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NARRATIVE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00017117834 
 
 JAMES WILLIAMS, 
 
 ■ £VVV 
 
 AMERICAN SLAVE, 
 
 i 
 
 WHO WAS FOR SEVERAL TEARS A DRIVER OK A COTTON 
 J 
 
 PLANTATION IN ALABAMA 
 
 " Oh the slave, who toils from the rising stra to sundown — who 
 labors in the cultivation of a crop whose fruits he may never reap — 
 who comes home at nightfall weary, iaint, and sick of heart, to find 
 in his hut creatures that are to run in the same career with himself, 
 — will you not tell him of a period when his toil shall be at an end? 
 Will you not give him a hope for his children ? " - ' 
 
 Spezch of 0' Conndl. London, 183& 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, 
 NO. 143 NASSAO STREET. 
 
 -■ BOSTON: 
 
 ISAAC KNAPP, 25 CORNHILL. 
 
 ■v 
 
 1 Q O Q 
 
 -Srvof NORTH CABQU^ 
 THE UNNHWTYOFNWH" W 
 
r - r 
 
 .. . \. . ■ '■ . .-" 
 
 
 . 
 
 Stereotyped at Geo. A. & J. Cetrtis's 
 Type & Stereotype Foundry. — Boston. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " American Slavery," said the celebrated John 
 Wesley, " is the vilest beneath the sun ! " Of the 
 truth of this emphatic remark no other proof is 
 required than an examination of the statute books 
 of the American slave states. Tested by its own 
 laws, in all that facilitates and protects the hate- 
 ful process of convening a man into a "chattel 
 personal;" in all that stamps the law-maker and 
 law-upholder with meanness and hypocrisy, it 
 certainly has no present rival of its " bad emi- 
 nence ;" and we may search in vain the history 
 of a world's despotism for a parallel. The civil 
 code of Justinian never acknowledged, with that 
 our'democratic despotisms, the essential equality 
 of man. The dreamer in the gardens of Epicu- 
 rus recognised neither in himself, nor in the slave 
 3\ who ministered to his luxury, the immortality of - 
 Oj the spiritual nature. Neither Solon nor Lycur- 
 5J gus tausrht the inalienability of human rights. 
 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 The Barons of the Feudal System, whose maxim 
 was emphatically that of Wordsworth's robber, 
 
 " That he should take who had the power, 
 And he should keep who can," 
 
 while trampling on the necks of jheir vassals, and 
 counting the life of a man as of less value than 
 that of a wild beast, never appealed to God for 
 the sincerity of their belief that all men were cre- 
 ated equal. It was reserved for. American slave- 
 holders to present to the world the hideous ano- 
 maly of a code of laws, beginning with the em- 
 phatic declaration of the inalienable rights of all 
 men to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, 
 . and closing with a deliberate and systematic de- 
 nial of those rights," in respect to a large portion 
 of their countrymen; engrossing on the same 
 parchment the antagonist laws of liberty and 
 tyranny. The very' nature of this unnatural 
 combination has rendered it necessary that 
 American slavery, in law and in practice, should 
 exceed every other in severity and cool atrocity. 
 The masters of Greece and Rome permitted their 
 slaves to read and write, and worship the gods 
 of paganism in peace and security, for there was 
 nothing in the laws, literature, or religion of the 
 
 I RBC 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 age to awaken in the soul of the bondman a just 
 sense of his rights as a man. But the American 
 slave-holder cannot be thus lenient. In the ex- 
 cess of his benevolence, as a political propagan- 
 dist, he has kindled a fire for the oppressed of 
 the old world to gaze at with hope, and for 
 crowned heads and dynasties to tremble at ; but 
 a due regard to the safety of his " peculiar insti- 
 tution" compels him to put out the eyes of his 
 own people, lest they too should see it. Calling 
 on all the world to shake off the fetters of oppres- 
 sion, and wade through the blood of tyrants to 
 freedom, he has been compelled to smother in 
 darkness and silence the minds of his own bond- 
 men, lest they too should hear and obey the sum- 
 mons, by putting the knife to his own throat. 
 Proclaiming the truths of Divine Revelation, and 
 sending the Scriptures to the four quarters of the 
 earth, he has found it . necessary to maintain 
 heathenism at home by special enactments, and 
 to make the second offence of teaching his slaves 
 the message of salvation punishable with death I 
 What marvel then that American slavery, even 
 on the statute book, assumes the right to transform 
 1* 
 
Vi PREFACE. 
 
 moral beings into brutes ; * — that it legalizes 
 man's usurpation of Divine authority : the sub- 
 stitution of the will of the master for the moral 
 government of God ; — that it annihilates the 
 rights of conscience ; debars from the enjoyment 
 of religious rights and privileges by specific en- 
 actments ; and enjoins disobedience to the Divine 
 Lawgiver ; — that it discourages purity and chasti- 
 ty, encourages crime, legalizes concubinage ; and, 
 while it places the slave entirely in the hands of 
 his master, provides no real protection for his life 
 or his person. 
 
 But it may be said, that these laws afford no 
 certain evidence of the actual condition of the 
 slaves : that, in judging* the system by its code, 
 no allowance is made for the humanity of indi- 
 vidual masters. It was a just remark of the cele- 
 brated Priestley, that " no people ever were found 
 to be letter than their laws, though many have 
 been known to be worse." All history and com- 
 mon experience confirm this. Besides, admitting 
 that the legal severity of a system may be soften- 
 
 * The cardinal principle of slavery, that a slave is not 
 to he ranked among sentient beings, but among things, 
 as an article of property, a chattel personal, obtains as 
 undoubted law, in all the slave states. (Judge Stroud's 
 sketch of Slave Laws, p. 22.) 
 
PREFACE. VU 
 
 ed in the practice of the humane, may it not also 
 be aggravated by that of the avaricious and cruel ? 
 But what are the testimony and admissions of 
 slave-holders themselves on this point? In an 
 Essay published in Charleston, S. C, in 1S22, 
 and entitled " A Refutation of the Calumnies 
 circulated against the Southern and Western 
 States," by the late Edwin C. Holland, Esq., it 
 is stated, that "all slave-holders have laid down 
 non-resistance, and perfect and uniform obedience 
 to their orders, as fundamental principles in the 
 government of their slaves ;" that this is " a neces- 
 sary result of the relation," and "unavoidable." 
 Robert J. Turnbull, Esq., of South Carolina, in 
 remarking upon the management of slaves, says, 
 " The only principle upon which any authority 
 over them (the slaves) can be maintained is fear, 
 and he who denies this has little knowledge of 
 them." To this may be added the testimony of 
 Judge RufTin, of North Carolina, as quoted in 
 Wheeler's Law of Slavery, p. 247. " The slave, 
 to remain a slave, must feel that there is no ap- 
 peal from his master. No man can anticipate the 
 provocations which the slave would give, nor the 
 consequent wrath of the master, prompting him 
 
VU1 PREFACE. 
 
 to BLOODY VENGEANCE on the turbulent 
 traitor, a vengeance generally practised with im- 
 punity by reason of its privacy." 
 
 In an Essay on the " improvement of negroes 
 on plantations," by Rev. Thomas S. Clay, a 
 slave-holder of Bryan County, Georgia, and print- 
 ed at the request of the Georgia Presbytery, in 
 1S33, we are told, " that the present economy of 
 the slave system is to get all you can from the 
 slave, and give him in return as little as will bare- 
 ly support him in a working condition ! " Here, 
 in a few words, the whole enormity of slavery is 
 . exposed to view : "to get all you can from the 
 slave" — by means of whips, and stocks and irons 
 — by every device for torturing the body, without 
 destroying its capability of labor ; and in return 
 give him as little of his coarse fare as will keep 
 him, like a mere beast of burden, in a "working 
 condition." This is slavery, as explained by the 
 slave-holder himself. 
 
 Mr. Clay further says : " Offences against the 
 master are more severely punished than violations 
 of the law of God, a fault which affects the 
 slave's personal character a good deal. As exam- 
 ples we may notice, that running away is more 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 severely punished than adultery." "He (the 
 slave) only knows his master as lawgiver and 
 executioner, and the sole object of punishment 
 held up to his view, is to make him a more obe- 
 dient and 'profitable slate.'''' 
 
 Hon. W. B. Seabrook, in an address before the 
 Agricultural Society of St. Johns, Colleton, pub- 
 lished by order of the Society, at Charleston, in 
 1834, after stating that, "as Slavery exists in 
 South Carolina, the action of the citizens should 
 rigidly conform to that state of things," and that 
 " no abstract opinions of the rights of man should 
 be allowed in any instance to modify the police ' 
 system of a plantation ," proceeds as follows : " He 
 (the slave) should be practically treated as a skcce, 
 and thoroughly taught the true cardinal principle 
 on which our peculiar institutions are founded, 
 viz., that to his owner he is bound by the law of 
 God and man ; and that no human authority can 
 sever the link which unites them. The great 
 aim of the slave-holder, then, should be to keep 
 his people in strict subordination. In this, it may 
 in truth be said, lies his entire duty." Again, in 
 speaking of the punishments of slaves, he remarks : 
 " If to our army the disuse of the lash has been 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 prejudicial, to the slave-holder it would operate to 
 deprive him. of the main support of his authority. 
 For the first-class of offences, I consider impri- 
 sonment in the stocks^ at night, with or without 
 hard labor by day, as a powerful auxiliary in the 
 cause of good government." " Experience has 
 convinced me that there is no punishment to 
 which the slave looks with more horror,, than that 
 upon which, I am -now commenting, (the stocks,) 
 and none which has been attended with happier 
 results." 
 
 There is yet another class of testimony quite 
 ' as pertinent as the foregoing, which may at any 
 
 * Of the nature of this punishment in the stocks, 
 something may be learned by the following extract of a 
 letter from a gentleman in Tallahasse, Florida, to the 
 editor of the Ohio Atlas, dated June 9, 1S35 : "A 
 planter, a professor of religion, in conversing upon the 
 universality of whipping, remarked, that a planter in 
 
 G , who had .whipped a great deal, at length got 
 
 tired of it, and invented the following excellent method 
 of punishment, which I saw practised while I was pay- 
 ing him a visit. The negro was placed in a sitting po- 
 sition, with his. hands made fast above his head, and his 
 feet in the stocks, so that he could not move any part 
 of the body. The master retired, intending to leave 
 him till morning, but we were r~ "•-■r.i 2d in the night 
 by the groans of the negro, which v. ere so doleful that 
 we feared he was dying. 'We went to him, and found 
 him covered with a cold sweat, and almost gone. " He 
 
 could not have lived an hour longer. Mr. found 
 
 the ' stocks' such an effective punishment, that it almost 
 superseded the whipi ; '. , . 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 time be gleaned from the newspapers of the slave 
 states — the advertisements of masters for their 
 runaway slaves, and casual paragraphs, coldly re- 
 lating cruelties, which would disgTace a land of 
 Heathenism. Let the following suffice for a 
 specimen : 
 
 To the Editors of the Constitutionalist. 
 
 Aiken, S. C., Dec. 20, 1836. 
 
 I have just returned from an inquest I held over the 
 dead body of a negro man, a runaway, that was shot 
 near the South Edisto, in this District, (Barnwell,) on 
 Saturday morning last. He came to his death by his 
 own recklessness. He refused to be taken alive ■ and 
 said that other attempts to take him had been made, 
 and he was determined that he would not be taken. 
 When taken, he was nearly naked — had a large dirk or 
 knife, and a heavy club. He was, at first, (when those 
 who were in pursuit of him found it absolutely neces- 
 sary,) shot at with small-shot, with the. intention of 
 merely crippling him. He was shot at several times, 
 and at last he was so disabled as to be compelled to 
 surrender. He kept in the run of a creek in a very 
 dense swamp all the time that the neighbors were in 
 pursuit of him. As soon as the negro was taken, the 
 best medical aid was procured, but he died on the same 
 evening. One of the witnesses at the inquisition stated 
 that the negro boy said that he was from Mississippi, 
 and belonged to so many persons he did not know who 
 his master was : but again he said his masters name 
 was Brown. He said his own name was Sam ; and 
 when asked by another witness who his master was. he 
 muttered something like Augusta or Augustine. The 
 boy was apparently above 35 or 40 years of age — about 
 sis feet high — slightly yellow in the face — very long 
 beard or .whiskers — and very stout built, and a 6tern 
 countenance ; and appeared to have been run away a 
 long time. "WnxiAii H. Pritchard, 
 
 Coroner, (ex officio.) Barnwell Dist., S. C. 
 
 CT^The Mississippi and other papers will please copy 
 the above. — Georgia Constitutionalist. 
 
XU PREFACE. 
 
 $100 REWARD.— Ran away from the subscriber, 
 living on Herring Bay, Anne Arundel Co., Md., on Sa- 
 turday, 28th January^ negro man Elijah, who calls him- 
 self Elijah Cook ; is about 21 years of age, well made, 
 of a very dark complexion, has an impediment in his 
 speech, and a scar on his left cheek bone, apparently occa- 
 sioned by a shot. J. Scrivener. 
 
 [Annapolis (Md.) Rep., Feb. 1837. 
 
 §40 REWARD. — Ran away from my residence, near 
 Mobile, two negro men, Isaac and Tim. Isaac is from 
 25 to 30 years old, dark complexion, scar on the right 
 .side of the head, and also one on the right side of the 
 body, occasioned by busk shot. Tim is 22 years old, 
 dark complexion, scar on the right cheek, as also another 
 on the back of the neck. Captains and owners of- 
 steamboats, vessels, and water crafts of every descrip- 
 tion, are cautioned against taking them on board, under 
 the penalty of the law, and all other persons against 
 harboring or in any manner favoring the escape of said 
 negroes, under like penalty. Sarah Walsh. 
 
 Mobile, Sept. 1. 
 
 [Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, Sept. 29, 1837. 
 
 $200 REWARD.— Ran away from the subscriber, 
 about three years ago, a certain negro man named Ben, 
 (commonly known by the name of Ben Fox.) He is 
 about 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, chunky made, yellow 
 complexion, and has but one eye. Also, one other ne- 
 gro by the name of Rigdon, who ran away on the 8th 
 of this month-^ He is stout made, tall, and very black, 
 with large lips. 
 
 I will give the reward of one hundred dollars for each * 
 of the above negroes, to be delivered to me or confined 
 in the jail of Lenoir or Jones County, or for the killing 
 of them so that I can see them. Masters of vessels, and 
 all others, are cautioned against harboring, employing, 
 or carrying them away, under the penaltv of the law. 
 
 W. D. Cobb. 
 
 Lenoir Co., N. C, November 12, 1836. 
 
 BROUGHT TO JAIL. — In Irwinton, Wilkinson 
 County, (G-a.) 16th Nov. 1837, a negro man by the 
 name of Jacob, who says he belongs to Heritan Middle- 
 ton, in Henry County, Alabama. He says he was hired 
 
PREFACE. Jin 
 
 to John "Webb, near West Point, in this State. He is 
 about G feet high; dark complexion, and slow in speak- 
 ing. There are no marks discoverable, only he is very 
 badly shot in the right side and right hand. The owner 
 or owners are requested to come forward, prove proper- 
 ty, pay charges, and take him away. 
 
 S. B. MttRPSEY, Jailer. 
 Milledgville, Jan. 2. 1838. [Georgia Journal. 
 
 [From the Clinton (Miss.) Gazette, July 23, 1336.] 
 WAS COMMITTED to the jail of Covington County, 
 on the 26th day of June, 1836, by G. D. Gere, Esq.. a 
 nc~ro man, who says his name is Josiah, and says he 
 belongs to John Martin, an Irishman, living in the State 
 of Louisiana, ' on the west side of the Mississippi river, 
 twenty miles below Natchez. Josiah is 5 feet 8 inches 
 high, heavy built, copper color, his back verymudi scarred 
 with the whip, and branded on the thigh and hips in 
 three or four places, thus, (I. M.) or (J. M. ;) the M. is 
 very plain, but the I. or J. is not plain : the rim of his 
 right ear* has been bit or cut off. He is about 31 years 
 of age, had on, when committed, pantaloons made of 
 bed ticking, cotton coat, and an old fur hat very much 
 worn. The owner of the above described negro is re- 
 quested to . comply with the requisitions of the law in 
 such cases made and provided. 
 
 -T- > -" - J. L. Jolley, Sheriff, C. C. 
 
 Williamsburgh, June 28, 1836. 
 
