five men and
one girl without a pass left in the room. The white men stood in the
doorway, intending to whip each Negro and pass him out. They had given
the order for each one to take off his shirt. There was a fellow whose
name, for prudential reasons, I will call John Smith, who got a shovel
and threw fire coals, one shovelful after another, at the patrols. The
lights had been extinguished; some of them got burnt in the face and
neck badly, while others got clothing burnt. This cleared the way, and
the Negroes, even the woman, escaped. They never found the man who threw
the fire. I remember that they offered a reward to other slaves to
betray the one who threw it.
About the winter of 1858, the Colored people gave a dance, to which many
of the young people were invited and attended, and were enjoying
themselves to their hearts’ content, when, about twelve o’clock, a squad
of patrols appeared and surrounded the ballroom. Those having passes
were not disturbed, but those without were arrested and taken put for
punishment, which numbered five, and of these only two were whipped; the
other three resisted, and in the scuffle got loose and ran.
There was at that time a poor white man at the head of the city patrols,
named Brawner, whose jurisdiction covered the city limits only, and he
had no legal rights as patrol outside of it. But the desire of this poor
white man to whip a slave was so great, that he left his post of duty,
gathered secretly a squad of men of his ilk, went two miles into the
country, and that, too, without the knowledge or consent of the city
officers, for they knew nothing of it until next day. Now comes the
worst part of it; when they had finished their hellishness, they
returned to the city to find it on fire in several places, and as a
result, several frame buildings in different portions of the city were
destroyed by fire. Many efforts were made to detect the incendiary, but
in vain, and the blame for the fire fell upon the Chief of Patrolmen,
Brawner, who was, I think, promptly dismissed. I write of this matter
without the fear of contradiction, because I am sure that there are men
now living, white and black, who will corroborate my statement.
Slaves were much truer to one another in those days than they have been
since made free, and I am unable to assign any reason for it, yet it is
a fact, nevertheless, and as further proof of it, I will state, that
they would listen carefully to what they heard their owners say while
talking to each other on political matters, or about the fault of
another slave, and as soon as opportunity would admit, go to the
quarters and warn the slave of his danger, and tell what they had heard
the master say about the politics of the country.
The Colored people could meet and talk over what they had heard about
the latest battle, and what Mr. Lincoln had said, and the chances of
their freedom, for they understood the war to be for their freedom
solely, and prayed earnestly and often for the success of the Union
cause. When the news came that a battle was fought and won by Union
troops, they rejoiced, and were correspondingly depressed when they saw
their masters rejoicing, for they knew the cause thereof. As I have
stated before, slaves who could read and could buy newspapers, thereby
obtained the latest news and kept their friends posted, and from mouth
to ear the news was carried from farm to farm, without the knowledge of
masters. There were no Judases among them during those exciting times.
After the war had commenced, about the spring of 1862, and troops of
both sides were often passing through that county, it was not safe for
patrols to be out hunting Negroes, and the system came to an end, never
to be revived. The regular confederate troops raised in that and
adjoining counties went South as fast as recruited, so that only
bushwhackers remained, and they were a source of annoyance to Union men
and Union troops of that county up to the fall and winter of 1864, when
they were effectually cleaned out. Many of these men claimed to be
loyal, especially so in public and at their homes in the day time, in
order to be protected, while at heart they were disloyal, aiding
bushwhackers not only with ammunition, rations, and information as to
when and where Union troops would pass, but with their presence at night
on the roadside, shooting at Union citizens and soldiers while passing.
They would select some safe spot where a returned fire would not reach
them.
The spirit of secession was almost as strong in that county in 1861, as
it was in South Carolina, and when Fort Sumter was fired upon, Col. Pugh
Price, of Brunswick, hung out the confederate flag, and called for
volunteers. There were two companies raised who went South, one of which
was commanded by Capt. J. W. Price. That county furnished its full share
to the confederate army, composed largely of the best blood, men who
were willing to shoot and be shot at in the open field of battle.
There was a man named James Long, a plasterer by trade, who was a noisy
fellow, and who cast the only vote Lincoln received in that county. When
called upon to give his reasons for so doing, he stated that he did it
for fun; he then and there cursed Lincoln in language quite strong, and
said that he ought to be assassinated. A year later, a loyal man had to
be appointed postmaster at Brunswick, and then this man Long came
forward as the only original Lincoln man, stating that his vote
represented his sentiments, and that his former denial was caused by
intimidation. He got the appointment, and in a year or two was arrested,
tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for misappropriation
of government money. But the secessionists lost a friend in him, because
it was believed by Union men that he was not of them, and it was charged
that he aided the rebels in every way possible, even to rifling Union
men’s letters, and giving their contents to rebels.
But this man’s downfall was a blessing to some extent, to the Colored
people who received mail through that office, for he would not give them
their mail, but held it and delivered it to their masters. Our family
had no trouble in this respect, for our master would bring our letters
unopened and deliver them without question. I remember getting one from
my brother, B. K. Bruce, who was in Lawrence, Kan., at the time of the
Quantrell raid, in 1863, which he brought from town, and waited to hear
how B. K. Bruce escaped being killed in the Lawrence massacre.
From 1862 to the close of the war, slave property in the state of
Missouri was almost a dead weight to the owner; he could not sell
because there were no buyers. The business of the Negro trader was at an
end, due to the want of a market. He could not get through the Union
lines South with his property, that being his market. There was a man
named White, usually called “Negro-trader White,” who travelled over the
state, buying Negroes like mules for the southern market, and when he
had secured a hundred or more, he would take them, handcuffed together,
to the South. He or his agents attended all sales where Negroes were to
be sold without conditions. The sentiment against selling Negroes to
traders was quite strong, and there were many who would not sell at all,
unless forced by circumstances over which they had no control, and would
cry with the Negroes at parting. A Negro sold to a trader would bring
from one to three hundred dollars more money.
