MY LIFE IN THE SOUTH. 

[Illustration: JACOB STROYER. ]

 MY LIFE IN THE SOUTH. 

 BY JACOB STROYER. 

 NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION. 

 SALEM, MASS. : Newcomb & Gauss, Printers. 1898. 

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 Salem, Mass. , September 19, 1898. 

Mr. Stroyer's account of his experience in slavery and during the war isof great interest and value as a trustworthy description of thecondition and life of slaves _by one of themselves_. His memory isremarkably keen and his narrative vivid and at times both touching andthrilling. The book is a great credit to its author and deserves agenerous reception and a wide circulation. 

 John Wright Buckham. 

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 August 13, 1879. 

In this book Mr. Stroyer has given us, with a most simple and effectiverealism, the inside view of the institution of slavery. It is worthreading, to know how men, intelligent enough to report their experience, felt under the yoke. The time has come when American slavery can bestudied historically, without passion, save such as mixes itself withthe wonder that so great an evil could exist so long as a social form ora political idol. The time has not come when such study is unnecessary;for to deal justly by white or black in the United States, theirprevious relations must be understood, and nothing which casts light onthe most universal and practical of those relations is without valuetoday. I take pleasure, therefore, in saying that I consider Mr. Stroyera competent and trustworthy witness to these details of plantation life. 

 E. C. Bolles. 

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 City of Salem, Mayor's Office, Nov. 5, 1884. 

This is to certify that since the year 1876 I have known Rev. JacobStroyer as a preacher and minister to the colored people of this city. He is earnest, devoted and faithful. 

He is endeavoring by the sale of this book to realize the means toenable him, by a course of study, to better fit himself as a minister topreach in the South. 

I most cheerfully commend him in his praiseworthy efforts. 

 Wm. M. Hill, _Mayor_. 

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Mr. Stroyer's book is a setting forth in a fresh and unique manner ofthe old and bitter wrongs of American slavery. It is an inside view of aphase of our national life which has happily passed away forever. Although it concerns itself largely with incidents and details, it isnot without the historical value which attaches to reliable personalreminiscences. The author has made commendable progress in intellectualculture, and is worthy of generous assistance in his effort to fithimself still more perfectly for labor among his needy brethren in theSouth. 

 E. S. Atwood. 

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PREFACE. 

Fourth Edition. 

When the author first presented his book to the public he did notanticipate the very great favor with which it would be received. Thefirst edition was soon disposed of, a second and a third were calledfor, and those were as generously received as had been theirpredecessors. The present edition, the fourth, besides all that was inthose former publications, contains some new material relating to theauthor's personal experiences in the Civil War. 

Thanking the people for the support given, and hoping that this latesteffort will meet approval, the author presents the story of himself andhis once oppressed brethren. 

CHAPTER I. 

My father was born in Sierra Leone, Africa. Of his parents and hisbrothers and sisters I know nothing. I only remember that it was saidthat his father's name was Moncoso, and his mother's Mongomo, whichnames are known only among the native Africans. He was brought fromAfrica when but a boy, and sold to old Colonel Dick Singleton, who owneda great many plantations in South Carolina, and when the old coloneldivided his property among his children, father fell to the second son, Col. M. R. Singleton. 

Mother never was sold, but her parents were; they were owned by one Mr. Crough, who sold them and the rest of the slaves, with the plantation, to Col. Dick Singleton, upon whose place mother was born. I was born onthis extensive plantation, twenty-eight miles southeast of Columbia, South Carolina, in the year 1849. I belonged to Col. M. R. Singleton, andwas held in slavery up to the time of the emancipation proclamationissued by President Lincoln. 

THE CHILDREN. 

My father had fifteen children: four boys and three girls by his firstwife and eight by his second. Their names were as follows: of theboys--Toney, Aszerine, Duke and Dezine; of the girls--Violet, Priscilla, and Lydia. Those of his second wife were as follows: Footy, Embrus, Caleb, Mitchell, Cuffey and Jacob, and of the girls, Catherine andRetta. 

SAND HILL DAYS. 

Col. M. R. Singleton was like many other rich slave owners in the South, who had summer seats four, six or eight miles from the plantation, wherethey carried the little negro boys and girls too small to work. 

Our summer seat, or the sand hill, as the slaves used to call it, wasfour miles from the plantation. Among the four hundred and sixty-fiveslaves owned by the colonel there were a great many children. If myreaders had visited Col. Singleton's plantation the last of May or thefirst of June in the days of slavery, they would have seen three or fourlarge plantation wagons loaded with little negroes of both sexes, ofvarious complexions and conditions, who were being carried to thissummer residence, and among them they would have found the author ofthis little work in his sand-hill days. 

My readers would naturally ask how many seasons these children weretaken to the summer seats? I answer, until, in the judgment of theoverseer, they were large enough to work; then they were kept at theplantation. How were they fed? There were three or four women who weretoo old to work on the plantation who were sent as nurses to the summerseats with the children; they did the cooking. The way in which theseold women cooked for 80, and sometimes 150 children, in my sand-hilldays, was this:--they had two or three large pots, which held about abushel each, in which they used to cook corn flour, stirred with largewooden paddles. The food was dealt out with the paddles into eachchild's little wooden tray or tin pail, which was furnished by theparents according to their ability. 

With this corn flour, which the slaves called mush, each child used toget a gill of sour milk brought daily from the plantation in a largewooden pail on the head of a boy or man. We children used to like thesour milk, or hard clabber as it was called by the slaves; but thatseldom changed diet, namely the mush, was hated worse than medicine. Ourhatred was increased against the mush from the fact that they used togive us molasses to eat with it, instead of clabber. The hateful mixturemade us anxious for Sundays to come, when our mothers, fathers, sistersand brothers would bring something from the plantation, which, howeverpoor, we considered very nice, compared with what we had during the weekdays. Among the many desirable things our parents brought us the mostdelightful was cow pease, rice, and a piece of bacon, cooked together;the mixture was called by the slaves "hopping John. "

THE STORY OF GILBERT. 

A few large boys were sent yearly to the sand-hill among the smallerones, as guides. At the time to which I am referring there was one bythe name of Gilbert, who used to go around with the smaller boys in thewoods to gather bushes and sticks for the old women to cook our foodwith. 

Gilbert was a cruel boy. He used to strip his little fellow negroeswhile in the woods, and whip them two or three times a week, so thattheir backs were all scarred, and threatened them with severerpunishment if they told; this state of things had been going on forquite a while. As I was a favorite with Gilbert, I always had managed toescape a whipping, with the promise of keeping the secret of thepunishment of the rest, which I did, not so much that I was afraid ofGilbert, as because I always was inclined to mind my own business. Butfinally, one day, Gilbert said to me, "Jake, " as he used to call me, "you am a good boy, but I'm gwine to wip you some to-day, as I wip demtoder boys. " Of course I was required to strip off my only garment, which was an Osnaburg linen shirt, worn by both sexes of the negrochildren in the summer. As I stood trembling before my mercilesssuperior, who had a switch in his hand, thousands of thoughts wentthrough my little mind as to how to get rid of the whipping. I finallyfell upon a plan which I hoped would save me from a punishment that wasnear at hand. There were some carpenters in the woods, some distancefrom us, hewing timber; they were far away, but it was a clear morning, so we could hear their voices and the sound of the axes. Having resolvedin my mind what I would do. I commenced reluctantly to take off myshirt, at the same time pleading with Gilbert, who paid no attention tomy prayer, but said, "Jake, I is gwine to wip you to-day as I did demtoder boys. " Having satisfied myself that no mercy was to be found withGilbert, I drew my shirt off and threw it over his head, and boundedforward on a run in the direction of the sound of the carpenters. By thetime he got from the entanglement of my garment, I had quite a littlestart of him. Between my starting point and the place where thecarpenters were at work I jumped over some bushes five or six feet high. Gilbert soon gained upon me, and sometimes touched me with his hands, but as I had on nothing for him to hold to, he could not take hold ofme. As I began to come in sight of the carpenters, Gilbert begged me notto go to them, for he knew that it would be bad for him, but as that wasnot a time for me to listen to his entreaties, I moved on faster. As Igot near to the carpenters, one of them ran and met me, into whose armsI jumped. The man into whose arms I ran was Uncle Benjamin, my mother'suncle. As he clasped me in his arms, he said, "Bres de Lo, my son, watis de matter?" But I was so exhausted that it was quite a while before Icould tell him my trouble; when recovered from my breathless condition, I told him that Gilbert had been in the habit of stripping the boys andwhipping them two or three times a week, when we went into the woods, and threatened them with greater punishment if they told. I said he hadnever whipped me before, but I was cautioned to keep the secret, which Ihad done up to this time; but he said he was going to whip me thismorning, so I threw my shirt over his head and ran here for protection. Gilbert did not follow me after I got in sight of the carpenters, butsneaked away. Of course my body was all bruised and scratched by thebushes. Acting as a guide for Uncle Benjamin, I took him to where I hadleft my garment. 

At this time the children were scattered around in the woods, waitingfor what the trouble would bring; They all were gathered up and taken tothe sand-hill house, examined, and it was found, as I have stated, thattheir backs were all scarred. Gilbert was brought to trial, severelywhipped, and they made him beg all the children to pardon him for histreatment to them. But he never was allowed to go into the woods withthe rest of the children during that season. My sand-hill associatesalways thanked me for the course I took, which saved them and myselffrom further punishment by him. 

MASTER AND MISTRESS VISITING. 

When master and mistress were to visit their little negroes at thesand-hill, the news was either brought by the overseer who resided atthe above named place, and went back and forth to the plantation, or byone of master's house servants, a day ahead. The preparation required toreceive our white guests was that each little negro was to be washed, and clad in the best dress he or she had. But before this was done, theunsuccessful attempt was made to straighten out our unruly wools withsome small cards, or Jim-Crows as we called them. 

On one occasion an old lady, by the name of Janney Cuteron, attempted tostraighten out my wool with one of those Jim-crows; as she hitched theteeth of the instrument in my unyielding wool with her great masculinehand, of course I was jerked flat on my back. This was the common fateof most of my associates, whose wools were of the same nature, but witha little water and the strong application of the Jim-crow, the old ladysoon combed out my wool into some sort of shape. 

As our preparations were generally completed three-quarters of an hourbefore our guests came, we were placed in line, the boys together andthe girls by themselves. We were then drilled in the art of addressingour expected visitors. The boys were required to bend the body forwardwith head down, and rest the body on the left foot, and scrape theright foot backward on the ground, while uttering the words, "how dyMassie and Missie. " The girls were required to use the same words, accompanied with a courtesy. But when Master and Mistress had left, thelittle African wools were neglected until the news of their next visit. 

Our sand-hill days were very pleasant, outside of the seldom changeddiet, namely the mush, which we had sometimes to eat with molasses, thetreatment of Gilbert, and the attempt to straighten out our unrulywools. 

I said that my father was brought from Africa when but a boy, and wassold to old Col. Dick Singleton; and when the children were of age, theColonel divided his plantations among them, and father fell to Col. M. K. Singleton, who was the second son. 

On this large plantation there were 465 slaves; there were not so manywhen it was given to Col. M. R. , but increased to the above statednumber, up to the time of emancipation. 

My father was not a field hand; my first recollection of him was that heused to take care of hogs and cows in the swamp, and when too old forthat work he was sent to the plantation to take care of horses andmules, as master had a great many for the use of his farm. 

I have stated that father said that his father's name in Africa wasMoncoso, and his mother's Mongomo, but I never learned what name he wentby before he was brought to this country. I only know that he statedthat Col. Dick Singleton gave him the name of William, by which he wasknown up to the day of his death. Father had a surname, Stroyer, whichhe could not use in public, as the surname Stroyer would be against thelaw; he was known only by the name of William Singleton, because thatwas his master's name. So the title Stroyer was forbidden him, and couldbe used only by his children after the emancipation of the slaves. 

There were two reasons given by the slave holders why they did not allowa slave to use his own name, but rather that of the master. The firstwas that, if he ran away, he would not be so easily detected by usinghis own name as by that of his master. The second was that to allow himto use his own name would be sharing an honor which was due only to hismaster, and that would be too much for a negro, said they, who wasnothing more than a servant. So it was held as a crime for a slave to becaught using his own name, a crime which would expose him to severepunishment. But thanks be to God that those days have passed, and we nowlive under the sun of liberty. 

MOTHER. 

Mother's name was Chloe. She belonged to Col. M. R. Singleton too; shewas a field hand, and never was sold, but her parents were once. 

Mr. Crough who, as I have said had owned this plantation on which motherlived, had sold the plantation to Col. Dick Singleton, with mother'sparents on it, before she was born. 

Most of the family from which mother came, had trades of some kind; somewere carpenters, some were blacksmiths, some house servants, and otherswere made drivers over the other negroes. Of course the negro driverswould be under a white man, who was called the overseer. Sometimes thenegro drivers were a great deal worse to their fellow negroes than werethe white men. 

Mother had an uncle by the name of Esau, whom master thought more ofthan he did of the overseer. Uncle Esau was more cruel than was anywhite man master ever had on his plantation. Many of the slaves used torun away from him into the woods. I have known some of the negroes torun away from the cruel treatment of Uncle Esau, and to stay off eightor ten months. They were so afraid of him that they used to say thatthey would rather see the devil than to see him; they were glad when hedied. But while so much was said of Uncle Esau, which was also true ofmany other negro drivers, the overseers themselves were not guiltless ofcruelty to the defenceless slaves. 

I have said that most of the family from which mother came had trades ofsome kind; but she had to take her chance in the field with those whohad to weather the storm. But my readers are not to think that thosewhom I have spoken of as having trades were free from punishment, forthey were not; some of them had more trouble than had the field hands. At times the overseer, who was a white man, would go to the shop of theblacksmith, or carpenter, and would pick a quarrel with him, so as toget an opportunity to punish him. He would say to the negro, "Oh, yethink yourself as good as ye master, ye--" Of course he knew what theoverseer was after, so he was afraid to speak; the overseer, hearing noanswer, would turn to him and cry out, "ye so big ye can't speak to me, ye--, " and then the conflict would begin, and he would give that mansuch a punishment as would disable him for two or three months. Themerciless overseer would say to him, "Ye think because ye have a tradeye are as good as ye master, ye--; but I will show ye that ye arenothing but a nigger. "

I said that my father had two wives and fifteen children: four boys andthree girls by the first, and six boys and two girls by the second wife. Of course he did not marry his wives as they do now, as it was notallowed among the slaves, but he took them as his wives by mutualagreement. He had my mother after the death of his first wife. I am thethird son of his second wife. 

My readers would very naturally like to know whether some of the slavesdid not have more than one woman. I answer, they had; for as they had nolaw to bind them to one woman, they could have as many as they pleasedby mutual agreement. But notwithstanding, they had a sense of the morallaw, for many of them felt that it was right to have but one woman; theyhad different opinions about plurality of wives, as have the mosteducated and refined among the whites. 