 WAS COMMITTED to jail, a negro man, who says 
 that his name is Harry. Said boy is about 30 years 
 old, light complexion and bald head ; has a scar on his 
 left knee ; also, one on his forehead, and one on his 
 right hand ; he is very much marked with the whip. The 
 owner, &c. B. W. Hatch, Jailer. 
 
 [Port Gibson (Mi.,) Correspondent, Sept. 16, 1837. 
 
 S50 REWARD. — Ran away from the subscriber, a 
 negro fellow named Dick, about 21 or 22 years of age, 
 dark mulatto, has many scars on his back from being 
 whipped. The boy was purchased by me from Thomas 
 L. Arnold, and absconded about the 'time the purchase 
 was made. James jNoe. 
 
 [Sentinel and Expositor, Vicksburg, (Mi.,) Oct. 10, 1837; 
 2 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 [From toe ^ ew Orleans Bee, Oct. 28, 1837.] : 
 $10 REWARD.— Ran away, on the 9th of October, 
 CiRomre, aged about 38 years ; had a collar on with 
 one prong turned down. . i T. CoG&sy 
 
 Gallatin St., between Hospital and Barracks. 
 
 $25 REWARD.— For the black woman, Betsey, who 
 left my house in the Faubourg, McDonnough, about the 
 12th inst., when she had on her neck an iron collar ; has 
 a mark on her neck and is about 20 years yf age. 
 
 Charles Kerntn. 
 [New Orleans paper, March, 1837. 
 
 $50 REWARD.— Ran away from Murot's Plantation, 
 near Baton Rouge, about two months ago, the negro 
 man Manuel. Description— black, 5 feet 4 inches high, 
 about 30 years old, one scar on the forehead, and much 
 marked with irons. 
 
 • _. p [New Orleans Bee, May 27, 1837. 
 
 COMMITTED to the jail of Pike County, a man 
 about twenty-three or four years old, who calls his name 
 John. The said negro has a clog of iron on his right. 
 foot which will weigh 4 or 5 pounds. The owner is re- 
 quested, &c. B. W* Hodges, Jailer. 
 
 [Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser,- Sept. 29, 1837. 
 •-■• ..■•-':..-- ■ -.no d : 
 $100 REWARD .—Ran away from the subscriber, six 
 weeks ago, two negro men, one a tall fellow, stoops con- 
 siderably in walking ; when spoken to fiercely, looks as 
 if he would sink into the earth- The -other is : a short 
 stumpy fellow, of a very black or almost blue color, 
 large cheeks, has a scar over one eye; also, one on his 
 leg from the bite of a dog, and a burn on his body from a 
 piece of hot iron, in the shape of a T ! 
 
 John A. Dillahtoty. 
 [New Orleans Bee, Feb. 8, 1837. 
 
 " A negro who had absconded from his master, 
 and for whom a reward was offered of $100, has 
 been apprehended and committed to prison in Sa- 
 vannah, Georgia. The editor who. states the 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 fact, adds, with as much coolness as though there 
 were !io barbarity in the matter, that he did not 
 surrender until he was considerably maimed by 
 the dogs* that had been set on him, — desperately 
 fighting them, one of which he cut badly with a 
 sword." 
 Nm York Commercial Advertiser, June 8, 1S27. 
 
 From the foregoing evidence on the part of 
 slave-holders themselves, we gather the following 
 facts: 
 
 "1. That perfect obedience is required of the 
 slave — that he is made to feel that there is no ap- 
 peal from his master. 
 
 2. That the authority of the master is only 
 maintained by fear — a " reign of terror." 
 
 * In regard to the use of bloodhounds,, for the recap- 
 ture of runaway slaves, we insert the following from 
 the New York Evangelist, being an extract of a letter 
 from Natchez, (Miss.) under date of January 31, 1S35 : 
 " An instance was related to me in Clairborne County, 
 in Mississippi. A runaway was heard about the house 
 in the night. The hound was put upon his track, and 
 in the morning was found watching the dead body of 
 the negro. The dogs are trained to this service when 
 young. A negro is directed to go into the woods and 
 secure himself upon a tree. When sufficient time has 
 elapsed for doing this, the hound is put upon his track. 
 The blacks are compelled to worry them until they 
 make them their implacable enemies ; and it is common 
 to meet with dogs which will take no notice of whites, 
 though entire strangers, but will suffer no blacks beside 
 the house servants to enter the vard." 
 
X71 PREFACE. 
 
 3. That " the economy of slavery is to get all 
 you can . from the slave, and give him in return- 
 as little as will barely -support him in a working 
 condition." 
 
 4. That runaway slaves may be shot down with 
 impunity by any white person. 
 
 5. That masters offer rewards for " lolling" 
 their slaves, " so that they may see them ! " 
 
 6. That slaves are branded with hot irons, and 
 very much scarred with the whip. 
 
 : 7. That iron collars, with projecting prongs, 
 rendering it almost impossible for the wearer to 
 lie down, are fastened upon the necks of women. 
 V 8.' That the lash is the main support of the 
 slave-holder's authority ; but, that the stocks are 
 " a powerful auxiliary" to his government. 
 
 9. That runaway slaves are chased with dogs 
 — men hunted like beasts of prey. 
 
 Such is American Slavery in practice. 
 
 The testimony thus far adduced is only that 
 of the slave-holder and wrong-doer himself : the 
 admission of men who have a direct interest in 
 keeping ought of sight the horrors of their sys- 
 tem. It is, besides, no voluntary admission. 
 Having " framed iniquity by law 3 " it is out of 
 
PREFACE. XV11 
 
 their power to hide it. For the recovery of their 
 runaway property, they are compelled to adver- 
 tise in the public journals, and, that it may be 
 identified, they are under the necessity of describ- 
 ing the marks of the whip on the backs of women, 
 the iron collars about the neck, the gun-shot 
 wounds, and the traces of the branding-iron. 
 Such testimony must, in the nature of things, be 
 partial and incomplete. But for a full revelation 
 of the secrets of the prison-house, we must look 
 to the slave himself. The Inquisitors of Goa 
 and Madrid never disclosed the peculiar atrocities 
 of their " hall of horrors." It was the escaping 
 heretic, with his swollen and disjointed limbs, 
 and bearing about him the scars of rack and fire, 
 who exposed them to the gaze and abhorrence of 
 Christendom. 
 
 The following pages contain the simple and 
 unvarnished story of an American Slave, — of 
 one whose situation, in the first place, as a fa- 
 vorite servant in an aristocratic family in Virgi- 
 nia, and afterwards as the sole and confidential 
 driver on a large plantation in Alabama, afforded 
 him rare and peculiar advantages for accurate 
 observation of the practical workings of the sys- 
 2* 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 tern. His intelligence, evident candor, and grate- 
 ful remembrance of those kindnesses which in a 
 land of slavery ^made his cup of suffering less 
 bitter ; the perfect accordance of his statements 
 (made at different times and to different indivi- 
 duals^) one with another, as well as those state- 
 ments themselves, all afford strong confirmation 
 of the truth and accuracy of his story. There 
 seems to have been no 'effort, on his part, to make 
 his picture of slavery one of entire darkness — he 
 details every thing of a mitigating character which 
 fell under his observation ; and even the cruel de- 
 ception of his master has not rendered him un- 
 mindful of his early kindness. 
 
 The Editor is fully aware that he- has not been 
 able to present this affecting narrative in the sim- 
 plicity and vivid freshness with which it fell from 
 the lips of the narrator. He has, however, as 
 
 * The reader is referred to John G-. Whittier, of 
 Amesburv, Mass., or to the following gentlemen, who 
 have heard the whole or a part of his story from his 
 own lips : Emmor Kimber, of Kimberton, Pa., Lid d ley 
 Coates, of Lancaster Co., do. ; James Mott, of Phila- 
 delphia, Lewis Tappan, BtiSur Wright, Jun., Rev. Dr. 
 Follen, and James G-. Birney, of New York.' The latter 
 gentleman, who was a few years ago a citizen of Ala- 
 bama, assures ns that the statements made to him by 
 James Williams were such as he had every reason to 
 believe, from his own knowledge of slavery in that 
 State. 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 closely as possible, copied his manner, and in 
 many instances his precise language. The slave 
 has spoken foe himself. Acting merely as his 
 amanuensis, he has carefully abstained from com- 
 ments of his own.* 
 
 The picture here presented to the people of 
 the free states is, in many respects, a novel one. 
 We all know something of Virginia and Ken- 
 tucky slavery. We have heard of the internal 
 slave trade — the pangs of separation — the slave 
 ship with its " cargo of despair," bound for the 
 New Orleans market — and the weary journey of 
 the chained Coffle to the cotton country. But 
 here, in a great measure, we have lost sight of 
 the victims of avarice and lust. We have not 
 studied the dreadful economy of the cotton plan- 
 tation, and know but little of the secrets of its 
 unlimited despotism. 
 
 But in this narrative the scenes of the planta- 
 tion rise before us, with a distinctness which, ap- 
 proaches reality. We hear the sound of the horn 
 at daybreak, calling the sick and the weary to 
 
 * As the narrator -eras unable to read or write, it is 
 quite possible that the orthography of some of the names 
 of individuals mentioned in this story may not be en- 
 tirely correct. For instance, the name of his master 
 may have been either Larrimer or Larrimore. 
 
IX PREFACE, 
 
 toil unrequited. Woman, in her appealing deli- 
 cacy and suffering, about to become a mother, is 
 fainting under the lash, or sinking exhausted be- 
 side her cotton row. We hear the prayer for 
 mercy answered with sneers and curses. We 
 look on the instruments of torture, and the corpses 
 of murdered men. We see the dogs, reeking 
 hot from the chase, with their jaws foul with hu- 
 man blood. We see the meek and aged Christian, 
 scarred with the lash, and bowed down with toil, 
 offering the supplication of a broken heart to his 
 Father in Heaven for the forgiveness of his bru- 
 tal enemy. We hear, and from our inmost hearts 
 repeat, the affecting interrogatory of the aged 
 slave, " How long, Oh Lord I how long I " 
 
 The Editor has written out the details of this 
 painful narrative with feelings of sorrow. If 
 there be any who feel a morbid satisfaction in 
 dwelling upon the history of outrage and cruelty, 
 he at least is not one of therm His taste and 
 habits incline him rather to look to the pure and 
 beautiful in our nature — the sunniest side of hu- 
 manity — its kindly sympathies— its holy affec- 
 tions — ks charities and its love. But it is be- 
 cause he has seen that all which is thus beautiful 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 and excellent in mind and heart perishes in the 
 atmosphere of slavery ; it is because humanity 
 in the slave sinks down to a level with the brute, 
 and in the master gives place to the attributes of 
 a fiend — that he has not felt at liberty to decline 
 the task. He cannot sympathize with that ab- 
 stract and delicate philanthropy which hesitates 
 to bring itself in contact with the sufferer, and 
 which shrinks from the effort of searching out 
 the extent of his afflictions. The emblem of 
 Practical Philanthropy is the Samaritan stooping 
 over the wounded. Jew. It must be no fastidious 
 hand which administers the oil and the wine, and 
 binds up the unsightly gashes. ;~ 
 
 Believing, as he does, that this narrative is one 
 of truth ; that it presents an unexaggerated pic- 
 ture of slavery as it exists on the cotton planta- 
 tions of the South and West, he would particu- 
 larly invite to its perusal those individuals, and 
 especially those professing Christians at the North, 
 who have ventured to claim for such a system 
 the sanction and approval of the religion of Jesus 
 Christ. In view of the facts here presented, let 
 these men seriously inquire of themselves, whe- 
 ther, in advancing such a claim, they are not utter- 
 
XXU PREFACE. 
 
 ing a higher and more audacious blasphemy than 
 any which ever fell from the pens of Voltaire and 
 Paine. As if to cover them with confusion, and 
 leave them utterly without excuse for thus libel- 
 ling the character of a just God, these develop- 
 ments are making, and the veil rising, which for 
 long years of sinful apathy has rested upon the 
 abominations of American Slavery. Light is 
 breaking into its dungeons, disclosing the wreck 
 of buried intellect — of hearts broken — of human 
 afiections outraged— of souls ruined. The world 
 will see it as God has always seen it; and when 
 He shall at length make inquisition for blood, and 
 His vengeance kindle over the habitations of cru- 
 elty, with a destruction more terrible than that of 
 Sodom and Gomorrah, His righteous dealing will 
 be justified of man, and His name glorified among 
 the nations, and there will be a voice of rejoicing 
 in Earth and in Heaven. Alleluia ! — The pro- 
 mise is fulfilled! — For the sighing of the 
 poor and the oppression of the needy, God 
 hath risen ! 
 
 It is the earnest desire of the Editor that this 
 narrative may be the means, under God, of awa- 
 kening in the hearts of all who read it a sympa- 
 
PREFACE. XX11I 
 
 thy for the oppressed which shall manifest itself 
 in immediate, active, self-sacrificing exertions for 
 their deliverance; and, while it excites abhor- 
 rence of his crimes, call forth pity for the oppres- 
 sor. May it have the effect to prevent the avow- 
 ed and associated friends of the slave from giving 
 such an undue importance to their own trials and 
 grievances, as to forget in a great measure the 
 sorrows of the slave. Let its cry of wo, coming 
 up from the plantations of the South, suppress 
 every feeling of selfishness in our hearts. Let 
 our regret and indignation at the denial of the 
 right of petition be felt only because we are 
 thereby prevented from pleading in the halls of 
 Congress for the " suffering and the dumb." 
 And let the fact, that we are shut out from half 
 the territory of our country, be lamented only 
 because it prevents us from bearing personally to 
 the land of slavery the messages of hope for the 
 slave, and of rebuke and warning for the oppressor. 
 New York, 2M 1st. mo., 1838. 
 
... • - ;■■■•-■ 
 
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 lifui .,,... : 
 
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25 
 
 NARRATIVE. 
 
 I was born in Powhatan County, Virginia, on 
 the plantaiion of George Larrimore, sen., at a 
 place called Mount Pleasant, on the. 16th of May, 
 1805. My father was the slave of an orphan 
 family whose name I have forgotten, and was un- 
 der the care of a Mr. Brooks, guardian of the 
 family. He was a native of Africa, and was 
 brought over when a mere child, with his mother. 
 My mother was the slave of George Larrimore, 
 sen. She was nearly white, and is well known 
 to have been the daughter of Mr. Larrimore him- 
 self. She died when myself and my twin bro- 
 ther Meshech were five years of age. I can 
 scarcely remember her. She had in all eight 
 children, of whom only five are now living. One, 
 a brother, belongs to the heirs of the late Mr. 
 Brockenbrough, of Charlottsville ; of whom he 
 hires his time, and pays annually $120 for it. 
 He is a member of the Baptist church, and used 
 to preach occasionally. His wife is a free woman 
 3 
 
• 26 • NARRATIVE OF 
 
 from Philadelphia, and being able to read and 
 write, taught her husband. The whites do not 
 know that he can write, and have often wondered 
 that he could preach so well without learning. 
 It is the practice when a church is crowded to 
 turn the blacks out of their seats. My brother 
 did not like this, and on one occasion preached a 
 sermon from a text, showing that all are of one 
 blood. Some of the whites who heard it said 
 that such preaching would raise, an insurrection 
 among. the negroes. Two of them told him that 
 if he would prove his doctrine by Scripture, they I 
 would let him go, but if he did not, he should 
 have nine and thirty lashes. He accordingly 
 preached another sermon, and spoke with a great 
 deal of boldness. The two men who were in 
 favor of having him whipped left before the ser» 
 mon "was over ; those who remained acknow- 
 ledged that he had proved his doctrine, and 
 preached a good sermon, and many of them came 
 up and shook hands with him. The two oppo- 
 sers, Scott and Brockley, forbid my brother, after 
 this, to come upon their estates. They were both 
 Baptists, and my brother had before preached to . 
 their people. During the cholera at Richmond, 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 27 
 
 my brother preached a sermon, in which he com- 
 pared the pestilence to the plagues which afflict- 
 the Egyptian slave-holders, because they would 
 not let the people go. After the sermon some of 
 the whites threatened to whip him. Mr. Valen- 
 tine, a merchant on Shocko Hill, prevented them ,* 
 and a young lawyer, named Brooks said it was 
 wrong to threaten a man for preaching the truth. 
 Since the insurrection of Nat. Turner he has not 
 been allowed to preach at all. 
 
