Part 1 (1/2)

Fifty Years in Chains

by Charles Ball

PREFACE

The story which follows is _true_ in every particular Responsible citizens of a neighboring State can vouch for the reality of the narrative The language of the slave has not at all tie unfitted him for literary work

The subject of the story _is still a slave_ by the laws of this country, and it would not be wise to reveal his name

CHAPTER I

SEPARATED FROM MY MOTHER

My story is a true one, and I shall tell it in a simple style It will be merely a recital of my life as a slave in the Southern States of the Union--a description of negro slavery in the ”ht from Africa and sold as a slave in Calvert county, in Maryland I never understood the name of the shi+p in which he was iht him on his arrival, but at the time I knew him he was a slave in a family called Maud, who resided near Leonardtown My father was a slave in a fa near the same place My mother was the slave of a tobacco planter, who died when I was about four years old My mother had several children, and they were sold upon master's death to separate purchasers She was sold, ia trader I, of all her children, was the only one left in Maryland When sold I was naked, never having had on clothes into one of his own children After he had purchased arment, took me before him on his horse, and started ho her for the last time, ran after me, took me down from the horse, clasped me in her arms, and wept loudly and bitterly over me My master seemed to pity her, and endeavored to soothe her distress by telling her that he would be a goodShe then, still holdingthe road beside the horse as he ht my master to buy her and the rest of her children, and not perro buyers; but whilst thus entreating him to save her and her fa in pursuit of her with a raw-hide in his hand When he overtook us, he told her he was her ro to its owner, and come back with him

My mother then turned to him and cried, ”Oh,any reply, he gave her two or three heavy blows on the shoulders with his raw-hide, snatchedher by one ared her back towards the place of sale My master then quickened the pace of his horse; and as we advanced, the cries of th they died away in the distance, and I never again heard the voice ofas I was, the horrors of that day sank deeply into h half a century has elapsed, the terrors of the scene return with painful vividness upon ht of the cruelties inflicted uponfroel and a saviour, when compared with the hardened fiend into whose power she had fallen She had been a kind and good hts of winter; and had often divided the scanty pittance of food allowed her by her one supperless to bed herself Whatever victuals she could obtain beyond the coarse food, salt fish and corn bread, allowed to slaves on the Patuxent and Poto her children, and treated us with all the tenderness which her own miserable condition would permit I have no doubt that she was chained and driven to Carolina, and toiled out the residue of a forlorn and fao fields of the South

My father never recovered fro ruin of his faay, social teht, he always brought us some little present, such as the means of a poor slave would allow--apples,else, a little parched corn, which tasted better in our cabin, because he had brought it

He spent the greater part of the time, which hissuch stories as he had learned frost the slaves of Maryland and Virginia After this ti He becaloomy and morose in his temper, to all but randfather, who claireat warrior in his native country The master of ly avaricious, that he scarcely allowed hier to sensibility, he was incapable of tracing the change in the temper and deportment of my father, to its true cause; but attributed it to a sullen discontent with his condition as a slave, and a desire to abandon his service, and seek his liberty by escaping to some of the free States To prevent the perpetration of this suspected cri away from slavery_, the old man resolved to sell ly applied to one of those men, as at that tireed on, but, as , active, and resolute ian to attempt to seize him, even with the aid of others, in the day-time, when he was at work, as it was known he carried upon his person a large knife It was therefore deterehborhood, as , which must have been stolen by some one, and that he suspected my father to be the thief A constable was employed to arrest him, but as he was afraid to undertake the business alone, he called on his way, at the house of the randfather, to procure assistance from the overseer of the plantation When he arrived at the house, the overseer was at the barn, and thither he repaired to make his application At the end of the barn was the coach-house, and as the day was cool, to avoid the hich was high, the talked to the side of the coach-house to talk over the matter, and settle their plan of operations It so happened that ood condition, was at work at this ti the otherthe voice of the overseer without, he suspended his work, and listening attentively, becareed that they would delay the execution of their project until the next day, as it was then late They supposed they would have no difficulty in apprehending their intended victi hio with the constable to a justice of the peace, to have the charge exarandfather silently repaired to the cabin of my father, a distance of about three miles, aroused him froer, gave hi of parched corn, and then enjoined him to fly froian could not find his newly purchased slave, as never seen or heard of in Maryland frorandfather was the only person left in Maryland hohty years old, he said, and he manifested all the fondness for me that I could expect from one so old He was feeble, and his master required but little work from him He always expressed conte, he was an African of rank in his native land He had a sround attached to it, which he cultivated on his own account, and froular religious notions--never going tofor the preachers he could, if he would, occasionally hear He retained his native traditions respecting the Deity and hereafter It is not strange that he believed the religion of his oppressors to be the invention of designingwas, ”Servants, be obedient to your masters”