I recall a case where a master was on a note as surety, and had the
same, which was a large sum, to pay at maturity, and to do so he was
forced to sell a young girl to raise the cash. He sent for Negro-trader
White, and the sale was made in the city without his wife’s knowledge,
but when he attempted to deliver her, his wife and children clung to the
girl and would not let her go. When White saw he could not get his
Negro, he demanded a return of his money, which the seller had applied
on the note and could not get back. The matter was finally settled in
some way; at any rate the girl was not sold, and was in that county
until 1864.
The Negro trader usually bought all Negroes who had committed murder or
other crimes, for which public whipping was not considered sufficient
punishment. Slaves usually got scared when it became known that
Negro-trader White was in the community. The owners used White’s name as
a threat to scare the Negroes when they had violated some rule. “I’ll
sell you to the Negro trader, if you don’t do better” was often as good
or better punishment than the lash, for the slave dreaded being sold
South, worse than the Russians do banishment to Siberia.
Excitement, such as I had never seen, existed not alone with the white
people, but with the slaves as well. Work, such as had usually been
performed, almost ceased; slaves worked as they pleased, and their
masters were powerless to force them, due largely to the fact that the
white people were divided in sentiment. Those who remained loyal advised
the slaves who belonged to those called disloyal, not to work for men
who had gone or sent their sons South, to fight against the government.
Slaves believed, deep down in their souls, that the government was
fighting for their freedom, and it was useless for masters to tell them
differently. They would leave home in search of work, and usually found
it, with small pay, with some Union man, and often without pay for weeks
at a time, but his master had to clothe him as he had always done, and
in some cases pay his own slave for his work.
Near the close of 1863, the Union men were on top, and the disloyal or
southern sympathizer had to submit to everything. The lower class of
so-called Union men almost openly robbed rebel sympathizers by going to
their farms, dressed and armed as soldiers, taking such stock as they
wanted, which the owner was powerless to prevent; in fact he would have
been killed had he attempted it. The period had been reached when the
master found his slave to be his best and truest friend, because it
often happened that he was forced for self-protection to hide his
valuables from these prowlers, and knowing that their quarters would not
be invaded, he placed his precious property in their hands for safe
keeping.
I remained on our farm, managing it as I had done in past years, but I
saw that the time had about come when I could do so no longer. I saw
men, whose names I could state, take from our farm hogs, cattle, and
horses without permission and without paying for them, under the
pretence that it was a military necessity. Of course no such necessity
existed, and the government received no benefit therefrom.
I remember that W. B. Bruce owned a fine lot of horses and cattle in
1862, but by March, 1864, they had all or nearly all been taken, without
his consent, and often without his knowledge. I speak of only two cases
of this kind, because I have personal knowledge of them. After the war,
many of these men who had lost their property, other than slaves,
presented claims against the government for property supposed to have
been confiscated or appropriated to the use of Uncle Sam, and these
claimants were honest in their belief that their property was so taken,
when, as a matter of fact, it was taken by thieves, dressed in uniform
for the purpose of deception, men who were not in the Union army, and
the stolen property was used for their own personal benefit. W. B. Bruce
is now living and can, if he will, testify to the truthfulness of what I
state here.
The Germans were all Union men, and on that account had suffered
severely at the hands of the bushwhackers from the beginning of the war
to January, 1864, after which time they were as secure as any other
class, and finally became the leaders on the Union side. W. B. Bruce and
my owner joined their fortunes with the men of the South, and lost all
they had contributed. Agents stole through the lines from the South,
authorized to recruit men and receive money donations. They told
wonderful stories about the confederacy, its success, what it would do,
etc.; that they needed money and men, and in a very short time the war
would be over, and the South would be on top.
I remember a young man named Kennedy, raised in Brunswick, and enlisted
as a private in 1861, who went South in a Missouri rebel regiment. He
came back in the fall of 1863 with the rank of Colonel, authorized to
raise men and money for the southern confederacy. He was hiding around
Brunswick and vicinity for a long time, and left without the Unionists
knowing he had been there. Many southern sympathizers contributed money
to the cause, which they have had dire need for since, and I believe my
master and W. B. Bruce were among the victims.
I had several talks with my young master, W. E. Perkinson, in 1862, on
the subject of loyalty. He wanted to join Col. Moberly’s company of
State militia, and if left to his choice, would have done so, but he was
so bitterly opposed by his father and uncle, that he finally went South
and served to the day of surrender, came home penniless, and with health
gone. I am satisfied that he has sincerely regretted his action ever
since, because he found young men, who were not his equals in ability
and standing, but who had taken the Union side, occupying important
positions in the city, county and state, while he was disfranchised and
did not get his disabilities removed for many years. He had been reared
in the lap of luxury, graduated from college, then had studied law, and
never earned a dollar to defray expenses; and he returned to find his
father dead, his Negroes freed, and stock stolen, but the land was
there, and that alone constituted his earthly possession. I was his
playmate and nurse in childhood, though but a few years older, and
always liked him; we never had any harsh words at any time, even after
he had become a man. I have been informed that he has succeeded as a
lawyer and judge on the bench.
There were a few poor whites who failed to identify themselves with
either side, and of course did not enlist in either army; they were
anything to suit present company. Near the close of the winter of 1863-4
the Union side seemed to be getting on top, had a company of soldiers
stationed at Brunswick, had rid the county of bushwhackers and rebel
soldiers, and these fellows who had been on the fence for two years now
openly declared for the Union.