 My twin brother was for some time the pro- 
 perty of Mr. John Griggs, of Richmond, who 
 sold him, about'three years since, to an Alabama 
 cotton planter, with whom he staid one year, 
 and then ran away ; and in all probability escaped 
 into the free states or Canada, as he was seen 
 near the Maryland line. My other brother lives 
 in Fredericksburg, and belongs to a M*. Scott, a 
 merchant, formerly of Richmond. He was sold 
 from Mr. Larrimore's plantation because his wife 
 was a slave of Mr. Scott. My only sister is the 
 slave of John Smith, of King William. Her 
 husband was the slave of Mr. Smith, when the 
 latter lived in Powhatan County, and when he 
 removed to King "William she was taken with 
 her husband. 
 
28 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 My old master, George Larrimore, married 
 Jane Roane, the sister of a gentleman named 
 John Roane, one of the most distinguished men 
 in Virginia, who in turn married a sister of my 
 master. One of his sisters married a Judge 
 Scott, and another married Mr. Brockenbrough, 
 of Charlottsville. Mr. Larrimore had three chil- 
 dren ; George, Jane, and Elizabeth. The former 
 was just, ten days older than myself; and I was 
 his playmate and constant associate in childhood. 
 I used to go with him to his school, and carry his 
 books for him aV far as the door, and meet him 
 there when the school was dismissed. We were 
 very fond of each other, and frequently slept to- 
 gether. LHe taught me the letters of the alpha- 
 bet, and I should soon have acquired a knowledge 
 of reading, had not George's mother discovered 
 her son in the act of teaching me. She took him 
 aside and severely reprimanded him. When I 
 asked him, not long after, to tell me more of what 
 he had learned at school, he said that his mother 
 had forbidden him to do so any more, as her fa- 
 ther had a slave who was instructed in reading 
 and writing, and on that account proved very 
 troublesome. He could imitate the hand-writing 
 of all the neighboring planters, and used to write 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 29 
 
 passes and certificates of freedom for the slaves, 
 and finally wrote one for himself, and went off to 
 Philadelphia, from whence her father received 
 from him a saucy letter, thanking him for his 
 education. 
 
 The early years of my life went by pleasantly. 
 The bitterness of my lot I had not yet realized. 
 Comfortably clothed and fed, kindly treated by 
 my old master and mistress and the young ladies,' 
 and the playmate and confidant of my young 
 master, I did not dream of the dark reality of 
 evil before me. 
 
 When he was fourteen years of age, master 
 George went to his uncle Brockenbrough's, at 
 Charlottsville, as a student of the University. 
 After his return from college, he went to Paris 
 and other parts of Europe, and spent three or 
 four years in study and travelling. In the mean 
 time I was a waiter in the house, dining-room 
 servant, &c. My old master visited and received 
 visits from a great number of the principal fami- 
 lies in Virginia. Each summer, with his family, 
 he visited the sulphur springs and the mountains. 
 While George was absent, I went with him to 
 New Orleans, in the winter season, on account 
 of his failing health. We spent three days in 
 3* 
 
! 30 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 Charleston, at Mr. McDuffiVs, with whom my 
 master was on intimate terms. Mr. McDuffie 
 spent several days on one occasion at Mt. Plea- 
 sant. He took, a fancy to me, and offered my 
 master the servant whom he brought with him, 
 and $500 beside, for me. My master considered 
 it almost an insult, and said, after he was gone, 
 that Mr. McDufne needed money, to say the 
 least, as much as he did. 
 
 He had a fine house in Richmond, and used to 
 spend his winters there with his family, taking 
 ^ me with him. He was not there much at other 
 times, except when the Convention of 1829, for 
 amending the State Constitution, was held in 
 that- city. ) He had a quarrel with Mr. Neal, of 
 v Richmond Co., in consequence of some remarks 
 upon the subject of slavery. It came near ter- 
 minating in a duel. I recollect that during the 
 sitting of the Convention my master asked me, 
 before several other gentlemen, if I wished to be 
 free and go back to my own country. I looked 
 at him with surprise, and inquired what country. 
 
 u Africa, to be sure," said he, laughing. 
 
 I told him that was not my country — that I 
 was born in Virginia. 
 
 " Oh yes," said he, " but your father was bom 
 
 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 31 
 
 in Africa." He then said that there was a place 
 on the African coast called Liberia,, where a great 
 many free blacks were going ; and asked me to 
 tell him honestly whether I would prefer to be 
 set free on condition of going to Africa, or live 
 with him and remain a slave. I replied that I 
 had rather be as I was. 
 
 I have frequently heard him speak against 
 slavery to his visitors. I heard him say on one 
 occasion, when some gentlemen were arguing in 
 favor of sending the free colored people to Africa, 
 that this was as really the black man's country 
 as the white's, and that it would be as humane to 
 knock the free negroes, at once, on the head, as 
 to send them to Liberia. He was a kind man to 
 his slaves. He was proud of them, and of the 
 reputation he enjoyed of feeding and clothing 
 them well. They were, as near as I can judge, 
 about 300 in number. He never to my know- 
 ledge sold a slave, unless to go with a wife or 
 husband, and at the slave's own request. But all 
 except the very wealthiest planters in his neigh- 
 borhood sold them frequently. John Smoot, of 
 Powhatan Co., has sold a great number. Bacon 
 Tait* used to be one of the principal purchasers. 
 
 ♦Bacon Tait's advertisement of "new and commo- 
 dious buildings' 3 for the keeping of negroes, situated at 
 
32 NARRATIVE 'OF 
 
 . He had a jail at Richmond where he kept them. 
 There were many others who made a business 
 of buying and selling- slaves. I saw on one occa- 
 sion, while travelling with my master, a gang of 
 nearly two hundred men fastened to a single 
 chain. The women followed unchained and the 
 children in wagons. It was a sorrowful sight. 
 Some were praying, some crying, and they all 
 had a look of extreme wretchedness. It is an 
 awful thing to a Virginia slave to be sold for the 
 Alabama and Mississippi country. I have known 
 some of them to die of grief, and others to com- 
 mit suicide, on account of it. Sometimes, when 
 slaves are to be sold, they go to the rich planters 
 in their vicinity and beseech them to purchase 
 them. It is no uncommon thing for those planters 
 to whom they thus apply, to give orders for their 
 concealment somewhere on the plantation, and, 
 after they are advertised as runaways, to offer to 
 buy them, and run the risk of finding them. In 
 this way they get them for a fourth part of their 
 value. After the bargain is made, the slaves 
 come back to their old masters, ask pardon for 
 running away, and are turned over to their new 
 owners. Mr. Larrimore employed his overseer 
 
 the corner of 15th and Carey streets, appears in the 
 Richmond Whig of Sept. 1835.— Editor. 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 33 
 
 in obtaining six slaves in this way, of Stephen 
 Ransdell, of Caroline County. • 
 
 In my seventeenth year, I was married to a 
 girl named Harriet, belonging to John Gatewood, 
 a planter, living about four miles from Mt. Plea- 
 sant. She was about a year younger than my- 
 self — was a tailoress, and used to cut out clothes 
 for the hands. f\ 
 
 We were married by a white clergyman named 
 Jones ; and were allowed two or three weeks to 
 ourselves, which we spent in visiting and other 
 amusements. 
 
 The field hands are seldom married by a cler- 
 gyman. They simply invite their friends toge- 
 ther, and have a wedding party. 
 
 Our two eldest children died in their infancy; 
 two are now living. The youngest was only two 
 months old when I saw him for the last time. -I 
 used to visit my wife on Saturday and Sunday 
 evenings. 
 
 My young master came back from Europe in 
 delicate health. He was advised by his physi- * 
 cians to spend the winter in New Orleans, whither 
 he accordingly went, taking me with him. Here 
 he became acquainted with a French lady of one 
 
-34 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 of the first families in the city. The next winter 
 he also spent in New Orleans, and on his third 
 visit, three years after his return from Europe, he 
 was married to the lady above mentioned.. J In 
 May he returned to Mt. Pleasant, and found the 
 elder Larrimore on his sick bed, from which he 
 never rose again. He died on the 14th of July. 
 There was a great and splendid funeral, as his 
 relatives and friends were numerous. - 
 - His large property was left principally in the 
 hands of his widow until her decease, after which 
 it was to be divided among the three children. In 
 February, Mrs. Larrimore also died. The admi- 
 nistrators upon the estate were John Green, Esq., 
 and Benjamin Temple. 
 
 ; r My young mistresses, Jane and Elizabeth, were 
 very kind to the servants. They seemed to feel 
 under obligations to afford them every comfort and 
 gratification, consistent with the dreadful relation 
 of ownership which they sustained towards them. 
 Whipping was scarcely known on the estate ; and, 
 whenever it did take place, it was invariably 
 against the wishes of the young ladies. 
 
 But the wife of master George was of a disposi- 
 tion entirely the reverse. Feeble, languid, and. 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 35 
 
 inert, sitting motionless for hours at her window, 
 or moving her small fingers over the strings of 
 her guitar, to some soft and languishing air, she 
 would have seemed to a stranger incapable of 
 rousing herself from that indolent repose, in which 
 mind as well as body participated. But, the 
 slightest disregard of her commands, and some* 
 times even the neglect to anticipate her wishes, 
 on the part of the servants, was sufficient to awake 
 her. The inanimate and delicate beauty then 
 changed into a stormy virago. Her black eyes 
 glowed and sparkled with a snaky fierceness, her 
 full lips compressed, and her brows bent and dark- 
 ened. Her very voice, soft and sweet when speak- 
 ing to her husband, and exquisitely fine and me- 
 lodious when accompanying her guitar, was at 
 such times shrill, keen, and loud. She would 
 order the servants of my young mistresses upon 
 her errands, and if they pleaded their prior duty to 
 obey the calls of another would demand that 
 they should be forthwith whipped for their inso- 
 lence. If the young ladies remonstrated with her, 
 she met them with a perfect torrent of invective 
 and abuse. In these paroxysms of fury she al- 
 ways spoke in French, with a vehemence and 
 volubility which sfcrongly contrasted with the 
 
 . 
 
36 NARRATIVE OP 
 
 calmness and firmness of the young ladies. She 
 would boast of what she had done in New Orleans, 
 and of the excellent discipline of her father's slaves. 
 She said she had gone down in the night to the 
 cell under her father's house, and whipped the 
 slaves confined there with her own hands. I had 
 heard the same thing from her father's servants at 
 New Orleans when I was there with my master. 
 She brought with her from New Orleans- a girl 
 named Frances. I have seen her take h©r by the 
 ear, lead her up to the side of the room, and beat 
 her head against it. At other times she would 
 snatch ofT her slipper and strike*the girl on her 
 face and head with it. 
 
 She seldom manifested her evil temper before 
 master George. When^she did, he was greatly 
 troubled, and he used to speak to his sisters about 
 it Her manner towards him was invariably that 
 of extreme fondness. She was dark complexion- 
 ed, but very beautiful ; and the smile of welcome 
 with which she used to meet him was peculiarly 
 fascinating. I did not marvel that he loved her ; 
 while at the same time, in common with all the 
 house servants, I regarded her as a being possessed 
 with an evil spirit, — half woman, and half fiend. 
 
 Soon after the settlement of the estate, I heard 
 
JAjLES WILLIAMS. 37 
 
 my master speak of going out to Alabama. His 
 wife had 1500 acres of wild land in Greene Coun- 
 ty, in that State, and he had been negotiating for 
 500 more. Early in the summer of 1 833, he com- 
 menced making preparations for -removing to that 
 place a sufficient number of hands to cultivate it. 
 He took great pains to buy up the wives and hus- 
 bands of those of his own slaves who had married 
 out of the estate, in order, as he said, that his hands 
 might be contented in Alabama, and not need 
 chaining together while on their journey. It is al- 
 ways found necessary by the regular slave-traders,. 
 in travelling with their slaves to the far South, to 
 handcuff and chain their wretched victims, who 
 have been bought up as the interest of the trader 
 and the luxury or necessities of the planter may 
 chance to require, without regard to the ties sun- 
 dered or the affections made desolate by these in- 
 fernal bargains. About the 1st of September, after 
 the slaves destined for Alabama had taken a final 
 farewell of their old home, and of the friends they 
 were leaving behind, our party started on their 
 long journey. There were in all 214 slaves, men, 
 .women, and children. The men and women tra- 
 velled on foot — the small children in the wagons, 
 4 
 
 ■ 
 
 - 
 
38 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 containing" the baggage, &c. Previous to my de- 
 parture, I visited my wife and children, at Mr. 
 Gatewood's. I took leave of them with the belief 
 that I should return with my master, as soon as he 
 had seen his hands established on his new planta- 
 tion. I took my children in my arms and embraced 
 them ; my wife, who was a member of the Metho- 
 dist church, implored the blessing of God upon me 
 during my absence, and I turned away to follow 
 my master. 
 
 Our journey was a long and tedious one, espe- 
 cially to those who were compelled to walk the 
 whole distance. My master rode in a sulky; and 
 I, as nis body servant, on horseback. When we 
 crossed over the Roanoke, and were entering upon 
 North Carolina, I remember with what sorrowful 
 countenances and language the poor slaves looked 
 back for the last time upon the land of their nati- 
 vity. . It was their last farewell to Old Virginia. 
 We passed through Georgia, and, crossing the 
 Chattahooche, entered Alabama. Our way for 
 many days was through a sandy tract of country, 
 covered with pine woods, with here and there the 
 plantation of an Indian or a half-breed. After 
 crossing what is called Line Creek, we found large 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 39 
 
 plantations along the road, at intervals of four or 
 five miles. The aspect of the whole country was 
 wild and forbidding, save to the eye of a cotton 
 planter. The clearings were all new, and the 
 houses rudely constructed of logs. The cotton 
 fields were skirted with an enormous growth of 
 oak, pine, and bass wood. Charred stumps stood 
 thickly in the clearings, with here and there a 
 large . tree girdled T)y the axe and left to decay. 
 We reached at last the place of our destination/ 
 It was a fine tract of land, with a deep rich soil. 
 "We halted on a small knoll, where the tents were 
 pitched, and the wagons unladen. I spent the 
 night with my master at a neighboring plantation, 
 which was under the care of an overseer named 
 Flincher. 
 
 The next morning my master received a visit 
 from a man named Huckstep, who had undertaken 
 the management of his plantation as an overseer. 
 He had been an overseer on cotton plantations 
 many years in Georgia and North Carolina- He 
 was apparently about forty years of age, with, -a' 
 ^sunburnt and sallow countenance. His thick shock 
 of black hair was marked in several places .with 
 streaks of white, occasioned, as he afterwards told 
 
 
40 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 me, by blows received from slaves whom he was 
 chastising-. 
 
 After remaining in the vicinity for about a week, 
 my master took me aside one morning, told me he 
 was going to Selma, in Dallas County, and wished 
 me to be in readiness, on his return the next day, 
 to start for Virginia. This was to me cheering 
 news. I spent that day and the next among my 
 old fellow-servants who had lived with me in Vir- 
 ginia, Some of them had messages to send by 
 me to their friends and acquaintances. In the 
 afternoon of the second day after my master's de- 
 parture, I distributed among them all the money 
 which I had about me, viz., fifteen dollars. I no- 
 ticed that the overseer Huckstep laughed at this 
 and called me a fool ; and that whenever I spoke 
 of going home with my master, his countenance 
 indicated something between a smile and a sneer. 
 
 Night came ; but, contrary to his promise, my 
 master did not come. I still, however, expected 
 him the next day. But another night came, and 
 he had not returned. I grew uneasy, and inquired , 
 of Huckstep where he thought my master was. 3fe 
 
 " On his way to old Virginia," said he, with a 
 malicious laugh. 
 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 41 
 
 " But," said I, " master George told me that he 
 should come back and take me with him to Vir- 
 ginia."' , i 
 
 " Well, boy," said the overseer, " I '11 now tell 
 ye what master George, as you call him, told me. 
 You are to stay here and act as driver of the field 
 hands. That was the order. So you may as 
 well submit to it at once." 
 
 I stood silent and horror-struck. Could it be 
 that the man whom I had served faithfully from 
 our mutual boyhood, whose slightest wish had 
 been my law, to serve whom I would have laid 
 down my life, while I had confidence in his integ- 
 rity^ — could it be that he had so cruelly and 
 wickedly deceived me ? I looked at the overseer. 
 He stood laughing at me in my agony. 
 