I met one of my fellow negroes one day, who lived next neighbor to us, and I said to him, "Well, Uncle William, how are you, to-day?" Hisanswer was "Thank God, my son, I have two wives now, and must try andmake out with them until I get some more. " But while you will find manylike him, others would rebuke the idea of having more than one wife. But, thanks be to God, the day has come when no one need to pleadignorance, for master and servant are both bound by the same law. 

I did not go to the sand-hill, or summer seat, my alloted time, butstopped on the plantation with father, as I said that he used to takecare of horses and mules. I was around with him in the barn yard whenbut a very small boy; of course that gave me an early relish for theoccupation of hostler, and I soon made known my preference to Col. Singleton, who was a sportsman, and an owner of fine horses. And, although I was too small to work, the Colonel granted my request; henceI was allowed to be numbered among those who took care of the finehorses, and learned to ride. But I soon found that my new occupationdemanded a little more than I cared for. 

It was not long after I had entered my new work before they put me uponthe back of a horse which threw me to the ground almost as soon as I hadreached his back. It hurt me a little, but that was not the worst of it, for when I got up there was a man standing near with a switch, in hand, and he immediately began to beat me. Although I was a very bad boy, thiswas the first time I had been whipped by any one except father andmother, so I cried out in a tone of voice as if I would say, this is thefirst and last whipping you will give me when father gets hold of you. 

When I had got away from him I ran to father with all my might, but soonfound my expectation blasted, as father very coolly said to me, "Go backto your work and be a good boy, for I cannot do anything for you. " Butthat did not satisfy me, so on I went to mother with my complaint andshe came out to the man who had whipped me; he was a groom, a white manmaster had hired to train the horses. Mother and he began to talk, thenhe took a whip and started for her, and she ran from him, talking allthe time. I ran back and forth between mother and him until he stoppedbeating her. After the fight between the groom and mother, he took meback to the stable yard and gave me a severe flogging. And, althoughmother failed to help me at first, still I had faith that when he hadtaken me back to the stable yard, and commenced whipping me, she wouldcome and stop him, but I looked in vain, for she did not come. 

Then the idea first came to me that I, with my dear father and motherand the rest of my fellow negroes, was doomed to cruel treatment throughlife, and was defenceless. But when I found that father and mother couldnot save me from punishment, as they themselves had to submit to thesame treatment, I concluded to appeal to the sympathy of the groom, whoseemed to have full control over me; but my pitiful cries never touchedhis sympathy, for things seemed to grow worse rather than better; so Imade up my mind to stem the storm the best I could. 

I have said that Col. Singleton had fine horses, which he kept forracing, and he owned two very noted ones, named Capt. Miner andInspector. Perhaps some of my readers have already heard of Capt. Miner, for he was widely known, having won many races in Charlestown andColumbia, S. C. , also in Augusta, Ga. , and New York. He was a dark bay, with short tail. Inspector was a chestnut sorrel, and had the reputationof being a very great horse. These two horses have won many thousanddollars for the the colonel. I rode these two horses a great many timesin their practice gallops, but never had the opportunity to ride themin a race before Col. Singleton died, for he did not live long after Ihad learned so that I could ride for money. The custom was, that when aboy had learned the trade of a rider, he would have to ride what wasknown as a trial, in the presence of a judge, who would approve ordisapprove his qualifications to be admitted as a race rider, accordingto the jockey laws of South Carolina at that time. 

I have said that I loved the business and acquired the skill very early, and this enabled me to pass my examination creditably, and to beaccepted as a capable rider, but I passed through some very severetreatment before reaching that point. 

This white man who trained horses for Col. Singleton was named BoneyYoung; he had a brother named Charles, who trained for the colonel'sbrother, John Singleton. Charles was a good man, but Boney our trainer, was as mean as Charles was good; he could smile in the face of one whowas suffering the most painful death at his hands. 

One day, about two weeks after Boney Young and mother had the conflict, he called me to him, as though he were in the pleasantest mood; he wassinging. I ran to him as if to say by action, I will do anything you bidme, willingly. When I got to him he said, "Go and bring me a switch, sir. " I answered, "yes, sir, " and off I went and brought him one; thenhe said, "come in here, sir;" I answered, "yes, sir;" and I went into ahorse's stall, but while I was going in a thousand thoughts passedthrough my mind as to what he wanted me to go into the stall for, butwhen I had got in I soon learned, for he gave me a first-classflogging. 

A day or to after that he called me in the same way, and I went again, and he sent me for a switch. I brought him a short stubble that was wornout, which he took and beat me on the head with. Then he said to me, "Goand bring me a switch, sir;" I answered "Yes, sir;" and off I went thesecond time, and brought him one very little better than the first; hebroke that over my head also, saying, "Go and bring me a switch, sir;" Ianswered, "Yes, sir, " and off I went the third time, and brought onewhich I supposed would suit him. Then he said to me, "Come in here, sir. " I answered, "Yes, sir. " When I went into the stall, he told me tolie down, and I stooped down; he kicked me around for a while, then, making me lie on my face, he whipped me to his satisfaction. 

That evening when I went home to father and mother, I said to them, "Mr. Young is whipping me too much now, I shall not stand it, I shall fighthim. " Father said to me, "You must not do that, because if you do hewill say that your mother and I advised you to do it, and it will makeit hard for your mother and me, as well as for yourself. You must do asI told you, my son: do your work the best you can, and do not sayanything. " I said to father, "But I don't know what I have done that heshould whip me; he does not tell me what wrong I have done, he simplycalls me to him and whips me when he gets ready. " Father said, "I can donothing more than to pray to the Lord to hasten the time when thesethings shall be done away; that is all I can do. " When mother hadstripped me and looked at the wounds that were upon me she burst intotears, and said, "If he were not so small I would not mind it so much;this will break his constitution; I am going to master about it, becauseI know he will not allow Mr. Young to treat this child so. "

And I thought to myself that had mother gone to master about it, itwould have helped me some, for he and she had grown up together and hethought a great deal of her. But father said to mother, "You better notgo to master, for while he might stop the child from being treatedbadly, Mr. Young may revenge himself through the overseer, for you knowthat they are very friendly to each other. " So said father to mother, "You would gain nothing in the end; the best thing for us to do is topray much over it, for I believe that the time will come when this boywith the rest of the children will be free, though we may not live tosee it. "

When father spoke of liberty his words were of great comfort to me, andmy heart swelled with the hope of a future, which made every moment seeman hour to me. 

Father had a rule, which was strictly carried out as far as possibleunder the slave law, which was to put his children to bed early; butthat night the whole family sat up late, while father and mother talkedover the matter. It was a custom among the slaves not to allow theirchildren under certain ages to enter into conversation with them; hencewe could take no part with father and mother. As I was the object oftheir sympathy, I was allowed the privilege of answering the questionsabout the whipping the groom gave me. 

When the time came for us to go to bed we all knelt down in familyprayer, as was our custom; father's prayer seemed more real to me thatnight than ever before, especially in the words, "Lord, hasten the timewhen these children shall be their own free men and women. "

My faith in father's prayer made me think that the Lord would answer himat the farthest in two or three weeks, but it was fully six years beforeit came, and father had been dead two years before the war. 

After prayer we all went to bed; next morning father went to his work inthe barn-yard, mother to hers in the field, and I to mine among thehorses; before I started, however, father charged me carefully to keephis advice, as he said that would be the easiest way for me to getalong. 

But in spite of father's advice, I had made up my mind not to submit tothe treatment of Mr. Young as before, seeing that it did not help meany. Things went smoothly for a while, until he called me to him, andordered me to bring him a switch. I told him that I would bring him nomore switches for him to whip me with, but that he must get themhimself. After repeating the command very impatiently, and I refusing, he called to another boy named Hardy, who brought the switch, and thentaking me into the stall he whipped me unmercifully. 

After that he made me run back and forth every morning from a half tothree quarters of an hour about two hundred and fifty yards, and everynow and then he would run after me, and whip me to make me run faster. Besides that, when I was put upon a horse, if it threw me he would whipme, if it were five times a day. So I did not gain anything by refusingto bring switches for him to whip me with. 

One very cold morning in the month of March, I came from home withoutwashing my face, and Mr. Young made two of the slave boys take me downto a pond where the horses and mules used to drink; they threw me intothe water and rubbed my face with sand until it bled, then I was made torun all the way to the stable, which was about a quarter of a mile. Thiscruel treatment soon hardened me so that I did not care for him at all. 

A short time afterwards I was sent with the other boys about four orfive miles from home, up the public road, to practice the horse, andthey gave me a very wild animal to ride, which threw me very often. Mr. Young did not go with us, but sent a colored groom every morning, whowas very faithful to every task alloted him; he was instructed to whipme every time the horse threw me while away from home. I got many littlefloggings by the colored groom, as the horse threw me, a great manytimes, but the floggings I got from him were very feeble compared withthose of the white man; hence I was better content to go away with thecolored groom than to be at home where I should have worse punishment. 

But the time was coming when they ceased to whip me for being thrown byhorses. One day, as I was riding along the road, the horse that I wasupon darted at the sight of a bird, which flew across the way, throwingme upon a pile of brush. The horse stepped on my cheek, and the head ofa nail in his shoe went through my left cheek and broke a tooth, but itwas done so quickly that I hardly felt it. It happened that he did notstep on me with his whole weight, if he had my jaw would have beenbroken. When I got up the colored groom was standing by me, but hecould not whip me when he saw the blood flowing from my mouth, so hetook me down to the creek, which was but a short distance from theplace, and washed me, and then taking me home, sent for a doctor, whodressed the wound. 

When Mr. Young saw my condition, he asked how it was done, and uponbeing told he said it ought to have killed me. After the doctor haddressed my face, of course I went home, thinking they would allow me tostay until I got well, but I had no sooner arrived than the groom sentfor me; I did not answer, as my jaw pained me very much. When he foundthat I did not come, he came after me himself, and said if I did notcome to the stable right away, he would whip me, so I went with him. Hedid not whip me while I was in that condition, but he would not let melie down, so I suffered very much from exposure. 

When mother came that night from the farm and saw my condition, she wasovercome with grief; she said to father, "this wound is enough to killthe child, and that merciless man will not let him lie down until hegets well: this is too hard. " Father said to her, "I know it is veryhard, but what can we do? for if we try to keep this boy in the house itwill cause us trouble. " Mother said, "I wish they would take him out ofthe world, then he would be out of pain, and we should not have to fretabout him, for he would be in heaven. " Then she took hold of me andsaid, "Does it hurt you, son?" meaning my face, and I said, "Yes, mamma, " and she shed tears; but she had no little toys to give me tocomfort me; she could only promise me such as she had, which were eggsand chickens. 

Father did not show his grief for me as mother did, but he tried tocomfort mother all he could, and at times would say to me, "Never mind, my son, you will be a man bye and bye, " but he did not know what waspassing through my mind at that time. Though I was very small I thoughtthat if, while a boy, my treatment was so severe, it would be much worsewhen I became a man, and having had a chance to see how men were beingpunished, it was a very poor consolation to me. 

Finally the time came for us to go to bed, and we all knelt in familyprayer. Father thanked God for having saved me from a worse injury, andthen he prayed for mother's comfort, and also for the time which hepredicted would come, that is, the time of freedom, when I and the restof the children would be our own masters and mistresses; then hecommended us to God, and we all went to bed. The next morning I went tomy work with a great deal of pain. They did not send me up the road withthe horses in that condition, but I had to ride the old horses to water, and work around the stable until I was well enough to go with the otherboys. But I am happy to say that from the time I got hurt by that horseI was never thrown except through carelessness, neither was I afraid ofa horse after that. 

Notwithstanding father and mother fretted very much about me, they wereproud of my success as a rider, but my hardships did not end here. 

A short time after, I was taken to Columbia and Charleston, S. C. , wherethey used to have the races. That year Col. Singleton won a large sumof money by the well-known horse, Capt. Miner, and that was the sameseason that I rode my trial race. The next year, before the time ofracing, Col. Singleton died at his summer seat. After master's death, mistress sold all the race horses, and that put an end to sportinghorses in that family. 

I said that Boney Young, Col. Singleton's groom, had a brother by thename of Charles, who trained horses for the colonel's brother, JohnSingleton, Boney was a better trainer, but Charles was a better man tothe negroes. It was against the law for a slave to buy spirituousliquors without a ticket, but Charles used to give the boys tickets tobuy rum and whiskey with. He also allowed them to steal the neighbor'scows and hogs. 

I remember that on one occasion his boys killed a cow belonging to a manby the name of Le Brun; soon after the meat was brought to the stable, Le Brun rode up on horseback with a loaded shot gun and threatened toshoot the party with whom the beef was found. Of course the negroes'apartments were searched; but as that had been anticipated, Mr. Younghad made them put the meat in his apartment, and, as it was against thelaw of South Carolina for a white man to search another's house, or anyapartment, without very strong evidence, the meat was not found. Beforesearching among the negroes, Mr. Young said to Le Brun, "You may search, but you won't find your beef here, for my boys don't steal. " Le Brunanswered, "Mr. Young, your word might be true, sir, but I would trust anigger with money a great deal sooner than I would with cows and hogs. "Mr. Young answered, "That might be true, but you won't find your beefhere. "

After their rooms and clothes had been searched, blood was found undersome of their finger nails, which increased Le Brun's suspicion thatthey were of the party who stole his cow; but Mr. Young answered, "thatblood is from rabbits my boys caught today. " Mr. Le Brun tried to scareone of the boys, to make him say it was the blood of his cow. Mr. Youngsaid, "Mr. Le Brun, you have searched and did not find your beef, as Itold you that you would not; also I told you that the blood under theirfinger nails is from rabbits caught today. You will have to take myword, sir, without going to further trouble; furthermore, these boysbelong to Mr. Singleton, and if you want to take further steps you willhave to see him. " Finding that he was not allowed to do as he wanted to, Mr. Le Brun made great oaths and threats as he mounted his horse toleave, that he would shoot the very first one of those boys he shouldcatch near his cattle. He and Mr. Young never did agree after that. 

But poor Mr. Young, as good as he was to the negroes, was an enemy tohimself, for he was a very hard drinker. People who knew him before Idid said they never had seen him drink tea, coffee, or water, but ratherrum and whiskey; he drank so hard that he used to go into a crazy fit;he finally put an end to his life by cutting his throat with a razor, ata place called O'Handly's race course, about three miles from Columbia, S. C. This was done just a few days before one of the great races. 

Boney Young drank, too, but not so hard as Charles. He lived until justafter the late war, and, while walking one day through one of thestreets of the above named city, dropped dead, with what was supposed tohave been heart disease. 

Boney had a mulatto woman, named Moriah, who had been originally broughtfrom Virginia by negro traders, but had been sold to several differentmasters later. The trouble was that she was very beautiful, and wherevershe was sold her mistresses became jealous of her, so that she changedowners very often. She was finally sold to Boney Young, who had no wife;and she lived with him until freed by the emancipation proclamation. Shehad two daughters; the elder's name was Annie, but we used to call hersissie; the younger's name was Josephine. Annie looked just like herfather, Boney Young, while Josephine looked enough like Charles to havebeen his daughter. It was easy enough to tell that the mother had sprungfrom the negro race, but the girls could pass for white. Their mother, Moriah, died in Columbia some time after the war. Annie went off and wasmarried to a white man, but I don't know what became of Josephine. 