The name of the man who purchased me at the vendue, and becaenerally called Jack cox He was a s towards his family, and treated his slaves, of whorandfather to visit me as often as he pleased, and allowed him sometimes to carry me to his own cabin, which stood in a lonely place, at the head of a deep hollow, alrown up in a worn out and abandoned tobacco field My e generally received in Calvert, and often told me that he intended to make me his waiter, and that if I behaved well I should become his overseer in time These stations of waiter and overseer appeared to reatness in the whole world, and had not circumstances frustrated my master's plans, as well asat this time in a cabin on the corner of some tobacco plantation

Fortune had decreed otherwise When I was about twelve years old,confined him to the house I was sorry for the death of my master, who had always been kind to ret his departure from this world He had several children at the ti about , became administrator of his estate, and took possession of his property, and aentlereatest severity, and compelled me to work very hard on his plantation for several years, until I suppose I e As I was always very obedient, and ready to execute all his orders, I did not receive reatly for want of sufficient and proper food My master allowed his slaves a peck of corn, each, per week, throughout the year; and this we had to grind into meal in a hand-mill for ourselves We had a tolerable supply of meat for a short tis After that season we had meat once a week, unless bacon became scarce, which very often happened, in which case we had no meat at all However, as we fortunately lived near both the Patuxent river and the Chesapeake Bay, we had abundance of fish in the spring, and as long as the fishi+ng season continued After that period, each slave received, in addition to his allowance of corn, one salt herring every day

My s, one hat, one jacket of coarse cloth, two coarse shi+rts, and two pair of trowsers, yearly He allowed me no other clothes In the winter time I often suffered very much from the cold; as I had to drive the team of oxen which hauled the tobacco to ht, the distance being considerable, and , when I came home from the corn field, my master told me that he had hired ton, and that I would have to live at the Navy Yard

On the New Year's day following, which happened about teeks afterwards, ton, on horseback, and ordered ht e arrived at the Navy Yard, and everything appeared very strange to entleo on board a large shi+p, which lay in the river He at the same time told a boy to show ate, and I was told that I had been brought there to cook for the people belonging to her In the course of a few days the duties of my station became quite familiar to me; and in the enjoyment of a profusion of excellent provisions, I felt very happy I strove by all entlemen who caave me a half-worn coat, another an old shi+rt, and a third, a cast off waistcoat and pantaloons Some presented me with small sums of money, and in this way I soon found myself well clothed, and with h constant, were not burthensome, and I was perenerally went up into the city to see the new and splendid buildings; often walked as far as Georgetown, andthe slaves, and frequently saw large nu trains, and driven off towards the South At that tination and disgust, as it is now It was a rare thing to hear of a person of color running away, and escaping altogether froe, who had, before this time, obtained his liberty in this manner, in Calvert county; and, as before stated, I never heard what becaate, and about the Navy Yard, two years, and was quite satisfied with my lot, until about three months before the expiration of this period, when it so happened that a schooner, loaded with iron and other materials for the use of the yard, arrived froate, to discharge her cargo, and ast her crew I observed a black man, hom, in the course of a day or two, I became acquainted He told me he was free, and lived in Philadelphia, where he kept a house of entertainment for sailors, which, he said, was attended to in his absence by his wife

His description of Philadelphia, and of the liberty enjoyed there by the black people, so charination that I deterate, and ns to reed that the night before the schooner should sail, I was to be concealed in the hold, ast a parcel of loose tobacco, which, he said, the captain had undertaken to carry to Philadelphia The sailing of the schooner was delayed longer than we expected; and, finally, her captain purchased a cargo of flour in Georgetown, and sailed for the West Indies Whilst I was anxiously awaiting sothe country to the western part of Pennsylvania, never entered my mind,) New Year's day came, and with it caentleman named Gibson, to whom, he said, he had sold me, and to whom he delivered me over in the Navy Yard We all three set out that sa for Calvert, and reached the residence of my new master the next day Here, I was informed, that I had become the subject of a law-suit

My new master claientleht me of the children of my former master, Jack cox This suit continued in the courts of Calvert county more than two years; but was finally decided in favor of hiht me of the children