 "Master George gave you no such orders," I 
 exclaimed, maddened by the overseer's look and 
 maimer. 
 
 The overseer looked at me with a fiendish grin. 
 " None of your insolence," said he, with a dread- 
 ful oath. " I never saw a Virginia nigger that I 
 couldn't manage, proud as they are. .Your master 
 has left you in my hands, and you must obey my 
 orders. If you don't, why, I shall have to make 
 4* 
 
42 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 you ' ktig the widow there,' " pointing to a tree, to 
 which I afterwards found the slaves were tied, 
 when they were whipped. .' 
 
 That night was one of sleepless agony. Virgi* 
 nia, the hills and the streams of my birth-place ; 
 the kind and hospitable home ; the gentle-hearted 
 sisters, sweetening with their sympathy the sor- 
 rows of the slave ; my wife, my children — all that 
 had thus far made up my happiness, rose in con- 
 trast with- my present condition. Deeply as he 
 nas wronged me, may my master himself never 
 endure such a might of misery ! 
 
 At daybreak, Huckstep told me to dress myself 
 and attend to his directions. I rose, subdued and 
 wretched,- and at his orders handed the horn to the 
 headman of the gang, who summoned the hands to 
 the field. They were employed in clearing land 
 for cultivation, cutting trees, and burning. I was 
 with them through the day, and at night returned 
 once more to my lodgings to be laughed at by the 
 overseer. He told me that I should do well, he 
 did not doubt, by and by, but that a Virginia driver 
 generally had to be whipped a few times himself 
 before he could be learned to do justice to the 
 slaves under his charge. They were not equal to 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 43 
 
 those raised in North Carolina, for keeping the 
 lazy hell-hounds, as he called the slaves, at work. 
 
 And this was my condition ! a driver set over 
 more than one hundred and sixty of my kindred 
 and friends, with orders to apply the whip un- 
 sparingly to every one, whether man or woman, 
 who faltered in the task, or was careless in the 
 execution of it, myself subject at any moment to 
 feel the accursed lash upon my own back, if feel- 
 ings of humanity should perchance overcome the 
 selfishness of misery, and induce me to spare and 
 pity. 
 
 I lived in the same house with Huckstep ; a 
 large log house, roughly finished, where we were 
 waited upon by an old woman, whom we used to 
 call aunt Polly. Huckstep was, I soon found, in- 
 ordinately fond of peach brandy; and once or 
 twice in the course of a month he had a drunken 
 debauch, which usually lasted from two to four 
 days. He was then full of talk, laughed immo- 
 derately at his own nonsense, and would keep me 
 up until late at night listening to him. He was 
 at these periods terribly severe to his hands, and 
 would order me to use up the cracker of my whip 
 efery day upon the poor creatures who were toil- 
 ing in the field ; and in order to satisfy him, I used 
 
44 - NARRATIVE OF 
 
 to tear it off when returning home at night. He 
 would then praise ine for a good fellow, and invite 
 me to drink with him. He used to tell me at such 
 times that if I would only drink as he did I should 
 be worth a thousand dollars more for it. He would 
 sit for hours with his peach brandy, cursing and 
 swearing, laughing and telling stories full of ob- 
 scenity and blasphemy. [He would sometimes 
 start up, take my whip, and rush out to the slave 
 quarters, flourish it about and frighten their in- 
 mates, and often cruelly beat them. He would 
 order the women to pull up their clothes, in Ala- 
 bama style, as he called it, and then whip them 
 for not complying. He would then come back" 
 roaring and shouting to the house, and tell me 
 what he had done ; if I did not laugh with him, 
 he would get angry and demand what the matter 
 was. Oh ! how often have I laughed, at such 
 times, when my heart ached within me ; and how 
 often, when permitted to 'retire to my bed, I found 
 relief in tears f^ 
 
 He had no wife, but kept a colored mistress in 
 a house situated on a gore of land between the 
 plantation and that of Mr. Goldsby 's. He brought 
 her with him from North Carolina, and had thwe 
 children by her. 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 45 
 
 Sometimes, in his fits of intoxication, he would 
 come riding into the field, swinging his whip, and 
 crying out to the hands to strip off their shirts and 
 be ready to take a whipping ; and this too when 
 they were all busily at work. At another time, 
 he would gather the hands around him and fall to 
 cursing -and swearing about the neighboring over- 
 seers. They were, he said, cruel to their hands, 
 whipped them unmercifully, and in addition starv- 
 ed them. As for himself, he was the kindest and 
 best fellow within forty miles ; and the hands ought 
 to be thankful that they had such a good man for 
 their overseer. 
 
 He would frequently be very familiar with me, 
 and call me his child; he would tell me that our 
 people were going to get.Texas, a fine cotton coun- 
 try, and that he meant to go out there and have a 
 plantation of his own, and I should go with him 
 and be his overseer. 
 
 The houses in the " negro quarters " were con- 
 structed of logs, and from twelve to fifteen feet 
 square ^they had no glass, but there were holes to 
 let in the light and air. The furniture ronsisted 
 of a table, a few stools, and dishes made of wood, 
 and an iron pot, and some other cooking utensils. 
 The houses were placed about three or four rods 
 
46 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 apart, with a piece of ground attached to each of 
 them for a garden, where the occupant could raise a 
 few vegetables. The " quarters " were about three 
 hundred yards from the dwelling of the overseer. 
 
 The hands were occupied in clearing land and 
 burning brush, and in constructing their houses, 
 through the winter. In March we commenced 
 ploughing, and on the first of April began plant- 
 ing seed for cotton. The hoeing season commenc- 
 ed about the last of May. At the earliest dawn 
 of day, and frequently before that time, the laborers 
 were roused from their sleep by the blowing of 
 the horn. It was blown by the headman of the 
 gang, who led the rest in the work and acted under 
 my direction, as my assistant. 
 
 Previous to the blowing of the horn the hands 
 generally rose and eat what was called the " morn- 
 ing's bit," consisting of ham and bread. If ex- 
 haustion and fatigue prevented their rising before 
 the dreaded sound of the horn broke upon their 
 slumbers, they had no time to snatch a mouthful, 
 but were hurried, out at once. 
 
 It was my busine^ to give over to each of the 
 hands his or her appropriate implement of labor, 
 from the tool-house, where they were deposited at 
 night. After all had been supplied, they were 
 
 -. 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 47 
 
 taken to the field, and set at work as soon as it 
 was sufficiently light to distinguish the plants from 
 the grass and weeds. I was employed in passing 
 from row to row, in order to see that the work was 
 well done, and to urge forward the laborers. At 
 12 o'clock the horn was blown from the overseer's 
 house, calling the hands to dinner, each to his own 
 cabin. The intermission of labor was one hour and 
 a half to hoers and pickers, and two hours to the 
 ploughmen. At the expiration of this interval the 
 horn again summoned them to their labor. They 
 were kept in the field until dark, when they were 
 f called home to supper. 
 
 There was little leisure for any of the hands on 
 the plantation. In the evenings, after it was too 
 dark for work in the field, the men were frequently 
 employed in burning brush, and in other labors, 
 until late at night. The women, after, toiling in 
 the field by day, were compelled to card, spin, and 
 weave cotton for their clothing, in the evening. 
 Even on Sundays there was little or no respite 
 from toil. Those who had not been able to work 
 out all their task during the week were allowed 
 by the overseer to finish it on the Sabbath, and 
 thus save themselves from a whipping on Monday 
 
 JL . _ 
 
48 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 morning. Those whose tasks were finished .fre- 
 quently employed most of that day in cultivating 
 their gardens. 
 
 Many of the female hands were delicate young 
 women, who in Virginia had never been accus- 
 .tomed to field labor. They suffered greatly from 
 the extreme heat and the severity of the toil. Oh ! 
 how often have I seen them dragging their weary 
 limbs from the cotton. field at nightfall, faint and 
 exhausted. The overseer used to laugh at their 
 sufferings. They were, he said, Virginia ladies, 
 ; and altogether too delicate for Alabama use ; but 
 they must be made to do their tasks notwithstand- 
 ing. The recollection of these things even now is 
 dreadful. I used to tell the poor creatures, when 
 compelled by the overseer to urge them forward 
 with the whip, that I would much rather take their 
 places and endure the stripes than inflict them. 
 
 When but three months old, the children born 
 on the estate were given up to the care of ihe old 
 women who were not able to work out of doors. 
 Their mothers were kept at work in the field. 
 
 It was the object of the overseer to separate me 
 in feeling and interest as widely as possible from 
 my suffering brethren and sisters. I had relations 
 
JAMES ■ WILLIAMS. 49 
 
 among the field hands, and used to call them my 
 cousins. He forbid my doing so, and told me if I 
 acknowledged relationship with any of the hands I 
 should be flogged for it. He used to speak of them 
 as devils and hell-hounds, and ridicule them in 
 every possible way ; and endeavored to make me 
 speak of them and regard them in the same man- 
 ner. ? He would tell long stories about hunting and 
 shooting " runaway niggers, 1 ' and detail with great 
 apparent satisfaction the cruel and horrid punish- 
 ments which he had inflicted. One thing he said 
 troubled him. He had once whipped a slave so *S 
 severely that he died in consequence of it, and it 
 was soon after ascertained that he was wholly in- 
 nocent of the offence charged against him. That 
 slave, he said, had haunted him ever since. 
 
 Soon after we commenced weeding our cotton, 
 some of the hands, who were threatened with a 
 whipping for not finishing their tasks, ran away. 
 The overseer and myself went out after them, tak- 
 ing with us five bloodhounds, which were kept on 
 the estate for the sole purpose of catching runa- 
 ways. There were no other hounds in the vicinity, 
 and the overseers of the neighboring plantations 
 used to borrow them to hunt their runaways. A 
 5 
 
50 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 Mr. Crop, who lived about ten miles distant, had 
 two packs, and made it his sole business to catch 
 slaves with them. "We used to set the dogs upon 
 the track of the fugitives, and they would follow 
 them until, to save themselves from being torn in 
 pieces, they would climb into a tree, where the 
 dogs kept them until we came up and secured 
 them. 
 
 These hounds, when young, are taught to run 
 after the negro boys ; and being, always kept con- 
 fined except when let out in pursuit of runaways,, 
 they seldom fail of overtaking the fugitive, and 
 seem to enjoy the sport of hunting men as much 
 as other dogs do that of chasing a fox or a deer. 
 My master gave the sum of S500 for his five dogs, 
 a slut and her four puppies. 
 - "While going over our cotton picking for the last 
 time, one of our hands, named Little John, ran 
 away. The next evening the dogs were started 
 on his track. "We followed them awhile, until we 
 knew by their ceasing to bark that they had found 
 him. We soon met the dogs returning. Their 
 jaws, heads, and feet, were bloody. The overseer 
 looked at them and said " he was afraid the dogs 
 had killed the nigger." It being dark, we could 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 51 
 
 not find him that night. Early the next morning 
 we started off with our neighbors, Sturtivant and 
 Flincher ; and after searching about for some time, 
 we found the body of Little John lying in the midst 
 of a thicket of cane. It was nearly naked, and 
 dreadfully mangled and gashed by the teeth of the 
 dogs. They had evidently dragged it some yards 
 through the thicket : blood, tatters of clothes, and 
 even the entrails of the unfortunate man, were 
 clinging to the stubs of the old and broken cane. 
 Huckstep stooped over his saddle, looked at the 
 body, and muttered an oath. Sturtivant swore it 
 was no more than the fellow deserved. We dug a 
 hole in the cane-brake, where he lay, buried him, 
 and returned home. - 
 
 The murdered young man had a mother and two 
 sisters on the plantation, by whom he was dearly 
 loved. When I told the old woman of what had 
 befallen her son, she only said that it was better 
 for poor John than to live in slavery. 
 
 Late in the fall of this year, a young man, who 
 had already run away several times, was missing 
 from his task. It was four days before we found 
 him. The dogs drove him at last up a tree, where 
 he was caught, and brought home. He was the\ 
 
 I 
 
52 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 fastened down to the ground by means of forked 
 sticks of wood selected for the purpose, the longest 
 fork being driven into the ground until the other 
 closed down upon the neck, ankles, and wrists. 
 The overseer then sent for two large cats belong- 
 ing to the house. These he placed upon the na- 
 ked shoulders of his victim, and dragged them sud- 
 denly by their tails downward. At first they did 
 not scratch deeply. He then ordered me to strike 
 them with a small stick after he had placed them 
 once more upon the back of the sufferer. I did so ; 
 and the enraged animals extended their claws, 
 and tore his back deeply and cruelly as they were 
 dragged along it. He was then whipped and 
 placed in the stocks, where he was kept three days. 
 On the third morning, as I passed the stocks, I 
 stopped to look at him. His head hung down 
 over the chain which supported his neck. I spoke, 
 but he did not answer. He was dead in the stocks ! 
 The overseer on seeing him seemed surprised, 
 and, I thought, manifested some remorse. Four 
 of the field hands took him, out of the stocks and 
 ^ried him ; and every thing went on as usual. 
 
 It is not in my power to give a narrative of the 
 /Hy occurrences on the plantation. The history 
 
JAMfiS WILLIAMS. 53 
 
 of one day was that of all. Tbl -gloomy mono- 
 tony of our slavery was only broken by the over- 
 seer's periodical- fits of drunkenness, at which 
 times, neither life nor limb. on the estate were se- 
 cure from his caprice or violence. 
 -tin the spring of 1835, the overseer brought me 
 a. letter, from my wife, written for her by her 
 young mistress, : Mr.; Gate wood's daughter. He 
 read it to me. . It stated that herself and children 
 were- well — spoke of her sad and heavy disap- 
 pointment in consequence- of my not returning 
 with* my master, and of her having been told by 
 him that' I should come back the next falL ; 
 - .-Hope for a moment lightened my heart, and I 
 indulged the. idea of once more returning to the 
 bosom of my family. But I recollected that my 
 master had already cruelly deceived me, and 
 despair again took hold on me. 
 
 Among our hands was one whom we used to 
 call Big Harry. He was a stout, athletic man, 
 very intelligent, and an excellent. workman ; but 
 he was of a high and proud spirit, which the 
 weary and crushing weight of a life of slavery 
 had not been able to subdue. On almost every 
 plantation at the South you may find one or more 
 individuals whose look and air show that they 
 5* 
 
54 H4&RATIVE' OF 
 
 have preserved their self-respect as men;— that 
 with them the power of the tyrant ends with the 
 coercion of the body— that the soul > is^free, and 
 the inner man retaining the original uprightness 
 of the image of. GooLi You may know, them by 
 the stem sobriety of thehf countenances, and the 
 contempt with which they regard the i jests; and 
 pastimes of .their. miserable and degraded compaiTr 
 ions, who, like Samson, make sport for the keep-; 
 ers of theirprison-housevi These; men are always 
 feared. as well; as hated by their task-masters; 
 Harry had never been whipped, and ;had always 
 said that he would die rather than ; submit to it. 
 He made no secret of his. detestation of .the over- 
 seer. While .most of the slaves took off their 
 hats, with cohering- submission,: in his presence, 
 Harry always refused to do so. He never spoke 
 to him except in a brief answer to his questions. 
 (Master George, who knew and dreaded the indo- 
 mitable spirit of the man, told the overseer, before 
 he left the plantation, to beware how he attempted 
 to punish him. But the habits of tyranny in which 
 Huckstep had so long indulged had accustomed 
 him to abject submission on the part of his sub- 
 jects, and he. could not endure this upright, and 
 unbroken manliness. He used frequently to curse 
 
james .wn.T.TAivre. 55 
 
 and swear about him, and devise, plans for punish-, 
 ing him on 'account of his impudence,/ as he, 
 called it. ■-•":;: ->.■; -.•' vrrrrrf "oj rrohnsite'&Hi 
 
 A pretext was at last afforded him. ♦ Some [time ; 
 in August of this year there was a large quantity 
 of yellow unpicked cotton lying in thegin house- 
 Harry was employed at night in removing the' 
 cotton seed, which had been thrown out : .by the 
 gin. The rest -of the male, hands were engaged 
 during' the* day in weeding' the cotton for the last 
 time, and in the might in burning brush on the 
 new land&clearing for the next year's cjop.Har- 
 ry was told one evening to go with the others and 
 assist ifiS burning thei .brush. -He ^accordingly- 
 went; and the next night a double quantity of 
 seed had accumulated in the gin house;. and, 
 although he worked until nearly two o'clock in 
 the morning, he. could not remove it all. ■ - -. 
 