A short time before master's death he stood security for a northern man, who was cashier of one of the largest banks in the city of Charleston. This man ran away with a large sum of money, leaving the colonelembarassed, which fact made him very fretful and peevish. He had beennone too good before to his slaves, and that made him worse, as you knewthat the slave holders would revenge themselves on the slaves wheneverthey became angry. I had seen master whip his slaves a great manytimes, but never so severely as he did that spring before he died. 

One day, before he went to his summer seat, he called a man to him, stripped and whipped him so that the blood ran from his body like waterthrown upon him in cupfuls, and when the man stepped from the placewhere he had been tied, the blood ran out of his shoes. He said to theman, "You will remember me now, sir, as long as you live. " The mananswered, "Yes, master, I will. "

Master went away that spring for the last time; he never returned alive;he died at his summer seat. When they brought his remains home all ofthe slaves were allowed to stop at home that day to see the last of him, and to lament with mistress. After all the slaves who cared to do so hadseen his face, they gathered in groups around mistress to comfort her;they shed false tears, saying, "Never mind, missis, massa gone home toheaven. " While some were saying this, others said, "Thank God, massagone home to hell. " Of course the most of them were glad that he wasdead; but they were gathered there for the express purpose of comfortingmistress. But after master's death mistress was a great deal worse thanhe had been. 

When the master died there was a great change of things on theplantation; the creditors came in for settlement, so all of the finehorses, and some others, such as carriage horses, and a few mules also, were sold. The slaves whom master had bought himself had to be sold, butthose who had been born on the plantation, given to him by his father, old Col. Dick Singleton, could not be sold until the grandchildren wereof age. 

As I have stated, my hardships and trials did not end with the racehorses; you will now see them in another form. 

After all the fine horses had been sold, mistress ordered the men andboys who were taking care of the horses to be put into the field, and Iwas among them, though small; but I had become so attached to the horsesthat they could get no work out of me, so they began to whip me, butevery time they whipped me I would leave the field and run home to thebarn-yard. 

Finally mistress engaged a very bad man as overseer, in place of old BenUsome, whose name was William Turner. Two or three days after hisarrival he took me into the field and whipped me until I was sick, so Iwent home. 

I went to mistress and told her that the overseer had whipped me; sheasked if I had done the work that he had given me. I told her thatmaster had promised me that, when I got too heavy to ride race horses, he would send me to learn the carpenter's trade; she asked me if, incase she put me to a trade, I would work, and I told her I would. So sheconsented. 

But the overseer did not like the idea of having me work at the tradewhich was my choice. He said to mistress, "That is the worst thing youcan do, madam, to allow a negro to have his choice about what he shalldo. I have had some experience as an overseer for many years, and Ithink I am able to give a correct statement about the nature of negroesin general. I know a gentleman who allowed his negroes to have their ownway about things on his plantation, and the result was that they got ashigh as their master. Besides that, madam, their influence rapidlyspreads among the neighbors, and if such should be allowed, SouthCarolina would have all masters and mistresses, and no servants; and, asI have said, I know somewhat about the nature of negroes; I notice, madam, that this boy will put you to a great deal of trouble unless youbegin to subdue him now while he is young. A very few years' delay willenable him to have a great influence among his fellow negroes, for thatboy can read very well now, and you know, madam, it is against the lawfor a negro to get an education, and if you allow him to work at thecarpenter's trade it will thus afford him the opportunity of acquiring abetter education, because he will not be directly under the eye of onewho will see that he makes no further advancement. "

Then mistress asked me, "Can you read, Jacob?" I did not want her toknow that I had taken notice of what they were saying, so I answered, "Idon't know, ma'am. " The overseer said, "He does not know what is meant, madam, but I can make him understand me. " Then he took a newspaper fromhis pocket and said to me, "Can you say these words?" I took the paperand began to read, then he took it from me. 

Mistress asked when I had learned to read and who had taught me. Theoverseer did not know, but said he would find out from me. Turning to mehe took the paper from his pocket again, and said, "Jacob, who told youto say words in the book?" I answered, "Nobody, sir; I said themmyself. " He repeated the question three or four times, and I gave thesame answer every time. Then mistress said, "I think it would be betterto put him to trade than to have him in the field, because he will beaway from his fellow-negroes, and will be less liable to influence themif we can manage to keep him away. " The overseer said, "That might betrue, madam, but if we can manage to keep him from gaining any moreeducation he will eventually lose what little he has; and now, madam, ifyou will allow me to take him in hand, I will bring him out all rightwithout injuring him. " Just at this juncture a carriage drove up to thegate, and I ran as usual to open it, the overseer went about hisbusiness, and mistress went to speak to the persons in the carriage. Inever had a chance to hear their conclusion. 

A few days after the conversation between the overseer and mistress, Iwas informed by one of the slaves, who was a carpenter, that she hadordered that I should go to work at the trade with him. This gave megreat joy, as I was very anxious to know what they had decided to dowith me. I went to my new trade with great delight, and soon began toimagine what a famous carpenter I should make, and what I should say anddo when I had learned the trade. Everything seemed to run smoothly withme for about two months, when suddenly I was told one morning that Imust go into the field to drop cotton seed, but I did not heed the call, as mistress was not at home, and I knew she had just put me to thetrade, also that the overseer was trying to get mistress' consent tohave me work out in the field. 

The next morning the overseer came into the carpenter's shop and said, "Did I not order ye into the field, sir?" I answered, "Yes, sir. ""Well, why did ye not go?" I answered, "Mistress has put me here tolearn the trade. " He said, "I will give ye trade. " So he stripped me andgave me a severe whipping, and told me that that was the kind of trade Ineeded, and said he would give me many of them. The next day I went intothe field, and he put me to drop cotton seed, as I was too small to doanything else. I would have made further resistance, but mistress wasvery far away from home, and I had already learned the lesson thatfather and mother could render me no help, so I thought submission tohim the easiest for me. 

When I had got through with the cotton seed, in about three weeks, Iwent back to the carpenter's shop to work; so he came there and gave meanother severe whipping, and said to me, "Ye want to learn thecarpenter's trade, but I will have ye to the trade of the field. " Butthat was the last whipping he gave me, and the last of his whip. 

A few days after my last whipping the slaves were ordered down into theswamp across the river to clear up new grounds, while the alreadycleared lands were too wet from rain that had fallen that night. Ofcourse I was among them to do my part; that is, while the men quarteredup dry trees, which had been already felled in the winter, and rolledthe logs together, the women, boys and girls piled the brushes on thelogs and burned them. 

We had to cross the river in a flat boat, which was too small to carryover all the slaves at once, so they had to make several trips. 

Mr. Turner, the overseer, went across in the first flat; he did notride down to the work place, but went on foot, while his horse, whichwas trained to stand alone without being hitched, was left at thelanding place. My cousin and I crossed in the last boat. When we had gotacross we lingered behind the crowd at the landing; when they all weregone we went near the horse and saw the whip with which I was whipped afew days before fastened to the saddle. I said to him, "Here is the whipold Turner whipped me with the other day. " He said, "It ought to be putwhere he will never get it to whip anybody with again. " I answered mycousin, "If you will keep the secret I will put it where old Bill, as weused to call Mr. Turner, will never use it any more. " He agreed to keepthe secret, and then asked me how I would put the whip away. I told himif he would find me a string and a piece of iron I would show him how. He ran down to the swamp barn, which was a short distance from themargin of the river, and soon returned with the string and iron exactlysuited for the work. I tied the iron to the whip, went into the flatboat, and threw it as far as I could into the river. My cousin and Iwatched it until it went out of sight under water; then, as guilty boysgenerally do after mischievous deeds, we dashed off in a run, hard as wecould, among the other negroes, and acted as harmless as possible. Mr. Turner made several inquiries, but never learned what had become of hiswhip. 

A short time after this, in the time of the war, in the year 1863, whena man was going round to the different plantations gathering slaves fromtheir masters to carry off to work on fortifications and to wait onofficers, there were ten slaves sent from Mrs. Singleton's plantation, and I was among them. They carried us to Sullivan's Island atCharleston, S. C. , and I was there all of that year. I thanked God thatit afforded me a better chance for an education than I had had at home, and so I was glad to be on the island. Though I had no one to teach me, as I was thrown among those of my fellow negroes who were fully as lameas I was in letters, yet I felt greatly relieved from being under theeye of the overseer, whose intention was to keep me from furtheradvancement. The year after I had gone home I was sent back to FortSumpter--in the year 1864. I carried my spelling book with me, and, although the northerners were firing upon us, I tried to keep up mystudy. 

In July of the same year I was wounded by the Union soldiers, on aWednesday evening. I was taken to the city of Charleston, to Dr. Regg'shospital, and there I stayed until I got well enough to travel, when Iwas sent to Columbia, where I was when the hour of liberty wasproclaimed to me, in 1865. This was the year of jubilee, the year whichmy father had spoken of in the dark days of slavery, when he and mothersat up late talking of it. He said to mother, "The time will come whenthis boy and the rest of the children will be their own masters andmistresses. " He died six years before that day came, but mother is stillenjoying liberty with her children. 

And no doubt my readers would like to know how I was wounded in the war. We were obliged to do our work in the night, as they were firing on usin the day, and on a Wednesday night, just as we went out, we heard thecry of the watchman. "Look out. " There was a little lime house near thesouthwest corner of the fort, and some twelve or thirteen of us ran intoit, and all were killed but two; a shell came down on the lime house andburst, and a piece cut my face open. But as it was not my time to die, Ilived to enjoy freedom. 

I said that when I got so I could travel I was sent from Dr. Ragg'shospital in Charleston to Col. Singleton's plantation near Columbia, inthe last part of the year 1864. I did not do any work during theremainder of that year, because I was unwell from my wound received inthe fort. 

About that time Gen. Sherman came through Georgia with his hundredthousand men, and camped at Columbia, S. C. The slave holders were veryuneasy as to how they should save other valuables, as they saw thatslavery was a hopeless case. Mistress had some of her horses, mules, cows and hogs carried down into the swamp, while the others which wereleft on the plantation were divided out to the negroes for safe keeping, as she had heard that the Yankees would not take anything belonging tothe slaves. A little pig of about fifty or sixty pounds was given to mefor safe keeping. A few of the old horses and mules were taken from theplantation by the Union soldiers, but they did not trouble anythingelse. 

After Columbia had been burned, and things had somewhat quieted, alongin the year 1865, the negroes were asked to give up the cows and hogsgiven them for safe keeping; all the rest gave up theirs, but mine wasnot found. No doubt but my readers want to know what had become of it. Well, I will tell you. You all know that Christmas was a great day withboth masters and slaves in the South, but the Christmas of 1864 was thegreatest which had ever come to the slaves, for, although theproclamation did not reach us until 1865, we felt that the chains whichhad bound us so long were well nigh broken. 

So I killed the pig that Christmas, gathered all of my associates, andhad a great feast, after which we danced the whole week. Mother wouldnot let me have my feast in her cabin, because she was afraid that thewhite people would charge her with advising me to kill the pig, so I hadit in one of the other slave's cabins. 

When the overseer asked me for the pig given me, I told him that Ikilled it for my Christmas feast. Mistress said to me, "Jacob, why didyou not ask me for the pig if you wanted it, rather than take it withoutpermission?" I answered, "I would have asked, but thought, as I had itin hand, it wasn't any use asking for it. " The overseer wanted to whipme for it, but as Uncle Sam had already broken the right arm of slavery, through the voice of the proclamation of 1863, he was powerless. 

When the yoke had been taken from my neck I went to school in Columbia, S. C. , awhile, then to Charleston. Afterward I came to Worcester, Mass. , in February, 1869. I studied quite a while in the evening schools atWorcester, and also a while in the academy of the same place. Duringthat time I was licensed a local preacher of the African MethodistEpiscopal church, and sometime later was ordained deacon at Newport, R. I. 

A short time after my ordination I was sent to Salem, Mass. , where Ihave remained, carrying on religious work among my people, trying in myfeeble way to preach that gospel which our blessed Saviour intended forthe redemption of all mankind, when he proclaimed, "Go ye into all theworld and preach the gospel. " In the meantime I have been strikingsteady blows for the improvement of my education, in preparing myselffor a field of work among my more unfortunate brethren in the South. 

I must say that I have been surrounded by many good friends, includingthe clergy, since I have been in Salem, whose aid has enabled me toserve a short term in the Wesleyan school at Wilbraham, Mass. , also tobegin a course of theological studies at Talladega college in Alabama, which I am endeavoring to complete by the sale of this publication. 

CHAPTER II. --SKETCHES. 

THE SALE OF MY TWO SISTERS. 

I have stated that my father had fifteen children--four boys and threegirls by his first wife, and six boys and two girls by his second. Theirnames are as follows: Toney, Azerine, Duke and Dezine, of the girls, Violet, Priscilla and Lydia; those of the second wife as follows: Footy, Embrus, Caleb, Mitchell, Cuffee, and Jacob, who is the author, and thegirls, Catherine and Retta. 

As I have said, old Col. Dick Singleton had two sons and two daughters, and each had a plantation. Their names were John, Matt, Marianna andAngelico. They were very agreeable together, so that if one wanted negrohelp from another's plantation, he or she could have it, especially incotton picking time. 

John Singleton had a place about twenty miles from master's, and masterused to send him slaves to pick cotton. At one time my master, Col. M. R. Singleton, sent my two sisters, Violet and Priscilla, to his brotherJohn, and while they were there they married two of the men on hisplace. By mutual consent master allowed them to remain on his brother'splace. But some time after this John Singleton had some of his propertydestroyed by water, as is often the case in the South at the time of Mayfreshets, what is known in the North as high tides. 

One of these freshets swept away John Singleton's slave houses, hisbarns, with horses, mules and cows. These caused his death by a brokenheart, and since he owed a great deal of money his slaves had to besold. A Mr. Manning bought a portion of them, and Charles Login therest. These two men were known as the greatest slave traders in theSouth. My sisters were among the number that Mr. Manning bought. 

He was to take them into the state of Louisiana for sale, but some ofthe men did not want to go with him, and he put those in prison until hewas ready to start. My sisters' husbands were among the prisoners in theSumterville jail, which was about twenty-five or thirty miles across theriver from master's place. Those who did not show any unwillingness togo were allowed to visit their relatives and friends for the last time. So my sisters, with the rest of their unfortunate companions, came tomaster's place to visit us. When the day came for them to leave, some, who seemed to have been willing to go at first, refused, and werehandcuffed together and guarded on their way to the cars by white men. The women and children were driven to the depot in crowds, like so manycattle, and the sight of them caused great excitement among master'snegroes. Imagine a mass of uneducated people shedding tears and yellingat the top of their voices in anguish. 