 The next morning the overseer came into the 
 field, and demanded of me why I had not whipped 
 Harry for not removing all. the cotton seed. He 
 then called aloud to Harry to come forward and 
 be whipped. j Harry answered somewhat sternly 
 that he would neither be struck by overseer nor 
 driver ; that he had worked nearly all night, and 
 had scarcely fallen asleep when the horn blew to 
 
56£ NARRATIVE v of - 
 
 snhimbri him to' his itoil in the; field. The over- 
 seer raved and threatened, but -Harry paid no far-: 
 ther attention to him.' He then turned to me and, 
 asked We : for my pistols, with a pair , of ■■which he 
 had- famished me. I told . him they were not 
 withme; r r He growled an oath, threw himself on. 
 his ; horseVand left us. . In the. evening I found 
 him haif drunk and raving; like a i madman. He 
 said'he : would no longer bear; with, that nigger's 
 insolence, r but would whip him. if it cost him his 
 life'. P He at length fixed upon; a plan for t seizing : 
 hihvand^tokhme that he would: go* out in the 
 morning, ride along by the side of Harry and talk 
 pleasantly 2 to him, and then, while : Harry . was 
 attending to him, I was to steal- upon Jhim and 
 knock him down, by a blow. .on.: the head from 
 the loaded and heavy handle of my whip. I was 
 compelled- to promise to obeyhis .directions., 
 
 The next morning, when we got to the field, I 
 told Harry of the overseer's plan, and advised 
 him by all means to be on his guard and watch 
 my motions. His eye glistened with gratitude. 
 " Thank you, James," said he ; " I'll take care 
 that you don't touch me." : : - <• 
 
 • Huckstep came into the field about ten o'clock. 
 He rode along by the side of Harry,, talking and 
 
 — -«--- .. ^__..^. 
 
 i 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 57 
 
 laughing. I was walking on the other side. 
 When I saw that Harry's eye was upon me, I 
 aimed a blow at him, intending, however, to miss 
 him. He evaded the blow and turned fiercely 
 round with his hoe uplifted, threatening to cut 
 down any one who again attempted to strike him. 
 Huckstep cursed my awkwardness, and told Harry 
 to put down his hoe and come to him. He re- 
 fused to do so, and swore he would kill the first 
 man who tried to lay hands on him. The cow- 
 ardly tyrant shrunk away from his enraged bond- 
 man, and for two weeks Harry was not again 
 molested. 
 
 About the first of September the overseer had 
 one of his drunken fits. He made the house lite- 
 rally an earthly hell. He urged me to drink, 
 quarrelled and swore at me for declining, and 
 chased the old woman round the house with his 
 bottle, of peach brandy. He then told me that 
 Harry had forgotten the attempt-to seize him, and 
 that in the morning we must try our old game 
 over again. 
 
 On the following morning, as I was handing to 
 each of the hands their hoes from the tool-house, 
 I caught Harry's eye. " Look out," said I to him ; 
 " Huckstep will be after you again to-day." He 
 
58 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 uttered a deep curse, against the overseer and 
 • passed on to his work. After breakfast Huckstep 
 came riding out to the cotton field. He tied his 
 horse to a tree and came towards us. His sallow 
 and haggard countenance was flushed, and his 
 step unsteady. He came up by the side of Harry 
 and began talking about the crops and the wea- 
 ther. I came at the same time on the other side, 
 and in striking at him beat off his hat. He sprang 
 aside and stepped backwards. Huckstep, with a 
 dreadful oath, commanded him to stop, saying 
 that he had determined to whip him, and neither 
 earth nor hell should prevent him. Harry defied 
 him, and said he had always done the work allot- 
 ted to him, and that was enough ; he would 
 sooner die than have the accursed lash touch him. 
 The overseer staggered to his horse, mounted him 
 and rode furiously to the house, and soon made his 
 appearance, returning, with his gun in his hand. 
 
 " Yonder cocoas the devil ! " said one of the 
 women whose row was near Harry's. 
 
 "Yes," said another, "he's trying to scare 
 Harry with his gun." 
 
 " Let him try as he pleases," said Harry, in his 
 low, deep, determined tones. " He may shoot me, 
 but he can't whip me.". 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 59 
 
 Huckstep came swearing on. When within a 
 few yards of Harry he stopped, looked at him 
 with a stare of mingled rage and drunken imbe- 
 cility, and bid him throw down his hoe and come 
 forward. The undaunted slave refused to com- 
 ply, and, continuing his work, told the drunken 
 demon to shoot if he pleased. Huckstep advanced 
 within a few steps of him, when Harry raised his 
 hoe and told him to stand back. He stepped baek 
 a few paces, levelled his gun, and fired. Harry 
 received the charge in his breast, and fell instantly 
 across a cotton row. He threw up his hands 
 wildly and groaned, "Oh, Lord ! ". ,-' 
 
 The hands instantly dropped their hoes. . The 
 women shrieked aloud. For my own part, I 
 stood silent with horror. -The cries of the women 
 enraged the overseer; ' He dropped his gun, and 
 snatching the whip from my hand, with horrid 
 oaths and imprecations, fell to whipping them, 
 laying about him like a maniac. Upon Harry's 
 sister he bestowed his blows without mercy, com- 
 manding her to quit her screaming and go to 
 work. The poor girl, whose brother had thus 
 been murdered before her eyes, could not wrestle 
 down the awful agony of her feelings, and the 
 
 ^-_ 
 
60 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 brutal tormentor left her without effecting his ob- 
 ject He then, without going to look of his vic- 
 tim, told four of the hands to carry him to the 
 house, and, taking up his gun, left the field. 
 When we got to the poor fellow, he was alive, and 
 groaning faintly. The hands took him up, but 
 before they reached the house he was dead. Huck- 
 step came out and looked at him, and, finding him 
 dead, ordered the hands to bury him; The burial 
 of a slave in Alabama is that of a brute : no coffin, 
 no decent shroud, no prayer. A hole is dug, and 
 the body thrown in without further ceremony. 
 
 From this time the overseer was regarded by 
 the whole gang with detestation and fear — as a 
 being to whose rage and cruelty there were no 
 limits. Yet he was constantly telling- us mat he 
 was the kindest of overseers — that, He was for- 
 merly somewhat severe in managing his hands, 
 but that now he was, if any thing, too indulgent. 
 Indeed he had the reputation of being a good 
 overseer and an excellent manager when sober. 
 The slaves on some of the neighboring planta- 
 tions were certainly worse clothed and fed, and 
 more frequently and cruelly whipped, than ours. 
 Whenever we saw them they complained of over- 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 61 
 
 working and short feeding. One of Flincher's 
 and one of Sturtivant's hands iran away while I 
 was in Alabama, and, after remaining in the woods 
 awhile, and despairing of being able to effect their 
 escape, resolved to put an end to their existence 
 and their slavery together. Each twisted himself 
 a vine of the muscadine grape, and fastened one 
 end around the limb of an oak, and made a noose 
 in the other. Jacob, Flincher's man, swung him- 
 self off first, and expired after a long struggle. 
 The other, horrified by the contortions and agony 
 of his comrade, dropped his noose, and was re- 
 taken. When discovered, two or three days after- 
 wards, the body of Jacob was dreadfully torn and 
 mangled by the obscene buzzards, those winged 
 hyenas and goules of the Southwest. 
 
 Among the slaves who were brought from Virgi- 
 nia, were two young and bright mulatto women, 
 who were always understood throughout the plan- 
 tation to have been the daughters of the elder Lar- 
 rimore, by one of his slaves. One was named 
 Sarah and the other Hannah. Sarah, being in a 
 state of pregnancy, failed of executing her daily 
 allotted task of hoeing cotton. I was ordered to 
 whip her, and on my remonstrating with the over- 
 6 
 
NARRATIVE OF 
 
 . seer, and representing the condition of the woman, 
 
 . * '■-.. .•••■'■ . 
 
 I was told that my business was to obey orders, 
 
 i and that if I was told " to whip a dead nigger I 
 must do it," I accordingly gave her fifty lashes. 
 This was on Thursday evening". On Friday she 
 also failed through weakness, -and Was compelled 
 to lie down in the field. ' That night the overseer 
 himself whipped her. On Saturday the wretched 
 woman ' dragged herself once more to the cotton 
 field. 'In the burning sun,- and in a situation which 
 would have called forth pity in the bosom of any 
 one save a cotton-growing overseer, she struggled 
 to finish her task. She failed — nature could do no 
 more—and, sick and despairing, she sought her 
 cabin. There the overseer met her and inflicted 
 fifty more lashes upon her already lacerated back. 
 The next morning was the Sabbath. It brought 
 no joy to that suffering woman. Instead of the 
 tones- of the church bell summoning to the house of 
 prayer, she heard the dreadful sound of the lash 
 falling upon the backs of her brethren and sisters 
 in bondage. For the voice of prayer she heard 
 curses ; for the songs of Zion obscene and hate- 
 ful blasphemies. No Bible was there with its con- 
 solations for the sick of heart. Faint and fevered, 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 63 
 
 scarred and smarting from the effects of her cruel 
 punishment, she lay upon her pallet of moss, 
 dreading the coming of her relentless persecutor, 
 who, in the madness of one of his periodical fits 
 of drunkenness, was now swearing and cursing 
 through the quarters,— the demon of that Sabbath- 
 less hell. 
 
 Some of the poor woman's friends on the evening 
 before had attempted to relieve her of the task 
 which had been assigned her, but exhausted nature 
 and the selfishness induced by their own miserable 
 situation did not permit them to finish it ; and the 
 overseer, on examination, found that the week's 
 work of the woman was still deficient. After 
 breakfast, he ordered her to be tied up to the limb 
 of a tree, by means of a rope fastened round her 
 wrists, so as to leave her feet about six inches from 
 the ground. She begged him to let her down, 
 for she was very sicL 
 
 " Very well ! " he exclaimed, with a sneer and a 
 laugh ; u I shall bleed you then, and take out some 
 of your Virginia blood. You are too proud amiss 
 for Alabama." 
 
 He struck her a few blows. Swinging thus by 
 her arms, she succeeded in placing one of her feet 
 
64 NARRATIVE OF £ f 
 
 I against the body of the tree, and thus partly sup- 
 • ported herself, and relieved in some degree the 
 ' painful weight upon her wrists. He threw down 
 his whip, took a rail from the garden fence, ordered 
 her feet to be tied together, and thrust the rail be- 
 tween them. He then ordered one of the hands 
 to sit upon it. Her back at this time was bare, 
 hut the strings of the only garment which she wore 
 passed over her shoulders and prevented the fall 
 force of the whip from acting on her flesh. These 
 he cut off with his penknife, and thus left her en- 
 tirely naked. He struck her only two blows, for 
 the second one cut open her side and abdomen 
 with a frightful gash. Unable to look on any longer 
 in silence, I entreated him to stop, as I feared he 
 had killed her. The overseer looked at the wound, 
 dropped his whip, and ordered her to be untied. 
 She was carried into the house in a state of in- 
 sensibility, and died in three days after. 
 
 During the whole season of picking cotton, the 
 whip was frequently and severely plied. In his' 
 seasons of intoxication, die overseer made no dis- 
 tinction between the stout man and the feeble and 
 delicate woman — the sick and the well. "Women 
 in a far advanced state of pregnancy were driven 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. ■ 65 
 
 out to the cotton field. At other times he seemed 
 to have some consideration, and to manifest some- 
 thing- like humanity. Our hands did not suffer for 
 food — they had a good supply of ham and corn- 
 meal; while on Flincher's plantation the slaves 
 had meat but once a year, at Christmas. 
 
 Near the commencement of the weeding season 
 of 1835, 1 was ordered to whip a young woman, 
 a. light mustee, for not performing her task. I told 
 the overseer that she was sick. He said he did 
 not care for that; she should be made to work. A 
 day or two afterwards, I found him in the house 
 half intoxicated. He demanded of me why I had 
 not i whipped the girl ; and I gave the same reason 
 as before. He flew into a dreadful rage, but his 
 miserable situation made him an object of contempt 
 rather than fear. He sat shaking his fist at me 
 and swearing for nearly half an hour. He said he 
 would teach the Virginia lady to sham sickness ; 
 and that the only reason I did not whip her was 
 that she was a white woman, and I did not like to 
 cut up her delicate skin. Some time after I was 
 ordered to give two of our women, named Hannah 
 and Big Sarah, 150 lashes each, for not perform- 
 ing their tasks. The overseer stood by until he 
 6* 
 
66 • NAEEATIVE OF 
 
 saw Hannah whipped, and until Sarah had been 
 tied up to the tree. As soon as his back was turned 
 I struck the tree instead of the woman, who, un- 
 derstanding my object, shrieked as if the whip at 
 every blow was cutting into her flesh. » The over- 
 seer heard the blows and the woman's cries, and, 
 supposing that all was going on according to his 
 mind, left the field. Unfortunately the husband 
 of Hannah stood looking on, and, indignant that 
 his wife should be whipped and Sarah spared, de- 
 termined to revenge himself by informing against 
 me./ I 
 
 ' -Next morning Huckstep demanded of me whe- 
 ther I had whipped Sarah the day before ; I replied 
 in the affirmative. Upon this he called Sarah for- 
 ward and made her show her back, which bore no 
 traces of recent whipping. He then turned upon 
 me and told me that the blows intended for Sarah 
 should be laid on my back. That night the over- 
 seer, with the help of three of the hands, tied me 
 up to a large tree — my arms and legs being clasped 
 round it, and my body drawn up hard against it by 
 two men pulling at my arms, and one pushing 
 against my back. The agony occasioned by this 
 alone was almost intolerable. I felt a sense of 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 67 
 
 / 
 
 painful suffocation, and could scarcely catch, my 
 breath.': 
 
 - A moment after I felt the first blow of the over* 
 seer's whip across my shoulders. It seemed to cut 
 into my very heart. I felt the blood gush and run 
 down my back. I fainted at length under the tor- 
 ture, and od being taken down my shoes were 
 filled with the blood which ran from the gashes in 
 my back. The skin was worn off from my breast, 
 arms, and thighs, against the rough bark of the 
 tree. I was sick and feverish, and in great pain, 
 for three weeks afterwards ; most of which time I 
 was obliged to lie with my face downwards, in 
 consequence of the extreme soreness of my sides 
 and back. Huckstep himself seemed concerned 
 about me, and would come frequently to see me, 
 and tell me that he should not have touched me 
 had it not been for " the cursed peach brandy." 
 
 Almost the first person that I was compelled to 
 whip, after I recovered, was the man who pushed 
 at my back when I was tied up to the tree. The 
 hands who were looking on at that time air- thought 
 he pushed me much harder than was necessary ; 
 and they expected that I would retaliate upon him 
 the injury I had received. After he was tied up, 
 
68 NARRATIVE OF.. . 
 
 \ 
 
 the overseer told me to give him. a severe flogging, 
 and left me. I struck the tree instead of the man. 
 His 3 wife, who was looking on, almost over- 
 whelmed me with her gratitude. 
 r At length one morning, late in the fall of 1835, 
 I saw Huckstep and a gentleman ride out to the 
 field. -As they approached^.! saw theolatter was 
 my master. The hands all ceased their labor, and 
 crowded around him, inquiring about old Virginia. 
 For "my own part, I could not hasten to greet him. 
 He had too cruelly deceived .me; -v. He.at. length 
 came towards me, and seemed. somewhat embar- 
 rassed^" Well, James," said he, "how do you 
 stand it here ? "i "Badly enough,"; I replied. " I 
 had no thought that you could be so cruel as to go 
 aWay and leave me as you did." " Well, well, it 
 was too bad, but it could not be helped; you must 
 blame Huckstep for it." "But," said I, "I was 
 not his servant ; I belonged to you, and you could 
 do as you pleased." " Well r " said he, " we will 
 talk about that by and by." He then inquired of 
 Huckstep where Big Sarah was. "She was sick 
 and died," was the answer.. He looked round 
 among the slaves again, and. inquired for Harry. 
 The overseer told him 'that Harry undertook to 
 
JA1IES WILLIAMS. 69 
 
 kill him, and that, to save his life, he was obliged 
 to fire upon him, and that he died of the wound. 
 After some further inquiries, he requested me to go 
 into the house with him. He then asked me to tell 
 him how things had been managed during his ab-~ 
 sence. I gave him a full account of the overseer's 
 cruelty. When he heard of the manner of Harry's 
 death, he seemed much affected and shed tears. 
 He was a favorite servant of his father's. I showed 
 him the deep scars on my back occasioned by the 
 whipping I had received. He was, or professed to 
 be, highly indignant with Huckstep ; and said he 
 would see to it that he did not lay hands on me 
 again. He told me he should be glad to take me 
 with him to Virginia, but he did not know where 
 he should find a driver who would be so kind to 
 the hands as I was. If I would stay ten years, he 
 would then give me a thousand dollars, and a piece 
 of land to plant on my own account. " But," said 
 I, " my wife and children." " Well," said he, " I 
 will do my best to purchase them, and send them 
 on to you." I now saw that my destiny was fixed, 
 and that I was to spend my days in Alabama, and 
 I retired to my bed that evening with a heavy 
 heart. 
 
70 . NARRATIVE OF 
 
 My master staid only three or four days on the 
 plantation. Before he left, he cautioned Huckstep 
 tcbe careful and not strike me again,, as he would 
 on no account permit it. He told him to give the 
 hands food enough, and not over-work them, and, 
 having thus satisfied his conscience, left us to our 
 fate. 
 
 Out of the two hundred and fourteen slaves 
 who were brought out from Virginia, at least one- 
 third of them were members of the Methodist and 
 Baptist churches in that State. Of this number 
 five or six could read. They had been torn away 
 from the care and discipline of their respective 
 churches, and from the means of instruction, but 
 they retained their love for the exercises of reli- 
 gion, and felt a mournful pleasure in speaking of 
 .the privileges and spiritual blessings which they 
 enjoyed in Old Virginia. Three of them had been 
 preachers, or exhorters, viz. Solomon, usually 
 called uncle Solomon, Richard, and David. Un- 
 cle Solomon was a grave, elderly man, mild and 
 forgiving in his temper, and greatly esteemed 
 among the more serious portion of our hands. 
 He used to snatch every occasion to talk to the 
 lewd and vicious about the concerns of their souls, 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 71 
 
 and advise them to fix their minds upon the Sa- 
 vior, as their only helper. Some I have heard 
 curse and swear in answer, and others would say- 
 that they could not keep their minds upon God 
 and the devil (meaning Huckstep) at the same 
 time : that it was of no use to try to be religious — 
 they had no time — that the overseer wouldn't let 
 them meet to pray — and that even uncle Solomon, 
 when he prayed, had to keep one eye open all the 
 time, to see if Huckstep was coming. • Uncle 
 Solomon ■ could both read and write, and had 
 brought out with him from Virginia a Bible, a 
 hymn-book, and some other religious books, which 
 he carefully concealed from the overseer. Huck- 
 step was himself an open infidel as well as blas- 
 phemer. He used to tell the hands that there was 
 no hell hereafter for white people, but that they 
 had their punishment on earth in being obliged to 
 take care of the negroes. As for the blacks, he 
 was sure there was a hell for them. He used 
 frequently to sit with his bottle by his side, and 
 his Bible in his hand, and read passages and com- 
 ment on them, and pronounce them lies. Any 
 thing like religious feeling among the slaves irrita- 
 ted him. He said that so much praying and sing- 
 
 IL 
 
72 NAEEATIVE OF 
 
 ing prevented the people from doing their tasks, 
 as it kept them up nights, when they should be 
 asleep. He used to mock, and in every possible 
 way interrupt the poor slaves, who, after the toil 
 of the day, knelt in their lowly cabins' to offer their 
 prayers -and supplications to Him whose ear is 
 open to the sorrowful sighing of the prisoner, and 
 who hath promised in his own time to come down 
 and deliver. In his drunken seasons he would 
 make excursions at night through the slave-quar- 
 ters, enter the cabins, and frighten the inmates, 
 especially if engaged in prayer or psalm-singing. 
 On one of these occasions he came back rubbing 
 his hands and laughing. /He said he had found 
 uncle Solomon in his garden, down on his knees, 
 praying like an old owl, and had tipped him over 
 and frightened him half out of his wits. At an- 
 other time he found uncle David sitting on his 
 stool with his face thrust up the chimney, in order 
 that his voice might not be heard by his brutal 
 persecutor. He was praying, giving utterance to 
 these words, probably in reference to his bondage : 
 — " How long, ok Lord, hoio long ? " " As long 
 as my whip ! " cried the overseer, who had stolen 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. • 73 
 
 behind him, giving him a blow. It was the sport 
 of a demomj 
 
 Not long after my master had left us, the over- 
 seer ascertained for the first time that some of the 
 hands could read, and that they had brought books 
 with them from Virginia. He compelled them to 
 give up the keys of their chests, and on searching 
 found several Bibles and hymn-books. Uncle 
 Solomon's chest contained quite a library, which 
 he could read at night by the light of knots of the 
 pitch-pine. These books he coEected together, 
 and in the evening called uncle Solomon into the 
 house. / After jeering him for some time, he gave 
 him one of the Bibles and told him to' name his 
 text and preach him a sermon. The old man was 
 silent. He then made him get upon the table, 
 and ordered him to pray. Uncle Solomon meek- 
 ly replied that " forced prayer was not good for 
 soul or body." The overseer then knelt down 
 himself, and in a blasphemous manner prayed 
 that the Lord would send his spirit into uncle 
 Solomon, or else let the old man fall from the 
 table and break his neck, and so have an end of 
 "nigger" preaching. On getting up from his 
 knees he went to the cupboard, poured out a glass 
 » - 7 
 
74 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 of brandy for himself, and brought another to the 
 table. " James," said he, addressing me, " uncle 
 Solomon stands there, for all the world, like a 
 Hickory Quaker. ' His spirit don't move ; I '11 see 
 if another spirit won't move -it." He compelled 
 the old preacher to swallow the brandy, and then 
 told him to preach and exhort, for the spirit was in 
 him. He set one of the Bibles on fire, and after 
 it was consumed mixed up the ashes of it in a 
 glass of water, and compelled the old man to drink 
 it, telling him that as the spirit and the word were 
 now both in him, there was no longer any excuse 
 for not preaching. After tormenting the wearied 
 old man "in this way until nearly midnight, he 
 permitted him to go to his quarters J . . 
 
 The next day I saw uncle Solomon, and talked 
 with him about his treatment. He said it would 
 not always be so — that slavery was to come to an 
 end, fcr the Bible said so — that there would then 
 be no more whippings and fightings, but the lion 
 and the lamb would lie down together, and all 
 would be love. He said he prayed for Huckstep 
 — that it was not he, but the devil in him, who be- 
 haved so. At his retmest, I found means to get 
 him a Bible and a hymn-book from the overseer's 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 75 
 
 room, and the old man ever afterwards kept them . 
 concealed in the hen-house. 
 
 The weeding season of 1S36 was marked by re- 
 peated acts of cruelty on the part of Huckstep. 
 One of the hands, Priscilla, was, owing to her deli- 
 cate situation, unable to perform her daily task. 
 He ordered her to be tied up against a tree, in the 
 same manner that I had been. In this situation - 
 she was whipped until she was delivered of a dead 
 infant at the foot of the tree I Our men took her 
 upon a sheet and carried her to the house, where 
 she lay sick for several months, but finally reco- 
 vered. I have heard him repeatedly laugh at the 
 circumstance. 
 
 Not long after this, we were surprised, one 
 morning about ten o'clock, by hearing the horn 
 blown at the house. Presently aunt Polly came 
 screaming into the field. " What is the matter, 
 Aunty ? " I inquired. " Oh Lor ! " said she, " old 
 Huckstep ; s pitched off his horse and broke his 
 head, and is e'en about dead." 
 
 " Thank God ! " said Little Simon ; " the devil 
 will have him at last." 
 
 " God-amighty be praised ! " exclaimed half a 
 dozen others. . - . . - 
 
 The hands, with one accord, dropped their hoes, 
 
76 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 and crowded round the old woman, asking ques- 
 tions : " Is he dead ? " " Will he die ? " " Did 
 you feel of him — was he cold ? " 
 
 Aunt Polly explained, as well as she could, that 
 Huckstep, i,n a state of partial intoxication, had 
 attempted to leap his horse over a fence, had fallen 
 and cut a deep gash in his head, and that he was 
 now lying insensible.^/ 
 
 It is impossible to describe the effect produced 
 by this news among the hands. Men r women, 
 and children shouted, clapped their hands, and 
 laughed aloud. Some cursed the overseer, and 
 others thanked the Lord for taking him away. 
 Little Simon got down on his knees, and called 
 loudly upon God to finish his work, and never let 
 the overseer again enter a cotton field. " Let him 
 die, Lord," said he, " let him die ; he 's killed 
 enough' of us. .Oh, good Lord, let him die and 
 not live." 
 
 " Peace, peace ! it is a bad spirit," said uncle 
 Solomon ; " God himself willeth not the death of 
 a sinner." . . 
 
 I followed the old woman to the house, and 
 found Huckstep at the foot of one of those trees, so 
 common at the South, called the Pride of China. 
 His lace Was black, and there was a frightful con- 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS, 77 
 
 tusion on the side of his head. He was carried 
 into the house, where, on my bleeding him, he 
 revived. He lay in great pain for several days, 
 and it was nearly three weeks before he was able 
 to come out to the cotton fields. 
 
 On returning to the field, after Huckstep had 
 revived, I found the hands sadly disappointed to 
 hear that he was still living. Some of them fell 
 to cursing and swearing, and were enraged with 
 me for trying to save his life. Little Simon said 
 I was a fool ; if he had bled him he would have 
 done it to some purpose. He would, at least, have 
 so disabled his arm that he would never again try 
 to swing a whip. Uncle Solomon remonstrated 
 with Simon, and told me that I had done right. 
 
 The neighboring overseers used frequently to 
 visit Huckstep, and he, in turn, visited them. I 
 was sometimes present- during their interviews, 
 and heard them tell each other stories of horse- 
 racing, negro huntings, &c. Some time during 
 this season, Ludlow, who was overseer of a plan- 
 tation about eight miles from ours, told of a slave 
 of his, named Thornton, who had twice attempted 
 to escape with his wife and one child. The first 
 time he was caught without much difficulty, chain- 
 7 # 
 
78 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 ed to the overseer's horse, and in that way brought 
 back. The poor man, to save his wife from a beat- 
 ing, laid all the blame upon himself, and said that 
 his wife had no wish to escape, and tried to pre- 
 vent him from attempting it. He was severely- 
 whipped ; but soon ran away again, and was again 
 arrested. The overseer, Ludlow, said he was de- 
 termined to put a stop to the runaway, and accord- 
 ingly had resort to a somewhat unusual method 
 of punishment. 
 
 There is a great scarcity of good water in that 
 section of Alabama ; and you will generally see a 
 large cistern attached to the corners of the houses 
 to catch water for washing, &c. / Underneath this 
 cistern is frequently a tank from eight to tetf feet 
 deep, into which, when the former is full, the water 
 is permitted to run. From this tank the water is 
 pumped out for use. Into one of these tanks the 
 unfortunate slave was placed, and confined by one 
 of his ankles to the bottom of it, and the water was 
 suffered to flow in from above. He was compelled 
 to pump out the water as fast as it came m, by 
 means of a long rod or handle connected with the 
 pump above ground. He was not allowed to be- 
 gin until the water had risen to his middle. Any 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 79 
 
 pause or delay after this, from weakness and ex- 
 haustion, would have been fatal, as the water would 
 have risen above his head. In this horrible dun- 
 geon, toiling for his life, he was kept for twenty- 
 four hours without any sustenance. Even Huck- 
 . step said that this was too bad ; that he had him- 
 self formerly punished runaways in that way, but 
 should not do it again. 
 
 I rejoice to be able to say that this sufferer has 
 at last escaped, with his wife and child, into a free 
 State. He was assisted by some white men, but 
 j I do not know all the particulars of his escape. 
 Our overseer had not been long able to ride about 
 the plantation, after his accident, before his life was 
 again endangered. He found two of the hands,' 
 Little Jarret and Simon, fighting with each other, 
 and attempted to chastise both of then> Jarret bore 
 it patiently, but Simon turned upon him, seized a 
 stake or pin from a cart near by, and felled him to 
 the ground. The overseer got up, went to the 
 house, and told aunt Polly that he bad nearly been 
 killed by the " niggers," and requested her to tie up 
 his head, from which the blood was streaming. 
 As soon as this was done, he took down his gun, 
 and went out in pursuit of Simon, who had fled 
 to his cabin, to get some things which he supposed 
 
80 NAERATIVE OF 
 
 necessary previous to attempting his escape from 
 the plantation. He was just stepping out of the 
 door when he met the enraged overseer with his 
 gun in his hand. Not a word was 'spoken by 
 either. Huckstep raised his gun and fired. The 
 man fell without a groan across the door-sill. He 
 rose up twice on his hands and knees, but died in 
 a few minutes. He was dragged off and Buried. 
 The overseer told me that there was no other way 
 to deal with such a fellow. It was Alabama law, 
 Jfa_slaye resisted, to shoot him at once ^, Hetold. 
 me of a case which occurred in 1S34, on a planta- 
 tion about ten miles distant, and adjoining that 
 where Crop, the negro hunter, boarded with his 
 hounds. The overseer had bought some slaves at 
 Selma, from a drove or coffle passing through that 
 place. They proved very refractory. He whipped 
 three of them, and undertook to whip a fourth, 
 who was from Maryland. The man raised his 
 hoe in a threatening manner, and the overseer fired 
 upon him. The slave fell, but instantly rose up 
 on his hands and knees, and was beaten down 
 again by the stock of the overseer's gun. The 
 wounded wretch raised himself once more, drew 
 a knife from the waistband of his pantaloons, and, 
 catching hold of the overseer's coat, raised himself 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 81 
 
 high enough to inflict a fatal wound upon the lat- 
 ter. Both fell together, and 'died immediately 
 after. 
 
 Nothing more of special importance occurred 
 until July, of last year, when one of our men, 
 named John, was whipped three times for not per- 
 forming his task. On the last day of the month, 
 after his third whipping, he ran away. On the 
 following morning, I found that he was missing at 
 his row. The overseer said we must hunt him 
 up ; and he blew the " nigger horn," as it is called, 
 for the dogs. This horn was only used when we 
 went out in pursuit of fugitives. It is a cow's horn, 
 and makes a short, loud sound. We crossed Flin- 
 cher's and Goldsby's plantations, as the dogs had 
 got upon John's track, and went off barking in that 
 direction, and the two overseers joined us in the 
 chase.. The dogs soon caught sight of the runa- 
 way, and compelled him to climb a tree. We 
 came up ; Huckstep ordered him down, and se- 
 cured him upon my horse by tying him to my back. 
 On reaching home he was stripped entirely naked 
 and lashed up to a tree. Flincher then volunteered 
 to whip him 0V1 one ..side of his legs and Goldsby 
 on the other. I had, in the mean time, been order- 
 
82 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 ed to prepare a wash of salt and pepper, and wash 
 his wounds with it. The poor fellow groaned, 
 and his flesh shrunk and quivered as the burning 
 solution was applied to it. This wash, while' it 
 adds to the immediate torment of the sufferer, faci- 
 litates the cure of the wounded parts. Huckstep 
 then whipped him from his neck down to his 
 thighs, making the cuts lengthwise of his back. 
 He was very expert with the whip, and could 
 strike, at any time, within an inch of his mark. 
 He then gave the whip to me and told me to strike 
 directly across his back. "When I had finished, the 
 miserable sufferer, from his neck to his heels, was 
 covered with blood and bruises. Goldsby and 
 Flincher now turned to Huckstep, and told him 
 that I deserved a whipping as much as John did ; 
 that they had known me frequently disobey his 
 orders, and that I was partial to the " Virginia la- 
 dies," and didn't whip them as I did the men. 
 They said if I was a driver of theirs they would 
 know what to do with me. Huckstep agreed -with 
 them ; and after directing me to go to the house 
 and prepare more of the wash for John's back, he 
 called after me, with an oath, to see to it that I had 
 some for myself, for he meant to give me, at least, 
 
JAMES W ILLIAM S. 83 
 
 two hundred and fifty lashes. I returned to the 
 house, and, scarcely conscious of what I was doing, 
 filled an iron vessel with water, put in the salt 
 and pepper, and placed it over the embers. 
 £_As I stood by the fire watching the boiling of 
 the mixture, and reflecting upon the dreadful tor- 
 ture to which I was about to be subjected, the 
 thought of escape flashed upon my mind. The 
 chance was a desperate one, but I resolved to at- 
 tempt it. I ran up stairs, tied my shirt in a hand- 
 kerchief, and stepped out of the back door of the 
 house, telling aunt Polly to take care of the wash 
 at the fire until I returned. The sun was about 
 one hour high, but, luckily for me, the hands, as 
 well as the three overseers, were on the other side 
 of the house. I kept the house between them and 
 myself, and ran as fast as I could for the woods./ 
 On reaching them I found myself obliged to pro- 
 ceed slowly, as there was a thick undergrowth of 
 cane and reeds. Night came on ; I straggled for- 
 ward by a dim starlight, amidst vines and reed- 
 beds. About midnight the horizon began to be 
 overcast, and the darkness increased, until, in the 
 thick forest, I could scarcely see a yard before me. 
 Fearing that I might lose my way and wander 
 
84 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 towards the plantation-, instead of from it, I re- 
 solved to wait until day. I laid down upon a 
 little hillock and fell asleep. 
 