The victims were to take the cars at a station called Clarkson turnout, which was about four miles from master's place. The excitement was sogreat that the overseer and driver could not control the relatives andfriends of those that were going away, as a large crowd of both old andyoung went down to the depot to see them off. Louisiana was consideredby the slaves a place of slaughter, so those who were going did notexpect to see their friends again. While passing along many of thenegroes left their masters' fields and joined us as we marched to thecars; some were yelling and wringing their hands, while others weresinging little hymns that they had been accustomed to for theconsolation of those that were going away, such as

 "When we all meet in heaven, There is no parting there; When we all meet in heaven, There is parting no more. "

We arrived at the depot and had to wait for the cars to bring the othersfrom the Sumterville jail, but they soon came in sight, and when thenoise of the cars had died away, we heard wailing and shrieks from thosein the cars. While some were weeping, others were fiddling, pickingbanjo, and dancing as they used to do in their cabins on theplantations. Those who were so merry had very bad masters, and eventhough they stood a chance of being sold to one as bad or even worse, yet they were glad to be rid of the one they knew. 

While the cars were at the depot a large crowd of white people gathered, laughing and talking about the prospect of negro traffic; but when thecars began to start, and the conductor cried out, "All who are going onthis train must get on board without delay, " the colored people criedout with one voice as though the heavens and earth were coming together, and it was so pitiful that those hard-hearted white men, who had beenaccustomed to driving slaves all their lives, shed tears like children. As the cars moved away we heard the weeping and wailing from the slavesas far as human voice could be heard; and from that time to the presentI have neither seen nor heard from my two sisters, nor any of those wholeft Clarkson depot on that memorable day. 

THE WAY THE SLAVES LIVED. 

Most of the cabins in the time of slavery were built so as to containtwo families; some had partitions, while others had none. When therewere no partitions each family would fit up its own part as it could;sometimes they got old boards and nailed them up, stuffing the crackswith rags; when they could not get boards they hung up old clothes. Whenthe family increased the children all slept together, both boys andgirls, until one got married; then a part of another cabin was assignedto that one, but the rest would have to remain with their mother andfather, as in childhood, unless they could get with some of theirrelatives or friends who had small families, or unless they were sold;but of course the rules of modesty were held in some degrees by theslaves, while it could not be expected that they could entertain thehighest degree of it, on account of their condition. A portion of thetime the young men slept in the apartment known as the kitchen, and theyoung women slept in the room with their mother and father. The twofamilies had to use one fireplace. One who was accustomed to the way inwhich the slaves lived in their cabins could tell as soon as theyentered whether they were friendly or not, for when they did not agreethe fires of the two families did not meet on the hearth, but there wasa vacancy between them, that was a sign of disagreement. In a case ofthis kind, when either of the families stole a hog, cow or sheep fromthe master, he had to carry it to some of his friends, for fear of beingbetrayed by the other family. On one occasion a man, who lived with oneunfriendly, stole a hog, killed it, and carried some of the meat home. He was seen by some one of the other family, who reported him to theoverseer, and he gave the man a severe whipping. Sometime afterward thisman who had been betrayed thought he would get even with his enemy; soabout two months later he killed another hog, and, after eating a partof it, stole into the apartment of the other family and hid a portion ofthe meat among the old clothes. Then he told the overseer that he hadseen the man go out late that night and that he had not come home untilthe next morning; when he did come he had called his wife to the windowand she had taken something in. He did not know what it was, but if theoverseer would go there right away he would find it. The overseer wentand searched and found the meat, so the man was whipped. He told theoverseer that the other man put it in his apartment while the familywere away, but the overseer told him that every man must be responsiblefor his own apartment. 

No doubt you would like to know how the slaves could sleep in theircabins in summer, when it was so very warm. When it was too warm forthem to sleep comfortably, they all slept under trees until it grew toocool, that is along in the month of October. Then they took up theirbeds and walked. 

JOE AND THE TURKEY. 

Joe was a boy who was waiter to his master, one Mr. King, and he andhis wife were very fond of company. Mrs. King always had chickens andturkey for dinner, but at one time the company was so large that theydid not leave anything for the servants; so that day, finding that allhad been eaten, while mistress and master were busy with the company, Joe killed a turkey, dressed it and put it into the pot, but, as he didnot cut it up, the turkey's knees stuck out of the pot, and, as he couldnot cover them up, he put one of his shirts over them. When Mrs. Kingcalled Joe, he answered, but did not go right away as he generally did, and when he did go his mistress said, "Joe, what was the matter withyou?" he answered, "Noffing, missis. " Then he went and opened the gatefor the company. Soon after, Joe was back in the kitchen again, and Mrs. King went down to see what he was doing; seeing the pot on she said, "Joe, what is in that pot?" he said, "noffing, missis, but my shirt; amgwine to wash it. " She did not believe him, so she took a fork and stuckit in the pot, taking out the shirt, and she found the turkey. She askedhim how the turkey had got into the pot; he said he did not know butreckoned the turkey got in himself, as the fowls were very fond of goinginto the kitchen. So Joe was whipped because he allowed the turkey toget into the pot. 

THE CUSTOM OF CHRISTMAS. 

Both masters and slaves regarded Christmas as a great day. When theslaveholders had made a large crop they were pleased, and gave theslaves from five to six days, which were much enjoyed by the negroes, especially by those who could dance. Christmas morning was held sacredboth by master and slaves, but in the afternoon, or in a part of thenext day the slaves were required to devote themselves to the pleasureof their masters. Some of the masters would buy presents for the slaves, such as hats and tobacco for the men, handkerchiefs and little thingsfor the women; these things were given after they had been pleased withthem; after either dancing or something for their amusement. 

When the slaves came up to their masters and mistresses, the latterwould welcome them, the men would take off their hats and bow and thewomen would make a low courtesy. There would be two or three large pailsfilled with sweetened water, with a gallon or two of whiskey in each;this was dealt out to them until they were partly drunk; while this wasgoing on, those who could talk very well would give tokens of wellwishing to their master and mistress, and some who were born in Africa, would sing some of their songs, or tell different stories of the customsin Africa. After this they would spend half a day in dancing in somelarge cotton house or on a scaffold, the master providing fiddlers whocame from other plantations if there were none on the place, and whoreceived from fifteen to twenty dollars on these occasions. 

A great many of the strict members of the church who did not dance wouldbe forced to do it to please their masters; the favorite tunes were "TheFisher's Hornpipe, " "The Devil's Dream, " and "Black-eyed Susan. " No onecan describe the intense emotion in the negro's soul on those occasionswhen they were trying to please their masters and mistresses. 

After the dancing was over we had our presents, master giving to themen, and mistress to the women; then the slaves would go to theirquarters and continue to dance the rest of the five or six days, andwould sometimes dance until eight o'clock Sunday morning. The cabinswere mostly made of logs, and there were large cracks in them so that aperson could see the light in them for miles in the night, and of coursethe sun's rays would shine through them in the daytime, so on Sundaymorning when they were dancing and did not want to stop you would seethem filling up the cracks with old rags. The idea was that it would notbe Sunday inside if they kept the sun out, and thus they would notdesecrate the Sabbath; and these things continued until the freedom ofthe slaves. 

Perhaps my readers would like to know if most of the negroes wereinclined to violate the Sabbath. They were; as the masters would makethem do unnecessary work, they got into the habit of disregarding theday as one for rest, and did many things Sunday that would not beallowed in the North. At that time, if you should go through the Southon those large cotton and rice plantations, while you would find somedancing on Sunday, others would be in the woods and fields huntingrabbits and other game, and some would be killing pigs belonging totheir masters or neighbors. I remember when a small boy I went into thewoods one Sunday morning with one of my fellow negroes whose name wasMunson, but we called him Pash, and we killed one of master's pigs, hidit under the leaves until night, then took it home and dressed it. Thatwas the only time I killed a pig, but I knew of thousands of cases likethis in the time of slavery. But thank God, the year of Jubilee hascome, and the negroes can return from dancing, from hunting, and fromthe master's pig pens on Sundays and become observers of the Sabbath, ofgood moral habits and men of equal rights before the law. 

PUNISHMENTS INFLICTED ON DIFFERENT ONES. 

One of my fellow negroes, who belonged to Col. M. R. Singleton, visitedthe plantation of the Col. 's sister; the overseer of that plantation hadforbidden strangers to go there, but this man, whose name was Harry, would go. The overseer heard of him but could not catch him, but theoverseer of master's place sent him to Mr. Jackson (the overseer ofmaster's sister's place). Mr. Jackson tied him and hit him three hundredlashes and then said to him, "Harry, if you were not such a good niggerI should have given you a first class whipping, but as you are a goodfellow, and I like you so well, I thought I would give you a lightflogging now; you must be a good nigger and behave yourself, for if Iever have to take hold of you again, I shall give you a good whipping. "When Mr. Jackson had loosed him from where he had tied him, Harry was soexhausted that he fell down, so Mr. Jackson sent him home in a cart, andhe had to stay at home from work a month or two, and was never the sameman again. 

THE PUNISHMENT AND SALE OF MONDAY. 

There was a man who belonged to master by the name of Monday, who was agood field hand; in summer the tasks generally performed by the slaveswere more than they could do, and in consequence they were severelywhipped, but Monday would not wait to be whipped, but would run awaybefore the overseer or driver could get to him. Sometimes master wouldhire a white man who did nothing else but hunt runaway slaves for aliving; this man would take from fifteen to twenty hounds with him tohunt Monday, but often he would be out three or four months; when he wascaught and brought home, he was put in prison and was whipped every dayfor a week or two, but just as soon as he could he would run away again. 

At one time when he had been brought home, one of his arms was tied andhe was put in care of a keeper who made him work with the other slaves, days, and put him in confinement nights, but for all this he got awayfrom his keeper and went into the woods again. The last time he ran awaytwo white men were hired to hunt him; they had about twenty-five bloodhounds, but this time Monday fell in with another slave who had ran awayfrom his master and had been in the woods seven years, and they togetherwere able to kill a greater portion of the hounds. Finally the white mencaught his companion, but did not catch Monday, though they chased himtwo or three days longer, but he came home himself; they did not whiphim and he went to work in the field. Things went on very nicely withhim for two or three weeks, until one day a white man was seen ridingthrough the fields with the overseer; of course the slaves did notmistrust his object, as white men often visited master's plantation, butthat night, when all the slaves were sleeping, the man that was seen inthe daytime went to the door of Monday's cabin and called him out of hisbed, and when he had come to his door, the stranger, whom he had neverseen before that day, handcuffed him and said, "You now belong to me. "Most of the slaves found it out, as Monday was put in a cart and carriedthrough the streets of the negro quarters, and there was quite anexcitement, but Monday was never heard from again. 

THE STORY OF JAMES HAY. 

There was a slave named James Hay, who belonged to a neighbor ofmaster's; he was punished a great many times because he could not gethis task done. The other slaves pitied him because he seemed unable toperform his task. One evening he got a severe whipping; the next morningas the slaves were having their tasks assigned them, an old lady by thename of Aunt Patience went by, and said, "Never mind, Jim, my son, theLord will help you with your task today;" he answered, "Yes, ma'am. " Hebegan his work very faithfully and continued until it was half done, then he lay down under a tree; the others, not understanding his motive, thought he was tired and was taking a rest, but he did not return to histask until the overseer called him and asked him why he did not have hiswork nearer done. He said, "Aunt Patience told me dis morning that theLord would help me today, and I thought as I did half of the task, theLord might have finished the other half if he intended to help me atall. " The overseer said "You see that the Lord did not come to help youand we shall not wait for him, but we will help you;" so Jim got asevere punishment. Sometime after this, Jim Hay was called upon by someprofessors of religion; they asked him if he was not tired of servingthe devil, and told him that the Lord was good and had helped many ofhis people, and would help all who asked him and then take them home toheaven. Jim said that if the Lord would not do half an acre of his taskfor him when he depended on him, he did not think he could trust him, and Jim never became a Christian to my knowledge. 

THE STORY OF MR. USOM AND JACK. 

One Sunday when the boys were at the overseer's, Mr. Usom's house, as wegenerally were, he said to one, "Jack, don't you think that hell is avery hot place, if it is as they describe it?" Jack said, "Yes, massa. "Mr. Usom said, "Well, how do you think it will be with poor fellows thathave to go there?" "Well, Massa Bob, I will tell you what I tinks aboutit, I tinks us niggers need not trouble usselves about hell, as thewhite folks. " "How is that, Jack?" Jack answered, "Because us niggershave to work out in the hot sun, and if we go to hell it would not be sobad for us because us used to heat, but it will be bad for white folksbecause they is not used to hot weather. "

THE STORY OF JAMES SWINE AND HIS DEATH. 

There was a negro who belonged to one Mr. Clarkson; he was called JimSwine; his right name was James, but he was called Jim Swine because heloved hog meat and would often steal hogs from his master or from theneighbors; he was a very able-bodied man, weighing about two hundred andtwenty-five pounds, and a very good field hand. Of course it isgenerally known that a great many of the slaves were poorly fed, so itwas natural that they should take anything they could to sustain life. As his master had only a few hogs, he stole many from the neighbors andwas punished a great many times for it. 

Sometimes he was punished when a hog was missing, even though they didnot find the meat with him. Jim was not in the habit of running awaymuch, but if they whipped him when he had not stolen the hog theyaccused him of taking, he would go away into the woods and stay until hegot ready to come home. He was so strong that they were afraid of him;three or four men would not attack him when in the woods. The last timeJim stole hogs he was caught in the act of taking one from my master, Col. Singleton. They tied him, and Mr. Clarkson's overseer was sent for, who was his own son, Thomas Clarkson. Jim was taken home, whipped, and acured middling of a hog was tied around his neck; he was then made towork along with the other slaves in the day and was put in prison in thenight for two weeks. One morning when the overseer went to his place ofconfinement to take him into the field, he found him dead, with a largepiece of meat hanging to his neck. The news of his death soon wentabroad, also the cause of it, and when old Mr. Clarkson found it out hewas very angry at his son Thomas, and his punishment was, that he wasdriven from his plantation with orders never to return, and that heshould not have any of his property. This seemed to grieve Thomas verymuch, and he made several attempts to regain his father's affections, but failed. Finally, one night, Thomas made an outcry that he had founda pearl of great price, that the Lord had pardoned his sins, and that hewas at peace with all mankind. When his father heard of this, he sentfor him to come home, and he gave him quite a sum of money and willedhim the portion of property that he had said he should keep from him. But poor Jim was not there to forgive him. 

A MAN MISTAKEN FOR A HOG. 

Two negroes went to steal hogs from their masters. The swine were undera barn, as in the South barns were made high enough for hogs to standunder. The man who went under the barn said to the other, you muststrike the hog that goes the slowest; then he went under the barn on hisknees to drive them out while the other stood with his club ready tostrike, but they ran out so fast he could not hit them, except the lastas he thought, which came just slow enough, and he struck. While thesupposed hog was kicking, he jumped upon it to stab it with his knifebut found it was his companion. 

CUSTOM OF WITCHES AMONG SLAVES. 