 When I awoke it was broad day. The clouds 
 had vanished, and the hot sunshine fell through 
 the trees upon my face. I started up, realizing 
 my situation, and darted onward. My object was 
 to reach the great road by which we had travelled 
 when we came out from Virginia. I had, however, 
 very little hope of escape. I knew that a hot pur- 
 suit would be made after me, and what I most 
 dreaded was that the overseer would procure 
 Crop's bloodhounds to follow my track. If only 
 the hounds of our plantation were sent after me, 
 I had hopes of being able to make friends of them, 
 as they were always good-natured and obedient to 
 me. I travelled until, as near as I could judge, 
 about ten o'clock,. when a distant sound startled 
 me. I stopped and listened. It was the deep bay 
 of the bloodhound, apparently at a great distance. 
 I hurried on until I came to a creek about fifteen 
 yards wide, skirted by an almost impenetrable 
 growth of reeds and cane. Plunging into it, I 
 swam across and ran down by the side of it a 
 short distance, and, in order to baffle the dogs, 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 85 
 
 swam back to the other side again. I stopped in 
 the reed-bed and listened-. The dogs seemed close 
 at hand, and by the loud barking I felt persuaded 
 that Crop's hounds were with them. I thought of 
 the fate of Little John, who had been torn in pieces 
 by the. hounds, and of the scarcely less dreadful 
 condition of those who had escaped th« dogs only 
 to fall into the hands of the overseer. The yell 
 of the dogs grew louder. Escape seemed impos- 
 sible. [__I_ran down to the creek with a determina- 
 tion, to drown myself. I plunged into the water 
 and went down to the bottom, but : the dreadful 
 strangling sensation compelled me to struggle up- 
 to the surface. Again I heard' the- yell of the 
 bloodhounds, and again desperately plunged down 
 into the water. As I went down I opened my 
 mouth, and, choked and gasping, I found myself 
 once more struggling upward. As I rose ,to the 
 . top of the water and caught a glimpse of the sun- 
 shine and the trees, the love of life revived in me. 
 I swam to the other side of the creek, and forced 
 my way through the reeds to a large bass-wood 
 tree, and stood under one of its lowest limbs, ready, 
 in case of necessity, to spring up into it. 1 Here, 
 panting and exhausted, I stood waiting for the dogs*, 
 8 
 
 * 
 
86 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 The woods seemed full of them. I heard a bell 
 tinkle, and, a moment afte'r, our old hound Venus 
 came bounding through the cane, dripping wet 
 from the creek. (As the old hound came towards 
 me, I called to her as I used to do when out hunt- 
 ing with her. She stopped suddenly, looked up at 
 me, and then came wagging her tail and fawning 
 around me. A moment after the other dogs came 
 up hot in the chase, and with their noses to the 
 ground. I called to them, but they did not look 
 up, but came yelling on. I was just about to spring 
 into the tree to avoid them, when Venus, the old 
 hound, met them, and stopped them. They then 
 all came fawning and playing and jumping about 
 me. The very creatures whom a ■moment before 
 I had feared would tear me limb from limb, were 
 now leaping and licking my hands, and rolling on^ 
 the leaves around me. v I listened awhile in the 
 fear of hearing the voices of men following the 
 dogs, but there was no sound in the forest save the 
 gurgling of the sluggish waters of the creek, and 
 the chirp of black squirrels in the trees. I took 
 courage and started onward once more, taking the 
 dogs with me. The bell on the neck of foe- old 
 dog I feared might betray me, and, unable "to get: 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. S7 
 
 it off her neck, I twisted some of the long moss 
 of the trees around it, so as to prevent its ringing. 
 At night I halted once more with the dogs by my 
 side. Harassed with fear, and tormented with 
 hunger, I laid down and tried to sleep. But the 
 dogs were uneasy, and would start up and bark at 
 the cries or the footsteps of wild animals, and I 
 was obliged to use my utmost exertions to keep 
 them quiet, fearing that their barking would draw 
 my pursuers upon me. I slept but little, and as 
 soon as daylight started forward again. The next 
 day towards evening I reached a great road, which, 
 I rejoiced to find, was the same which my master 
 and myself had travelled on our way to Greene 
 County. I now thought it best to get rid of the 
 dogs, and accordingly started them in pursuit of a 
 deer. They went off, yelling en the track, and I 
 never saw.them again. I I remembered that my 
 master told me, near this place, that, we were in 
 the Creek country, and that there were some In- 
 dian settlements not far distant. In the course of 
 the eve ning I crossed the road, and, striking into a 
 path through the woods, soon came to a number 
 of Indian cabins. I went into one of them and 
 begged for some food. The Indian women re- 
 ceived me with a great deal of kindness, and gave 
 
88 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 me a good supper of venison, corn-bread, and 
 stewed pumpkin. I remained with them till the 
 evening of the next day, when I started afresh on 
 my journey. I kept on the road leading to Geor- 
 gia. In the latter part of the night I entered into 
 a long low bottom, heavily timbered, sometimes 
 called Wolf Valley. It was a dreary and frightful 
 place. As I walked on, I heard on all sides the 
 howling of the wolves, and the quick patter of their 
 feet on the leaves and sticks, as they ran through 
 the woods. At daylight I laid down, but had 
 scarcely closed my eyes when I was roused up by 
 the wolves snarling and howling around me. I 
 started on my feet and saw several of them run- 
 ning by me. I did not again close my eyes during 
 the whole day. In the afternoon, a bear with her . 
 two cubs came to a large chestnut tree near where 
 i lay. She crept up the tree, went out on one of- 
 the limbs, and broke off several twigs in trying to 
 shake down the nuts. They were not ripe enough 
 to fall,' and, after several vain -attempts to procure 
 some of them, she crawled down the tree again 
 and went off with her young. 
 
 The day was long and tedious. As soon as it 
 was dark I once more resumed my journey ; but 
 fatigue and the want of food, and sleep rendered 
 
JAMES WILLIAilS. S9 
 
 me almost incapable of further effort. It was not 
 long before I fell asleep, while walking, and wan- 
 dered out of the road. [_I was wakened by a bunch 
 of moss which hung down from the limb of a tree 
 and met my face. I looked up and saw, as I 
 thought, a large man standing just before me. My 
 first idea was that some one had struck me over 
 the face, and that I had been at last overtaken by 
 Huckstep. Eubbing my eyes once more, I saw 
 the figure before me sink down upon its hands 
 and knees ; another glance assured me that it was 
 a bear, and not a man. He passed across the road 
 and disappeared. This adventure kept me awake 
 for the remainder of the nighty Towards morning 
 I passed by a plantation, on which was a fine 
 growth of peach-trees, full of ripe fruit. I took as 
 many of them as-I coukLconveniently carry in1hy 
 hands and pockets, and, retiring a little distance 
 into the woods, laid down and slept till evening, 
 when I again went forward. 
 
 Sleeping thus by day and travelling by night, 
 in a direction towards the North star, I entered 
 Georgia. As I only travelled in the night-time, I 
 was unable to recognise rivers and places which I 
 had seen before, until I reached Columbus, where 
 I recoDected I had been with my. master. From 
 S* 
 
90 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 this place I took the road leading to Washington, 
 and passed directly through that village. On 
 leaving the village, I found myself, contrary to my 
 expectation, in an open country, with no woods in 
 view. I walked on until day broke in the east. 
 At a considerable distance ahead, I saw a group 
 of trees, and hurried on towards it. Large and 
 beautiful plantations were on each side of me, from 
 which I could hear dogs bark, and the driver's 
 horn sounding. On reaching the trees, I found 
 that they afforded but a poor place of concealment ; 
 on either hand, through its openings, I could see 
 the men turning out to the cotton fields. I found 
 a place to lie down between two oak stumps, 
 around which the new shoots had sprung up thick- 
 ly, forming a comparatively close shelter. After 
 eating some peaches, which since leaving the In- 
 dian settlement had constituted my sole food, I 
 fell asleep. I was waked by the barking of a dog. 
 Raising my head and looking through the bushes, 
 I found that the dog was barking at a black squir- , 
 rel who was chattering on a limb almost directly 
 above me. A moment after, I heard a voice speak- 
 ing to the dog, and soon saw a man, wit^fe gun 
 in his hand, stealing through the wood. He_passed 
 close to the stumps, where I lay trembling with 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 91 
 
 terror lest he should discover me. He kept his 
 eye, however, upon the tree, and, raising his gun, 
 fired. The squirrel dropped dead close by my 
 side. I saw that any further attempt at conceal- 
 ment would be in vain, and sprang upon my feet. 
 The man started forward on seeing me, struck at 
 me with his gun, and beat my hat off. I leaped 
 into the road, and he followed after, swearing he 
 would shoot me if I didn't stop. Knowing' that 
 his gun was not loaded, I paid no attention to him, 
 but ran across the road into a cotton field where 
 
 ■rr 
 
 there was a great gang of slaves working. The 
 
 m 
 
 man with the gun followed, and called to the two 
 colored drivers, who were on horseback, to ride 
 after me and stop me. I saw a large piece of 
 woodland at some distance ahead, and directed 
 my course towards it. Just as I reached it, I 
 looked back and saw my pursuer far behind me, 
 and found, to my great joy, that the two drivers 
 had not followed me. I got behind a tree, and 
 soon heard the man enter the woods and pass me. 
 After all had been still for more than an hour, I 
 crept into a low place in the depth of the woods, 
 and laid down amidst a bed of reeds, where I again 
 fell asleep. Towards evening, on awaking, I 
 
 ■ — ■ J M l -' i __ ____^_ 
 
92 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 found the sky beginning to be cloudy, and before 
 night set in it was completely overcast. Having 
 lost my hat, I tied an old handkerchief over my 
 head, and prepared to resume my journey. It 
 was foggy and very dark, and, involved as I was 
 in the mazes of the forest, I did not know in what 
 direction I was going. I wandered on until I 
 reached a road, which I supposed to be the same 
 one which I had left. The next day the weather 
 was still dark and rainy, and continued so for 
 several days. During this time I slept only by 
 leaning against the body of a tree, as the ground 
 -was soaked with rain. On the fifth night after 
 my adventure near Washington, the clouds broke 
 away, and the clear moonlight and the stars shone 
 down upon me. 
 
 } I looked up to see the North star, which I sup- 
 posed still before me. C^But I sought it in vain in 
 all that quarter of the heavens. A dreadful 
 thought came over me that I had been travelling 
 out of my way. I turned round and saw the 
 North star, which had been shining directly upon 
 my back. I then knew that I had been travelling 
 away from freedom, and towards the place of my 
 captivity, ever since I left the woods into which I 
 
JA3IES WILLIAMS. 93 
 
 had been pursued on the 21st, five days before/ 
 Oh, the keen and bitter agony of that moment ! I 
 sat down on the decaying trunk of a fallen tree, 
 and wept like a child. Exhausted in mind and 
 body, nature came at last to my relief, and I fell 
 asleep upon the log. When I awoke it was still 
 dark. 1 1 rose and nerved myself for another effort 
 for freedoms Taking the North star for my guide, 
 I turned upon my track, and left once more the 
 dreaded frontiers of Alabama' behind meU The 
 next night, after crossing a considerable river, I 
 came to a large road crossing the one on which I 
 travelled, and which seemed to lead more directly 
 towards the North. ; I took this road, and the next 
 night after I came to a large village. - Passing 
 through the main street, I saw a large hotel which 
 I at once recollected. I was in Augusta, and this 
 was the hotel at which my master had spent seve- 
 ral days when I was with him on one X)f his 
 southern visits. I heard the guards patrolling the 
 town cry the hour of twelve ; and, fearful of being- 
 taken up, I turned out of the main street, and got 
 upon the road leading to Petersburg. On reach- 
 ing the latter place, I swam over the Savannah 
 river into South Carolina, and from thence passed 
 into North Carolina. 
 
94 -NARRATIVE OP 
 
 Hitherto I had lived mainly upon peaches, which 
 were plenty on almost all the plantations in Ala- 
 bama and Georgia ; but the season was now too 
 far advanced for them, and I was obliged to resort 
 to apples. These I obtained without much diffi- 
 culty until within two or three days' journey of the 
 Virginia line. At this time I had had nothing to 
 eat but two or three small and sour apples for 
 twenty-four hours, and I waited impatiently for 
 night, in the hope of obtaining fruit from the or- 
 chards along the road. I passed by several plan- 
 tations, but found no apples. After midnight, I 
 passed near a large house, with fruit-trees around 
 it. I searched under and climbed up and shook 
 several of them to no purpose. At last I found a 
 tree on which there were a few apples. On shak- 
 ing it, half a dozen fell. ' I got down, and went 
 groping and feeling about for them m the grass, 
 but could find only two ; the rest were devoured by 
 several hogs, who were there on the same errand 
 with myself. I pursueHmy way until day was 
 about breaking, when I passed another house. 
 The feeling of extreme hunger was here so intense, 
 that it required all the resolution I was master of 
 to keep myself from going up to the house and 
 breaking into it in search of food. But the thought 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 95 
 
 of being' again made a slave, and of suffering the 
 horrible punishment of a runaway, restrained me, 
 I lay in the woools all that day without food. The 
 next evening, I soon found a large pile of excellent 
 apples, from which I supplied myself. 
 
 The next evening I reached Halifax Court 
 House, and I then knew that 1 was near Virginia. 
 On the 7th of October, I came to the Roanoke, 
 and crossed it in the midst of a violent storm of 
 rain and thunder. The current ran so furiously 
 that I was carried down with it, and with great 
 difficulty, and in a state of complete exhaustion, 
 reached the opposite shore. 
 
 At about 2 o'clock, on the night of the 15th, I 
 approached Richmond ; but not daring to go into 
 the city at that hour, on account of the patrols, I 
 lay in the woods near Manchester, until the next 
 evening, when I started in the twilight, in order to 
 enter before the setting of the watch. I passed 
 over the bridge unmolested, although in great fear, 
 as my tattered clothes and naked head were well 
 calculated to excite suspicion ; and, being well ac- 
 quainted with the localities of the city, made my 
 way to the house of a friend. I was received with 
 the utmost kindness, and welcomed as one risen 
 from the dead. Oh, how inexpressibly sweet were 
 
 / ' 
 
96 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 the tones of human sympathy, after the dreadful 
 trials to which I had been subjected, the wrongs 
 and outrages which I witnessed' and suffered ! 
 For between two and three months I had not 
 spoken with a human being, and the sound even 
 of my own voice now seemed strange to my ears. 
 During this time, save in two or three instances, 
 I had tasted of no food except peaches and apples. 
 I was supplied with some dried meat and coffee, 
 but the first mouthful occasioned nausea and faint- 
 ness, I was compelled to take my bed, and lay 
 ■sick for several days. By the assiduous attention 
 and kindness of my friends, I was supplied with 
 every thing which was necessary .during my sick- 
 ness. I was detained in Richmond nearly a month. 
 As soon as I had sufficiently recovered to be able 
 to proceed on my journey, I bade my kind host 
 and his wife an affectionate farewell, and set for- 
 ward once more towards a land of freedom. I 
 longed to visit my wife and children in Powha- 
 tan County, but the dread of being discovered pre- 
 vented me from attempting it. I had learned from 
 my friends in Richmond that they were living 
 and in good health, but greatly distressed on my 
 account. 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 97 
 
 My friends had provided me with a fur cap, and 
 with as much lean ham, cake, and biscuit as I 
 could conveniently carry. I proceeded in the same 
 way as before, travelling by night and lying close 
 and sleeping by day. About the last of November 
 I reached the Shenandoah river. It was very cold ; 
 ice had already formed along the margin, and in 
 swimming the river I was chilled through ; and 
 my clothes froze about me soon after I had reached 
 the opposite ^ide. I passed into Maryland, and 
 on the 5th of December stepped across the line 
 which divided the free state of Pennsylvania from 
 the land of slavery. 
 
 I had a few shillings in money, which, were given 
 me at Richmond, and after travelling nearly twen- 
 ty-four, hours from the time I crossed the line, I 
 ventured to call at a tavern and buy a dinner. 
 On reaching Carlisle, I inquired of the ostler in a 
 stable if he knew of any one who wished to hire 
 a house-servant or coachman. He said he did 
 not. Some more colored people came in, and, 
 taking me aside, told me that they knew that I was 
 from Virginia, by my pronunciation of certain 
 words — that I was probably a runaway slave — but 
 that I need not be alarmed, as they were friends, 
 9 
 
.y» . NARRATIVE OF 
 
 and would do all in their power to protect me. I 
 was taken home by one of them, and treated with 
 the utmost kindness ,' and at night he took me in 
 
 ' a wagon, and carried me some distance on my way 
 to"Harrisburg, where he said I should meet with 
 friends. . . 
 
 He told me that I had better go directly to Phil- 
 
 iadelphia, as there would be less danger of my be- 
 ing discovered and retaken there than in the coun- 
 try, and there were a great many^persons there 
 who would exert themselves to secure me from the 
 slave-holders. In parting he cautioned me against 
 conversing or stopping with any man on the road, 
 unless he wore a plain, straight collar on a round 
 coat, and said " thee " and " thou." By following 
 
 ihis directions I arrived safely in Philadelphia, 
 having been kindly entertained and assisted on my 
 journey by several benevolent gentlemen and la- 
 dies, whose compassion for the wayworn and hunt- 
 ed stranger I shall neVer forget, and whose names 
 
 , will always be dear to me. On reaching Phila- 
 delphia; I was visited by a large number of the 
 
 rAbolitionists, and friends of the colored people, 
 
 . who, after hearing my story, thought it would not 
 be safe for me to remain in any part of the United 
 
JAMES WILLIAMS. 99 
 
 States. I remained in Philadelphia a few days, 
 and then a gentleman came on to New York with 
 me, I being considered on board the steam-boat, 
 and in the cars, as his servant. I arrived at New 
 York on the 1st of January. The sympathy and 
 kindness which I have every where met with 
 since leaving the slave states, has been the more 
 grateful to me because it was in a great measure 
 unexpected. The slaves are always told that if 
 they escape into a free state they will be seized 
 and put in prison until their masters send for 
 them. I had heard Huckstep and the other over- 
 seers occasionally speak of the Abolitionists, but I 
 did not know or dream that they were the friends 
 of the slave. Oh, if the miserable men and women, 
 now toiling on the plantations of- Alabama, could 
 know that thousands in the free states are praying 
 and striving for their deliverance, how would the 
 glad tidings be whispered from cabin to cabin, and 
 how would the slave-mother, as she watches over 
 her infant, bless God, on her knees, for the hope 
 that this child of her day of sorrow might never 
 realize, in stripes, and toil, and grief unspeakable, 
 what it is to be a slave ! 
 
100 
 
 The reader may perhaps feel a curiosity to 
 know something further of James Williams, and 
 whether he has found a place of security from the 
 hunters of human chattels at the South. He came 
 to New York on the 1st of the 1st mo., 1S38. 
 He was taken to the house of a true friend of the 
 oppressed, where he was received and entertained 
 . , with much sympathy and kindness. While in 
 this city he was visited by a large number of gen- 
 tlemen, who were deeply interested in his narra- 
 tive. An accurate and striking sketch of his face 
 was made by an eminent artist, the engraving of 
 which, by Pateick Reason, a colored young gen- 
 tleman of this city, is prefixed to this volume. 
 He had, however, been in his asylum but a few 
 • days, when information was received that two 
 white men were in pursuit of him, accompanied 
 by. a colored man, who knew James, and would be 
 able at once to recognise him. The informant 
 stated that they had been as far as Boston, and 
 
NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 101 
 
 had just returned to this city. After consultation, 
 
 • 
 
 his friends came to the conclusion that he would 
 not be safe in any part of the United States, and 
 that, in the present unsettled state of the Canadas, 
 it would be best to send him to England. He 
 accordingly sailed for Liverpool, with the best 
 wishes and sympathies of all who had an oppor- 
 tunity of hearing his story. 
 
 It is with deep humiliation and sorrow that we 
 are thus compelled to proclaim to the world, that 
 even the nominally free states of America afford 
 no protection to the man of color, escaping from a 
 land of slavery. Even the soil which is yet 
 greener for the blood of the revolutionary sacrifice 
 — the plains of Lexington and Saratoga — may not 
 be trodden in safety by the scarred and toil-worn 
 fugitive from Southern Slavery. Eome had her 
 temples where the slave could flee and be secure, 
 for the master dared not violate his sanctuary. 
 But America has no place too sacred for the pro- 
 faning presence of slavery. It pervades the whole 
 land, — an active and almost omnipresent despot- 
 ism. The weary stranger may be plucked away 
 from the domestic fireside, or dragged from the 
 very horns of the altars of religion. The whole 
 9* 
 
102 NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 constabulary and municipal force of the country, 
 the entire civil and military authority, are pledged, 
 by the constitution itself, to aid the master in re- 
 covering his runaway slaves. Judges, sheriffs, 
 constables, and citizens of the free states, are 
 bound by the constitutional law of the land to 
 hunt men like wild beasts, for no other crime than 
 that of preferring freedom to bondage; Better 
 would it be to forego, at once, this mockery of 
 freedom, and wear the acknowledged chains of 
 slavery ourselves, than thus to stand ready at the 
 
 beck of our masters to howl in the track of the 
 
 % 
 fugitive, in concert with the trained bloodhounds 
 
 of the South. i 
 
 « 
 
103 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 In our prefatory remarks we adduced only the testi- 
 mony of inveterate and determined advocates of slavery. 
 In corroboration of the facts stated by James "Williams, 
 we offer now the testimony of several gentlemen, who 
 are natives of the South, or have been residents in that 
 section of the country. 
 
 Discussion in Lane Seiuinajlt, 2d Mo., 1834. 
 
 A member from Alabama, speaking of the cruelties 
 practised upon the slaves, said — '-'At our house it is so 
 common to hear their screams from a neighboring plan- 
 tation, that we think nothing of it. The overseer of this 
 plantation told me one day he laid a young woman over 
 a log, and beat her so severely that she was soon after 
 delivered of a dead child. A bricklayer, a neighbor of 
 ours, owned a very smart young negro man, who ran 
 away, but was caught. When- his master got him home, 
 he stripped him naked, tied him up by his hands, in plain 
 sight and hearing of the academy and the public green, 
 so high that his feet could not touch the ground ; then 
 tied them together, and put a long board between his 
 legs to keep him steady. After preparing him in this 
 way, he took a paddle, bored it full of holes, and com- 
 menced beating him with it. He continued it leisure- 
 ly all day. At night his flesh was literally pounded to 
 a jelly. It was two weeks before he was able to walk. 
 No one took any notice of it ; no one thought any wrong 
 was done." 
 
 ■ 
 
104 appendix:. 
 
 TESTIMONY OF JOHN RANKIN, 
 
 A native of Tennessee, educated there, and for a number of 
 years a preacher in slave states — now pastor of >a church 
 in Ripley, Ohio. 
 
 u In some parts of Alabama, you may see slaves in the 
 cotton fields without so much as even a single rag upon 
 them, shivering before the chilling blasts of mid-winter. 
 Indeed, in every slave-holding State many slaves suffer 
 extremely, both while they labor and while they sleep, 
 for rvant of clothing to keep them warm. ' Often they are 
 driven through frost and snow without either stocking or 
 shoe, until the path they tread is dyed with the blood that 
 issues from their frost-worn limbs ! And when they re- 
 turn to their miserable huts at night, they find not there 
 the means of comfortable rest ; but on the cold ground 
 they must He without covering, and shiver while they slumber. 
 
 " In connection with their extreme sufferings, occa- 
 sioned by want of clothing, I shall notice those which 
 arise from the want of food. As the making of grain is 
 the main object of their mancipation, masters will sacri-, 
 fice as little as possible in giving them food. It often 
 happens that what will barely keep them alive is all that 
 a cruel avarice will allow them. Hence, in' some in- 
 stances, their allowance has been reduced to a single 
 pint of corn each during the day and night ; and some 
 have no better allowance than a small portion of cotton 
 seed ! ! And in some places the best allowance is a peck 
 of corn each during the week, while perhaps they are not 
 permitted to taste-meat so mueh as once in the course 
 of seven years, except what little they may be able to 
 steal ! Thousands of them are pressed with the gnawings 
 of cruel hunger during their whole lives. 
 
 " Many poor slaves are stripped naked, stretched and 
 tied across barrels or large bags, and tortured with thi 
 lash during hours, and even whole days, until their flesh is 
 mangled to the very bones. Others are stripped and hung 
 up by the arms, their feet are tied together, and the end 
 of a heavy piece of timber is put between their legs in 
 order to stretch their bodies, and so prepare them for the 
 torturing lash — and in .this situation they are often 
 whipped until their bodies are covered with blood and 
 mangled flesh, and in order to add the greatest kee&uess. 
 
APPENDIX. 105, 
 
 to their sufferings, their wounds are washed with liquid 
 salt I And some of the miserable creatures are permit- 
 ted to hang in that position until they actually expire ; 
 some die under the lash, others linger about for a time, 
 and at length die of their wounds, and many survive, 
 and endure again similar torture. These bloody scenes 
 are constantly exhibiting in every slave-holding country- 
 thousands of whips are every day stained in African blood ! 
 Even the yoor females are not permitted to escape these 
 shocking cruelties." — Rankin's Letters, pages 51, 53. 
 
 t:estmo:st of asa a. stone, 
 
 A Theological Student, who resided near Natchez, Missis- 
 sippi, when he published the following statement, dated 
 2ith 5th mo;, 1835. 
 
 " No one here thinks that the slaves are seldom over- 
 driven and under-fed. Every body knows it to be one 
 of the most common occurrences. No planter of intelligence 
 and candor denies that slaves are very generally badly 
 treated in this country. I wish to be understood now at 
 the commencement, that, intending as I do that my state- 
 ments shall be relied on, and knowing that, should you set 
 fit to publish this communication, they will come to this coun- 
 try, where their correctness may be tested by comparison with 
 real life, I make them with the utmost care and precaution. 
 But those which I do make are made without the least 
 apprehension of their being controverted. ... In the 
 first place, with respect to labor. The time of labor is 
 first to be noticed. It is a general rule on all regular 
 plantations that the slaves rise in-season in the morning 
 to be in the field as soon as it is light enough for them to see 
 to work, and remain there until it is so dark that they can- 
 not see. This is the case at all seasons of the year ; so 
 that during the summer they are in the field at least 
 fifteen Jwurs. This does not include the time spent in 
 going and returning ; that must be done while it is too 
 dark to suffer them to work, even if the field, as js fre- 
 quently the case, is a mile distant. It is literally true, 
 what one of them remarked to me the other day, that 
 u they never know what it is to sleep till daylight." 
 .... Their suppers they have to prepare and eat after 
 they return home, which, at this season of the year, 
 takes them until nine o'clock : so that, without leaving a 
 
 
106 APPENDIX. 
 
 moment of time for any other purpose, they can have but 
 seven hours' sleep before four in the morning, when they 
 
 are called On almost every plantation, the hands 
 
 suffer more or less from hunger at some seasons of al- 
 most every year. On the" majority of plantations, the 
 feeding supplies the demands of nature tolerably well, 
 except in the winter, and at some other occasional times. 
 There is always a good deal of suffering on them from 
 hunger in the course of the year. On many plantations, 
 and particularly in Louisiana and among the French 
 planters, the slaves are in a condition of almost utter 
 famishment during a great portion of the year. Let a 
 man pass through the plantations where they fare the 
 best, and see fifty or sixty hands, men and women, sit- 
 ting down on the furrows where their food-cart happens 
 to overtake them, and making their meal of a bit of corn- 
 bread and water, and he will think it is rather hard fare. 
 This is not un frequently the case on plantations where 
 they are considered welLfed 
 
 " I will now say a few words about treatment and 
 condition in general. That floggings are very common 
 and severe, appears from what has already been said. 
 I must now say that flogging for all offences/ including 
 deficiencies in work, are frightfully common, and most 
 terribly severe. 
 
 "Rubbing with salt and red pepper is very common after 
 a severe whipping. The object, they say, is primarily to 
 make it smart ; but add, that it is the best thing that can 
 be done to prevent mortification and make the gashes 
 heal." 
 
 TESTLHONY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD OF KENTUCKY, 
 
 A large majority of whom are or have been slave-holders. 
 
 u This system licenses and produces great cruelty.. 
 
 "Mangling, imprisonment, starvation, every species 
 of torture, may be inflicted upon him, (the slave,) and 
 he has no redress. 
 
 " There are now in our whole land two millions of 
 human beings, exposed, defenceless, to every insult, and 
 every injury, short of maiming or death, which their 
 fellow-men may choose to inflict. They suffer all that 
 can be inflicted by wanton caprice, by grasping avarice, 
 by brutal lust, by malignant spite, and by insane anger. 
 Their happiness is the sport of every whim and the prey 
 
APPENDIX. 107 
 
 of every passion that may occasionally or habitually 
 infest the master's bosom. If we could calculate the 
 amount of wo endured by the ill-treated slaves, it would 
 overwhelm every compassionate heart — it would move 
 even the obdurate to sympathy. There is also a vast 
 sum, of suffering inflicted upon the slave by humane 
 masters, as a punishment for that idleness and miscon- 
 duct which slavery naturally produces. * * * 
 "Brutal stripes, and all the varied kinds of personal 
 indignities, are not the only species of cruelty which 
 slavery licenses. # # # Brothers and sisters, 
 parents and children, husbands and wives, are torn 
 asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. 
 These acts are daily occurring in the midst of us. The 
 shrieks and the agony often witnessed on such occa- 
 sions proclaim with a trumpet tongue the iniquity and 
 cruelty of our system. # * * There is not a 
 neighborhood where these heart-rending scenes are not 
 displayed. There is not a village or road that does hot 
 behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose 
 chains and mournful countenances tell that they are 
 exiled by force from all that their hearts hold dear." — 
 See Address of Synod to Churches, in 1835, page 12. 
 
 Testimony of the Makyvule (Tennessee) Intelli- 
 gencer, of the 4th of 10th mo., 1835. 
 
 The Editor, in speaking of the sufferings of the slaves 
 which are taken by the internal trade to the Southwest, 
 says : 
 
 "Place yourself in imagination, for a moment, in 
 their condition : with heavy galling chains riveted upon 
 your person ; half-naked, half-starved ; your back lace- 
 rated with the ' knotted whip ;' travelling to a region 
 where your condition through time mill be second only to 
 the wretched creatures in Hell. 
 
 " This depiction is not visionary. "Would to God that 
 it was.' - ' 
 
 TESTIMONY OF COLONEL WILLIAM KEYS, 
 
 A native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, where he resided 
 about thirty years — now well known did greatly respected 
 in southern Ohio. 
 
 " In that part of Virginia where I resided, (the val- 
 ley.) so far as relates to food, clothing, and labor, slaves 
 
10S APPENDIX. 
 
 may be said to be well used, when compared with the 
 barbarity of their treatment* farther south, or wherever 
 they are held in large numbers \ yet, even where I lived, 
 though few slaves comparatively were held, many acts 
 of atrocious cruelty Were perpetrated. I have seen aged, 
 gray-headed slaves stripped, tied up, and whipped with a 
 cowhide, forty or fifty lashes, for no fault bat absence for 
 a few minutes too long when wanted. Such things I call 
 cruelty, but they pass among slave-holders for nothing." 
 Dated Hillsborough, Ohio, 1st of 1st mo., 1835. 
 
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 FEB. 2000