The witches among slaves were supposed to have been persons who workedwith them every day, and were called old hags or jack lanterns. Those, both men and women, who, when they had grown old looked old, weresupposed to be witches. Sometimes, after eating supper, the negroeswould gather in each other's cabins which looked over the largeopenings on the plantation, and when they would see a light at a greatdistance and see it open and shut, they would say, "there is an oldhag, " and if it came from a direction in which those lived whom theycalled witches, one would say, "Dat looks like old Aunt Susan;" anotherwould say, "No, dat look like man hag;" still another, "I tink dat looklike ole Uncle Renty. "

When the light had disappeared they said that the witch had got into theplantation and changed itself into a person and had gone about on theplace talking with the people like others until those whom it wanted tobewitch went to bed, then it would change itself to a witch again. Theyclaimed that the witches rode human beings like horses, and that thespittle that ran on the side of the cheek when one slept, was the bridlethat the witch rode with. Sometimes a baby would be smothered by itsmother, and they would charge it to a witch. If they went out hunting atnight and were lost, it was believed that a witch had led them off, especially if they fell into a pond or creek. I was very much troubledwith witches when a little boy and am now sometimes, but it is only whenI eat a hearty supper and immediately go to bed. It was said by some ofthe slaves that the witches would sometimes go into the rooms of thecabins and hide themselves until the family went to bed and thereforewhen any one claimed that he had gone into the apartment before bed timeand thought he had seen a witch, if he had an old Bible in the cabin, that would be taken into the room, and the person who carried the Biblewould say as he went in, "In de name of de Fader and of de Son and deHoly Gos wat you want?" Then the Bible would be put in the corner wherethe person thought he had seen the witch, as it was generally believedthat if this were done the witch could not stay. When they could not getthe Bible they used red pepper and salt pounded together and scatteredin the room, but in this case they generally felt the effects of it morethan the witch, for when they went to bed it made them cough all night. When I was a little boy my mother sent me into the cabin room forsomething, and as I got in I saw something black and white, but did notstop to see what it was, and running out said there was a witch in theroom. But father, having been born in Africa, did not believe in suchthings, so he called me a fool and whipped me and the witch got scaredand ran out the door. It turned out to be our own black and white catthat we children played with every day. Although it proved to be thecat, and father did not believe in witches, still I held the idea thatthere were such things, for I thought the majority of the peoplebelieved it, and that they ought to know more than could one man. Sometime after I was free, in travelling from Columbia to Camden, adistance of about thirty-two miles, night overtook me when about halfway there; it was very dark and rainy, and as I approached a creek I sawa great number of lights of those witches opening and shutting. I didnot know what to do and thought of turning back, but when I lookedbehind I saw some witches in the distance, so I said, "If I turn backthose will meet me and I shall be in as much danger as if I go on", andI thought of what some of my fellow negroes had said about theirleading men into ponds and creeks. There was a creek just ahead, so Iconcluded that I should be drowned that night; however, I went on, as Isaw no chance of turning back. When I came near the creek one of thewitches flew into my face. I jumped back and grasped it, but it provedto be one of those lightning bugs, and I thought that if all the witcheswere like that one, I should not be in any great danger from them. 

THE DEATH OF CYRUS AND STEPNEY. 

Old Col. Dick Singleton had several state places as I have mentioned. Inthe South, the rich men who had a great deal of money bought all theplantations they could get and obtained them very cheap. The Colonel hadsome ten or twenty places and had slaves settled on each of them. 

He had four children, and after each had received a plantation, the restwere called state places, and these could not be sold until all thegrandchildren should become of age; after they all had received places, the rest could be sold. 

One of the places was called Biglake. The slaves on these places weretreated more cruelly than on those where the owner lived, for theoverseers had full sway. 

One day the overseer at Biglake punished the slaves so that some of themfell exhausted. When he came to the two men, Cyrus and Stepney, theyresisted, but were taken by force and severely punished. A few daysafterwards the overseer died, and those two men were taken up and hangedon the plantation without judge or jury. 

After that another overseer was hired, with orders to arm himself, andevery slave who did not submit to his punishment was to be shotimmediately. At times, when the overseer was angry with a man he wouldstrike him on the head with a club and kill him instantly, and theywould bury him in the field. Some would run away and come to M. R. Singleton, my master, but he would only tell them to go home and behave. Then they were handcuffed or chained and carried back to Biglake, andwhen we would hear from them again the greater part would have beenmurdered. When they were taken from master's place, they would bid usgood bye and say they knew they should be killed when they got home. 

Oh! who can paint the sad feeling in our minds when we saw these, ourown race, chained and carried home to drink the bitter cup of death fromtheir merciless oppressors, with no one near to say, "Spare him, Godmade him, " or to say, "Have mercy on him, for Jesus died for him. " Hiscompanions dared not groan above a whisper for fear of sharing the samefate; but thanks that the voice of the Lord was heard in the North, which said, "Go quickly to the South and let my prison-bound people gofree, for I have heard their cries from cotton, corn and riceplantations, saying, how long before thou wilt come to deliver us fromthis chain?" and the Lord said to them, "Wait, I will send you JohnBrown who shall be the key to the door of your liberty, and I willharden the heart of Jefferson Davis, your devil, that I may show him andhis followers my power; then shall I send you Abraham Lincoln, mineangel, who shall lead you from the land of bondage to the land ofliberty. " Our fathers all died in "the wilderness, " but thank God, thechildren reached "the promised land. "

THE WAY THE SLAVES DETECTED THIEVES AMONG THEMSELVES. 

The slaves had three ways of detecting thieves, one with a Bible, onewith a sieve, and another with graveyard dust. The first way wasthis:--four men were selected, one of whom had a Bible with a stringattached, and each man had his own part to perform. Of course this wasdone in the night as it was the only time they could attend to suchmatters as concerned themselves. These four would commence at the firstcabin with every man of the family, and one who held the string attachedto the Bible would say, "John or Tom, " whatever the person's name was, "you are accused of stealing a chicken or a dress from Sam at such atime, " then one of the other two would say, "John stole the chicken, "and another would say, "John did not steal the chicken. " They wouldcontinue their assertions for at least five minutes, then the man wouldput a stick in the loop of the string that was attached to the Bible, and holding it as still as he could, one would say, "Bible, in the nameof the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, if John stole thatchicken, turn, " that is, if the man had stolen what he was accused of, the Bible was to turn around on the string, and that would be a proofthat he did steal it. This was repeated three times before they leftthat cabin, and it would take those men a month sometimes when theplantation was very large, that is if they did not find the right personbefore they got through the whole place. 

The second way they had of detecting thieves was very much like thefirst, only they used a sieve instead of a Bible; they stuck a pair ofscissors in the sieve with a string hitched to it and a stick putthrough the loop of the string and the same words were used as for theBible. Sometimes the Bible and the sieve would turn upon the names ofpersons whose characters were beyond suspicion. When this was the casethey would either charge the mistake to the men who fixed the Bible andthe sieve, or else the man who was accused by the turning of the Bibleand the sieve, would say that he passed near the coop from which thefowl was stolen, then they would say, "Bro. John we see dis how dat tingwork, you pass by de chicken coop de same night de hen went away. "

But when the Bible or the sieve turned on the name of one whom they knewoften stole, and he did not acknowledge that he had stolen the chickenof which he was accused, he would have to acknowledge his previouslystolen goods or that he had thought of stealing at the time when thechicken or the dress was stolen. Then this examining committee wouldjustify the turning of the Bible or sieve on the above statement of theaccused person. 

The third way of detecting thieves was taught by the fathers and mothersof the slaves. They said no matter how untrue a man might have beenduring his life, when he came to die he had to tell the truth and had toown everything he had ever done, and whatever dealing those alive hadwith anything pertaining to the dead, must be true, or they wouldimmediately die and go to hell to burn in fire and brimstone. So inconsequence of this, the graveyard dust was the truest of the threeways in detecting thieves. The dust would be taken from the grave of aperson who had died last and put into a bottle with water. Then two ofthe men of the examining committee would use the same words as in thecase of the Bible and the sieve, "John stole that chicken, " "John didnot steal that chicken, " and after this had gone on for about fiveminutes, then one of the other two who attended to the Bible and thesieve would say, "John, you are accused of stealing that chicken thatwas taken from Sam's chicken coop at such a time. " "In the name of theFather and the Son and the Holy Ghost, if you have taken Sam's chickendon't drink this water, for if you do you will die and go to hell and beburned in fire and brimstone, but if you have not you may take it and itwill not hurt you. " So if John had taken the chicken he would own itrather than take the water. 

Sometimes those whose characters were beyond suspicion would be proventhieves when they tried the graveyard dust and water. When the rightperson was detected, if he had any chickens he had to give four for one, and if he had none he made it good by promising that he would do so nomore. If all the men on the plantation passed through the examinationand no one was found guilty, the stolen goods would be charged tostrangers. Of course these customs were among the negroes for their ownbenefit, for they did not consider it stealing when they took anythingfrom their master. 

JOSH AND THE CORN. 

A man engaged in stripping fodder put some green ears of corn in thefire to roast as the slaves generally do in fodder stripping time, although they were whipped when caught. Before the ears were roastedenough, the overseer approached, and Josh took the ears out with somelive coals stuck to them and put them in his shirt bosom. In runningaway his clothes took fire and Josh jumped into a creek to put it out. The overseer said to him, "Josh, what are you doing there?" He answered, "It is so warm today I taught I would go in de creek to git cool off, sir. " "Well, have you got cooled off, Josh?" "Oh! yes, sir, very muchcooler, sir. "

Josh was a very hearty eater, so that the peck of corn flour allowed theslaves for a week's ration lasted him only a half. He used to lug largesticks of wood on his shoulders from the woods, which was from a mile toa mile and a half away, to first one and then another of his fellownegroes, who gave him something to eat; and in that way he made out hisweek's rations. 

His habit was to bring the wood at night, throw it down at the cabindoor, and, as he walked in, some one of the family would say, "Well, Josh, you fetched us a piece of wood. " He would burst into one of hisjolly laughs and answer, "Yes. " Soon after they had given him somethingto eat, Josh would bid them good night, but when he went, the wooddisappeared too. He would throw it down at another cabin door as before, go in and get something to eat; but every time when he went away thewood would be missing until he had found enough to eat, when he wouldleave it at the last cabin. Those to whom Josh carried the wood accusedothers of stealing it, and when they asked him about it, he onlylaughed and said that the wood was at the door when he came out. 

Josh continued the trick for quite a while. Finally one night he broughta stick of wood and threw it down at a cabin door, walked in and gotsomething to eat as usual. But as he came in, the man of the family, towhom he carried the wood, bade him good night, and said that he hadbusiness out which would keep him so late, that Josh would be gonebefore he got back. While Josh was busy laughing and talking with therest of the family the man went out, and secreted himself in the chimneycorner of another cabin, and it was not long after he took his standbefore Josh bade the family good night, came out whistling, andshouldered the wood, but as he started off the watchman cried out, "Isthat you, Josh?" Josh threw the wood down and answered, "O no, tisn'tme. " Of course Josh was so funny one couldn't get angry with him if hewanted to; but the rest of the slaves found out after that how the woodJosh brought them, was missing. 

But poor Josh died at last, away from home; he was sent with some of theother negroes from Mrs. M. R. Singleton's plantation at Columbia, in theyear 1864, to build fortifications as a defence, under Gen. Wade Hamptonagainst Gen. Sherman, and while there he was taken sick and died, underthe yoke of slavery, having heard of freedom but not living to enjoy it. 

RUNAWAY SLAVES. 

My readers, have, no doubt, already heard that there were men in theSouth who made it their business in the days of slavery to raise andtrain hounds especially to hunt slaves with. Most of the owners hiredsuch men on condition that they were to capture and return their runawayslaves, without being bruised and torn by the dogs. The average sumspaid hunters were ten, fifteen and twenty-five dollars for capturing aslave; very many times, these sums were taken from the overseer'ssalary, as they were more or less the cause of slaves running away. 

My readers want to know whether the runaway slaves ever returned to theoverseers and their masters without being caught by the hunters. Sometimes they did and sometimes they never returned. Some stayed theirlifetime; others, who would have returned, fell sick and died in thewoods. 

My readers ask, how did the slaves at home know when their fellownegroes, the runaways, sickened or died in the woods. In general, someone on the plantation from which they ran away, or confidential friendson some other plantation, had communication with them, so that ifanything happened to them the slaves at home would find out through suchparties. And sometimes the masters and overseers would find out abouttheir death, but indirectly, however, because if it was known that anyone on the plantation had dealings with the runaway, he would bepunished, even though the information should be gladly received by themaster and overseer. 

Sometimes groups of runaway slaves, of eight, ten and even twenty, belonging to different owners, got together in the woods, which made itvery difficult and dangerous for slave hunters to capture those whomthey were hired to hunt. In such cases sometimes these runaways killedboth hunters and dogs. The thick forests in which they lived could notbe searched on horseback, neither could man or dog run in them. The onlychances the hunters had of catching runaway slaves were either to routthem from those thick forests or attack them when they came out in theopening to seek food. 

Of course the runaways were mostly armed, and when attacked in theforests they would fight. My readers ask, how had they obtained arms andwhat were those arms, since slaves were not allowed to have deadlyweapons? Some had large knives made by their fellow negroes who wereblacksmiths, others stole guns from white men who were accustomed to laythem carelessly around when they were out hunting game. The runaways whostole the guns were kept in powder and shot by some of the other slavesat home, who bought such from poor white men who kept little countrystores in the different parts of the South. 

The runaway slaves generally had fathers, brothers, cousins, orconfidential friends who met them at certain appointed places, andbrought them such things as were needed. The most they wanted from theirfellow negroes at home was salt and a little corn flour; for they livedprincipally on beef and swine meat, taken either from their own mastersor some other's stock. 

My readers ask, did not some of the slaves at home betray their fellownegroes, the runaways, to the white man? I answer, they did; but oftensuch were well spotted, and if the runaway slaves got a chance at themwhile in the woods would mob or kill them. On the other hand when theymet those whom they could trust, instead of injuring them, theyexchanged beef and swine meat with them for bread, corn flour, and salt, such as they needed in the woods. 

THE RUNAWAY SLAVES IN THE HOUSE. 

Instead of going into the woods, sometimes runaway slaves lived rightaround the overseer's and master's houses for months. A slave, namedIsom, ran away from Thomas Clarkson, his master's son, who was theoverseer. Mr. Clarkson was satisfied, as he said, that the unaccustomedrunaway, whom he thought was in the woods could not stay from home long, but finding that he stayed longer than expected, Mr. Clarkson hired aslave hunter with his dogs to hunt him. 

The hunter came early to the plantation and took breakfast with Mr. Clarkson on the day they began to hunt for the runaway slave. Whilesitting at breakfast, Mr. Clarkson said to the hunter, "My fatherbrought up that boy as a house servant, and petted him so that it takesall the salt in the country to cure him. Father had too much religion tokeep his negroes straight; but I don't believe in that. I think a negroought to be overhauled every little while to keep him in his place, andthat is just the reason why I took the overseership on this plantation. "

The Hunter. "Well, what caused your boy to run away, Mr. Clarkson?"

Mr. Clarkson. "Well he ran away because I gave him an overhauling, tokeep him in the place of a negro. "

Mr. Clarkson's wife. "Well, Thomas, I told you the other day, before youdid it, that I didn't see any need of your whipping Isom, because Ithought he was a good boy. "

Mr. Clarkson. "Yes, my dear, if South Carolina had many more suchPresbyterians as you and Father Boston (he meant old Mr. Clarkson), in ashort time there would be no slaves in the state; then who would youhave to work for you?"

I wish to state a fact to my readers. While there were exceptions, as ageneral thing the Presbyterians made better masters than did any otherdenomination among the slave holders in the South. 

Mrs. Clarkson. "Yes, Thomas, if you were such a Presbyterian as youcharged Father Boston and me with being, you could have saved yourselfthe trouble and money which it will cost to hunt him. "

Mr. Clarkson. "Well, we will not discuss the matter of religion anyfurther. " (To the hunter. ) "That boy has been away now for several dayssince I whipped him. I thought that he would have returned home longbefore this time, as this is the first time he has ever run away; but Irather conclude that he got with some experienced runaways. Now do youthink that you can capture him without his being hurt, or torn by yourdogs?"

Mrs. Clarkson. "That is just what I am afraid will be done to that boy. "

The Hunter. "O, no fear of that, madam, I shall use care in hunting him. I have but one dog which is dangerous for tearing runaway negroes; Iwill chain him here until I capture your boy. "

The hunter blew his horn which gathered his dogs, chained the one hespoke of, then he and Mr. Clarkson started on a chase for the runawayslave, who, secreted in the house, had heard every word they had saidabout him. 

After the hunter and Mr. Clarkson had gone, Mrs. Clarkson went to herroom (as a general thing the southern mistresses hardly ever knew whatwent on in their dining rooms and kitchens after meal hours), and Isom, the runaway slave, sat at the same table and ate his breakfast. 

After two or three days of vain search in the woods for the runawayslave, Mr. Clarkson asked some of the other negroes on the plantation, if they saw him, to tell him if he came home he would not whip him. Ofcourse, as a general thing, when they stayed in the woods until theywere captured, they were whipped but they were not when they came homethemselves. One morning after several days of fruitless search in thewoods for the runaway slave by the overseer and the hunter, while atbreakfast, Isom came up to the door. As soon as Mr. Clarkson learnedthat the runaway slave was at the door he got up from his breakfast andwent out. 

"Well, Isom, " said Mr. Clarkson. "Well, Massa Thomas, " said Isom. "Wherehave you been?" said Mr. Clarkson. "I been in the woods, sir, " answeredIsom. Of course it would not have been well for him to tell Mr. Clarksonthat he was hidden and fed right in the house, for it would have made itbad for the other negroes who were house servants, among whom he had abrother and sister. 

Mr. Clarkson. "Isom, did you get with some other runaways?" "Yes, sir, "said Isom. Of course Isom's answer was in keeping with the belief ofMr. Clarkson that he had got in with some experienced runaway in thewoods. "How many were with you?" asked Mr. Clarkson. "Two, " answeredIsom. "What are their names, and to whom do they belong?" asked Mr. Clarkson. "I don't know, sir, " said Isom. "Didn't you ask their names?"said Mr. Clarkson. "No, sir, " said Isom. "Can you describe them?" askedMr. Clarkson. "One is big, like you, and the other was little like theman who was hunting me, " said Isom. "Where did you see the hunter?"asked Mr. Clarkson. "In the woods, sir, " said Isom. "Isom, do you wantsomething to eat?" asked Mr. Clarkson. "Yes, sir, " said Isom. He senthim around to the kitchen and told the cook to give him something toeat. 

Mrs. Clarkson thought a great deal of Isom, so while he was in thekitchen eating, she went in and had a long talk with him about how hegot along since he had been away, as they supposed. 

As I have said, in general, when runaway slaves came home themselves, they were not whipped, but were either handcuffed or put in stocks, andlocked up for two or three days. 

While Isom was eating and talking with Mrs. Clarkson, Mr. Clarksonappeared at the kitchen door with a pistol in one hand and handcuffs inthe other. Mrs. Clarkson said, "What are you going to do, Thomas?" "Iwant Isom as soon as he is through eating, " said Mr. Clarkson. "You arenot going to lock him up, are you Thomas?" said Mrs. Clarkson. Mrs. Clarkson's name was Henrietta, but her pet name was Henie. Mr. Clarksonsaid. "Henie, I shan't hurt Isom. "

Isom, who had a smooth, black, round face, full eyes, white teeth, was avery beautiful negro. When he saw the pistol and handcuffs in Mr. Clarkson's hands, those large eyes of his were stretched so wide, onecould see the white, like great sheets in them. 

Mrs. Clarkson said, "Thomas, please don't lock up Isom; he won't runaway again. You won't, will you Isom?" "No, mamma massie Henie, Iwon't, " said Isom. "Yes, Henie, " said Mr. Clarkson, "he says so, butwill he not?" "Thomas, " said Mrs. Clarkson, "I will take theresponsibility if you do as I ask you to; I will keep Isom around thehouse and will assure you that he will not run away. "

Mr. Clarkson wanted to lock Isom up very much, but he knew what a strongwill his wife had, and how hard it would be to get her right when shehad got wrong, hence he complied with her request. So Isom worked aroundthe house for a long time. The hunter was to rest a few days, and thenresume his work, but Mr. Clarkson wrote to him that his services wouldbe no longer needed, as the runaway slave whom he was employed to hunthad returned himself. I never learned whether the hunter got paid forwhat he had done. 

MR. BLACK, THE SLAVE HUNTER. 

There was a white man in Richland County, South Carolina, named Mr. Black, who made his living by hunting runaway slaves. I knew him as wellas I did one of my fellow negroes on Col. Singleton's plantation. He wasof dark complexion, short stature, spare built, with long, jet black, coarse hair. He bore the description of what some would call a goodman, but he was quite the reverse; he was one of the most heartless menI have ever seen. 

Mr. Black was a very successful hunter, although sometimes all of hisbloodhounds were killed by runaway slaves, and he barely escaped withhis life. He used to ride a small bay mare in hunting, which was theonly horse he owned. She was a thin, raw-boned creature and looked asthough she could hardly walk, but knew the business about as well as hermaster; and in such troubles as above stated she used to carry himpretty fast out of danger. Mr. Black caught several runaway slavesbelonging to Col. Singleton. 

I have known him to chase runaway slaves out of the forest right throughthe colonel's plantation, through a crowd of other negroes, and his dogswould never mistake any among the crowd for the ones they were after. When these hound dogs chased the runaways through farms in that way, many of them were killed and buried in the cotton or corn field by someamong the crowd of negroes through which they passed. In general theslaves hated bloodhounds, and would kill them any time they got achance, but especially on such occasions as above stated, to keep themfrom capturing runaways. 

Once eight slaves ran away from Col. Singleton's plantation, and Mr. Black, with twenty-five hound dogs, was hired to hunt them up. The dogsstruck trail of the runaways late one afternoon, and chased them allthat night, during which time they got scattered. Next morning three ofthe runaways were chased through a crowd of their fellow negroes, whowere working in the cotton field. While chasing the runaways some amongthe crowd killed six of the dogs, including the two leading ones, andburied them in the cotton beds or rows, as we used to call them. 

Mr. Black, the hunter, though a mile or more off, knew that somethinghad happened from the irregular barking of the other dogs, and alsobecause he did not hear the yelling of the two leading dogs. So he blewhis horn, called the rest of his dogs, and gave up the chase until hehad replaced his leading dogs by others, which he always had on hand athome. 

Slave hunters generally had one or two among the pack of hound dogs, called trailers or leaders, which the others, fifty or more, weretrained to follow. So if anything happened to the leaders while onchase, the rest would become confused, and could not follow the runaway. But if the leaders were hurt or killed after the runaways were captured, the rest would surround and guard them until the hunter reached them, ashe was always a mile or more behind. 

After the leading dogs had been replaced, Mr. Black resumed the chase, and caught some of the runaways, but the rest came home themselves. 

The last runaway slave Mr. Black was hired to hunt belonged to Col. M. R. Singleton, and was named Dick, but instead of Dick he caught a slavebelonging to a man in Sumterville county, who had been in the woodsseven years. This runaway slave had another name at home, but while inthe woods had assumed the name of Champion, for his success in keepingslave hunters from capturing him up to that time. 

Mr. Black, the hunter, chased Dick and Champion two days and nights; onthe morning before the capture of the latter they swam across theWater-ree river. After they got across they were separated; the dogsfollowed Champion, and ran him down that morning about eleven o'clock. Champion had a gun and pistol; as the first dog ran up and opened hismouth to take hold of him he discharged the contents of the pistol inhis mouth and killed him instantly. The rest of the dogs did not takehold of him, but surrounded him and held him at bay until the hunterreached the spot. 

When Mr. Black rode up within gunshot, Champion aimed at him with aloaded double barrel gun, but the caps of both barrels snapped frombeing wet by running through the bushes. Mr. Black had a gun and pistol, too; he attempted to shoot the negro, but William Turner, Col. Singleton's overseer, who hired Mr. Black to hunt Dick, the runaway fromthe colonel's plantation, would not let him do it. Mr. Black thenattempted to strike Champion with the breech of his gun, but Championkicked him down, and as he drew his knife to stab Mr. Black, Mr. Turner, the overseer, struck him on the back of his head with the butt of aloaded whip. This stunned him for a few moments, and by the time he hadregained his senses they had handcuffed him. 

After the negro had been handcuffed, Mr. Black wanted to abuse him, because he had killed the dog, and attempted to shoot him, but Mr. Turner, the overseer, would not let him. Champion was taken to Col. Singleton's plantation, locked up in the dungeon under the overseer'shouse, and his master was notified of his capture; he was a mulattonegro, and his master, who was his father, sent for him at Col. Singleton's plantation; but I never learned whether Mr. Black, thehunter, was ever paid for capturing him. Dick, the runaway negro fromCol. Singleton's place, came home himself sometime after Champion, hiscompanion, had been captured. 

Mr. Black, the slave hunter, was very poor, and had a large family; hehad a wife, with eight or ten helpless children, whom I knew as well asI did my fellow negroes on the colonel's plantation. But as cruel as Mr. Black was to runaway slaves, his family was almost wholly supported bynegroes; I have known in some cases that they stole from their mastersto help this family. The negroes were so kind to Mr. Black's family thathis wife turned against him for his cruelty to runaway slaves. 

I have stated that some of the masters and overseers hired the hunters, on condition that they would capture and return the runaway slaves, unbruised and untorn by their dogs; while others, in a mad fit ofpassion, would say to them, "I want you to bring my runaway nigger home, dead or alive. "

All of the slave hunters used to practice cruelty upon the runawayslaves; more especially upon those whose masters would say to hunters"bring them dead or alive. " But among all the slave hunters in the partof South Carolina where the author of this work lived, Mr. Black was themost cruel. 

It was rumored that many of the runaway slaves that were never heard ofafterward, were captured and killed in the woods by Mr. Black, but nospecial clue to this could be found. Finally Mr. Black was hired tocapture a runaway slave in Barnwell County, S. C. This slave was withanother, who was thought well of by his master, but hated by theoverseer. In the chase, the two runaways separated, and the dogsfollowed the second instead of the one whom Mr. Black had been hired tohunt. Mr. Black had another hunter with him by the name of Motley. Thenegro killed several of the dogs, and gave Messrs. Black and Motley ahard fight. After the negro had been captured, they killed him, cut himup and gave his remains to the living dogs. 

The companion of the murdered slave was not caught. A few days after thechase, while wandering around in the wood in a somewhat excited state, he came to a spot where the bushes and leaves seemed to have been in astirred-up condition, as though there had been tussling by two parties. On looking around in this disordered spot, he found pieces of clothinghere and there in rags, looking just like the suit worn by hiscompanion, who was then a victim of a most cruel death from the hands ofthe hunters. On closer examination, he saw spots of blood here and thereupon the leaves, which awakened his suspicion; on looking a little wayfrom this spot, he saw some leaves which looked as though they had beenmoved by hands and put there, and on removing the leaves, he found thatthe earth had been freshly dug and filled in again. Digging down in thespot, he soon discovered pieces of the person of a dead man, whom hecould not identify, but was satisfied that it was the remains of hiscompanion, from whom he had been compelled to separate a few daysbefore. This sight frightened the runaway negro so, that he left thewoods, went home to his master and told the story; but as a negro'sword was not to be taken against a white man's in the days of slavery, no special notice was taken of what he had said. Still some of the whitepeople were secretly watching Mr. Black, the slave hunter, as he hadbeen before suspected of killing runaway slaves in the woods. 

The master of the murdered negro was still ignorant of his death; he wasin hopes that his slave would return. But finding that his slave did notreturn as expected, the master became uneasy, and offered a reward toany one who could give a clue of his negro. In the meantime, hedischarged the overseer who had been the cause of his slave runningaway; and he also kept the overseer's salary of four hundred dollars, which was the annual pay for overseering his plantation. 

Mr. Black's house was in Richland county, and as he was the last who hadhunted runaway slaves in Barnwell county before the murder, suspicionrested on him. Still no one said anything to him, but he was veryclosely watched by men of his own county, whose interest was not in thehatefulness of the crime committed, but rather in the reward offered bythe master to any who could give information of his runaway slave. 

Sometime after the case had occurred, another white man of Richlandcounty became quite a friend to Mr. Black, the slave hunter; thisapparent friendship soon led Mr. Black to tell the secret, whichspeedily brought him to trial. While he and his pretended friend were ona drinking spree, in the midst of the merriment, --of course theconversation was how to control negroes, as that was the principaltopic of the poor white men South, in the days of slavery. 

In the conversation, this friend spoke of several plans which he said, if properly carried out, "would keep a nigger in his place. " After thefriend had said so much to Mr. Black, the slave hunter, the latter feltthat he could tell his secret without endangering himself, so heanswered: "The way to show a nigger that would resist a white man, hisplace, is to put him among the missing. Not long since, I went toBarnwell county to hunt a runaway nigger, and my dogs struck trail ofanother instead of the one I wanted to capture. After quite a long chasemy dogs ran him down, and before I reached him he killed several ofthem, and gave me a hard fight when I got to him. Motley and I weretogether; I shot him down, and Motley and I cut him up and gave thepieces to the remainder of my dogs; that is the way I put a nigger inhis place. "

After the secret had been revealed, Mr. Black's friend excused himself, and the former saw him no more until he appeared as a witness againsthim. The companion of the murdered negro was summoned to carry theinvestigating party, including the murderer, to the spot where hiscompanion had been buried. 

Mr. Black was tried and found to be guilty. After sentence had beenpassed, he confessed the commission of that crime, and also told that hehad killed several runaway negroes previously in his own county. So Mr. Black and Motley, his companion, were both hanged in Barnwell county, S. C. The system of slavery outlived Mr. Black, the slave hunter, justsix years. 

MANNING BROWN AND AUNT BETTY. 

A man by the name of Manning Brown was nursed by an old colored woman hecalled mamma Betty. She was naturally good natured and a devoutChristian, and Mr. Brown gained many of her good qualities when he wasunder her entire control, at which time he was said to be a boy of veryfine sense of feeling and quite promising. But when approaching manhoodMr. Brown fell among a class of other white men who, in the days ofslavery, were unbridled in their habits. With this class of men he beganto drink, and step by step in this rapid stride he soon became aconfirmed drunkard. This habit so over-coated the good influence he hadgained from the colored woman, that it rendered him dangerous not onlyto his enemies, but also to his friends. 

Manning Brown was feared by most of the other white men in Richlandcounty, S. C. , and, strange to say, although he was dangerous to whitemen, yet he never lost the respect he had for colored people in hisboyhood days. He ate, drank and slept among colored people after he wasa grown man, and in many cases when other white men, who were calledpatrols, caught colored people away from home without tickets, and wereabout to whip them, Mr. Brown would ride up and say, "The first man whoraises a whip at one of those negroes I will blow his brains out. "Knowing that he would shoot a man as quick as he would a bird, even iften patrols were together, when Mr. Brown made such threats, they neverwould attempt to whip the negroes. 

Mr. Brown owned a plantation with forty slaves on it; his good treatmentof them enabled him to get more work out of them than most owners gotout of their slaves. His slaves thought so much of their "MassaManning, " as they used to call him, that they did everything in theirpower to please him. But while he was so good to colored people, he wasdangerous to many of the white people and feared by them. 

A man by the name of Peter Gafney fought a duel with his brother-in-law, whose name was Dr. Kay; the former, who was quite a marksman, was killedby the latter, who was considered a very poor one. This led many whowere in favor of Mr. Gafney to feel that there had been foul play by Dr. Ray, the contestant. Mr. Brown, who acted as a second for Mr. Gafney inthe fight, felt the loss of his old friend very deeply. A short timeafter this he sent a challenge to Dr. Ray, stating, "You may either meetme at a certain time, on the spot where you killed P. T. Gafney, for aduel, or I will shoot you on first sight wherever I meet you. Yours, M. Brown. "

But Dr. Ray refused in the face of the threat to accept the challenge. Knowing the disposition of Mr. Brown, the people in that county wereinflamed with excitement, because the doctor was liable at any momentwhile riding in the road to be killed. In fear of meeting Mr. Brown, thedoctor gave up visiting the most of his sick patients, and almost whollyconfined himself to his large plantation. At the same time Mr. Brown wasclosely watched by his friends to keep him from waylaying the doctor. 

A short time after this threat Mr. Brown commenced to drink harder thanever, so that at times he did not know his own family. But theprovidence of God was slowly leading Mr. Brown through the unknownpaths to a sudden change of life, as we shall soon see. 

Mr. Brown's family consisted of a wife, one child, and Aunt Betty, theold colored woman who had brought him up. She was the only mother heknew, for his own mother had died when he was an infant, and her dyingrequest had been that mamma Betty, the old woman, should bring up thisboy, who was an only child; and when Mr. Brown got married he took AuntBetty into his family and told her she need not do any work only whatshe chose to do, and that he would take care of her the balance of herdays. And Mrs. Brown regarded Aunt Betty more as a mother-in-law than asa negress servant. Sometimes when Mr. Brown would not listen to hiswife, he would to his mamma Betty, when he was sober enough to know her. One afternoon, while Mr. Brown was in one of those drunken fits, he wentinto his bedroom and lay down across the bed, talking to himself. Hiswife went in to speak to him, but as she entered he jumped up and gothis loaded double barrelled gun and threatened to shoot her. Frightenedat this, she ran out of the room and screamed saying, "Oh my God, mammaBetty, please go in and speak to your Massa Manning, for he threatenedto shoot me. " With that old familiar confidence in one who had oftenlistened to her advice, Aunt Betty went into the house and to the roomwhere she found Mr. Brown lying across the bed, with the gun by hisside. On entering the room, as she was advancing toward the bed, shesaid, "Massa Manning, what is the matter with you? You naughty boy, whatis the matter?" On saying these words, before she had reached the bed, Mr. Brown rose, with the gun in hand, and discharged the contents ofboth barrels at the old woman; she dropped instantly to the floor. Mr. Brown lay across the bed as before, with the gun by his side, talking tohimself, and soon dropped to sleep. Mrs. Brown fainted away severaltimes under the excitement. 

Aunt Betty lived about an hour. Soon after she had been shot she wantedto see Mr. Brown, but when told that she could not, she said, "O, myLord, I wanted to see my child before I die, and I know that he wouldwant to see his mamma Betty, too, before she leaves him. " During thetime she lived she prayed for Mr. Brown, and requested that he wouldchange his course of life, become a Christian, and meet her in heaven. After singing one of her familiar hymns, Aunt Betty said to some one whostood by her bedside, "I want you to tell Massa Manning that he must notfeel bad for what he did to me, because I know that if he was in hisright mind he would not hurt me any more than he would himself. Tell himthat I have prayed to the Lord for him that he may be a good boy, and Iwant him to promise that he will be a Christian and meet me in heaven. "With these words Aunt Betty became speechless, dying a few momentsafterwards. The doctor was sent for, but had to come from such adistance that she died before he reached there. 

When Mr. Brown awoke from his drunken state in the night, and learnedthe sad news of Aunt Betty's death, of which he had been the cause, heclasped his hands and cried out, "What! is it possible that my mammaBetty, the only mother I ever knew, was killed by my hands?" He ran intothe room where the corpse was and clasped the remains of the old negressin his arms and cried, "Mamma Betty, mamma Betty, please speak to me asyou used to. " But that voice was hushed in death. 

The doctor, overseer and others tried to quiet him, but they could not. That night Mr. Brown took the train to Columbia, the capital of SouthCarolina, and gave himself up to the law next day. He was told that itwas all right; that the old negress was his slave. But Mr. Brown wasdissatisfied; he came back home and invited all the white neighbors andslaves to Aunt Betty's funeral, in which he and his family took part. After the excitement was over the message of Aunt Betty was delivered toMr. Brown; he was told that her last request had been that he would meether in heaven. He answered, "I will. " Mr. Brown then and there took anoath that he would drink no more strong drinks. He then disposed of hisslaves, but how I did not learn. Soon after this he was converted andbecame one of the ablest preachers in Richland county, S. C. Mr. Brown'sconversion freed Dr. Ray from his threat. The doctor was so glad of thisthat he paid quite a large sum towards Mr. Brown's salary forpreaching. 

CHAPTER III. --MY EXPERIENCE IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

My knowledge of the Civil War, extends from the time when the first gunwas fired on Fort Sumter in April, 1861, to the close of the War. 

While the slaves were not pressed into the Confederate service assoldiers, yet they were used in all the slave-holding states at warpoints, not only to build fortifications, but also to work on vesselsused in the war. 

The slaves were gathered in each state, anywhere from 6000 to 8000 ormore, from different plantations, carried to some centre and sent tovarious war points in the state. 

It would be impossible to describe the intense excitement whichprevailed among the Confederates in their united efforts to raise troopsto meet the Union forces. They were loud in their expressions of thecertainty of victory. 

Many of the poor white men were encouraged by the promise of from threeto five negroes to each man who would serve in the Confederate service, when the Confederate government should have gained the victory. 

On the other hand, the negroes were threatened with an increase of thegalling yoke of slavery. These threats were made with significantexpressions, and the strongest assumption that the negro was the directcause of the war. 

HOW SLAVES WERE GATHERED AND CARRIED TO WAR POINTS. 

No sooner had the war commenced in the spring of 1861, than the slaveswere gathered from the various plantations, and shipped by freight cars, or boats, to some centre, and apportioned out and sent to work atdifferent war points. I do not know just how many slaves the ConfederateGovernment required each master to furnish for its service, but I knowthat 15 of the 465 slaves on my master's, Col. M. E. Singleton's, plantation, were sent to work on fortifications each year during thewar. 

The war had been going on two years before my turn came. In the summerof 1863 with thousands of other negroes, gathered from the various partsof the state, I was freighted to the city of Charleston, South Carolina, and the group in which my lot fell was sent to Sullivan's Island. Wewere taken on a boat from the city of Charleston, and landed in a littlevillage, situated nearly opposite Fort Sumter, on this island. Leavingbehind us Fort Moultrie, Fort Beauregard, and several small batteries, we marched down the white sandy beach of the island, below FortMarshall, to the very extreme point, where a little inlet of waterdivides Sullivan's from Long Island, and here we were quartered underCapt. Charles Haskell. 

From this point on the island, turning our faces northward, with MorrisIsland northwest of us, and looking directly north out into the channel, we saw a number of Union gun boats, like a flock of black sheep feedingon a plain of grass; while the men pacing their decks looked likefaithful shepherds watching the flock. While we negroes remained uponSullivan's Island, we watched every movement of the Union fleet, withhearts of joy to think that they were a part of the means by which theliberty of four and one-half millions of slaves was to be effected inaccordance with the emancipation proclamation made the Januarypreceding. We kept such close watch upon them that some one among us, whether it was night or day, would be sure to see the discharge of ashot from the gun boat before the sound of the report was heard. Duringthat summer there was no engagement between the Union fleet and theConfederates at that point in South Carolina. The Union gun boats, however, fired occasional shots over us, six miles, into the city ofCharleston. They also fired a few shells into a marsh between Sullivan'sIsland and Mount Pleasant, but with no damage to us. 

WHAT WORK THE NEGROES DID ON THE ISLAND. 

After we had reached the island, our company was divided. One part wasquartered at one end of the Island, around Fort Moultrie, and we werequartered at the other end, at Fort Marshall. Our work was to repairforts, build batteries, mount guns, and arrange them. While the men wereengaged at such work, the boys of my age, namely, thirteen, and someolder, waited on officers and carried water for the men at work, and ingeneral acted as messengers between different points on the island. 

ENGAGEMENT ON LONG ISLAND. 

Though there was no fighting on Sullivan's Island during my stay there, Confederate soldiers at times crossed the inlet from Sullivan's to LongIsland, in the night and engaged in skirmishes with Union soldiers, whohad entered the upper end of that island and camped there. Whetherthese Confederate scouts were ever successful in routing the Unionforces on the island or not I have never learned, but I know that theywere several times repulsed with considerable loss. 

NEGROES ESCAPE. 

The way the Confederates came to the knowledge that Union soldiers wereon Long Island was that the group of negroes who preceded us onSullivan's Island had found out that Union soldiers were camping on theupper end of Long Island. So one night quite a number of them escaped byswimming across the inlet that divides Sullivan's Island and LongIsland, and succeeded in reaching the Union line. 

The next day it was discovered that they had swam across the inlet, andthe following night they were pursued by a number of Confederate scoutswho crossed in a flat boat. Instead of the capture of the negroes, whowould have been victims of the most cruel death, the Confederate scoutswere met by soldiers from the Union line, and after a hot engagementthey were repulsed, as they usually were. 

BUILDING A BATTERY ON LONG ISLAND. 

Finally the Confederates took a large number of the group of which I wasa member from Sullivan's to the south shore of Long Island and therebuilt a battery, and mounted several small field guns upon it. As theywere afraid of being discovered in the daytime we were obliged to workon the battery nights and were taken back to Sullivan's in the morning, until the work was completed. 

We were guarded by Confederate soldiers while building the battery, as, without a guard it would have been easy for any of us to have reachedthe Union line on the north end of Long Island. Sullivan's Island wasabout five miles long. 

A NEGRO SERVANT MURDERED. 

One of the most heartless deeds committed while I was on Sullivan'sIsland, was that of the murder of a negro boy by his master, aConfederate officer to whom the boy had been a body servant. What therank of this officer was I am not sure, but I think he was a Major, andthat he was from the state of Georgia. It was a common thing forsouthern men to carry dirks, especially during the war. This officer hadone, and for something the boy displeased him in, he drew the knife andmade a fatal stab between the boy's collar bone and left shoulder. Asthe victim fell at the brutal master's feet, we negroes who hadwitnessed the fiendish and cowardly act upon a helpless member of ourrace, expected an immediate interference from the hand of justice insome form or other. But we looked and waited in vain, for the horribledeed did not seem to have changed the manner of those in authority inthe least, but they rather treated it as coolly as though nothing hadhappened. Finding that the Confederates failed to lay the hand ofjustice upon the officer, we, with our vague ideas of moral justice, andwith our extreme confidence that God would somehow do more for theoppressed negroes than he would ordinarily for any other people, anxiously waited a short time for some token of Divine vengeance, butas we found that no such token as we desired, in the heat of ourpassion, came, we finally concluded to wait God's way and time, as tohow, and when this, as every other wrong act, should be visited with hisunfailing justice. 

But aside from this case we fared better on these fortifications than wehad at home on the plantations. This was the case at least with those ofus who were on Sullivan's Island. Our work in general on thefortifications was not hard, we had a great deal of spare time, andalthough we knew that our work in the Confederate service was againstour liberty, yet we were delighted to be in military service. 

We felt an exalted pride that, having spent a little time at these warpoints, we had gained some knowledge which would put us beyond ourfellow negroes at home on the plantations, while they would increase ourpride by crediting us with far more knowledge than it was possible forus to have gained. 

Our daily rations from the Commissary was a quart of rice or hard-tack, and a half pound of salt pork or corn-beef. 

The change from the cabins and from the labor on the old plantations sofilled our cup of joy that we were sorry when the two months of our stayon the island was ended. 

At the end of about two months, I, with the rest of my fellow negroes ofthat group, was sent back to the plantation again, while others took ourplaces. 

MY EXPERIENCE IN FORT SUMTER. 

In the summer of 1864, when I was in my fourteenth year, another callwas made for negro laborers for the Confederate government, and fifteenfrom our plantation, including myself, with thousands from otherplantations, were sent down to Charleston again. 

There the negroes were apportioned in groups to be sent to the differentfortifications. My lot fell among the group of three hundred and sixty, who were assigned to Fort Sumter. I shall never forget with what carethey had to move in carrying us in a steamer from the government wharfin Charleston to John's island wharf, on account of the network oftorpedo mines in Charleston Harbor. 

From John's island wharf they carried us in rowboats to Fort Sumter, and, as those boats could not carry many, it took all night to convey uswith other freightage to Fort Sumter. 

The steamer which carried us from Charleston to John's island wharf hadto run at night. Indeed every move the Confederates made about therenear the close of the war had to be made at night because the Yankees ongunboats outside the channel and those on Morris island kept so close awatch it was very dangerous to convey us from John's island wharf toFort Sumter because the oars dipping into the salt water at night madesparks like fire, and thus the Yankees on Morris island were able to seeus. Indeed their shots oftentimes took effect. 

Many of the negroes were killed. Of the fifteen from our plantation, oneboy of about my age was struck by a parrot shell while climbing from theboat into the fort. We were told of the perils we were to meet, bothbefore and after we reached our destination. For one of the mostdisheartening things was the sad report of the survivors of those whoseplaces we were to fill. As the rowboats left them on John's island wharfand as we were about to embark they told us of the great danger to whichwe would be exposed, --of the liability of some of us being killed beforewe reached the fort, which proved true, and of how fast their comradeswere killed in Fort Sumter. A number, it was said, died from frightbefore reaching Sumter. 

THE OFFICERS AND QUARTERS. 

The officers who were then in command of the fort were Capt. J. C. Mitchell and Major John Johnson. The name of the overseer in charge ofthe negroes in the fort was Deburgh, --whether that was his right name Ican not say. 

Deburgh was a foreigner by birth. He was one of the most cruel men Iever knew. As he and his atrocious deeds will come up later in thishistory, I will say no more of him here. 

CONDITION OF THE FORT. 

Fort Sumter, which previous to this, had not only been silenced by theUnion forces, but also partly demolished, had but one gun mounted on it, on the west side. That cannon we used to call the "Sundown Gun, " becauseit was fired every evening as the sun went down, --as well as at sunrise. On this west side the Confederate officers and soldiers were shelteredin the bomb-proof safe during bombardment. On the east side of the fort, facing Morris island, opposite Fort Wagner, there was another apartmentcalled the "Rat-hole" in which we negroes were quartered. 

WHAT THE NEGROES DID IN FORT SUMTER. 

Fort Sumter had been so badly damaged by the Union forces in 1863, thatunless something had been done upon the top, the continued bombardmentwhich it suffered up to the close of the war, would have rendered ituninhabitable. 

The fort was being fired upon every five minutes with mortar and parrotshells by the Yankees from Morris Island. 

The principal work of the negroes was to secure the top and other partsagainst the damage from the Union guns. 

Large timbers were put on the rampart of the fort, and boards laid onthem, then baskets, without bottoms, about two feet wide, and four feethigh, were put close together on the rampart, and filled with sand bythe negroes. 

The work could only be done at night, because, besides the bombardmentfrom Fort Wagner which was about a mile or little less from us, therewere also sharp-shooters there who picked men off whenever they showedtheir heads on the rampart. 

The mortar and parrot shells rained alternately upon Fort Sumter everyfive minutes, day and night, but the sharp-shooters could only fire byday-light. 

The negroes were principally exposed to the bombardment. The only timethe few Confederate soldiers were exposed to danger was while they wereputting the Chevaldefrise on the parapet at night. 

The "Chevaldefrise" is a piece of timber with wooden spikes pointed withiron, and used for defence on fortifications. 

In the late war between the Spaniards and the Americans, the formerused barbed wire for the same purpose. 

If my readers could have been in Fort Sumter in the summer of 1864 theywould have heard the sentinel cry, every five minutes, "Look out!Mortar!" Then they would have seen the negroes running about in the fortyard in a confused state, seeking places of safety from the missile sureto bring death to one or more of them. Another five minutes, and againthe cry of the sentinel, "Look out, " means a parrot shell, which is farmore deadly than is the mortar because it comes so quickly that one hasno chance to seek a place of safety. 

The next moment the survivors of us, expecting that it would be our turnnext, would be picking up, here and there, parts of the severed bodiesof our fellow negroes; many of those bodies so mutilated as not to berecognizable. 

DEBURGH, THE OVERSEER. 

Deburgh, the overseer, of whom I have spoken, was a small man, of lightcomplexion, and very light hair. 

If my readers could have been in Fort Sumter in July, 1864, they wouldhave seen Deburgh with a small bar of iron or a piece of shell in hishand, forcing the surviving portion of the negroes back into line andadding to these, other negroes kept in the Rat-hole as reserves to fillthe places of those who were killed and wounded. 

They would also have heard him swearing at the top of his voice, whileforcing the negroes to rearrange themselves in line from the base of thefort to the top. 

This arrangement of the negroes, enabled them to sling to each other thebags of sand which was put in the baskets on the top of the fort. Myreaders ask, what was the sand put on the fort for? It was to smotherthe fuses of such shells as reached the ramparts before bursting. 

After the bombardment of Port Sumter in 1863, by the Union forces, itstop of fourteen or sixteen feet in thickness, built of New Hampshiregranite, was left bare. From that time all through 1864, the shells wereso aimed as to burst right over the fort; and it was pieces of theseshells which flew in every direction that were so destructive. 

The fuses of many of these shells fired on Port Sumter did not burn intime to cause the shells to burst before falling. Now as the shells fellon the rampart of the fort instead of falling and bursting on the stone, they buried themselves harmlessly in the sand, which put out the fuseand also kept them from bursting. 

But while the destruction of life was lessened by the sand, it was fullymade up by the hand of that brute, the overseer. God only knows how manynegroes he killed in Port Sumter under the shadow of night. Every one hereached, while forcing the slaves back into working position after theyhad been scattered by the shells, he would strike on the head with thepiece of iron he carried in his hand, and, as his victim fell, would cryout to some other negro, "Put that fellow in his box, " meaning hiscoffin. 

Whether the superior officers in Fort Sumter knew that Deburgh waskilling the negroes off almost as fast as the shells from Fort Wagner, or whether they did not know, and did not care, I never have learned. But I have every reason to believe that one of them at least, namely, Major John Johnson, would not have allowed such a wholesale slaughter, had he known. On the other hand I believe that Capt. J. C. Mitchell wasnot only mean enough to have allowed it, but that he was fully asheartless himself. 

Whatever became of Deburgh, whether he was killed in Fort Sumter or not, I never knew. 

OUR SUPERIOR OFFICERS. 

The two officers in command of Fort Sumter in July of 1864 were Capt. J. C. Mitchell, and Major John Johnson. 

Major Johnson was as kind, gentle, and humane to the negroes as couldhave been expected. 

On the other hand, the actions of Capt. Mitchell were harsh and verycruel. He had a bitter hatred toward the Yankees, and during the rain ofshells on Fort Sumter, he sought every opportunity to expose the negroesto as much danger as he dared. 

I remember that one night Capt. Mitchell ordered us outside of FortSumter to a projection of the stone-bed upon which the Fort was built, right in front of Fort Wagner. At that place we were in far greaterdanger from the deadly missiles of the Union forces than we were exposedto on the inside of Sumter, and I could see no other reasons for hisordering us outside of the fort that night than that we might be killedoff faster. 

It seems that during the incessant firing on Fort Sumter the officersheld a consultation as to whether it was not best to evacuate the fort. It was at this time that it was rumored, --a rumor that we had everyreason to believe, --that Capt. Mitchell plotted to lock us negroes up inour quarters in Sumter, known as the Rat-hole; and put powder to it andarrange it so that both the negroes and the Yankees should be blown up, when the latter should have taken possession after the evacuation of thefort by the Confederates. 

But we learned that Major John Johnson, who has since become anEpiscopal minister, in Charleston, S. C. , wholly refused to agree withCapt. Mitchell in such a barbarous and cowardly act, and, as thoughProvidence were watching over the innocent and oppressed negroes, andover the Yankees as well, because they were fighting in a righteouscause, Capt. Mitchell's career and further chances of carrying out hiscruel intentions were cut short. He was mortally wounded by thesharp-shooters of Fort Wagner, on the 14th of July, 1864, and died fourhours afterwards. 

OUR RATIONS IN SUMTER. 

The working forces of negroes in Sumter with the exception of the boyswho carried messages to the different parts of the fort day and night, were locked up days, and turned out nights, to work. We drew our rationsof hard-tack and salt pork twice a day; mornings when we ceased work andturned in for the day, and again, between three and four o'clock in theafternoon, so as to have supper eaten in time to go to work at dark. 

We often ate our salt pork raw with the hard-tack, as there were nospecial means of cooking in the negroes' apartment. We were not only indanger, while at work, from the continued rain of shells, butoftentimes when we were put in line to draw our rations some of us werekilled or wounded. 

I cannot say how they got fresh water in Fort Sumter, as I do notremember seeing any brought there in boats, neither did I notice anyconveniences there for the catching of rain water. 

The water we negroes used was kept in large hogsheads with coal tar inthem; I do not know what the tar was put in the water for unless it wasfor our health. The "rat-hole" into which we were locked, was like asweat box; it was so hot and close, that, although we were exposed todeath by shells when we were turned out to work, we were glad to getinto the fresh air. 

We had little cups in which they used to give us whiskey mornings whenwe went in, and again when we were going out to work at night. 

I don't know how many of the forty survivors of the three hundred andsixty of us who were carried into the Fort in the summer of 1864 besidesmyself are still alive. But if there are any with the keen tenderness ofa negro, they cannot help joining me in an undying sense of gratitude toMajor John Johnson, not only for his kind and gentle dealings with uswhich meant so much to a negro in the days of slavery, but also for hishumane protection, which saved us from some of the danger from shells towhich we were exposed in Sumter. 

A short time after Capt. J. C. Mitchell had been killed, Major Johnsonwas dangerously wounded in the head by a piece of shell. 

MY LAST NIGHT IN FORT SUMTER AND THE GLORIOUS END OF THE WAR. 

During the time we spent in Fort Sumter we had not seen a clear day ornight. In harmony with the continual danger by which we were surrounded, the very atmosphere wore the pall of death; for it was always rainy andcloudy. The mutilated bodies of the negroes, mingled with the black mudand water in the fort yard, added to the awfulness of the scene. Piecesof bombshells and other pieces of iron, and also large southern pinetimbers were scattered all over the yard of the fort. There was also alittle lime house in the middle of the yard, into which we were warnednot to go when seeking places of safety from the deadly missiles at thecry of the sentinel. 

The orders were that we should get as near the centre of the fort yardas possible and lie down. The reason for this was that the shells whichwere fired upon Sumter were so measured that they would burst in theair, and the pieces would generally fly toward the sides of the fort. But the orders were not strictly carried out, because, at the warningcries of the sentinel, we became confused. That night, at the cry of thesentinel, I ran and lay down on one of the large southern pine timbers, and several of my fellow negroes followed and piled in upon me. Theirweight was so heavy that I cried out as for life. The sense of thatcrush I feel at certain times even now. 

At the next report of a shell I ran toward the lime house, but some onetripped me up, and, by the time I had got to my feet again, twelve orthirteen others were crowded into it. Another negro and I reached thedoorway, but we were not more than there before a mortar shell camecrushing down upon the little lime house, and all within were so mangledthat their bodies were not recognizable. 

Only we two were saved. My companion had one of his legs broken, and apiece of shell had wounded me over my right eye and cut open my underlip. At the moment I was wounded I was not unconscious, but I did notknow what had hurt me. I became almost blind from the effect of mywounds, but not directly after I was wounded, and I felt no pain for aday or so. With other wounded I was taken to the bombproof in the fort. I shall never forget this first and last visit to the hospitaldepartment. To witness the rough handling of the wounded patients, tosee them thrown on a table as one would a piece of beef, and to see thedoctor use his knife and saw, cutting off a leg, or arm, and sometimesboth, with as much indifference as if he were simply cutting up beef, and to hear the doctor say, of almost every other one of these victims, after a leg or an arm was amputated, "Put that fellow in his box, "meaning his coffin, was an awful experience. After the surgeon had askedto whom I belonged, he dressed my wounds. 

My readers will remember that I stated that no big boat could run toFort Sumter at that time, on account of the bombardment. We had to beconveyed back to John's Island wharf in rowboats, which was the nearestdistance a steamer could go to Fort Sumter. 

As one of those rowboats was pushed out to take the dead and woundedfrom the fort, and as the for men were put into the boat, which wasgenerally done before they put in the latter, fortunately, just beforethe wounded were put in, a Parrott shell was fired into it from FortWagner by the Union forces, which sunk both the boat and the coffins, with their remains. 

My readers would ask how the Confederates disposed of the negroes whowere killed in Fort Sumter. Those who were not too badly mutilated weresent over to the city of Charleston and were buried in a place which wasset apart to bury the negroes. But others, who were so badly cut up byshells, were put into boxes, with pieces of iron in them, and carriedout a little away from Sumter and thrown overboard. 

I was then taken to John's Island wharf, and from there to the city ofCharleston in a steamer, and carried to Doctor Rag's hospital, where Istopped until September. Then I was sent back home to my master'splantation. Quoting the exact words of Major John Johnson, a Confederateofficer under whom I was a part of the time at the above-named place, Iwould say: "July 7th, Fort Sumter's third great bombardment, lastingsixty days and nights, with a total of 14, 666 rounds fired at the fort, with eighty-one casualties. "

WHAT TOOK PLACE AFTER. 

I said that after I got well enough to travel I was sent back home to mymaster's plantation, about a hundred miles from the city of Charleston, in central South Carolina. This was in September of 1864, and I, withthe rest of my fellow-negroes on this extensive plantation, and withother slaves all over the South, were held in suspense waiting thefinal outcome of the emancipation proclamation, issued January, 1863, but as the war continued, it had not taken effect until the spring of1865. 

Here I had less work than before the war, for the nearer the warapproached its close the less the slaves had to do, as the masters wereat the end of their wits what to do. In the latter part of 1864 Gen. Sherman, with his army of a hundred thousand men and almost as manystragglers, covered the space of about sixty miles in width whilemarching from Georgia through South Carolina. The army camped aroundColumbia, the capital of South Carolina, for a short time. Early in thespring of 1865 the commissary building first took fire, which soonspread to such extent that the whole city of Columbia was consumed; justa few houses on the suburbs were left. 

The commissary building was set on fire by one of the two parties, butit was never fully settled whether it was done by Gen. Sherman's men orby the Confederates, who might have, as surmised by some, as they had toevacuate the city, set it on fire to keep Gen. Sherman's men fromgetting the food. After this Columbia was occupied by a portion ofSherman's men, while the others marched on toward North Carolina. 

THE GLORIOUS END. 

In closing this brief sketch of my experiences in the war, I would askmy readers to go back of the war a little with me. I want to show them afew of the dark pictures of the slave system. Hark! I hear the clankingof the ploughman's chains in the fields; I hear the tramping of the feetof the hoe-hands. I hear the coarse and harsh voice of the negro driverand the shrill voice of the white overseer swearing at the slaves. Ihear the swash of the lash upon the backs of the unfortunates; I hearthem crying for mercy from the merciless. Amidst these cruelties I hearthe fathers and mothers pour out their souls in prayer, --"O, Lord, howlong!" and their cries not only awaken the sympathy of their whitebrothers and sisters of the North, but also mightily trouble the slavemasters of the South. 

The firing on Fort Sumter, in April of 1861, brought hope to the slavesthat the long looked for year of jubilee was near at hand. And thoughthe South won victory after victory, and the Union reeled to and frolike a drunken man, the negroes never lost hope, but faithfullysupported the Union cause with their prayers. 

Thank God, where Christianity exists slavery cannot exist. 

At last came freedom. And what joy it brought! I am now standing, inimagination, on a high place just outside the city of Columbia, in thespring of 1865. The stars and stripes float in the air. The sun is justmaking its appearance from behind the hills, and throwing its beautifullight upon green bush and tree. The mocking birds and jay birds singthis morning more sweetly than ever before. Beneath the flag of libertythere is congregated a perfect network of the emancipated slaves fromthe different plantations, their swarthy faces, from a distance, lookinglike the smooth water of a black sea. Their voices, like distantthunder, rend the air, --

 "Old master gone away, and the darkies all at home, There must be now the kingdom come and the year of jubilee. "

The old men and women, bent over by reason of age and servitude, boundfrom their staves, praising God for deliverance.